New Alienware M17 or M18X R1

Hi,

I'm looking to get an Alienware laptop. I'm either looking at the new M17 or an old M18X R1. What would you suggest based on the below specs:

Alienware M17

i7-4700MQ
GTX 765M with 2GB GDDR5
8GB DDR3L
1920x1080 anti glare
DVDR/RW

€1650


Alienware M18X R1

ALIENWARE M18X 7970M i7 QUAD 8G RAM 750G For Sale in Wexford : €1,200 - DoneDeal.ie

€1200 (before negotiations)


I couldn't really go above €1650. That's a stretch as it is. Is the base M17 I've chosen significantly more powerful than the M18X R1? In terms of upgradeability, which one would be better? Over time I could upgrade the parts. What is and what isn't upgradeable? For AAA games, would both be able to play them?

 

The difference between the 2670QM and the 4700QM are pretty high, but the 2760QM is easily enough acquired and will allow for a fair performance boost.

The M18x R1 seems to be the better option since it'll handle the latest GPUs. Just depends if you're gonna upgrade later on.

 

I'll definitely be looking to upgrade later on. Based on that, the M18X R1 is the best option? Can I upgrade everything i.e. CPU, the whole lot??

 

Agreed, I'd go with the M18x R1 and do some upgrades yourself. SLI or CF or even a single 7970m will crush the gtx 765m. Its really a weak card and hugely overpriced in the new AW 17 (my opinion).

You could upgrade CPU and get an additional 7970m (crossfire fixes are near) to be totally future proof and still spend less than a much less powerful AW 17.

 

Excellent! ANd would it best best to stick with AMD or could I swap in Nvidia?

 

And does the R1 blow this out of the water??

Alienware M17x R3 For Sale in Maynooth, Kildare from typera12

(same price)

 

Well that ad seems to imply it has a single 7970m. Personally I'd stick with the single card and try to get a second 7970m from the forum here. Check the marketplace.
At the moment the 7970m can overclock higher than a gtx 680m (give or take and not by much) but gets beaten by a 780m quite considerably. These two Nvidia cards are much much more expensive though.
Even 680m's are still £350-400 used! A good price for a 7970m is €300 or £250.

Problem is that AMD suffers quite severe microstuttering in CF but assuming you'll be keeping this system for awhile, AMD tweeted that CF fixes are approaching AMD Working on Drivers to Fix Micro-Stutter in CrossFire

 

Yes! 7970m beats 580m but they have similar processors. If you've got your heart set on SLI or CF then that M18x seems like good value for money if its in good condition.

 

the m18x R1 no question. Coupled with a 2960xm (I think one was on sale here for 350 EUR) and a second 7970m you'll destroy even the highest-specced Alienware 17, not to mention that 765m.

 

Excellent, cheers!! Whatever I end up getting, I'll eventually be upgrading as much as possible from the processor to gpu, SSD and everything in between. It looks like the M18X R1 is best suited for that so. Being an R1, are there any known issues? HDMI in etc? Connecting my PS3/4 will be a big part of my setup too.

 

Just notice that the R1 will only take i7 2XXX series processors, not the new haswell or ivy bridge. Graphics cards its pretty open to anything pretty much.

 

Is this bad? Would a 29xx processor with dual gfx cards, ssd etc etc (when I'm able to upgrade) still hold up in a few years for AAA games?

 

Processor is not really too big of a factor for gaming anyways, the GPU will make the biggest difference.

 

Or 2 of them! I'm running a first generation i7 with a little overclock and it still doesn't bottleneck my gpu. That is a 3 year old CPU!