What do you fellow Alienware NBR members think about the G74SX?

In the past I have owned the G51GX, G71GX and G73JH. The G73JH was a nightmare in the beginning due to "out of the box" issues, but in the end was decent.

Since getting my 3rd M17x R2 I have been satisfied with my Alienware purchase, rarely looking back to Asus. I dislike their foreign tech support.

A friend of mine that is in the process of selling her G73JH sent me this link today.
The Republic of Gamers G74Sx gaming laptop |

YouTube - Asus G74SX 3D Gaming Notebook - Cebit 2011

YouTube - CeBIT 2011: Asus G74 gesichtet
She is soooo excited by the release of the G74SX.

I find the specs impressive. But at the same time can't stand Asus. Maybe the M18x will offer the 560M in a SLI config...
Alienware has offered to exchange my M17x R2 for a loaded R3, because of a eeeeeeee sound that is coming from the motherboard when turned off and plugged in.


If I was to take the offer, the R3 would need to come better equipped than a 6970M or 460M, seeing as the G74SX comes with a 560M.
I called Asus to confirm if the 560M will have 1GB or 1.5GB of ram in the final build and the rep said his spec sheet says 1.5GB.
What do you people think about the G74SX?

 

Looks good, but ASUS is even worse then DELL... so no way in HELL!

 

I agree
10chars

 

6970M > 560M by a large margin. The 560M is a re-badged 460M. Don't be fooled. The M18x will have dual 6970M and will stomp anything Asus could muster up. In fact, the R3 stomps anything Asus will have. Asus was competitive when they had 5870M in their notebook and so did AW. This generation there's a fairly large performance disparity between the two brands (6970M vs 460M/5870M) and the AW is the only vendor that I know of right now that offers high end graphics + switchable IGP. Besides, I wouldn't touch Asus with a 10 ft pole and I suspect this thread will be closed in short time.

1. Yeah and OC'd it clears 14k GPU and 15K+ overall.

 

This was actually on my list of possible machines but the selling points didn't help it in my view.

1. 3dMarkVantage of 10000+. The 6970M already clears that.
2. No release Date.

So, given that I have to wait so long for my R3 is nothing compared to no release date for a machine that will only be inferior to my R3 based off of one of their major selling points.

 

I have to agree with joker on this issue, I wouldn't touch an Asus laptop.

 

I knew you'd show up and go above & beyond like you always do. I've been trying to get as many people away from Asus as I can because of my past experiences with Asus RMA/Customer Support. At work, I'll relay your post to my friend so that she can hopefully wait it out for a M18x or go with the R3.

I also forgot to tell you thanks. If it wasn't for all your posts in the Asus forums about AW, I wouldn't have made the jump. I have found your posts to usually be dead on or right to the point. Thanks again.

+1 rep.

 

I'm a bit surprised why so many people in this thread say they will never touch an Asus, while it always scores the best in statiscal surveys. I know that before their G73jh and G53(forgot the full name of the latter) their laptops had overheating issues, but thats all over now as far as I know right?

I didn't buy the g73jh because it costed 1800-1900€ when it was released in Belgium, but now I see prices for the G73jh and g53 at around 9-1100€ which is insanely low for a gaming laptop. Ok a M17x r3 is definitly more powerfull, but it will probably cost 2k+ euros , and while the g74 migt cost as much in the beginning aswell, it will drop like crazy after two or three months, giving gaming enthousiasts on a budget a very nice machine for half the price of an Alienware.

Not to bash AW, since i'm a big fan, and they recently dropped their prices by 150-200€ on every machine, but you can't really compare the two since the difference in gaming performance, might not be worth the huge price difference for most gamers.

 

just because Nvidia GPU model numbers are greater does not mean they give better performance, it's quite confusing actually

e.g. 470m 485m and 560m - which is more powerful ? also the 560m performs slightly better than the 460m but not enough to make a noticable difference

Also in any benchmarks I've seen that involve Asus and AW with same specs for some reason the AW is always 10-15% higher performance, don't know why


http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

 

I switched from an M17x R1 to an Asus G73 and couldnt be happier. True that warranty/rma is PITA but I have to admit the Asus costed half the AW and as long as I'm carefuly with it I dont plan to use the warranty card.

 

560m seems like another flop. My 460m with horrible optimus bad drivers is clearing 11k with oc @ vantage.

Laptop:
I don't like how the lid pivots at a non-edge, looks (aesthetics) pretty decent otherwise
return to depot warranty

 

G74X is the ugliest laptop from Asus in a long time. I was considering Asus before, but they only released Sandy Bridge laptop with a new CPU. That was it. Same as the other G-models they released before. Major disappointment from CES. So therefor i jumped to Alienware instead. GTX 560M will probably be better than 460M, not by much, but better. So all in all you should compare build quality, service support etc between those companies instead of specs.

 

Like I said before, I won't ever buy another Asus because of their customer service/RMA policy/past experience.

It's really sad. Just browsing around the Asus site I can clearly see that they have unveiled some trully innovative products.

But to me, innovation alone is not enough

 

ASUS really needs to start supporting some better GPUs.

 

That new Asus looks like it could turn on it's afterburners and fly off your desk. Look at those exhaust ports! lol

 

That !!!!


Also, I would like to see the m18x. Could be a future purchase of mine since I absolutely love 18.4" screens.

 

Eh, I kinda like the look of the G73, not so psyched on this new look. Plus, the 560m is hardly an upgrade from that 460m, so doesn't seem worth it

 

there is so little difference between the 460m and the 560m it's not worth mentioning - at the very most a slight 1-2% increase which could be easily overcome by a slight change in clocks, in fact if the 460m clocks where set at the same speed as the 560m it would most likely out perform it

 

I really like ASUS' screen approach, giving the laptop a bit a bulge so the whole screen assembly can be brought forward an inch or two. Back strain from having to always lean over my M17x-R1 was something I was never fond of.

It's just such a pity that ASUS laptops don't have the solid, well-built feel - even if they are, I don't actually know - that Alienwares do, because IMO they look great, and for what you get, they're cheap too.

 

Not to bad.
However I reckon that most if not all laptops should now use the edge to edge screen design. Looking at the screen on this notebook is very nice however it would have been even slicker if it was edge to edge and completely flat across. It would make it much easier to clean as well.
Just my humble opinion.


Cheers.

 

Unless it has switchable graphics, it's nowhere near my radar. I really don't like how there's suddenly rumors of the m14x now lolz...

 

Considering it is on dell.com's website under the manual's page, I think its kind of past rumors and up to just waiting for a release.

 

You srs? My 21st day of ownership is next Friday...so you know what THAT might mean...However, my replacement should come soon, so that means I get 21 MORE days, right??

(I hope you know what I'm talkin bout)

 

LOL! wait.. does it reset? Would make sense... but knowing DELL... lol

I am serious man, look around on the main AW page!

They have instruction manuals for the M11x R3 and the M14x

 

Can you link me? My net is very slow today. I'm very interested in both now, thx

 

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/Alw_lp_M14x/en/mm/MM_en.pdf


Google Translate

Dell just posted Alienware M11x-R3 and M14x service manuals! | Tech|Inferno


I too am considering the M14x. Hmmmssssssss................


http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/568500-m14x-official-specs.html

Cheers.

 

Hot damn! Looks just like the Vostro 3400 at work---same chassis shape. So if I'm imagining this correctly, it'll be roughly the size of our current R3 keyboard size, minus the 10key section on the right, right? So that's roughly a 2-3inch savings in width! WOW excellent!

I wonder how much each will cost, and if either will offer an ATI version?

 

Yep, thats what I was thinking as well. The keyboard size should be roughly around that size.

I too am eagerly awaiting the pricing to be revealed.
Another thing is I wonder how much battery life it is capable of?

Cheers.

 

Don't be fooled, the 560m in the Asus is a rebadged 460m and the m14x's 555m is even slower than the 460m.

Much of the appeal of the m17x is because its the only chassis (that's not a Sager/Clevo) equipped with the gear to handle the thermals of the two 100 watt laptop cards currently in existence: 6970 and the 485m, cards that are actually worthy of running games at higher settings at 1920x1080.

Of course the other side of that coin is that laptops running at 1600x900 don't need such firepower, in that case the m14x is a fine computer, as far as specs go.

 

I want the speakers only they can keep the rest Klipsch speakers in the R2 would be perfect.

 

I'm not sold on Klipsch speakers for laptops as of yet. I've heard the R3's Klipsch speakers and was not impressed.

I prefer the Harmon Kardons found in the Qosmio Toshiba's.

Speaking of Asus...I did like the Altec Lansing Speakers in my last G73JH better than any Alienware I've ever heard.