AlienwareTech @ E3 - Alpha SteamBox Console Replacement

So nothing? Not even an 8 series NVidia gpu refresh for Alienware 14?

 

Nothing. Makes me feel like getting a clevo. This brand feels dead.

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I think AW need to be taking bigger risks with the 18 or whatever may replace it. Apart from the SLI it's not all that extreme really. They've patented and shelved the closed loop water cooler prototype, they've neutered it with power/PSU restrictions, and so far have no answer to the fire breathing desktop CPU'ed Clevo.

 

What did clevo bring to e3?

 

Nothing at E3, but neither did say make a thread getting people excited about the prospect. They did refresh their notebook lineup at Computex earlier this month, which I think Alienware were also absent from as well.

What Clevo do that is attracting myself to them now, is they constantly update their machines, and sometimes even with design overhauls.

I'm not saying they have the best designs, in fact I think some of their laptops aren't the best looking ones by a long shot. But they have a huge range from ultrabooks, to tablets, to thin and lights and their high end lineup includes a 17 as well as a 15 incher with a MXM slot, a 17 incher with two MXM slots for SLi/Xfire and they have a true desktop replacement machine that you can fit a 6 core extreme desktop i7 in. There is lots of choice.

I'm not saying Clevo is now better than Alienware. Dell has arguably better build quality, offer a better warranty, and better worldwide accessibility when buying, whereas to buy a Clevo machine, you would have to wait for a reseller in your country to stock the laptop with the warranty that suits your needs. All I am saying is that Clevo offer a better selection of machines to each customer and they are growing.

 

You make a lot of excellent points and I agree with you... especially where I added emphasis in bold text. For the first time ever, Alienware actually needs to be afraid and pay attention or they are going be swept into irrelevance. Nobody wants to pay extra for second fiddle performance. Build quality is extremely important, but will never be a substitute for performance. It needs to be both to have a truly amazing product. If put into the awkward position of having to chose one over the other, I am going to have to go with performance. Either way, I will end up less than satisfied for having to sacrifice one or the other. Neither one should need to be sacrificed.

 

I agree with everything you have said here brother Fox. I'm slightly disappointed with my AW 18. I'm hoping that we'll see nvidia bring out there maxwell revision soon. Kepler is just way to hot for my liking. 70c under full stock load. 84c under mid over clock settings. I know it's a laptop chases, but I thought I wouldn't see temps higher than 79c. This is my 880m's in referring to guys, just in case your wondering if it's the CPU or GPU I'm talking crap about.

 

The primary problems with temps for the Alienware 18 are gimped fans that seldom operate and never reach their full speed rating (emphasis seems to have been placed on quiet versus cool) and the Haswell CPU. That's a very bad combination to have. I haven't any problems with Kepler being too hot in a machine with a good cooling system. The Alienware 18 has an excellent cooling system that is rendered somewhat ineffective because of the fans being muted. Using A07 with HWiNFO64 manual fan control has significantly improved the situation for me. I suspect it would work very well if the fan speeds were not capped at 3700, 3500 and 3300 RPM. (These fans will actually run 4100 RPM, but the EC is limiting them to lower speeds even with manual fan control. So, that's what I mean by my "gimped fans" comment. Flash the BIOS and you'll hear what they sound like running full blast.)

 

The bios? You mean the Vbios? If so, I have flashed both my 880m's and I can't manually control them on Nvidia Inspector. I can however use HWINFO 64. But like you previously mentioned. The max speed I can run the GPU at is somewhere between 3k and 3.7k. I'm guessing you mean flash the bios since that's what controls the EC yeah?

 

Yes, the BIOS (as in system BIOS). When you flash the system BIOS the fans will generally boost to 100%. They are much more audible and push a lot more air than they do when we try to run them full blast using HWiNFO64. For some crazy reason, Alienware decided we should not have fans that push as much air as they are capable of pushing, so they gimped the max fan speed using the EC... presumably to make the machine quieter at the expense of impaired cooling. The EC for version A07 for the Alienware 18 (probably the latest for the 17 as well) allows manual fan controls using HWiNFO64, but earlier BIOS versions blocked it. The vBIOS does not affect fan controls. Laptop fans work like a chassis fan, controlled by the EC, so we will never be able to control them using NVIDIA Inspector, MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision X because the MXM modules do not control the fans.

 

So we're pretty much screwed then since we don't have an unlocked system bios available.

 

This thread is filled with disappointment the excitement of announcments. What a shame.

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With the fan from the M14x R2 in my M17x R4, the highest speed I have seen is 5100rpm!

 

When I use the Automatic Fan Control of Alienware 17, so it is often the temperature of the CPU is in example 60 degrees then down to 45 and then up to 60grader again.But fan starts maybe first in the end when the CPU has entered the 40 degrees celsius. It may take several seconds before it starts. So the fan can blow a long while when the cpu is quiet for example 40 degrees to the end. This is totally crazy.:cry:

 

Same Framework, Windows 8.1

 

I thought the unlocked BIOS was made by someone and not by Dell.. So who has created it for the other Alienwares?

 

An unlocked BIOS is a 101% ordinary stock BIOS. The "unlocked" part simply means it has flags removed that are concealing menus that Alienware somehow believes they have a right to conceal from their customers that pay thousands of dollars for something amazing. This was completely tolerable when we were able to fend for ourselves. Alienware's participation as a hardware donor was useful because it was unobtrusive and they never got in our way until now. It's only from the rare talents of people like svl7 that fix broken code like the hidden Alienware BIOS menus and NVIDIA's cripped Kepler vBIOS that the world of high performance laptops is a nice place to be. Being a laptop enthusiast would suck without svl7 in particular. Now that they have taken steps to block BIOS modding with Secure Flash, it does, in fact, really suck. The good times are more or less gone now and the hardware is becoming worthless because it's too locked up be completely useful.

Making system BIOS mods inaccessible with Secure Flash and write-protection is a passive-aggressive way of saying " please go spend your money somewhere else" to enthusiasts.

 

Well, what can we do about it ? Solution providers are worth more then doomsayers.... just saying, no offense. If we care enough, we will do something about it. This is why svl7 even is known, right?

 

Oh, you're right. The problem is not the lack of a solution. The problem for me is that it requires SMD soldering tools, skills and guts. The former (skill) is much harder to come by than the latter. Removing the BIOS chip and soldering a new socketed chip in place of it is not an undertaking for a novice. I'll be the first to admit when it comes to SMD soldering, I have zero experience to draw from and don't even qualify as a novice. But, I am open to learning and experimenting as long as the risk is calculated and I have a 'Plan B' in case I screw things up. Having a spare motherboard specimen on hand before starting is naturally going to be a prerequisite. There may also be a way to remove the power handling limit they implemented, but that may require some delicate soldering as well.

This is something that crosses my mind every single time I look at the Alienware 18, often more than once a day. It's really a magnificent machine in several ways and I would like nothing more than to surgically remove both of its Achilles' heels... and one of these days I may do exactly that. If I do, and if it turns out to be successful, then it will be something a lot of people will be excited about doing. What we do not know about the power handling limit is the reason(s) behind it. Was it an accident, an intentional thing to reduce their exposure to hardware failures, or something that they needed to do because of other weakness in the motherboard? There could be conditions that make it incapable of safely handling more power... such as weak circuits, low quality components (cheap capacitors, MOSFETs, etc.) or other engineering errors. Until it is attempted, we won't know.

 

Reading the post above was like reading a piece of tragedy literature. I know that feel bro.

 

So, slv7 has the unlocked bios, but no one has soldered a chip onto the board yet ? Thats what we're missing ?

 

Yup
10chars

 

If your looking to mod with an unlock, we just need to find a reputable shop with a soldering "expert" to get the unlocked bios going for some cool fan action. And while it is in the shop, the tech person can do a repaste of Liquid Ultra so our rigs can run even cooler. Spool up the turbos......... Gone !!!! ......:thumbsup:

 

as selfish as it may sound,can someone do a sum up of what happened in the E3 regarding Alienware,writing it here or editing the first page? All I could gather is about a steambox but no hardware/software were told,also I didn't catch if it's a Pc,a console,or whatsoever..

 

Summary of E3 2014 (Alienware)

- Showcased new steam box console and discussed hardware after there presentation. Nothing has been confirmed as of yet.

Edit

Oh I almost forgot. My thoughts on the whole presentation... Trash

 

I think this is very strange....
Here on the alienware forums, every one is bashing the new steambox.... over on overclock.net they are loving it...
[Yahoo] Alienware announces Alpha Gaming Console

Strange that people who generally hate alienwares, love this thing, but those who love alienwares hate this thing...

 

Most folk here are passionate about Alienware in PC format alone and aren't all that interested in console style gaming - a move away by Dell from that PC base to focus on a glorified console is bound to cause upset - especially when there has been NOTHING of major note from Alienware that is remotely of interest PC wise - apart from the Alpha, Dell haven't done anything for it's hardcore fanbase. I hate to say it, but neglecting what has been its core customer base in favour of pursuing 'console dreams' is not going to go down well with most of us who want PC progression over console progression.

Perhaps those folk over at OCN can be more objective as they do not share the same passion about Alienware computers as most of us here do......on the whole, I think they are just comparing the Alpha to other equivalent console-type solutions, which ain't bad......the Alpha might be good in that category, but it isn't what anyone here expected......even if they did, many had hopes for developments on the PC side of things more so.....

 

I'm not going to dis the Steam Machine because I like the concept of having something like that. But I'm not going to promote it either, especially if it means Alienware devotes more energy and resources toward it than their current lineup of products. That's how it seems so far. I'm not a fan of how things have been going this year with ANY of the major players in the PC gaming market, but especially Alienware.

I'm still optimistic, though. It has been more than a year since Alienware did anything "big" with their computers. Every year, no matter what, they do something. So, I'm still betting they'll do something this year. A big update? Doubtful. A minor update? Probable. Perhaps they're waiting for Broadwell? Intel delayed Broadwell until Q4 2014 or Q1 2015.

EDIT: Too many unknowns in this post. Don't like it.

 

The hope is strong in this one...

 

Strange as in different, for sure. But possibly predictable. I would regard that as being a really bad reflection on the Alienware brand, and this potentially carries major negative implication for the brand. If nothing else, I view the positive reception among people that are normally Alienware haters as an unfavorable indicator of a shift toward compromises that may bring irreversible harm to the reputation of the Alienware brand.

The Alienware haters typically strike me as being extremely unintelligent and uninformed by their words and behavior... Many are cheapskates that are content with mediocre hardware that costs little very little in comparison, and runs like something inexpensive. I suspect the dirt cheap price of this silly little Alpha Windows-based console is what they find most appealing. If they can play games at 30-40 FPS this is what they are already used to tolerating in low budget PC gaming options, so it makes sense that they might like it... it's cheap and they are cheatskates, and 1+1=2.

Not counting overclocking nuts like myself, Johnksss, TBoneSan J95, widezu69 and a few others, it's probably reasonably safe to say that many, if not most, Alienware fans are not content with mediocrity and don't mind paying extra for more performance and excellent build quality. If you count the overclockers, who also love the amazing overall quality just as much as other Alienware fans, some of us are willing to sacrifice some of the killer features that make the Alienware machines amazing if another brand shows up with a product that delivers superior extreme performance levels. I'm at that crossroad right now, torn between brand loyalty and the priority that I place on having the best performance money can buy. Alienware is no longer the top dog in this realm, and that's terribly unfortunate for them. They need to reassess their priorities and focus on what their claim to fame is. Some of the angst-tainted reactions seen in this thread are a very bad omen. Alienware need to pay close attentions to these reactions. It should be regarded as high-priority actionable business intelligence that demands a clear and decisive plan of action to avoid failure.

Well said... I think it might be fair, based on many of the reactions in this thread, to say that the interest level in this kind of product is very low among Alienware's established fan base. Yes, there were a few positive reactions, but they seem to be the exception to the norm.

 

Well, nothing wrong with mediocre hardware and 30FPS if the end user doesn't mind. Plus not everyone (actually very few) can or would be willing to put aside a 5K budget for a monster computer build.

As to AW haters, the majority are desktop users who hate laptops in general. To be fair though, I once spec'd out a 4770K + 780Ti SLI build for under $2500 ($2200 if I remember correct), which has more than twice the GPU power than a maxed out AW18 (4930MX+880M SLI), but only costs about half as much. The 4770K is pretty much the desktop equivalent of the 4930MX so at least CPU-wise the two are equal.

So if they're hating based on the price alone, there's some merit to that. But it's kind of a pointless argument because laptops will always be more expensive as they are more challenging to engineer due to the much smaller form factor.

 

Agreed... nothing wrong with that if they want it. The point is, this ain't the right crowd for that kind of sissy-fied approach to gaming. Traditional Alienware fanboys like myself aren't keen on trash like that. If they are looking to run us off and shift focus to making profits based on volume sales to console jockeys and high school kids instead of high product quality and world-class performance, then they are doing a great job of meeting their new organizational goals.

There are plenty of laptop jockeys that claim to be "enthusiasts" that hate on Alienware. The intelligent laptop enthusiasts (especially Clevo owners) generally have good relationships with Alienware enthusiasts in forums like this one and there is a nice sense of camaraderie. I always dismiss the opinions of Alienware-hating desktop people as being worthless for the reasons you mentioned... apples to oranges comparison. Either way, this is a reflection of severe ignorance on their parts... or, just trolls behaving as we expect all trolls to behave. I've actually received angry emails and PMs (not here at NBR or Tech|Inferno forums) from desktop crybabies that were super mad that I posted benchmarks better than the desktops they were so proud of. I was stupid for buying an Alienware and disrespectful for making them look bad in public, LOL.

Yeah, you can build a desktop for less if you're willing to cut corners and settle for less than the best of everything. Trying to stick to a budget and maximize returns for less is not a bad thing, but it's also not necessarily a good thing. It depends on what you want out of it. You won't be winning many speed contests with a modest $2500 hardware budget. My M18xR2 has kicked tons of single GPU desktop butt and left more than it's fair share of 2xSLI and 2xCF casualties in its wake on HWBOT.org. If I were going back to gaming on a desk anchor again, I would build my own for sure. It would be with a $5K budget because, in my mind, it would be totally pointless spend $2500 on something that runs about the same, maybe not quite as good, as my Alienware M18xR2 beast. So yeah, $2500 does not go very far when the mobo is $300, CPU $600, PSU $300, $1600 for 2 monster GPUs, Case $200 (geez, that's already $3000 without any monitor, keyboard, SSD, HDD or cooling system).

 

The single greatest argument I have when haters say 'I can build a better performing desktop for cheaper' I respond with 'have you factored in that you also need to count in the money you spend on a quality 1080p 120hz display, actual RGB backlit keyboard and at least a multi-touch trackpad if not a mouse to go with that too, oh yeah and a Creative soundcard with speakers made by Kipsch to coming close to a apples-to-apples cost comparison. No point in bragging about a cheaper desktop if you can't use it in any way.' *wait in silence, collect win*

PS feel free to use this against any and all haters.

 

That's with last generation though... Current generation can't keep up. Its a sad but totally factual truth that current parts desktop vs laptop, the desktop wins out. Backlit keyboard is a gimmick (I have one on my Clevo but I'm so used to my Inspiron 17R that I haven't used it once), Creative soundcards are a gimmick, Klipsh isn't king in audio...

The bottom line is that short of a P570WM, no high end mobile computer of this generation can keep up with a custom built desktop with the same budget. My "Extreme" 4940MX chip can't pass 3.79GHz due to heat compared to my desktop 4770K which (grudgingly) hits 4.4GHz @ 1.32v with less heat. My 880Ms? Don't get me started, my 780 Ti can run circles around them with just a modest overclock (EVGA SC w/ ACX) and a LOT lower temps.

I don't need a monitor when I have a 55" KDL-55W802A in my bedroom, I don't need a sound card since my TV is hooked up to an optical sound bar (I didn't get anything bigger because my Sony HT-CT260H is more than enough sound for my room) which my computer uses when it outputs to the TV which also negates any need for a sound card.

Now if its a mobility issue, the laptop wins. My NZXT Phantom 410 is not exactly light. In any sense of the word.

I can stick a second 780 Ti in my machine, upgrade to a 1000W PSU, and still be under 4k for the build when my laptop cost me 4800 (my desktop build was only 2438.97) and would officially have twice the graphics power of my laptop.

 

Actually I was more commenting on that people are not necessarily cheapskates if they don't buy the best of everything, because most people are on a budget or just don't want to drop that much on a computer, especially if they're not into benching and just want a decent gaming rig.

Yeah that $2500 was more of an experiment to see how much hardware can be crammed into that budget. You definitely won't be getting top of the line everything with that kind of budget, but I just spcc'd out what I consider to be a fairly decent system for $3100, since your comment got me genuinely curious as to how much you can stretch $3000. Will this rig win benchmark awards? Probably not, but for a gaming rig it's got some serious horsepower. Actually I'm almost tempted to build this myself now that I spec'd it out LOL

And a big LOL at the angry emails and PMs. People need to get over themselves first and get a life second.

 

Oh I know. I'm just saying that most haters when they argue their point fail to see that from scratch, without any previously owned TV's or soundbars, the cost adds up when you factor in what the laptop offers that a singular tower does not at first glance. I'm not saying that the display is the best, or that the Creative soundcard is a necessity, or that the Klipsch speakers are the best on a laptop, or that the backlit keyboard is the best thing since sliced bread (although I find it useful because I often type in the dark). I know they cannot compare to desktop variants and usually soundcards are snake oil anyways. I'm just saying that many haters are saying things like "Yeah I can build a desktop for 1.5k that pwns your laptop." Sure it might, but my laptop came with a display, keyboard, touchpad and speakers as well, so you have to factor that in.

And yes this is with personal experience, I have no experience with current Haswell laptops so I cannot comment but I am using my M17x R4 as a reference. The desktop equivalent to my laptop would be a 3770k with air cooling, 1866Mhz 8GB ram, two SSDs, bluray drive, a motherboard with a integrated chip like one of the Asrock ones, and a GTX 770/680 plus a 120hz monitor, some sub-woofer-less stereo speakers, mouse or touchpad, and a backlit keyboard. The configuration with the smallest footprint I can think of is the Digital Storm Bolt II (which I think is a very good small desktop and what the Alienware x51 could have been and what the Alienware Alpha should have been).

I'm not saying that this configuration will be more or less expensive than my laptop (I would need to spec it out to verify). All I am saying is that sometimes, not always, haters don't provide an apples-to-apples comparison.

 

Gotcha. Yeah I'm not one of those haters but I can tell you that for what I paid for my NP9377, I could build a desktop including accessories for less money. Then again, I went for broke and got the 4940MX. What a waste.

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Yeah I understand. I am in the market for a NP9380. You say the 4940MX is no good? Have you considered purchasing a P370EM heatsink to offload the heat to the secondary GPU fan? Regardless of temps, how well do MX chips in Clevo systems overclock? This is more of a bios question. I ask because the M18x R2 system will allow the CPU to run at full speeds until thermal shutdown whereas my M17x R4 won't and will throttle. And apparently overclocking is quite limited on the current Alienware systems.

 

All overclocking has to be done with XTU unless you get Prema BIOS mod (which is fantastic and I highly recommend it). My problem is that the chip's heat is problematic and even when I let go of the lease and force it to run @ 3.9GHz (it is not stable at 4 on 4), 89C aside, my 330W adapter becomes the limit and my 880s throttle. I ordered two adapters but they didn't send me the converter box so I either pay for it or deal with it. Since the 880s are limited too and I'm squeamish about putting Liquid Ultra in my 5k machine, I am not going further.

I would get the 4810 or 4910 if I could do it over but with some help I did find that this machine has enough cooling to not throttle the chip @ 3.9GHz, it's just the temperature is a bit high for me.

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See, Im not a overclocker, Im not a extreme performance person.
I have a new 17 with a 780 in it, but I got base cpu (4700). I will be buying the new steambox, but more as a experiment. I already have a alienware "steambox" in my basement in the form of a old hangar 18 (i3, 750ti) But I am interested in alienwares steambox more as a bedroom pc for streaming and the likes.

My hope is that they put a IR reciever into these things so they can be controlled with a remote also and not be limited to mouse/kb or xbox controller.


BTW, the poeple on OC.net are mostly praising the cost of the machine, dispelling the myth that you can build a cheaper desktop.
i3 + custom gpu (most likely a 750) for 500 is pretty good in their eyes

 

Wow the old Hangar 18! From Alienware's glory days.

I'm guessing not on the IR front. Worse comes to worst you could always get one of those wireless touchpad apps for your phone and control it over WiFi.

 

Yeah, I thought about that, but it has to be a "wife friendly" setup... she knows how to use and loose the tv remote. I do have a few IR recievers kicking around from when I was first modding my hangar.
BTW, here is a 13 pages of my hangar restoration.
Alienware hangar 18 hd restoration

 

Over a year later and my Titan SLI setup is still kicking and I'm not in some Alienware walled garden. Do I miss my M18x? Nope not a single bit, especially now that Steam released their home streaming technology. Whenever I want to game on my laptop at full quality, I simply stream at home to my laptop using my gigabit router with no loss in quality and hardly any latency change. Of course I can't do this on the road but then again I don't really travel all that much. AW is likely not going to go back to pumping out systems designed to be abused by OC, they'll keep going on the path towards flashy mediocre systems that appeal to the mass public. Time to move on fellas, been hearing the "AW needs to fix their bios, throttling etc." now for years.

 

This is fine only if you intend to benchmark just the CPU and nothing else, as the extra heat from the CPU is 100% off-loaded to the slave GPU, resulting in 90+C temps on the slave card when gaming. Unless you use Liquid Ultra on everything, don't use this setup for gaming as it will surely burn out your slave card in short order. In all honesty I did it simply because I wanted to experiment. Maybe if you had 680M instead of 780M that setup could work, as 680M runs a touch cooler than the 780M.

Don't have an MX chip but my 4900MQ doesn't throttle unless it hits the 95C throttle temp. No TDP throttling as far as I can tell. Of course I'm using Prema's modded BIOS so stock behaviour might be different. (but honestly there's 0 reason to stick with the stock BIOS even if you're just a gamer, as it's very limited in terms of what you can do)

 

Same with Alienware. Everyone should have an unlocked BIOS. It's retarded that it does not come with open access to all menus from the factory. There are several settings that I highly value that have nothing to do with overclocking. The most dangerous setting that could end up making the machine unbootable is still accessible, so go figure. It's bad enough that any of them are hidden, and the fact that they made it to where we cannot flash unsigned firmware to fix it ourselves is deplorable.

 

What adjustments were you thinking about? (There are several settings that I highly value that have nothing to do with overclocking).

 

Yeah it's inexcusable enough for Clevo, and for Alienware this is just an outrage. Lock the BIOS ok fine, but blocking BIOS flashing with SecureErase is just, I don't even know how to describe it.

To be completely fair though, the stock Clevo BIOS is completely worthless if you're into benching. If not for Prema's heroic efforts in unlocking them, performance would be underwhelming.

 

The stock Clevo bios is terrible. You can't even access the virtualization options. I guess Clevo thinks we buy 32GB of RAM and MX chips that have the extensions the desktop K series do not for gaming purposes only. .. Thank God for Prema

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Yeah, that's a nifty gimmick. I can stream from my M18x to my antique Inspiron E1505 Core2/X1400 with surprisingly good results... better than I expected even. I don't have really any use for that feature and would prefer to use the host machine directly, but it's definitely a nifty thing they did there. I cannot imagine using a weak laptop, tablet or something like a Shield for gaming this way on a regular basis. I think the geeky gimmick part would wear off pretty fast, at least for me. After about 15 minutes of Crysis 2 on the E1505 I lost interest in the novelty, so using a gamepad and/or having a small screen on something like a Shield or tablet, I probably would lose interest in 5 minutes or less. It is no secret that I already despise playing games on my Android phone, console gaming and handheld gaming devices from the likes of Sony and Nintendo, so I'm sure this comes as no surprise to anyone reading this.

As far as what the future holds for Alienware, that's truly up for them to decide. I still absolutely love my M18xR2, but if they do not release something decisively more powerful and without performance-limiting restrictions then I will not be purchasing another product from them. There is no space for compromise in my world as it relates to performance, so I won't settle for the kind of mediocre performance stuff they are peddling today. It's a waste of money to spend $5K on a maxed out Alienware 18 when I can spend the same amount building a desktop that actually runs like I expect that a $5K machine should run. I'm not looking for any shortcuts or trying to take an affordable route. When it comes to performance I am willing to pay for it as long as the results are consistent with the cost, but that's totally out of scope now and you pay more for less in return. I don't mind spending a lot to get a lot, but I don't appreciate being shafted. In fact, the cost is ludicrous considering you get less in return than ever before... fewer features and less performance, on top of being locked down. I am not willing be screwed over by paying big bucks for something that has been gimped, crippled and "secured" to prevent me from running it my way... I don't think so. Homey don't dat.

I will still buy Dell's cheap stuff for my ordinary computing needs (such as my wife's XPS Ultrabook) because they are good for the purpose intended and I like the company. Compared to the alternatives, they're still the best. They're just striking out with enthusiasts the way they have gimped the Alienware flagship monster. It's a beast only in concept, not in execution.

 

I have always cherished my Alienwares. The M15x (which I still have!) the M17x R3 (my overall favourite of its time) and my trusty M17x R4. Unfortunately, my taste buds are no longer tantalised by the sweet sweet powers of the flying saucer group.

I have been offered a Clevo i7 4930mx system with dual 780m's, dual Samsung 500GB SSDs for £1500 which I think is a good price. The Clevo section needs more extreme enthusiasts and overclockers.

I might even buy some silver embossed Alienware stickers for my new machine and call it the AW Executive line. Sort of as a spiritual successor.