alienware 17 info needed

just picked this up from ebay what I think was not to bad of a deal Alienware M17 Gaming Laptop i7 4700MQ 2 4GHz 8GB 750GB Win 7 17" NVIDIA GTX 765M | eBay

its not here yet will be here tomorrow

wanting to know about the msata under the keyboard what do I need to get. to put a small 1.8 ssd drive do I need to get some kind of adapter or something like I have to get for the 2.5 hdd or will any 1.8 ssd msata drive work

don't really play to many games but when I saw their was a new thief game out I have to play it how will this laptop play thief 4

and I need a backpack was wanting to get an alienware but don't like the looks of the new ones looking for something like the odyssey or something like this does anyone know what style this was and where can I find an older style alienware backpack

 

Ok, well first off...get a proper adapter for it. He says that this is not the correct adapter and the laptop will not charge. If it isn't the right adapter then your also going to see the computer will know it isn't the right adapter and it is going to throttle down the system to prevent any damage. Get the part number and order one from Ebay or Alienware although Alienware will cost a lot more. The thing about Dell laptops is they all have a chip in the adapter that the laptop picks up on and then allows the system to charge and run at full power. When that chip isn't present or isn't working then the laptop shuts down charging ( or slows it right down to a trickle ) and turns down the clock speeds on the GPU and CPU so you end up with a slug. Chances are if this isn't shipping with the proper adapter you going to see this right away.

You also bought a laptop with the 765m so it isn't a super high end GPU so don't expect massive FPS from it, although it does not say what resolution the screen is. If it is a 1080 screen then you will be looking at lower FPS as the GPU isn't really a high end model. There is a youtube video showing someone playing with the same setup and says he is pulling 50-60FPS on max settings so you might be ok there but games like BF4 you might have to turn some stuff down. It seems like a lower end model so don't be surprised if it has the 1600x900 screen. If it is the lower end screen then you do have the option of upgrading that to the nicer 1080 screen for aroung $100 and the install is pretty easy.

As for the mSATA drive any mSATA should work that I know of , I don't recall anyone having issues installing one but be aware it requires you to remove the palm rest to get at it which can be a pain and will require quite a bit of teardown to install. When they come from the factory they come with Liteon mSATA's but others have installed samsungs and had no problems. There is no adapter, it is an mSATA port, it is not the same as a 2,5 drive, they are smaller chips that plug into a special port under the keyboard. I suggest a larger mSATA , around 250gb would be ideal and then you can create a caching drive and still have the rest for storage . The caching drive will take up around 70gb and then leave the rest as basically a seperate SSD drive, or you can just use the mSATA as your straight boot drive with windows and run the HDD as storage.

http://www.ncix.com/category/solid-state-drives-ssd-msata-d4-1275-1639.htm

The ram is a little low IMO, it would be nice to see 16gb but that can easily be added later on, possibly at the same time as the mSATA as it will be easier to do it while the machine is apart as the empty ram slots are undoubtedly under the keyboard.

As for a carrying case, if you don't like the looks of the new Alienware lineup then I would give the everki lineup a look. They make some pretty good stuff, and I have seen the titan as I have friends with it and it is a nice backpack albeit expensive. I am looking at picking one up for myself here soon.

 

Msata slots require msata drives, they do not use 1.8" or 2.5" size drives. It's a different physical standard.

 

I have that backpack.. it served me well for a fwe years.. but i like the Everki Titan for my alienware 17 r5

 

True this, you won't be able to fit a regular SSD on the mSATA drive.