M17 Question: Can I upgrade my P8600 to QX9300?

Just wondering if they use the same mobo on all the M17's or if they use a different one for the quads? That would totally suck, I just ordered it online w/ P8600 and need to know if I should cancel, if I cant upgrade to qx9300 I'm canceling it

Thanks all!

 

nope it is the same mobo

so you can upgrade whenever you wish too, just when you have repairs, put the old cpu back in, has your new cpu would not have warrenty on it from alienware, unless you buy the cpu from ailenware and they install it

 

i did the exact same upgrade as you are looking at doing, in the one im now selling

 

Righteous

Thanks a bunch!

 

Yeah I saw it earlier, I would have bought it but I wanted the xfire 4850's

Thanks though and GL!

 

It's an easy upgrade. Moo made a video which can show you how to access the CPU on the M17X.

 

he is asking about the M17 i also owned that and can help you

 

If you really want to run a Quad, I'd recommend going with the M17X, not the M17. The M17 (aka Arima/flextronics 840 aka OCZ Whitebook aka Asimobile IQ17) is known for having problems with Quad Cores and stuttering and issues. Go check out the OCZ forums. If you're running a dual core only, you should be fine.

 

What do you mean stuttering?

anyone else have thoughts on this? I've heard that using zfactor's bios fixes the "stuttering"

 

many things fix the stuttering,.,,,

 

I guess I'll just message you once I get it!

If you don't mind

 

For most, but having to jump through hoops to fix an inherent flaw in the design is not exactly winning awards. But then again, you never had to deal with the issue with your M17 and its dual core, eh? But alas, most of the M17/OCZ crew switched to other platforms including Moo and myself (we both had the M17/OCZ before and moved on).

For $2600 you are spending, serious contemplate the M17X.

Go read this excellent thread by Don: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=381296

and maybe some of the other ones in the OCZ forums.

 

i agree with electro soft

i love my m17 and i was a dual core man myself but the M17x sucked me in and its superior in every way except the price

 

I agree, and the only reason I'm not getting it is because it's just so damn ugly!

my family would seriously laugh at me if they saw the m17x on my desk one day lol.. no offense to you guys that have it, I just don't see myself taking it to say.. the library, or to class without getting some strange looks.

Honestly I had to struggle to get past the stupid alien head on the back of the m17 but the crossfire 4850's were just too appealing to pass up, and the sager np9850 is like 3 grand for the same setup as what I'm getting, plus I think it'd be too big for me

Overall I think I made a good decision, I just hope this stuttering issue isn't as big a deal as what that thread makes it seem like..

Any other thoughts would be appreciated, I just ordered the m17 today anyway so I can probably cancel within the next few days if I'm convinced it was a bad choice for the money and my needs

 

Haha you think the M17x is uglier then the M17 ? having owned both myself the M17x absolutely puts the M17 to shame, so if you were basing your decisions on looks im sorry to say my friend you made the wrong decision lol .

Best looking laptop i have ever owned and i have owned alot of them .

 

each to their own Quad remember that

 

Lol i would have never even commented but since he based his decisions on looks alone i could not resist but your right moo .

 

I have an M17 now, I have suffered a little with the stuttering that is well known about the M17 from my experiance its not that bad.

overall i do love my M17 its a very good relieable laptop

 

looks, plus it's ~$2700 for this setup

SYSTEM COLOR Space Black – Anodized Aluminum edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz (3MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows Vista Home Premium (64 bit) + Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Coupon edit
VIDEO CARD Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280M, 2GB – SLI® Enabled edit
LCD PANEL 17-inch WideUXGA 1920x1200 (1200p) edit
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz edit
HARD DRIVE 320GB - 2x 160GB 7,200RPM - RAID 0 edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW) edit
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis

add another $520 for a qx9300 and you're at $3200

vs

$2670 for almost the exact same performance, not as flashy looks, which I prefer

 

ok why would you get 280's?

260's are just as good

and you can get q9000 + 280's in SLI for 2299

 

you mean q9000 and 260's?

and no i don't think you can, not after tax and shipping, it still comes out to

$2800, $2700 w/ student discount

 

Well, aesthetics have their place. If you absolutely can not stomach the look of the M17X, then the decision has basically been made for you. Outside of the quad core issues, the M17 is a solid machine in its own right.

 

You've been great electro, really appreciate you taking the time to help me out

 

yes you can its the deal of the month

 

don't try to go @ it with me or you'll get the bull

http://go.notebookreview.com/?id=52...&c=us&l=en&s=eep&cs=6097&link_number=17970705

 

Would it be smarter to get a X9100 over a QX9300?
Are the shuttering problems that bad?

 

depends on your version of bad

 

How frequent are they?
Bad=from 1 to 10?

X9100 has NO shuttering ?

 

The stuttering problem...it honestly depends. We still don't even entirely know what causes it although we have our suspicions.

It differs from person to person. Personally for me it's annoying but happens very rarely, and usually goes off after a few minutes. However if you get the issue bad it can be very frustrating. Considering the price of it and that most games don't even use a quad (and most of those that do will run fine on it), I'd get the X9100. You'll even get a better battery life with it

It's very hard to understand what the stuttering is until you experience it. Basically on the desktop it causes a very laggy mouse that 'stutters', and very, very bad sound stuttering. (Hence the name) When playing games it results in the bad sound as mentioned, a laggy mouse if you have one in game, and a very nasty frame rate drop.

The dual cores don't have ANY stuttering. The problem is purely quad cores only. Although I think I heard about a case of a dual core owner suffering from the stuttering at one point, however it's the only one I've heard about.

If you're willing to go that far, then copper modding the northbridge (supposedly) completely stops the stuttering. I wouldn't know though, I haven't done it, I'm just going on other people that have done it and what they say.

I personally...well, I'd be stuck for choice. I just love the styling on the M17, especially the matte black finish, but the M17x design is similarly awesome for me. I'd love it if I could get the M17 but with that same style on the front of the laptop, and the E2E screen. (Not forgetting the AlienFX of course! )

 

Ok then, i hate when something doesnt work properly
X9100 it is

 

Yeah, for as much francs as you're laying out for some of these systems and with the plethora of known problems, I'd, personally, consider the M17 as a dual core only option. But with a dual core, it rocks. Basically you can get a system capable of performing on the same level as a W90Vp/M17X/M980 in a lighter package. The only downside is the quad issue and under load, the M17 can get rather noisy.