Alienware 18, now with Maxwell GPUs (Officially) and a new BIOS

Huh? Nothing is replacing 4th gen right now.

 

There will be no updated Alienware 18. They are literally just fishing out old stock, slapping in clevo 980Ms with a supposedly "unlocked" BIOS (which has yet to surface. It has been what....a month now since that announcement?).

 

A panic quirk from Dell. Just to create the most publicity for their new (crippled ) products... Pretty pathetic if you ask me. What good is launching an almost 3 year old rebadged Aw18 who already soon have an outdated gpu? Gtx970/980m is already one year old.

 

year old but still top dawg.

 

Yeah. It's still the best graphic card

 

Won't be too long for it to be overtaken, doubt Alienware will update the 18 with that GPU.

 

Months, like maybe X-Mas.. or next march...

 

Who announced that? Please give me a link... I haven't kept up with this Alienware forum as of late. There's too many complaints. On Twitter, Frank Azor said the AW 18 is back to stay for 2016 in a limited edition model. Alienware's Product Manager says it will have Devil's Canyon 4790k for a limited time (2016) with no plans to refresh beyond the R2:



http://en.community.dell.com/dell-b...08/19/alienware-18-returns-stronger-than-ever

This is directly from Dell. Looks like my predictions were correct!

 

The desktop Haswell was a typo. It's the EXACT same 2013 model with GTX 980M installed, and actually, fewer options overall than before. With the Clevo 6700K/980M SLI on the horizon, there's really no point in buying an 18.

 

I know it's the same model...currently on the site. This article is referring to the next model (R2). It will be a limited edition model.

 

That's a typo. That article came out when the facebook post came out, and both refer to the Maxwell 18 currently out. Both were not meant to say 4th-gen K processors.
As for the BIOS, one of the Alienware engineers has told me it's taking more time than they expected, so they don't have a definite ETA before the shipping of the laptops.

 

Where does it say it's a typo? Or did someone on this forum just say that?

They would be kind of dumb to leave it up if it's a typo. That's a pretty damn big mistake.

 

The Alienware marketing team confirmed that it was a typo to me. Part of the reason as to why I've been able to answer most of the questions the people here is because I was given connections to those who are working with the 18, marketing and engineering, for the time being. Someone else is handling AWA for me.
Frank Azor also didn't tweet that the 18 was going to get a K-series processors nor retweeted Alienware's relaunch tweet. That I investigated myself.

 

That's interesting... Someone from Alienware told you. Seems legit.

You do realize that their staff don't know of new products until the week of launch, right? Only top tier staff would know.*

I'd take the word of Dell's product manager over you, no offense. Unless you have something concrete to prove it's a typo, I'll remain skeptical of such claims.

*I've had Tech Support tell me the 240W PSU will cause the Alienware 15 to explode...

 

I'm not talking about the marketing that deals with consumers or tech support over the phone.
As I have said, those in charge of the 18's launch have told me that the 4th-gen K series was a typo. Even the listings of the i7-4790(K) before were typos and corrected to the mobile CPUs. If you still don't believe me, then oh well. I can't convince everyone.

 

Wow I'm so glad I didn't pull the trigger on a new 18. Now to wait for one of these new beasts with a 980!

 

u cant sli two of those fully unleashed 980 gpus tho, the new machines will only support one of those monsters. there will be lower tdp versions tho that will come in sli config in future machines.

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jaybee83, the announcement included an MSI GT80 980 SLI :

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...n-owners-lounge.769092/page-324#post-10095783

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...n-owners-lounge.769092/page-325#post-10095899

 

yes im aware of that notice how i was speaking of "fully unleashed" vs. "lower tdp" versions? the gt80 will either have a new motherboard revision in place to accomodate the wider 980 mxm boards or msi decided to go with lower tdp versions of the gpu in regular sized mxm boards and ull thus get lower performance than a theoretical sli of two completely unleashed 980s. that step would then ensure an unchanged gt80 design though, and upgradeability to existing gt80 users.

im betting on the latter, especially since prema presented clevo's case with the p870dm in being special because of their fully unleashed 200W tdp version of the card.

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@Mr. Fox Don't know if this has been brought to your attention, but this Clevo monster looks like its right up your alley (so far).

Clevo P870DM

GTX 980M SLI or GTX 980
Desktop unlocked CPU
64GB RAM

 

Nah, 4930K/4960X will smoke a 6700K.

 

Still better than anything Alienware offers, or anything Clevo has with a mobile Haswell CPU. Looks like it will be a nice machine to have. It's unlocked, high TDP CPU in a socket and dual MXM slots. Very nice! What's not to love about those things? It might be a little thinner and lighter sissy-boy styled than I would prefer that it be, but if it handles extreme overclocking without catching on fire I can overlook that one design flaw.

But, yeah, I would be much more thrilled if it was X99 and not Skylake. i7 Quad becomes so "meh" after you've tasted unlocked hexacore in a laptop. I'm not sold on Skylake being all that sweet yet, but I think it will be better than Haswell mobile. I hope so, anyway.

But, I am considering the notion of selling all of my Alienware stuff to help pay for a new P870DM. I'm sick of all of the weird problems I have had to put up with relating toe Maxwell GPU compatibility, 780M SLI throttling and now LCD EDID corruption. This is supposed to be fun. It used to be, but it has gotten to the point that too many things are screwed up with the brand to remain interested. I want fun, not functionality problems.

 

FTFY

as a performance enthusiast, P870DM is definitely the way to go at the moment. especially considering that this is gonna be Prema´s next machine, so you can expect VERY thorough and longlasting special prema-love support for this model

 

That's a great reason to want one, as well.

 

Oh boy....I REALLY WANT ONE OF THOSE P870DM!!!!!

Still wish it was a X chipset instead of Z, but whatever. Will it support the skylake extreme processor?

 

what exactly is the "skylake extreme processor"? no such thing....

 

@Mr. Fox. I dont know if you realize this but if you leave Alienware behind it will literally be the end of any enthusiast level Alienware that's left. Yes, they are causing alot of that themselves but you are the main reason this forum has any action at all. And speaking for myself, you are one of the reasons I decided to keep my Alien every time I was getting sick of the issues. You, by yourself could be the final nail in the coffin of Alienware.

Whether it's here, TI or the geforce forums, you are everywhere and your presence is felt big time. Seems out of the few real "geniuses" there are, you are the one that is most active and still involved with Alienware. I guess you have held on the longest. But really, I can't see this forum going on and honestly without people knowing you r out there still plugging away at your Aliens, I can't see Alienware hanging around much longer.

We are the people who get the word out, without you, people will think twice about getting an Alienware at all. They better hope they sell alot of machines at Walmart cause that's all they will have. That's alot of power for 1 man to have, now what are you going to do with it.

I still think about moving on as well but for me atleast, there is just something about the 18. The look, the build, just screams high quality and performs damn good when it stops fighting back. For those reasons, I am not as ready as you to consider moving on. And if I had the 980's, I would think about it even less than I do. However, if someone comes out with an 18 inch, sli, upgradeable machine that comes close to the build and quality of my Alien, I just might do the same. Very interested to see what you ultimately decide and truly think the impact of your decision will have an effect on not only the Alien community, but on Alienware and their future as well

 

I know I've just joined recently, but as a long-time lurker I second this. With the "limited edition" moniker on the new 18 and the loss of the community over to ASUS/MSI/CLEVO, I might not renew my warranty past this coming April. Knowing how much harder this last "dead" year has been as far as driver/bios updates and almost non-existent replacement parts, the warranty seems to mean nothing more than getting a soldered 17 with a silly EGPU if any component of your machine goes out. With that being the case, it is probably best for me to just sell and build a desktop (I just can't afford another of these). It's kind of sad, because this was the perfect machine for me for university (I was always planning on moving to a desktop after graduating) and it doesn't look like I can justify keeping it until I graduate. Let's just hope this new AW18 does well enough that they decide to go in for a full 2016 run.

 

Whoops, not sure how this happened. Feel free to delete the double-post. Sorry

 

I don't think a rebranded Aw18 with the old gtx980m is something to have. A 330w power limit on the motherboard kill the fun. Who want the old gtx980m now as Nvidia came with desktop gtx980 in laptops? DELL can you hear me THIS Is All TO LATE...

 

jaybee83, maybe he is thinking of the Skylake-E ?

 

could be @hmscott, but considering that broadwell-e isnt even out yet, skylake-e will take a long time to become important still...

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That sucks. My ETA is Oct. 6. Don't think I'll be getting it within that time-frame.

 

I was quoted 11-14 business days yesterday. I hope they are sticking to that because I made it clear I would be at different places at different times and so needed a time frame before providing a shipping address. They took a few days to get back to me, saying they did not have a definite ETA for the new models before finally getting back to me with that time frame.

Now I'm just debating what to do about Windows 10. I would like to do a fresh install before I transfer all my data and install all my programs, but I'm sure it is worth waiting for actual Dell W10 bios/drivers after my horrible experience upgrading on the 2013 model (I don't use UEFI, so haven't had a dead display).

 

Is their any chance Dell would replace my 880m's for the 980's when they are ready under warranty?

I haven't had any specific issues with the 880m's per say, just read a lot about how crap they are.

My current Alienware 18 is my first gaming laptop I have bought so I pretty ignorant to any performance issues they may have.

 

You will get 880Ms.

 

Noooooooo

 

First off: you'd know if something was wrong with your 880m's. However, they do get hot and your warranty considers >85c (consistently under load) to be overheating. The 880m's are basically this all the time. If everything is working more or less fine, I wouldn't cry wolf and get yourself into the painfull world of Dell customer service. However, if your warranty is getting close to a close and they are running hot, it is worth mentioning.

Secondly, Dell does currently have 880m's. That's what they replaced my overhearing 780m's with last month. However it is unlikely they have much of a stock left from what I could tell when dealing with support. So hold out for a bit until you have a real heat issue (from my short experience with the card, they get hot fast) and then worry about it. They'll most likely replace it with a 980m since the 880m is an 8GB card.

 

Do you see any performance issues when playing games? Do some research as to what's expected with your configuration. I dare say you'll be fine with most games.

If something goes wrong, it's a warranty replacement for the same as what you have - or if it happens years from now and those components are no longer available, they may at their discretion choose to provide a like for like replacement or a refund.

Warranty replacement/fixes are *NOT* a free upgrade path when something better comes along...

 

Dell Alienware 18 System BIOS
Dell Alienware 18 System BIOS update compatible with Windows and DOS.
Fixes & Enhancements
Enhancements:
- Disable PCIe Active State Power Management of Nvidia GTX980 MXM Card.
Version
Version A12, A12

Its on the dell support site...

 

So just finished flashing to this bios appears to be exactly the same as a10. i.e. not fully unlocked

 

Is the second video card fan working properly now？

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jaybee83, I have noticed that no matter the level of enthusiast laptop, Highest end or mid-range, all are getting the 6820HK.

It seems that is all that is available for the initial shipments for Skylake mobile CPU's.

Extreme "K" is now for everyone

 

Don't Know I have m290x video cards but am thinking about getting the 980m's but will probable wait to see if this bios and the new vbios solve the throttling issues I've read about.

 

Unlocked bios with all options... LOL. What a joke. Can you use gtx980m and win7 with this fully "unlocked" bios A12 ? Dell advertised all over the internet a new unlocked bios for the limited version of the new powerful laptop Aw18. Dell what a joke.

 

man i love this bios i think fans are kicking faster and cpu doing much better and there is much less throttle with my 880M's

 

I did a quick test, second fan still not working with my 980Ms . Not sure if it will happen for current 980 sli users ...and...how dell make it happen for the new 18?

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Really hope this isn't the BIOS that Dell promised us... I'm still hoping the one we were expecting is still to come.

 

i would be inclined to like that post, but well first wanna see some real life user scenarios with that cpu to make sure its an actual K cpu with unlimited tdp and good overclocking ability

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