How far Alienware has gone backwards

If you need portability plus an eGPU solution then going for Alienware BGA / Razer might be better than Macbook since they are overly-priced and ridiculous windows restrictions. And considering to buy a BGA computer is a Sin LoL.

Get an Aorus X7 Pro v5 970m SLI maybe, to game and for portability ?
And going for the AW18 was a great blunder you made, the M17x R4 or the AW17 were perfectly fine or even the M18x R2 with a single GPU, more on fn-f. I get that you needed an Optimus solution with maxwell but still that machine has too many flaws, EOL and the Dell junk wanted AW to deviate into a mediocre low end trash tier brand.

 

Yep, but there's two people already lining up to buy this machine, so I won't be too much at a loss. Worst come to worse, I'll break even from the price.


Mac seems overpriced, yes, but WWDC2016 have great rumors that apple will redesign the rMBP lineup to be more competitive with offerings from other manufacturers.



Or maybe I should just get P870xM + razer core and say f**k it to portability lol.

 

That's best choice, But since you already have your TitanX beast, wait for the 1080M and If it soars a 60% boost over 980M then get a new clevo powered with that or maybe a 870DM with 1080M.

Since I had invested much cash into the 980M still a powerful GPU, I'll wait a year happily for Gen2 Pascal / Vega / Polaris.

 

just say f**k it to portability!! You only help OEM's with increased sales + they think people want this Crap and they will design even more of similar garbage... Please.., Do not support them to create more junk!! It's more than enough already out there.

 

Yeah, the titan is going to be sold before the end of this month. I still have a GTX 970 with full in-store credit (micro center) that I can use for the GTX 1080 purchase. So I'm not spending a lot of money there.

The P870xM successor with 7700K is bound to be around 3k from HIDevolution, at least with the specs that I want.

True.
The rMBP is still an attractive choice if it's compatible with Razer Core though. And ironically has less issues than the AW Echo models.

 

The 7700K should be compatible with the existing Z170 chipset, LGA1151, similar like that old P7x0xM were compatible with the 5775C Broadwell (beast CPU with that eDRAM) and Haswell 4790K.

Even the cannonlake also has the LGA1151 specs, so I think the P870DM is a good choice.

On an other note, the AMD went retarded and offering all 400 series rebrands except M490, M490X, M480, M480X, Polaris 10 and 11 respectively which I doubt even end up as MXMs since Alienware went full 360 BGA retarded in 2014, 2013 had these AMD MXMs & those Macs will feature all soldered BGA trash in their overpriced shiny boxes with AMD GPUs.

Polaris 11 is a stupid 128Bit card with 50W TDP I highly doubt this is an MXM...GG RIP AMD.

 

Unwise to judge the performance before launch. But I'll be keenly waiting for the P870xM refresh + polaris performance.

AMD is really cancerous on the rebrand department though.

 

I had a macbook pro. The Apple logo that is glued into the screen actually got loose within weeks and fell down somewhere into the laptop. Also poorly cooled. Will never buy their laptops anymore.

 

Good to know.

Maybe I'll just stop owning laptops alltogether :|



In other news
Alienware 17 R4 new innovation
Fully soldered chassis, no open even for dell technician!

 

get a new hobby lol....

 

Maybe.

 

Its just, they make one of the nicest chassis in the business, but because they want to make it look the best possible, they really skimp on ventilation. These things get hot as hell under load. THey just expect the average consumer will never use it to that extent. Mine was exporting video files constant and then it became too hot which caused the glue to become too soft .

 

It does look nice imo. Just whatever is inside doesn't come up to our standards.

 

How far Alienware has gone backwards? @Ashtrix @Mr. Fox @Phoenix @TBoneSan + all former AW owners. Even the cooling in new AWBooks have gone totally backwards... Total crushed by new rebadged ACERBook!! Even the older ACERBook Predator have better cooling. Could this be much worse? The whole AW collection is totally Crippled now!! Maybe the cooling in AWBooks is designed for the GA? No internal graphics in use mean better processor cooling in use with the graphics amplifier... Tragic!!

 

You only pick one aspect of the review. So it runs a bit hotter (its a smaller chassis). But dont pick the bad battery runtimes, the battery draining under load, GPU throttling under full load.

But Acer is sure becoming better at its game. What is wrong with 50c by the way under full load. Did you check the reviews of your own laptop and its temperatures?

 

31 up to 33% less max load temp with AcerBook is much more than just a bit . And of course Acerbook is probably like most other BGABooks, affected by hybrid bios, corrupted firmware and bad binned processors. Is idle battery life very importent for you? Or maybe maxs load is importent as well? Regardless, AWBook late <Echo> 17 have only 9% higher battery capacity under load
Ps. BGA KILLER aka Clevo P870 also comes with delided processors applied with Liquid metal and Gpu with Icd, if some want this. Remember not all resellers own branded P870 is reviewed. Here is a sample of max temp in Cinebench 11.5 run with processor at 4.8GHz +100w (Don't look you blind that idle voltage is a bit high as load voltage is significantly lower). If you think there is temperature problem with Clevo P870, then I think you don't know how good temp can be in a laptop

 

1. Acer doesn't have optimus, the igpu is defunct
2. Alienware uses igpu that has the dgpu routed in, which means igpu and dgpu is running at load = more heat
3. Both laptops equally belong in the trash

 

Acer has introduced a rebadged BGABook aka Predator 17X with 980. A BGABok that provide slightly better performance than what Delienware can offer their buyers... Still trash, but a little less trash than usual trash . The big 4 of 5 aka MSI, ACER, CLEVO and ASUS offer more than what DELLIENWARE can offer their gamers. Dellienware has done exactly the opposite and walked backwards into the future. A brand that say they are for gamers, but that does not offer what some want. This is what we can call walking backwards!! A brand that only offers an Apple Similar gaming laptop, can not be taken seriously anymore. Thats it!!

 

Every single one of them except MSi makes full soldered trash.

At least the GT72 and GT80 uses MXM cards. Though GT80 can't use 330x2 psu.

 

Oddly enough, it's only the GT80S and maybe just the 980 SLI model that won't take advantage of 2 x 330 psu's. The model that needs 2 x 330w psu's the most

There were people with GT80 Haswell/Broadwell that were able to get more power from 2 x 330w, unclear how much it helped... maybe @GTVEVO knows - he was on the GT80 board before I was active.

 

Doubt msi would want to redesign the GT80s motherboard, it doesn't have a spare aux power connector for the 980 which results in lower power usage cap.

 

MSI can and will do major board updates, they aren't going to be stopped by their own limits

It's about time for a major redo of the GT80 Motherboard, Power, and CPU cooling.

The GT80K??
(GT1080 Kabylake)

 

Maybe, but that requires money. And the GT80 Skylake is plenty enough to be a shell for MSi to put standard 1080Ms. Motherboard will most likely remain the same for the GT80 Skylake + Pascal.



Portability is going to be a thing for me starting next semester. I'm eyeing either a Pascal AW15 R(3?) or an rMBP 15".

But then again, the 15 is almost 2x heavier than an rMBP 15" (4.5 vs 6.86). So if the next rMBP is going to have a USB Type C then I'll buy that plus the Razer Core.


And while a P870DM / P775DM is a much better choice, these machines have little brand recognition outside of the enthusiast world, thus making it very hard to sell. Plus Microcenter is not selling it, which means no warranty plan (ability to exchange with full store credit for 2/3 years from purchase date).






Edit, for my own safety.

 

It's better to start out with a protective shield that isn't already on fire

Sorry, I missed the juicy stuff, I was editing my own posts so as to add a positive glow to them.

Although coming out with a Skylake version of laptops with Pascal is doable, I doubt anyone will "be able to", as the timing of the Kabylake release will push makers to further differentiate their laptops by adding Kabylake updates.

That won't force a motherboard redo, but there is enough of a delay between when the GT80S was released until it's next release - likely Feb/Mar 2017 - that MSI should revamp the GT80 to resolve current issues - yes, pun intended

If Pascal mobile ships sooner than currently expected, maybe MSI will push out a GT80S + 1080m sooner, but I hope they wait and "do it right".

I haven't checked, is there a revved up mobile chip set coming any time soon?

 

Pro: cpu has soldered tim
Con: soldered to chassis

 

Ah, I did check 6 months ago, I haven't updated since:

The mobile "H" Kabylake CPU's comes out week 51 (2016), and the beginning of 2017 - week 10 (2017):

Intel’s 7th Generation Kaby Lake and 200-Series Chipset Platform Detailed – Compatible With LGA 1151 Socket, Enthusiast 95W Options Included
http://wccftech.com/intel-kaby-lake-200-series-chipset-processor-platform/

There should be a Series 200 mobile update to the Series 100 CM236 mobile chipset, but I don't see it, anyone know? It's unreleased, unannounced, and non-leaked.

 

Oh yeah.

Guess I'm not buying anything this year. Going to see if I can survive the fall semester laptopless.

 

I had to add that the 2013 Haswell Ranger is crippled by default from factory. One of them is by gimped fans, call that backwards ? I call it stoneage. Period.

After 980M upgrade I had to get myself an M17x R4 fan for GPU since it had 11.3CFM while the 17 Ranger had this utter noob trash tier 1.xx CFM bullcrap into it. Plus It had reduced the temps by 10C that's how the dellienware dumpster trash belong to, and the new Echo lineup cooling worse than Acer ? Rekt ?

Idiot Inside should remove that iGPU crap from the K series processors FFS.

 

What I define good cooling is decent temperature + OC headroom (<80c) without the need of fancy metal TIM, and apparently the Echo series can't do that except if you use CLU.

No, iGPU should stay. What should be changed is it's implementation of the iGPU and how it can be used/turned off.



MUX with 3 options.

1. iGPU only, everything is handled by iGPU
2. iGPU + dGPU optimus/powerplay (okay, this is going to bork on AMD's side). External display outputs are still connected to dGPU.
3. dGPU only, iGPU completely turned off




MUX with 2 option

1. iGPU only or optimus/powerplay
2. dGPU only




On the other hand, I'll try contacting xotic to see if they would send a review unit of the 16L1

 

It's really good idea but the OEMs won't shell out a buck on R&D or anything since the customers are super dumb and no use practically waste of resources without any margins...the iGPU shouldn't be there because that space on the die is wasted on the 6700K / 4790K CPUs only clevo uses the Z170 and Z97 series LGA1151 CPUs and the space is practically wasted on the Hotwell it adds to more heat lying there dormant on the Clevos / Desktops, the Extreme Edition / HEDT got rid of them since no desktop user with those beasts would run on the iGPU, I understand that optimus are good for given scenarios but it's not implemented properly, It went to the dark side and got gimped and the HW it touches gets doomed to oblivion...

 

Yep, good idea but bad implementation.

Bad vbios flash is always a reason to have an iGPU exclusive mode though. (M17x R1/2, M18x R1/2, AW18)

 

Jeah. Support Dellienware (or other OEM's who make only BGA garbage). Let them make more money so they can create more garbage...

Spoiler: THANKS!!

 

There is a temperature problem with the P870 when using stock thermal paste etc from the like of XMG. Even so much that it throttles according to the NBC reviews.

What do you think what would happen with the temp if for example i apply liquid metal paste on the CPU of my AW15? Ofcourse it will be much lower.

33% says nothing if you put it in the right perspective. Would 20c vs 30c be a noticeable difference? Not really but it is still 50% more. 50c temps under load are fine. Considering the smaller AW17 design versus the Predator 17. Imagine the extremely low temps of a Core M cpu in a chassis like the P870. That would mean that the temperature is around ambient. Does that mean your PC suddenly cools like ****? Nope you just need to put it in the right perspective.

Idle battery life is important for me yes because it translates to longer battery life under mild productivity. Like I can watch a movie for around 6 to 7 hours on my laptop in the airplane.

I never use my battery under full load. No laptop is actually made for this and kills a battery faster than you can say Clevo.

I call this bullcrap. Stock temps with stock paste on 2 Alienwares I tested where always under max load max 75c. With Icy diamond 7 it was touching 70c/71c. The GPU is even cooler with only 65c under load. My temps arent even that great, other users report better temps.

 

The first gen haswell GT80 (4980) would make use of the 2 power bricks but gains were very small as the power pretty much hit the ceiling purely due to stability at about 415 watts from the wall without the PSU tripping. There was an individual that was able to report a small gain but nothing conclusive except that the board did not seem to be power limited at that time.

I still wonder if anyone has tested the GT80S HK version to see if its actually limited?

As for Alienware I would highly advise to stay away as they have positioned themselves to be a propitiatory company like apple and do not take any enthusiast consideration unless they can strap some cancerous handicap to it.

 

The BGA thing sucks. Issue is just hoe many laptops nowadays with new generation stuff is socketed or mxm? Not many. Some are a mixture of socket and mxm or vice versa. The other issue is most can't afford baseline of $3k and quickly climbs out of sight for a Phoenix laptop. So options are very limit for the standard user/gamer. The market has also figured there is a much higher quantity of standard users/gamers than there are enthusiast and heavy modders.
I'm not making excuses for the complete and utter garbage that is out now. If I were in the business of making and selling gaming laptops and I made the decisions monetary wise I would build a $300 Alienware 13 and sell it for $1200 all day long also. From a heavy user perspective that I generally am I don't mind dropping the extra coin for real technology and performance. But our breed is very few compared to the masses.

 

Honestly I'd love to get a pascal P750xM, but the resale value and target audience is very small outside of NBR/TI, plus it weighs a lot more

And the Micro Center warranty plan, that's something not even Apple/Dell can match.

Hm, might've read some bad reviews. How does the gpu temp perform when +200mV? Under constant gaming load?

Does the Echo model offer fan control?

Probably applies the same to gt80 with 980m, not just the gt80s.

 

Possibly but nothing ventured is nothing gained. Someone should should get the facts out on it as it could be a selling point.

Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk

 

Looking forward to replace the AW18 in Q1-Q2 next year. Anyone has any opinion about this laptop:

https://www.digitalstorm.com/banshee.asp

looks good, I like the look, though I don't know about the quality..

 

Yeah, it is an awesome machine. In my opinion the best you can buy today. See my signature. That's their version of the Clevo P870DM-G. It would be best to get one from a @Prema partner so you can have the ultimate performance possible with a fully unlocked BIOS and vBIOS. The stock BIOS is utterly worthless. Here are the partner shops: https://biosmods.wordpress.com/partner/

 

I don't know much about Clevo. Clevo is the company that design the laptop itself from and engineering point? or something like that? ... so lets say that banshee works over Clevo, whats banshee "case" quality? aluminium parts or something like that?... I like this banshee design a lot Alienware-like.

 

Clevo is the Chinese Taiwanese OEM of the laptops worldwide Eg - Sager (USA), Eurocom (Canada), Multicom (Norway), Aftershock (Singapore), XMG (Germany / Europe), Schneker (Germany) Xotic (USA), Mythlogic (USA), Avell (US, Brazil) etc...And I guess from what I've read for the best bang for buck is mythlogic, because they have Prema as their partner, can ask HIDevo for Eurocom branded machine too.

 

Taiwanese...not Chinese. Don't confuse the two.

 

So where Digital Storm/Banshee fits in? Is a Sager reseller?

 

I guess they and Origin get the components from Sager, not reseller though.

 

HIDevolution have their own brand now (EVOC) and they are a @Prema partner. They have outstanding service as well. They are listed here: https://biosmods.wordpress.com/partner/

All P870DM machines are the same in terms of chassis and specs. The most important thing is to buy from a Prema partner. Not only do you support Prema by doing so, you also get the awesome firmware. The stock BIOS is totally trash. The Clevo vendors that are not Prema partners may have a problem with you using anything other than stock firmware.

 

This is the same laptop, but with a Silicon Lottery binned CPU for guaranteed low temps/overclocking capability, fastest RAM options up to 3000 MHz DDR4, high quality control that includes 0 dead pixels screen with no backlight bleeding, Prema BIOS/VBIOS for free, CPU delidding from the factory and covered under warranty which no other reseler does......

EVOC P870DM-G Gaming Laptop

 

I have been away for quite a while myself and I just recently started browsing around again.

I still have my Alienware M18x R2 from nearly 4 years ago. I purchased an Alienware 17 last year in hopes of upgrading my M18x and I was disappointed with the overall build quality of the machine compared to my M18x R2. I ended up returning the machine and holding onto my R2 (good thing I did not sell it before the new laptop arrived).

The design of the new Alienware laptops look cool, but they don't feel like the M17x R2s and M18x's. The new machines have a sort of "cheap" feel to them kind of like how the M17x R3 and R4's were, at least in my opinion.

Their performance is not really that impressive either coming from my current system. And I did not even know that the new systems were having the chips soldered until I came back and started reading posts here. Essentially if you need warranty service, they are going to be replacing mainboards and completely stripping the laptops apart instead of replacing 1 single component.

Really stupid design. I will probably hold out with my R2 for a while until they release something more resembling the older systems.

 

This is one of the main reasons why people should read more than just reviews from some not objective hardware testers. In similar forum such as this, you get everything not wrapped in a glossy paper!!

 

But you get overcharged on price through the prema partners. Another reason why I'm hesitant on even considering a clevo.

 

Thanks guys. I'll check some reviews and watch some videos on youtube to check Clevo's chassis quality.