1st Gen M17x vs. 2nd Gen M17x

Apparently there are a few differences between the two generations, as I understand the first generation is pure breed Alienware while the second generation has been designed by Dell/Alienware (when exactly did this change? this month?). Can someone help me understand what the differences between these two models are? So far I understand that the newest generations do not have Smartbay, any other major differences? It appears that most reviews out there are for the Area 51 M17x not the Dell/AW M17x.

 

too many differences to list, totally different machines

 

The new M17x is the first AW product sold directly through Dell. Dell bought AW in 2006.

The biggest difference between the two models is the area 51-m17x is based off the Santa Rosa Centrino Platform and the new M17x is based off the Montevina Centrino 2 platform (not 100% Montevina because of the Nvidia chipset).

 

Here's a review + lots of pics for the old one:

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=617

The newer was released last month/2 months ago, more or less.

 

old one only had 9800m gt GPU in SLI

the new one has 280m gtx in sli for now

 

so the new one has better video cards.....was the screen on the old one better

 

so the second one is better

 

Yes 25% faster or somthin like that

 

cool thanks moo....i was wondering if i could get the version 2 motherboard with theversion one screen....lol...maybe no dimmimg issue then

 

No it's not dual lamp

 

Why is it so difficult for people to get the lettering correct on both machines? The m17x from last year is the big brother of the m15x, whereas the M17x is pretty much a different machine. Note the capital M in the reviews use, is incorrect. I have seen it miss-capitalized too many times. It is a big deal as it can be very miss-leading....

 

Would have been a better move to perhaps add an extra x

 

*Santa Rosa vs Montevina. Not much of a difference besides quad core support and DDR3 memory for montevina. Both are penryn based, so if you're using a duo in the 2nd Gen M17x, you're wasting potential.

*8800M GTX/9800M GT Sli vs GTX 260M/280M Sli. It's not a drastic jump, but it's a decent one. 96 shaders vs 112/128 per card, and higher clocks with higher overclock peak potential. You could probably put Sli 9800M GTX in the 1st gen...

*Smartbay. The 1st gen has it, the 2nd gen does not.

*Obvious aesthetical differences....

*Overclocking. The 1st gen can't overclock the CPU, whereas the 2nd gen can. Kind of a big deal.

 

Very nice! thx

 

Perhaps they should have called the Allpowerful the M17x2...

 

The people who have the Frist Gen. M17X. They are smart to say Frist Gen. Few other things on the Frist Gen. M17X.

I dont think you can put the GF 9800gtx. Due to the fact One GPU is coved by the Keyboard it lacking cooling. I am running 95c on the secondary gpu while on notebookreveiw. And Cryis and Lord of the rings about 105c. Main hard drive runs around 55c to 65c.

 

then something is wrong with your system duh!

i haven't seen a pair of 8800m gtx's running past 80 on another system highest i have seen is 76C