M17-R1 or M17x

Right so i am looking at getting a new laptop and thinking about getting a Alienware. i have seen a couple and not sure what to do - i would of course prefer to buy from Alienware but they are a bit too far out of my price range.

So heres the m17-R1 (what ever that means) that i have seen that i can get for £575.

HARDWARE:

INTEL CORE 2 DUO CPU P8600 @ 2.40GHz
2.00GB DDR3 RAM
160GB ST160411ASG ATA HARD DRIVE
ATI MOBILITY RADEON HD 3870 GRAPHICS
HIGH DEFINITION AUDIO CONTROLLER
OPTIARC DVD RW AD-7590S ATA DEVICE
REALTEC RTL8187SE WIRELESS LAN PCIE NETWORK ADAPTER
BCM2046 BLUETOOTH MODULE
17” HD SUPER-TFT DISPLAY

and i have a couple of questions:
1. where can i get better graphics cards
2. Can the m1 use dual hard drives?
3. what CPU can it be upgraded to?

M17x (not sure what r version) from £600 - £1,000

Alienware M17x : Base Lunar Silver 1 1,502.38 1,502.38 S
200-59458 N06W1701 1 S
213-10559 Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo T9600(2.80GHz,1066MHz,6MB L2 Cache) 1 S
230-10776 Display : 17in Wide UXGA (1920X1200) - Beyond HD (1200p) 1 S
340-18524 Ship Accessory : English Docs 1 S
340-18532 Resource DVD : Alienware M17x 1 S
370-15259 Memory : 4096MB (2x2048) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel 1 S
400-17567 Hard Drive : 160GB Free Fall Sensor (7200RPM) 1 S
429-14135 Optical Drive : DVD+/-RW (DVD, CD read and write) Drive 1 S
450-13328 Power Supply : Alienware 240W AC Adapter 1 S
450-13572 Power Cord : UK 250V 1 S
451-11042 Battery : Primary 9-cell 85W/HR LI-ION 1 S
460-10354 Not Included Carry Case 1 S
490-11494 Graphics : Single 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M 1 S
555-12292 Wireless : European Dell Wireless 1510 (802.11 n) Half Mini Card 1 S
555-12293 Wireless : Europe Dell Bluetooth 370 Card 1 S
583-12939 Keyboard : Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard 1 S
619-17180 Operating System : English Genuine Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium (64Bit) including Media 1 S
644-10000 Avatar : Alienhead 3D 1 S
645-10002 AutoMatic Updates : AutoMatic updates - On 1 S
646-10001 Window Style : Window Style - Default 1 S
647-10000 Power Plan : Balanced 1 S
648-10000 Wallpaper : Alienhead 3D (Widescreen) 1 S
649-10001 MousePointers : Standard 1 S
650-12298 AntiVirus : English McAfee 9.0(15 month subscription) 1 S
654-10003 TimeZone : (GMT + 00.00) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London 1 S
656-10000 AlienFX Colour : Astral Aqua 1 S
657-10000 Name Plate Engraving - Generic 1 S

and i have a couple of questions:
1. where can i get better graphics cards
2. Can the m1 use dual hard drives?
3. what CPU can it be upgraded to?

So what do you think would be the best to get and what is most value for money?
it will be used mainly for gaming, movies and other multimedia things and of course internet ect

 

Absolutely go for the second unit, the m17x.

The first is very dated and IMO is not worth the money. By getting the m17x you're spending a bit more, but getting a machine that will last a lot longer without fading into being totally obsolete.

Your questions seem to imply (sorry if I'm not understanding this properly) that you'd purchase the first system, and try to upgrade it afterword? I wouldn't recommend that if you can spend a little more upfront and get a better system to begin with.

With the exception of getting a bigger HDD, there's no reason to touch anything in the m17x, and no reason not to get that over the first unit you posted.

 

Okay thanks for the info, the questions were for both systems as they both dont have very good HD space

is the graphics card on the second system better then my current single 8800m GTX?

 

The second machine is definitely the better of the two, but the M17x-R1 (which that is) has some issues (DPC latency & stuttering). Seems like lots of people are looking to get rid of them. You probably want to read some of the other threads here to make an informed decision.

That said, what dell/alienware is charging for the M17x-R2 thru the UK site is nothing short of extortion. The same base config that costs 1499GBP thru the uk site is $1799 (about 1200GBP) at the us site, and upgrades are considerably cheaper.

 

Yep the UK gets screwed over by everyone!
Okay thanks for the tips i will have a look - does that include nVidia and ATI cards? or is it just for the nVidia cards?

How do i tell if a system is R1 or R2 - is it based on the specs? or is there something else thats different?

 

The M17x Allpowerful R1 uses Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors.

The M17x Allpowerful R2 uses Core i7 processors.

It's pretty easy to tell the difference by that. But apart from that, no, there's little difference in specs.

 

Okay thanks that all i needed to know,
so does that mean that the r2 doesnt have the latency problems?

 

Not as far as I'm aware, at least.

 

Okay thanks, i dont think i will be able to get a good system with the r2 prices

 

That G73 is getting prettier huh.

 

Nope its not, i REALLY dont like the look of it i had the wedge look or the way the screen opens