M17x R3 RELAUNCHED! (w/460M/6870M/6970M)

TRY IT OUT! Alienware M17x Laptop Details | Dell

Found this on the alienware thread. $50 coupon for the R3. BHW1L0MX0D?MCX

 

6970 Availble for $250! YIKES.

 

Nicely done Sir. It still isn't showing on the AW website.

 

Yeah. But I waited for it. Finally, SUCCESS!

 

Well, it may have started cheaper than the R2, but but still comes out to the same price similarly equipped.

 

This makes me rethink about continuing with the G73...

 

The problem with the AW systems here in the Phil, Is we dont have the same warranty system like on my asus g73.

 

I was configing some systems to save to wish list to talk to a customer service sales person and the system vanished again.

Crazy.

 

Alienware M17x 3D
Date & Time: March 03, 2011 7:25 AM CST


SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Alienware M17x 3D Qty 1

Alienware M17x, Soft Touch Stealth Black, Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit Unit Price $3,662.00


Alienware M17x price includes $275 instant discount
Limited Time Offer!
- $275.00


Catalog Number: 29 DKCWV3D

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Module Description Show Details
System Color Alienware M17x, Soft Touch Stealth Black
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
Processor Intel® Core™ i7 2820QM 2.3GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
Memory 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz (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 1.5GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M
Hard Drive 256GB Solid State Drive

And it seems they are calling the 3D one, M17X 3D, without 3D its the R3, and they are two different builds with two different screens and video card options, on 3d you can only get nvid 460

 

it seems that the xps 17 3d can be had for cheaper with the nvidia gt555m with 3gb of video ram.

 

Yeah...this feels like a battle between heart and mind...my heart says get the AW, my mind says get the Asus.

 

Funny part is the cost to dell for the 6970m is the same as the 460m.

 

Is this the system that disappeared from your cart? When I do a non-3d setup I only get like $50 EPP discount ><

 

They are making a lot of profit for that.

 

Thank you. I just have to wait until 8am CST to order... BTW, rep to all those who said ordering was going to start on the 3rd!

 

Just ordered my M17x, R3
1 225-0536 Alienware M17x Soft-Touch, Stealth Black
1 317-6114 Intel Core i7 2720QM 2.2GHz (3.3GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
1 317-6119 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz (4DIMMS)
1 331-1347 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
1 320-1933 17.3-inch WideFHD1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
1 320-1939 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6970M
1 342-2218 320GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD
1 331-1350 Custom Nameplate
1 330-6106 Personalized Nameplate Trigger
1 313-8796 AlienFX Color, Plasma Purple
1 421-4655 Alienware Command Center Software, M17X
1 421-1400 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp
1 420-9956 Vista PC Restore
1 421-0092 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
1 410-1883 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
1 318-0395 Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
1 421-4541 Roxio Creator Starter,No Media
1 318-0424 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
1 430-4019 Wireless 802.11 g/n
1 330-6348 Automatic Updates: On
1 939-0320 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year
1 939-0340 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year
1 950-3337 1 Year Limited Warranty
1 950-9797 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
1 421-1721 Soft Contracts Service Hardware Agreement for Alienware
1 994-3730 Warranty Support, Initial Year
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks
1 421-1359 World of Warcraft Preinstall Edition
1 421-1586 Alienhead Chrome Red

 

Cost? Did you get any discounts?

 

Cost was $2396.66
However $156.66 was sales tax.

There is the free 7 business day shipping, but I said screw that and paid the 69 for overnight.

 

Alienware M17x
Date & Time: March 03, 2011 7:42 AM CST


SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Alienware M17x Qty 1

Alienware M17x, Soft Touch Stealth Black, Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit Unit Price $3,258.00


7 day shipping included on system orders over $699!
Limited Time Offer!



Catalog Number: 29 DKCWVN1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Module Description Show Details
System Color Alienware M17x, Soft Touch Stealth Black
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
Processor Intel® Core™ i7 2820QM 2.3GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
Memory 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz (4DIMMS)
A/C Adapter Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
Display Panel 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
Video Card 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 6970M
Hard Drive 256GB Solid State Drive
AlienFX Mars Red
Adobe Reader Acrobat SW Adobe Acrobat Reader
Optical Drives Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Sound Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
Wireless Intel® Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology
Automatic Updates Automatic Updates: On
Service 1 Year Advanced Plan
Factory Installed Games Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed
OS Customization AlienGUIse Theme Manager with Breed Theme
OS Customization Alien Schematic
Standard Nameplate Trigger Thank you for Purchasing Alienware

What do you guys think?

Its a choice between a 60hz screen or 120hz screen and 3d nvidia or AMD 2gb new card?

And I went for the top end processor because most of the peeps say the processor handles most of the new stuff so why not put the most money on it.

Their protection plans are pretty pricey but seem worth it, and they have that buy back thing now, so if you want to sell it back, you can get 20 percent of the purchase price in 2 years.

 

Did you get any discounts? I'm just curious cuz it looks like a 3d version had $250 off but it was removed very quickly I guess.

 

Wow, they've jacked the price up on the 3D package and are seriously gouging people on the 6970, glad I got mine when I did. If they'd even offer the 120hz panel with the 6970 I could kind of understand a premium but all you can get is the 60hz panel :S

 

I didn't want the 3D anymore, so i don't know.

But I am VERY happy the 6970 Blackcomb is on it, (I did my reading )

Review AMD Radeon HD 6970M Graphics Card - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

But look anywhere, upgrading to the 485M is about $495, but $250 here (for a comparable model, about 14% less). Is it an even deal, probably not, but for what you get it is not a bad deal.

 

hmm, I signed up for a Dell Preferred Account which says 12 months 0% financing for Alienware purchases but when you go to checkout it just mentions XPS. Going to talk to someone in 5 minutes when they open up.

*edit* ok, verified that Alienware does qualify for 0% financing even though it only says XPS at Checkout.

 

Not on this computer it isn't the 6970 is a little slower in everything but synthetic benchmarks and won't have any 3D support or 120hz panel support in this machine. I was thinking it might be an extra $50-75 over the 460m, at that price it isn't worth it in my opinion, you could order the 3D model, sell the 460m and get a 6970 for less than the upgrade cost and have 3D AKA Dell screws the customer again.

I'm still gonna hold out for a stronger Nvidia offering.

 

Ah well, I like the idea. Plus I finally get my laptop, thats what matters, innit?

 

Yeah if it's for you jump on it, it's a great rig just Dell seems off on their pricing and availability on some items this time around.

 

God sometimes I Just don't get forum people. First people cry because 3D is gimmicky and no games that are modern are realistically going to play with 1/2 FPS on ultra settings on a mobile card. So now you can get a SB AW system with a 6970 and at least a good 120hz 1080p screen and now people complain about pricing and 3D? This system (if you buy smart) and dont pay for ram comes out to about 2k to 2200. Thats WAY cheaper than the R2's were going for similar performance. I got an R2 a month ago with 5870s CF and 920XM after major discounts at the outlet for 2k and this system seems to perform comparably in gaming. I would say people SHOULD be pretty happy?

 

So you're saying that its better to keep an order of the 3d bundle and then if you want to go with 6970m, I'll just have to purchase it separately? I would really appreciate your help here .

 

Wow, the RGB LED is no longer an option.

 

You cant get the 120hz screen with the 6970 atm, to get the 120hz screen you need to get the 3d bundle which locks you into the Nvi card. Unless you get the 3d bundle and then get the card on your own and install it.

 

Ordered 6970m. Decided against 3D bundle. It hasn't been proven that the 6970m will work with the 120Hz screen because we've already been told that the LVDS from the IGP can't handle 120Hz and therefore with the 460m, the IGP is disabled completely and the LVDS signal is routed directly from the 460m to the display. If you put in a 6970m with a 120hz screen one of 2 things will happen:

1) IGP get's disabled so you no longer have extended battery life with IGP switching. But you get 120Hz output. The NVidia glasses won't work and as far as I know, no emitter has been found to work yet so basically 3D won't work.

2) LVDS is routed through IGP and therefore you are limited to 60hz rather than the 120Hz your screen is capable of.

 

And where can I buy the 6970 aftermarket?

 

I am curious to see how much the wireless HD is going to cost. Right now it isn't available.

 

I like how the 6970 is a 250USD upgrade when in reality this card costs Dell almost exactly the same amount of money as the gtx 460

 

...I think that one 460m would feel alone in that big laptop... am I the only one that thinks this was a HUGE mistake on AW's part, not making these laptops LSI/Xfire friendly?

 

I see you have 16 GB of Ram. Was it much trouble installing the ram under the keyboard?

 

Nope
Just need a screwdriver and something to pry with.
Got my RAM at work, so I used a co-worker's screwdriver that came with her walmart lens cleaning kit (for her glasses) and a blue bic pen lid. Took like 3 mins.

I also frequently remove the bottom two dimms - I'm running 8GB at the moment. Since the bottom is one giant panel, it's really simple and quick.

Inexpensive, too. I paid under $200 Canadian including shipping for 2 HyperX 8gb sets.

 

Remove 2 screws under battery. Slide out bottom cover.

Remove 5 screws holding keyboard from bottom.

Unsnap the plastic from above keyboard and gently rest against screen.

Remove 5 screws at top of keyboard and slide keyboard out. Carefully rest against screen so you don't have to disconnect cable.

Remove 2 screws for plate covering memory slots. If you are missing this plate, you should contact Dell because it should be there to reduce keyboard flex.

Install memory.

Reverse to put stuff back.

 

Wow and I thought it was going to be priced near the 460 hahaha.

 

I priced out a bare system with just the 6970 and the 1920x1080 and it was $1899.

For the 3D system, it includes the 120Hz 1920x1080 screen already with 1 pair of glasses and the 460M for $1799 (with $275 discount it looks like).

I thought the 6970 would cost less, but is it safe to assume the 120Hz screen is better? and the gfx upgrade would be very compatible? (like no other changes such as power supplies, etc...?)

The battery life IGP thing would be good to know before doing anything...Guess I have to wait and see first.

Also, I think with the 6970 as the brand new thing, they are just charging more for it now. After a bit, the price may go down a bit or they may offer some instant savings...

 

There is speculation that Alienware will be releasing a laptop that supports dual gpus in May. Google M18x. However, please don't discuss any further because it could lead to closing of this thread since it is pure speculation and rumours at this point.

 

Thanks. Putting everything back together just as easy?

 

Sure.
Same steps but in reverse. In my opinion, it doesn't get much easier than that.

 

Didnt the original m17x got released with a single gfx option only and later on they added dual gfx options ?

 

Unless something changed since the first release of the R3, there is not physically any room for another GPU(?).

 

I thought I saw a youtube review of the R3 that said it's thinner than the R2 so it cannot fit another GPU.

 

I believe the first M17/x was released SLI/Xfire friendly. I have an old R1, and it dose has SLI

 

Is there a bluetooth option at all?

 

All models come standard with bluetooth.