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

70% improvement??? Where does this come from? Ive never seen a successor in a video card line have anywhere near that kind of improvement. We would would be lucky to see 30% usually. Is this confirmed? And was this based off an apples to apples comparison?

 

Sold out for now according to phone sales rep.

 

The R2 M17x is still more powerful so could stand as the current flagship (unless the 6970M DOES turn out to be a massive improvement). They could also be coming out with a more powerful notebook at a later date (in particular the much rumoured M18x)

Clearly you were never around for the release of ATi's 4000 desktop series. Or their 5000 desktop series.

Certainly at least the 4000 series was a MASSIVE improvement over the earlier series; can't remember exactly how much but I do believe it was literally twice as powerful, in part due to the number of shaders being increased from 320 to 800 in the highest end cards. They did the jump from 800 to 1600 with the 5000 series, which could have massively increased the performance as well in a number of scenarios.

 

Doesnt make much sense to have TWO m17x's - one as a flagship and one as something else?...sure , if there were m18x, that would be the flagship

 

Size matters!

(waiting for typical response)

 

Click 'Bleeding edge graphics' option, a moment ago it said it was 310 dollars off, the normal version is 100 off

 

Yaaayy. Finally 2048x1152 comes to notebooks.

And those that abandoned (mother)ship will be back to calling Clevos big plastic lunchboxes...just like nothing ever happened.

 

About time they updated the orion backpack as well.

 

LOL, and heres me tellin myself that the best things come in small packages LOLOL

 

Went from 4870 to 5870 and saw about 15%, was really disappointed for the price difference. I did not have the pleasure of using the models released just before 4000 series (3000 series?).

 

There is probably such a large improvement compared to the 5870 because of it's power needs not just technological difference. Despite the fact the 5870 was released a while ago now you can hardly compare a 75w card to a 100w card. It's easy to see why there will be such a gap. It won't beat a crossfire setup though. I just don't believe that.

 

Well you are basing on one sample then. I stand by my original assertion that 70% is not unheard of. The 8800GTX mobility was 2X stronger (or more) than the 7900GTX. Then you had the mr9700 back in 03 replaced by the mr9800 which was double the jump as well 4 pixel pipelines to 8 pixel pipelines if i remember correctly.

Though Notebookcheck isn't always accurate, their review of the 485 looks pretty thorough with GAME benchies. Therefore, IF (and thats a big IF) the 6970 is roughly equal...I would rather have a 69% increase over the 5870 in one card than a 15-20% (assuming almost perfect scaling) deficit over 5870's in CF. Why?
1. No microstutter
2. No scaling issues
3. Personal preference as I have no enjoyed CF/SLI in most of my setups (desktops) that I build.

Stevie...the reason it is not the flagship is obvious. It is going after the ASUS G73. It doesn't take a genius to see this. The R3 is smaller, lighter, has the "buzz words of the industry" and is coming in cheaper....G73 is written all over that. M18x has "flagship" written all over that. Wait till Cebit or something probably for a more concrete announcement me thinks...

 

Well, if thats the case, AW doesnt have a flagship atm, unless you consider R3 to be it....given that statement, I think the majority of people will assume that if R3 is the current flagship (as it doesnt get any better atm) , then its a backwards step from the previous R2 flagship.

Sure, its aimed right at the G73, but the R2 was aimed at the likes of Clevo/sager with dual card setups etc....given the AW line up at the moment, where is the system with dual card support that "was" the flagship? - there isnt one. (unless you can still buy the R2 for some time "before" the "m18x" is hypothetically released)

What dya think?

 

So if I get 50fps in BC2 now with xfire off, you say I should get 85 with a 6900? Not saying its not impossible, I just need to see it to believe it.
I have no microstutter issues and no scaling issues. I think that was a generalization. I upgraded on of our gaming rigs from 7800 to 8800 and it definitely didnt double frames.
I have a friend that I game with that has a G73. Without xfire on we run similar frames (im still ahead (- but with xfire on I destroy him!
The R3 will be similar to the G73 but still ahead of it unless they play catch up.
I will stick with my dual card setup and beat them both in gaming, at least for awhile.

 

Think about it. There are plenty of companies out there that make several (similar) notebooks of the same size, but with different specs or features.

The R2 (or future flagship) is for those who want extreme performance (and in the R2's case, RGBLED screen). But the R3 is for those who want a cheaper, thinner, lighter machine without sacrificing on screen size, still good performance, and optional 3D.

Maybe that was in YOUR case in particular. The 5870 should have brought a LOT more than 15% performance boost, particularly given it had twice the number of shaders.

But yeah, I was referring to the jump from 3000 to 4000 series. It was a massive boost.

I think that I'd still consider the R2 the flagship. It's got class leading cooling, still very high performance with XFire 5870s/SLi 285s, and the brilliant RGBLED screen.

Unfortunately, all we CAN do at this point is speculate until these actually get distributed for reviews (and no doubt benchmarking). But I certainly wouldn't ignore the possibility of such a leap. It would explain the lack of dual GPUs. Of course, I (and others) might just be being hopeful about the new model.

 

4870 to 5870 expected to get about 15%. Not just me. I think anyone that upgraded will tell you that. I did plenty of research before upgrading. I decided DX11 was worth it for me. * I just saw you're looking at specs on paper, lol. ATI always looks great on paper, and then slack off some in real world performance.
It would be great to see a huge jump like that so that gaming numbers dont go down. I dont want to hear people 6 months from now that saw their first AW and its the R3 saying AW isnt that great of a gaming laptop since their frames aren't that high. Hopefully the faster processors will help pull frames back up.

 

No, I truly believe real world performance had a significant increase between 4870 and 5870 just looking at game benchmarks at least. Still, I never owned either card so I can't really say.

But this is going off topic really. The fact is the jump from the desktop 3870 to 4870 was massive, (significant in the notebook market too but perhaps by not as much) and we could be looking at a big jump here too.

 

Not sure if I got the date wrong but I still do not see the R3 on the website to order it.

 

Me neither.

Odd that they've released it on the UK site first. Perhaps they're having some sort of technical difficulties?

 

I dont see it on the us site, but I do see they dropped the $100 off on the base M17x. The $100 off was there this morning.

 

I noticed this aswell.

 

The UK site is crazy. First the only graphics option they have is the 460M, second the 32Gb or ram they sell it for 118,000.00 pounds or about $184,000.00. LOL I hope that is a typo.


4096MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048] [Included in Price]
6144MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [1x2048 + 1x4096] [add £180.00 or £9/month1]
Dell Recommended
8192MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x4096] [add £300.00 or £15/month1]
16GB 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel (4X4GB) [add £750.00 or £37/month1]
32GB 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel (4X8GB) [add £119,848.80 or £5,999/month1]

 

What are you moaning about.



Thats typical Dell's inflated memory prices for you.....lol

 

^^^ It would be cheaper to upgrade the memory on a human being.

 

They did this when the x40 cpu's were released to replace the older 720/820/920xm I7 cpu's....Dell UK saw them first (and i think Australia too)....i recall this as fact as it was at the time i was ordering and wanted to wait for the slightly faster x40 series to come out....They were listed on UK site before US which struck me as odd.....maybe same case scenario with the R3? - although, I would have thought it should have been released in the US first what with it being a new system and not just a component.

Weird!

On another note, NBR has a thing about the R3 here: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6015&news=Dell+XPS+17+3D+Alienware+M17x and the article states that the base price of the R3 would be $1499 usd.....if thats the case, then the base equivalent in the UK is grossly overpriced at £1799gbp or around $2800.00usd.....

I know we in the UK always pay more due to import/Vat but a massive $1300usd....thats a bit of a sick joke on us Brits isnt it? doesnt seem fair that if you are in the UK and want the same base spec, we have to pay almost DOUBLE for it! - it aint very consistent with the R3 being made "affordable" unless you live in America.....

 

You'll notice the UK site does not have the Intel extreme edition CPU and does not offer the ATI graphic cards making it a useless PC basically.

 

i had to quote and rep you... you make my day looool!!

 

Is it on the US site yet? - I know on the UK there is only 460m single option gpu and no XM cpu....not that im interested in buying....i keep closing the little window asking "can we help" when it pops up LOL - im just interested to see what configs are and various prices innit?

 

Same here and the worst is that there are no technical specs. Impossible to tell from the site if it's plastic or something else.

 

Joe, if you read the NBR thread i linked to a bit up, its says something about the finish:

"The M17x is available with either red or black exteriors, both of which feature the "soft touch" finish that Alienware first made available on the M11x R2 last year. The team at NotebookReview.com will have a full review of this gaming notebook very soon, so be sure to check our homepage and visit the Alienware discussion forum on our site."

The above paragraph quoted from that article....

 

I completely missed that. So it's just high end plastic basically...

 

the aurora r3 just got posted on the USA site. I hope the m17x follows shortly.

 

If thats the construction of the M11x, yeah , it looks like its plastic....must say, i am not familiar with the M11x finish but if R3 is the same then yup. Plastic.

 

Yep just noticed that also.

 

Not that I'm gung-ho about 3D but would it be possible for an RGB LED screen to display 3D visuals? Obviously the r3 won't be of much use but I would consider getting a 3D RGB screen if the price is right on the supposed M18x.

 

The refresh rate of the RGBLED is too low to do 3D imagery, you need 120hz to do that afaik, so, no, the rgbled wont do 3D as its refresh is only 60hz

 

Yeah but I think what he meant is that it's possible that a manufacturer creates a 120HZ RGB LED screen. Technically is completely possible.

 

Yeah, I reckon someone WILL come out with a 120hz RGBLED at some point, in which case 3D would be possible....who knows when tho....i would be interested in that if it WERE an option at some point....maybe LOL

 

I have a few questions about the r3:

1) Can the ATI 69xx support 3d gaming like the nvidia card?
2) WOuld it be possible to install a 485M inside the r3? I believe the 6970 is 100w... so I would think the 485 would work right?

 

1.) Yes
2.) Yes if driver support is offered

 

1. Yes, at HDMI 1.4
2. i have no idea, but was told by the Alienware folk at CES that the motherboard of the r3 fully supports SLI and Crossfire

 

Would the Dell have to release the driver? Or does the modding community usually create a driver for it?

 

So definitely, when it comes to picking a screen at the moment, an RGB screen is preferable to a 3D one. I'm trying to decide whether a 3D r3 is worth getting otherwise I'll have to wait...

I also wouldn't want people to be all oooooo... and ahhhhhh if I had a 3d screen and took it out to a coffee shop or something which would inevitably lead to people asking for a peek.

 

No you would have to wait for dell to update the BIOS driver to accept the 485M. Without it, there is little chance it can work and I doubt the community has the possibility of making a BIOS update.

 

I know. I was shocked when I saw that base price. I damn well hope that either a. the price will come down, or b. this is because the base config is for some reason higher than the one that's $1500.

Either way I feel screwed over as a British buyer. Their markup is absurd.

I've got a US postbox, I might just order from them if I can (if I ever come to ordering).

It's definitely a major disappointment that it's not a metal exterior. But at the same time they might have done it to save weight and make it cheaper. I'm fairly certain that as long as it's high quality plastic, the majority of users won't care.

I mean, the build quality on my M17 (which is soft touch plastic) feels rock solid. It might be plastic, but it still feels quality.

 

RGBLED is an absolutely fantastic screen currently - sadly doesnt seem an option on the R3 so its R2 only for that one atm.

Regards 3d screens, they are some peoples "cup of tea" and not for others.....Im a NON 3D man personally, I dont like the idea of it with having to wear "goggles" etc etc....coupled with the fact that 3d is still in its infancy really.....Ive yet to read a REALLY GREAT review of anything 3d orientated beit laptops or HDTV's

But its a personal choice....gimmicks or quality, thats 3d vs RGBLED

PS....if you do venture out to the local coffee shop with your 3D lappy, dont forget your 3D superman goggles or you will be stuffed LOL (how cool to be sat in a coffee shop looking like stevie wonder whilst on you pc hehehe - no offense Mr Wonder.....)

 

Don't forget the Glasses, lol

 

I guess the 3D screen will also be a matter of waiting for people to get hold of it for reviews, before we can see if it's really worth it. And of course that will come down a lot to personal preference.

 

It's up!!!

 

Alienware M17x Laptop Details | Dell

I think it's still aluminium. Same weight...