AW CES 2011 Discussion Thread

I've heard about an m15x and m11x announcement sometime "after january." my source was not very reputable, but sounded confident, and confidence is almost as good

Edit: Specifically, 500series gpus would be added (no mention of SB but maybe it was implied?)

 

I'd lol if the M15x takes the position of the head of the household...
But again that's probably just wishful thinking...

But I do believe that the M15x has a chance for offering the RBG or that B+G or whatever screen (if it's anygood) because the new XPSes offered it

 

By the way what is FHD WLED? Well I know the WLED is for white LED but what about the FHD?

 

Full HD! Isnt it awesome!

 

OMG that's all it stands for... This is crazy...

 

Looking at both the side views and the lack of air intake vents makes it seem more apparent that this design has a less heat aka no Dual GPUs ever.

There is no way this new layout could vent the heat of a CPU and 2x GPUs

I would like to see the bottom of the R3 makes me wonder if they dropped down to a single fan design as well

 

Probably dual fan design, I doubt they'd be lame enough to go with a single fan though you can never put it past Dell. Dell told us last year that they wanted to make the M17x slimmer and lighter (remember I mentioned this a long time ago?) so this is the result. I didn't think they'd sacrifice dual GPU's in the process. I wish someone at CES would pick it up and give us shots of the underside and comment on the weight + build quality. Sucks when nobody besides mainstream journalists are there ooh'ing and aah'ing at 120hz 3D gimmick buzzwords.

 

M15x masquerading as a M17x = M17x R3

 

For what it is worth....the side "vents" are purely asthetic and do NOTHING for the cooling of the M17x R1 and R2.....so that is in now way condemning of there only being a single GPU

 

Okay. To end this once in for all, I say we bombard Engadget or some other CES with tips saying the M17x doesn't have crossfire blah blah... Then they'll investigate and we'll get our news...

@ Above, he's got the M17x R3. :O

Jk it's his M17 i believe

 

"Well, fellow users at notebookreview.com were discussing the M17x R3 and saw your post on the M17x today. Well, we were can't say we're impressed by it. Firstly, we're wondering, what does the bottom look like -- the M17x R2 had a 3 fan system. We believe that if the M17x R3 does lacks a fan (and it's already lacking the side vents on the R2) that it will no longer offer crossfire because the cooling requirements of the 6970 crossfire will require more cooling power and venting to maintain stable temperatures. This of course makes it no better than a "lowly" budget Asus G73 and making it a WORSE performer than the year old M17x R2 with 5870 Crossfire.

Now why is this important ? Firstly, the M17x will not be a very potent system, the single GPU will put it at the performance of a much cheaper computer and plus the size will not justify the marginal performance over the M15x. Basically, the new M17x will suck unless we get evidence from you (C'mon, I mean, you guys are at CES, we (Alienware enthusiasts) need you to do some investigating for us!)

We personally don't want to see AW go the way of VooDoo, but it just might if Dell keeps on hitting AW in the balls and chopping performance for a quick buck. If you find out that the M17x does not support CFX or SLI, I highly suggest you report it for the sake of making Dell realize that they are no longer serving the gaming/enthusiast community so that they get back to AW's roots - performance.

_Extra stuff you should check out on the M17x or ask the AW stand for us_
No RGBLED? on the M17x spec list claims a WLED 1080P 3D screen. This will mean color the extremely accurate color reproduction will be axed for the sake of a "gimmicky" 3D screen.

No expresscard slot?"

well that was what i sent to engadget

 

Good luck getting them to respond during CES.

 

I can't see them getting rid of the RGB display for a 3D one, think about it. If you have an AMD card in your machine you can't have 3D, I can't see them selling you a 3D screen and not being able to use it. I'm thinking the RGB screen is be standard - like the 900p screen is now, and upgrade to a 3D screen.

 

ATI enabled 3d recently... We just hope its another option.

 

hum amd can take advantage of 3d ........ only left to find out is does alienware provide a licence for the 3rd party program needed

 

Hm interesting, didn't know that AMD can do 3D now.

I found this on the Alienware Twitter

"The highest config is an NVIDIA gpu... 3D is an NVIDIA only operation, I'm afraid"

 

...Not even a year old and my m17x feels ancient. I hate technology

 

Im not at mine now, but anyone using the newer ATI driver should see the 3d option. Dell may not pay the license for the 3rd party app that it needs to run 3d however.
On the r3 you can probably make it work with the 120hz screen, ATI reference driver, and the 3rd party app. Just may not see it working on ATI out of the box.

 

Ironically, I was a student worker at Lockheed when the AF-117 that the current AW design is inspired from and was still in production, I was one of the people at an air show that got really curious about the heat venting and air intakes/exhaust... got too curious and like 3 people that looked like yokels suddenly appeared and were security folks in hiding... they had the good parts all covered but it was still trippy... maybe one reason the design resonates so much with me.

 

I wouldnt be too bothered with the lack of SLI or XF. As of right now, it seems that it is not yet confirmed whether or not there is that option at all.

Here are my comments on the new M17x. I dont like the new thin design. It makes it look less powerfull and probably will make the laptop less performant ( cause of the cooling...). It also looks more fragile to me now since its this thin.

On the XF, SLI issue, I dont see it as such a huge downfactor. Alienware might have decided that its not worth dealing with the hassle of SLI/XF it had with the M17x hardware (Thanks a lot Joker!). On the other hand, times have changed, there is no need for future proofing right now. Games do not take leaps in hardware requirements as they used. I remember having to buy a new gfx card once every 2 years. Now, my desktop (4+years) can still run most games fine. Games have become way too expensive to target only a small audience with cutting edge technology (and they have become really expensive in general to make use of new cutting edge technology). That is also a reason why the console wont see a next generation soon. One might think of the new input controllers as the next gen hardware.

All in all, Im glad I still have my M15x which is a powerhouse. I have yet to face troubles with games playing on FullHd

 

Confirmed! the M17xR3 is going to be a mainstream Laptop with only 1 GPU. My rep told me the ATI 6970s in crossfire will be introduced in the M17xR2.


if only this were true.

 

Alienware is thinking more about $$$ then enthusiast i think that is the take away from all this and makes sense to the stockholders of dell and mainstream customers. We NBR members are such as small majority that satisfying us would lead to much more higher priced systems and lower sales in the end. I would wait till actual reviews and when the systems go live for ordering but if they removed crossfire and RGB it would mean they are trying to compete with the lower end market and increase volume of sales. Which as a financial standpoint makes sense especially if you are trying to justify the acquisition of alienware. =((

 

I couldn't Agree more and I think everyone here clearly sees the direction Dell is going with alienware. No longer the gamers machine but a notebook with what few in the industry perceive as cutting edge (sigh 3d).


Now someone go title a thread 'the official facepalm for Dell for failing the alienware enthusiast'

 

Hasnt the price dropped a little btw? Seems that the starting price is 1,499? Isnt the price of the current m11x? This accounted that ati will be the default gpu..

 

I personally hate to say it again but I mailed back my r2 yesterday. I was dissapointed in its performance although with some input from members here clearly I was playing CPU intensive games with a sub par i740qm.

Not dissing the r2. The styling was sexy. The ventilation and cooling looked like it could handle quad graphics. Sturdy and solid (LOVED the aluminum lid and bottom), the screen was awesome (rgb).. I had all the right options besides the CPU.

My options now include..,.

R3

Another r2 IF the 940xm will drop in price and I'll order the exact sane rug again.

Cleave/sager (going to have start learning all their models now). Even though they are so ugly the performance is hard to ignore.

 

What the heck is the point of getting an m17x over the m15x now? At least you got the dual graphics card with the option of beefing it up for the ultimate gaming performance. Don't give me the weight nonsense, you don't buy an m17x to be a lightweight. It's all about opimium peformance. Performance vs weight - performance is always the winner. You buy the m11x if you want portability. And I'm really eagar to see the price list of this new release, surely they cannot justify the standard price tag for this underpowered trash?

The r3 M17x doesn't look much quicker than my older m15x from the spec pictures. They even had a 460m in it! I mean at least offer the option of the 5850/5870 if you are going to have that card in it. Unless the new Ati 6970m is an absolute beast of a card that is way above anything we've ever seen then the r2 will be the better option for gamers. Sandy bridge just doesn't seem that important now!

The m17x is dead then so too is alienwares top end performing laptop. They can no longer continue with this fastest in the universe nonsense because it will get trounced by other 17 inchers that enable sli/crossfire. The brand is damaged. Unless they really get into a lightweight niche and release a very strong m11x quickly then alienware is just left with nice cases and fancy lighting.

 

your kidding right?
as many times as people have put down these dell reps and now that ces is here..one is right?
really?
seriously?

they were right about the 4870...nope
they were right about the 5870...nope
and now we have the 6900 here....
still gonna have to have that verified by a member...

 

So.... will anyone upgrade to 32 gigs of ram?

 

i want to but how much will it cost? i hate slow render times

 

I was going to comment on my earlier post concerning CES introductions, but there's no need. I will however say that I hope the M17x will be able to handle the heating that's inevitably going happen from a thinner system...

 

Cheaper 940xm from Dell probably won't happen... just get one from ebay and save a lot of bucks in case you get the r2 again... 920xm will do also.

 

Anyone live at CES who can "touch" the R3 just to verify if its plastic or alu.
Thanks

 

Stupid question, but soft touch is like the M15x ?

Will they keep M17x-R2 or let it disappear with the out coming R3 ?

 

No soft touch is like the Black M11x-r2. When R3 is released Dell will continue to sell R2's for months to a year after.

 

I think the M17x R2 will still be available for a couple of months, same was with the M17x R1 when the R2 was released.

M15x has a magnesium cover, I wouldn't call it soft touch...

Edit: villosa beat me

 

Does anybody have a link to any available video of the R3?

 

Thanks! I would go for a R2 if it is soft touch like M11x and not metal ! still there is no more the silver option for R3 nor RGBLED screen

Thanks again svl7 and villosa

 

If not, no worries. However...

I’ve been waiting an age to buy my (first) M17x – was waiting patiently for the R3... I’m now wondering if I should order an R2 before it’s too late. If anybody could give opinions on some or all of the following questions, these would be much appreciated:

• CPUs - In real (general – gaming & media-player) terms, how does the 940XM stack up against the new ‘Sandy Bridge’ offerings?
• Regarding GPUs, do any of the new offerings come close to the performance of the ‘Crossfire’ or ‘SLI’ options for the R2?
• Is the change from RGBLED to WLED a major issue (I’ve no experience of using RGBLED screens) – Is the difference very evident?
• Does the FHD designation in any way compensate for this loss?
• Forgive my total ignorance on this one… but how significant are the 120Hz display, and P67 Express chipset specifications?


Since the Dell confab, this has become a harder and harder to issue to call (from an ordering point of view); as exemplified by:

Pros:
• Faster (apparently) CPU
• Refreshed design
• Wireless HD (unsure of it’s use, as yet)
• 3D (is this format likely to become obsolete quickly)
• USB 3 (is this confirmed?)
• Intel P67 Express chipset (can't say that I yet understand the significance of this )

Cons:
• Possible plastic casing (as opposed to 'Anodized Aluminum'... mmm...)
• No SLI/Crossfire options for GPUs
• No RGB display option
• Reduced screen size (16:10 - 16:9)
• DRM embedded in 'Sandy Bridge' chips (though this point may be a bit sensationalist - don't fully understand the implications yet)


Not an easy call. Any and all advice required and appreciated

 

Any thoughts?

 

If I'm jumping into a thread where I don't belong, please let me know - no worries - relatively new to this forum - was just seeking info - don't mean to intrude - will happily leave the thread

 

The 920xm /940xm will be faster than the mid class SBs when you use throttlestop (you can run the 920xm easily at 3.2 GHz across all cores... !) These extreme processors are real beasts and can handle quite a lot. When buying a M17x R2 you can put in a 920/940xm yourself and save a lot of bucks.

There hasn't been to much information about the performance of the new AMD GPUs so it's difficult to say anything specific but I really doubt a single 6970m will beat 5870m xfire... that's not gonna happen.

I haven't seen the screen of the new revision in person so it's hard to say but when it comes to display questions most times it depends on the user. Some don't care at all and others notice every color detail and every little difference... Too bad they ditched the 1920x1200 screen imo... and when it comes to 3D on a fullHD screen with only a single GPU you won't be able to play recent games at full resolution and max settings (assuming the r3 really hasn't a xf option in the end)

120Hz display is important for the 3d capability and that's all.


Imo USB 3.0 isn't an important feature at all, eSata can handle the same tasks too. It's impossible to say whether the casing is good or bad without ever touching the device, I hope it doesn't feel cheap, no matter what material they used (it really shouldn't, otherwise it's not AW style at all)

Edit: I don't know of a video, but here are some pics: http://www.engadget.com/photos/dell-alienware-m17x-and-aurora-hands-on/#3753485

 

Very detailed and informative answer... cheers mate - thanks for taking the time and effort

One other question - regarding the release date, I believe that the Dell blog stated Jan 10th, with other regions to follow. I'm in Ireland (therefore Western Europe). I don't suppose you've any notion of how long other regions, such as my own own, generally have to wait, following US release dates? (long-shot, I know - just seeking an opinion/best guess really)

Thanks again

Cheers for the pics link - cool - pretty comprehensive

 

Stop acting so surprised. You should have saw it coming.

It's not over yet. There will be more of them.

 

Interesting comments regarding Clarksfield vs. Sandy Bridge
Regarding GPUs, have you looked at (or do you rate) the comparison table on notebookcheck.net?

 

Well, as far as I remember, the M15x went on sale on September 2009 in the states and it was available at the same time in Europe, maybe a week or two later but as far as I remember it was the same date... I don't see a reason why they should delay it in Europe.

 

I've looked at some comparison tables at notebookcheck from time to time, but I don't really like it... best example is the Dell version of the 5850, compare the real life performance to their test... lol. Such benchmarks have to be handled carefully imo. Same cards from different vendor may perform differently...

 

Many thanks... Reason for optimism (I'm hoping for a 2-4 week window, in which to review the R3 spec on the US site, and then decide between that and the R2, before it's replaced on European sites) - Honestly, never thought it'd come to this...

 

Yes, unfortunately it's a big disappointment so far for the Alienware enthusiasts... but a lot of people will buy the new M17x, just read all the comments on the tech blogs... The new M17x is more like a really good multimedia machine and less a ultimate gaming laptop like the R2 was, imo.

 

I'm so tired of "multimedia" as a buzz word... do you really need to scan Facebook on your television THAT badly or make your own ghetto mashup music... gawd...

The M17x-R3 is going to be a pr0n-streamer at parties now... wonderful.

 

Yep, have read a lot of what's on offer, and it'd appear to back you up. As a non-dedicated gamer, I reckon, when all's said and done, I may end up going for the new machine...
But I genuinely hate the fact that I'd be sacrificing RGB and a 16:10 display (if not unique, that's at least bloody unusual)
Also, regarding DRM embedded in Sandy Bridge chips, have you any idea how this may impact on previously (not strictly legally) collected media, and the use of torrents?