Is this a good deal for a refurbished M17x R4?

Hi guys, tell me what you think:

Stealth Black with Soft Touch Finish
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Certified Refurbished
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader
Intel Centrino Wireless 2230
24GB RAM
750 GB Hard Drive + 32GB mSATA caching SSD
i7-3740QM
1920 x 1080 WLED
2 GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M

Total price: 2000$

 

That's a fantastic deal!

My total (shipping + tax) came out to be $4200

Go for it right now!

 

that's a steal!
try configuring one on alienware's website, and then you will know!

 

Makes sure it's legit, 'cause it's too good of a deal (but if it's refurb it should be cheaper?).

A basic setup like mine is almost $3K..

 

Thanks guys. It does seem too good to be true... One thing that's holding me back is that it's not sold through Dell Outlet, but a reseller, so I'm not sure if the 21 days return thing applies, in case I can't live with the possible cosmetic imperfections.

 

What the hell, I'm going for it! Fingers crossed it ends up being a near mint unit

I have a couple of questions though... I plan on using a Samsung 840 250GB SSD for boot and a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB HDD with a cache msata ssd for all my games. As you can see from the original post, it already comes with a 32GB msata ssd. Is that enough or should I go with a 64GB one? I can't really tell if it's really a pain to install the msata... I did a teardown of my previous R2 unit once and it didn't go exactly as planned

Also, the laptop qualifies for the Windows 8 upgrade for 15$. Should I just purchase the retail version and do a clean install? I was thinking of sticking with Windows 7 but I'm anticipating that manufacturers will be dropping their driver support and I plan on cloning and migrating my system onto future machines so that I don't have to keep reinstalling everything all the time. And besides, I have no use for the Pro version of Windows 8 and it seems to be the only one you can upgrade to.

I'd appreciate any suggestions, thanks.

 

With the Windows 8 upgrade, you can create a bootable USB drive so you can perform a clean install. As for just upgrading, i have done it with 1 minor issue and that was that 1 update wouldnt install, but was simple to fix, just had to uninstal the audio driver, install windows update and then re install audio driver.

As for any cosmetic imperfections, check here:
Dell Laptop Parts | Dell Parts | Dell Laptop Repair | Dell Repair

They sell new screens, new lcd covers, new keyboards, the whole lot. So you can have it looking brand new.

 

you got a really good deal lets hope its not a ripoff fingers crossed for you. the laptop will probably have general wear and tear scrapes ETC Windows 8 is fantastic in my opinion and boosts performance by quite a bit using it on my R3

 

I'd say leave it with the 32gb mSATA as it's quite a hassle to replace it, plus it should be enough for a caching device.

Great deal! Let's hope it arrives near mint condition

 

Thanks guys, I'm sure it will be a great unit. It comes with the full, 1-year standard warranty so I'm not worried. Still debating Windows 8... really can't understand why we're stuck with Pro for an upgrade, I really don't need any of its extra features.

 

Just received the unit... flawless! Now I have just one question: does anyone have any experience with this mSATA drive and would it be compatible with the R4, it seems to be using the Phison S8 controller.

 

congrats! I'm using one of those mSATA drive except mine is a 256GB one. No problem so far but take note that the speed will be SATA II.

 

Where did you find it for such a good price?

 

@funkmasterta: eBay, but you have to remember it's a refurbished unit and it didn't come with the configuration from my sig. It had a 500GB HDD with a 32GB caching mSATA SSD and 24GB of Ram.

@long2905: I see, didn't realize the mSATA port was SATA II. Just seems like such a hard time getting a hold of a 64GB mSATA drive these days...

 

I believe you need Pro if you want to use more than 16 GB ram.

Congratulations on your new system - it's a steal! :thumbsup:

 

Nope, don't need or want more than 16GB of ram... come to think of it don't really need 16 either I just find Windows 8 Pro to have useless extra features that I will never use. I sincerely hope we'll be able to upgrade to the basic version soon...

 

I have16GB RAM and never once have I reached 8GB of usage.

 

One more thing guys, I already have 2x4GB Kingston HyperX modules. Would people recommend switching to 2x8GB modules or should I just slap in another 2x4GB?

EDIT: I'm also considering Corsair Vengeance, the price difference is quite substantial, 45$...

 

I wish I'd seen this post sooner. I'm selling a similar unit (MINT) for cheaper.

M17x R4 for sale

 

It seems like a good deal to me. Let us know if you get it and how it performed.

 

Got it early this week and it runs like a pro!

I am having one issue though, it seems the second HDD bay did not come with a mounting kit. I'm trying to have one sent to me...

 

I bought mine brand new for $1800 in the USA off a reseller.

i7-3630qm
120gb SSD
500gb 7,200 rpm HDD
2gb AMD 7970m
16gb 1600mhz ram
Windows 8

 

That's awesome! I'm glad it's working fine.
You can get that part by sending an e-mail to [email protected]

 

Thanks!

One more question, is there a specific driver install order I should follow if I'm doing a clean install?

EDIT: Never mind, found the Dell support link for driver installation. But I'm confused as to the wireless drivers. I have the Centrino 2230 but it says it's optional to install that driver... And I'm assuming I have to install the 2230 Bluetooth driver rather than the Dell 380 one, right?

 

Wait a minute! I just talked to you on the phone, you sold me the mounting kit

 

Yes, you need the 2230 BT, the centrino Wireless says optional because it depends on which wireless card you have. If you ave that one go ahead and install it.

Yup! haha Did not notice it was you until you posted it haha. I should have noticed the username.