Deciding on M15x

Im thinking of buying the AW m15X this week.

Configuration:

i7-720QM
Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit
15.6-inch WideHD+ 1600x900
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
320GB SATAII 7,200RPM
1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M

My only concern is the price not sure if I'm making a mistake here.
With those configurations and 2 year advanced service warranty it comes to 2550$ canadian dollars ouch?
Don't get me wrong i can afford it but I'm not sure this hardware is worth that price tag?
I know there are cheaper laptop on the market but what i like about Dell is that they support , although not the best , is better then most other laptop companys out there.

I also want to ask does Dell have any plans to relise the ATI 5780 for the m15x, cause i would be upset i buy this laptop and then they upgrade the graphics.
Even tough im still a fan of nvidia since i don't know how much to trust ATI drivers on new GPU's

 

they are not going to give you a straight answer on the 5870's... alot of the reps just want to make a sale and will tell you whatever to get you to purchase now. Base on some responses from other members asking them, they all tell them something different. Most of the reps I asked said they do not get that information. According to some members on the forum they believe it will be out before June. Thats what I am waiting on! Just wish dell would hurry up already! MSI even has a laptop comming out with the 5870... with the BIOS ready for the m15x im surprised they dont already have it on the m15x!

 

I would highly recommend waiting until they release M15x with 5870.

 

hey, which is better, get the 500gb hard drive or the 128SSD? im not sure which one to pick. help plz ><

 

The SSD is a lot faster, but you will have only 1/4 of the space. It depends how much media you want to keep on your lappie

 

My other concern is will they actually put the 5870 in the m15x? or will they use a smaller version of the card?
They might actually have the top of the line card in the m17x and use something like the 5850 for the M15x.
Im thinking if they use the 5870 in the m15x could slow down the sale for the m17x.
At this point the benifits of buying the m17x would be crossfire-dual hard drive and 17inch screen.
If i rember correctly the m17x at one point had the option for the GTX280m single or sli wile the m15x got the GTX260M.
Who knows but i doubt we will see the 5870 in the m15x.

 

Somone already put the 5870 in thier M15x. You can just do it your self if you really want to. The BIOS support is already there.

 

At a greatly increased cost.

I'd wait on the 5870 personally.

It WILL be expensive because Alienware/Dell like to overprice everything outside of the USA.

 

So I guess it really is possible for Alienware to release the M15x with the 5870 within this year?

 

It's in theyr best interest to do it in the next month or two
Asus already as a laptop with a 5870 at a cheap price and more will come this month alone.
People are patience but will defenetly not sit around and wait 6 month for AW to integrate the 5870 in theyr laptop.
But my main concern is , and i hope I'm wrong , that we will not see the 5870 in the m15x but only in the m17x.
Rember that the m17x is the top of the line laptop from AW and will make no sense for them to allow users to pick the top of the line GPU on the m15x.
I'm sure we will see a smaller version of the 5800 series on the m15x.
Also i will buy thi slaptop with 15.6-inch WideHD+ 1600x900 and the games i play the most are Dark age of camelot , WOW and UT3.
So i think that i should be fine with the 260M?
This are the main game i play and when not gaming i will just be using this laptop for watching standard DVD's and browsing.
Not sure if in my case it makes sense to wait around for who knows how long in the hope they release the 5870.
Plus i hope i don't upset anybody but when it comes to ATI drivers I'm a little scared lol
The GTX260m is been out for a wile and for the games i play will last me at kleast 2+ years.

Or i could go crazy and order this:
M17x

Intel® Core™ i7 720QM
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED
6GB DDR3 at 1333MHz
1GB ATI Radeon™ Mobility HD 4870 ( no crossfire since i don't need it)
1TB Raid 0 (2x 500GB 7,200RPM HDDs
2 Year Advanced Service Plan

All of this will come to $2,978

In other words m15x 2550$ and m17x $2,978...........I don't know if it's just me but i think AW/Dell needs to reconsider the prices on the m15x.
There is a 428$ difference and i get a much faster graphic card-a bigger and better screen-2Gb more memory-2 500GB hardrives instead of a single 320GB HD and an HDMI port.
Anyone else thinks there is something wrong here lol?
I'm thinking the m15x should be around $1900 with that configuration it makes no sense.

 

I really hope they allow users to pick 5870 for the M15x. As we can see, the M15x is fully capable of running the 5870.

It's a good speculation, but I believe that even though that the M15x and M17x are of different classes. I think it may be a wiser option on Dell's part to offer it on both systems.

It is important to take note that people have different needs and I think AW/Dell has to think that out well. Besides, why would they release the BIOS support for the 5870?

 

I had a chat with a Sales Agent at Dell. He said that he will contact the department concerned regarding the BIOS update that allows support for the 5870.

 

@Bl1tz i dont know. i am hoping that they release the 5870 with the M15x before i order (hopefully soon), but i am not too concerned. i plan on using it for pretty much the same things as you. some games that aren't ultra graphic intensive, standard dvds, and general browsing. for those uses, id say that you would be fine either way with the 5870 or the 260m.

as much as id like to get the top card out there when i buy my system, if i have to get it with a 260m, its still going to be a pretty good card for a while. when you need it, just upgrade the GPU yourself. at least then you only shelling out money for a GPU, not a whole new system.

If you can wait, maybe hold out, but if you need the laptop right now, id just go ahead and pull the trigger. you never know when and if they are going to make an update, so you could be chasing a ghost so to speak.

 

Is it worth to buy the one with 260m then upgrade to 5870 or just wait for 5870? im buying one soon but i dont think i can wait for the 5870 too long....its killing me... im not a laptop expert , do you think i can do the "upgrade" myself? i mean, is it that easy to do?

 

^^^ you can buy a 5870 now and put it in. if you are planning to do it yourself, do not upgrade to the 260 from alienware. keep the stock 240 and save yourself some money.

 

If you buy from DELL/AW you can choose the 240, but If you want the Clevo 5870 you need the 260 heatsink!

 

yeah, I did read on one thread about that. They say you need the 260's heatsink. So thats will be, M15X+ 260M + ATI 5870 = $_$'

 

Dont waste your money like that. Just wait for the 5870.

If you can't wait then just get it with the 260m. Honestly, the 260m is a very powerful card, and has excellent driver support.

 

I pulled the trigger today....i don't regret it at all! aha....if i ever need to upgrade then i can just buy a 5870m :/

 

waiting is damn killing me... i think im gonna pull that trigger too...

 

Damn i saw you EDD, since i ordered mine on the same day (replacement) I should expect to see it in and around the same time. (they don't give estimated delivery dates to replacements apparently)

 

Im in the same boat!

 

If you priced that off of their website use it as a guide then call them. Search the forum here, there is a *VERY* good buying guide. At a minimum you can get a couple hundred off just calling and pushing a tad, then another $50 for signing up for a newsletter through one of your email accounts. They get commission so they will push the cost down to get something instead of you ordering it off the web. I can say the M15x really only lacks to the M17x on the screen. You can get very good frame rates and play out of the M15x with just an i7 720qm and 260m Nvidia 1GB card... I have one for sell to if you want you can PM me for a *good* price

 

I purchased yesterday and am REALLY glad I called like recommended on this site. With EPP discount (without shipping/tax) it was going to be $1637 so I started talking about how I was considering the Asus G73JH for $1500 with 8GB ram, etc... They wouldn't budge on shipping oddly but they did bring the price down to $1499 (I also have a Dell Finance account which might make a difference). I don't think I got quite as good of a deal as some others but it was DEFINITELY enough to be worth the call. I stopped there cause I didn't feel like calling back plus they already had my DFS info so who knows what kind of note tracking they have.

 

You know if you can locate one on the dell outlet you can get an additional 25 percent off which is basically the price of a 5870.

 

Perhaps I am mistaken, but Dell Outlet is showing you returned units and refurbs, and out of date models. Now, I don't know about you buy I am wary of refurbs and returns. One burnt out part can damage others that are not replaced and cause problems later.

FWIW, everytime I go check the outlet to compare it says there are no M15x' available, so you must live right darkloki to keep seeing these, or are you haunting the page when they come up?

 

In the outlet the M15X's come and go quite quickly since there aren't that many that people send back, but the one's they have are the same models you could get from the actual dell store. So you pretty much have to keep refreshing the page repeatedly and hope you get lucky.

 

Uhhh..... There is a phone number and you can actually call them. And guess what? If they don't have it in stock you tell them what you want and guess what? They call you back. You know that osukyle guy that you claimed was threadcrapping in your thread doc? I bought his m15x for him, and guess what? They called me back when they found another one and I bought that too.

I just said I wanted a m15x with a 260m any spec, keep my posted, I got a phone call 4 hours later ready to go. And one of the plus sides to buying refurb is you get your system in 3 days.

Now did that sound so hard? And the warranty is IDENTICAL to a new system. Meaning I can upgrade it to the Advanced or IN home, or whatever. There is an entire thread dedicated to Alienware Refurbs, and if you were to actually look at you'd find that there wasn't a single complaint in the whole thread, need me to find it for you?

 

Here have a read: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=475275&highlight=refurbished And maybe the reason why they vanish so fast is because Phone Operators are grabbing them faster then internet users can add to cart and enter conformation id's.

 

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...emId=EJD0A9CE&~lt=popup&c=us&l=en&s=dfh&cs=22 just found one, probably gone by the time I posted but take 25 percent off of that and it's quite nice actually, you even get a 256gb solid state drive with it and it has blu ray and it's red. But I've seen space black ones with 260's for around $1160 with a 250gb HDD, 720qm, 900 screen. W/O discount. ** don't these specs sound familiar Doc?*

 

Seriously, go on the NBR Marketplace, buy Docsteel M15x (the price is really good) you will save more than a thousand. Then with that 1000$ Buy an Intel SSD which are MUCH better than samsung's one (the one you get in dell and alienware lappy) and call dell to see if they can give you an extended warranty. you will probably end-up having money left over to buy cool accessories!

 

Oh look, another one, they pop up non stop... And if anything you can call them

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...emId=0GRBP6CE&~lt=popup&c=us&l=en&s=dfh&cs=22



And again, Without the 25 percent off....

 

Hold on son.

First, I never claimed anyone was "threadcrapping" in my thread, never, you or someone else has come to this determination on your own. I too noticed that the first couple posts including my reply was deleted, that was the admins at work, not me, I was just as surprised as everyone else. To be honest, I can afford both of these machines and then some, so I don't need to cry here to sell anything.

Second, I merely posed my thoughts and questions on it because several people have brought up this point about buying from the outlet, and whenever I check I never see one, I didn't know that the trick is to just keep refreshing to grab one, frankly I have more important things like work and family to concern myself with than stalking a deal on a suspect machine IMNSHO.

I am THRILLED people are buying them off the outlet site, more power to them, to me it's like buying a "certified pre-owned", it's not my thing. If they want an all but- brand new one that is what mine is there for, along with others who have sold them from the site. Just saying, just like I don't buy cars that have might have been in an accident, I am not inclined to by refurb electronics and others feel the same way.

Clearly, I touched a nerve in questioning how you were seeing them, now I know, but please refrain from filling the thread with inane posts to prove a point. I am a bit surprised that the other posters with machines priced similarly after I dropped mine have not had the constant set of comparisons to the outlet store, so apparently I missed the selling season on here. Considering how damn good it is I may end up ditching my idea of an M11x on the side and just keeping it considering how much I would lose and how poorly constructed the M11x is.

 

@ Bl1tz,

The RGB LED on the M17x simply rocks, the difference in the ability to show the full color range of your card's output as opposed to the more limited one with standard screen on the M15x is worth every penny, and the difference in contrast is also a huge plus for the RGB LED. If I was you now I'd get the M17x, but you're wise to get just the i7 720qm, frankly the difference in performance for the next step 820qm is simply not worth it, the $300 is better spent elsewhere.

 

I think there was some miscommunication here.

 

The outlet thing started just this month IMO, or within the last 30 days. At first they were almost never found. Now they're still somewhat hard to find, but definitely still a possibility to find. At the same time, you really should have sold yours about a month back or anytime before that. If you want an idea, look at how witcher sold his with a BLu Ray Drive, and the date at which he sold his. And to think it's only gotten more difficult to sell a used m15x IMO.

 

I think spl1tz speculation is correct. They coming out the 5870 on the M17x so it won't be release on the M15x. Maybe a 5850.

 

if thats true , i better get myself the M15X now, since 5870 wont be coming out it anyway.... then i could upgrade to 5870 myself if i want to later which if better i guess....sigh..

 

I have it confirmed that the 5870 will NOT be available on the M15x from Dell.

No sense in waiting anymore, if you were waiting for one.

 

Sleey0,

What do you predict the chances will be of replacing the GTX260M in the current M15X with a fermi mobile upgrade? (assuming it doesn't heat up like like an oven)