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

Are you talking about the aafes discount?

My father ( retired col ) and brothers ( retired air force and army paratrooper ) are both able to get the discount. Hecht my mother as a spouse has access to the aafes discount. Go to aafes web site, it will ask you to log in using social, and dob, and once you that you can create a username and password and just click the Dell link.

Hope you can get it, cause it's an amazing discount and one well deserved by those both active and retired.

 

I'll post mine once I get home.

 

Can you add promotional codes when in the EPP site? Probably not right?

 

Ok, I guess you can't combine promo codes at the aafes site?

 

unfortunately not, nor dpa financing - just the automatic discount applied to the aafes cart. imo, most definitely worth the tradeoff though...

 

3d webcam device ID for comparison.

 

ok the 460m is (right now) the best 3D option on the AW laptop, if you want 2D performance then it still is with the R2 in Sli regardless

I'm not sure what games Dell are playing but I know one thing - if they where offering the 485m gpu right now all sales would be 3D, so for those that have gone the ATI none 3D route - you will have a lot of changing to do if the 485m becomes available which I firmely believe will happen and then along comes the 18x...............they have made the whole thing overly complicated, they obviously have some sort of arrangement with AMD/ATI which required that they sell their next generation system (R3) with something none Nvidia, there is sillyness going on and we are the victims, choose a substandard 2D option or a substandard 3D option in the R3 - those are the choices which are set to change in my opinion.

 

seriously, how many of you people that have gone the none 3D option would have done so if the Nvidia 485m GPU was available, and why did Dell choose the 460m over the 470m or 485m when either of the latter would have been easy to configure in their latest revision lapatop

I am actually discusted with Dell right now, they launched a 3D machine that doesn't quite get there and has a few other failings as well, or perhaps we can blame that on intel for not supporting 120hz or dell for not allowing it at 60hz.........................the whole thing is just a big ................. up

 

I would still go with the 6970M because I think 3D is pointless to have in a laptop or TV. 6970M is also much cheaper than 485m while not having much worse performance. One of the main reasons I wouldn't go with a 485M (assuming I had to also get 3D) is that I could not have switchable graphics.

Having 5+ hours battery life is huge to me because I travel internationally alot (14 hour flights). I can actually use my 17" because I sit in the rows with no one in front of me (I'm tall so I need the leg room) and they usually don't have power plugs.

 

From a value standpoint the non-3d option makes more sense. GTX485m is a beast but not that much better than a 6970m.

 

I chose 6970 because of battery life. Unless Optimus works with 3D, I would not choose 485M, especially for a premium price.

 

Cool Down!!!! It was a statement relative to the 6970
Also Could someone post benchmarks of games on the 460m with 3d enabled??
@DaneGRClose Since u have the 460m , how enjoyable is the 3d??
Is the 3d effect perfect in most games rr is 3d vision still in its infancy??

 

I enjoy the 3D in most games, if it's in the Excellent or 3D Ready category they're awesome. I've played a couple games that don't agree though so it's hit and miss. Are you asking for actual benchmarks like Vantage/06/11 in 3D or gaming benchmarks in 3D?

 

Thanks pare. So It's confirmed, Both include the 3.0 webcam. They are just promoting the 3d-bundle more.

 

It does according to the manual, but their website configurator only mentions it on the 3D screens page. This is what it says...

"Alienware M17x comes standard with a 3.0 MP Webcam and digital microphone array."

It doesn't say only on the 3D model, so I would imagine that it does.

EDIT: Dang, just missed the previous post.

 

I couldn't agree more. It's funny, in the Sager 8170 owners thread everyone who is buying the 485M is wishing that the 6970 was available so they could save money.

Personally, I don't want 3D. That's just me. As far as graphics cards, I would purchase the 6970M even if the 485M was available. Sager resellers are estimating that the 6970 is going to be in the neighborhood of 200 bucks cheaper than a 485M, and since Dell seems to charge a lot for upgrades to Alienware computers, I think it's safe to say that it would be more than 200 bucks to upgrade. That's just not worth it to me. The reviews I have seen show the 6970 being around 10% slower in most gaming benchmarks, just as fast in some, and actually faster in a very small percentage of games. Now, I won't believe any of that until someone from this forum does their own testing and can confirm or deny, but if thats true it is not worth it to me. 200 bucks will buy an SSD boot drive, 16GB or RAM, or can be put towards a longer warranty, all of which are more important to me personally. However, I understand that some people want the very fastest they can get for gaming, and since they are spending a nice chunk of change on this machine anyway, why not? I don't think there is a bad decision either way. At the end of the day, if the user is happy with their purchase then it was a good deal. Period.

 

I also like playing in 3d especially with L4D2. But its not really that great with SC2 as there are times that there are a lot of things happening and you can't focus much.

I haven't tried this yet but is the 3d option available to any game, even old MMO's out there?

You're very welcome pare

 

Gaming benchmarks in 3d for the gtx460m.
Games like bfbc2 ,metro2033 , left 4 dead , arkham asylum , etc
??

 

Have you tried looking in my first impressions thread lol? I have both L4D2 and Metro 2033 in there I think a few others if I remember right too. I don't have Arkham Asylum but if you want to buy it for me I'll definitely test it for you lol If there's any others just request it and if I have it I'll run it

 

Ditto. Sales tax is ridiculous in my hometown... and that alone wouldve persuaded me to buy something from Amazon or xoticpc.

Me too!

So how can we tell it's really 3.0MP? Same like how can we really tell they fixed the intel flaw (see thread about B2 mobos).

 

Im sure dell wouldnt lie about putting a 3.0mp on our beast. Can you please post the link of that thread?

 

Okay, so now that people have the hardware I'll annoy everyone again...any issues with hissing/static/crackling through the headphone jack? (The M15x has it...or at least a huge number have it, completely unacceptable audio.)

I'd like hte GTX 485, but not because of "3D", but because it's more powerful plus generally Nvidia has better drivers. Although I watched this XoticPC video today with a Sager model, that said Sager and Asus notebooks with GTX 460s weren't getting properly supported in Nvidia's driver releases...so that worries me. (My lowly 9650GT on my Asus N80 has always worked flawlessly, and I've updated to every new driver release as it's come along.)

With the current GPUs I guess I'd get the Radeon 6970 since it's proportionally better than the GTX 460...though it does seem like they should at least offer a 470.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/560916-dell-send-me-chipset-rev-b2.html

 

any one knows how the 6970 stacks up against the 5870 crossfire??? mostly for gaming.....

 

Notebookcheck has the numbers. I don't understand them though.

 

yes but does anyone actually know why the intel gpu doesn't work with the 3D config, isn't it simply that Dell couldn't be bothered tweaking the software slightly the allow the panel to run at 60hz refresh, again something I expect them to fix going forward even if it is a manual switch over maybe in the BIOS, do you really think that all 3D systems will never be able to use the IGP - I don't think so

 

Dell has nothing do with getting IGP working with 3D. I don't have the time right now to find the explanation but someone has posted it in a few threads recently.

 

5870m crossfire is basically a 5850 desktop performance. And the 6970m is equivalent to desktop 6850. Desktop 5850 > Desktop 6850.

So the 5870m CF is better than the 6970m. Not by much I gather. Maybe 10 average fps better if it is scaling perfectly at most.

If you are going for top gaming performance 5870m CF is a good choice. However, crossfire may not work in some games.

 

Lets all remember that not all games properly utilize CF, making the 6970 perform better than CF 5870 (two 5870s) in some games, also lets remember that its infinitely more stable and still has alot of future driver potential. Also when playing @ 1920 x 1080 - the 6970m outperforms the 485 gtx in some of the heavy games (crysis, metro 2033)

 

GTX485m is basically a desktop GTX460 1GB.
6970m = 6850 desktop
5870m = 5770 desktop.

Basically you can compare the countless of desktop reviews on the desktop equivalent cards to make your decision.

Keep note that the 5870m is actually a downclocked Desktop 5770. But then again the 6970m is also a downclocked 6850 but with more ram it seems.

I wonder if the 2GB of ram for the 6970m is really necessary, or just kind of a wow factor marketing ploy. I don't know, I'm glad it has 2GB regardless

I'd hate to say the 6970m is better, but most review sites will tell you that a faster single gpu is better than a crossfire set up.

 

The Integrated Webcam Live! Central software that comes with the R3 (or can be downloaded separately as it's not a part of the resource dvd) identifies the cam and allows you to select the resolution of the snapshots from 160x120 through 2048x1536. The latter is exactly 3 megapixel. Unless, of course, it just creates the image this large and stretches the snapshot but i doubt it.

Non-3d 460m 2720 pre-recall. Will double-check when my currently being boxed post-recall replacement order with 2820 and 6970 gets delivered

 

I recently ordered the r3 but I did not get the upgraded screen, and i see every one on here has opted to get the higher res screen. Could any one explain the difference to me? the pros and cons? I thought less ress would mean more fps in games but perhaps thats not true.

 

Yeah, I'd much prefer a single higher end GPU than two lower end ones, even if sometimes they're better. Less heat, less driver weirdness, etc.

 

Games will get more fps on lower resolution screens but even if you have a 1080p screen you can always adjust the in game resolution to improve your fps count. The benefits of a higher res screen is that it is more detailed and just nicer to look at . There is really no reason to get a lower res screen on a laptop this size. Besides even if you did get the higher res screen, all the gpus that are offered with the m17x r3 can easily handle just about any game (excluding really heavy stuff like Crysis) at 1080p.

So I suggest that unless it is to late to cancel your order that you cancel and reorder with a 1080p screen. It just doesn't do this laptop justice without it!

Did that answer your question?

 

Yes you are correct, Less would mean more fps. But higher res would give you more space, Example less scrolling for net purposes. Or in game side, A much wider dimension.

 

No, that's true. You'll be able to run games at the native resolution longer.

Personally I'd go for the lower resolution screen too, in my case mostly just because I don't like super high resolutions on monitors. You can compensate sort of by changing DPI settings in Windows, but that can throw off interface elements and web pages and the like, and isn't possible for any kind of design work. Plus DPI settings are apparently per user in Windows 7, so in my case where I use an external monitor half the time, I'd have to be manually changing DPI settings back and forth every time I switch.

So far me I'd go with the lower resolution panel (not that it's actually low resolution!) even if they cost the same, but as a bonus it's cheaper.

 

Hey ive heard many people say that you cant use the wireless HD streaming yet but the advertisements on the website clearly say you can stream 3D HD movies. So this thing better be able to or thats false advertisement. Its on the features tab on the m17x R3 page. Alienware M17x Laptop Details | Dell

 

Yes, but it looks a lot worse at a non native resolution.

It's marginally nicer if you're watching a Blu Ray or playing a game that the hardware can handle at that resolution, although you'd have to have them side by side to tell the difference, and even then it wouldn't be drastic. It's WORSE though if you're just trying to do stuff in Windows and 1080p is too high a resolution for you, and it's worse if you ever drop resolution for performance.

The dimensions are the same either way.

 

With this the answer would be no to marketing ploy.
Even an old games like GTA IV will gobble large amounts for video RAM. As a comparison, my GTX 275m with 896MB is still a reasonably fast card (with near the same memory bandwidth as 6970M) runs out of to RAM quick when changing the res and all setting to max. It could certainly use more RAM effectively if it had it.
I would however say the new XPS with GT 555M and 3GB memory would be some what useless, at about the third of the memory bandwidth of 6970M, as a RAM overkill comparison. This kind of card would turn into a slug if you allowed massive amounts of RAM allocated to such a game, as the one above.

 

Still, never hurts to have it My lowly 9650GT has a 1GB, which was overkill for two years ago, but actually does use over 500MB.

 

Recommended download of GPU-Z and check video RAM usage. Then by Alt-Tab out of a game etc.

Crysis 2 Demo uses all my 512MB on gamer (low setting) with my 9600GT.

 

I finally ordered my m17x r3, gone with the 6970m, and 2720qm.
In reality I know that I wont use the 3D much, maybe just a few days, I game sometimes 8 hours a day, and don't believe a could wear the 3d glasses so long.

I was ordering my laptop for the last whole year, first waited for the first series i7, then waited for the gtx460m, then waited for the blu-ray, and then waited for the second gen. sandy bridge, and should I know wait for the 485 with 3D(which is not confirmed)? Hell, no thanks, I wont wait anymore! in 10 days I will have a gaming machine! For the guys who want to wait like, good luck, and don't wait to much, its not worth the time.

P.S how to show my specs in the footer of my posts?

 

Edit your signature under your User Control Panel

 

3D review

nVidia 3D Vision Gaming System review - Monitor reviews - TrustedReviews

 

these options are hard to find its like their hidden

 

Phone is the way to go.

Website order = no discount (unless you got some form of coupon)
Chat to rep (pop up) = they likely ask for your email address, ask for best discount, get transcript, change to talk on phone
Phone = chance to haggle, get your emailed transcript(s) with discounts you may of asked for, haggle the price down over a few days of phone calls

Bottom line is, they want your sale. Make sure you get the right rep that will reply quickly, is understandable, and friendly. Keep declining their offers, they will keep calling you (or emailing) and offer a tiny bit more. Keep pushing for more, and when it get to a point that you are certain that the price may not be discounted any further, do the deal. Their manager approves the discounts, keep that in mind, the rep is like the middle man and will be going back to their manager for any discount requests.

I choose the best option on my locations website, this pre-configuration also offered $400 off. Then haggled 15% discount on the entire system on the phone progressively.
I am a normal customer, and never have brought anything from Dell ever, so yeah it can be done. Which way you do it is up to you. It is lot of money to spend, so don't give up

I saved $1204 (or $885 in USD money) on my configuration compared to what I could of spent.

 

Geez, $885 discount, that is hard to believe. That's like getting the base model for $400, lol. I don't care how good of a haggler you are, lol, seems impossible.

 

I hate that they're geared for people who haggle I can't do that

 

Put it this way the USA base configuration spec is a lot lower, when compared with the NZ base model.
I will break it down below. But the end result is the same in US Dollars.

This is in NZD (check in brackets for USD). Over here Dell rapes our wallets with the way they charge, when compared with USA. Prices are over inflated, and in reality its all the same company, so should be the same, but that how Dell charges in smaller market with supply and demand.
Hardly a good deal, but when prices are this bad, you need to do what you can, if you want it.

We only have two base options available:

http://www.dell.com/nz/p/alienware-m17x-r3/fs

$4099 NZD ($3013 USD) = "Good" model - Intel i7-7820QM ' AMD 6870M ' 8GB DDR3-1333 ' RAID0 1.5TB 7200rpm ' 1920x1080 WLED ' DVD ' Intel 6300

$5099 NZD ($3748 USD) = "Better" model - Intel i7-7280QM ' GTX 460M ' 16GB DDR3-1333 ' RAID0 1.5TB 7200rpm ' 1920x1080 WLED ' Blu-ray ' Intel 6300

The saving of $400 NZD ($294 USD) is included in the price for going for the "Better" model, over the "Good" model selection.


My configuration model:

$5361 NZD ($3748 USD) = "Better" model with upgrade to 6970M

Then $5361 NZD ($3748 USD) minus 15% discount = $4556 NZD ($3349 USD) is the total cost, that equals a $805 NZD ($592 USD) real savings.
Then if I apply the $400 NZD ($294 USD) from the "Better" option chosen, allows for total savings of $1205 NZD ($885 USD)


What I am saying, if I took NZ's base model, and then configured it to my specs it would of be $5761 NZD ($4234 USD) total which was my original quote, until I found out choosing a more expensive model and configuring that gave me a better deal. Therefore $1205 ($885 USD) of saving, config pricing with haggled 15% discount.

The rep on the phone said I was the first person that managed a 15% discount, in the ten years she had worked at Dell. If that is true of not (what she said), who knows? Although I'm not a student or anything else, just a regular customer.

 

Do you have to go through an American rep to haggle? Has anyone had luck with non-American reps before?