Sage Advice Welcome - First Time Buyer

Hi.

So ive been researching for a few weeks now and i keep coming back to the same issue.

Basically, ive got £2000 to play with, im a games programmer/artist and need a machine i can take back and forth to my place of work once a week, the rest of the time standing in as a desktop replacement at home. Now the M17x R3 gives me the best config for my budget at current, if i could, id go for the m18x but i simply cant make it work to my requirements.

The spec ive dragged out is such:
Nebula red ;]
i7-2760QM (2.4)
2GB 580M / 6990M (See Q1)
8GB 1333mhz/ 1600mhz (See Q2)
750GB SATA/ 500GB Momentus XT SSHD (See Q3)


Right, so firstly let me just point out the following:

- I needed to upgrade the CPU since alot of the software i use will benefit more from it. Thats purely a work based decision.
- I never intend on overclocking.
- I never intend to upgrade the laptop. Seriously, not even the HDD.


So my questions are:

Q1: Possibly the most asked question on this board, and actually the major reason ive not ordered yet:

Id like the 580, but the throttling is putting me off. This is because i will not be taking the unit apart, i will not be repasting. Im very unsure on changing the vbios. Even with the guides im still not comfortable doing it. While id like to think i have a level of tech savvy, with regards to things like this.. im fine doing other peoples machines, but never my own.

So i guess what im asking is the chances of me experiencing throttling during gameplay is what? Considering i dont mind not playing on ultra, most games i can get on consoles i will, So really at current the only game id be looking into would be SWToR, maybe some RIFT, ect. MMO types. Considering this, would throttling be a major issue?

Again with the 6990, i have a 1gb 4870 in my desktop, it was placed in there, um, Feb 2010. Quite simply, since march 2010 ive NEVER updated the drivers. Its ran fine and ive not had issues with it. As such the reknown "driver problems" for the 6990, are they really as bad as people make out, would it matter if i didnt update the drivers that often? How bad are the stock drivers?


Q2.
Is it really worth paying £70 for 1600mhz 8GB RAM, over its 1333mhz counterpart?

Q3. With regards to the hard drives:
As i stated above, i wont be upgrading, and if i do.. it will be a couple of years down the line. As a result, the common reply of "buy cheap upgrade to SSD" is moot. I currently use a 500GB external Drive for storage with regards to my work. So the HDD will solely be for game /software storage.

Would the 500gb Hybrid be worth the loss of 250GB, speed wise? Its only £5 more than the 750GB. Is there any possible technical problems with the hybrid i might run into in the future.


Q4. I notice alot of you got 3 year extended warranties with dell. In the customisation options i can only find 3 year premium support for £340. I will be going for the year upgrade of premium support/software support ect as its only £40. However if this upgrade of £340 adds an extra 2 year hardware warranty, how recommended is this? Id hate to have to loose some of the spec to fit this option in, but if alienware laptops have a bad track record then it might be a necessity.

Thank you in advance for this, i know alot of you here on the forums are quite friendly/happy to help and that i appreciate. I have searched for the answer for these problems quite alot, especially with regards to the graphics card issue. Sadly however 99% of the time the references are to changing the clock speed/overclocking/underclocking ect ect, something im really not that interested in doing. I simply need a gaming rig that i can use to both test run the games i work with, and provide me with some mobile platform to game in my spare time.

 

1a. Throttling can be easily avoided, Just prop your laptop on a book so there's better airflow. I understand you aren't willing to change out parts, but eventually you will have to at least open up the back, and blow the dust out.
1b. same as 1a.
1c. Driver updates usually are a "As needed" issue. If you find that you can survive with the base driver provided by dell, you'll be fine.

2. If you aren't benchmarking you won't notice any visible difference.

3. I'd just go with the 750gb. More space, and as long as you can live with the extra 10 seconds of booting up, it's no big deal.

4. I'll let the other members give their inputs.

Btw, I "AM" Nvidia biased. Just putting that out there.

 

I see,

Regards to the graphics, so im guessing then providing i use a laptop cooling stand, (which also raises it at an angle) then the throttling wont be an issue?

As far as the HDD goes, im really tilting towards the hybrid purely for the extra speed since i dont need the space. If the loss of space is the only issue there then its worth it.

As far as #4 goes.. interesting, im going to guess youve had bad experiences?

 

if you don't buy it now you can always buy it later. I ended up buying the accidental damage warranty over a minor issue and now i've gone through over $1000 in parts. Seems like the the newer ones don't have the issues i have though so idk. it's nice knowing that you don't have to worry about damaging the machine though.

 

It's not that I've had bad experiences. I won my laptop through a contest, so I didn't get to choose anything.

 

I was apprehensive of the throttling as well. I got my M17x R3 yesterday and I've put this laptop through its paces. It's handled every game I've thrown at it, and the 580m hasn't throttled at all. I am using a Coolermaster that props the laptop up. The fan (which is quite loud) kicks on frequently while gaming... however temperatures have not been an issue.

 

Ahh ok

See i just kinda thought a cooling stand was a good idea regardless of the setup, So im kinda hoping that might lend itself to helping it along. The fan cant be as loud as my current desktop with what amounts to a jet engine on the top of the case.

Wasn't aware that i could get it after purchase.

 

You can usually add onto warranty while u have some form of warranty. If you try to get warranty after you run out though, the price kind of skyrockets.

 

was around $160 to upgrade the warranty to accidental damage warranty and they also extended it to 2013 instead of 2012. Not a bad deal imo.

 

Aha ok so thats something to consider, im guessing that its recommended to extend it then? Is there a track record of requiring replacements in the first three years?

Additionally, id be interested in hearing from others on the card issue, i appreciate the answers so far, but im still on the fence regarding it. I "Want" the 580 purely because it is the "currently" better card, but the 6990 doesnt seem to have any physical issues, bad drivers are something that is easily fixed by ATI.

The throttle issue however, while it can be easily fixed by dell, obviously isnt meant to be otherwise they would have given a option themselves to raise it.

 

Q1: Get more tech savy. I'm sorry to be so blunt, but if you're never going to upgrade even your video drivers for fear of problems, your laptop really isn't going to be reaching its full potential, and in the long-run, running out-dated drivers/firmware, having a laptop clogged with dust because it's never been cleaned, etc. will lead to more problems than learning how to do these things early-on would. Often drivers are the refine and improve performance, not just fix problems. I really would consider buying an aftermarket hard drive. Not even an SSD, but just a bigger mechanical one if you want. Get the 500GB Momentus for your applications, and you can pick up a secondary 1TB storage drive (if needed) from Scan or Overclockers for a lot less than Dell will try and sell you one.

Q2: No. Simple-as on this one. It won't show you any tangible benefits.

Q3: Yes, I'd go with the 500GB drive. It will be substantially faster than the 750GB mechanical drive, but again, you're probably going to have to perform a firmware update somewhere in its lifetime.

Q4: I wouldn't bother with it personally. If you have to sacrifice performance/parts/etc. for it, I wouldn't get it. You could always just get a year of accidental damage to go along with the standard one year. That would give you protection against pretty much anything, and wouldn't cost an arm and a leg.

 

Well when it get so outdated that I can't use it for what I want then il buy a new laptop and this will be passed on to a family member for less intensive stuff.

The drivers may be updated but only around every 6months or so, my worry is that with the issues each card faces that I won't be able to get normal use without spending alot of time constantly updating and tweaking. Which is not what i want a laptop for. I'm happy to do so on my custom rig, but I'm getting rid of that purely so I don't have to keep messing with stuff.

 

It doesn't take much tweaking. For me, all I had to do was use a modified bios, disable the integrated graphics chip, then smooth sailing from there on out.

 

Well after a bit of looking, im deffinatly leaning towards the 6990m. Quick question, with the new announcements recently, any chance of them changing the specs in the next month

Its a low chance i know.. just im tempted to hold off for around a month before buying

 

If you'd like to buy the later tech, aka, the 24nm instead of 40nm, wait a few months. Not a guarantee, but it looks like they'll offer the 600/7000's soon.

 

Hmm ok, guess il hold off for a while then. Gotta focus on buying a new car first anyway -.-