M18xR2 Pre-Order Configuration Questions... Ask HERE

$2600 for that same setup except it was a 3720 processor and 6gb RAM... and 500GB HDD. but it was refurbished. I must say that $2800 for that setup is a fantastic deal

edit - however in a previous post he said he ordered one with a 3630qm processor, quo vadis?

 

If I could get them down to 2800-3000 with the 680’s and at least 3720 I would be all over it when my income tax check comes in.. I can order the ram and a SSD from newegg or Amazon and attempt (lol) to put them in myself

 

If you are interested in buying from the Dell Outlet versus new........

I was able to get the machine in my sig for $3000 from the Dell Outlet. This was with a 25% Dell Outlet coupon though. Those coupons seem to pop up every month or two. I had to call the Outlet and ask if they had a machine with the specs I was looking for though. More often than not, the 680m SLI machines are either not listed on the website, or if they are they are gone in the blink of an eye.

The components not factory installed in my original config is the Intel 6300 card, the second SSD, and the 750GB HD. It came with the Killer 1103 card, which I removed.

They seem to hold back quite a bit of machines from the website.

 

Probably to stop idiots on eBay from buying them and reselling them, and those that are pristine open-box units are probably held back for system exchanges. The latter seems like a logical thing for them to do.

 

Reminds me of the time I saw a 680M SLI setup at the Outlet, I clicked for the detailed specs to pop up and it came up as an error. I refreshed the page and it was gone Never happens to the 7970M CFX setups though lol. I really hate those eBay people who buy out all the Outlet units.

Sometimes I manage to get as far as entering the Captcha, but then it errors out LOL.

 

Yep. There are always a specific few sellers on eBay who seem to "magically" have the best systems from the Outlet.

 

I might check that out.. is it a gamble buying from there?

 

I bought mine off an eBay reseller. Now I know most of you guys here don't like them, but for us non-US buyers who would have to pay through our noses for a basic setup, eBay resellers are just angels for us. Mine was especially helpful, doing everything by the book, following every single instruction I gave him, and even providing excellent after-sales service with a proper followup and everything. Just to give you an idea of Alienware prices here:

An Alienware M11x R1 costs 999 euro
An Alienware M18x R2:

Alienware M18x

A SINGLE 7970m card, base processor, totally crap wireless card... that translates to $3600

 

The Outlet? Nah, I've never had any issue with them. I've gotten Previously Ordered New, Refurbs, Scratch and Dent, and all were in perfect condition really aside from maybe 1 missing screw once lol.

 

I will have to look into that.. they don't have any m18s listed right now and no point calling them since I won't be ordering for 3 weeks or so lol

 

Awaiting my new rig Thanks to the members and dell reps here. (And yes, it is a 330W Adapter)

Cheers!

 

Nice! Congratulations. BTW - love your forum name.

 

So after much procrastination .... and mainly thinking i wanted the m17x r4 i have been swayed by the likes of Mr Fox and Johnksss to go for the 18x r2 (tax rebate helped to....)
So i have a few quick questions i'm thinking sli 680m's as they are back in stock and from all accounts are solid as can be cards and will last the longest time -
Is it worth getting the cache ssd drive if down the road i will be getting a full SSD setup ?
Next up is the CPU as the 3740QM now and upgrade it to an Xtreme later what are the main differences between QS and OEM etc ?
Sorry if this has been asked figured the best place to ask again
Thanks !!

 

mSata SSD's are best with HDD combinations. Do not buy an mSata drive if you plan to use an SSD.

You should get the 3740QM as it is very reliable. The difference is the heatsink and cooling if you plan to upgrade to an XM.

The 680M's are back?! Woot.

Edit: No they're not back...

 

I'm just trying to go for the best spec to part in the long run as this is primarily going to be a gaming machine (odd bench to see what i can do etc ...lol)
Makes sense on the mSata though
Available on Dell UK site idk about NA/CA though
As for the heatsync from what i understand it would be swapping over to a 3 pipe during the upgrade wich im more than capable to do or i'll get one of the engineers at work to do my bidding

 

Oh thanks 10 days and counting....

 

I think the 680m is available but only as a single card.

I have to agree with the SSD config, not worth getting an mSATA if you plan to go for full SSDs later on.

 

I am thinking of buying an Alienware for the first time. I am wanting a good system that will last longer then 2-3 years. I have been leary of spending this amount of money on a laptop and not having the longevity of a desktop. Do you think I can get 4 years out one of the m18's. I was looking at the 3840qm and either the 675 in sli or the m7970 in crossfire. I do not mind having to upgrade the video card down the road, but the processor I have found a pain to find after the line has been discontinued.

I currently have a G73jh but looking for the parts to up grade it, the cost and trouble does not look to be worth it. That is why I am looking at this route.

I am going to be ready to buy on Thursday or Friday this week.

Also was wondering if I can get a system that can be customized with items that are not listed in the build level I want. Some of the options at the lower level are not available for me at higher builds.

 

The M18x will definitely last four years if you have it on a desk 24/7 and maintain it, sort of like a car. You'll need to keep it clean, re-paste the GPU's and CPU after two years, and avoid dropping it. If you plan to travel or take it with you every day, the M18x will hold up fine, but you should definitely get "4-Year Accidental Damage Service" - just in case. Also, keep in mind the size and weight of the system.

It is built very well. But that doesn't mean the components inside will last four years. That is why they offer an amazing warranty, take advantage of it.

 

I have traveled with laptops for 15 year and have had 1 failure. They can take travel very well. I doubt the warranty will be worth it. If it does happen to break out of warranty I will fix it myself. I just want something that will last performance wise. I do not want to spend this amount of money and have it start struggling to play new releases, like my g73. It is struggling bad to play ps2 and tribes.

Size does not really matter, I travel with my g73, the m18 is not much bigger.

 

Trust me. Anyone on this forum who has had issues with their M18x will tell you the warranty is worth every penny. You definitely want to get at least three years of the essential support (hardware warranty) to cover any malfunctioning parts. Otherwise, you'll end up buying those yourself, if they do fail. I wouldn't buy an M18x again if it didn't come with this warranty. I'm already on my second M18x since this past December.

Sometimes things work out perfectly, sometimes they don't. I'd recommend being prepared for the worst.

 

can I ask what happened to your first rig

 

From what I can remember, the first thing I noticed was dead pixels (on both laptops). I've got a new M18x screen sitting next to me right now - it was free, because of the warranty - they even offered to have someone come out to install it, but I respectively declined. The second thing I had issues with was a faulty SATA cable, or so I assume. I went through four SSD's and none of them would RAID. It could have been something more serious, I'm not sure. The third issue I had was BSOD and random shut downs. And the final issue I can recall was a faulty network card - the signal would drop randomly and the bars never got full, even if the router was a mere 15 feet from where I was sitting. This all happened within the first three weeks of owning it. Thankfully, Alienware extended the return period because of the Holiday season and I was able to get a brand new replacement.

My point is, sh*t happens. You may have the resources and knowledge to handle all of the issues I had above, but I don't recommend cheaping out of the warranty. I know people who have had faulty graphics cards within three months of owning their laptop. Do you want to spend $1,100 to replace them, and install them yourself? I'm pretty sure nobody wants to. You may be able to handle it, but it's a waste of money going this route. And warranty extensions are $340 per year. You're better off purchasing three years up front for that much.

Sure, you may never need to utilize the warranty. But what if something goes wrong? You'll probably wish you had it.

 

That many factory problems make me wary of buying this thing. I had a xps desktop from 2003, I never had one issue from it.

But really, that all should be covered on the basic year warranty no matter what.

 

This obviously doesn't happen to everyone. I was just unlucky, I suppose.

 

I have another question about pricing. how can pricing go up with fewer and lower priced options? Just went to the dell site and the price jumped 200 dollars

 

Not sure I fully understand what you're saying. The price goes up as you choose cheaper components? That doesn't make sense to me.

You may be referring to the sales (aka. discounts). Some of the discounts (prices) change depending on what components you choose - if you choose X, they give you X amount of dollars off. It seems the sales have ended for the M18x. The site has two different prices at the moment, it will probably be updated soon.

 

price of the system and options have gone up, but the only products that has changed is the processor is the xx40qm/xm instead of the xx20qm/xm.

Its ok I called a rep, I have a quote, not sure if I am allowed t post it here or not?

 

If you have the money to buy one then get it...If your looking for a good deal on one then right now the prices are way to high IMO...

If you do buy one and get it delivered, my only suggestion is to be very careful when opening the system up to add parts (HDD's etc) because the components are so tightly mashed together that you can easily break something and not know it...Remember the game Operation, treat it like that game...

And the most important thing, make sure you test everything asap within the first week so if you do have a major flaw or problem, you can still send it back for a full refund or replacement (your choice) if the tech guy won't help, hang up and call another...

I sent mine back for a refund because I felt my sata cable issue is a defect and they need to change it on all systems...I am also waiting for them to fix the HDD/GPU issues they had a few months ago before I even attempt to re-order...But I'm one of those people who, if I'm spending 4k on a system, it better be built right and work right and mine didn't...

This is still the best system for its size on the market, even though it has a few flaws...

My 2 cents!!

 

what is the hdd/gpu issue

 

He's probably referring to the fact that you cannot order SSD's with Dual GTX 680M's. I haven't tried in a while, but that used to be impossible.

 

ok, I am not really interested in the ssd. I received a quote of 2960 for the 3840qm, 680 in sli, bluray and killer. The rep is going to call me back on thursday, was thinking if he can sweeten the deal more I will get some of the warrant.

 

I doubt he'd be able to lower it much more than that, it's already a great deal for a rig with those specs. And like everyone else, I'd suggest going for the longest warranty possible right from the outset - this is not some knock-off laptop with cheap innards and lackluster components. You're likely to get the warranty's money back the first time a problem comes up (of course everyone hopes that a problem never crops up, but better have it and not need it, than need it and not have it)

 

Can you still renew it before the coverage ends? if so I may get the first year off the bat and then grab the rest later,.

 

As I mentioned before, extensions cost more - a lot more. You'll end up paying $350~ for a year, when you can get three years for that price if you get it from the beginning.

 

Yes sorry I wasn't able to reply asap but as the other poster stated, the problem was an SSD/GPU issue and I don't know if has been fixed yet...

When you talk to the rep again regarding your quote, tell him you really want to get 3 year warranty added but you can't afford the price of the 3 years so ask if he can talk to his supervisor and at least meet halfway on a 3 year deal...They did this for me and I think was only charged $75 for 3 years...

 

I will try that. I was trying to limit myself to spending to 3k before taxes but it looks like I am going to go past that matter what, I still need to add the backpack. This is the most I have dropped on a computer ever. The XPS desktop a bought 10 years ago was not this much. Since then I have built my own desktops. It is kind of intimidating.

 

Anyone know why you can't configure a barebones M18x with 2x7970M in CrossFireX other than the 3k default system on the launch page?

 

you can do it but if you go with windows8.

 

How much should I pay for this configuration or what's the best price you think I can buy it for?

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3840QM (8MB Cache, up to 3.8GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
Windows 8 Pro, 64-bit, English
32GB (4 X 8GB) Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
512GB SSD SATA 6Gb/s
Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M - SLI® Enabled
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 4.0
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software
18.4 inch (467.36 mm) WLED WideFHD (1080p) display (1920 X 1080)
96WHr 12-Cell Primary Battery
Space Black Anodized Aluminum
Alienware M18X R2 with Soft Touch
Alienware M18x 330W A/C Adapter
4 Year Essential Support

 

Whatever the site says is probably the best you'll get now. After Holiday sales, it is pretty difficult to get additional discounts.

You never know though! Contact someone, call Alienware.

 

What you 'should' pay for it is pretty much the number mentioned when you put in this spec in the Alienware site.
What the best price is, is always a hard question, it depens on a lot of factors, it's an expensive setup that's for sure, don't expect the price to be cut in half or something

You should be comfortable with the price mentioned on the Alienware site, and be prepared to pay this. Then every discount you will get, is a nice bonus, and either saves you some money, or will give you some free upgrades.

 

I agree, jiggymf,

Depending on where you are is gonna factor into how much (if any) discount you may get, would be. US and Canadian customers can look to get a discounted quotation over here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/669327-alienware-sales-assistance-thread-redux.html whereas UK customers can come to me for help LOL (this also includes Europe if you are prepared to pay the cost of using a UK freight forwarding service to order you machine from the UK, get Dell to ship it to the UK and then the freight forwarder company will forward to you in you own Country). If you fall into the latter category of UK/Europe, feel free to take a look at the thread in my signature for further help or advice.

Note: You can get help from the US/CA thread if you are in Europe - they will just get a rep from EMEA territory to contact you. My experience of that has been pretty decent too....but, as always with different reps, YMMV.

 

Well I just did it, 3840qm, 680 sli, 16 gig ram, 1t raid 0 with 32gig cashe, killer wireless, blu-ray, orion backpack, 3 years of both warranty coverage. 3800 even

 

This is my first post here, so I hope this is in the right thread.

I'm working on configuring my M18x R2 to purchase when taxes come back, hopefully in the next month. I've been lurking this site, and a few others, researching several things to help aid my decisions on the configurations and finally decided to join to get some feedback from the members here as well as participate elsewhere on the site. I have been debating between getting an Alienware or getting a Sager NP9370 for a while now and finally decided I wanted the Alienware because I like the look of it better and I want the metal chassis.

I'm going to be using this system to do some gaming with Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Assassin's Creed, and Diablo 3 and a few other games, as well as a lot of work with VMWare Workstation and VMWare ESXi 5.1 (this will be the primary use). I'll also be doing a lot of other tasks for work like programming/powershell scripting and general everyday tasks like internet browsing, listening to music, watching videos, etc.

The setup I'm looking at currently is as follows:

Alienware M18X R2 Alienware M18X R2 with Soft Touch
Operating System Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit (Will be upgrading this to 64-bit Professional through work)
Processor 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3940XM (8MB Cache, up to 4.2GHz Overclocked)
Memory 16GB (4 X 4GB) Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (Will be upgrading this to 32GB of Kingston HyperX 1600MHz)
Keyboard English Keyboard
Display Panels 18.4 inch (467.36 mm) WLED WideFHD (1080p) display (1920 X 1080)
Video Card Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 7970M - CrossFireX™ Enabled
Hard Drive 1TB RAID 0 (2x 500GB SATA 3B/s 7,200 RPM) + 32GB mSATA Caching SSD
AlienFX Quasar Blue
Hinge Up Space Black Anodized Aluminum (I'm sticking with black because I don't really like the red on the sides)
Adobe Reader Acrobat SW Adobe Acrobat X Reader
Optical Driver Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Audio Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software
Wireless Networking Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 4.0
Adapter Alienware M18x 330W A/C Adapter
Documentation Alienware Documentation
Office Productivity Software Microsoft® Office trial
Shipping Material Shipping Material
Security Software No Anti-Virus Software Selected
Additional Software Additional Software
Primary Battery 96WHr 12-Cell Primary Battery
Hardware Support Services 1 Year Essential Support
WirelessHD None
Standard Nameplate Trigger Standard Nameplate

I'll also be ordering the SLAPPA Kiken Matrix Shoulder Bag as I'll be taking this with me at times and really like the looks of it and it has outstanding reviews.

A couple of things I'm still debating and where I'd like more input (though not opposed to input about anything from above either):

1) I might drop the processor down the 3740qm and change the GPU to the 680m SLI. I would love to have both the extreme processor and 680m SLI, but right now I can't justify the cost of both as I'm trying to keep total cost below $4000 (and below $3500 would be even better) after taxes and this includes the other upgrades I'm planning as well. I'm thinking that I stick with the extreme processor and Crossfire graphics considering my priorities are not focused on gaming and the 7970m will still perform at a very high level when I am gaming and since it seems that the driver issues are beginning to get worked out.

2) This is something I will need to discuss with a rep once I get enough posts to enable PM's and get closer to ordering, but I was hoping to see if I could get a better deal on a 3 year Advanced Warranty and possibly other things . I know there are those that are of the thought that the warranty isn't needed, but for me if I'm spending this kind of money on something I want the warranty to go with it and hope I never have to use it. Also, the company I work for participates in the EPP so I don't know how much more of a discount I can achieve if any, but I'm going to give it a go.

3) If I stick with the hard drive configuration listed, I'm going to install a 256GB SSD to be the primary OS drive as well as run my VMWare stuff and then take these out of RAID and use one as a backup drive and use the other as the drive to run everything not on the SSD. The other thing I'm thinking about is ordering it with a 512GB SSD to use as the OS drive and run VMWare and then adding two 1TB 7200 RPM drives for a backup drive and to run everything not on the SSD.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and any feedback that is given.

 

I wouldnt get the drive and the memory upgrades if you plan on changing them yourself. Also the 7970m in sli is cheaper then the 680m in sli.

The post above yours is the system I just purchased.

 

The drives and memory weren't upgraded. Those were the defaults for the one I configured because I used the most expensive starting option since it was the only one that has 7970m Crossfire as an option. That made it easier to compare different configurations.

I saw yours too and really liked it, but the only thing I'm wondering is if the 3840qm, or 3740qm, would be enough with the VMWare ESXi and Workstation running. I'm sure it would, but high performance for that is my main priority. I've spoken to a several people running ESXi on laptops and most all of them told me to go with the extreme processor, though a few said they were performing fine with lower processors, but most of them aren't doing much else with their laptops either, so its kind of hard to judge.

 

from the comparisons I've read, the 3940xm is only marginally faster then the 3840qm. I believe the only difference is speed, one is 2.8 and the other is 3.0.

Call a rep, they maybe able to hook you up with the 7970m.

 

Not exactly true. Although, at stock clocks they are similar speeds, the XM is the only fully unlocked processor which means it has FAR more headroom to overclock it and increase the speed at which it runs. It can be configured to run at speeds of 4.5-5Ghz which is something the non-XM cpu's cannot do. That's what you pay for when you buy an "Extreme Edition" cpu.

 

While that is true, Jwilli did not say anything about overclocking the processor. Most people believe they are getting a big performance boost out of the box because it says extreme edition, that is not the case. Unless you are overclocking you will benefit from what the 3940xm has to offer.