Which 17 inch alien would you buy now ?

Hi,

Selling my M17xR2, maybe i will buy a new one soon,

Newest alien comes with everything soldered on...i do not like it, also do not like the amplifier idea

I get that those previous 17-teens that came with 4xxx CPUs Series, like 4980HQ still have mxm slots, but how is the screen itself ? the one i am looking at is the 300 nits screen with touch ( i will not use it but whatever... )

So it has the:

• 17.3 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS-Pane TrueLife 300-nits Display with Touch Technology

Anybody that has this type of panel and maybe we can compare it to RGB LED?

Many thanks

 

Just buy mine, I don't want it and it was the top config model. To answer your questions:
1. 100% soldered CPU and GPU, no MXM slot.
2. They get HOT.
3. I have the touch panel, it is bright and the colors are good, but will NEVER be as good as a RGBLED screen. Just impossible. Also, all these Alienwares have some degree of back-light bleed on black backgrounds, around the edges.

 

Honestly I have owned almost every Alienware 17" that has an MXM slot. I Would NOT buy anything that uses 4980 cpu or newer as they all use solidered components. The M17x r4 was by far the most versatile laptop I have owned. It supported the fastest DDR3 ram (2133mhz 1.5v). It had the option of 120hz display (I will never again buy anything that cant at least do 80+hz display or better. just trust me here, i had an m17x R2 with the RGBLED and the 120hz is almost as good for color and infinitely better for gaming), and it supports the GTX 980m 8gb. The real only shortfalls would be battery life (120hz model only) and no support for the newest pcie Solid state drives. And maybe requiring a modded 330w PSU if you want to be an extremist.

That said I do like my AW17 R1. They are the last MXM alienware 17 laptop that supports 120hz display. They support everything I like about the m17x R4. But I have been finding a few drawbacks that drive my crazy.
-They don't overclock anywhere near as well as the R4 and they struggle keeping temperatures under control even with cooling mods.
-They refuse to run any high frequency ram (DDR3 1600 1.35v is all it technically supports)
-The overall build quality doesn't feel anywhere near as nice or as solid as the m17xR4, and the plamrest collects fingerprints like a stainless steel fridge.

If I was to do it over at this point there are only 2 laptops I would consider.
1- M17x R4 w 120hz display. then upgrade it to 980m from woodzstack (buy one with the 120hz display as upgrading it cheaply is a ton of work)
2- Clevo P377SM-A/Eurocom X8/Sager NP9377 ( same specs as Alienware 17 R1 but supports 120hz and DUAL gpus.)

If your willing to shell the money for new I wont be as much help, but in the used market I spent 6 months researching a replacement for my M17x R4 and honestly the AW17R1 has been close but not quite what I was hoping for.

Hope this helps!