M18xR2 Pre-Order Configuration Questions... Ask HERE

I am curious how many of you are ordering Windows 8 on your new systems? I tried it on a lower inspiron with no touch screen and I really didn't like it at all. The interface seems perfect for a tablet but awkward and unintuitive for a traditional laptop with no touchscreen IMO.

 

Not sure ......but do they still give you an option to choose your OS ?? I have stuck to windows 7 , since with me Windows 8 would give BSODzz ..........though that was when i upgraded from windows 7 but i have heard if you do a clean install it works much better................

Also if you want windows 8 on your system which definitely has advantages , get a logitech t650 glass trackpad to make the most of windows 8 features ........ever since i got that ........my adaptation to windows 8 has been much better on my other systems but on my m18x i choose to stick with windows 7.

 

To be honest, the only option I had available when I ordered was 7 (looking at the website now, it's still the only option I see...) That was OK with me - I was leaning towards 7 anyway. I had played with the wife's new Win 8 system for a little bit, and was having a hard time getting used to it.

To be fair, everything I've read seems to say that there's a big learning curve with 8, and you need to get comfortable with it to give it a chance - and I certainly didn't spend a lot of time with it, so maybe it'd grow on me. But honestly I'm kinda glad I've got 7 on my incoming system!

 

I've been using win8 for about one and a half or two years now (I work at Microsoft) and while there are things I like about it my opinion is that without a touch-enabled screen I prefer win7 still. In fact I just bought an M18x and chose win7 for it.

Everyone's got a preference but that's my two cents.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

I did try it for a few months and consensus does seem to remain with 7.

Its not a bad OS, its just not the OS Alienware needs right now....

 

Hi Jeffrey,

It's hard to spot, but to have Win8 be default you have to choose it BEFORE the personalize now screen. I had to have the rep tell me when I was ordering. Once you do that , then while customizing you can only choose from Win 8 choices , no Win 7 anymore.

Brad

 

Ah, that makes sense - figured there HAD to be a way, I was just missing it!

I'm good - mine has shipped already w/ 7, but honestly that's probably my preference at this point - but hopefully anyone else who was equally confused and wanted 8 will see your advice and be steered in the right direction!

 

Hope someone can answer this quick...What does dell use in the M18x R2 as their SSD Raid 0 drive? Is it the Samsung 840, 840 Pro (I read this had problems in RAID?) or the old Samsung 830 or something completely different?

 

I can tell you I asked Dell what SSD I could expect for my 512, and they told me they couldn't tell me in advance - in fact, they couldn't tell me when the system was in my hands (say, in a shipping list or something). The rep I talked to said the only way they knew was to open 'er up and physically look after I got the system...

They said it depended entirely on what their stocks were when they built it. (They also didn't give me a range; say 'it'll either be A or B')

 

Yeah, that sorta sucks then since the 830 vs 840 vs 840 pro have a large difference in price so you don't know what you are getting if you were to upgrade with Dell. Mostly between the 840 and 840 pro.

 

I would just get the 500gb drive and order your SSD's separately. If your worried about configuration Mr.Fox has posted a great tutorial on setting up raid here

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...llation-questions-troubleshooting-thread.html

I was not going to do a raid 0 setup at first but out of bordem waiting on my beast I decided to buy another 840 pro and see how it works.

From what alot of people have said to is sometimes dell does not even set the raid up..

I would also recommend getting the new bios so you can enable trim support.

 

I ordered 2 x 256gb ssds in raid on my M18x and the ones which shipped with mine are: Liteon M3S drives.

These ones, I suppose? 2.5" SATA SSD

On a side-note, it appears Corsair and Plextor also buy some of their drives from Lite-on.
Link: AnandTech | Corsair Performance Series Pro (256GB) Review

Quote:

 

I planned on originally going with a M17x that was nearly fully loaded. The only reason I am deciding to go with an M18x is because of the Dual GTX 680M SLI cards. With basically the same configuration besides the GPU I could save more money buying the M17x. Is it advisable to go with the M18x simply because of the GPU?

Any helpful suggestions would be awesome. Including a good rep to call

If it helps my main usage of the computer will be gaming/college. I plan on having it replace my desktop while at home as well.

 

I'd go with the M18x as it would be more future proofed in terms of handling tomorrow's demanding games with 680m Sli. If you went with a single 680m in the 17x, you might find that it could well be overwhelmed before you plan on changing machine again. If you like playing games maxed out, a dual gpu machine is the only way to go, in my humble opinion, and 680m Sli should see you set for a good time to come....

 

That's what I figured considering I see some people attempting to play Crysis 3 on a 680M SLI config and still run into problems with maxing it out. I'd be screwed with a single GPU.

I also checked benchmarks for the 3840QM in comparison with the 3940 and price. I can't truly afford the extra $800 or so to up the CPU, but do you think I'll have any need to? I should be fine with a 3840QM as of now? I planned on upping the CPU down the road when the next one hits assuming it's a major overhaul.

 

I reckon you'd be fine with a 3840qm right now. Chances are, if you wanted to upgrade later on, you could grab a cheaper cpu via Ebay......if you felt you needed to.

 

Awesome thank you. I plan on purchasing hopefully Monday. Still waiting on the biggest chunk of my taxes. If someone see's this and wishes to recommend a rep they used shoot me a PM. It would be much appreciated. If not, I'll wing it until I find one I can work with.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/669327-alienware-sales-assistance-thread-redux.html - best I can do for you as you are in the States.

 

Just bought mine today! I feel as if I did a decent job. I was able to get them to knock off $100 on the Warranty/Accidental if I upped to 2 years full. I didn't mind that. I also got them to knock off a bit over $200 on the final price because of quoting another site who doesn't charge shipping on their machines. What do you guys think?

1

225-2944

Alienware M18X R2 - Direct

$3349.86
1

319-1455

3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3840QM (8MB Cache, up to 3.8GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)

$0.00
1

317-9706

16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz

$0.00
1

331-6910

English Keyboard, 101 Key, M18X R2

$0.00
1

320-3263

18.4 inch (467.36 mm) WLED WideFHD (1080p) display (1920 X 1080)

$0.00
1

320-9498

Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M SLI Enabled

$0.00
1

342-4504

32GB mSATA caching SSD

$0.00
1

342-4402

1TB RAID 0 (2x 500GB) 7200RPM

$0.00
1

330-6106

Personalized Nameplate Trigger

$0.00
1

331-2426

Custom Nameplate

$0.00
1

313-8797

AlienFX Color, Terra Green

$0.00
1

421-7437

AW Command Center M18XR2

$0.00
1

421-5830

Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media

$0.00
1

318-2319

Nebula Red Anodized Aluminum

$0.00
1

410-0548

Adobe Acrobat Reader

$0.00
1

318-2003

Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

$0.00
1

421-5106

Power DVD 9.6, 3D

$0.00
1

318-0770

Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software

$0.00
1

430-4709

Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming and Video and Bluetooth 4.0

$0.00
1

430-4704

Internal Wireless Bluetooth 4.0

$0.00
1

331-6854

Alienware M18x 330W A/C Adapter

$0.00
1

331-6865

Alienware Documentation

$0.00
1

331-6858

Placement, M18X R2

$0.00
1

331-6915

Shipping Material, M18X R2

$0.00
1

461-8389

NO VIRUS PROTECTION REQUESTED

$0.00
1

331-6908

Resource DVD, M18X R2

$0.00
1

331-8045

Windows 7 OS Label, Alienware Notebooks

$0.00
1

420-9691

DataSafe Local BackUp

$0.00
1

420-9956

PC Restore

$0.00
1

421-0092

DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG

$0.00
1

421-3874

Camera Software 2.X, Factory Install

$0.00
1

421-4289

Dell Support Center Software 3.0

$0.00
1

421-7438

Quickset, M18X R2

$0.00
1

421-4047

Dell Digital Delivery Client

$0.00
1

421-9378

Windows 7 Browser Search for Alienware

$0.00
1

312-1333

96WHr 12-Cell Primary Battery

$0.00
1

421-8801

Microsoft Office Trial

$0.00
1

995-6093

Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Extended Year(s)

$0.00
1

995-6083

Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year

$0.00
1

995-6113

In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, 1 Year Extended

$189.00
1

995-6103

In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year

$0.00
1

950-3338

2 Year Limited Warranty

$0.00
1

421-1723

Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware

$0.00
1

987-5301

Warranty Support, 1 Year Extended

$10.00
1

994-3730

Warranty Support, Initial Year

$0.00
1

931-7701

Accidental Damage Service, 2 Years

$159.00
1

421-1719

Soft Contracts Consumer Accidental Damage Agreement for Alienware

$0.00
1

469-0500

No Wireless HD Selected

$0.00
1

421-1584

Alien Cyborg

$0.00
1

421-1594

Alien Cyborg

$0.00
1

421-1360

Steam Factory Installed and Steam Extra Content

$0.00
1

330-5090

Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare

$0.00
1

A5750525

Your Dell Advantage benefits have been applied and $1 discounted from your primary order.

$1.00
Item Sub Total $3708.86
Item Ship Charge $0.00
Item Tax $323.67

Item Total $4032.53

 

I am doing fine with my 3840QM running at 4.1GHz across all 4 cores , It may not have the flexibility of the XM but is a solid CPU , In regards to Crysis 3 i average between 80-100+ FPS with my 680's over clocked +200 on the core and +400 on the mem ! Still getting over how good the game looks !

 

Making a laptop for gaming and quickbooks. Should I be going with 16 gb of ram or 8 gb of ram?

 

8 GB of RAM are more than enough for your purposes

Edit - these spam bots get me all the time grrrrr

 

So, I'm planning on getting an m18x R2! I've read the reviews, and I basically know the capabilities of this thing. What I'm wondering is, is it worth the extra $1000 USD to shoot for the 680m sli, or can I just stick with the 7970m setup? I frequent games like battlefield 3, planetside 2, etc. Will either of these gpu options run planetside 2 on ultra with smooth framerates? How's the witcher 2 with either setup?

 

Both set ups will eat those games.
7970 vs 680?
Its hard for me to say go either way. Most people here will say if you can afford 680m sli go for it since they have a better track record in reliability and their OCing ability is far superior, and also PhysX. Hence that extra touch of quality and piece of mind is worth it. Many of the early adopters of the 7970m had issues and consequently and understandably, won't recommend a CF config.
Unlike many users here, my 7970m's have been flawless (except for the early driver support). I only feel disappointed when benching against OCed 680m's.
Personally, I feel PhysX isnt in games enough to give two hoots, but a enthusiast who will wring out every ounce from their GPU's through the inevitable OC... That in my opinion is where the 680m's value at. And this is where the 680 really distinguishes itself as superior GPU.
I didn't think it was an extra $1000 though..?

 

It is an extra 500 dollars compared to 7970 crossfired. 1000 more than the base gpu.

I have heard of some framerate sync issues with the 7970's but maybe that has been fixed?

 

I can't say I've ever had any frame sync issues.
I've had micro stutter on 2 games - Farcry 3 and Arma 2 which may not be exclusive to CF.
$500 over 7970m is worth it. $1000 I personally wouldn't.

 

I get micro stutter on fallout news vega, far cry3, sky rim, and I don't have amd card!?

 

Yep, in any event micro stutter is kinda rare. I think it has more to do with the game than the gpu brand.

 

I've been follower of this website & forums for quite some time(I just read the threads as a guest & leave), now time has come for me to put up my first post. I'm not that much into gaming as of now & never held any serious gaming rigs leave alone Alienware laptops. That's my little bit background.

Now I'm thinking of purchasing this Alienware M18x, first I thought of buying m17x but later decided to go for M18x so that I can hold on to some thing which stays relatively relative(lol ) for, say, two years. I'll be running virtual machines & would like to run Linux(is a must) on the laptop apart from gaming. But I got stuck on couple of things before I pull the trigger.

1) Is 18" alienware that much heavy to even move it from one room to other & very few times while going out(Note: I'm any how looking for 17" not that much interested in 15")?, and how is the screen quality?, do we find any decrease in the screen quality(overall) going from 17" to 18"?, given that both are 1080p which makes less pixels in 18".

2) What all the fuss about this 7970m Crossfire vs 680m sli thing?, is that radeon 7970m crossfire still sucks that much(I've read few threads & reviews some say almost all the glitches are taken care of by AMD by releasing drivers continuously and some say it's still really bad). I'm ok with little bit tinkering & playing around, although I don't say I'm the one who always holds soldering rod in hand ready every time before turning on the system. I don't want to spend extra $550 for nvidia sli than what I've already decided to spend with crossfire, unless there is no choice.

3) I've heard negative remarks on the dual graphic card set up, like dropping frames due to parallel computing, heat issues, not being able switch off the graphic cards & use integrated graphics or switch between two configurations seamlessly. Is that true? Is it best to go with a single card configuration?. I'm only considering dual graphics set up so that my system stays relatively powerful in the next two years time & I don't want to spend that much money again for an upgrade(graphics) at a later point of time. And given the location where I live in(India), it's hard to get any components, leave alone costly upgrades.

I've few more queries, I'll ask about them later as I want to help myself to keep this post as short as possible.

Thanks In advance.

 

Hello, and welcome to the NBR Forums. We are glad you joined us. Congratulations on the idea of purchasing an M18x. I consider it the best high performance laptop available. In build quality, performance and pricing it has no match anywhere. I will answer your questions based on my view points. I started with an XPS M1730, have had two M17x R2 (M18x predecessor) and still have one of them. This is my third M18x. All were dual-GPU beasts and all are built like a tank. I have had 8800M SLI, 4870M CF, 5870M CF, 6970M CF, 6990M CF, 580M SLI, 7970M CF and 680M SLI in these machines. My answers are in bold red text below.

I am sure you will see some opinions that differ slightly, so you'll have to ultimately decide what advice you want to take. If you decide to go with the anodized aluminum M18x beast with CF or SLI, you'll have an incredibly well built and extremely powerful system... the envy of gamers everywhere, including those that refuse to admit it, and a laptop that outperforms many "high performance" desktops. (I have benchmark scores on multiple leader boards that are higher than many desktops equipped with current CPU and GPU technology.) I hope this information is useful. And, again, welcome to NBR.

 

As above, but regarding the weight of the M18x, to give you a rough idea, it's about twice as heavy as a 15" MacBook Pro - M18x weight starts out at 11.93lbs compared to the weight of the Apple at 5.6lbs. Of course, depending on how you configure the M18x, it will add weight to it - nothing hugely significant in my eyes, but things like adding more hard drives and going for dual gpu's over a single are going to push the weight up a little bit more.

Put it this way, you certainly know you've got an M18x on your lap, but I kinda like that. Yes, it's heavy for a notebook when you compare it to others, but I wouldn't consider it being a burden of any variety - I'd rather have it being sturdy and built like it can withstand a knock - unlike lightweight crappy ultrabooks and lesser notebooks of the same ilk.

 

I am looking at getting a new laptop. I currently own an m18x r1 i7-2720qm with xf 6970 and it has been great for me. I will probably end up giving this to my daughter.

(1) m18x r2: main options I will add at config time are:
3rd Generation Intel® Ivy Bridge Core™ i7-3940XM Extreme Edition (OVERCLOCKED to 4.2GHz, 8MB Intel® Smart Cache, 55W Max TDP) + [3rd Heatseink & IC Diamond]
Alienware - SLi ENABLED DUAL (2) 2048MB PCI-Express nVIDIA GTX 680M's (4096MB Total) w/ GDDR5 DX11 Video Cards
Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Wireless-N 1202 + Bluetooth 4.0 (Dual Band)
4159.00

(2) sager np9570: main options I waill add at config time are:
17.3" Sager FHD 16:9 "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Glossy Screen w/ 90% NTSC Color Gamut (1920x1080)
Intel® Core™ i7-3970X Extreme, 3.5-4.0GHz (32nm, 15MB L3 smart cache - 6 cores / 12 threads)
SLi ENABLED DUAL (2) 4096MB PCI-Express nVIDIA GTX 680M's (8192MB Total) w/ GDDR5 DX11 Video Cards {Add AC Adapter & Power Converter Box] [User Upgradeable]
Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Wireless-N 1202 + Bluetooth 4.0 (Dual Band)
3964.00


I really like the aluminum case on the Alienware. Also the build feels really solid. Is this the case with Sager? Would there be a really bug performance delta in favor of the Sager?

Are there any other options worth adding?
I will do my harddrives and RAM aftermarket (newegg) (I may do the optical drive bay with a HD since that is a PITA to do yourself on the Alienware, not sure how this is on the sager)

Games I am currently playing: SC2 HOTS, Bioshock Infinite, Skyrim, Crysis 3

Is there any advantage to buying from Dell? (Dell charges sales tax where xotic does not)

 

Hey hoof-hearted. Sager's build is mainly plastic, unlike that of Alienware. Also, as far as I know, Sager's BIOS is locked/severely limited, while Alienware's isnt. While Sager's processor may be nippier at stock levels, an unlocked 3940-XM processor has more legroom in terms of overclocking. Feel free to correct me on this issue guys

Dell simply offers top-notch warranty options. While its customer service may not be the best at time (from personal experience, if you get in touch with a mediocre rep, just hang up and try again - you're bound to meet a competent rep at some point), warranties are always respected and upheld, and it's easy to obtain an upgraded warranty at any post-purchase period directly from Dell. XoticPC is a reputable retailer and I've heard mostly positive things about it, but there are always those perks when dealing directly with Dell. Also, I'm pretty sure that you could always badger a sales rep a bit about the price - being an M18x R1 owner will surely help to lean the price towards your favour, and watch out for the regular offers on the AW website!

In my opinion, stick with this old saying - "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". So stick to your guns and remain with the M18x family

 

Again, I agree with Radi.

The AW is the better machine for the reasons outlined. Warranty, build quality, aesthetics etc. The only tempting thing about the Sager would be the Desktop cpu, however, if it's limited in bios, what's the point?

 

Agreed and sold on Alienware. Still can't hurt to see what the competition is offereing. I have been through several Alienwares anyway (m17xr1, m17xr2, m18x, m14x, m11x) and those are the ones I have kept (given to wife, kids, etc) whereas I have also had sagers and asus in the past and those have always failed after time in one way or another.

Now, I am contemplating on where I should get it from. The fact that I can get the options I want: (i7-3940XM EE OC, 2xGTX680m) for $4159 +$54 shipping from xotic, plus they offer a discount for cash. Not sure if I want to go the cash route as you seem to loose your consumer protection (60 days to reverse and fight with a credit card). Maybe there are options to mitigate this? I mean if there was a rep on here (don't much care for communicating by phone unless I have a definite and specific person to talk to) who might be able to match what xotic does including my bottom line (read: sales tax), I would probably rather go with Dell, but when I added my options on Dell site, the total came to $4,544.66 ($4179 + $365.66 stax), so I don't see this happening.

 

Try contacting our resident AW rep Luis Porras. I'm sure he can point you to the right consumer reps and maybe cut down the price to something which is closer to what Xotic is offering, or perhaps include a free upgraded warranty or something

 

Well, if you don't try it certainly will not happen. I know of more than one person here in our forums that negotiated roughly 25% (yes, around $1,000) discount on a brand new M18x R2 when negotiating with an Alienware Sales rep directly by phone. So, it can happen if the rep wants to make the sale at a lower profit margin. Some people in sales are greedy and/or don't understand how to be successful, so they try to make the most money possible on each transaction. The most successful people in sales understand that there is more money to be made on higher volume with less profit per sale. They also develop a following and foster brand loyalty because of the great deals they give people.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/669327-alienware-sales-assistance-thread-redux.html - maybe the rep's on this thread can cut you a good deal, afterall, that's what the thread is there for - DISCOUNTS!!

 

Just to chime in about negotiating price and let you know it's possible...

I just purchased my m18x r2 last week and configured on Dell's site it came out to ~$2800. I managed to negotiate about 20% off of that with a few things thrown in. Took a few days of trying different reps and sales managers, but one finally gave me the price I wanted. It definitely took some haggling (used some of the tips listed in a thread in the forum), but worth it in the end. I would imagine with the $ that you're willing to throw down, they will probably work with you. Just waiting for the damn thing to be built now. ;-) Good luck, and keep re-dialing until you get a rep that wants to play ball.

 

Heads up for your detailed reply Mr.Fox(and for others too). I would like to ask one more question not exactly about M18x R2 but in general to laptops. When will be the 4th generation of Intel processors will be available in the market?, will they be available with desktop processors in June or from October as many reports suggest?

 

Haswell, the codename for Intel's next gen processor refresh, is due out this quarter (Q2) - could be anytime soon. Reference: Intel Haswell release date confirmed for Q2 | News | PC Pro

I particularly liked this quote from the article I just linked to - especially if you are thinking of making a purchase soon:

 

I tried to help on this one but we really could not get a better price. However as Mr. Fox states it's always better to call and try to get something out of the sales representatives. They have more options available.

 

Guys, what do you prefer? Windows 8-64 bit or Windows 7 64bit? thx

 

I'm a fan more so of Windows 7......

 

After long thinking about that ... I took Win7 ...

 

I also take W7

 

I'd have to choose Windows 8, but I think it's more of an acquired taste.

Once you get over the fact that the GUI is totally different and your start button is long gone you'll see that it's not as hard as it seems to navigate around it. Game-wise I didn't find much difference, all my games run at about the same frame rate (some slightly improved).

In my opinion you should give Windows 8 a chance if you haven't tried it before, it's going to get to you eventually anyway.

 

I prefer WIN 7 (ultimate). But read, that with some utilities i can swap Win 8 look to Win7.

 

The new Windows 8 update will have a return of the start menu and the desktop as a boot option.

 

Let's hope so - it was a stupid move in the first place for Microsoft to "Alienate" it's PC market with touch screen gimmicks/lack of PC functionality. Maybe if someone over at MS had actually went out and did some market research before designing an OS based primarily around tablet/touchscreen users, we could have enjoyed Win 8 from the beginning.....