Everyone here will think I'm crazy, but.....

I decided to order the m9750 on Monday. I will wait for the final price on the m17X, but I think there's no way I'll be able to get one with what I want on it for less than $5000.

The m9750 is still rock solid, has undergone price drops, and is probably going to take another nosedive in price come Monday. I can get a pretty well equipped one for $2000-2500 (DIY RAM and HDs).

It's always cool to have "the newest and best thing," but the way I see it, the fully decked out m17X is just gonna be overkill. There aren't any games out that really *NEED* SLI 8800GTX's. There probably won't even be a game that can use its full potential for a year or more. I think the m17X will be the perfect notebook to have a year from now.

There really aren't any games out that can't be played on a 9750. Most of the "DX10" games on the market are nothing more than DX9 games slightly adjusted to the Vista graphics architecture. I think no developer yet has pushed a DX10 game anything significantly beyond what a DX9 game is or can be. Maybe you'll see that a year or two from now.

A year from now, you'll probably be able to get an m17x for half the price it launches at.

So...........it comes down to:

$2000 (ish) for an m9750 now + $3000 (ish) to spend on a new laptop in a year or two = $5000, plus I can sell the m9750 to recoup some of that.

Vs.

$5000 for an m17X now, and no laptop to resell.

 

I would probably agree with you, Im never one to jump on the bandwagon on new products. Its the same with cars the first batch of a new model probably arent fully refined and may still have a few teething issues.

 

I don't think you are crazy. Some other forum members have pointed out some things not to like about the new m15x and m17x, such as the all-glossy surface. The M9750 has a wonderful matte/rubberized surface which is very durable and looks/feels nice.
The m17x apparently starts at above $2k and a decently configured one is going to be well over $3,000 by the looks of it. The M9750 is a good deal when you consider the hardware that comes in it. Just make sure you upgrade the RAM yourself and possibly the hard drives.

 

I personally prefer the look of the M9750 to what I have seen of the M17X.

 

I also prefer the old "rubberish" look of the 9750 better as well... But I want 8800's and the Santa Rosa now I also think the new keyboard looks really nice and unique on the new m17x's. There are some pluses and minuses to the new ones, but I can live with the glossy look. It will mostly be a desktop replacement for me, so I'll be using external keyboards and mice anyways.

I was a click away from buying the 9750 about a month ago for about the same price of the new m17x's, but when I went to buy it they Blu-ray writer option was no longer available... Noticed it was available again a few days ago, but then heard word of the new ones... I'm looking for something I don't need to touch or upgrade for a long time... Power to run pretty much any game at a decent or exceptional frame rate, author my own Blu-ray's, and edit photos and videos - and not have it look like total ass. I'm just rambling at this point, hehe..

 

Okay. Honestly I think that was a semi-bad idea. No one said that you had to buy 2 8800GTX's.

Here is my take: Get what you need right now in the M17x. That would be I guess a 2.2GHZ, 2GB ram, (Hard Drive), and (1) 8800GTX. Then when you feel you need more power, then you can opt for a second 8800GTX, and by then the prices will have come down on the second one, just my take on it all.

The 7950GTX is still an awesome card though, so it will still be rocking for years to come.

 

Ehh...i dunno. the new ones might have problems...if they did I'd just wait 'till AW fixed them and then I'd order one.

 

We'll see what happens... I'm pretty sure I'm going for a decked out m17x, so I don't have to worry about it for a long time, but I'm still doing research. Money is absolutely no object what-so-ever.

I've always been one to buy the latest and greatest when it comes to computer hardware, and I'm well aware of massive price drops and changes in very short periods of time. Hell, Blu-ray drives and media have dropped in price so much in the past 3 months, it's insane. It will probably half again in another 3... And my home theater cost a lot more than the m17x will...

 

Well the m17x is going to end up being at least $1000 more than a similar m9750 configuration, so it would be kinda a waste to spend all that extra money just to NOT go all the way.

No one has hard numbers yet to back this up, but I suspect:

2x 7950 GTX will be at least a little better than 1x 8800 GTX (in DX9), even if the performance is dead even, the 8800 is $400 for one, vs. $250 for two 7950's.

Let's not even try to compare "bang for buck" of $1000 vs $250, SLI vs. SLI. The 8800 SLI is just overkill for today's games. I'd rather go for that in a year when A) there are games that can take advantage of it and B) it's gone down in price.

With this light of a configuration, the performance gain from the new hardware will probably be offset by being forced to use Vista (takes more passive processor cycles and memory than XP), so what am I gaining for the $1000 extra I am spending? Now, this probably wouldn't be true, if I went with a 2.6 or 2.8 Ghz processor, but again, that's more money.

I agree with this, but keep in mind that it applies to the whole laptop. In a year it will probably be buyable for the price the 9750 is at now. The 8800 GTX will be the "bargain" card because we'll have an 8950 GTX or something out.

I guess my overall point here is that the latest and greatest is fun to have, but you save a *LOT* of money, in the long run, if you buy just a little behind the front of the power curve. That's exactly what the m9750 is right now.

 

I doubt SLI 7950's will out perform a single 8800. SLI is never x2 performance, and the 8800M has significantly higher clocks and processing power. I bet jumping into something like Crysis with SLI 7950's vs a single 8800M will be like night and day frame-rate wise.

Anyhow, unless you fall into the following :-

1) Alienware fanboy type person.
2) Like the M9750 design a lot.
3) Really have to have 7950 GTX's in SLI.

Then id say its more crazy to choose the M9750 over the DELL XPS M1730. I'm not saying this because i currently have one (as i may be returning it to get a new AW panyway) but im just saying it from the perspective of someone who wants to get the most hardware for their money.

Unless the M9750 price drops a lot (and if it did then even i would be tempted) then the only reason to get it over the M1730, is for the Alienhead logo. If thats worth $1000's to you then i guess thats ok.

 

Knew that.

I would have found this argument a lot more convincing if you had actual numbers and benchmarks to back this up. However, since nobody does at this point, you are just guessing like the rest of us. I'm not going to invest thousands of my hard earned dollars on something that I "guess" might be worth it. I'd rather buy something I know is a good deal.

You're kidding me, right? as of this exact moment, the m9750 starts at $1699 (probably going to drop tomorrow with the launch of the m17X), the XPS1730 starts at $2699. The 8700s are not better than 2x 7950 GTX (thats been beaten to death, and PROVEN by benchmarks and framerates).

1) The XPS is unavailable with Win XP unless you get the $3600 one. Vista saps gaming performance.
2) The XPS has a slightly better Santa Rosa processor, but having Vista mitigates that.
3) The PhysX card is a dumb gimmick that works with very few games.

So, please explain to me what in there is worth $1000 extra starting price? I guess I missed it. I must have been too busy "looking at dumb logos."

 

Didn't say you didnt. Is that a double negative?

No need to guess. The specs of the 8800M have been leaked, we know how desktop versions benchmark.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_8800_preview/page11.asp

You can get a close idea of performance by looking at dektop counter parts in simular configurations. For instance you can get a good idea of the performance of the 8700 SLI by looking at benchmarks of the desktop 8600.

Well i did say assuming the US prices are on-par with the prices of the system in the UK. Right now an M9750 starts at £1,099 and the M1730 at £1599. But thats irrelivent because by the time you spec the M9750 up to the spec of the £1600 M1730, the M7950 costs about £1700. It gets a lot worse when you go a notch up. Take the M1730 to 2.4Ghz, then max out the M9750 to "2.33" and see which offers better value.

Hmmmm, on the UK site you can configure them in any specification you wish. But no XP isnt an option at all for the UK, however that wouldnt put me off. You could always get hold of a copy of XP elsewhere.

Not sure why using Vista slows the CPU down..... i guess if your talking benchmarks and application performance then yeah XP might well bench higher than the same system in Vista. But drivers help, and they can be easily updated in future. Unlike the motherboard and CPU. Besides you can install any OS easily.

Considering its all part of the £1599 price tag, gimmick or not its an extra that will be useful for games like UT3. People say its a "dumb gimmick" but things like this help to get products used more in games.

See above. It's not about starting price.

For £1,100 (the starting price of the Alienware notebook) I can find a lot better than a 1440 x 900 LCD with a T5500 1.66GHz CPU and 1GB of RAM. Oh and a single 8700 GT, and the awsome 120GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive. Infact im sure i could find that spec for £800 at most by looking at any other brand.

The XPS M1730 might start at £1599 and not £1100, but add the 2.0 Ghz GPU, 2GB of RAM and a decent sized hard drive, 200GB @ 7200RPM. Then compare prices.

 

All I know is I got my m9750 on Wednesday and its awsome. Been using the new 169.09 drivers for SLI and everything runs great(Crysis/COD4 demo, BF2142, MTW2, HW2, FEAR, etc....

For me the price drop was the convincing thing. I got exactly what I wanted for the price and I couldn't be happier. Besides I do my "Hardcore" gaming on my desktop...because thats what its for. My Lappy is for travel and entertainment while I'm on the road. So no I don't think you are crazy for getting one. Besides I don't think I could have afforded one of the new lappies when you throw tax and such into the mix (saw a preview of the prices...yikes!)

 

Then this is where the disparity lies.

I haven't checked exchange rates recently, but I am fairly sure that £1~$2.

Given that, the m9750 has a comparative "starting price" over there of about $2200 vs. $1699 over here. I also am not comparing the "fully speced out" models, as the higher end m9750 processors are the exact opposite of "cost efficient." My example in mind was a mid-range m9750, with do-it-yourself RAM and HDD, which is what I am doing. Under these circumstances, and given the difference in U.S. prices vs. the EU prices, the m9750 is a better deal over here.

True, but......

1) Buying a separate copy of Windows XP will add to the price tag. If you obtain an illegal copy you run the risks associated with that.
2) Kind of defeats the point of getting a "DX10 video card" when you're not even going to use Vista/DX10.

Vista has a ton of background processes that you can't turn off, i.e. Windows Defender. Not to mention the memory it takes up. Vista Home Basic uses up 512MB at all times, and any version above that uses about 850MB at all times. On the Sony VAIO I bought a while back (and ended up returning) the Vista installed on it (Home Premium) ate up about 30% of the processor (a 2.0Ghz C2D) at all times, even while idle, doing nothing, and used up 48% of the available memory (out of 2GB) at all times, even while idle and doing nothing. Vista is the crummiest OS imaginable for a gaming system, in my opinion, unless you have a machine that is so far advanced your system can just shrug off the "weight" it adds to your machine. Also consider how hot that is going to keep your machine as well.

Who knows, I am not going to change my decision based on some gimmicky device, though.

Again, I think this is explained by a disparity between US and EU prices. You can also cut down that figure (as I am doing) by doing the HDDs and RAM yourself.

"Lower Starting Price" allows you to cut out some of those options and do it yourself, higher starting price means "you are stuck buying those things at Dell's price."

I'll take the former

 

Yep. I would have to say that the 9750 is a much better deal then the XPS1730. The 8700GT's really start losing performance in high resolutions. The UT3 demo at 1920x1080 didn't run smoothly with the physics card, and (2) 8700's (I'm going on the standpoint that you need at least 60+fps for a game like UT).

And, I think the other thing that we didn't take into account is that the M1730 is "ugly" to me, and it is a lot bulkier then the 9750.

@Philo - I see your point of getting the two 7950GTX's now. I thought you were going for Vista origionally, which is why I said you should get the 8800GTX's. Oh, and Vista really does eat up a TON of ram. On my M5550, I usually have 1.5 - 1.7GB free of ram, and on my desktop, I usually have only 1.2GB - 900MB of ram free.

 

My 9750 runs Vista 32 OS and the CPU (T7600) usage is around 2% at idle and the memory usage is around 33% with no user apps running (2 GB of ram). Just so people don't get the wrong idea.

 

Which version of Vista?

I'm not sure what the difference is, but I've seen the same processor/memory usage on several of my friends' notebooks who use Vista.

Mine ran like that even after deleting all the bloatware that comes on it (trust me, Sony notebooks come LOADED with it, like you wouldn't believe), and running antivirus/antispy thoroughly with several different programs. I also turned off all of the auxiliary features I could (I believe there were about 3, and they were minor).

It may have something to do with the power plan settings. Conservative power settings (particularly on battery) may force the processor to run at very low speed while idle.

 

Please keep it under control in here, I do not want to have to delete/edit any posts for your sake.