M18xR2 Pre-Order Configuration Questions... Ask HERE

The purpose of this thread is to guide new customers into purchasing their new M18x R2.
Lets not fill up the forum with these type of threads.

Reference the M18x Documentation before posting as it may answer many of your questions:
Documentation

 

My questions is:

Are Killer Wireless and the Wireless HD Transmitter coming back as options?

 

Thread Post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/657421-alienware-sales-assistance-live-us-canada-upgrade-new-system-purchases-20.html#post8484637

Not sure about the Killer Wireless NIC but it looks like they are just out of stock on the Wireless HD Transmitter so it should show up again in the future.

 

Thanks! Good to know. I can live without Killer, but the wireless HD was kind of a big deal for me.

 

about the killer,i think dell is waithing for the 1202. link Killer Wireless-N 1202 and E2200 Ethernet controller launch, aim to squash your ping times -- Engadget

 

Dell to upgrade unshipped Alienware orders to Ivy Bridge CPUs for free -- Engadget

 

I though it came with Bluetooth 4 NO?

 

With the SSD and HDD's. I could save up for a SSD, but it would take about a month longer of waiting, (or 4 weeks), but what I'm concerned about is 'moving parts' and how the SSD is much more safer (not to mention the holy grail of speed).

Would it be worth saving for the SSD in my config or should I get a HDD? Or a hybrid?

 

Hi NBR,

Please help me pick out parts for my future Alienware M18x.
This is what I have in mind so far. Please note that I'am a hard-core pc gaming but I also do video-editing as a hobby.

Quick question:
-Is it worth upgrading the i7 3610QM to i7-3720QM?
-RED OR BLACK FINISH? LOL
-How many DIMM slot is in the M18x? I have and extra x2 4GB DDR3 1600mhz
-How many HDD does the M18x can carry? (I have an extra 250GB Intel 510 SSD)

Budget: $3,500.00 USD (My tax return my wife doesn't know about )

*CPU - i7-3720QM
*RAM - 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (Is this x2 4GB?)
*GPU - x2 AMD 7970m Crossfire (When it comes out)
*HDD - x1 256GB SSD

 

-Is it worth upgrading the i7 3610QM to i7-3720QM?

Yes

-RED OR BLACK FINISH? LOL

Red all the way! unless you prefer colour contrast then I'd pick black, which is what I did

-How many DIMM slot is in the M18x? I have and extra x2 4GB DDR3 1600mhz

4

-How many HDD does the M18x can carry? (I have an extra 250GB Intel 510 SSD)

M18x R1 --2 in the caddy and 1 can be placed where the ODD is so, 3 potentially

M18x R2 --3 in the caddy and 1 mSATA? and one can be placed where the ODD is so, 5 potentially?

 

It does in the actual configuration but for some reason it doesn't in the specs ..

 

Wait, what is a msata? I never heard of that before?

 

It's a really really tiny SSD.

 

Is it really? He won't notice any difference apart from benchmarking scores, so if money is an issue, spending few hundreds less should be attractive.

 

It's about the best bang for the buck, which is where the 2720/2760/3720/3760 is at.

Some people use their laptop for more than just games.

He mentioned he does more than just play games, it's not really debatable. 3720QM is the best CPU for him.

 

I'll simplify my question.

SSD or HDD? I know SDD is superior but is it worth the price tag?

 

100% yes. Most noticeable upgrade that is worth every penny. You'll never go back to HDDs after... but buy it aftermarket

 

After going from 2720QM, to 2760QM and then 2920XM, anything less than an XM CPU doesn't interest me any more. There is a noticeable improvement in performance. In my noob days of being a laptop gamer/bencher, I took advice from the wrong people posting in forums and I regret having listened to the logic that was presented by people that did not own the best CPU and GPU hardware available. I ended up spending money for upgrades that were not covered by warranty and having leftover inferior hardware in my electronics junk drawer.

I would never encourage anyone buying a high performance gaming system to downgrade their specs, as there is no escaping that more powerful hardware performs better. Synthetic benchmark scores (Heaven, 3DMark11, Vantage) do accurately represent variations in results that will be found in gaming. After all, these benchmarks are nothing more than games that run without user intervention. They do stress the components more than most games, but the results accurately highlight differences in performance potential.

Being willing to compromise performance to save money at a personal level is absolutely fine, but minimizing the advantages of owning better hardware is not good advice. As an XM CPU and 580M SLI owner I say, buy the best your budget allows and be prepared to live with the decision if you need to make a compromise. You may be tickled with your decision to be frugal, but fully expect that your system will underperform in comparison to others that were not willing to compromise.

How can I say I agree with the most emphasis possible? Absolutely, yes... tetsussaiga is correct. You will not regret the performance. It will make you despise using a HDD. You can feel the difference in everything thing you do, from the moment you press the power button. The only drawback to SSD is cost per MB is too high. Be sure to not buy too small of an SSD to save money because you will run out of space for apps and games. You can install them to a HDD, but they will run slower. A large HDD is fine for data storage. A 128GB SSD is the minimum I would suggest. You will fill it up quickly and it will be an impediment rather than an asset if you don't have another drive on which to install apps that don't need to be fast (MS Office, for example) and store data.

 

I would get a XM a shame I can't afford a CPU that cost $800+ USD. with envy.
How high can u over-clock that on a laptop?

 

I have a 500GB external I use for storing homework and such anyway. So that works out.

Why would I get it aftermarket? What advantages does that pose?

I have bucketloads of experience with desktop PC's but I dont know how to change harddrives on a laptop so I was thinking I would just get HID or dell to install it for me.

 

Thanks for the information as you hear lots of people say the difference in price isn't worth the difference in performance that you get.

I have never overclocked a cpu would you pay the difference for the overclocked xm cpu?

 

The big advantage is cost. Dell is notorious for making fat profits on hard drive and memory upgrades by over-charging customers for them. If you do the upgrades yourself, you'll save money and you can pick the exact hardware that goes into your computer.

If you can use a screwdriver, you can pretty much change the hard drives yourself. They're very accessible and easy to install.

 

Its as you say. Its extremely hard to justify the price different vs performance.
Im pretty sure u can push it to be as powerful as a desktop.
But really how far can u push it on a laptop?

If it was on a desktop I would get a Extreme Series CPU. With that, I can water cool it & other fun with it.

 

I believe he should be very carreful while changing the HDD, not to break the connector. It is very flexible and directly into the motherboard. Just little bit of attention is required

 

i think they are now offering the intel wireless n 2230 which includes the intel widi which is the same as wireless hd transmitter also it includes bluetooth4.0....

regards

 

Intel widi it's not the same as wireless HD card + the resolution is much smaller on intel widi, you cannot game on dedicated GPU. Wireless HD does trasmit to the 'tv' any media + games

 

Depends on the laptop with something like the m18x you can easily push the extremes to out perform say the 2700k say around 4.1-4.5 probably(provided they dont overclock to something like 5ghz :/)
It is a fair point that the performance per price drops really low when going from 3820qm to 3920xm but the overclock easily makes it worth it. Like above if you want max performace you can't skimp out on at least the gpu and cpu.
Either way though 3820 is still a good proc it should run most if not all games you throw at it comfortably.

Edit: Also apparently m18x does have support for wireless hd but they might just be out of stock
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/Alw_M18xR2/en/specs/specs_en.swf
Check under communications in that specs thingy(I know its been said before in the live assitance thread but its easier when you have in an official doc )

 

Thanks for the reply...hmmm that means i cant game? Cuz its no use of gaming on the motherboard graphic card..i wont be able to use sli?.... Regarding resolution it says it supports 1080p?.... Also by dedicated gpu, u mean that in order to use widi ill have to switch from nvidia to the motherboard graphics for normal window use aswell?
This is horrible if its like this cuz i just ordered the m18x r2 which is costing me around $5500........ I feel awful..

 

There is nothing to be feeling bad about. It's a wonderful system, congratulation. There are lots of wireless hd transmitters out there and are not too expensive. And no, you cannot game on widi, it combines the wireless card with the iGPU together. While you are on the dedicated / sli, the widi is disambled.

 

For those that may have heard rumors or had concerns, we have great news... no reason for concern. A RAID0 config with 3 SSD (not counting the mSATA) will operate at SATA 3.0 6GB/s as advertised for the M18x R2.

 

Cool any schematics on how they are doing the caddy now to allow 3?

 

It's the same with an extra space alloted to it. It supports 2X9 mm size HDD / SSD + 1X7 mm size HDD / SSD. The case is a little deaper.

 

what are 9mm size HDD and 7mm, aren't they 2.5inches for notebooks?

 

Well, this is not settled yet.

Chris will let us know. Watch the Owner's Lounge for an update.

Yes, they are 2.5" notebook drives. Those other dimensions refer to the thickness (height) of the drives. Some SSD and HDD are now available in 7mm, which is especially well suited for ultra-thin notebooks and netbooks. HDD for notebooks are usually 9.5mm, but large capacity 1TB notebook drives are generally 12.5mm thick and are not compatible with all systems due to space limitations.

 

I hope the 18x with 7970m crossfire will be release soon.
I heard May 10,.

Question.
On the Alienware HDD configuration the 256gb SSD is that a msata ssd or a regular Samsung sdd?

I plan to install 2 more hdd later.
(1) Intel 520 250gb SSD
(1) Seagate 500gb 4gb hybrid notebook hard drive.

Will this be possible in the m18x?

 

I have to say that it is hard for me to justify a 3920xm processor. The 3-5%* gain in processing performance doesn't justify the $550 premium over the 3820qm. So I would said the 3720qm would suite most gamers, being it's about 7%* slower than the 3920xm in 3D mark vantage. If you tend to use very cpu oriented programs then the 3820qm is your best bet since it has the 2mb more cache. In my opinion, X-series processors were made just for bragging rights.

I 100% agree about a SSD tho. It is one of the best upgrades I've ever done on a machine. 120gb is the bare minimum in my opinion, and you can snag them for under $1 a GB if you look around. logicbuy.com/ is awesome for finding a deal, and if you sign up for newegg's emails they have coupons. I bought my 120GB OCZ Vertex 3 for $88 bucks after a 15% mail in coupon and a $20 mail in rebate.

*numbers from notebookcheck.net

 

Notebookcheck only considers stock performance of the XMs... and Vantage is a GPU oriented benchmark. But the bragging rights are nice too

 

...removed due to post in incorrect thread. Sorry.

 

Should be for the M18x R2.

 

Oops..somehow posted in wrong thread. Sorry all!

 

Quick Question on the display for the 18x;

What is the refresh rate? [I assume 60hz]

What is the spectrum coverage? [72%? 90%?]

As a lawyer who stares at a computer screen all day I'm hoping the lcd on the 18x is nice enough not to *completely* ruin my eyes. I know I can always get an external screen [and have two of them], but sometimes I have to work off-site or in war-rooms during trial and a decent screen helps when you are pulling loooooong hours.*

*I've actually got all gamer-gear for my peripherals due to the improved ergonomics over "standard" firm hardware.

 

Gents,

So where are we with the current state of Mobile graphic cards?

Is it worth ordering now, or is there something amazing due out anytime soon? I note Nvidia had a big launch with the desktop, and wondered if that technology is / has trickled down to the mobile parts yet...I'm not entirely sure about the 675M...

I'd hate to get stung with DDR3 in a graphics card again, when GDDR5 etc exists...

EDIT: Cancel that, I saw on notebookcheck that it is a renamed 580M.

Guess I'll wait.

 

The 7970m x-fire was added today to the m18x, and they are very powerful mobile cards. Also, word on the street is the GTX 680m will be out towards the end of the summer.

 

i'm ordering the m18x with crossfire 7970ms but only the 3610qm cpu will this bottle neck it in games at all

 

I would also like to know this, as I'm indecisive between the 3610 and the 3720. 3720 is as high as I'm willing to go, cause I'm trying to keep it below $2,800 if I can. Which I'm struggling to do with the only changes being the 3720 and the xfire 7970ms. I'll buy some Hyper X RAM after I get it, and I already have a SSD I'm going to put in it. I essentially just want the cpu and the gpu to be in a decent balance.

Does this seem like the cheapest system I can get away with to you guys?

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

I'm gonna try to reduce the price as much as possible via phone I guess, but any suggestions with bugdet as priority? DEM TAXES

 

there are a 5% discount cupon float around on the internet just google them

also ur lucky i'm am also trying to keep it at about 2800 but i live in australia and the base model $3300(it is speced up from the u.s it starts with 8gb ram a 3720cpu etc duel 675ms) so i am getting t through hidevolution with $200 postage

 

I called in curious and they offered three hundred off the total and another 5% back in a dell coupon vs the online configuration price. Love Oregon for no taxes...

 

Goodness man! What did you say to them, did you have to say much? If I could get something close to that it would be a done deal for sure.

 

Just the sales tax on something as expensive as a maxed out M18x can be pretty stinking brutal. I cannot imagine having to pay the asinine taxes our brothers in the UK and Europe have to pay.

There's a ton of stuff to love about Oregon, but I'm not so sure about that aspect being lovely. When I moved across the river to Washington, it was like getting a nice raise in my paycheck. Instead of a 8.3 to 9.0% sales tax on taxable items only, in Oregon, it's 9.0% of your income. Most of my purchases are non-taxable. You do get numb to being financially raped eventually, and there is a perception of something nice when you go shopping, but it's costing way more in the long run. But, living near the border is very nice for shopping... best of both worlds.

 

Maybe I found the right person. But it was the following:

Alienware M18X R2 3920xm 7970 Xfire 8GB 1600 750 GB HD Blu-ray drive 4 Year Advanced warranty 3999.96 vs 4300 online price, plus 5% dell gift card, so 200 spend at dell, so I'll probably grab another 750 GB drive and got my eye on the Mushkin 240 GB Msata to complete the package.

Cost of living and property tax is bad here, no jobs except Portland, so yes, there's that...

And there are people who live on the Washington side of Portland or across the river, you get my point and your right, they get the best of both worlds.