Soon to be a ... Hopefully proud owner of an Alienware M17x

Hey everyone at Notebookreview.com

I've came on the forums to ask a question that will assure me that i've made the right choice in picking an Alienware M17x R3. Basically my uses on this laptop would be to record gameplay, use photoshop and most importantly play games at ultra i'm hoping. The games i'm looking to play on ultra/record are World of Warcraft, Team Fortress Two, Fallout New Vegas, Crysis Two and several other games, I will list my specs and let you guys be the judge of whether or not this will be good for me

Memory
8192MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x4096

Video Card
1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460M w/ Optimus Technology

Hard Drive
640GB (2x320GB) SATA Raid 0 "Stripe" (7,200rpm) Dual HDD

Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 2720QM (2.20Ghz, 6MB, 4C)

Please answer my questions listed, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

if you can swing it, dont get the 460...get the 6970 at least.

 

I would get the AMD 6970M card. From what I have read its superior in all areas by a large margin.

 

I'd personally rather not get the Nvidia 460m card. Optimus doesn't work properly most of the time and alot of older games and such will have bsods from that card.

If you just ordered it, i'd change the graphics card for something else.

 

How would I change it though? Also, can anyone give me an answer on the questions I asked?

 

1) You will definitely be able to run Photoshop with the M17x R3, as Photoshop is CPU-based, and all of the CPUs that are offered on the R3 are very fast.

2) With the 460M, you will be able to run Team Fortress 2 on ultra + record.

3) The 460M can't run games like Crysis 2 on ultra. So don't even think about recording on Crysis 2.

4) You may be able to run games like World of Warcraft and Fallout: New Vegas on ultra, but you won't be able to record at the same time.

Like other people have mentioned: get the 6970M instead of 460M if you want to confidently run games on ultra. The 460M is already struggling to run some current games on ultra, so 460M will surely be outdated in the very near future.

Here's a link to 460M benchmarks: http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-460M.33612.0.html

 

It says on the Order Status page 'Work in Progress' I'm guessing I can't change to the Radeon 6970HD? Besides on the Dell.co.uk site it has no option for the Radeon 6970HD to come with your Alienware

 

Cut back the memory to 4GB and the HDD to 320GB and buy the 6790m or the 6990m.

Dont forget to add the FHD screen.

You need to call Dell for the 6990m. I dont know if they will sell you the 6970m since it will be replaced by the 6990m.

 

Its not the problem with money, it's the problem that i've already ordered it and it's status is Work in Progress as I said above. Also the problem that its not listed as an available video card on Dell.co.uk

 

Just call Dell tomorrow that you want to add the 6990m instead of the 460m. The 6990m is available but its not on the configurator yet. They will either add it or cancel your order.

But you need to call them ASAP.

 

How much would the 6990 come to a total of with the price of £ 1,564.01 if you know Brabo? Thanks for the help that you have already given.

 

What about the 6970? Do they have that if you call them directly?

Also, leave more opinions if you can please on how this gaming laptop would work

 

About 50-75 pounds over the 460m. Something like that. But its money well spend, it will destroy the 460m.

You can cut back on the RAM and HDD and buy a SSD at the local shop.

I dont know about the 6970m, but its a little cheaper then the 6990m.

Just give them a call. Worst case is you need to cancel your order and wait for the refund and re-order. If you re-order, contact them by phone or chat to get some discount.

 

That's quite strange that Dell UK doesn't offer the 6970M as an option. Though, I see that they do offer you the 580M, which is a bit faster than the 6970M, but will cost you quite a bit more. There are basically 3 choices for you:

1) Live with your order, and accept the fact that the 460M will run some games on ultra, but not other games.

2) Call and change your order to the 580M, which will definitely run all games at ultra, but will cost more than 6970M.

3) Buy the M17x R3 from an international reseller like HIDevolution.com - Specializing in customized computers, electronics, and mobile devices for gamers and professionals as they have the 6970M available.

 

Brabo, you should edit all of your posts and correct "6790m" to "6970M", as there's no such thing as a 6790m, and it might cause the OP and other readers unnecessary confusion if you keep stating it as such.

 

*fixed* its kinda late here. (02:30)

 

I appreciate this guys. Just hopefully i'm not late tomorrow calling for this 6970 AMD RadeonHD card and I don't have to get refunded and have to re-order again, I would love to know how much it would be from the GTX460 though

 

From the 460m to the 6970m is 18 pounds or so. 6970m to 6990m is 50 pounds or so. Dont know the exact numbers.

Give them a call and let us know what happend.

 

And they definitely do the 6970/6990 upgrades through the calling process?

 

It's not all that surprising given the supply constraints on the 6970M. It was never offered here in Canada if you tried ordering on the web; you had to call a rep and ask for it. Now that the 6990M is available, the 6970M has mysteriously showed up as on option in some configurations. It wasn't an option on the base model (but the 6990M and 580M are), but is an option on the mid-range configuration. Stupid Dell...

 

Would the quality of my gameplay be good on ultra settings with the 6970 AMD RadeonHD? Basically, my one game i'd be very intrigued in as to how it performs with these laptop specifications (With the 6970) would be World of Warcraft as it's my most played game and I just want to enjoy smooth gameplay and beautiful graphics

 

I'm sure you would be able to get around 60fps on ultra settings. Check the link in my sig for gaming benchmarks.

 

With the 6970m you should have no problems with any raiding content on ultra. You will probably not be able to set distance to max. The bigger issue will probably be whether you are on a high population server and experience lag server side. Half of the games you listed will be unplayable on ultra settings, such as Crysis 2 and Fallout.

 

The wierd thing about this is, i've seen Youtube footage of other Alienware's such as M15x/M14x play with lower specifications against the ones I have chosen on games such as Crysis, World of Warcraft and Fallout: New Vegas on everything ultra/high settings. Yet, they still recieve amazing FPS throughout their gameplay in crowded/explosion/big areas, i'm extremely confused and can only hope for the best when my Alienware M17x is expected to be delivered on the twenty-seventh

 

Crysis 2 DirectX 9 would run fine on ultra but with the DirectX 11 patch you would have to drop down some settings to make it playable. This is with the 6970m.

 

Ah, ok. I also seen someone comment on how the screen resolution effected something, will the 17.3" WideHD+ (1600 x 900) WLED LCD be fine?

 

No get the FHD screen. You can always turn down the resolution with that screen.

 

Somehow i've got a bad feeling Dell are going to have to refund me and make me re-order for those two items ...

 

It would be worth it, trust me. I have seen both screens and the 1080p screen is much better. Having the 1080p screen and at least a 6970m are what makes or breaks this laptop for me. Without them I would see no reason to get an R3.

 

Dont stress yourself to much.

You can wait for the refund OR order your new system and wait for the refund so you will only lose a couple of days.

 

Yes you are right, those laptops run at a lower resolution, so the games are not as graphic intensive. You can get the m17x and turn down your resolution in games if that is what you want lol.

 

I was hoping they could change my order, apparently they can't because i've already picked my specifications. I'm that eager to be finally playing a gaming laptop that I can't cancel it.

Any other ways around this?

 

Then cancel, take the refund and re-order. There is no other way.

Once it hits production its nearly imposible to cancel, then you will have to wait until you receive the system and then return it to get the refund.

Just cancel it now, take the refund...it will show up on your backaccount in max. 2 weeks.

Once you canceled and Dell confirmed it is indeed canceled call a sales rep and re-order.

You can only do it this way if you have enough funds or else you have to wait for the money to show up in your bankaccount.

 

I will order a Radeon 6970HD and get a local computer specialist to install/put it into the laptop, but with these specs alone can anyone tell me if i'll have good FPS on World of Warcraft (Ultra). That's all I want opinions on now