Best Alienware Laptop

Alright here we go in your opinion what do you think is the best alienware laptop in terms of build quality, functionality, gameplay, and design.

My opinion is the Alienware M17 because of the ATI Graphics card and the choice to run them in crossfire. Let the fun begin

 

I think it would be the M17:

-it has up to a quadcore processor
-dual 3870s (possibly 4870s)
-matte finish
-DDR 3 ram
-and future proof

 

yeah its the m17 hands down

 

m17 because of the price and power the m17 is way over priced unless you want a baby the m15x isnt for you nd the m9750 is way outdated

go m17 whoo!!!

 

What? The m17 is the best because of the price and power, but it's way overpriced unless you want a baby?

Punctuation is your good and dear friend.

 

Agreed, I'm always trying to get people to use punctuation (looks at Red_Dragon and JellyBeans).
Why do you have disabled reputation Koshinn?

Of course it's the m17, as it's the only laptop Alienware offers that is using Montevina.

 

I would also say that the m17 is wat you are looking for.

If you upgrad it to the top ... it's realy faster.
I would even say than it's faster than all other notebooks from AW (am I right?).

You have tha option of a Quadcore CPU and a dubble GPU.

Than ... the ATI 4870 is comming ... also a + point for the m17.

You have DDR3.

Vista 64bit is already installed if you want.

Like the other notebooks you can have Raid 1 oder Raid 0.

=> m17

I hope my punctuation is right

Greetings
Julian

 

Im gonna be the Joker here and say M15X. The M15X has been a life saver for me, I purchased it with the intention of it being a sort of sub gaming notebook since I travel quite frequently abroad and so I could use it to game everywhere I go and while at home I would just use my desktop as my main machine hooked to a 24 inch screen and the M15X will be an MSN/SKYPE research tool while gaming.

However my main gaming desktop recently died on me (I think the fact that i spilled liquid coolant on the motherboard had something to do with it) and the M15X has suddenly had to go FULL TIME. I was very worried since I heard so many horror stories but the M15X has so far performed admirably (though i would expect it to costing me £2000).

I currently have it hooked to a 24 inch monitor playing at 1920x1200 resolution and it is on 24 hours a day doing various tasks and about 4-5 hard gaming per day.

It has had no hiccups, no crashes, no crackes, no strange sounds, nothing.

Everything works and therefore I would say this is the best notebook ever, plus its a 15 inch machine and fairly portable with the appropriate bag

 

you killed your desktop? hope it's only the mobo... you got some killer gear there. anyway, hope your m15x keeps running like a champ.

 

my reason for the m17 is because my first idea was the m15x but ever since i heard about the hinges it scared me away plus i prefer ATI graphics over nVidia please dont kill me for saying that

 

sorry for the double post but is there any way to fix the hinges beside tightening the screws and sending it in to alienware?

 

hey what is stronger. The dual 3870s or dual 9800m gt's

 

yeah, the Area51 m15x is great, the only problem is the hinges cracking. Alienware will fix it within the warranty, the thing is, you'll have to send it in
to "Depot repair Facilities" for about a month, if you are patient, go for this one, hehe.

as technology grows, soon the m15x will be too old for the M17 and upcoming models.

i recommend the M17

 

Nope, it's cracked and the thing needs to be replaced.

 

im biased so i cant give an honest answer but my guess is that they are equally the same right? please feel free to correct me because i think im wrong on this one

 

That's hilarious.

I'd have no problem with ATI with the M17, other than the resolution issue.

 

e recked driverd i think fixed the resolution issue with games n stuff

 

well thats funny because everyone i know hates me because i like AMD processors and ATI graphics. And of course they are die hard intel and nVidia fans. and if i had enough money id buy the m17x

 

I can understand liking ati graphics but amd processors are way behind in technology when compared with intel processors so it goes beyond just "liking" a product because there is no doubt that intel clearly offers the superior product at the moment.

 

well as far as i've seen some intel processors are so expensive though but i do admit that they are worth it

 

apparently the 3870s if we get a decent driver that uses 100% of the cards potentional, HAHA this is ATI we are talking about

so the 9800gts are faster, but SLI is not availble on all games remember.

 

yea the 3879's are stronger but as far as game performance for now its the 9800gt sli just waiting for the driver .......

 

m9700

 

why do you think its one of the best?

 

A least for now the (as said a few times in this thread) the M17 hands down for performance, future adaptability and gaming. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

 

for me it's m15x. Because I like portability and mobility which m15x is more superior than other models available for sale in alienware.
And laptop is supposedly to able to move around with ease.
I think 17 inch screen is too big for me and too heavy

btw, the hinge crack problem is probably fixed in skullcap design this is what I have heard.

 

well it depends on what you want, power=m17 if you want multi color lights and more mobility then m15x. Personally I have my m15x but would rather have the m17 as I honestly don't move around much

 

I have to chime in cuz no one else with an m9750 has...I've had an m5500, an m7700 (Aurora), an m9700 and none of them even came close to the 9750 in build quality or performance...the "stealth" finish, and overall excellent build quality of it is what tipped me in favor of an m17(phase 8 baby!!) instead of going for a Nagamaki...
Seeing as I haven't had a chance to evaluate the m17 yet I'm gonna say the 9750 is best AW laptop to date...

 

Out of the ones I've used:

m9700
m9750
m15x - had a 2 month stint with it
m17

Notice the Arima loyalty there? lol

I'd have to give this one to the m17, because it was a proven build in its previous generations (m9700, m9750) and is a beast just like them (at their time, although I'd still say the m9750 is a beast ) but the deciding factor is the price. The price/performance ratio of the m17 is out of the ordinary. Take my m9750, it was around 3,500US$ equiv at the time. A real shame is that the m17 is slightly thicker, I guess that has to do with the C2Q but the Arima design is godly, and I'm happy Alienware decided to take on the 3rd generation, even though it's not an exclusive anymore.

 

agreed...the arima chassis is solid - how much thicker is the m17 than the m9750 anyway? is it obviously thicker?
I have a notebook sleeve for my 9750, kind of a snug fit...might have to throw it in with the 9750 when I sell it if the m17 is too thick for it...
my m17 should ship any day now! I'm dying over here!

 

around a cm, although for a 17inch lappy it's not end of the world thick like the Clevo D901.

m17 comes with it's own sleeve

 

beauty...then I'll be happy to throw the sleeve in the package with the 9750 when the time comes...

I feel pretty good about buying the m17...seems like it will be current for a bit, with upgrades available down the road...imagine how sick it will be with the extreme quad cpu and a pair of 4870's....

 

For the most part i like the M17 best between the M15X, M17X i had previously. Would like to have the option to OC legally but otherwise satisfied. Hopefully better drivers will be available like there are for Nvidia cards.

 

any idea if the m17x is worth the $1,999.99 they ask for or should they lower the price?

 

not really. you pay for the graphics cards

 

They really need to lower the price, they would sell so much more imo. I really liked the M17x, but the price of the M17 drew me into its web and well that is what I went with.

 

Agreed. I'm not paying over $2,500 for a dated chipset with dated ram.

 

there's still no performance difference between 667mhz DDR2 RAM and 1066mhz DDR3 RAM you know...

 

was thinking what the issue wil be in getting the basic model and up grade the cpu yourself.

 

Why?
I'm don't know much about laptops, I thought they worked like desktops?

 

yeah, they do, but even in synthetic benchmarks, you'd be hard pressed to find different scores/performances... DDR2 is slower, but has lower latency, DDR3 is faster but with higher latency. i guess it basically evens out.

 

ok so i have two questions to ask

1.) as far as im seeing the m17x has the same body style as the m15x but does it have the hinge issue like the m15x?


2.) Is the skullcap design more durable than the ripley design for the m15x as of hinge issues; meaning are skullcap owners less likely to get cracked hinges?

because i want to know cause i want to know which one i should save up for its a close call between the m15x and the m17.

BONUS 3rd question

3.) When they say alien fx does that count the keyboard or do you have to pay the extra $50 for it? Thank you guys for putting up with my noobie questions

 

no it doesnt have the same issue it has the same style not the same chassis

2 i cannot say but the hinges are the same most eople say that because the skullcap cam out after AW tried to fix it so people say they do soo ur call same hinges any way....

3 you have to pay the extra 50 for the keyboard

 

Was wondering anyone owning m17 could have chat with me about upgrading the current processor with qx9300, better still if someone has done such a thing. i am thinking of buy one but upgrading it myself, was wondering how about the OS and device drivers, i.e. they are supplied from Alienware

 

yes it's been done. you'll need the get the CPU from ebay or someplace. the very second you start unscrewing the CPU heatsink, your warranty will wave goodbye and ride off into the sunset... you won't need any special/new software for the upgrade and the new processor.

 

thanks for the reply. They are charging premium for the QX9300 processor in the US web is much cheaper then the UK one. Spoke to Alien sales support was advised upgrade for that processor will not be allowed to be done in the field and that laptop needs to be returned to base for the processor to fitted again. Hence the reason why i asked that question.

 

yea its not one of there upgrade by phone deals ....wish it was

 

thats wierd because i thought the m17x would have the same issues as the m15x because they looked like they were the same chassis

and if the skullcap design is less prone to hinges shattering then i just might get that instead but the m17 still has to be my favorite out of them all

 

i have a heatsink for the 8800 gtx also. i also have the heatsink for the 2.8ghz extreme. give me a price, and ill see what i can do. email me, dont post it on this forum, i barely check it. [email protected]

just address it as: HEATSINK.

 

m17 is the best buy PERIOD the 3870's are amazing and the confirmed support for 48xx are just lovely. so the m17 wil be the best buy that you can get right now it will be furture proof for a while so i would get that.

and the m15 x and m17 look alike but one is a 17 inch .. one is a 15 there not much diff on the inside but diff chassis