People say Alienware comptuers suck

Whenever a desktop person starts spouting off about how they are better in every way, just unplug the laptop and walk around the room with it while still using it.

Then say "Try doing that with a desktop"

 

No one is bashing anyones equipment.... Joe is saying that some of my details are incorrect, which is true.

Alienware: Lighting, awesome case, next-day service, RGB LED.
Sager: None of the above, but cost significantly less ($910 in my example)

The whole point of my past posts was to show the OP the important differences between the two.

Could you please point out where I trash talked Alienware?

 

Hewlett Packards suck, there is no computer which is more of a cheap plastic piece of crap than HP. And to think their former CEO who outsourced thousands of jobs is running for Senator in California! Hopefully Californians deliver the smack-down HP deserves.

 

For what it is worth, that Clevo is also an exceptional deal for the time being as an effort to clear stock (at least that is the rumors). Since the x7200 is the new dual gpu option from Clevo.

To some, the screen or service is easily worth it, that will just have to be an opinion based decision. And the Alienware can easily be had for less than that, you just have to know what you are doing when ordering. Some members have had as much as 25% discounts.

 

That, would be ignorant bashing. Blanket statements like that make no one want to listen to you. If you judge a company based on its cheapest prodcuts, then yes, it will look like a cheap company. Ask Aikimox how he likes his 8740w before making broad ignorant statements like that. I loved the HP I had (DV9260nr)

 

To the author of this thread, people were bashing alienware saying its no good bla bla, and it sux. The debate about sager and alienware is all in good fun, theres no harm with friendly competition. The people bashing the alienwares though just want the company to go bankrupt along with all the other gaming mobile laptops because there desktop fanboys. Cant let the people that dont care about the mobile industry run it can we.

 

Saying HP sucks is indeed ignorant bashing. And trying to tie in that claim with the former CEO running for Senator makes absolutely no logical sense.

 

Well at least we agree on one thing...

 

Some people also say that Lamborghini's and Ferrari's are a waste of money but those same people would buy one if they had the money to waste. For me it is a choice.

The money I earn; I spend on women, cars, booze and computers. The rest I just waste.

 

+1 rep

/10 char

 

you make me giddy sir/mam. Now lets all sit down, relax, eat some fruit and vegies and forget all about what frozensolid just said.

 

In that order?

lol

 

It really depends on what time of day it is.......

Edit: The car is a 1998 BMW M3, the booze is Macallan single malt scotch, the computer is in the sig (soon to be changed ...maybe for an M17x hence me lurking around here) and the girlfriend is .........

 

I'll be sitting in an E39 M5 shortly. The neighbor has an E36 M3 though, I always <3'd those the bestest.

 

LOL, more clevo fan boys coming in to the Alienware forum to start trash talking. This is getting so old. Don't they ever give up? We, at least, are mature enough not to do that in their forum.

 

Actually we kind of did that a lot in their forum talking about the x7200 before it came out. Turns out we were right....but that does not change what we did lol

 

Lozz........ enjoy.
edit: Mine puts a smile on my face every time I get into it.

I took a look a the review of the M17x on Toms Hardware and while the review was good there are a few negative comments from posters but it seems that none of the posters actually own an M17x and probably fall into into the category of people that the OP was referring to.

I am still undecided whether I will jump into the M17x owners group. Correct me if I am wrong but IMO the 285 in SLI, 5870 in CF and (edit) a single 480M all have approximately the same graphics power. That being the case I would love for AW to offer the M17x with the 480M as an option and if they did I would jump today.

 

The 480M is too power hungry for the current thermal limits of the M17X. That may change if AW makes some mods or it may not...

You should just get the M17X with the crossfire 5870 and upgrade once better cards are offered for the M17X.

 

In games crossfire is supported, the 5870m crossfire is generally significantly stronger than a single 480m.
There was a review (might have been anandtech) recently which backed this up.

Staying on topic- my experience with Alienware/Dell was pretty poor to say the least (I'm in Europe). That alone will prevent me buying Alienware machines out of preference for at least a year or two. I understand the situation is, and always has been, better in the US, perhaps its now better in Europe...but hell if Im going to risk finding out again until the previous teams I dealt with are long gone.

 

5870 CF will beat a 480m in every game that supports crossfire. As for your experiences with service, everyone unfortunately had the same bad experience with the M17 support. This was because it was an Alienware machine (from before dell was taking over) and dell did a poor job of supporting it. It was killed off very quickly after the M17x was announced. Being in Europe will only compound the problem but I think that service with the Dell Alienware machines is much better (at least it has been for me).

As it is currently, there is NO way the M17x can accept a pair of GTX 480m cards. The power supply and the cooling are both too weak. The cooling might be barely acceptable but the power supply is absolutely inadequate.

 

.......and in games where Crossfire is not supported?

Just a general question. Are there any games that you can't play or only perform badly with CF or even a single 5870.

Having read a lot of the posts in the lounge can someone confirm I actually have three graphics options with dual 5870's fitted. Integrated graphics (stealth mode), single GPU and enable Crossfire?

 

...and my philosphy on life; whoever dies with the most toys...... wins!

 

Sorry for not being clear but I was referring to a single 480M not dual.

 

The IGP is not accessible as the HM55 chipset is needed for this. The PM55 however is what is used and allows the use of CrossFireX. So there are only 2 gpus present. And in stealth mode they are just put into low power mode.

The R1 (what I have) has 3 gpus in it.

 

Why take a single GTX 480m when 2 5870m's will give more performance, use less power, run cooler, cost less?

 

I had a HD card in a laptop years ago and it gave me nothing but trouble, probably because of poor drivers and poor game support. I know the world has moved on but my concern is; after I buy this computer I am going to take it a long way away from any Tech Support. It will have to work every day and play every night.

I suppose I want someone to tell me that 5870's in Crossfire are going to be able to do a normal days work (normal MS Office stuff) without the slightest hiccup and still provide great gaming performance without having to be fiddling with the settings for different games. Hence the question about what games, if any people are having trouble with.

By the way scook9, I do appreciate the help and feedback. Thanks.

 

I think Joker5150 would be one of the best critics of the 5870s so far having thoroughly tested and troubleshot things for them as Dell has come up with fixes. If he is happy with them (which I believe he is right now) then I would say they can be solidly recommended.

As for ATI as a whole, I currently have all AMD cards (coincidence, I go where the value is) and do not have any complaints. SLI tends to have better driver support but right now CrossFireX is working great for me and many others.

 

This is so true. I LAN heaps. I have a really good desktop as well, but I really don't want to lug around a water-cooled 980x with 8hdds in it to lans. The m17x is awesome for great gaming performance in an easy to move package.

I love my m17x..

 

Howdies chiefs,

Yeh FIFA 11 and PES 11 atm perform woefully on any ATi card I'm assuming. Whether in crossfire or in single mode. My R1 destroys those two games with Nvidia GPUs. These 2 games however tend to not support SLi or Crossfire to begin with so they usually run on one GPU. So when running head to head the 260s smashed the 5870. It should be down to lack of AMD support for the games atm though. Nvidias newest driver release already supported both the games in their list.

So heres hoping for better performance and game support in AMD catalyst mobility 10.10
Too bad 10.9 mobility was skipped over. Didn't even bother trying to fix it or release a later version. Instead just opted to skip it entirely and told us to wait 2 months for 10.10

Cheers.

 

Any idea when this driver becomes available? We're already a few days into October.

 

No idea chiefs.
No word at all of anything or any dates. I'm pretty new to the AMD mobility driver releases. This will be my 1st one. Only had the notebook for about a month. Hope it comes out soon.

Thats the main difference I guess when I was on Nvidia GPUs, new drivers every week lol. Good or bad I didn't mind, at least I was getting the opportunity to try out something and get it fixed. Much different now with AMD. I've only had the one Dell driver update experience so for. It was a pretty good one so thats good!

Just would like to get 10.10 soon so I can see if it helps boost some of my games performance. It should be able to beat the 260s hands down but atm its not even doing that lol.

Cheers.

 

Hi Reborn. I don't play either of those titles but it does worry me that AMD aren't reponding quickly. Maybe one day it will be a game I want to play and then I would be disappointed...... to say the least!

 

Yeh I sure hear what your saying chiefs. Generally the 5870s are great performing cards, they run super great with all my other games so far. It was just this instance where I was surprised that they didn't perform that well or as well as my older Nvidia GPUs. I really do miss Nvidia though to tell you the truth.

Waiting on the 400m series to poke its head out late this year or otherwise next year then will see what my options are if I have any to upgrade the GPUs. Who knows AMD might start popping out a few more drivers more regularly in the future. Heres hoping ey. It would certainly be nice.

Which games do you currently play now or plan on playing?

Cheers.

 

You should never have to wait more then about 2 weeks if a game is not supported. I would expect 10.10 out by the 3rd week of october

 

Well the people who says Alienware laptops suck sucks. Seeing is believing..

 

Dragon Age, BFBC2, COD Modern Warfare 2, Total War Empire and Napoleon, Civ V, Splinter Cell, Crysis (ocassionally), and Silent Hunter IV. Sometimes Far Cry 2................ of course not all at once It depends on what mood I am in.

edit: I am waiting on Fallout IV and Medal of Honor

 

Ah yup cool cool.

I've played all of those games except for Civ V and dragon age. They all run super and I've finished them both on the R1 and R2. I think I might try and play SC2 on the R2 again soon. I finished it on the R1 maxed out settings. There were some massive slow downs though. So hopefully the R2 will be much better.
With your games list you shouldn't have any troubles.

Cheers.

 

hi reborn2003 did you experience any slowing down issue on your M17x R2when playing Civ V at Max setting?

 

Oopss sorry.. I guess this question is for other NB forum members who has played Civ V at Max settingson on their M17x R2

 

Thanks reborn. That is reassuring. I actually have to make a final decision within two weeks of whether to buy now or wait 6 - 9 months. I am hoping to hear some feedback about the SLI 285's and maybe that will just tip me over the edge, one way or the other.

The problem is I don't need a new computer because there is nothing I have found that the Clevo can't do......yet. But I really do like the sound of the RGB monitor (I have never seen one) and the backlit keyboard and I like the looks of the M17x. The Clevo looks like ......well.... a black box. A fairly powerful little black box and it has been super reliable!

edit: Of course what we need and what we buy aren't always the same thing

Suppose I do buy now what are the chances of being able to fit updated video cards later. I know it would have to be supported by drivers and BIOS. Are there any rumors of AW releasing the next incarnation of the M17x? How long has the R2 been released?

 

No worries chiefs. Ah yeh trues ey i see i see.

Well there has literally been no news at all about a new M17x or any updates to it. If there are I would have to say that there won't be any upgrades for a while yet. Even if and when new stuff comes out it still takes a few months before it is offered in Dell and Alienware machines. I believe the R2 has been out for close to 9 or 10 months now. Correct me if I'm wrong other people. I remember I got my R1 last year in December so the R2 must have come out a few months after that. So maybe its only been out for 7 or 8 months then.

I can definitely recommend notebooks with keyboard lighting. Once you have seen them or used them you can't go back to standard non back-lit keyboards it just doesn't feel right. I started off with the M1730 notebook and loved having the back-lit keyboard.
Also the RGB LED screen on the R2 is just WOW Amazing Scenes lol
Its like a $1000 dollar upgrade for those who want it. I've seen and heard some on the R1s trying to do the upgrade. Putting both my R1 and R2 side by side it is like night and day between the 2 screens. The main difference though is the colours vibrant and the brightness is super super bright. When I look on the R1 screen now I keep thinking the brightness level is turned down so I go to turn it up but its already on max brightness. lol

Yeh if you do decide to buy in 2 weeks you won't be disappointed. I'm pretty sure we will be able to upgrade to newer gpus down the road as well. Just the waiting game for them to finally come out. A couple of 470ms in SLi or 480ms or 485ms would be nice.

By the way your clevo specs are pretty darn Super duper already chiefs. I mean you already have the 920XM and thats an awesome CPU. + SSD and the 280s are no slouch. Although having 2 of em would be nicer.

Cheers.

 

Hey theres cheifs,

I might be getting it soon.

Theres a thread about it here as well though.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/519952-civilization-5-m17x-r2.html

Cheers.

 

Thanks for the link reborn2003.

 

The R2 came out in early May/ Late April. I am not holding my breath for a new revision although I think around this month would be when it would be announced. October is when the new M15x and M17x with 4870s were announced last year.

 

Trust me I know about talking about Alienware on non-alienware related PC forums. You will always get the same response.

My M17x is just awesome.

 

I love Alienware laptops and cannot go back. And yes that IS subjective

But I too had a long hard choice between the value of the G73 and the quality of the M17x. In the end quality one out and I know I made the right choice. I think BOTH companies have goood representation on these forums and customer service is hit-or-miss for everyone, but like everyone else the RGB screen, the build quality, and even the feel of the keyboard helped the M17x to win out. I did need a 20% discount to make it work though otherwise I could never afford that much for a laptop.

And my CrossFire is working just fine, no sleep issues, and I havent even updated drivers or BIOSes!

 

i can wait man.
the wait is killingme aaah eeeh

 

What's the trick to getting these 20%-25% discounts everyone keeps mentioning.

Damn, I need to update my Signature below... Been awhile since i posted and I sold that laptop Nov of last year when I got my M15X.

 

so...what manufacture is printed on the alienware m17x/m17x r2 motherboard. any one know?

or does it say hanstarr like so many others...just curious..

 

Hannstar makes displays for notebooks, I've never heard of them making mainboards. The Alienware boards are all flextronics.