RIP - Alienware 18

Yes. It's terrible. Thankfully however, Clevo's clevo-ness is making some changes for the better. Being "high performance" as they always have been, they've gone back to the socketed desktop chips with mobile GPUs. This was commonplace prior to the core i series' launch, when mobile chips were often much weaker than desktop chips. Now, the HQ chips that are what we're limited to were designed for systems with:
1 - crappy power bricks (like consumer HP)
2 - crappy cooling design (like anything Acer produces)
3 - thin and light stuff which needs low-profile heatsinks/coolers

But they're putting it in high end machines and totally screwing things over. All the best screens are out of stock, and now they're selling crap like 25ms response time 72% NTSC gamut IPS screens. Like... is that? But the 1080p 95% gamut screens aren't being sold anymore, right? And the 72% gamut screens aren't being sold in the 17" models unless you're barking up the tree of the right reseller. Because they're ALL OUT OF PRODUCTION. There's like no good screens coming out. Why is it so hard for somebody to make a 90%+ NTSC gamut 1080p 120Hz matte panel? Why is it so hard for people to stop producing 45% and 60% gamut panels as the default? Just bump the prices up by like $20 for all laptops and put in better screens! LIKE COME ON. It appears that since early 2013 the market has been in decline in terms of really good enthusiast gear. Good screens went out of stock, hot and power hungry CPUs came into stock, Alienware died, socketed laptop chips died, M.2 SSD controllers hit like 100 degrees doing as much as a freaking FILE TRANSFER... ugh. It's enough to make a man shed a tear.

 

Agreed - Single GPU laptops still won't run well with maxed settings on 1080p - So what's the use of anything higher.
There seems to be some sort of competition to see who has the biggest TV with the best screen res in AU, which is confusing as the free to air and pay TV stations here only broadcast in 1080p, so it's all about bragging right - That crap seems to be spilling over into the computer market.
Touch screens and/or stupidly high screen res seems to be the way OEM's are going - I'm still trying to work out what use a touchscreen is on a laptop supposedly built for gaming.
Maybe Dell should seriously consider renaming it to iAlienware

 

iMacWare

AlienMac

MacBook Alien

AlienMacWare

 

If the 18's do return - A IPS or 120Hz panel would be nice, but not essential.

There was some mention that 18 inch screen were no longer being made, so are MSI lying when they say

 

No, strictly speaking that is correct; PLS is (Samsung's) latest wide-view-angle technology. It's just that they haven't mentioned it uses an outdated interface, which will make replacements difficult (when stock is gone, it's gone) and upgrades impossible.

 

For me personally 1080p in 60hz on a laptop is pretty much the sweet spot. Sure, more of both would be nice, but at this point it looks very well and is not too demanding,

 

More noise, heat, power consumption and failure rate from the drive spining faster. As long as you don't use the hard drive as a boot drive (SSD master race), it's not THAT much of a downgrade, but i can understand where the extra performance is needed, especially in higher end desktop replacements like the AW18 that do not strive for the best battery life and have ample cooling.

 

A 2TB 5400rpm is likely to be better for most people than 1TB 7200rpm. Getting the platter stable enough for 7200rpm at that density can also be an issue.

We give people the choice of course.

 

Its funny when people who buy these new laptops expect to use Oculus DK2 HMD and it stutters due to CPU and GPU being downgraded. While my laptop runs it perfectly at 75hz okay I had to oc the laptop screen but its stable. I guess I might have a problem when the CV1 comes out because that needs 90hz or more. But by then I'll hopefully be using a desktop pc. I feel that Intel don't like laptop oc'ers so they are going down the BGA route. I don't understand why Nvidia are as well. I also feel that they make the products fail on purpose after time so we keep buying them. Nothing new is coming out that will blow the rest of the pc and laptop graphics cards away, they are just refreshes. We could design our own brand gaming laptops NBR Blur Extreme Gaming Laptop * Created By Modders For Modders *

 

Lets hope alienware can lead in innovation of new gaming tech like there amplifier that works with the laptops lcd which is cool, msi's version u need an external. maybee they will bring back mxm and slotted cpus when they are feeling better.

 

why only mac? why not the real people who have been doing it for years before macs... dellware since they have been doing it since before 2000, or gatewayware around the same time... or any other people that make laptops... since 98% of them use bga sockets...

 

That simply means that 98% are junk and Alienware joining ranks with them makes it maybe 98.3% junk. But dang, it sure is more fun to criticize Apple. They kind of deserve it, since they have taken lameness to a whole new level with soldered RAM and extra goofy proprietary crap that goes beyond the fatal engineering flaw of having "only" the CPU and GPU welded to the mobo. Just one of those things being BGA ruins the whole machine, so to that extent there is no point in picking on Apple. No good means no good... degrees of unacceptability are kind of irrelevant... no means no, LOL.

 

Soldered RAM?! And here I was thinking on buying one just to expand my programming knowledge and start making apps/programs for Apple......

 

Might as well. They are not designed to be high performance. They are like a spiral notebook. Once you're done using it, you simply toss it into the garbage because there isn't much left worth messing with. The main problem with it for Apple products is how crazy expensive they are.

 

It really is so much fun to hang it on Apple's regurgitated crap - They elevate over priced garbage to a new dimension...... :laugh:

 

I love the way that a 15" Macbook was the same price as my G73JH and would have been so slow after 2-3 years.. Whereas my G73JH which went strong for 4 years and could have gone on longer if I were willing to mod it..

 

you don't need mac to program for ios or osx... vmware osx and install xcode... there ya go, programming for under 200 bucks without a mac...

just like a alienware... if you pay retail, you have paid too much... my macbook pro is 3+ years old... and runs photoshop and premire just fine... almost as good as my alienware, render times are withing 5 mins(for half the price). You are paying for the warranty like alienware. I don't know how many times I have seen them just replace a item because something is wrong with it... The last iphone I walked out of the store, kid ran into me, shattered the screen the door greeter saw what happened and they replaced the phone... no applecare replacement... flat out replacement...

Do you have a macbook? how would you have known it would be slow after that long compared to the computer you have? It is all on how you use it, mine is over 3 years old. It runs great, and it has less downtimes. I have had to call apple non compared to the hours on the phone and in house and shipping my alienware I have lost... I have had to take my macbook once to apple... my alienware has had over 14 service calls, and I am on my second replacement... and it isn't because I am abusive... the last 2 years the only time my alienware has moved is for it's monthly hand cleaning for dust.


Yall can blame apple all you want because you have a personal issue with them... You can blame them because Dell decided to cancel the 18... Am I upset that Dell canceled it, yes I am... This was the year I was going to update my laptop... But if sales aren't there, the item is going to get canceled... How many do you think they sell 20k, or 30k... hell 50k a year...

apples mac sales last quarter was 5.5 million... • Apple Mac: sales 2006-2014, per quarter | Statistic

If you want to blame someone for them canceling the 18, there really isn't anyone to blame but consumers... We are a very small part of a small market... We like to push our systems to the edge... Hell I am working on water cooling mine... I love the alienware line.. if I didn't I wouldn't have stuck around for as long as I have trying to get it working as much as I have...

 

Just got an Alienware mystery coupon for 15%, I went to the Alienware website to go buy a new AW-18 and wow, only 17, no Flagship , no sale. Its like Porsche discontinuing the 911 because they sell more Porsche SUV's.

 

Hmmmm - I think your comparing a production car to a super car.......... Does your apple have the same specs? When your Alienware was made it was pretty much cutting edge tech, apple usually wait about a year or two before they adopt (sorry slight exaggeration)

I wont disagree with you on customer service - Apple is far superior.

And their techs actually know how to fix things (well the AU ones do)

Which is why most people have issues with Alienware, the Dell phones techs are robots, rude and non independent thinkers - The field techs are underpaid, overworked and have absolutely no training in repairing Alienware systems (How much care would you take being paid $25AU per job to work on 4K+ systems).

This is where the problem lies in Australia - I'm wondering if you have similar issues overseas

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think the GPU's in the Alienware systems are designed to be used for rendering, they can do it but they don't have the right setting in the VBIOS, that's why dell sells the Precision range, those have the "special" NVIDIA GPU's designed for that stuff.

How does your apple compare to your alienware when running games? Give COD advanced warfare a try and let us know?

 

can't really compare them in the sense of hardware... the cpus are the same... the mac has way more ram... but not the same when it comes to video cards...

the 560s in my alienware do greta because of the cuda cores... When I said rendering it isn't just premire, I use the autocad and all the stuff that runs better with cuda cores... you would be amazed at what you can do with it when you have the correct settings...

I use my computers for work... I don't game, the last game I played on a pc is wow and I really haven't played that in a really long time for more than 10 mins... In fact wow and civ5 is the only games I have played in the last 8 years... before that it was everquest... my alienware was my work machine so that I could stop taking my desktop to work... because at one point I was taking my tower to and from work every day... It is all about the tools you use...

I know these laptops was the best gaming laptop computers you could buy... but sadly they have their heads up somewhere and decided it wasn't the direction they wanted to go... look I hate soldiered crap like most people... I really do... but I also understand the business point of view... most of the time the first thing to be replaced is video cards then mother boards... I have had many replaced... saves money replacing one thing instead of 3... I am not saying it is the right way to go... I just see it from the other side...

I am just wishing people would put the blame where it belongs.. and it starts with consumers of the laptops... we know what we want... but we are very small in numbers...

edit:

I can tell you my mac plays wow fine... well 2 months ago it did before I took it back off.. I suck at fps...

 

It's a pity the Dell Precision range isn't a bit more cosmetically appealing. They were a few years ago but not anymore. They are/were perfect for your sort of work.

I wonder how many of the problems Dell have with replacements are due to inexperienced tech messing things up, I know I see a lot in my line of work, 50%+

I remember when the M17xR2 were current, at least 75% of the ones I purchased just needed software re-installed, they were not faulty at all - And every one of those customers got a complete replacement

Maybe Dell should have spent a penny to save a pound and actually trained their techs

 

I agree with you D2. I have a similar laptop to yours by Sager and the 120hz screen looks in my opinion just as good as a 3k or 4k screen in a 17inch monitor. Most people dont realize that unless you have dual 980m in the laptop a single GPU will not be able to a push a 3k or 4k monitor. It would be a waste of money to buy these laptops with one GPU. I am also angry that they do not manufacture 120hz monitors anymore to go in a laptop. 1440p is probably the way to for most people right now since they are not able to match a 3k or 4k monitor in a laptop at this point.





Sager NP9380-S (Clevo P370SM3)
Display: 17.3" FHD 16:9 120Hz "MatteType" 72% NTSC Color Gamut Sager Screen (1920x1080)
Graphics Video Card: SLI (2x) - NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780M (8.0GB total) GDDR5 PCI-Express DX11
SATA SSD Drive ( Slot 1 ): 240GB Crucial M5 mSATA SSD
- mSATA SSD Drive ( Slot 2 ): 240GB Crucial M5 mSATA SSD
- mSATA SSD Drive - Configuration Option: RAID-0 Storage
- Primary Hard Drive: Toshiba 1TB 7200RPM
- Processor: Sager - 4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4930MX (3.0GHz - 3.9GHz, 8MB Intel® Smart Cache)
- Raid: Raid 0 Stripe Enabled
- Ram: 24GB - DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory
- Second Hard Drive: Toshiba 1TB 7200RPM

Alienware 18
Overclocked Intel i7-4940MX (3.0 - 4.3 GHz) - Dual 8GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 880M - SLI® Enabled, IC Diamond applied on CPU + GPU, RAM: Kingston HyperX 32GB DDR3L 1866 MHz (4 x 8GB)
HARD DRIVE: 2TB SSD RAID 0 - 2 x Samsung 840 EVO 1TB SSD, OPTICAL DRIVE: Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader/Writer(BDRE, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
DISPLAY: 18.4" WLED FHD (1920 X 1080) TrueLife Display, WIRELESS: Killer Wireless N-1202

 

Maybe they have, or least made an effort to. Good help is hard to find. Superior talent is super hard to find. It's kind of like being an auto mechanic or a carpenter. Some people have a mechanical aptitude and everything seems to come naturally. For others, everything is a major challenge because they don't "have it" so to speak, and learning is slow and painful. And, then you have the type that deploy mass destruction just by staring the the direction of the thing that needs to be repaired. They take a simple repair from zero to catastrophe in 3 seconds. They have that "cancer touch" that ruins everything and they seem to be born with it.

 

Soooo, we are still raging over Apple no matter what, because a Mac (born and designed not to be a gaming machine to begin with, mind you) cannot play COD? and the price that you pay for a notebook is only justifiable if you can throw games at it and run synthetic benchmarks that you can show off on a discussion board? And to some people, this is the only and actual way to assess a computer's actual usefulness? *big laugh here*

Yup, but you must have dreamed that - it's an Apple; hence, it's garbage.

You are still dreaming. Apple only makes recycled toasters that are shiny and sleek but don't perform.

I hope you noticed the sarcastic tone there. This forum specifically has reached ridiculous level of anti-Apple trolling ever seen, where whoever dares to defend an informed choice to be an Apple user, and stand for that choice, gets bullied mob style.

People here keep bashing Apple even when Apple has nothing to do with their IT problems, and in spite of the fact that most of them never even owned an Apple computer. And yet, they keep calling Apple out whenever they feel frustrated for whatever reasons. Just like it's been happening non-stop in this Apple-hating forum. Alienware discontinued AW18? screw Apple and its soldered components!

You guys really need anger management, or at the very least, try bashing something different, you know for once, just to see how it feels.

But as always, haters gonna hate

 

Sorry to point out the obvious, this is an Alienware thread - Of course people are gunna bag other manufacturers, Alienware included.

It's just that Apple paint such a humungous target on themselves.

Anyone not part of the mindless masses knows that Apples creativity died with Steve Jobs - Apple just regurgitate the same tech each year, only in different colours and a slightly smaller/thinner form factor

It's all tongue in cheek anyway.

FYI, Owned two Apple laptops, saw the light and gave them away.

Ridiculous levels of anti apple trolling - I think not.




Do a google search


831,000 results for "Whinge about Apple" - Pretty sure theres a few slightly worse than here

 

And you even took the time to do your Google research and posted your findings here to prove why and how according to you is ok to keep trolling about Apple? *laugh*

You do know that we can do that to almost any brand or product, and find masses who are for some legit or not reason, raging over them?

It must be challenging, or maybe it's easy, to those that use Apple for target practice in this forum, to bash the brand just because, as the majority does here - a majority that never owned an Apple.

The fact that you did own one or two doesn't make your experience absolute and universal. I agree that Steve jobs was the driving force behind Apple's most innovative products. But this is not even what the rest of the pack here wants to hear. Nope, such an admission must have disappointed them deeply, Apple still sucked then, too, you know.

You, as well as other, keep talking about the masses with contempt: a mindless herd you're superior to, because you made a different choice in matter of computers, and probably forgetting that to some, spending 4k on a gaming laptop just doesn't cut it.

To some, it is better having a solid computer, equipped with an OS that's easy to use and stable. Machines that the professionals have grown to love for their performance over time, hence being a good investment for them.

But this are empty words to the Apple-hater, which will dig and find other haters on the net and use them as proof of why he and his computer "enthusiast" pals have all the reasons to bash the brand.

I'm not against those who don't like the brand or that have criticism against it, mind you. All brands deserve a whooping at one point or another. But this has been a trend for years in this forum -- a distracting one at that -- which while why you don't mind most of the time, it might frustrate you when it's perpetuated "just because."

So, yep, level of anti-Apple trolling here? Ever increasing.

 

Apple buyers kinda remind me of an old game called lemmings the way they line up to buy tech thats 2 years old...totally laughable.

 

You may be right in that people do unfairly bash Apple even though the value of their products has improved over the years but what do you expect when you bring up apple not only on a forum where a lot of people care about performance but a thread mourning the AW 18 line which used to be as high performance as it got. A mac is a great product if your most intensive applications are office and safari. You'll get great battery life/portability and good value (for their 13 inch products anyway). But you're in the wrong thread. I'm sure you'll get a lot more love on the new XPS 13 forum or the apple subforum.

 

You don't have to post anything that comes to your mind, you know? Comment like yours really don't shine as you may think. Maybe this will help you delete that.

​

When I want to talk about Apple I go to the proper forums. I never used this board to bring up or advertise Apple. Whenever someone brought the Apple topic up (in threads that had nothing to do with it anyways, as this one) it was never for a constructive discussion; rather, it was a one-way only display of hatred.

I have been part of this community for a few years, trying to share my experience with AW products, tips and tricks, and giving and receiving help concerning Alienware computers, since I have owned a few through the years. Nevertheless, a bunch of "enthusiasts" here constantly call Apple out just for digital trolling practice, dismissing and denigrating not just the brand, but also those individuals who decide to buy an Apple computer. An example of this is the juvenile comment I quoted that opens this post.

 

I'll just leave this here...

 

please explain how this even come close to talking about the discussion at hand... Is it really hard to have a discussion about something without being so... whatever this is about a topic... for some reason I thought it was possible to have a intelligent discussion about stuff here... reading all the posts from the last 12 hrs makes me wonder...

I know it is possible to explain your point of view without name calling... It has been done before, I have seen it on this board...

The 18 is dead... dell has lost me as a customer because of it... once I get around finding another heat pipe this one is getting water cooled and I am building a desktop...

But I am sorry I bought up most people blaming apple for the bga and soldiered ram... I should had just ignored it and walked away from the post, because as I see some people can't respond with ideas to and for something... All they can do is call names...

 

​

 

I know... I really do... I was going to respond to the post about alienwares being the most powerful laptops you could buy... but the tunnel vision has forgotten there are more laptops out there... Laptops with unlocked desktop cpus in them... and they have been out for a while... some might think they look bad, but looks do not make a cpu run faster or slower...

 

Indeed, some members here really don't feel like their life is complete if they don't try to remind us every now and again of their hatred toward Apple.

Such poison-filled posts have appeared so often during these years in threads that started as informative and engaging, only to become soon "let's hate Apple just because" ones, where the single-minded bunch enjoy bullying around those who don't see it their way. It is impossible to really have a constructive discussion with them once they switch to bully mode. Instead of trying to broaden their understanding, to listen to those who might actually have had nothing but a positive experience with Apple computers, they denigrate and diminish the brand and those who choose it, and soon plunge into a Google search to find "data" and "statistics" that will prove why if you like Apple you belong to a herd of mindless zombies that over-pays for a shiny toaster.

Haters gonna hate, but luckily the world keeps spinning.

 

Apple really does make good long lasting products. My wife has had her macbook for the last 3 years and it is still in perfect working condition, only having to clean out the inside of it once.

 

Getting back to topic..... I have been searching for a laptop that looks as good as the M18x and have the sli option, but still can't fin anything. Its a shame that the 18 died already since I was starting to think on getting one once the 980m where stable for daily use.

 

Thank you.

And same here. AW's decision to discontinue the AW18 felt like a cold shower. I started saving, wondering about what kind of powerful AW beast I was going to buy in the future, only to learn that now it's never going to happen. I have been looking around for good sli-powered alternatives, but I really don't find the idea of going back to a 17 inch screen appealing, no matter the quality.

 

did you look at

http://us.msi.com/product/nb/GT80-Titan-SLI-GTX-980M-SLI.html#hero-overview

http://www.computershopper.com/laptops/reviews/aorus-x7-pro

EUROCOM Panther 5SE

all 3 are sli... last one doesn't look great but you can put a desktop unlocked chip in it...

edit: opps I looked it wrong.. last one is xeno based...

EUROCOM X7 is the i series based ones.. and they are mobile too.. opps again...

 

The GT80 Titan is the only one that I can think about getting. But the keyboard is in a very uncomfortable position. It will be extremely painful to be coding in that machine for long periods.

 

Thank you for posting this. I never realized the GT-80 had a 18,4" screen. Me blind

I hear you. Mechanical keyboards are optimal when gaming (especially fast-paced and frenetic online FPS), but if you code or write for long hours they might get a bit uncomfortable.

 

Eurocom Panther 5 is available multiple ways with desktop CPU. They have i7 or Xeon server CPUs.

 

Apple is a nice brand but Apple is not meant for gaming due to the OS. It has a sexy design though.

Alienware is already a "has been" thanks to their "smart soldered decisions".

 

Note: we have already moved on. Please, do not turn this into a "like/dislike Apple" thread again.

Thanks

 

I really think the eurocom is the way I am going if I am going to get another laptop... but I think I am going to get mini atx box going... I have seen some small water cooled ones with a 980 in them for under 1k... and splurge and get 4k monitor..

 

I never said I hated Apple. They are great products. Not for gaming though.

For Gaming, the Alienware M18x R2 or the Sagers will accomodate your needs.

 

lol man, really?

It seems like a good plan, although to those who travel often and want to bring along a mobile beast to enjoy gaming on the go, as many do around here, something like the GT-80 seems to be a good choice.

 

Well, if you are fine to play games at 10fps at decent settings, I guess the Mac will do. :^)

I would go Micro ATX if I were you. Check my sig.

 

could you measure the distance between the screws? I can't find any information with that in it...

I am not sure I am going to do it... I want to try to keep it under 1k. I dont game much anymore... I want it to do 4k not for gaming but for my cad work so I can have 2 windows side by side...

 

Man, this discussion really has no place here (wrong thread, wrong forum), and it will only get ugly, again. The quarrel wasn't even about gaming in itself. Besides, I have already addressed that in one of my posts above. Really, let's just drop this and let's stay on topic.

Your rig looks powerful. However, as I mentioned earlier, being always on the go, I'd want to have a powerful notebook - a micro ATX just wouldn't cut it for my needs.

Alienware has served me well, until they decided to kill it for us. I have been gaming on the go since when I had the XPS 1730 with dual 8800 gtx, and the MX17 r2 after that. For now my overlocked AW18 does its job nicely and I can game on the go, which is what I need the most: the power vs portability ratio has to be 1:1 for me.

 

I would keep the AW 18 and upgrade it however if you plan to go SLI on a new GPU and wanted to get a new laptop, Clevo are beasts. That's just me though.