AW M17xR3 got stolen looking for a possible M18(r2?) or 17" replacement

I'm looking for a replacement (possibly second hand) for my stolen m17xR3. Earned with hard work TT. There has been some doom&gloom all over the forums about the BGA train arriving at Dellianware HQ. So I decided I'm going to buy a new laptop instead of getting my drivers license (Im dutch, I have a bike I dont care.)

Im a little confused about SandyB, IvyB, Haswell and the soon to be announced Broadwell. Can a Haswell system upgrade to Broadwell later on? I'd rather not buy hardware which is at the end of it's cycle. I travel once a week for 2 hours by train with my laptop. I need it to be future proof and I want it to be an absolute beast but it shouldnt emputate my arm when I have to switch trains. I can upgrade stuff later myself np btw.

So what would you guys recommend? 17(r4?) or 18(r2?)? Which CPU/GPU should I get? Or should I wait till Broadwell? 120hz or 60hz?

I type this on a 269 dollar 15,6'' crapbook. Give me a beast to work with.

 

If you go 18", you can't get 120Hz. That's a marketing thing for the 17" lineup only. But if you do get a 17" laptop, you have to get 120Hz. It's a no-brainer.

If you don't mind used, I recommend you grab an M18x R2 off eBay and upgrade that thing as much as possible! You can't find new ones anymore. They're all bought up, as far as I can tell from searching... It may be difficult to find a decent used one, but it will be worth the effort. The 3940XM is going for about $350 on eBay and the 980M is working in the M18x R2 as well as the M17x R4. The Alienware 17 R1 and Alienware 18 R1 are also good alternatives. However, they have some issues with Maxwell.

 

Ok I will look into a 2nd hand R2. Will the current M17/18 R1 support Broadwell? I guess not.

Im a little worried that the CPU will bottleneck me if I stay at Ivy bridge architecture. 3940XM is a beast for OC though

 

I think Broadwell is BGA (soldered) except maybe the desktop components. It definitely won't work in the M18x or M17x, though. Ivy Bridge only.

The 3940XM is basically a 4930MX, but runs cooler. It shouldn't bottleneck 980M SLI when overclocked.

The 980M performs like a desktop GTX 780 (FPS wise). If you're fine with a single 980M, then consider the M17x R4 or AW 17.

 

Im not really sure yet which one I want to get. Getting the older M18xR2 or M17xR4 wont really feel good to me because that's the exact system I had with a single 7970M but on the other hand I know they are solid.

It's a shame they don't put 120hz screens in the 18. I think because of that I'm going to look for an AW 17 or a M17xR4.


Thanks

 

I have an M18X-R2 and M17X-R4 for sale. If you are interested, let me know what you want, and I can do a sales thread or something for you. I also have a AW 18 and a AW 17. I do not recommend the latter two for gaming if you do certain things, like alt-tabbing, or running more then one application that uses less then full videocard potential or cpu potential. Sometimes the switching between, causes odd half second lag here and there, and in some games can crash from it. No matter how you setup the new laptops, they seems to be slower, even though in benches they come just as close as the previous generation in performance, its just not stable, its just as fast in a race, because it has speed ups and slow downs.

Dell never fixes with these two models. I do not even use them much anymore. I took the quad play drives from the 18 and use them in my 18, along with the videocards, and I did the same with the 17'' 's replacing the drives. If only the cpu's were compatible too.

 

I first have to sort out the financials which will take at least 2 weeks. I will send you a PM

 

Are u in the US or UK? if your'e in the UK, I have a R4 with a 3940XM, full HD screen, 7970M and 12GB RAM for sale...

 

I'm from the Netherlands. Close enough? I will check it out and send you a PM

edit: oh it's not on the NBR Market Place. XD I'lll PM you.