M18xR2 Pre-Order Configuration Questions... Ask HERE

Questions for any enthusiastic gamers here...

1- BEST brand of the SSD drive in your opinion would be what? I'd like to get the info for both a great price/quality SSD and the other option would simply be THEE BEST SSD in your opinion.

2- BEST brand of laptop RAM. Same options as question #1

3- 3D Monitors and Nvidia 3D Glasses... Worth it? Anyone have them or tried them yet?

4- RAID 0 with SSD drives... is the speed SIGNIFICANTLY faster than non-Raid?

Thank you very much for any and all feedbacks!

I'm about to order my M18X real soon now and still wondering if I should pick the standard HDD and RAM on Dell USA and get SSD and RAM on other places...

 

1- Best as far as quality/reliability would be the Samsung 830 Series, an Intel SSD, and the Crucial m4 series. If you are willing to take some risks, the OCZ Vertex 4 is potentially a little bit faster than these three, but the reliability is not proven yet.

2- Brand of RAM doesnt matter much. I generally use: Micron/Crucial, Samsung, G.Skill, Corsair, Mushkin.

3- I dont really know about this topic.

4- No, it is not significantly faster and in my opinion you are best suited with a single SSD. One of the reasons being that you lose trim support in RAID. Doing a RAID-0 improves sequential access speed, not the random access speed, and as the advantage of SSD's is mostly the random access times you do not gain much, if any, real-world performance gains.

 

Thank you very very much for your quick response! I had read a bit before my posting and writing at this moment... and from what I read, I was eyeing the Intel 520 Series and the Samsung 830 who both seems quite nifty! They don't seem to use the hated SandForce Controller (aside from the Intel 520) but I'm quite surprised that Intel are now using it now for the 520 Series.

Would you risk it to go with the SFC on the Intel 520 Series? Or you'd simply go with the Samsung 830? The read/write speed seems faster on the Intel but with the SFC, not too sure if it's worth the risk!

As for the RAM, I was eyeing the Corsair brand since I had them a few times in the past and they are robust and performing products!

I had my doubts for the SSD in Raid 0 so guess it is not worth the hassle! I'd prefer sticking with one main SSD drive and using two HDD for data/storage.

As for the 3D gaming... I guess it seems to not be worth it as not a lot of gamers posted their experience. Best seems to simply wait it out!

Thanks again for your quick reply!

 

I'd say that the Intel 520 is 'safe'

 

Intel 520 Series 480GB it is then! Thanks for the feedback extide!

 

Hey guys, I got a question about the heatsink of the processor in m18x r2. Is the 3920xm cpu comes with 3 pipes heatsink? Thx in advance.

 

From my previous research on the subject I can say that yes, it does come with a 3 pipes heatsink.

 

Yes. The 3920xm ships with a triple piped heatsink.

 

thx for reply, now i know which cpu to choose. good day.

 

Well... I'm SOL now! Was about to purchase M18X today and then, the Nvidia GTX 680m are out of stock... and the 15% off discount is over now...

Guess I'll wait a day or two and hope for the best... or I'll have to go full circle and get a gaming Desktop instead... which doesn't seem that bad actually!

 

The Aurora ALX is awesome. I have an R1 and it still holds up quite nicely 3 years down the track after installing some SSD's and a new video card. If you can afford the new model (they seem to be way more expensive now than they were back when I got mine) you'll love it.

 

Alright, I've decided that I'm buying this beast, but I need an opinion on something.

I've noticed that you can get dual GPUs on this machine, something I would never consider on a laptop due to how hot they can potentially run.

My question is, how hot does the M18 run with dual GPUs, and what will it do to the system overall? I'm afraid that if it runs too hot for too long, it'll wear out relatively soon.

 

Well, the whole point of the M18x is the dual GPU's. It is designed to run with both and it has very good cooling. If you only want one GPU you might as well go for the M17x.

 

Alright. Knowing this, how much better is the Nvidia 680M than the Nvidia 675M and is it worth the price increase?

Also, what SSD do people recommend? I was gonna buy them aftermarket since dell's prices for drives are dumb.

 

The 680m is a LOT better than the 675 and is worth the price difference.

As for SSD's Crucial M4, Intel 520 and Samsung 830 series are all reliable and good performing SSD's.

 

Yup, don't bother with the 675m it's actually slower than the 7970, which is also cheaper. Decide between the 7970 or 680.

Those SSD's are the most reliable, highly suggested ones. If you are willing to take a bit of a risk, you can give the Vertex 4 a try It's been working fine for me so far..

 

Man, all this bumps up my system to $4,000.

Time to save up.

 

Thanks for the heads up BrickTop however, if I do go desktop, I'm eyeing a lot the Maingear SHIFT... but as of now, the AW M18X are out of discount and 680m... and I refuse to go back with ATI!

I give it a few more days and if it's still back order, I'll give AW a shot in another time unfortunately.

I saw that the Corsair SSD ( 480GB Corsair® Force GT SSD SATA 6G (w/ TRIM) [545MB/s Reads]) have good ratings on Newegg... could they be reliable as much as the Intel, Samsung? Also, that Corsair have a decent price, performance and quality compared to the "overpriced" Intel SSD.

Thoughts anyone?

 

Mmm, they are probably ok, Corsair is good stuff but it is Sandforce and Intel has their own special sauce firmware for sandforce that seems to make it more stable, and only Intel has that firmware. I would say go with a Vertex 4 if you are feeling frisky enough to get a Force GT. The Vertex 4 is a bit faster and seems to be pretty reliable so far.

 

Hey extide! Thanks for the feedback! I had my worries too that Corsair use SandForce controller but with all the positive reviews, it is quite hard to find it "bad".

However, like you mentioned... it would simply be better (and peace of mind) to just go with a non-SandForce SSD as they seem to be a lot more reliable.

So far, think I'll just go with Samsung 512GB 830 Series. Their on a deal actually and I'd kick myself good if I don't get a good SSD drive right from the start as I don't have much free time to fiddle around.

Thanks again for your input!

 

You are welcome. You will not be disappointed with the Samsung 830

 

Anyone have a rep that is pretty lenient when it comes to savings? I was interested in an M18x with 680m sli but those are out of stock atm and it seems the 15% off is over. Has anyone gotten a straight 20% discount if they configured a system expensive enough? lol..

 

I was interested as well but ever since the 680m out of stock and the 15% discount being over, I am thinking either you wait it out, or you pick yourself something else which is what I'm thinking for the moment.

If your patient, I'm sure you could get some 15% off from a Dell rep on the phone. You could try 20% at first though while at it! I would!

 

If you are thinking about another machine check out the Clevo/Sager P170EM/NP9170 (for a 17") or the P150EM/NP9150 (for a 15"). They are available now with 680m, and all the trimmings. Only thing is no SLI, and the M18x is the only current-gen laptop on the market that supports CF/SLI.

 

Clevo P370EM is an option to the M18x if you are looking for dual GPU's

Thank you,
Monnie

 

Yeah, but I don't think that laptop is available anywhere yet. Should be pretty sweet though.

 

already purchase and waiting for delivered
this setup
what do you think about this setup

Software & Services
PROCESSOR : 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.3GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
OPERATING SYSTEM : Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
MEMORY : 16GB DDR3 1866MHz 4DIMM
HARD DRIVE : 1.5 TB RAID 0 (3x 500GB) 7200RPM
VIDEO CARD : Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M - SLI® Enabled
WIRELESS + BLUETOOTH : Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 4.0
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE : Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

My Software & Accessories
COLOR : Space Black Anodized Aluminum
PERSONALIZED PLATE : Personalized Plate (Lycossa)
ALIENFX COLOR : Quasar Blue
WALLPAPER : Alienhead Chrome Blue
GEAR STORE : Targus HD3 Gaming Chill Mat - Black
GEAR STORE : Alienware Orion M18x Backpack - TSA Friendly
GEAR STORE : Green Onions Supply AG2 Anti-Glare Screen Protector for Dell Alienware

My Accessories
SUPPORT : 1 Year Basic Plan
SECURITY SOFTWARE : No Anti-Virus Software Selected
OFFICE SOFTWARE No Microsoft® Office
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
SOUND OPTIONS : Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software
LCD PANEL : 18.4 inch (467.36 mm) WLED WideFHD (1080p) display (1920 X 1080)
Primary Battery : 96WHr 12-Cell Primary Battery
SYSTEM COLOR : Alienware M18X R2 with Soft Touch
AUTOMATIC UPDATES : Alienware M18x 330W A/C Adapter
Keyboard : English Keyboard
Adobe Reader Acrobat SW Adobe Acrobat X Reader
Documentation Alienware Documentation

 

Pretty good but you could've done better. The GTX 675m is a re badged GTX 580m which was in the M18x R1. I am assuming you picked that because of driver support? I would've went with 7970m since its the same price and better performance and with the RAM you could've gotten 8GB or 12GB @ 1600mhz because 1866mhz and 1600mhz there is no noticeable gains plus 16GB is overkill unless you do a lot of vm, and the savings you could've placed that on the 3720qm or the 3820qm which is a much better upgrade. Its your laptop just stating my opinion . Mind sharing how much it cost otd?

 

I'm interested in purchasing an m18x this fall, but I'm wondering if it would be better to wait for the R3. Does anyone know (or can guess) when the R3 comes out?

P.S. I just saw that someone had their m18x playing a game and it exploded - that's insane.

 

Thanks for your Reply
this laptop for Video Editing Too
so i need big RAM and BIG Storage
not just for game

about the price is 3.500 USD in my country
i just order from Computer Shop
not directly from DELL Website

 

We can't configure the Alienware m17x and m18x with GTX 680m anymore! They're out of stock...

 

You would have been a lot better off with a 7970m.

 

I can only speak for the U.K. and I realise that this may not actually mean they are in stock, but available to pre-order from Dell...

...but the 680s appear to be available again!

 

yea but no big discounts/promotions going on.

 

They are back on the Canadian site as well.

 

One step at a time, eh?

 

Thanks for the reply extide! The Clevo/Sager seems to be a nice lappy... however, I read many mixed reviews about that system so I was quite skeptic to uh, purchase one.

As for the lappy SLI thingy, there is a new laptop that supports it... ORIGIN PC, EON17-SLX. However, it looks pretty much like a Clevo so I wouldn't be surprised if it is one, just renamed to Origin.

Also... to update my situation. I finally decided to get a monster gaming desktop rig at Maingear instead of the "backordered GT 680m" and no promotions. Customized myself the Shift rig on the X79 tech... should receive it soon hopefully!

Thanks for everyone with your inputs... I ain't discarding the AW lappy just yet. I will still need a decent gaming lappy eventually! By that time, maybe the AW M18X R3 will be released with 690m in SLI!

 

That machine is definitely a beast and the next best thing to an M18x. It's extremely overpriced and only offers a 1 year depot-repair warranty for more than $6k before shipping, LOL. It's pretty ludicrous when configured with good specs that match an equivalently maxed out M18x. Plus, it does not look as nice and it's not made nearly as well, and their warranty service is sub-par.

Spoiler

Here's a very similar spec'd M18x R2 at web configuration "sucker price" and you can negotiate a much sweeter deal with Alienware. I am not sure that much flexibility is even possible with Clevo resellers. (They have to be able to make some profit.)

Spoiler

 

I think you guys are being a little bit ignorant about Clevo system build quality. It is at the same level as the Dell/Alienware stuff, and in fact Alienware laptops used to be re-badged Clevo's back before Dell bought them out. I, myself, have the 15" version, the P150EM, and it is a very well built machine and a this point in time there is no other laptop on the market that has similar specs (on a 15" platform). With the 17" P170EM the M17x is a direct competitor. There is plenty of flexibility available with Clevo systems price wise

I am not sure what bare bone system that one with SLI is based upon, but it is probably something like a P370EM. If tat thing had been available when I ordered my system I may have opted for it instead.

 

I think we were mainly relating to aluminium vs. plastic. No one is "knocking" Clevo machines, it's simply they are more "run of the mill" in terms of aesthetics/casing. If anything, Alienware could take a leaf out of Clevo's production book when it comes to cooling.....not to say the AW is poor by any stretch, it just seems Clevo put more effort into the cooling components.

 

I think disinterest is a more accurate term than ignorance. I think that the serious Alienware enthusiasts that have been around the longest are some of the most well-informed technical folks you'll find in existence. We've made decisions based on a wealth of knowledge and research and ultimately landed on what works best for us. There are plenty of ignorant buyers in all brands, that either buy what is popular with the group they hang out with, or they believe what they read in a couple of reviews and make snap decisions without enough information.

If I were in the market for a new 15" machine, the maxed out P150EM is the only 15" system on the market good enough to consider owning. As it stands, my ownership interest is limited to the largest dual-GPU systems available. That would be expected in a thread devoted to M18x purchases in an Alienware Community.

The P370M is the second best option in my view. It cannot compete with the M18x for a couple of reasons. And, yes, Stevie is correct... aluminum vs. plastic. I travel extensively and plastic does not hold up. Every plastic laptop chassis I have owned ends up with stress cracks, creaks and squeaks that the M17x R2 and M18x have never exhibited before. Even the so-called "business class" machines that are supposed to hold up to the rigors of travel do not when then are made of plastic. And, the bland appearance of the P370M does not appeal to me. I don't see anything objectionable about the components that go into it... all good stuff.

I also find the Dell Advanced warranty options and greater flexibility in BIOS tweaking to be a whole lot better with Alienware than it is with Clevo.

 

Okay, I see what you mean. However the P170EM does have an aluminum shell I believe.

We'll just have to agree to disagree here. I have traveled around the world with Thinkpads, Inspirons, Latitudes, all sorts of stuff and have had very good luck with them. Perhaps I am just a bit more particular about my computers. Although, when they are company owned machines I don't go out of my way to make sure they don't get mildly damaged..

Sadly the P series Clevo's have a locked down BIOS, but the W series systems have a 3rd party BIOS available that unlocks the BIOS to the level of an enthusiast desktop board.

 

Well, aluminium lid and palmrest on the P170EM I believe....I think the underside is still all plastic, as well as the sides. The 18x is more or less all aluminium where it can be, which makes for a very sturdy exterior....you knwo what they say....go big or go home LOL.

 

I will be first to admit that looks can be deceiving and I would like to handle one of these new machines to draw my own conclusions on build quality. I will say that looking at the images, it certainly does not appear to be very sturdy construction. It looks like it might be on the fragile side of the spectrum. The rubber stoppers in the screw holes for the display bezel and the trim around the exhaust vents gives it a very cheap legacy laptop look.

 

Totally agree with you. crappy 4 pin power adapter as well.

 

Kind of a Post-Order question here people.
Let me know what you think

2 x 256 crucial m4 for raid 0 now
or
1 x 512 and raid it up at a later date ... ?

 

Go for the stripe Intel FINALLY has TRIM passthrough for RAID 0 now!

 

Thanks for your reply, would you mind expanding on that a little. I have never set up raid before - this will be a learning experience for me

Correct me if I'm wrong - Trim a SSD setting (that helps performance longevity) available through some newer Intel software?

 

Since you've not done it before, have a look at the opening post in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...llation-questions-troubleshooting-thread.html. (The discussion is off topic here, but this link is a great thread for the discussion to continue.)

TRIM has always been available in Windows 7 if the SSD supports it. It has only been in the case of an SSD RAID array that TRIM commands were not passed to the SSD array.

By far, the easiest way to set up RAID0 is to install Windows, install RST, then use the RST software to create the RAID membership within Windows.

But, using F6 drivers is easy, too. At first boot press Ctrl+I, create the membership, then boot to USB or DVD to install Windows with F6 drivers. More elaborate detail is available in the above link. Going this route can sometimes be intimidating for people with minimal technical knowledge, especially for those that find following directions to be challenging.

 

Thanks Mr Fox, ill check it out now

Is it possible to leave Windows alone when I introduce a raid setup?
My situation is I have a 64gb SSD with windows working nicely on there at the moment. I'd be looking to transfer my gaming D: (512gig HDD) over to the new SSD raid arrangement as painlessly as possible.