New alienware 15's and 17's launched on CES

Read up on Engadget on the offical launch of the new alienware versions of the 17 and a new 15 all with graphic amp support. The new slimmed machines carry the 4th generation Intel proc and the 4gb 980m and only the 15 gets an ips uhd display

 

well, looks like this is the last alienware i'll be getting unless clevo does something worse.

 

But if feel that dell is milking the current styling and options to build a machine worth of the broadwell platform once it's proper quad cores arrive. Also the amp might be here to stay and they want to make sure they iron out the issues before they change the series dramatically

 

Alienware is listening to all the haters and not the people that actually own the system. People have been complaining about the weight and thickness for years so this is the solution.

On one hand they will gain customers because now they have these powerful laptops that look more like ultra books, but they are alienating ( no pun intended ) their loyal fan base that has stuck with them until now. They are catering to a more mainstream audience I am just not sure if it is going to work. Most people don't want to spend $2k on a laptop when they can buy a new POS throwaway every year or two for less then half of that.

For me this will be the end of my Alienware days, this current system will be the last ... oh well....

 

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

 

The base model will sell pretty good I think. You get an i7, 8GB of RAM, 1TB HDD and a 970M for $1500 in a chassis that looks pretty nice.

They're doing what a lot of the tech companies do, make products for normal people not enthusiasts. Normal people love big numbers for specs and they don't care about dumb stuff like temperatures or performance or anything silly like that. If it's moderately OK looking and does computer things they're happy. Enthusiasts though, they know what they want. They know what performance they should be getting and they watch their temps and they're just annoying. A lot of enthusiasts will complain when a company does something wrong and purposefully gimps the new machines compared to previous generations ( cough AW 17 R1 cough). I think Dell will save a lot of money on support with these, they're simplifying them and trying to get the base model as simple as possible. No more "I bricked my machine overclocking and need a new motherboard" or "I upgraded my GPU and now it doesn't work" or "My laptop runs really hot cause the fans tables are screwed up and don't spin up all the way".

I'll second this. I plan on getting a 970M and maybe a better CPU in a bit when I feel like the performance jump is needed.

 

so they got rid of the ODD to save on cash? wow! not to mention they went back to having the alien head as the power button.

kinda bummed that they're moving to BGA and not keeping with the MXM FF.

though i am curious about the amplifier though really if i wanted a desktop GPU i'd buy a desktop PC and not a laptop.

 

You guys need to read the thread on when the Maxwell's will be introduced... the long and short of it is the entire industry is moving at least for a time to BGA-soldered designs as Intel strives to shape a market. If you think this is just a response to weight that's just not the case, it's far deeper than that.

 

its the wrong direction and its going to cost dell a lot of additional money in repair costs. If a gpu blows out now you gotta get your whole mobo swapped instead of just your mxm gpu. And if you're out of warranty you're going to be paying a ridiculous amount of money for that new mobo since you basically have to buy a new processor, mobo, and gpu. Just my thoughts.

 

Chucking away the ODD is not a bad idea, it gives you extra space for more drives etc, it's what you do with the space that matters.

 

I'm on the edge when it comes to changes like this. Before I bought my Alienware 17, I've always wanted the discontinued m15x for upgrade and portability. The alienware 17 is amazing because I can easily upgrade my components and the size/weight isn't something I can't handle, but I like the concept of the graphic amp and the 15 inch screen miiight be a bit more preferable. I attend a school that requires laptop usage everyday and the weight kinda worries me due to other people wanting to touch it. The 970m is a really strong graphic card in comparison to my 765m, so I really don't see much problems with BGA, mostly because 970m is already a strong card and you have the amplifier option to boost your machine. I don't really like the design/looks in comparison to the R1 series, so I might just wait a couple more years and see where this goes. I'll probably just upgrade the card in my laptop seeing as how that's the whole reason I got the 17 instead of the 14.

Also, yeah, I find myself never needing to use the ODD, but the lack of HDMI in-port is kinda a turn-off.

 

i see the GA as an interesting (though not necessarily good) experiment though they're defeating the point of it being portable. like i said, if you want desktop horsepower then get a desktop. the money you pay for the 17 and the GA you may as well get a desktop.

 

And what have they done? Nothing... Removed 2 RAM slots and put so many of those useless M2 slots to copy MSI... If I had to buy this BGA crap or MSI GT72, I'd chose the MSI... At least it has those 4 slots and 4 RAM slots and upgradebale MXM GPU..

 

Hardly...If you look at some of the paperwork the battery appears to take up most of the length where the disc drive 'should' be so not quite sure you gain anything from the disc drive being removed.

 

Hey! Where are gone the side LED on AW17?! There are only the front LED.

 

guess it ain't easy being sleek.

 

Chalk that up to another thing being removed then.

 

I think they wanna go throw a global design. A design for all people and not only for nerd like us

 

I guess the main appeal behind the GA is the fact that it technically makes the machine a 1.5 device that performs the same as if you were to have a good laptop and desktop. So it's essentially a 2 in 1.5 package deal. You still get a pretty sweet laptop without the amplifier, and with the amplifier, you have no real need for a desktop. So it's interesting where this is going in my opinion.

 

though you're still limited by the BGA CPU so you can't really OC anything....so you may as well go with a desktop using the M-ITX form factor.

 

The smallest mITX configurations are still larger and less portable than pretty much any laptop though, especially if you need a screen and keyboard. To me the GA is pretty pointless on the 15/17 but I can kinda see it being useful for certain uses with the 13, although the slow CPUs aren't going to do it any favors. It would be interesting to see a 13 with an overclocked 4940MX and no dGPU.

 

The BGA editions can still overclock, so +200mhz for 47xx, +400mhz for 48xx and +600mhz for 49xx.

 

not when you have a 180w PSU!

 

I was seriously going to go Alienware 17 this year, but them removing the Blu-ray drive kills that idea. No IPS display, ether? Bummer.

I guess it'll be a GT72 or G751 instead.

 

That is the main problem! If they left the 240W PSU, it would have been acceptable but they cheaped out on even that...

I'd suggest the Clevo P770ZM instead

 

Desktop CPU - ew.

 

Right! Power is so disgusting!

 

I am looking for a laptop for gaming only - so it's needless power in that case.

 

All 1080p displays on the lineup are IPS. From the 17 R2 configuration page.

 

Games are recommending i7 processors now like AC Unity or the witcher 3. It wouldn't be needless

 

Huh? I was complaining about a desktop CPU in a laptop. I'd much prefer to have a mobile CPU (i7, quad core) than a desktop CPU in my laptop. Better thermals, battery life, etc. - and the benefit from going from mobile quad-core i7 to desktop quad-core i7 in gaming is extremely minimal.

 

Okay, I'm not trying to have an argument here. A year ago games didn't even i7 in their recommended settings, today they're asking for an i7 3770. If you do take a look at the P750ZM you'll see that it's well equipped to cool that CPU. You may have other things that you prioritize like battery life but people that will buy this laptop probably don't care too much about it. However saying that the power of 4790k is not needed is ignorant as you have no idea what next year's games will require and now that they're digging into i7 CPUs in the gaming industry, maybe we will start feeling the Desktop vs mobile i7 gap because there is a gap.

 

i still don't get the point of the GA anyway cos all you're buying for $300 is a case, it doesn't seem to include a GPU of course so it ends up being more. though more over the GPU performance of mobile chips are getting closer and to the desktop GPUs to where they're beating certain models so to me the GA is a waste.

 

Ignorant? Ha. Let's put it this way: i5 2500K (Sandy Bridge) from several years ago is still a great gaming CPU today. All that I am saying is that it is overkill to get a desktop CPU in your laptop if you're gaming. That's it. If you're doing crazy stuff/just want it for fun/etc. - fine with me, go nuts. It's just not going to do much of anything for gaming. The i7 is the same 4 cores and 8 HT cores as the mobile i7 CPUs - just faster MHz/GHz (plus you have the challenge of cooling a desktop CPU in a mobile chassis). So it's not like you can use the 8 core PS4/XB1 argument.

Anyway - off topic.

I like the Gaming Amplifier for the 13" Alienware - but then I don't like the 13" Alienware because it's dual core only. I want 4 cores for multiplayer games like BF4 that benefit from it. But yeah, not really a fan of it for 15" or 17". I thought MSI was going to really do something with theirs - but then they made it a requirement that you dock the laptop to use it and it's like 8" off the ground. What?? Ha. I'd love to have a small laptop (13") and something like the GA - it would all fit in a backpack to go game somewhere if you needed extra juice or wanted to test stuff/etc.

BTW - I called Dell today and tried to get them to give me a big discount on the 15" config with a 980M - no go. Typically they'll give you 17% off if you push for it (around $1650 after tax) - I asked for $1600 or less and they flat out said no even though I walked away. Maybe in a few months when the newness wears off. In either case, bought an ASUS ROG G751JY-DH71 this afternoon at the Egg.