My fellow Alienware Brothers.. I couldn't do it....

So here is one of my stories. Fell in love with AW couple years ago again after a few years ago not having good luck I really liked the aw18 at first when it came out and it still is a decent machine. They did cripple it unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, it is a great machine for gaming but I felt like i as missing something. I strayed to Sager for the 980 power and user friendly upgrades and company they seem to be. The 9377 is a once machine with lots of expandability. I felt like I was missing something still. People that haven't had a Alienware aching just don't understand what we mean by build quality and the fit and finish and feel of the AW machine.

Bring me to my next point! I was browsing ebay last week. Well let me start wit this, before my AW18 my last AW was a m17r2. I HATED the trackpad and the feel of the machine in general... Now back on topic. I found a reseller in Texas that has 100% feedback and had 3 BRAND NEW AW18m R2's in stock that they had gotten from Dell. I emailed them several times to make sure my eyes were not deceiving me. I checked the service tag, sure enough.. Not only that the price was GREAT! So today Fedex dropped of my shiny new m18r2.

Specs:
3740QM
32gb ram
2 x 680m sli
2 x 750gb hd
dvd burner

All for pretty dang cheap for such a beast. They are going to let me know when they get more in if they do because I want one more!

I say that because! The quality of the m2 is unmatched by any other AW I have seen or owned and above any other manufacturer IMO. This keyboard is better, the ell, fit and finish seems better than the 18 and defiantly better than the sayers I've had. I am NOT bashing Sager, they are great machines!

I feel like I had to hum on this since the r2 is such a great machine, still highly upgradeable and probably the LAST great AW to ever be made. So much so that I found my all time machine I have always wanted and never could get and that is a RED 18m2!!!!!!!! It is still under warranty as well and has never been used! The black on sitting in front of me still has all the plastic stuck to the plastics etc.. So I am a prude new dad to two m18r2's!! The red on should be here tomorrow or monday...

The only draw back to the red is it is 7970 cards. and the same CPU as my black. So I have ordered a 3940xm, new heatsinks and bought two 780m's for it, all on their way also. I could not bear the thought if windows 8.1 so i am skipping them 980's right now till hopefully slv7 and the nodders maybe figure out how to get around the win 8.1 barrier... It sucks, I hate own 8 so bad I am giving up 980's but gaining some AWESOME Alienware laptops.

My first baby that is currently running diags to make sure all is good.



I have noticed this bad boy is a little louder than the aw18, doesn't bother me though. Now to learn the tricks and tips of the r2..

I am begging on my knees for a fellow Brother with a red cloth sleeve for the for the red m18r2 and doesn't need it PM me. I will gladly buy it from you, pretty pretty please..

 

Congrats on the new machines. They are definitely beasts! I have the nebula red one. Still rocking dual 680ms. I've owned the older gen (m15x) the newer gen (aw17) and this gen (m18x) and I have to say it's my favorite generation. It was one of the best times to own an alienware. How much did you end up paying for them? Since they were brand new, they should last you awhile.

 

Brother Pathfindercod. I may be able to help you out. I have a Red case, I don't have a red screen cover yet. I was going to change to Red when I found a good price on a red screen cover just for fun but I think I still prefer black anyway.
If you want I can sell you the case for what I paid for it on eBay which was a decent price. Its not 100% flawless but close. Let me know if your keen and ill send you some pics and a link to my winning bid.

 

Sent you a pm tbonesan!

 

Not to threadjack, but I am looking for a black felt sleeve for my M18x R2, if anybody has one.

 

I have two black covers for the m17x r1/2/3/4/5...

 

I find it quite amusing that *new* Alienware M18X R2`s still exist

 

I have 2 black sleeves, mint condition

 

Why don't you sell me one so I can give my baby a jacket lol

 

I've found them on amazon the same specs even the seller replied me that they are brand new unused for $1699, they are out of stock now...

 

Great machine at an awesome price. Grab a pair of 780M and an SLI bridge and you'll be good to go.

Don't buy 980M yet. I regret spending money on that. It is an amazing GPU that works correctly sometimes and the rest of the time it is a piece of crap due to severe throttling. Plus, having to use pure UEFI and Windows 8 sucks raw sewage. I'm too frustrated with the situation to test in the AW18 right now, but if it behaves the same it may be why 980M SLI was not offered as an option on the AW18. Hopefully, drivers will remedy the situation. If not, I'll have to buy a Clevo P570WM3 to get any good use from them... seems to work right on that platform.

 

Yeah the 980's worked flawlessly in my 9377. They were fast no doubt but honestly for gaming, editing the few FPS it gained over the 780's isn't worth running windows 8. I've playfd a good two hours of bf4 on the 680sli in the first r2 I got here so far and damn even 2gb cards most on high and couple settings on ultra I'm getting 110-130fps on 64man server. I wanted the 980sli for my 144hz gsync monitor but honestly I use my beastly desktop with that monitor most of the time.

I just really missed the look and feel of the alienware machine over the sager. I knew wasn't back with the new 18 route. I hated that 17r2 for some reason and was worried. But the 18r2 is IMO about as premium as it gets. Every aspect was thought about on the machine with no after thoughts anywhere.

I have some 780's on the way, heatsinks, sli bridge, triple pipe and 3940mx