Is this Alienware M17x R2 worth the price...

Hello all.
Been debating back and forth about picking this beast up and selling my M14X.

Alienware M17x R2
One Intel® Core i7-720qm (2.93GHz ,Quad Core)
English Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64Bit OS)
17in Ultrasharp FHD WLED Screen 1080P with True Life - 1920x1200
6GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
640GB Serial ATA ( 2 x 320GB at 7200Rpm) Hard Drive
Dual Crossfire 2 x ATi Radeon HD 5870 1Gb dedicated graphics
Blu-Ray Drive
3 Year Warranty - on-site and next business day
Price £1035 Including Delivery

Whilst I prefer the look of the R3 & R4, the R2 has that metal frame and Dual Graphics slots along with an amazing screen.
Plus my budget is around the £1000 mark and tbh I'm not prepared to go any higher.

My question - Is this worth it?

 

No go for R4. the 7970 card beats the hell out of that crossfire setup and cpu is slow..

but with your budget it's your call
cards can be upgraded to crossfire 6990m and cpu can be upgraded too but with that extra money you have an R4 7970

 

I got an R4 on the way, only because I got it at a heck of a deal. In my opinion, the R2 is still the best system out there. I'll be putting dual 7970s in mind. In the end I think it's your card and more importantly, are you going to be satisfied with the specs? How long does it need to last? What are you going to be doing with it?

 

thats not bad the best part you cna upgrade to a 920xm and give it new life. Also getting much better gpus as well. It'll take 7970 according to DR man i guess. (sorry DR if i am quoting you wrong). Also you can get the 920xm ES on ebay for 220 bucks....though thats the US so you might have to pay extra for shipping. If i get my new laptops and decided to not keep my 920xm ES from DR i can sell it to you but you got to pay shipping.....thats a long distance to get to you...seeing you are using eruo

EDIT: i'll take your asus thing for free whatever that thing is...i like free things

err with that 3 year warranty you can probably get a new R4 upgrade after 3 years if that thing breaks lol because their wont be any r2 left lol

If it breaks 3 times in a the 3 years depending on your local laws...in the States you can make them give you a new laptop because of lemon laws from what i remember....dont quote me

 

£1000?? That's $1617.95 canadian dollars at current rates

No, not worth it when you can get a brand new m17x R4 with 7970m for $200 more, shipped to your door

 

Guys, Alienware laptops are super jacked up in the UK. What we get an M17x R4 for cheap in the US, is WAY overinflated in the UK due to VAT. With VAT, their M17xR4 starts at 1300 GBP, and with a 7970M jumps to over 1500 GBP. Minus that 720QM and no SSD, that is a pretty loaded R2. Conversion: R2 = 1400, R4 = 2400 dollars WITH only a 1 year warranty. With a 3 year warranty, it jumps to 1900 pounds, which is over 3000 USD. So I think that R2 isn't a horrible horrible price, but is definitely not great.

 

i see a business opportunity in this for you

 

I say go for the R2 the 920XM is not that slow, and you can put 7970m's in it. That is insane how many upgrades exist for this laptop.

 

7970's at this point are pure speculation. No one has tested the cards in the R2 yet.

 

well hurry up DR!

 

Thank you for the ongoing assistance everyone.

To clarify further - The above specification won't be upgraded anytime soon so I'm basing the price against that spec for 2-3 years.
As a student I'm very limited in my resources at the moment and as much as I would love to have dual 7970m's or even just one for that matter I don't wish to add an additional £400-£500 component.

Would the i7 920XM provide that much of an improvement against the i7 720QM for gaming/ Emulation - I don't believe it will....am I mistaken?

A similiarly specc'ed second hand M17x R3 with a single GT 580m goes for £1300 at least.
I reckon Dual 5870's would provide me with enough of a performance gain over the OC'd GT555m in my M14x.

 

It's a world of difference, 5870M CF is still like top 20 laptops dGPU's on the market. 920XM will make a difference, but depends on the games you play. Can you try bargaining down the R3, you should be able to get it for cheaper. But be prepared to lug around a heavy 12.8 pound laptop with a hefty brick. Also no Optimus support on R2, so you can't use it on battery. I got like 1.2 hours running on battery, just idle...lol.

 

Why not an M14x R2 with a 650M?

The ivy bridge in that is more efficient than the 920XM, plus the 650M is really awesome. I am tempted to get it myself D:

 

depends if its a desktop replacement and he wants a big screen and more power not worth while...depends on the needs