Alienware M17 *OFFICIAL* Owner's Lounge

If I am correct, AW discontinued the availability of the 4870's as an option for the M17. They can be purchased separately and installed. I don't know if there were issues that caused this or if it was a problem with stocking. There are some guys that have installed 4870's in their M17.

 

For now the 4850s are no longer available for the M17 . There never were 4870s at all atleast for the public. The 4850s were never available to be purchased separate though and you could only get them with a new machine. If they were available to buy i would have a set right now for sure .

 

As far as we know 4870s are NOT compatible. I don't think there is an MXM 2.1 version of the card, and the M17's slots are MXM 2.1.

The 4850s however (or at least some of them) ARE compatible, but Alienware have offered them as an upgrade twice and then cancelled all the orders a short time later. Only one person actually recieved them as an upgrade. (Note that only MXM 2.1 4850s will work)

The 4850s were offered for a short time with new machines as well. That is why there are a few M17 owners with 4850s here.

The 4850s are no longer available even in new machines. We hope this is simply due to lack of stock meaning it's temporary, however, there's a strong chance they will not market them anymore and that with the release of the new 'landfall' the M17 could disappear altogether.

 

I wouldnt be surprised if that happened Evil......its been a very painful process.

 

Back to back posts that say its not compatible (I dont really know too much about the MxM topic) and one that says people have installed 4870s. Is there anyway to know for 100% certainty.

Voiding the warranty is not an issue for me

 

I know nothing about the MXthins as well but I think there was sb with a 4870 in an AW m17 but without the possibility of Corssfire ... and it doesn't make sense to put one 4870 in when you can put two 4850s in

But I am not too sure wheather this was true or not^^

Greetings
Julian

 

I think Killernotebooks? put a single 4870 in there machine but that was not really a 4870 and more a 4850 since it was from a W90 . Dont want to get into the whole naming scheme since i owned the W90 and this argument came up alot about the cards , they were specced with DDR3 instead of DDR5 . To date there has been NO DDR5 notebook video card released .If your curious about the 4870x2 that was in the W90 NBR has a review of the machine and you can read through the comments after the review.

 

Man I'm glad I got my wifes 4850's when I did. I noticed they weren't on the website anymore.

 

Yeah, rub it in while your at it Hopefully they come back with the option but now im not holding my breath.

 

I won't be too disappointed if the 4850s don't come-I mean, I can play Crysis on high and every other game I have maxed out, so there's little advantage for me (I'd still get them though )-but I know a LOT of people out there will be very disappointed if they never offer them as an upgrade.

 

they dropped of the uk website weeks ago, was only a matter of time before they dropped from others too

tbh Alienware dont care about people with M17's they have shown this time and time again, they just want you to pay for a M17x

Which they have ensured is stupidly expensive outside of America

 

Hey guys, is there any way to get the media keys to work with any music player other than Windows Media Player? I want to use WinAmp but my media touch keys don't work with it (or any other media player for that matter)

Presumably there must be a registry entry somewhere that you can edit to get them to work? Or some sort of setting?

 

I talked to an AW rep and the 4850s off the charts is strictly due to stocking issues. So get your own 4850s and put them in yourself, doesnt void the warranty and they will help you through the process if your new like me...atleast thats what they said a bit ago.

If 2x 3870's = 1 and 2x 4870 = 10 where do 4850s fall on that 1-10 scale.

also if i happened to buy these 4850s do they just plug in and have crossfire or how does it work?
(if these question have been answered in other posts, i havent seen them - 337 pages is alot)

appriciate the help guys

 

If they say that it's strictly due to stocking issues then there's still hope for the future.

If 2x3870s=1 and 2x4870s=10, then 2x4850s=9. If you get them you stick them in the slots and use a crossfire cable to link them, and that's it.

 

Registry Keys are here:

hkeylocalmachine>system>currentcontrolset>control>mobilepc>hotstartbuttons

 

Unfortunately getting these cards isnt easy at all. Also as comparison the 4850s seem to be anywhere from 20-60% or more faster, they really need a good cpu and new drivers to get the most out of them. They use a crossfire cable like the 3870s. Compared to a desktop with good drivers and cpu theyre somewhere between a 4870 and 4890, certainly very nippy for a laptop and were great valu in comparison to an M17x in the UK unfortunately RMA is a nightmare for these right now if a fault develops.

 

Alex you got yours back up and running yet?

 

Nope, AW sent me a fresh set after 3 weeks of bull**** and lies, the new mastercard booted but was faulty as well and looked like it had been taken from another machine, most likely a memory fault as was getting texture artefacting So has gone back to base, been a month since it first broke so beginning to get a bit f-ed off now.

 

you have 5x more patience then me mate

Personally if your in the UK esp at the price for the M17 just jumped £200 (back up to over £1100 base price now) then just get a clevo M980nu and be happy

Obviously Poor alex has been mucked around for months now

 

That's cool then. They sell 4850s on my military base for like 80 bucks, ill probably grab two later today. Can I use the 'crossfire cable' thats used for my 3870s?

another question is AFTER i install, what do i have to download/change/etc

 

You can't buy the 4850 Mobile version on a military base, only the desktop version.

 

oh does it say mobile/desktop or whatever on the box?

if you shop online, how will you know the difference?

 

Only Alienware directly sells the cards and thats why very few people even have them since they wont sell them as an upgrade. There is no boxed version of the 4850m(wish there was though).

 

Good Luck finding them online, you probably can't.

Heres some pictures to show you how different they are between Mobility and Desktop:

Mobility (MXM 2.1):


Desktop (PCI-E):

 

hehe believe me mate, if they were that easy to get people wouldnt have been that excited when AW finally annouced them

but alas AW are pretty much the only source and they are running dry atm

 

Seems like selling mobile graphics cards would be a pretty nice business. I never thought the world could fail in distribution.

 

Laptop manufacturers are pretty stingy about people cracking open their cases to do their own modifications, especially when they offer warranties with them.

 

"Warranty Void if seal broked."

 

dumb question but was looking for some help. What's the best way to format my m17, create a partition for ubuntu and another for the restore disc image? I want to remove the alien respawn from my hdd and reclaim that space, clean up my hard disk (hence the format), and create a permanent install of ubuntu (I've had a semi-permanent install).

Once I set it up, what's the best program for a imaging? Macrium's reflect program or whatever?

 

so they're only selling the m15x, m17x, and auroras now? i bought my m17 last week. lol.

 

Rip M17...

 

I think all the owners should say a few kind words about this powerful value priced laptop. It will live forever in our hearts:

You were the first laptop I ever owned, and I loved you until I sold you
for more than I bought you for. Your profitable proceeds will go to another powerful/better laptop.
RIP, I love you

 

LOL

but if i get it right they built 4850 out of the part for 4870 just to make sure the lastes m17 owners don't feel mad about them and it worked since i got the same power in my m17 tha i would have gottent in a 17x

 

You were lucky enough to snag some working 4850s then. I bought before they were offered. Not a big deal for me though I'm still extremely happy with my purchase even today.

 

Damn. M17 discontinued. M17x gets 4870s. Son of a b*tch. Probably impossible to score a set of 4850s now I suspect.

 

I wonder if that will change now that it has been discontinued ? maybe they will start selling the part . Doubtful but i guess possible .

 

I wonder why they did that. Kinda ripped off new buyers seeing how they didn't give any sort of warning.

 

Rest in peace M17 <3

 

Rest in peace? Nah, it's still a great gaming machine.

I plan on making mine last for 3 years, which providing it doesn't break should be easy to do. Hell, it plays Crysis on 1440x900 on High with very good framerates (providing I'm in DX9-just tried earlier and it went down 10fps by going into DX10 with no noticeable graphical improvement and half the trees were actually flickering o.0 whereas switching to DX9 stopped that.) so there's not really much more I'd want from it. Every other game I have plays maxed out.

If I'm honest, the only reason I'd buy 4850s is to play Crysis that one step higher, which isn't really worth the price for me IMO.

Even though it's discontinued, it's still a brilliant gaming machine, so I say "Live on, M17!"

 

so I say, live on, flextronics W840DI

 

It is an excellent laptop and a shame it pretty much cant be bought now

The value was AMAZING and will not be matched for some time probably. Guess my mom cant get one now

 

Yeap, live on on M17!



Especialy since I gots the 4850's tee hee

 

It's still for sale

 

ya I found it!

Recertified my a$$ though haha. Sounds like their attempt at screwing people out of warranties

 

i agree LOL

 

the machine has only been out less than 1 year.
I guess it's time to extend my warranty.

Is it like 300$ to extend to the 2nd year?

 

How are you finding those 4850s now you've had a chance to get a feel for them in comparison to the 3870s?

 

I'm loving them, got hte cpu oc'd to 3.3 when I'm gaming. Playing everything cranked on high except for Crysis. Just finished FEAR 2 last night and tried the Batman Arkham demo with everything on high as well. Waiting for Bioshock 2 to come out. The cards don't seem to run too hot so this laptop should be good for another 2 years........................I hope

 

come on show us some benchmarks.

 

I will when I get home tomorrow. I've done Vantage already but I don't think it was oc'd. I'll post them tomorrow or Tuesday