Received my Alienware M17x R3 (Pic Heavy)

First off, going to do a little bit of a review. I purchased this laptop 6/13/2011. If shipped out 6/20/2011. Not bad timing. The only upgrade I ordered was the 6970. This laptop will be used primarily for gaming. Yes, I could have just built a desktop, but I wanted something that I could just put in my backpack and take with me. This does it.

Price - 9/10. Got the discount for being military. Still over $1000, though. But, it's a gaming laptop with lots of bells and whistles. And it just looks cool. You do get what you pay for.

Shipping/build time - 10/10. Shipped fast, build time was quick, they notified me of everything. Box was not beat up, everything was nice and packed. No damage or anything.

Appearance/Layout - 10/10. Looks amazing. This is my first Alienware. After reading other people receiving laptops with marks, scratches, misaligned parts, etc, I made sure to thoroughly check mine over. Not a single issue besides some finger smudges. Wiped those off and it's amazing. Only gripe about layout is that I wish more ports were on the back, only for cosmetics.

Performance - 9/10. Scored an 18136 in 3dMark06. Not bad. I expect better when I install my SSD and update the drivers. Did not test any games out as I didn't feel like installing them. I'm not expecting this to blow my mind with performance. I did not buy an M18x with top options. I wanted something decent with the right price.

Sound - 7/10. Speakers don't breakup when turned to max settings, but boy they don't do much than that. Those little laptop speakers may be tuned my Klipsch, but they are tiny and don't produce much range. Though, they are laptop speakers, and they are about a 1/50 of the size of my cheap Logitech 5.1 setup. If I want better sound those will be plugged in.

Overall - 9/10. One of the best laptops I have ever seen. Some things could be better, but this isn't the top of the line model so I can't expect top of the line stuff. For the price and what it is meant to do, gets the job done and keeps you hooked on the customization and eye-candy. Props Dell/Alienware.

Later on tonight I will be taking more pics of my tear-down to repaste the CPU and GPU and to install the new drives. For now, here is from open to installing software to test.

***EDIT*** Due to the pics that I am linking from Photobucket are insanely huge (even after I resized them), I have decided to just let you guys visit the link to the album.

New laptop pictures by TraptPatriot - Photobucket

 

Nice photo shoot... I hope my replacement unit comes as nice as your current one. Also I just noticed AAFES raised their prices, only 15% OFF now, we ordered at the right time. Congrats! Did you get the 1080p screen?

In this photo, you'd be a hero if you were a beautiful girl in a Catholic school girl outfit! HAHAHA

 

Haha yea. I'm not camera friendly. I just don't take the time or the effort to learn how to take good shots and how to use my camera properly.

And no, I have the 1600x900 screen. I really don't like anything higher than that, and my 23" LCD was 1680x1050, so this is close enough for me.

 

Nice, been thinking about getting one of these.

 

Nice pics and nice review +rep!

 

dear sir,

congratulations on your purchase, i have recieved mine a couple of days ago and very pleased with its overall looks and performance. i have the same processor and GPU, however i score 17600 in the 3dmarks06 (stock with windows update,latest .net and directx). i was wondering what drivers/ccc are you running because your score is higher than mine

and if you updated the drivers could you please update your score for us

thank you and sorry for the questions/requests

 

Hey guys, sorry about the late reply. Didn't know these things were so touchy with the drivers install!

Anyway, got my SSD working and updated all the drivers. Basically, using stock besides what is shown in this link: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/580144-m17xr3-owners-driver-updates.html

I do not have the Intel Rapid Storage Tech drivers installed because I don't need/want them. Also, I am using the M18x 6970 video driver. I tried installing 11.6 from AMD but it won't work.

Now that everything is up and running, reran 3dMark06 and got a score of 18170. It probably has a bit to do with what programs you run in the background, too. Since I have an SSD, I disabled a lot of stuff that would run in the background for normal HDD's.

I also repasted my CPU and GPU (sorry, no pics). Took a lot longer than I anticipated but ArcticSilver5 really makes a difference. Stock stuff was almost clay-like and way too much of it was used.

I love this thing!!

 

i had this guide to use (including its own drivers):

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/mobil...6-display-drivers-notebooks-15-06-2011-a.html

and another try with newer drivers here:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=346152
latest display driver:
http://www2.ati.com/Drivers/11-6_vista64_win7_64_dd.exe

however, with stock drivers that came with the R3 and .net updates and directx, i get 17600 3dmarks06. with the newer drivers and 11.6 and cap1, 8.861 i think i get 12000 3dmarks06 score!! maybe i did something wrong.

give them a try and tell me if you succeeded plz .

i tried furmark max tem i think was 82. frames i cant recall but i will run it today and post it

 

Sweet machine. Congrats!!