New Alienware m17 discussion

i think 17in is bulky

 

But it's still not downloadable from myHive yet for my M15X. Is this just a UK site delay or they forgot about all M15X and M17X users now that there's a new notebook?

 

Check out this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=316001

those are not good scores.

FarCry2 - 1920x1200 with no AA and settings set to ultra, CPU overclocked to 3.3Ghz and he gets 26fps average.

with my GTX SLI at WSXGA with 2xAA I get 50fps average

 

WUXGA is very sharp. Once you go WUXGA, you dont go back.

And dont mind phodoma, hes the biggest xoticpc fanboi on this forum.

 

Why is everyone saying this is a copy of the whitebook? Aren't they all the same case that the m9700/m9750 uses?

Therefore the Whitebook "stole" it from Alienware.. and Alienware reused the same case...

 

I merged all the m17 threads into this one. Please use this thread for all m17 discussion and questions.

 

its a competitor, having similar specs is expected... how is that in anyway stealing... ?

its funny, they are still using the same chassis they started with with the m9700.

 

Its expensive enough.

If you stay with 1440x900, you don't need Crossfire, it will do nothing much at that res. But if you upgrade to 1920x1200, you pretty much need Crossfire, a single 3870 won't cut it at that res.

So the 'upgrade' is £327 (screen + X2). 33% on top of the base price. That's pretty expensive in my book.

 

Kinda. The M9700 and the M9750 are the first generation cases/chassis when the ODM was Arima. When Arima's notebook and server division was bought by Flextronics (same company responsible for the XBox 360), they decided to refresh the chassis a bit with the Centrino 2 platform and some other physical changes such as thickness. After Alienware's first contract with Arima expired, OCZ sought a contract with Flextronics to redistribute this chassis (similar to what Sager does with Clevos). OCZ originally wanted to make this a DIY notebook, but then made it exclusive to system builders...and now they're going back to offering it as a DIY chassis (according to their website).

People think that Alienware "stole" it from OCZ because all this happened before they (Alienware) officially released the M17.

 

Wow, I didn't see that coming. It's a step back for Alienware to rebrand other company's laptops, which is what they've been staying away from. Still, it has a matte finish throughout the laptop instead of the all-glossy design of the Whitebook and Alienware beats out other prices you'll find on it. I think that Alienware is going back to rebranding laptops for a few reasons:

Not enough money to design a notebook from the ground up after all of the complaints with the m15x.

Selling a rebranded laptop will let them sell it at a much cheaper price than it would if they designed it.

It really was Alienware's design to begin with. Who knows how much of it Arima designed. Arima built the chassis for the old MacBook Pro and we know that Apple wouldn't let another company design their laptops, so it probably was Alienware's design. Maybe Alienware sold the design to OCZ to pay back for their losses with the m15x (more than 3/4 of the people on the forum that bought it and posted about it before any problems returned theirs, so there was probably a good amount of owners that returned it.). It does look pretty tempting to get a good config for $2k, but I'm not sure if I want a 17"...

 

Actually, I don't at all think this is a step back as having more laptops out there offered by several other resellers increases that particular models laptop base. The more there are out there, the greater amount of support there is on it (at least, this is what I'd like to believe).

I've been looking for something to replace my aging m9750 for some time now as Alienware had exclusivity to the Arima chassis in North America. I enjoyed the form factor so much that I was planning on purchasing an OCZ whitebook from someone.. either Killernotebooks or RKComputers but I hated the standard glossy finish and I would have to customize the laptop.

The benefits (for me) of purchasing from Alienware vs purchasing from another reseller are as follows:
- 'Free' custom stealth black finish with rubber matting (I liked this on the m9750 even though the rubber can wear off rather quickly on the edges if you're not careful)
- Skullcap lid design. I'm 32 years olf and it still apeals to me. It's classic Alienware.
-Alienware's exclusive font on the keyboard. I really like the look of this on the m15x and m17x. Nice to see they're adding it to the m17.
- Last and most importantly, I can PROBABLY get away with passing this new laptop off as my old m9750 without getting an earful from my wife.

Looking at Alienware's prices after customizing, I would say they are VERY competetive with the other resellers especially with the paint job and the exclusive keyboard design (it's just a different font, I know, but I like it).

Reason's why I didn't like m15x or m17x
- m15x didn't come in black.
- Alienware never officially said anything about the hinge issue
- reports about how Alienware's technician's fix issues appear poor. See Stone825's experience.
- m17x doesn't have skullcap design.
- Both m15x and m17x have aging tech and WAY overpriced for what they offer and perform.
- Having an exclusive design does not equal a great machine. If anything it's worse.

 

I dont know if i want to buy the m17 now, i want good performance when I play my games, and 26 fps for Far Cry 2 and 17 fps for Crysis is not gonna cut it when you get better fps for both games with an 8800 GTX and a 9800 GT

 

If you read the OCZ section of NBR.. theres a link to Xotic PC's forum.. where they show in multiple games and programs that a single 9800GTX beats out dual 3870's in crossfire.

 

Sums it up perfectly. It was kind of a joke but you know. AW saw a good opportunity with the M17 and they took it. Honestly I am A FAN OF THIS NOTEBOOK!. Haha I don't think you guys would ever hear me say that. It seems to have the build quality of the M9750 (which I love) and it also has a sweet setup. I don't see anything wrong with this notebook at all.

The whole stealing thing was kind of a lame attempt at a joke which kinda wasn't a joke...

 

Alienware only designed the lid (or contracted Arima to design it). Otherwise, the chassis is all Arima. During the same time Alienware unveiled the M9700, the W830 chassis was sold in Europe as the Evesham/Quest Nemesis and in Asia as the Gigabyte W756N. Alienware also did this with Clevo and Uniwill (resold notebooks made by them, but with a reworked BIOS screen and the custom lid design).

 

I know, was too lazy to think up of a more relevant word at the time.

I also too love this notebook. When I got my hands on it, I was amazed how everything was laid out and designed; from the hard drive bays to the GPUs, memory, etc. After hearing about OCZ's DIY notebook based off the Compal IFL90, I said to myself (and wrote on a forum) that if OCZ were to introduce a gaming 17 inch DIY notebook, they should use this chassis.

...Then in mid July I hear about OCZ's Whitebook.

And I hope Alienware replaces your M9750 with the M17. For you to go through so much trouble with them and this thing about the slave 8700M GT, they should compensate you for your troubles.

 

I'm sure that's true, but I'm not willing to pay upwards of $750 bucks for a single card. nVidia has really gotten greedy/arrogant over the years and have overpriced their video cards. If it weren't for ATi releasing their 4870 series at $300, we'd still be seeing g280's and g260s in the $600/500 range. Hell, I think the g280 was almost as high as $700 on it's initial release. No thanks, I'll be supporting ATi this round and hopefully they'll work on their drivers to improve performance in the games like Crysis and Far Cry.

 

That still doesnt change the fact that right now 9800m GT's in sli>3870 Mobilities in crossfire but I am going to wait and see because I really like the pricing on the m17

 

Seems that from everything I've read the 3870's would be better than 9800gtx if they had better drivers..

Even in the benchmarks that XoticPC did between the single 9800gtx and the 3870's in crossfire, the 3870's had insanely high max FPS's, much higher than the 9800gtx, but the 9800gtx just did better overall.. I think thats a good indicator that the 3870's would do better if they had good drivers..

IDK.. i'd still prefer 9800 cause I'm a huge Nvidia fan.. but Grey728 is very right that Nvidia is way overpriced right now.

 

... but it doesn't and ATI is known for their poor support in the driver department so I wouldn't expect any huge speed bumps anytime soon. Also I dont think that drivers will provide at least 30fps to bring it to GTX SLI level in the most demanding games.

 

I am leaning towards the M17x because of the 9800 GT's even though the m17 is really nice with its Quad core processors and DDR3 RAM, but if they can get the 3870's up to par then ill get the m17

 

For the money you'd save going with the m17.. you could wait and chances are good that they will bring the 4870's to this laptop..

Or maybe an m17x refresh will have 4870's or gtx 280's or something..

This is why I love the computer industry.. theres ALWAYS something new around the corner.. always..

I bought my m15x a month ago for $2300 including shipping and tax.. I could get a much better m17 right now for around the same price... I'm still not disappointed though.. Now I just want to buy an m17 to go with my m15x...

 

DAM new low price for m15x and m17
$1299 $1399 CAD respectively
the m15x is way out of the question b/c
of the plastic build, im not ballin' enough to
send it back and forth for repair,
i just want a base model with killing looks,
if anyone is buying a m17, please tell us the quality,
is it the same godly durable magnesium alloy build as the m9750?

 

where do u see 1399 CAD for m17?

 

err it's right there... base specs for everything starts at 1399
im talking about m17, not m17x

http://www.alienware.com/products/m17-notebook.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-M17&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT

from $1399 as low as $42/month

 

what he said lol!

 

Man I really want the M17... I can get the M17 with more power than my current m15x with less money... ***???

 

Is there any chance I can send my, old m15x back and get store credit? God im drooling over the m17...

 

use the alien trade in program

 

Yeah right, BTW congrats on your purchase... Maybe if I complain of a lot of problems with my m15x they might give me store credit... What do you all think???

 

go for it dude. u know with the trade in program they might give u 500 bucks haha

 

Do you see "CAD" by 1399?

 

no unfortunatley i live in canada to and if the dollars was still good i could get even more of a beast o well a q9100 and 3870x2 is still huge~!

 

OMG you're right! i am so wrong... cuz i didn't activate cookies
so even when i went to alienware.ca, it links me back to alienware.com

sigh.. i was really looking forward to buying it
thanks for the correction

 

But it's still cheaper than anything in canada.

FGS, it's cheaper than XPS M1730 with dual 8700m.

I don't care if 3870 CF can't beat 8800m gtx sli, it's only 2k CAD.
I know US has many good deals, but Canada doesn't.

 

i only want the looks, cuz i don't need the parts..
i have AMD 64 3000 at home with 1GB ram and it's
sufficient... i just want a good looking laptop
for me to use in university , typing notes, listening to music,etc
i wouldnt care if the m17 use integrated graphics
i guess i can only turn to acer aspire 8920/8930 or dell studio with
centrino2 update

 

if you are into looks, then we are on different topic.

I, for one, care about inside more than outside.

 

Both are equally important. And theres nothing wrong with making looks just as important.

 

Nice avatar. I see you're psyched about your new m15x purchase?

 

would u guys go for the x9100 or the q9100? which one would get the best 3dmark 06 scores? is alienware allowing ocing in this notebook? please answeres?

 

if you want gaming, x9100. If you do some crazy professional video edit or drafting or 3d animation, then you should consider q9100. Or you can buy 9100 for around $1000 later thru retailers.

 

Yeah oceanus, that and I'm bored, and don't want to start my algebra homework.

 

is alienware allowing overclocking now?

 

hey chaz, is there any chance that you will review the m17

 

Dual Core is probably better for gaming as they said. Not sure how many games would use all 4 cores in a Quad efficiently.

 

well i think im just going to stick with my q9100 just for the fact thats it better multitasking and lots of gamer r coming out with quad support. plus for the pure fact of saying i have a quad core notebook that doesnt look like a huge plastic box. aka sager 9262

 

comon peeps does ny1 no if aw will allow oc in this notebook? cause if they do i might reconsider and get the x9100

 

lol hey! at least i get my moneys worth, so far im in love with the whitebook, if u like aw then get the m17 no doubt but i would expect aw to do something of their own beside using the whitebook chassis AGAIN! i know is good and everything but aw own by dell make your own chassis proof to us you can too but NO

 

It's at your discretion. Any damages that might result from OC'ing the GPU or the GPU may likely void your warranty.

 

no but i hear that aw locks the bios even on the extreme models so u cant oc.