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    M17 (not x) Upgrade Options This Late?

    Discussion in 'Alienware' started by Cadger, Mar 31, 2010.

  1. Cadger

    Cadger Newbie

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    Is there any realistic hope of being able to upgrade either the GPU or CPU on a year old M17 R1 this late in the game?

    Or for that matter anything other than the HD/RAM?
     
    Cadger, Mar 31, 2010
    #1
  2. DR650SE

    DR650SE The Whiskey Barracuda

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    I don't know much about the M17, but what do you currently have? Specs wise. You can upgrade yourself, but Dell/Alienware won't be releasing anything new for it other then what is already compatible with it.
     
    DR650SE, Mar 31, 2010
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  3. AtolSammeek

    AtolSammeek Tokay Gecko

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    They make laptop so they can not upgrade much. Mybe a gpu or hard drive. But after that they try to keep it so if you upgrade you have to upgrade the motherboard or something stupid like that.

    Basicly there no set standard for laptops. If there was. Laptops would be cheaper and faster.
     
    AtolSammeek, Mar 31, 2010
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  4. Cadger

    Cadger Newbie

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    It's currently a Core 2 Duo @ 2.26 Ghz, Radeon HD 3870 and 4GB RAM. It also seems that Dell/Alienware isn't really interested since when I contacted them they palmed me off onto a 3rd party company. Not that impressed considering what these things cost in the first place, you would expect at least a "little" better service.
     
    Cadger, Mar 31, 2010
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  5. DHC

    DHC Notebook Evangelist

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    The M17 (rank 1) has been taken out of service and marked as "End of Life".

    Upgrades are not that easy to come by, but there are still posibilities for you:

    T9900 CPU (or x9100 or quad cores), a 2nd 3870 or dual 4850's.

    If dell is not interested enough to help you out (could be the case when your warranty is expired, which also can't be renewed btw) you can try to obtain these parts from the marketplace here or from ebay.

    The M17 isn't dead yet, it can still be upgraded, just not that easily.

    Good luck :)
     
    DHC, Mar 31, 2010
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  6. bhattsan

    bhattsan Notebook Deity

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    You could also upgrade screen, RAM, or the HDD to an SSD ;). I would try getting a second 3870 if you don't already have it. Not sure if the 4850's would be a significant enough upgrade to notice for the price they go for on ebay/marketplace (3870 can be had from AW ~190). So in another words, lots of possible upgrades :D ;)
     
    bhattsan, Mar 31, 2010
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