Area-51 m17x ..

So .. my old laptop went up in smoke .. yes it over up heated so bad that it took fire. So I've been looking at the Alienware Area-51 m17x. I have about 6500 dollar to use on it, so wanted to ask if you think its worth it?

I travel a lot + I have my own business so a desktop wouldn't work for me.
But also games a lot of demanding games as well, so would this laptop work?

Also read something about it over up heated as well, but .. is that anything to be worried about?

Best regards Simon!

 

first off welcome to the forums. No one has confirmed that there are problems with the the m17x you may be thinking of the m15x I don't think anyone has received theirs yet. The only problem I see you having is that the m17x is what I would call very portable. How often do you plan on moving it?

 

you might consider buying a 15x, if you travel alot. unless you really need dual 8800s and 17" screen. Right now m15x can run almost all new games.

m15x would be really portable compared to m17x

 

well if your old laptop was a 17 in then i think you are used to carrying a 17 inch around, you should go ahead and buy the m17x. if portability is a issue then the m15x would be the best choice.

 

m15x has better portability and battery life with minimal performance lost... I'd get the m15x.

 

Thanks!

Traveling once a while to Europe and ... and around in the US a lot. Size shouldn't be that big of a deal I think? ... its its not like omg wtf huge is it? lol
As long it fits in some kind of laptop bag I guess its ok

and well, now then I'm first are going to buy a really expensive computer I might as well get THE best if this is it? hehe

thanks for the help

 

THE best is technically a sager 9263 due to the desktop quad core processor options. Anything with dual 8800s is nothing to sneeze at through.

 

huh? 9263? never seen or heard about

 

Google is your friend.

 

yea, rather used to carrying a heavy laptop around ..

so as long as you guys can't give me a full name on a laptop thats 'better' then the m17x .. I guess its m17x it its. Lets just hope its worth the $6500

 

Well, here are your options.

M17x - Take your chance with this laptop. Knowing Alienwares track record, you could get a system that has a lot of defects that could take them months to fix, leaving you without a laptop for that time. In addition, a 17" is pretty big to carry around (I have M9750 which is smaller).

M15x - Alienware has finally ironed out almost all of the kinks out of this laptop (excluding the X9000 downclocking).

Sager - Very reliable from the reviews, however there is not a good UK distributor anymore.

Dell M1730 - I recommend this laptop. It has been tested multiple times and there isn't much wrong with it. You pay less for it than for the M17x and you get the Physix card which is a nice bonus even if you don't use it.

Other Recommendations:
- I would set a budget of around $3500 - $4000 on the notebook. Then using the remaining $2000, you can buy a nice monitor to use, or maybe even a desktop.

 

Laptop to work on .. yes, that would be an issue
I have a desktop and a laptop already, but they are not capable to design and video editing

But the Dell looks a lot like the Alienware laptops? (Whats inside the box)

and .. hehe, have every thing except a good working 'computer' atm

 

he mean 9262

 

There aren't any reviews out for the m17x so it is not possible to judge it yet. I'll be getting a review unit in a couple of weeks, you may want to wait for the review. It's taking quite some time to get review units out as Alienware has reserved all of the initial systems for the customers.

 

I'll be looking forward to that.

 

yea .. I agree with you there Chaz. Think I'll wait a few weeks and then see the reviews for it.

 

Portability is best by choosing m15x, in fact some of the problem seems to have already been solved with the recent purchase. The special thing about the m17x is the SLI 8800mGTX configuration and it looks cool maybe a bit heavy but still black colors are cool

But if your not gonna choose the SLI configuration, and still want a 17" screen then a Sager NP5793 would be the best bang for the buck which uses a single 8800mGTX. It has lesser problem and perform very well. But its hard to get for the UK side, try xoticpc.com.

The SLI configuration isnt worth it in my view, rather than upgrading a notebook to SLI you would be better off upgrade your desktop graphic cards to SLI. Just a thought

BUT!!! if you can wait, wouldnt you wait for the Clevo M860TU which uses the The new Nvidia 9XXX series and also the Montevina. Plus, its 15" and the first notebook to use DDR3 RAM.

 

While the m15x may indeed never be upgraded to Montevina (and if you buy now you definitely won't be able to upgrade) the Clevo M860TU doesn't use the 9-series out of the box (initial orders will still be with the 8800M GTX) and the m15x should also be upgradeable to the 9-series like the Clevo.

 

wow yea .. after looking at the Clevo for a little .. maybe I should wait lol

Any one that know when it will be released ? and does anyone have a direct link to some heavy info about it? (google just sent me back to this forum)

But again, does this mean that Alienware is gonna upgrade there stuff to something ecual similar ?
Yes, I think I'll go for an 17 inch one bc thats what I've had in the past so again, size isn't the issue here.

Once again, very much thanks for the help to all of you!

 

Release is slated around June. Also, this forum is the best place for info on it, check out the Clevo subforum, there's a big thread on it.

As for whether AW will upgrade, it is probably unlikely, but they would be very smart to include Montevina in future m15x laptops. While I agree at this point it would be worth waiting for the Clevo to at least come out before buying a new m15x (for price comparison purposes), understand that Montevina isn't a huge game changer, especially not when it'll be coming out in June (of course, better is better, but if you like the looks of the m15x, let's say, then I think that would be a fair tradeoff for Montevina)

 

I think you meant Sager 9262,unless Sager assembled a 'special' 9263 for you.

 

Sager 9262 or the XPS 1730 are the most powerful options available at the moment and fully loaded they won`t take you over 5000$.

 

So then my next question is, whats better of an:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor E8400 / 6MB L2 Cache, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB
or
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Processor Q6700 / 8MB L2 Cache, 2.66GHz, 1066MHz FSB

Not really that into this stuff!

 

Definitely go wtih the q6700 since it has 4 cores instead of two, but I would wait till sager realeases the new 45 nm intel quad cores (q9300,q9450,q9550), which perform even better than the q6700 and still the only laptop with quad core.

EDIT: never mind, xotic already released the q9450! Since you have the budget, I would definitely go with that.

 

Well .. As long as the release will be early June I guess I can wait. But if it gets to late I'm not sure I can. Living for Europe the 25 of July and the building/shipping seems to take about 5 weeks? At least from Alienware, never heard about Clevo, but it looks hwat from what I've seen the past day.

 

Is there any difference between the Sager and Clevo brands? Looks very much to me at least that they just change the name on the laptop from Clevo to Sager or somthing .. that its the same people making both? -confused-

 

Well, Clevo is the original manufacture of the notebook. After Clevo has manufactured the notebook, they sell the "barebones" system to companies such as sager, XoticPC, and even Alienware (back in the day).

I have heard some great things from Sager's but haven't read much. However I read in Chaz's review of his older 2005 system that they stress the laptop for 72 hours before shipping it out (something that AW should look into )

 

Wonder if Alienware will release an update with of there stuff with an quad core and some what the new motherboard as well >< believe I saw some place that they where gonna release some new stuff early June or something

 

Currently the most powerful laptop available is the qx1730 from cizmo.

http://www.mycizmo.com/?main_page=product_info&cPath=65_67&products_id=181&action=configure

- QX9650 clocked at 3ghz
- Dual 8800m gtx's.
- Three hardrive's

This the most powerful quad core I've seen anybody stick in a laptop.
Pretty damn good if you consider Alienwares most powerful desktop only recently started offering it.
Granted the laptop isn't light or small - but if you're looking for a gaming laptop - well what can you expect?

The only problem I can see is that there's no hdmi out.

 

Yea, no hdmi , but as Gophn points out here : http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3373770&postcount=12
you can get adapters for that.

 

XoticPC is a Sager reseller. XoticPC does not build Clevo products from barebones. They do, however, provide great customer service and have an A+ reputation 'round these parts.

 

@Dit - Yea I have heard nothing but good things from people that deal with Xotic. Justin (I think that is his name) is on the forums always testing out the new notebooks and everyone who has had problems has come in contact with a person that was very helpful. I don't think I've seen a negative view on them yet. They are exactly what a company should look like.

 

Wrong.

There is ROCK,Rizeon and Kobalt COmputers.

THe last 2 have reps on the forum

 

Also Novatech among others!

 

Rock are no longer atm matey

 

yeah rock is bankrupt and lawyers from Deloitte are currently in the process of winding it down

 

Well Rock has now been acquired by Stone Group.

http://www.rockdirect.com/viewNews.php?NEWSID=111

 

^Exactly.

Evne without ROCK, there are many other good ones

 

ah, interesting, thanks for that update

kinda funny seeing "stone" buying "rock"...

 

@Vedya - so we were both wrong

 

Sorry If I'm asking a stupid question here, but with the adapter is it the same as if there was a hdmi output on the mobo?
Is the same resolution output? or will it come out in lower resolution but with a hdmi connection.

Like can I still output 1080p? - I ask cause I've access to a 1080p projector which cost pretty much the same as the fully tricked out lappie, so it'd would be nice to be able to use it. That's kind of the deciding factor in which one I buy.

 

DVI is capable of outputting full HD so yes, there should be no problems.

1080p projector . . . awesome.