Is this a good deal or not?

Hello all, first time posting and soon to be first time Alienware owner.

I am considering buying an m17x r3 for gaming/home purposes and am convinced the m17x will suit my needs perfectly. However, I'm really hoping to get the best bang for my buck in terms of value and performance.

here's what I'm looking at so far.

(from the dell website)

Code:

Module	  Description	Show Details
System Color	Alienware M17x, Soft Touch Stealth Black
Operating System	Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit
Processor	Intel® Core™ i7 2760QM 2.4GHz (3.5GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
Memory	16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
A/C Adapter	Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
Display Panel	17.3-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 120Hz WLED w/ NVIDIA 3D Vision Bundle
Video Card	2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M
Hard Drive	256GB Solid State Drive SATA 3Gb/s with Secondary 750GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
AlienFX	Quasar Blue
Adobe Reader Acrobat SW	Adobe Acrobat Reader
Optical Drives	8X Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Sound	Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
Wireless	Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video
Security Software	No Anti-Virus Software Selected
Service	1 Year Advanced Plan
Pre-Installed Software	Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed
Pre-Installed Software	World of Warcraft Preinstall Edition
Pre-Installed Software	Eve Online, Factory Installed
Standard Nameplate Trigger	Standard Nameplate

 ACCESSORIES
Razer USA Naga MMOG Laser Gaming Mouse		Qty  	1
Dell Part# A3113954	Unit Price	$67.99
Manufacturer Part# RZ01-00280100-R3U1
Dell Part# A3113954
Alienware TactX Headset		Qty  	1
Dell Part# 313-7972	Unit Price	$59.99
Manufacturer Part# T255P
Dell Part# 313-7972
HD3 Gaming Chill Mat - Black		Qty  	1
Dell Part# A4403512	Unit Price	$59.99
Manufacturer Part# AWE57US
Dell Part# A4403512
	Save 20% on Select Desktop & Laptop Accessories
Expires Thursday, February 09, 2012	  		  	  
 	  	- $12.00

AG2 Anti-Glare Screen Protector for Dell Alienware M17x R3 with 3D		Qty  	1
Dell Part# A5282173	Unit Price	$39.99
Manufacturer Part# RT-SPM17X3D02
Dell Part# A5282173

total price including taxes comes to $3,237.97.

That's easily near the high end of my budget (higher than what I was hoping for) but still doable. The offer includes the 15% off promotion for items over $2,699.

I'd appreciate it if anyone could give me their own perspective in regards to the build/price/etc and perhaps offer any suggestions that would help me get the best value out of my Alienware purchase.

Thanks.

 

Why 16gb of RAM, and at 1600mhz, no less.

And get a better cooler. Like a Zalman NC 2000

 

Keep in mind when reading my advice that I currently own an Asus gaming laptop. My first Alienware will arrive tomorrow on the FedEx truck. I am very excited to get it but have never actually owned one.

I went with the 580m like you. I was going to go with the 2760 processor but decided to go with the 2670 instead. The performance difference between the two is not very much and it costs a lot more. I too needed more RAM but it's because I run Virtual Machines all day for work. I allot 4GB to two virtual machines which leaves 8GB left over for the host operating system if I buy 16GB. However, Dell's prices for their RAM is completely off the charts! I ordered all 16GB from NewEgg for $139 with free shipping. This is better 1600MHz RAM with heat spreaders.

I also wanted an SSD but went with a larger one from NewEgg. I can't criticize your choice to order with SSD. It is slightly more expensive with Dell but not enough to worry about. You can get a 256GB elsewhere for $384 but this one is conveniently installed and configured thus saving you the trouble. However the SSD bought elsewhere would be SATA III with higher speeds and Dell actually quotes these as SATA II. I believe the units are actually shipping with a SATA III drive but I have read of people having to send a unit back for repairs and getting a SATA II drive if their drive turns out to be the problem. Therefore you could get a wonderful SATA III drive with your new system, have the drive fail for some very sad reason, and wind up getting a SATA II drive as a replacement if you can follow all of that.

I went with the blu-ray drive because it's a slot loader and those aren't much cheaper to buy and install yourself. They charge a hundred bucks for it and you will pay nearly that with shipping to buy it somewhere else so I opted to just order it that way.

I thought about the Killer N wireless. I doubt I'll ever be doing anything on a network that would actually receive a perceptible difference from a better network card. I'm a fast gamer but I'm not faster than a regular old WiFi card. I may regret that but throwing a network card in there can be done at any time and they cost the same as the upgrade price. Basically if you upgrade it you are paying the full price of the nicer card without having the benefit of having the old card that was included in the price of the laptop. At any rate, I'm giving the bog standard Intel card a go before I decide to upgrade if necessary.

If I ever upgrade the processor from teh 2670, I'm going with an extreme processor from eBay. I'm not messing with a 10% faster CPU for a lot more money. Since I can't order it with the extreme version, I decided to go with the lowest version since the upgrades offered didn't have enough punch to make it worth the money.

Please keep in mind I'm not criticizing your choices. I'm just explaining my reasoning on what I ordered when I went through the same process two weeks ago. It's hard to decide on some of these things. The folks here were very helpful. It was suggested that I go with the 2670 instead of the 2760 and the reasoning made good sense to me so that's what I did. The RAM was obvious to me because Dell was charging double what I could buy it for. The slot loading design sort of forced me to go with the in house upgrade. I wanted a larger SSD than they offer so that decision was easy for me too. The WiFi upgrade is taken by a LOT of folks around here and there's nothing wrong with that. I just don't personally see where I'll get eighty dollars worth of value out of a pretty basic laptop function. Then again, that's just me.

 

Definetly get the lowest RAM possible and grab the SSD from anywhere besides dell they charge crazy money for those I would grab the cheapest CPU also I did this and purchased one of eBay for 1/3rd the price Then grab the best accidental warranty you can dells warranties are the best hands down

 

I decided I wanted at least a two year warranty. The regular two year warranty was $200. The advance warranty covering accidental damage was only $88 more so I went that route immediately. Also, I've read here that you can buy more warranty later if you like. If that's the case, I knew I'd be using this machine for two years and may opt to buy another year after that. Warranty is good. My Asus came with a two year warranty and I had to send it in for repair twice. The second time was after owning the laptop for 19 months. I was really glad to have the long warranty at that point.

 

Just a thought to the original poster.

If weight isn't an issue, you might as well get a m18x with less ram and some other spare parts so you have more graphics power.

Try this setup.

Code:

	Processor:
Intel® Core™ i7 2760QM 2.4GHz (3.5GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)	
Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M – NVIDIA® SLI® Enabled
750GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
18.4-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 WLED
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 3.0	 	
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW
Soundblaster® X-Fi™ Hi Def Audio
Space Black Anodized Aluminum
Quasar Blue	
Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed
Alienware M18x 330W A/C Adapter	
Adobe Acrobat X Reader
Standard Nameplate

Around your same price range for the m17x, minus warranty.

 

1. Take the least expensive HDD, buy your own after market SSD (which is 30 - 50% cheaper than getting from Dell).

2. Reduce your RAM to bare basic, and buy after market RAM which will be cheaper and faster as well.

3. Take the Dell Accidental Damage Protection and 3 years Next Business Day warranty. You will appreciate it. Sometimes you can go thru 2-5 rounds of replacement of one or more components single so solve a problem. Most of the time Dell has no clue.

4. You wouldn't need Windows Ultimate. Only Windows 7 x64 Professional is more than enough. E.g. The Bitlocker encryption is pretty useless. It's better with a 3rd party tool. The Media Player is just useless too, better off with opensource VLC or MPC.

Suggested option if you have the budget....
5. Nice to have is a m18x as it's dual GPU. No point getting a single GPU m17x. As you get much better specs, performance and quality gaming with a custom built PC minus the portability.

 

An m18x would be a beast but I'm really content with the other beast (m17x) I'm lookin at. it makes sense though with how much cash im already shelling out on the m17. The sli is tempting but a single 580 is more than adequate for me. It's probably more computer than I need right now.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions guys. I think dropping the ram will make the price a lot more reasonable. I wanna keep the 2760 CPU and will probably add the blue ray since it has the 3D upgrade and the price is manageable.

 

Personally, if I wanted to get the best performance for the least amount of money, I'd drop the RAM you've got and buy better performing/cheaper RAM from elsewhere. The Dell RAM prices are extortionate, especially for the 16GB @ 1600MHZ

 

Over $3k? for a m17x? no...not a good deal.

I read recently someone bought a basic m18x with lowest Quad i7 and SLI 580m's for under $2500 brand new after a discount calling up dell.

You're not going to really see a huge diff between the i7 2670 and i7 2760. Neither will bottleneck you in games. The only place you will see a difference is in benchmarks (and it will be a small difference at that), and then upgrade on your own if the need arises. You can use my cpu guide in my sig as reference

The m17x/m18x are some of the easiest laptops to upgrade yourself. Ram is cheap and is easily done by yourself in 5mins or less. You will install the SSD at the same time. The hardest part is the reinstall of windows which isn't hard at all. CPU's are plentiful on ebay. Buy a new one and sell your old one to help with the cost