M17. Any Regrets? Horror stories?

Hey all. I'm just about ready to place an order on the M17 (specs follow) and just want to make sure I am making the right decision in spending 3,500USD( shipping). I'm new to this spectrum of laptops, any help is appreciated.

Does anyone regret their M17 purchase?

M17 "Eisenhower" (yes, I named it already)
Single ATI 3870 (When does the new one come out?)
Q9100
1920x1200
4gb
128gb SSD (I can make due with this size)

It'll primarily be used for HDDV editing with Adobe Premiere CS3 or CS4 (hesitant cause of CS4 horror stories).

Is there any way to get AW to make a deal with the shipping? It seems preposterously high.

 

Seems like a waste to me putting 1 GPU in a laptop that was made to use 2, unless you are in fact holding out for the 4870's to come out then upgrade. Other than that you have a nice media editing system on your hands.

I'm more than certain you cannot negotiate shipping prices with alienware. Coupon codes are few and far between with them so dont hold much hope in finding one.

 

I see you have similar specs to what I am looking at.
I'm not going with the Dual ATI because my understanding is that it will not show worthwhile gains in my editing environment. I could very well be entirely wrong here.

 

now i'm looking at the q9000

 

What for? Video & Photo editing will depend a whole lot more on your CPU and RAM. A 3.06GHZ X9100 or 2.26GHZ Q9100 would be great for your situation. And if you can afford it, a QX9300.

 

If you are doing video go with the QX9300. CPU power and speed is essential for rendering. Unless you have experienced a "miss matched" "under powered" systems and can deal with the frustrations fine but if you can get the power get it now.

GPU although they say use the pro gpu's due to "open GL" the gamers do just as well and they have the open GL. Either ATI or Nvidia can handle it. The bigger the better.

Adobe run by idiots sometimes and they need some real world experence to understand this. They like to snob all of us with "you need this cpu and this raid" bs when in fact the others work just as well and even better.

 

Anyone have any comments on hardware problems inherent in the m17 built? An example for other aw nbs would be the hinge problem with the m15x, or the just the ease of attracting dirt for the x's (m15x/m17x)

 

My only regret is not having enough money to get a better CPU; not saying that I'm not happy, it just could be better though.

However, if you're only getting one 3870, I then don't understand why you would get a M17; there are other options in that arena.

 

If I were to do it again, I'd buy everything as base (except the vid cards unless you're holding out for the 4870's) and just buy the parts to upgrade myself.

It comes out a lot cheaper that way.

 

I first got mine with t9600 skulcap 1 3870 (it was cheaper to buy 2nd card seperately and install myself,bought 4 gigs of ram elsewhere also).I returned laptop to get ripley design(came out 2 weeks after receiving skullcap).this time I went with qx9300 and have to say it's night and day.I overclocked it to 3.07 and runs nice with not much of a temp difference.if I were buying it now I would skip ssd and only get 1 3870.you can upgrade drive yourself cheaper.4870's will be out soon save money get 2 of those later.put the money towards CPU now.go with minimum ram and buy bettar ram elsewhere like the OCD 1333.

 

I like the idea of buying the RAM at base and adding on at a later time.

Will there be an noticeable difference, one which will justify the difference in price between the q9100 and qx9300?

So far though, not hearing any horror stories. Some regrets.

 

Why did you skip SSD?

 

the price at this moment is not that great and AW supercharges so if you wer to get a SSD then go to newegg.com and get one

 

SSD's are expensive now. i would get http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148374

 

YES if you intend to do video editing.

And if you expect to use SSD for it dont you need a lot of space for video and right now SSD isnt there yet.

 

I'm not saying to skip the ssd just get it somewhere else you'll save money.you can still use whatever hard drive comes with pc as second drive for storage.

 

dude AW offers a 256 gig SSD i wonder how much it is

 

i think it is the samsung one that is suppose to be released.

 

Yes, it's the samsung. Multi-Cell.

 

I think I will stick w/ the 128gb SSD. At the moment I don't need much more space as I'm still working short films and have yet to write something full-length worthwhile enough to film.

 

I'd get the cheapest HD and upgrade to a Intel X-25 or OCZ Apex off of Newegg.

 

Seriously that 128 will be choking when you put your video into it. Dont waste the money on SSD now wait for the bigger ones to come down in price before you invest. For now get a good 7200 hd that has the space.

Also consider getting an external array and use that esata port. You can set it up to any Raid you want and work it seriously. Film/Video is a hog on hard drives don't underestimate it no matter how small the project.

 

the SSD isnt the problem SSD are amazing get one ssd and a 500gig secondary

thats the best performance option

 

get the 7200.4 500gb seagate from newegg like i did...it averages just under 80mb/s for the transfer rate....close to some ssd's for much cheaper

 

the HDD won't come close in terms of search speed...

 

I'm seeing conflicting views here. In the end I think I'll go with the SSD w/ RAID on the eSata, maybe drop a secondary HDD upon arrival. Now it's just a question of the q9100 or qx9300.

btw YOU GUYS ARE FRACKIN' AWESOME

 

ssd / qx9300

nuff said

 

definitely go qx9300...but as for ssd - IMO they're still not quite what they should be for the price in terms of speed, and WAY too small in terms of capacity - no bang for your buck there

From what I've been reading the read speed and search speed are a lot higher on the SSD's but the write speed is not so fast...

 

all depends on personal viewpoint.
i have the ssd, would never go back to an hdd for an internal drive again.
i use hdd's now for external storage and that is it.

 

I have nothing against SSD only the price and capacity is not there yet, if it were within reason to get then all for it.

 

Am I making a mistake not waiting for the 4870? It's like what? Just a few weeks away?

 

The Mobility HD 4870 is rumored to be compatible with the M17/OCZ Whitebook, but I have my doubts based on the power requirements.

If I were buying the Alienware M17, my only regret would be that it doesn't look as cool and isn't as unique as the M17X. I reviewed both (mine was a regular OCZ Whitebook and not Alienware's verison, but they're basically the same) and while the M17 is easily the better value, the M17X is nicer aesthetically. The M17 is an older-style design.

For audio/video editing, I suggest this configuration:
-Q9100 (or QX9300 if you can afford it)
-4GB RAM (get the minimum from Alienware and upgrade it yourself)
-7200RPM hard drive (preferably in RAID 1 for mirrored data security), or the SSD (upgrade to an SSD yourself if you want to go that route; there are great differences in performance among brands)
-WUXGA 1920x1200 display

 

Not rumored anymore, confirmed

 

yeaaaaaaaaaaa what he said

 

Agree with Chaz. i had an M17X and now have the M17. Liked the looks, build quality and keyboard of the M17X but the M17 is a better performer.

 

I'm seeing an amazing difference between the 3870 and 4870. Me thinks the price difference will be considerable.

 

no the 3870 prices will drop and the 4870s will sit bout 50 more but not much more then that ATI would have to be a idiot to super price there cards in this economey

 

I'm having trouble finding an exact release date for the 4870. May just wait to order when that drops.

I'm seeing "horror stories" on these forums with the M17 but I want to assume that they are the minority.

 

CHAZ
I'm considering your presented option.
What RAM and SSD would/could you recommend?

 

what horror storys are you reading there are no overheating issues or case crackings...ur smokeing something lol and the SSD depends how much you wanna spend and the OCZ ram is nice make sure its DDR 3

 

Corsair and OCZ have good ram.

As far as the 4870 I see that teamed up with the new intel cpu coming and along with W7 that is going to be a killer combination. And it should all converge around May/June even though they say W7 wont be out until later this year. With all the good feedback they are getting I wouldnt be surprised they moved up the release.

 

As a company though, how do you guys feel about Alienware? Are they consistent with the builds?

 

pretty consistant about 90 percent i would say are sent out proablem free coarse no company has a perfect record lol i love my m17 its perfect runs cool as low as 45c at idle

 

I''m Corsaid DDR three. I'l vouch for 'em.

 

I'm on xoticpc now and am seeing a good reason to change my mind on the M17. Force Extreme 840

 

It's the exact same notebook but with a gloss finish

 

about to place the order aswell.

for the ssd: im using the nb for business-use aswell (design, development etc.) and of course the cs3/cs4 aswell. as prices for ssd are expected to drop enourmously during the year, im using my (old) 2x 160 gb raid 0 intern, and the new 320gb hdd that comes with the notebook as external storrage - via the eSate there should be no prob. during the year i will replace the internal drives with 2x 128 gb ssd in raid 0, thaz should be sufficient for a while

for the gpu: im also thinking to wait for the 4870 as crossfire, but no1 is able to name the release date, a aw-salesperson told me last week, that its not sure, if it will be offered, and-most of all- no idea about the price for xfire with the new card.

for the cpu: id also like to see the q9000 available as an option, has a great price/value. sure, the q´x9300 is more powerfull, but at a give budget, and if i think what gets me more benefit, id save the additional price for the qx9300 and get me the sdd-stripeset.

just my 0,02 €

 

Lowered price but glossy finish + missing Alien head is good enough reason for me to get Alienware M17 .

 

No California sales tax if I go with Xotic, and better customer service.

 

You can overclock and still be covered with warranty with Xotic. Cannot OC M17 unless you changed to OCZ bios but then your warranty with Alienware is no more.