Help me make an informed choice.

Alienware M18x

System Color
Space Black Anodized Aluminum

Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 2960XM Overclocked Turbo Boost to 4.0GHz (8MB Cache)

Thermal Paste - Lower temps and extend life of system!
IC Diamond on CPU + GPU - INSTALLED BY HIDevolution

Operating System
Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit, English (OS language can be changed ONLY with Ultimate)

Video Card
Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M – NVIDIA® SLI® Enabled

LCD Panel
18.4-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 WLED

0 dead pixel guarantee
YES, guaranteed 0 dead pixels (valid for first 30 days of ownership)

Anti-Glare Screen Protector for M18x
YES, please install on display - installed by HIDevolution

Memory
Kingston HyperX 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1866MHz (4DIMMS) - 1866MHz not supported on 2630QM - installed by HIDevolution

Hard Drive
Crucial C300 SATA3 6Gb/s 256GB SSD - INSTALLED BY HIDevolution

2nd Hard Drive Bay (installed by HIDevolution)
500GB Hybrid Drive (Seagate Momentus XT) - INSTALLED BY HIDevolution

Internal Optical/3rd HDD Bay
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

Battery Options
97 WHr 12-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery

Power Adapter
240 Watt (330W for dual GPU configs) 3 Prong AC Adapter with 6 ft Power Cord (will work worldwide, includes FREE plug adapter for those without "U.S. style" outlets)

Wireless Cards
Intel® Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology - installed by HIDevolution

WirelessHD
None

Bluetooth
Bluetooth 3.0 Included

Sound Options
Internal High-Definition 5.1 Performance Audio with SoundBlaster MB Software

Warranty and Service (Dell warranties are valid worldwide with service tag transfer request)
1 Year Basic Service Plan

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I was planing to get this laptop from hievolution, and i want to know the opinion of the people that have more experience, to make sure i dont make a bad call and give some tips in what should i change.

keep in mind that can´t go above the price tag of $5,609.00( aproximade, an extra 20 dont make a diference)

Thanks in advance

 

You are waisting money.

 

Hey there! if you want to save money, Choose the 4GB RAM option and 320GB HDD option and you can save a lot of money buying the same stuff off of newegg or some online store.

Dell rips us off on RAM and HDD upgrades its not worth it. Rather invest all of that money on extended warranty

And get it direct from DELL. I doubt that vendor can really match DELL's prices, plus you can ask for discounts if you call the dell reps. If possible try to get a hold of the rep named Jason. Great guy.

 

What you wanna get is this:

-2630QM...if you want a XM get one off ebay.
-6990m CF or 580m SLI...depends if you are more into AMD or Nvidia, performance wise very close, pricewise...a huge gap.
-get stock 4 GB and buy the Hyper X yourself...much much cheaper.
-Get the stock HDD and buy a SSD later. Much cheaper and there is no point in using the XT for data.
-Blu ray..movies do look good.
-Killer wifi if you are into online gaming.
-at least 2 year warrenty but thats up to you.

Total damage with 2630QM, 6990m CF and 1 year warreny: about 2700 dollars. You should be able to get that for 2300 dollars or less with the right haggeling skills or coupons.

For gaming the standerd CPU is more then enough, 2760QM is the sweet spot.

HID is good for us outside US living people. If you live in the US it wont make any differance ordering it from Dell or HID. Everything HID installs is not covered by the Dell warrenty.

 

I know that there are some resellers on here, and I'm sure they do a fantastic job, but that seems like A LOT of dough to spend for not that much benefit.

What do you WANT to do with the laptop? That's the first question to ask. Do you NEED all these bells and whistles (like the top-of-the-line processor, 256GB SSD, etc.), or is your money better spent elsewhere?

I quickly priced out a similar system (no SSD, but dual 500 GB hybrid drives in RAID0 and 1600 MHz RAM), and it came in under $4900. Still A LOT to spend on a machine, but hey, if you have the $$$ burning a hole in your pocket, go for it.

Again, what do you want to DO with the machine? That's the #1 question to ask. Personally, I'd get a slower proc, forego the Blu-ray (unless you plan on using it as a primary movie device), and spend the $$$ on a better warranty. I would also get the minimum amount of RAM (8GB) and buy 16GB from NewEgg or Amazon. Also, dual Nvidia 560 cards will save you $900 or you can get dual AMD 6990s and save $700. It's all up to you and what YOU want to do with your hard earned cash.

 

Dell Outlet.

 

There are 0 in the outlet right now.

 

Before people say it's a "waste" I think that's a bit ironic considering the machines we are buying (Alienware). For example someone could be making 100K a year with no kids and buy this system without thought. Now if a poster buys a 2630qm, 4gig ram, 6990CF we would be saying "great purchase"....even though it's for college. No one knows everyone's financial situation or what their "informed decision" means. I know this may not obtain to the OP but we don't know. Also that whole "just buy off ebay" doesn't quite make logical sense since most people even posting this question would not know how to upgrade ram let alone a complete teardown

So it is NOT a waste...depending on your needs. However, I would ask, what do you think you are missing with that system? You have every "best" component out there.

If you want a gaming system and primarily plan to game and don't know what CUDA uses are for, then I would recommend a 2760 (or whatever the newer 2720QM is called) 6990CF and 4 gig ram that you can easily upgrade. I haven't even jumped on the SSD bandwagon and don't find any loading times to be a problem on 7200rpm units. The thermal upgrades you made are great because cool systems are important.

If you have the cash for a 4-6K system, then you are definitely getting the BEST system out there. Just keep in mind that it will be outdated in 6 months. There is a sweet tooth in high end mobile gaming and right now that is a 2630, CF 6990 and 4gig ram (8 is useful but is a SIMPLE upgrade).

Some people can finance a Camry and some people can pay cash for a Audi R7; which one are you? If you are the former; I recommend going for a lower spec system because what you have, for gaming purposes, is completely overkill.

General rule for mobile gaming, get the BEST GPU's (6990CF is a very close 2nd to 580SLI). The processors are hardly a problem as even last gen i7s do the job quite well.

 

Now re-reading carefully what you selected, I think you are a Camry driver. Why spend that kind of coin and get the worst warranty possible and not get the HDMI kit to stream to your TV? Not sure about antiglare units (are they even effective?) or the zero dead pixel policy. Screens may have some dead pixels but you will be hard pressed to find them without running tests. I am sure most warranties cover clusters of dead pixels and zero dead pixel is another price grab and annoyance for me personally.

 

get the best cpu and gpus you want and the rest at minimum and install disks, ram and other things yourself. you will save a lot.

and don't buy that anti-glare protector. it will distort the image. you won't like it.

 

Patience is a virtue.

 

Actually i am mora a Mercedes, BMW kind of guy...
XD
i already make most of the changes, cause, even if i do well in terms of money, i like it too much for spending far more than required.
I will use this system for games, video, and CAD software, but i will use various simultaniaus.

I will go with the 4gb RAM, 500GB HDD 7200, and Dual 580 SLI.
And i7 960 not overclocked, 2 years advanced service plan.

one thing i always have lacked in my former PC was a good processor, so this time e want the best.

That lowers the price to about $4800....

Almost 1000 less...
More opinions apreciated.

P.S. I live in Portugal, so if i dont want to pay $1500+ taxes for the laptop, i need to send them from HIevolution and i heard they dont haggle there.

 

Since the memory and drives are so easy to replace that looks like a solid config. If you don't have to have NVidia the ATI 6990 are just as fast, probably faster and no throttling issue for $700 less. If that issue is ever resolved then the 580's will be faster I am sure. If you can find any coupons that work you could save some more money too.

 

Ok lets say 3000 with the 6990m CF.....ex. tax.

Any reasson why you want the 580m SLI over the 6990m CF?

If you are able to replace a CPU I would get the stock CPU and buy the XM off ebay, save's money.

 

Are you serious? 580ms have the throttle. It truly rocks, I am telling you. Dell-only feature! *Everyone* wants it!

 

I would personally go for the 6990Xfire and maybe justify the 2960. If not, Drop the 2960 and go for 580. 5k is Ferrari pricing on computers man. You can always upgrade the CPU and GPUs. Next year there will be 7 series AMD coming out on a new 28nm fabrication process which will make those 580 SLI look weak. Save 700 and get the 6990s. That drops you to 4200.

If you want a better CPU BESIDES gaming, I guess you can justify the 2960. However if you are going for the "non overclocked" which really is SOOO easy to OC yourself much higher than what the factory will do for you; I would suggest you stay away from the extreme processors. You will NOT tell the difference between the 2760 Vs 2960 in gaming or anything else at stock speeds. These are not CPU's of yesteryear. These are very very very potent CPU's that are capable of blowing away the best desktop processors of a few years ago. Notebook CPU's are amazing right now; even the 7 series GPU's due next year will not be bottle necked by current CPU's.

Just for perspective; you want the best CPU. IVY bridge isn't far off and will no doubt be "better." But you won't notice it in gaming AND you won't be able to upgrade to them either because it will require a new motherboard.

If you don't want to tinker much with your system and just play out of the box, get the 6990Xfire, 2760, 8 gig ram (again I said so you don't have to upgrade anything), 500gig 7200rpm hd. You will now be in the 3500 range and that is a lot less than the 4800 you got down to.

Now for giggles....get the cheapest quad core CPU (again SUPER POWERFUL), 4 gig ram, CF 6990 and you will be around 2500 or so. In two years, take that other 2500 you "got down to" and just buy a brand new computer while selling yours and your system will BLOW AWAY your current best config you could have bought!

Price to performance ratio SHOULD matter...even to the most discriminating of gentleman...crap that sounds like a strip club I know

 

Shipping is like 145 dollars so add that up to the price and dont forget tax. How much do the customs charge in Portugal?

 

one third of the official product price+i take a LOT of time to pass custom...
one friend of mine had an razer naga stuck in costums for almost 3 months

 

33% Damn that alot!

Well there are ways to lower it but are iligal to mention here. Hehehe.

So if you spend 3000 the tax would be 1000, total damage 4000 dollars! Thats ridiculous.

 

Can't somebody just carry it with them on their visit to your country or something? I know, hard to fins someone who just happened to be going to Portugal and someone whom you know very well.

 

For those prices it may be worth taking a long weekend vacation trip to the US or Canada and then just lugging the darn thing home. It's almost the same price.

 

if i buy from hievolution i don´t have to pay it, just $150 for customs, and $300 for shipping, giving a total of $4000 aproximated

 

Who told you that?

Shipping is 145 dollars to Portugal. If the true value is on the package you are going to pay full tax. If you spend 3000 the tax will be 1000.

 

Ted from they online chat...

They send them from UK so thats a lot less taxes for that.

 

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thx.