Repair M17 R1 or Replacement? Advice required

Hi Guys and Gals,

I'm after some professional advice if I may.

My Alienware M17 R1 (see sig) has been playing up massively and now it looks like the battery and GPU may need replacing. Of course the beauty of this laptop that it was the last Alienware to have a MXM board so of course I/Dell can just replace the majority of parts under warranty without the motherboard etc being removed

However, a new laptop is appealing (isn't it?) New 7000 series CPU (BGA filth, I know) but also the 1000 series GPU, new display, Alienware GPA compatible etc. But, the new laptop's are all BGA, don't have a blu-ray drive nor a standard 2.5mm hard drive caddy but my extended warranty expires in September 2017 so if the new laptop fails beyond that then I would find myself up a creek without said paddle - But it shouldn't fail, should it?

I know some swear by their ye old faithful laptops, and some have ordered new Alienware BGA laptop without a care in the world ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ so thought I would look for some advice from the community.

Thanks!

 

Your GPU is like 3 generations behind, your RAM is DDR3 @ 800 MHz? also very slow storage sub system.

I suggest you upgrade but not to an Alienware 17 R4, instead I suggest getting the MSI GT73 VR Titan Pro.

It has more RAM slots (4 vs 2 on the Alienware), it has more storage (2x m.2 NVMe PCIe slots + 1 regular m.2 slot + 1 2.5" HDD/SSD slot), it also has a better 120hz / 5 ms GSYNC screen, the colors are better than the one Alienware has as that's QHD but also has horizontal banding line issues

If you are fine with only 32GB RAM and lesser storage then you can get the new Alienware with Tobbi eye tracking and the graphics amp but do note that cooling on the MSI is superior and their screens don't suffer from the backlight bleeding which has plagued Alienware for years all the way since the Alienware 18

Check the MSI laptops here:

http://www.hidevolution.com/catalogsearch/result/?a=all&q=gt73vr

Alienware here:

http://www.hidevolution.com/new-laptops/shop-by-manufacturer/alienware/17-laptops

 

Hi Phoenix,

Firstly thanks for the comprehensive reply! It's appreciated.

I should have elaborated further when I said 'replacement' as the replacement would be from Dell/Alienware as I know after several repairs they often look to replace the laptop as you said, it's three generations behind so I don't think a refurb will be an option. It's a mighty assumption that they will just replace it of course but it's a fair one.

So that takes me back to my original question, stick with the old gal and see through further repairs or potentially accept a replacement whilst I'm still in warranty.

 

Sorry to sorta hijack the thread but I've an old M17x myself with a semi bad GPU. Works with hybrid disabled but enabling the graphics brings up a blank screen on windows boot. I can see the mouse cursor but nothing else its black. Is it possible to install a GTX675 into this as a replacement GPU? I got 2 spare ones gathering dust from my M18x.

 

@tinker_xp

My personal opinion though, you have your options and choice to make.