Upgrading M17x R3

Hi there folks,

I've recently decided to get a M17x configured as such:

Processor: i7 2820QM 2.3GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
OS: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
RAM: 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz (2DIMMS)
Graphics Card: 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 6970M
HD: 320GB 7,200RPM HDD
Screen: 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
Wireless Card: Wireless 802.11 g/n
Optical Drive: Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

That which is bold are the things I plan on upgrading. I am leaning toward an Intel 510 120GB SSD for OS and such, a second HD (potentially a 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Black), an Intel 6300 wireless card and Windows 7 Professional.

I am however a little confused as to what kind of RAM to get. I know I want 8GB worth of RAM, I however don't know what kind to get exactly. I was looking at Newegg and have read some of the posts here on the forums and am still confused, perhaps someone can help?

The main reason that I'm confused is because there are two types of RAM that I've been looking at:

1) There's this one, which is 109.99 currently.

2) Then there's this one, which is only a dollar more.

What's the difference? Besides from the "Plug and Play" line they seem to be the same...does this "Plug and Play" really make it a dollar difference?

Also, what is the current opinion of RAM that has 1866MHz? Is it worth it? Assuming that money is not an issue, would the laptop even reach 1866MHz? I've read that the current Sandy Bridge processors reach a max of 1600MHz in another thread on on this forum (cannot recall which one otherwise I would link it!). This is the RAM that I am referring to.

On a side note, is the Intel 510 120GB that I plan on buying worth the investment? This is the first time I've ever bought parts for a laptop with the hopes of upgrading it...heck, it's the first time I've ever bought a laptop! Just trying to make sure that the money I send is not going to waste!

Any help would be most appreciated, thanks!

 

Anybody? I would like to purchase these parts sometime this coming week but I would like my questions answered first...

Thanks!

 

Memory #1 says it will support Intel XMP, memory #2 does not. That's the only difference I see. Maybe one is a newer model, I dunno. I'd get #1.

Unless you plan on overclocking and have an unlocked K model Sandy Bridge CPU (no Alienware Laptops do, aside from maybe the extreme edition in the m18x), then no there is really no point in getting faster memory. The main point of the really fast and expensive enthusiast RAM is so you can significantly overclock your base clock, which affects both RAM and CPU frequency. Faster RAM lets you push your CPU further, in theory.

The locked CPU's you'll find in this laptop don't allow you to overclock in the same manner, so just get RAM that runs at 1600 MHz, set it to 1600 in the BIOS, and call it good. You could spend a lot more and run some RAM at 1866 or whatever, but you'd see no performance difference of note.

 

i would buy the intel 510 (120GB) in a heart beat ...meself...although ppl here swear by the Vertex 3 (new FW out) and a Crucial C-something (sorry not to knowledgeable about SSD's...only telling you based on what i have read)