Aw m18x R2 Dual 980m SLI upgrade!!

its actually quiet simple if done in the right order,

firsty as you have already mentioned, the right away to downgrade to A10 is by increments of 1,
so go to A11, the to A10, and yes it can be done inside windows.

the only problem as you are well aware of is,
1. First remove your GPU's, (bios USB can only be booted from legacy mode, and not in uefi mode, hence set the boot from the bios to legacy mode, meaning that if you have GPU installed (9xx series nvidia), they will not work under uefi, so you will need to remove them,
and if you you get it to boot from uefi, after the installation completes, it will revert back to legacy mode, hence you will not be able to post.
so make sure you dont have any 9xx gpu installed

once the BIOS is flashed, boot into bios, and change the setting back to how they were suppose to be,
at this point you can set the video to iGPU,
inset the GPU's back, and set it to PEG mode,
now your F7 key wont work, so you will need to boot into bios and switch the mode manually if ever needed.
in my case i had to set my boot back to uefi, and change the sata interface to AHCI from RAID, because my windows kept crashing in AHCI. and change a setting here and there,

the whole process went like a charm, and had no problems whatssoever.

let me know if you have any further questions, as i did this not very long ago, i do have a pretty good idea as to what needs to be done,

good luck



best wishes

 

So what is the consensus? Is 980m sli worth upgrading to on an m18x r2? At this point I'm thinking maybe a new desktop build with a 980ti. Are people with 980m sli satisfied? thanks in advance

 

Or maybe better yet build something with Pascal sometime in the second half of this year, or buy a Pascal 'upgradeable' notebook again in second half of this year (maybe last quarter of year).

My understanding of M18xR2 & 980M sli is that it can work properly & without throttling IF you use certain modified drivers (not the usual inf mods to make compatible - more complicated - I think user j95 modded some), and if you overclock the GPUs they will throttle, but at stock should be ok. I don't think it's worth it personally, but it's best to hear from someone who owns M18xR2 & done the mod - I'm just going off what I remember & what I've read.

 

The throttling can be very debilitating and difficult to control, and the drivers are a huge hassle. It wasn't worth it for me. I still love the M18xR2, but it is reaching the end of its usefulness unless by some miracle Pascal works correctly. That would give it a new lease on life, because it's still a monster with a 3920XM or 3940XM, and its ability to use more than one 330W AC adapter. I would not hold my breath on Pascal being compatible though. NVIDIA is subservient to Micro$loth and their control freak push for total UEFI compliance.

I ended up buying a Eurocom Panther so I could have a machine that would allow my $1400 980M SLI setup to work properly. @[Nikos] is also moving on to a Sky X9E. But, there are several who have accepted the limitations and are at peace with the reduced functionality.

 

The 18r2 was the best AW made. The hacking and headache that come along with trying to get the r2 working right with 9xx GPU's just isn't worth my time and effort. Especially when there are easier and better option available now. Unfortunately AW has allowed it to die. Well it seems they are on that track with all their high end machines. I swore I'd never get rid of my 18r2's but over time I have lost the love and feeling for it. It's still a great machine for sure and viable for gaming. I don't feel much longer as evolution and greed is leaving it behind. Clevo Phoenix has stepped up the ball game and filled the void I have.

 

thanks for the replies guys. I guess I'm waiting for pascal.

 

No problem, I reckon that's a smart move, and 680M sli will last you till then I should have thought!

 

Im waiting for my 980m to arrive for my m18x r2 and I want to ask you guys , can I install the latest nvidia driver or I have to use the modded one to prevent throttling? and how often the modded driver gets updated? can I do it for myself with the latest version from nvidia website?
thanks

 

Ok probably been asked before but i cant get a decent answers.. at what temp does the 980m throttle???? Using prema's vbios's

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk

 

Exactly, I am done with it, because the vBIOS I am using is no longer compatible with newest drivers. One month ago I did not see light at the end of this tunnel, I really tried everything that was possible to fix it or to be more precise, Prema did it and I gave him all the feedback I could, but with this new turn of events, I am done. Really piss off, NVIDIA ****ed up their drivers again so with the beta vBIOS I am using is a no go.
But this is life and when a door closes another one opens. You will understand what I mean

 

I thought you got rid of the R2? Glad to see you kept one around!

 

Good evening everyone.
I was wondering if I could get some help in finding, or even getting ahold of someone to send me in the right direction of Mod Drivers for my Alienware M18R2, dual Gefore 980m GTX, that I built.
I am currently running GeForce mod drivers that I found in LaptopVideo2Go forms.
Drivers version 352.94.
I have been trying to find info files on how to do a proper mod .inf, but I seem to be missing something.
So if there was a member that can help, that would be fantastic. Either with the newest drivers or a step by step on how to mod the .inf or even any information how to get the newest drivers updated.

Cheers and thanks

 

https://www.techinferno.com/index.p...ort-modded-inf/&do=findComment&comment=120339

this should answer your questions regarding the drivers
cheers

 

i think its 92, but don't take my work on it.

 

https://www.techinferno.com/index.p...ort-modded-inf/&do=findComment&comment=120339
have a look on this thread, you will find all the drivers, sli profiles, and instructions on how to install them.

i am running PEG MOD v352.84 Win 10, working flawlessly.
you can find those on the thread i just linked too,

 

one last thing,
dont just modify and install the newest drivers, as they are broken,
read though the link, and you will find out which driver works for who, and make your mind from there,

till about 2 weeks ago, i was using @Mr. Fox 344.75 Desktop Mod v2.0 and they were working flawlessly, and all the newer driver wont allow me to overclock,

i updated to 352 as i am now rocking windows 10, i needed newer drivers,

 

how is fallout 4 running on 980m SLI ? was just curious considering it maxes out a single 980m relatively easily but SLI support was nonexistent for months after launch

 

Runs ok. I had to manually set sli with inspector and everything is on ultra but shadow distance set to med as for some reason they suck so much performance and you can notice

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk

 

im using the shadowboost mod that djust shadow distance in realtime to target 60fps...works great

the one area that destroys the GPU is volumetric fog with sunshine through it

this game is definitely demanding enough to take advantage of 2x980m

 

I'm currently rocking a single 980M in my R2 and was wondering what you guys suggest is the best driver? I currently have 344.75 installed.

I'm contemplating on getting another 980M or just selling off my R2 as is and building a desktop.

 

Just use the latest nvidia drivers available in TechInferno website or if you have problems use the good old 353.00 drivers available in there.

 

I am getting one 980m for my R2. I want to know if the main post is up-to-date. Seems like an easy setup to get it working. TIA

 

Doesn't help me much. Newer drivers doesn't mean better drivers.

Has anyone tested out the recent drivers and found one that worked best for them? I'm currently using 344.75 and have used 353.00. Just curious to know if anyone has found better drivers.

I followed those instructions and they worked out fine for me.

edit: Went ahead and installed 362.00. So far no issues, haven't really stressed tested it much. Just played a little swtor and all seemed fine.

 

Thanks bro. I will install one 980m this evening and let you know how it goes.

 

well , I finally got the 980m installed. I am using the Dell nVidia driver , and mod the inf file myself.

 

I am still working on patching the M18x R2 bios to get maxwell working in legacy

 

How is the performance? Benchmarks? Are you using Windows 7? I'm somewhat interested in going from 680M SLI to single 980M but the way I see it I would only really see benefit in games that do not have SLI support or require more than 2GB of VRAM to run smoothly, and that's a lot of money ($750) for that.

Here's my most recent Firestrike Normal benchmark (11400 GPU), I believe a single overclocked 980M is right around here or maybe just a little slower:

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7834821

 

I have not tried Firestrike benchmark yet. But I will try it tonight and let you know. Here is my 3DMARK11 though.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/11037045

 

I think it's totally unworth it at the moment especially as Pascal is coming soon, the 980M is over a year old now, and as you say 680M sli scores higher too - a new laptop is the way forward with Pascal I think, there's also lots of external graphic amplifier technology coming our way with AMD too based on Thunderbolt 3: http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/amd-xconnect-external-gpu-technology-for-radeon-graphics.html

 

Yeah it's sad but apparently true that 980M and the M18x R2 may have been a short-lived relationship, especially going by the Niko's own statement here in the past few pages that 980M SLI only works with the older drivers (not sure about single 980M and would appreciate confirmation on this).

Having a look at Mr. Fox's benchmarks, if I were to upgrade to 780M SLI I would see an appoximate 30% increase in performance (from 11.4k Firestrike GPU to 14.5k) and I would have 4GB of VRAM on tap, which I could do for about the same price as single 980M (780M is going for $400 on ebay at the moment).

Having to choose between single 980M and 780M SLI for the same price is a tough decision. The factors in favor of the former is that it would be a single card system and I could completely avoid the emergent SLI issues (more and more games have poor SLI support nowadays). The factors unfavorable to the former would be that, if I remember correctly, I would need to move from Windows 7 to Windows 10, something that I am deeply opposed to, and not just from the privacy perspective. The factors in favor of the later would be a bit of a faster system overall (14.5k GPU Firestrike Normal, overclocked, vs 11k or so for single 980M overclocked), no issues with newer drivers, and I wouldn't need to "upgrade" to Windows 10. $800 for only a 30% increase in performance and 4GB of VRAM is compelling, especially considering I am starting to see performance limitations with 680M SLI, overclocked (1025MHz core) at 1080p. In Rise of the Tomb Raider there are some segments where I cannot maintain 60 FPS even with most of the settings turned down to High and Medium. It would be nice to keep everything maxed out and still get 60 FPS, and 780M SLI would allow for that. Same goes for other newer games such as The Witcher 3 and GTA 5, the latter among which would really benefit from 4GB of VRAM.

My M18xR2 has plenty of life left, I would rather spend $800 on 780M SLI then go out and spend $2.5-3k on a new unit, even if it offers a G-Sync display and mechanical keyboard etc such as MSI's GT80.

As far as eGPU goes, a member here 'Rifi Fifi' has already accomplished the feat of getting it done:

https://www.techinferno.com/index.p...gtx780ti2gbpsc-mpcie2-pe4h-24-win7-riri-fifi/

The only caveat with eGPU is it is somewhat impractical to lug around the eGPU housing, PSU (if eGPU housing wont hold it), and various cables. 780M SLI is 100% as fast as single 780 Ti, with more VRAM, I would go this route over eGPU. eGPU makes more sense with faster GPU's, but then you run up against the law of diminishing returns as say something as fast as GTX 980 Ti is complete overkill for 1080p limited to 60 Hz.

eGPU is really only a viable and attractive option if you already have a DTR and truly do not need the portability and want the performance of an actual desktop. Other limitations must be considered with this approach, such as the PCI-E link speed limit of 1,2, or 4x.

As far as Pascal M goes, I don't believe the screw pattern and size will allow for retro-fitment into the M18xR2 or any other platform for that matter.

 

I'm running a single 980M on Windows 8.1 on the 362.00 drivers. You can use a single 980M with Windows 7, but you have to have optimus running. I'm gonna be moving on from my AW and plan on building a desktop. I love my R2, but it seems to have hit the end of its upgrade life span. Dell doesn't give me much hope on the future of AW either.

 

780M sli might give you an extra year of useful life over your 680M sli I would guesstimate, with the extra VRAM being the biggest boon - if that extra 1-1.5 years is worth $800 then that's a good call I think. The extra VRAM will make a massive difference going forward, I can't imagine 2GB VRAM (of the 680M) given how I see my 3GB VRAM card being utilised.

 

What are the downsides of having to run Optimus? Before moving on, if you have an Extreme Processor I highly recommend considering an eGPU set-up as the processor is still very fast (4.3-4.5Ghz!) and not very many games, aside from maybe Crisis' Crytek Engine, see and utilize more than 4 cores. To be honest, if I could do it all over again I would have saved a lot of money with comparable performance going the eGPU route vs. the $4-5k I have by now in my desktop.

Only an extra year? I think overclocked 780M SLI, about 14k GPU Firestrike Normal, will keep one in good stead for at least the next 3-5 years at 1080p. If you actually look at how demanding the games have been in the past 5 years, from 2011 until 2016, they have only increased the amount of visual fidelity and complexity and hence GPU load slightly. To add to this, a sizeable portion of PC games released within the past year or two have essentially been console ports and a 780M SLI system has to be at least 3x as powerful as the "next-gen" consoles, the PS4 and XBone. I don't think 780M SLI will have issues until the next "next-gen" consoles arrive, and they are still quite a ways out.

The only think 780M SLI may have difficulty with would be VR.

An i7 3920XM, 780M SLI system, overclocked, is going to be a solid performer for the next 3-5 years at 1080p, and 4GB of VRAM should be adequate.

As far as VRAM goes, I constantly monitor utilization, and only maybe 15% of my games use more than 2GB! No BS!

Going by memory, the following are most of the recent titles that use over 2GB, but usually less than or right at 4GB of VRAM, and this is at 2560x1440 on my 980 Ti:

Call of Duty: Black Op's 3 (upwards of 5GB utilized)
Titanfall, ~4GB
GTA 5, ~4GB
Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor with Ultra Textures enabled, ~4-5GB

The rest, including Metro: LL Redux, Crysis 3, and The Witcher 3 are all under 2GB!!!

I will probably go the 780M SLI route, if I time it right I may see another price drop when Mobile Pascal launches, but right now $800 for a pair sounds like a fair deal.

 

@vulcan78 , try to get a single 980m , you can get them around $500+ range , save up for a 2nd 980m and you are good for another 2-3 years.

 

I recently upgraded to gtx 780m sli and honestly it performs beyond my expectations, i can play anything with decent fps 95% maxed out, without aa every title runs around 40-60 fps, so far my only dissapointment is batman arkham knight which does not support sli to my knowledge and with a single gtx780m it averages 28-30 fps without nvidia physx effects, i tested gta 5 with one card and it holds 35-45 fps very Well, in a nutshell is like having something like a gtx 780 desktop on your laptop, maybe 2% slower but you get the idea

 

I was pointing out that with 780M sli vs 680M sli (which you currently have) the difference in useful longevity between the two is gonna be at most about 1-1.5 years, this is because there's not a big difference in performance between 780M sli & 680M sli, especially if you flash modified vBIOS and overvolt/overclock - I wasn't saying that 780M sli will only be good for the next 1-1.5 years, I'm not saying that at all. The 4GB VRAM is probably the most useful advantage of 780M sli vs 680M sli. I'm surprised you don't see over 2GB VRAM consumption in many games. These are the ones that use more than 2GB for me, and that's just at 1600x900 resolution: Titanfall, Shadow of Mordor, Batman Arkham Knight, Dragon Age Inquisition, Dying Light, (and Far Cry 4 & Assassin Creed Unity I can't remember but suspect so) - that's basically every modern game I've bought & played recently, maybe it's because I'm mostly attracted to AAA titles. VRAM requirements are only gonna increase too, especially as Pascal & Polaris come out armed with more VRAM as standard.

 

Yes youre mostly correct, there isn't a significant performance difference between 680M and 780M but it is still a 30% difference, both cards overclocked to their limit.

Going simply by Mr. Fox's benchmark data here in at the front of the M18x Benchmark thread, we are seeing very similar performance with 680M:

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/863376/fs/7834821

Mr. Fox's memory frequency on that run was a good 400MHz higher than mine, which may go some way in accounting for the performance disparity. I'm running a moderate OC with 1.025V. I could run 1.050V but the temps seem to get out of hand.

Here's the difference between my 680M run and his 780M run, a difference of about 30% (14.7k vs. 11.3k GPU):

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/2330540/fs/7834821

Going by the data, which is often times erroneous, for that 14.7k run Mr. Fox had the cards at 1151MHz core and 1500MHz on the memory. That is a bit higher than the 1006MHz Core / 1200MHz memory that my 680M's are capable of with 1.025v.

So theoretically we're looking at a 25-30% performance gain and doubling the VRAM. Another consideration is that my R2 is going on 3 years of relatively moderate to high usage and there is no telling how much life is left in those 680M's having been overclocked the entire time. Replacing them with new 780M's would safeguard the entire unit against expected, eventual catastrophic failure of one of the GPU's. Assuming the mobo and CPU are good to go for a few more years upgrading to 780M would also bring some peace of mind. I have next to zero fear of the CPU failing, these things seem to be built like tanks, and I'm not running an extreme OC with mine, just as with the GPU's I am running moderate voltage with the CPU at 4.3GHz.

I'm still mulling over the thought of going with a single 980M, having a quick look at the M18x benchmark thread I notice that Mr. Fox has an update 780M SLI run hitting 15k GPU and someone who has just gone the single 980M route hit 10k GPU with a mild to moderate OC:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...r2-18-benchmark-thread-part-3.730723/page-200

Yet Mr. Fox managed 16k GPU with a single 980M in his Eurocom:

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6554169

I also posted this there, but I am curious as to whether or not single 980M is capable of the same performance in the M18x R2?

 

I can tell you with certain confidence that when it comes to single GPU games, you will get a decent bump in performance with the 980M, but with dual GPU titles, the 780M SLi will edge out quite effortlessly.*

However, all of this comes with a vital caveat. Mr. Fox and others are exceptionally seasoned benchmarkers who know how to go beyond the brink in pushing their systems, which means careful calibrations, dual-power supply units, etcetera. You could certainly squeeze a solid over clock from the 780M in SLi, but for that, you will need power and you will be generating quite a bit of heat. I don't think that setting the system for15K GPU scoring on Firestrike will be sustainable for day-to-day, time-intensive gaming.

On the other hand, clocking the 780M SLi to around the level of an 880M -- perhaps even slightly further -- could yield sustainable performance for general PC gaming. In this case, I'm talking about something that would score in the range of 12-13K in terms of GPU performance on Firestrike.

* Not taking into account that SLi/dual-GPU might not always be a viable option in many games. Still, even a single 780M should take you beyond the console grade experience for this generation of games.

 

You're comparing a 780M at a core clock of 1151Mhz vs your 680M at 1006Mhz, and still there's only 30% difference in Graphics Score - it makes no sense to compare them at different core clocks, it's not like for like, 780M isn't necessarily going to clock higher than a 680M - probably less likely to do so due to thermal constraints in fact. The 780M in that score is clocked 14% higher than your 680M, so if they were running at same clocks it would be only about 20% difference in score. 20% isn't a game changer, it's the increased VRAM amount that is likely to be useful to you in the future. It's still a bit of a sideways move anyway rather than a proper upgrade. Also I'd be fairly confident that your 680M's aren't about to fail, failure rates are quite low from what I've heard, so I don't think an 'upgrade' to 780M on that basis is particularly important. Number One Benefit = double the VRAM, Lesser Number Two Benefit = 20% more raw frame pushing performance. If that's worth $800 to you then you should go for it. Good luck with whatever you choose.

EDIT: Actually I worked out that if the 780M's in the score you linked were running at the same 1006Mhz as your 680M sli then the 780M's would only have a 14% higher score than your current 680M sli. That's not a lot of difference - the Lesser Number Two Benefit I talked about in previous paragraph has now shrunk to 14% - and that's even if you can keep 780M sli at sensible temperatures at 1006Mhz, should be able to in M18xR2 I would have thought though. Anyway, I don't have any more thoughts on this, good luck.

 

Valid points, especially the fact that it is probably unlikely that the scores Mr. Fox and most others have posted are daily driver OC's, they are extreme OC's. As far as PSU goes, I don't believe I would need two 330W PSU's for single 980M. As far as heat goes, I have that mostly covered, I am running aftermarket thermal pads with greater conductivity (brand / type escapes me at the moment), IC Diamond on GPU's and CPU and manually set the fans to around 3200-3700 RPM depending on the game / application and load. I also have the unit elevated. I usually see peak GPU temps of no more than 65C at 3700 RPM and 70-75C on the CPU @ 4.3GHz but it is a bit noisy. I have also been around for a while, although my overclocking abilities are nowhere near Mr. Fox and some others here.

Yeah youre right. It's probably not worth the upgrade to 780M SLI. I am still interested in 980M SLI, especially for the VRAM and the fact that I would have the power of both cards on one card. I am looking for single 980M benchmarks to get an idea of what kind of performance I could expect and so far I found one by Mr. Fox of around 12k GPU Firestrike Normal with the GPU at nearly 1400MHz core:

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/3711027

 

Just one final thought, you can't really go off Mr. Fox's benchmark results as a reliable indicator of what you will be able to achieve in either benchmarks, and certainly not a 24/7 gaming overclock. He has modded PSU's and I believe direct air conditioning cooling to the vents of his laptop, and/or benching outside on the patio in the depths of Winter (that's not a joke!) - reason being, you need to keep them cool. Instead get ideas of what other people are getting for oveclocks without mods or special cooling, which will be indicative of a 24/7 overclock for gaming (not just short benchmark runs).

 

Well, since I find that we are all in agreement on the general point that extreme over clocks on the 780M SLi are not possible without exceptional cooling and power, I will add one tangential point.

Running the GTX 780M at 1006 MHz, is actually not that radical a feat. The 880M already does this -- more or less -- and these two cards are essentially the same with the 880M simply carrying more vRAM. As such, I would argue that with a mild overvolt, the 780M should quite readily sustain such clocks, perhaps even a bit more, for regular gaming. The real advantage here would be vRAM, and one can see this in games like the new Hitman, Arkham Knight and the new Wolfesntein titles where the vRAM bottleneck -- restricts the full high-end experience just because of that one bottleneck. This is where the 780M (or even the 4GB version of the 680M) will offer a real tangible advantage for in-game performance.

Nevertheless, the 980M does offer considerable benefits on its own because one wouldn't even need to overclock the card to get a decent punch in performance and with the potential for a second card, one is looking at Titan X grade performance at 1080p in games that support proper SLi functionality. My only concern with regards to using Maxwell cards on the M18X R2 is the fact that we don't have proper support for those cards at this point, but that hasn't stopped others from taking advantage of Maxwell cards on said system.

 

Yep, I agree with all of that, apart from the 980M stuff in relation to the M18xR2. Have a look at Mr. Fox's post #2954 on the following page: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/aw-m18x-r2-dual-980m-sli-upgrade.765169/page-296
You can see that throttling issues are present with 980M in M18xR2 - 980M doesn't look like a good solution for the M18xR2. It's very finicky, and some users can only stop the throttling (sometimes) by using old driver branches which have also been specially modded (often modded by user j95).

 

Also agreed, which is why I do think that the 780M SLi is a good option -- we are talking Titan Black or 780 Ti grade performance, which is actually quite a feat -- provided that new driver-induced throttling can be mitigated. In my case -- and that of others using the Alienware 18 -- the custom vBIOS for the 880M seems to keep the cards running at a fixed 993 MHz while gaming, regardless of driver upgrades, with the option to adjust clocks and voltage. Anyway, for a slightly compromised high-ultra experience at 1080p, even a single 780M at stock clocks can generally exceed the console experience.

Here's a Firestrike score with a modest over clock of the 780M SLi, by Mr. Fox, which I'd argue can actually be maintained for day-to-day gaming requirements. The GPU score is already approaching 14k with this arrangement. http://www.3dmark.com/fs/3361168

As such, it all does boil down to finances and where the money is better spent. If a newer system with newer cards is barely twice the price of upgrading to 780M SLi, then I think a good case can be made for getting rid of the old machine entirely and going for the newer system.

 

I'm pretty happy with my 980m sli.... When J95 updates the 353.00 drivers with the latest profiles for newer games they go hard so long as you don't overclock..... a single 980m overclocks well in my experience so long as you dont hit ~325W power draw.
The most annoying thing is trying new drivers only to be disappointed every-time with throttling, so it is a lot of money to spend on something that doesn't work perfectly...

 

With newer drivers(364.51) I get a soft throttle between 540 to 1126 MHZ depending on GPU usage with 980M SLI. 353.00 J95 drivers are ok but sometimes I get a dreaded power throttle - no overclocks here - and my gpu clocks go down to 135MHZ which is the worse kind of throttle ever exist. For now I do prefer to use newer drivers because if I maintain the gpu usage below 89/90% throtttle doesn't occur.

 

i thought i'd hype up this thread again, maybe when the new GPU polaris or 1080m comes out it'd rock m18x r2 all over again.

 

Hello Folks!

Can you help me anyone,which better way vga upgrade for my M18xR2?
I want only two options: 1x 980M or 2x970M maybe better?
Anyone use 970M? I would like really cool system therefore very symphatetic the 970M
because only 70-75W TDP.
I see some youtube demonstration,the 970M card know +500MHz OC

 

The best option would be to sell it and put the funds toward buying a Sky X9 instead. You will not only get a LOT BETTER performance, but you'll have tons of serious technology improvements, including all SATA3, M.2 and Thunderbolt 3, and elegant factory-designed dual 330W AC adapter support.

Don't get me wrong... The M18xR2 is the nicest laptop ever built, made like a tank and looks like a million bucks, but it's on the edge of usefulness with too many issues with upgrades at this point. If the latest and greatest monster laptop (Sky X9) with @Prema firmware can enjoy a life as long and as useful as the M18xR1, M18xR2 and P570WM have, that will be truly awesome. These machines are living testaments to the insane foolishness of disposable BGA filth.

 

If that sky x9 was an 18inch or bigger model...... Id have ordered it already! Just cant let my big screen m18x go quite yet :C