M17x Refresh Discussion

Added 3 sections to the first post, further elaborating on the next refresh desires.

Feel free to add/change/debate to the newly added areas. :]

 

Awww damn, what to do now??
I mean, I'm ready to buy myself this new M17X, with the QX9300 processor and the Dual ATI 4870 GDDR5...
But if a new m17x is released with Core i7 and maybe some cooler features 2 months after I buy this one, I'll be really sad =(
However, I've been waiting for quite some time already to buy an Alienware laptop for me and I'm not sure I can wait any longer =P

 

I was in that kind of dilema too but I made up my mind. If you are always waiting for new technology products, you gonna wait forever. And in this case we do not even know when will be a refreshment of M17x nor its new features except Core i7 is the only obvious update.

 

Speaking of refreshes... how long you guys think it takes for ATI to release a mobile DX11 (5870, for example) card? And then, how long does it take for alienware to put one in their systems?

 

Don't hold your breath on the Ati stuff

 

which is pretty funny, since most of us thought they would release mobile gpus first, and desktop following..

..sad day for us :C

 

they seem to say that alot and never do lol

It was about 6 months before the Radeon 4000 mobile parts started becoming common from when the desktop ones launched

Don't even get me started on nvidia haha

 

Mobile 5000 goes into production next month. I guarantee it will be in notebooks by February.

 

Where did you find that info?

 

I guaruntee you will be dissapointed. And even if it does, will most likely NOT be the top end parts but the mid-low end stuff that they will sell 100x more of

 

Well, check this out:
AMD to Push DirectX 11 Into Laptops Early Next Year

Here's a very interesting quote from the article:

Even if they launch it on Q1 2010, how long you guys think it will take for alienware to use them on a laptop?

 

Updated the thread to reflect the discovery of the disappointing GDDR3 :/

 

About the USB feature, intel declared they will start supporting USB 3.0 in 2011. So my geuss is that pretty much kills the feature for a m17x refresh. Unless they try it out on high-end systems in 2010 but even then its pretty sure laptops will be on a later date.

 

Upon seeing your reply..I looked it up and read it myself.

It's quite sad, maybe they're pushing it back for their own benefit? (Their "Light Peak" tech) Which I admit, is quite a leap when compared to USB 3.0's 3.2 Gb/s as opposed to 10, with the claimed potential of up to 100 on Light Peak.

Or as the article suggests, they're concentrated on other more 'important' things.."improving the Nehalem CPU architecture's new QPI and DMI buses, and on implementing double-speed, 5GHz PCI Express 2.0 and 6Gb/s Sata."

 

there is no point in lamenting the lack of USB 3.0....how many devices today have maxed out USB 2.0? Any? Even one?

 

All I really want refreshed is the GPU.

 

From wikipedia:
"Intel claimed that Light Peak equipped systems will begin to appear in 2010."

So I think its safe to assume that they're pushing their technology onto the market. Which I honestly don't mind.. if it can do what they claim it can; which if it does, it'll most probably become the new standard.

 

Removed usb 3.0 as it doesn't seem to be very popular xD

Should I put up light peak in its place?

 

Well since they control the market it probably will be like that, good call. well keep both its a discussion after all

 

Frankly, all I would like to see is this in the M17x:

RGBLED Screen (hopefully 16:10 but not likely)
Core i7
Dual Graphics Cards (SLI or CF - ideally next gen cards - 5800 series or GT300)

 

Alright, added a section for both under the debatable area :]

I actually prefer 16:9...its much more widely supported, and as sleey0 pointed out a while back, its a wider screen.

 

I always lean towards as much vertical resolution as possible, for web pages and office programs it is always utilized by me

 

External hard drives?.

Touche

 

e-sata crushes USB for externals...and is becoming commonplace in laptops

 

Epiphan DVI2USB Solo

Bottleneck? USB 2.0

 

that is true, didn't think about video outputs via USB...but they are never as good as the real deal

 

I did found one so there must be more. and there will be more in the future so something new like USB 3.0 has to come and then new things like the epiphan will work alot better

 

As has been posted in another thread, NVIDIA's driver page IS INDEED announcing drivers for it's GeForce 300M Series
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
You guys think that they could actually be released together with the Desktop 300 series? And if so, Alienware could refresh m17x with i7 and those cards?

 

only thing i'd like to see in an M17x refresh is a better screen with much faster response time, ideally 2-5ms, 20ms is a joke =[

 

Alienware could definitely refresh the m17x with i7 and those cards, but I dont see anything on that page pointing to the 300 series? I'm thinking im overlooking something..

20ms? ....that really is a joke

whats the response time for the display on the M15x?

 

dont forget the 12mb cache of qx9300 in comparison with 8mb cache in i7 920XM. the only thing i know is that cache is important for speed. more techniqal experts can add something here.

thus they dont refer if the qx9300 was overclocked or not (mine is at 3.07 ghz now) . if during tests qx9300 was at 2.53ghz it is logical that i7 920xm would perform better as its auto overclocked while qx9300 is manually overclocked.

and if i am not wrong when i1 920XM is auto overclocked at 3.2ghz only two cores work. thats what i figured out from my research.

 

According to Dell:

Source:
http://www.dell.com/us/en/eep/lapto...ware-m17x/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-alienware-m17x

The XPS M1730 featured a 7ms response time LCD. As a previous owner, I have to say the LCD on the M17x looks much nicer, both in-game and under normal conditions (IMO).

 

Not really. With the removal of the FSB on the i7 and the integrated memory controller on die, there is much less need for cache. Every benchmark I've seen shows that the 1.73Ghz i7 is neck and neck with the 2.53Ghz Core 2 Quad. If you extrapolate that out you can pretty much guarantee that the 2Ghz i7 would thrash the 2.53Ghz Core 2 Quad.

 

No doubt the 920 would dominate the QX9300 @ stock..which still drives my curiousity to see a matchup between an i7 920M, and an overclocked QX9300.

That would be interesting :]

 

I believe someone should start a benchmark m15x thread. This will make them come out of the closet.

 

been away from the forums for a while. quite an interesting thread. read the first few pages, then jumped here.

my $0.02 / procrastinations about my M17x buy, +ve and -ve:
1. i'm very happy i bought it

2. we all know that almost all bleeding-edge stuff is outdated in 3-6 months (6 months if you're being a little practical)

3. buying something that's at end-of-life is a bad idea :-/ even if it's bleeding edge. the qx9300 i already knew was 2 dual cores put together rather than 4-cores-on-one. but...there is unlikely to be an upgrade to the CPU and GPU upgrade was always under question (the ati 4870s).

4. so, i should've either bought the alienware with dual 8800s back in Jan '08 or 9800s in June(?) '08 when i had the moolah for it but not the means OR waited till Jan-Mar '10 to get the i7s.

5. on that note - the fact that the i7s will boost the speed (even if to only 2 cores when it does that), games will benefit more from that than they do from the qx9300. though, there are a few games that appear to utilize quads well.

6. a cutting edge i7 in Q1 of 2010 will take u 1-1.5 yrs easy, as would the qx9300 (or T something dual core that does 3.5 GHz OCed) bought in july '09. and then u can upgrade to the next/last cutting edge i7, assuming that whatever next architecture there is doesn't use the same mobo socket; which takes you another 1 yr. this i won't be able to enjoy with the current M17x.

in short, i know things stop being cutting edge soon, but being able to or having the option to upgrade without needing a whole new system is a major plus point...and can save you a lot of cash while still owning an awesome rig.

i know all that sounds mostly -ve...just ]$ `thinking out` >> nbr

also, to whoever got 3.06 GHz on the QX9300 - what settings? my fsb doesn't seem friendly to anything above 1066 MHz. bechmarks and stress tests fine for 1 hour+ but usually as soon as the test ends and i'm about to post here, it BSODs :-/

 

in any case if dell decides to upgrade M17X will we have the option to upgrade current machines? i mean just call dell and tell them i want to upgrade this and this? and if we can what happens with quarantee? it will be renewed?

 

if anything, they will allow you to order a new motherboard and cpu IF it is in the EXACT same case as the current M17x, it not, then you are SOL on getting i7 without buying a whole new machine

 

if i am to buy a whole new machine then i wont. even if i have the option to upgrade this will be after one year when guarantee will end.

 

The cpu is not what will cause poor gaming performance anyway, the i7 may game better, but not by much. What is important is that you have the MXM 3.0b slots which will allow future GPUs to be fitted into your machine, that is what will really matter

 

I wonder how the games work when the cpu changes core so dynamically. I could see some potential problems there.

 

A lot depends on how much the Window's APIs handle it really. I think it will be like everything else... spotty support for a few months, then stabilizing.

 

Cores change speed with core 2 architecture as well, just not as many in between stages (also not changing the number of threads dynamically as cores are shut off and turned on)

 

Do we know yet if the upcoming Nvidia/ATI cards are MXM 3.0b compliant?

 

I think this is the MOST important question of all.
I wish we could have a firm 100% "YES" as an answer.
We'll have to wait a few more weeks till the first mobile 5xxx and 300Gseries surface.

 

What else would they be......MXM 3.0b is BRAND NEW. MXM 2 was around for a few years, so I think it is safe to assume 3.0b is going to the norm for some time (at least long enough for these cards to come out)

I dont see these new discrete chips being built onto a motherboard....

 

built onto the motherboard? wouldn't that generate an excess of heat than if it was not on-board.

 

In most laptops, the GPU is built onto the same fiberglass board as the cpu and motherboard. Only these highend discretes make it onto a dedicated MXM board from what I have seen.

 

Grappling Hook, built right into the chassis, If you dont have a reason for one, then you're just not that serious of a gamer.

 

Even if it is complaint , you probably have to mod the laptop for a better cooling.