The new M17xR3 will be Alienware's first 3D-capable Laptop - Discuss here

Knowing dell, it may not even show up tomorrow. Not that it would cause any less rage

 

the base config will start at 1499

within 1499 will it include

2630qm+gtx 460m+1080p screen+4gb ram+500 gb hdd?

or

2410m+gt540m+900P+2gb+250gb ??huhu

 

y'all know, I've been monitoring the forum and the current thread for 3 days already. Not that I had very much time for gaming, I just need a greatly performing system and well, I like to "raid the dungeon" or "blow up some heads" in spare time and that said, I never used to have an alienware (pricing is really killing me, especially out of States). Now that I have a need in a laptop (moved to study in the US) and can get it well... the least overpriced, I'm considering to get new r3 OR a slightly used r2.
From my perspective as of a new user's, to me R3 sounds like a better deal: i can live with single 2gb GPU, because i'll get thinner and lighter laptop than r2. Thinking of its plastic components instead of alluminium, I bet they should make it round 30% lighter.
anyway, just wanted to share with u guys something most of you could have already seen:
if trust IGN, this one reveals the 3d glasses and weight info:
Alienware 3D M17x Laptop -CES 2011
so if i got it correctly: laptop got 2 pounds lighter, you get 3d glasses with it (don't have to buy separately) and wireless HDMI streaming will be offered later on (this rly confuses me a lot)
YouTube - Alienware M17X laptop at CES 2011 - Which first look review
looks fantastic to me.
Anyways, tomorow I wanna open the browser on alienware official page and see some r3 specs out there

 

I just caught this on youtube:

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Seems they changed their punchline from "All Powerful" to "The Most Immersive".

 

LOL...oh no...that's not good. I just saw that video on youtube too.
I ordered a R2 at the outlet and should get here 1/11 but on Monday I hope Dell surprises us all!

 

meaning: forget the double graphcards, we're going to increase buyer range.
actually in terms of economic success, it's a right move. But if they wanna compete with, say, asus g73jw, they'd better have some better specs... pricing i am sure will be higher anyway, "geez, its alienware". pay for brand. actually i could've gotten an asus at $1500 with 8gig n gtx460m on i7 740 proc. but i kinda liked how alienware looks better.

 

I know some people may want this feature BUT....why the heck would you wanna plug your "playstation" into your "gaming" laptop????????? - isnt that kind of like playing a normal DVD in a Blu Ray Player???

 

It's one of those useless features I'll never use, like 3D and that HDMI feature they keep promoting. I just want a computer that plays games with pretty graphics and looks great as well. Too much to ask?

 

They better put SLI / Xfire back in because many people who bought the R1 and R2 that want an R3 will be dissapointed with the specs that are currently announced.. I think a 2GB video card isn't THAT bad though but 2x 1GB videocards in SLI or Xfire seemed to be much better.. now that i will be able to afford an alienware in a few months, they are changing the whole product wich makes me, and probably many others dissapointed.

And yeah stevie, i got a PS3 to plug into my TV, not into my laptop..
We buy an Alienware for PC gaming and not for console gaming imo.
But allright, lets see if they will come with xfire/sli again someday.

 

ok just to explain why would u need it: i am gonna be 13000 km from my home and well frankly a console does have much more games available, but i can't carry on a TV with me to the airplane or buy one in there coz i gonna return home every 4 months!! so what do i do? it is more than perfect to me, i get console & laptop = im all good.

 

i think the tv in is a really cool feature for all laptops to have over time as a standard option. What i imagine is some Dell alienware exec was thinking of a kid in a college dorm room and only his laptop with him and being able to join his buddies online would be great investment. Also when comparing laptops the individual will put a $100 value on the option to be able to have input HDMI. I was expecting all this on a RGB SCREEN

 

Well I honestly have no problem with added features, I just don't have a need for them lol. I just hope they didn't take out RGB and SLI/CF. As a gamer who really only games on his desktop or laptop, those two are the only things I want.

I understand what Dell is after though, just hope they don't gimp it.

 

I wouldn't mind HDMI in on my R2 as well as sata 3. SB is going to rock now that TS will work with it.

 

We still worry about the thermal throttling though right?

 

Yeah that's definitely a problem if Tom's hardware is to believed. I can live without SB though, a 920xm + TS will be the 2nd fastest mobile CPU around after the 2920xm which is fine by me. Both would be overkill anyway but with the R2 you know it wont throttle.

 

I can believe the possibilities of thermal problems since it's thinner, weighs less (which either means less heatsink material or more plastic), and probably has smaller fans. That and we haven't seen the bottom so there might be some venting issues too.

 

Yep heat will be an issue if they dropped 2 pounds. We all know the issues with the M15x in that area. But we'll see if it happens a lot or if it is just Crysis...

I guess the 2nd thing that confuses me some may be connected to the above. If you are going "single card", and it's a "gaming laptop" with possibly even the overhead of 3D added to the list of GPU burdens, then wouldn't you aim to put in a 485M or 470M or the most heavy duty single GPU you could in the machine? A 460M is midrange stuff. Oh well, possibly they are waiting for the advent of the 56x or 58x members of the 5 family. Don't know. What this news would mean is that the M17x has now become woefully underpowered in the GPU arena, while going up in the CPU arena. That will send me elsewhere.

Don't need 3D, though 120hz screens are nice for other things.
Don't need HDMI in, but don't really mind if it's there either. But if it stops functioning after some driver install I'll never know.

Oh well. It is what it is at this point. Didn't buy the R1 because won't touch a Nvidia chipset ever. R2 didn't really want the ATI chips though I came close and really wanted a bit faster I7's. Now R3 goes all single GPU and I'm probably just going to keep the money in the bank and give up.

Just to put this in perspective, 16k 3D06 is about as fast as a 8800GTX on the desktop. While that was fast in its day, it's not now. That's not to say I expect desktop things in this machine, but 22k 3D06 would still be 25-35% slower than a decent desktop, but it would be good enough to last a few years of high res gaming. 9800M SLI machines could hit 14-15k a few years ago. Getting 16k (from the leaked screenshots) isn't shabby but it's not fantastic either.

So let's say AW went all "mass market" on us, appealing to the broader audience. That puts them into a sea of machines which all do the same thing, are priced to the edge of profitability, and sell by the bucketload. That's fine for a XPS or some high end mass market aimed device, but that shouldn't have been what the M17x was about. 3D won't really do much to make this machine more "high end". It will help, but it won't make some magic sales figures happen. What you will get is a pretend machine that has all the look and lights as if it was really fast but will really perform about as well as a gaming machine from 2 years ago.

2 steps forward and 3 steps back.

 

Quite agree with that statement - as AW is supposedly the "high end" division of Dell's laptops, they should have left it as such...concentrated on maxing out and improving upon the R2 with better gpu's, better cooling, that kinda thing....

They should have left the "multimedia" stuff to the XPS range....if you want a multimedia 3d laptop, that SHOULD have been the range that it was put into and NOT Alienware (lets just hope the option is there for non-3d screen and rgbled still exists!)

Its a smart move from Dell as yes, the new R3 will appeal to more people at a more affordable entry level budget but c'mon guys....we all know that enthusiasts are quite prepared to pay thousands for a really "superior" laptop.....these enthusiasts will now look elsewhere for their "Ferrari" laptop 'cos whats on offer at the moment is equivalent to maybe a "Corvette"

What dya think?

PS....i hope my thoughts on the subject dont offend anyone thinking of buying an R3, for some it WILL be great, for others, not so great - no offense is meant by my post.

 

I am looking to buy a new laptop and am looking very closely at the R3. I would rather prefer honest opinions from informed people rather than hacks buying into Dell's marketing drivel. So IMO, no offense taken

 

Mentioned this in the epic long Ces 2011 thread. I felt it was significant too. It's like alienware thinks there was something wrong with gaming on a regular screen and decided that 3d I more important that powerful graphics.

 

Okay so what i am really wondering about the R3 now is will it run Black Ops and all that stuff for example on highest settings? (With the 2GB Video card) If they would later enable 2GB video cards in SLI / xfire that would be really great - i think theyre just waiting for some of the newer GPU's and put those in later (better ones than the current listed).

 

I wonder why dell didnt just get rid of the 900p screen. Offer one 1200p RGB screen and another 3D screen. That way people can choose whatever they want and they maintain the high end standards.

 

Im hoping that this will be the case come tomorrow when (if) it goes live. Screen-wise, I would be happier if the "options" were just 1200p rgbled or 3d 1080p. I would still go for the rgbled as im not a fan of 3d.

 

I think this shift for alienware can be related to how car companies DONT operate. Dell feels their flagship all powerful notebook needs to be on the high tech machine with all the extras and latest gimmicks while sacrificing power.

It's like GM putting an automatic parking option and an electric engine into the corvette zr1 because those are leading edge technologies. GM puts it in caddilac not corvette.

Dell needs to keep all the junk in xps not in alienware.

 

What will be funny (if the single GPU issue and heat issues are correct) is to have a rundown list that compares the M17x to the M15x and the Asus J73.

Difference to the M15x will be a slightly larger screen, 3D and a 2nd hardrive.
Difference to J73 will be looks and a larger battery.

Then do a cost comparison and most of the market will walk away from the M17x...

Sad

 

Very well said. I don't think 3D capabilities are necessary for a gaming system and no need to abandon sli / xf just to make the system a bit sleeker... it's not a laptop for on-the-go working anyway.

 

Hi, new here first post but I have been reading the comments by a lot of you on here in regards to the M17x r3 and after reading the specs from CNET I see no cause for complaint. Also, one of the features that I find most impressive on the R3 version is the inclusion of a hdmi input for people that travel like myself, enjoy pc gaming, but also console gaming it is a dream come true, because now I don't have to lug around a laptop, external monitor or tv, and console. Furthermore, the new Led screen will come in at 120hz that is much better for gaming and it will be one of only a handful of laptop monitors and lcd tv's that offer 120hz processing. In regards to the 3d that is not a big deal for me but I do know that it will one of few if not the only laptop that offers 3d gaming in full hd i.e. 1080p. Combined with faster more efficient processors (google sandy bridge ces 2011 for graphs) and more memory (I run a lot of virtual machines) and usb 3.0 I see the M17x r3 as a win win especially for people that have to travel with their laptops you know the whole mobile gaming concept. If people want a true desktop replacement Sager makes a great one as well as other brands. In my opinion a big, heavy, power hungry laptop that can't live for 60 minutes without being plugged in is a desktop, and for way less money than what Alienware is charging for a fully loaded M17xr2 I have a gaming pc in HTPC form that will chew it up and spit it out just my 2 cents

 

rr0926, I agree with you but it will come down to cost. The G73 3D is roughly 2000 with 8 gigs of ram, 1T hd and the 460 and it cools well from the reviews I've read. I'll have to see since I'm buying either this one or the G73 in March and handing off this M17xR1 to my son. He has an HP DV7 so this is a huge upgrade for him. I'm hoping that Dell is selling these laptops in the 2000 range or I will be going to ASUS. I'll still have my M11x but when I went 15/17" laptop shopping, I was looking 3D. Bought this M17x from a member here for an excellent price and it will get plenty of use from my son.

 

The words ultra portable were not stated anywhere in my post, I was referring to the fact that the specs state that the M17xr3 will be lighter than the M17xr2.
Furthermore, a single gpu will use less power than sli or crossfire solutions, combined with a more efficient cpu this may equal better overall battery life.

 

I've looked into Asus but I saw where they seemed to be some issues with screen quality I may still end up getting an Asus because of the value and the fact that they already have usb 3.0, but I think that the hdmi input on the M17xr3 is going to seal the deal. I travel a lot so being able to just throw a laptop and my 360 in my carry on and go is a big deal for me.

 

Hmm...I'll be very interested to see what that 6970M is like in terms of performance.

If these are priced right in the UK, I might be able to talk myself into getting one this summer. This will depend on the options too; if no XFire options are available, I'll probably go M15x...if they upgrade it to have a 6970M.

Still, if there's no RGBLED screen option (or at least something better than CCFL) then I'll be disappointed. I couldn't care less about 3D; I'd rather max out the settings for some visual brilliance. 3D should stick to the movies for the time being at least.

The HDMI in is definitely a great boon with my Xbox 360 and PS3 as well. Very, very tempting...

 

What a mess... I can understand the 1080p and 120hz, that's where the screen manufacturers are heading to . By the end of 2011 many "high end" systems should have it, at least as an option. At least @Asus they are smart enough to offer a matte 3D, which is far better for your eyes than the E2E variant.
But to turn a true gaming rig into a G73 (gen1) clone, with the same problems (overheating, mostly plastic, etc)? No, the most "immersive" doesn't save the day. And with Crysis 2, are you trying to justify the lower GPU power, Dell? "Oh, don't worry folks, we still got the muscles to play the latest games on high.." - is that your motto now?
If that's true, if there's no SLI/CF, if the system's cooling is compromised even with a single GPU, - that's a fiasco, IMHO. We can forgive such actions when it is Asus, MSI or Toshiba. Not AW... In fact, there's no more AW...

 

The chances of a 6970M in an M15x are probably pretty slim, unless the M17x gets a card above the 6970M. Since I've owned the M15x the top card for the 15 has always been a step below the top card for the 17.

I'm deployed 6 months a year, and portability is a big factor. I currently ship a 23 inch LCD with me every time I deploy along with my M15x and my XBox 360. The HDMI in will eliminate the need to travel with this monitor, which is a big deal to me. It's also a great addition when trouble-shooting video issues. I work in a field where video issues present themselves often. Having a portable monitor for testing will help me there too, not to mention any trouble-shooting in the house I run into. It basically gives you an ultra-portable 1080P display where ever you bring your lappy. Which in my case is EVERYWHERE.

 

Without sounding offensive (which i hope i dont), if you wanted a single gpu machine that was light, and efficient with long battery life,then what are you doing looking at an M17x for? - these high end gaming laptops are specifically tailored to have as much (well, at least they used to have) "grunt" as possible in the gpu dept and that means TWO gpu's as opposed to one...for "flat out breakneck" gaming....

Thats what Alienware is (or was) synonymous with....gaming....so the ethos of a 1 card system is a let down for the majority of users.

D'ya get me?

 

I feel your pain and have thought about going the monitor route but I would want it in my carry on to be safe and it would be harder for me to move around in country but with a hdmi input on a laptop I could do it all console and pc gaming not to mention run everything else off the laptop with the increased memory options. To me it's a win win especially when I was considering getting the sager which is huge and heavy compared to the m17xr3

 

Yeah, I'm fairly doubtful too, which is why I'll probably end up going for the M17x, single GPU or not. Still, people have proved it's possible to run the highest wattage cards in the M15x (i.e. the 280M) so it should be theoretically possible to stick it in a form factor of that size provided they have a good PSU and cooling.

I doubt that AW will run for long at all without a dual GPU configuration. There are already notebooks on the market (or at least in development) that can run SLi/XFire for the same cards that the M17x will have.

 

If that's true, let us hope that they put SLI / Crossfire back in after some time and maybe with better cards, i think a 2x 2GB GPU would be nice though.

A 120 Hz screen seems nice, maybe we're getting RGB screens back after some time? It's all hope for now, but let's see how it goes.

 

Well, I hope Alienware/Dell is happy. I bet most of this decision to make a single gpu M17x was dell's part. Either way, if I can't get dual GTX 470m's to work in my laptop, then my next computer will be a Clevo x7200 thank you very much.

Hope you like the missed $3500 in sales Dell! Clevo here I come!

 

Agree and also if this is true(no SLi or CF with those cards in the R3) people will buy it only for it's looks or whatever.

 

I'm betting 6950M for the M15x. But it will probably just be the same card with a lower clock.

IMO, they should've just announced the a 3D M15x, cause seriously, they could fit everything they did on the M17x R3 expect for the 6970M probably, at CES. And then 1-2 months later announced the new "most immersive - most powerful" laptop ever with like 6970M CFX... IMO it would've gotten more attention...

 

I think these DTRs need to do away with the big battery to try and be a mobile laptop that it isn't. Honestly, who uses these things unplugged. If they did away with the battery, they could afford a much better cooling solution or even afford a 2nd GPU with still decent cooling. That's never gonna happen though. What I think WILL happen is that they will offer higher end GPUs later on, if not right away. It wouldn't make sense otherwise. It's like not offering different kinds of laptop. In terms of business, it's good to have a variety of options to appeal to more people. That's just what Dell did by offering a lower end m17x. Now, they'll probably more than double their market for m17x's. What I do see them doing away with is the SLI/CF option. It was a problem with the previous versions, and the amount of money they save that results in a cheaper entry price to appeal to more people, is probably worth the loss of *some* m17x veterans, to them. It's definitely a good business move, it just screws all of us over. But hey, like I said, I'm sure they will offer higher end GPU options. They'd rather deal with drivers for higher end GPUs if that at all, than deal with CF/SLI issues. With the limiting factor of only being able to use one GPU during windowed mode, I for one, am okay with just one GPU provided it has excellent cooling for some overclocking headroom. The only other beef I have is the lack of RGB, but I'll live. Who knows, it might yet be an option down the road.

On the other hand:
+SB procs + 6xxx GPUs
+Slimmer and smaller.
+Means battery life, so now it might actually be mobile (different from portable).
+No SLI/CF to issues to worry about.
+A bigger(better) trackpad?
+120Hz 1080p LED ( I know, not RGB, but that's $200 you now don't have to spend for an option, you KNOW you would have.)
+USB 3.0
+SATA III (That's gonna make a huge difference with SSD)
+HDMI in (great to few, meh for the rest)

Lastly, there's still the option to buy R2, if some of you are just not at all impressed with R3, right?

 

people talk that it is all about the money; well it is. You think that they WON'T have CF/SLI? Every company needs a flagship. A shelby Cobra mustang sells a lot of V6 mustangs. I am sure a CF/SLI will be in the works; just not when YOU wanted/expected it. The reality is that AW buyers (i am one) are very loyal. Otherwise many would just go to Clevo for the same computer but cheaper. The reality is that many will buy this system and then sell it for the CF/SLI version whenever that is released.

Am I bummed it isn't the craziest CES announcement? Sure. I was chomping at the bits to get my m15x r1 back in Feb of 2008.....man this computer lasted me 3 years and this announcement sure isn't near the excitement I had back then.

But people thinking that the R2 is that much better than the R3 in GPU performance terms are kidding themselves. The 6970 should equal it in most games with it trailing a bit in others. However I would always take the best single card solution over an OLD 2 card solution if given "similar" performance. At least there won't be microstuttering...which does kinda defeat the purpose of bragging about the refresh rates on the screen ironically.

This will be a good system that will compete with the g73 and have the best/one of the best single card solutions with the newest CPU's USB 3.0 HDMI in etc. If I can get that for 2k....deal.

 

*you forgot no express card. i can add usb 3.0 with this. thus using my tv tuner

* Thus in general gaming what counts is not the graphic memory (if its 1 1.5 or 2gb) but how fast the gpu is. Watching at the 3dmark06 benchmark of the 6900 well i had much more gpu scores with CF 5870s wihout even having ever overclocked them. I feel my 17X R2 as powerul just by thinking two DDR5 1GB gpus are inside. Thus never had issues with crossfre except one or two games on which i had to disable the secondary gpu. Well not the kind of demanding games anyway. Thus ATI is releasing new appprofiles so fast nowdays.

* SATA III over SATA II .what are you going to do to see the real difference ?

* 17 inches 3D screen. yeah? whats the deal? buy a big home cinema 3d screen (and much cheaper) and connect your M17X, then feel the entertainment. Thus about this Hd wireless. has ever anyone watching both the external and internal screen at the same time? i mean its not meant for dual desktop HDMI does its job well if you ask me. Want to wirelessly control the M17X instead? use a remote control via IR or WIFI.

* thinner? of course it is with smaller screen and less things inside. Ok, lets first see how effective cooling is this time.

* if they decide to make it sli or crossfire this actually means buying new psu because i am sure it will need a new one.

Well i ll keep mine. maybe will go for r4 r5 or r6 whatever or even change route by then to less expensive machine offering more really powerfull hardware. Arg! i think i ll buy a monster desktop instead anyway

 

QFT
No SLI and no RGBLED and MSI, Asus and Toshiba will build the same machine for less money. They already do. AW "was" about engineering prowess. This is a demonstration of mainstream garbage. And it overheated in the first game that was tested on it. There used to be an AW...

 

When you take out the CPU score increases the CF 5870's scored far better than this R3 does.

 

Dual 5870's in CrossfireX will still outperform a single 6970 by as much as 50-70% in games that support dual gpu's. They're not gonna have similar performance . . . .

 

And you are getting these percentages based on what?
I thought the 6970 should be rough equivalent to the desktop 6850...which is pretty significantly better than the desktop 5770 which is the mobile 5870 equivalent. The bigger bus and pipelines with the 2gig should be better for more demanding games that need that memory in cache correct?

 

Yeah, people are saying that the 6970 is most likely based on the desktop 6850. And the 5870 was based on the desktop 5770. But this doesn't represent how powerful they'll actually turn out. We can only wait and see on that.

What I can say is that the 6970 will definitely not be the equal of two 5870s, unless you've got a game that implements crossfire very badly. The 5870s will probably not be 70% faster but they will be significantly faster.

 

well one more day to go

then we will all see what the R3 will offer

 

After seeing that video and looking at more pics it's just plain and simple too thin to house 6970 xfire, and SLI we can just forget because of the 470/485m 100w rating.

Sad, Alienware once dethroned and even embarassed Clevo but are now sacrificing their enthusiasts principles for some 3D gimmick that's gonna die within a few years and will make them into the punchline of performance laptops just when its reputation began to climb so far.