New Alienwares 2016

Noob here. What does it mean if it has 180w?

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180W GTX 1080 needs supreme cooling and Pascal is hot, Plus has this hard throttling with every temp in rise there's an immediate fall in clocks as It's super sensitive to the Temperatures, If not sufficient cooling it wont hold the boost clocks for more time, Although they are arriving so late at November.

 

You're been my buddy here for a long time, Brother GTO. I don't want to see you waste any hard-earned money on something that is going to be a massive disappointment to you. My recommendation is to not even entertain the idea of purchasing another Alienware product again for the rest of your life. Based on your past interests and the products in your signature, Alienware doesn't offer anything that will meet your needs. Skunks never lose their stripes. The path they are on as a company leads in a direction 180° opposite of where you want to go.

Don't consider anything other than a Clevo with socketed K-series desktop CPU and MXM slot(s). P775 or P870 is where you belong. Anything else available in a current generation notebook is either a half-breed turdbook (soldered CPU) or full-on purebred turdbook (both CPU and GPU soldered filth).

My personal recommendation would be P870DM2/3 since it does not have the wimpy unified heat sink design of the P7XX series. DM2 has single GPU and DM3 is SLI (otherwise same machine).

 

This might be an interesting alternative for you K addicts: http://www.eurocom.com/ec/configure(2,384,0)ec

 

I believe that is an MSI 16L1 barebones model with socketed CPU. Unfortunately, MSI doesn't sell it as part of their normal product line. Don't understand why... very weird deal. If they would do the same with their Titan notebook line they would have a winner.

I believe it is limited in its ability to accept 1080 or the full-powered 1070. I think it only supports the gimped 1070, 1060 versions (no external power input) and older MXM GPUs.

Here is one for sale on eBay: MSI Gaming Laptop DIY Barebone kit 15.6" Skylake Nvidia GTX 980M 8GB GDDR5 GSYNC

 

Oh no. I want the laptop you linked me. I was trying to educate myself. I knew AW is nerfed this days.

I want a 15inch laptop that is portable cuz I may be traveling next year. Haha. My Sager is a bit heavy haha.

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You get that off your chest. Feel better now?

Ok now head back to Clevo forums and let a few people chat about the new AW line. Thanks.

 

C'mon, brother. Brother Fox means well. Besides, we got no new info for these Aw. Brother Fox was extremely helpful for us AW previous owners before. He used to love the brand and collected multiple AW laptops. You got to admit, friend. AW is nerfed.

I admit, I like the design and I was considering one (AW15 1070 or 1080AW17).

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Nope, I feel the same as before. Still sad about the mess Dell has made of Alienware. I am impartial when it comes to helping people make informed decisions, like what I just did. As you can see, it was appreciated by some. I will be back when necessary, to answer legitimate questions with straight answers.

Take note, this is the main Alienware sub-forum, so anything goes. You don't see me in the BGA threads because I respect the freedom of people to make their own decisions. My presence there would not be appreciated because their minds are already made up. Anyone seeking candy-coated Milquetoast answers should post in the Alienware BGA threads.

 

Mr. Fox you provide a service to the community, however if you think that service is helping people avoid BGA you are mistaken. The service you do provide is giving people information. I only wish it stopped there. Rhetoric is tiresome and it is the sole reason I stopped visiting this forum until a few weeks ago (for about 3 years).

Laptops are so much more than BGA vs LGA. Laptops for most people including myself are an experience. I will either like or hate a laptop product based on the experience I have while using it. There are so many factors to this that can't be found in a spec sheet. For one thing, having people ask you what laptop you have because it is well designed, that's worth something to some people. For another, just being able to boot it up and not have to spend 50 hours tweaking it can be a plus.

I don't believe there is any one be-all-end-all laptop out there. One person might need a Clevo, another might need a Dell. I recently had to recommend a Dell to my little brother because of budget. I couldn't talk him into raising his budget (significant other was a factor). He got the Inspiron 7559 and he will probably be happy with it for a while. That's good for him, not for you or me.

The reason I'm tired of your rhetoric and I'm a bit salty about it is you are putting people off. That's great that you love your Clevo non-BGA. I'm happy for you. Not so great that you can't stop repeating yourself and it is leaking into AW forums. You seem to have drawn some line for yourself that you believe is BGA or non-BGA but I don't see that in the forum description.

For the sake of just being informational and allowing people to explore other laptop experiences than the sole 2 models you would recommend for every laptop enthusiast in the world, please keep it informational. Turdbook? Not necessary. Listing the reasons why a person might not want AW laptop? Makes perfect sense to me. Here's an example:

* They have always charged more than competitors
* Cust service is abysmal since Dell acqusition
* Design is like taking a Lamborghini to an Audi convention
* Track record of generally ripping gamers off

I respect brother Fox that you have helped out and you are in good repute here. I am merely imploring you along with a few others I have see ( @Galm17 talking to you) to stop turning users away from the forum. If we don't have users, we don't have a forum. If you want to preach the rhetoric, go get a twitch channel and rant all day, k?

 

I appreciate what you are trying to say, and your good intentions behind saying those things. But, it's not rhetoric and many do appreciate knowing what the limitations are for BGA. People come to forums looking for straight answers and many don't have a clue there is a difference. This is especially true of people looking to buy their first Alienware because of the company's past reputation. They do not know how far the brand has fallen and wrongly assume they are getting a high performance enthusiast-grade product. Those of us that know better have a duty to help them avoid making mistakes based on assumptions.

 

If you walk in the Throttlestop guide, You will see a lot of notebook owners complain about their purchases duo based on their own experience!! Better to know what you will/want buy forehand.

 

Please cite how I'm turning users away from the forum. I was encouraging speaking in a mature fashion. I also haven't said anything about the new Alienwares at all... I'm pretty happy about the refresh to be honest, it was overdue. I also am not on the BGA crusade. Please leave me out of this. If I do recall your the one who gave me rep for that post in the first place, and yet now you say I'm scaring off users.

Literally my sole gripe about the new Alienware line is the lack of GSync, otherwise they seem fine. The new aesthetic is nice, and I like the thinner profile they now offer, along with the new screens.

 

Perhaps I didn't type quite clearly enough, but I was in fact calling you for backup. I don't have the same rep level as you and I've seen you trying to ease people down from their BGA perches. Not intending to stifle any form of BGA talk but just trying to gently nudge that we are beating a dead horse.

For what it's worth I've never liked AW, but I'm eager to see how the new line fares same as all the other new Pascal laptops. Just really excited about all the new products.

 

Sorry then, the context of that looked like you meant he and others (then tagging me implying I'm doing it too) are pushing users away.

I think Alienware is making some moves in the right direction here. They are BGA, but they are slimming down, one of the things I like to see in BGA laptops. The new screens are also great, but I don't know why they aren't GSync certified (anyone know if that's coming?). I personally ignored them pretty heavily for the last year as I didn't see many benefits to them over similar options (with the exception of battery life), but now they have some sweet options like a QHD 120Hz display! That's something worth taking a look at now.

 

But, they, the 15 and 17, do have G-Sync. It's an upgrade option, though, and comes with their respective 120Hz displays.

 

I'm actually ordering it.. Eurocom via e-mail stated they will start shipping these on the 23rd. And for the rest of you, this is a MSI 16L1 barebones (GT62VR) body with proven quiet fans and good cooling (at least on the 6700HQ/1070 setup from MSI). I'm afraid of how well it will cool with a 6700K. With a 330watt PSU option, there should be plenty of room for overclocking at least.

 

Awesome! I thought I couldn't find it in the listing or original announcement.

 

Surprised not much talk about the 15" 120hz panel (which is a first apparently?).. I can't even find AUO/ChiMei/LG, etc. product numbers for any 120hz 15" panels in existence.. The part numbers I would have expected to be public knowledge by now.

I'm waiting for the disappoint to roll in when AW says they made an advertisement goof saying there's no 15" 120hz panel and that 17" is only getting 120hz (via TN panel) which shares the same panel from the Sagers and MSIs, etc.

 

Not finding its part number doesn't surprise me. It was the same case with the 13 R1's QHD display, where its part number was similar but not 1:1 to other 13.3" QHD displays. Not sure why, though.
That said, do MSI and Clevo use a QHD 120Hz 17" panel in their laptops?

 

No it's a 17" 1080p 120hz TN "17.3 inch 16:9, 1920x1080 pixel 127 PPI, TN LED, Name: Chi Mei N173HHE-G32, ID: CMN1747, glossy: no" (Taken from Notebookcheck).

So far the only 120hz 17" panel in use. I guess it's possible Dell was able to get a special 15" made.. I'm hoping it's a IPS 120hz though.. I know response/gray-to-gray won't be as fast as TN but I don't care, still prefer the wide viewing angels of IPS.. I'm sensitive to TN shift.

After using my 75hz LG IPS on my G751 (overclocked to 100hz) for a year, it's hard to not want something as close to this panel, it's gorgeous.

 

"The 15" FHD 120Hz display is designed to deliver the smoothest gaming experience with 4ms response time, wide viewing angles, 400 nits of brightness and NVIDIA G-sync technology on select modules."
"The 17" QHD 120Hz display is designed to deliver the smoothest gaming experience with 4ms response time, wide viewing angles, 400 nits of brightness, and NVIDIA G-Sync technology on select modules."
I'm putting my money on those being TN panels. I'll be surprised if they're IPS. Still, they are high refresh panels, and I found high refresh rates to be pleasing to the eye.

 

Yeah I read that too, but you can say "Wide viewing angles" all you want and still be TN like they used to say in the past before IPS started making it's way on laptops

 

They have been confirmed by Eddy and Frank to be IPS panels with G-Sync. (via chat)

Not be rude but with the latest things happening with some Clevos (i.e. Warped heat sinks, cant properly use new MXM cards on old systems, 100c temps out of the box for SLI models)...
It would seem that there are no laptops on the market currently that you would suggest based on your standards. So what should people do? Not buy a laptop until one lives up to your standards?
"Dont waste your time here people, this laptop is going to suck."

Please don't knock the new systems till we can confirm how they are.
There has been a couple of times that AW dropped the ball and many times they haven't.
They have the dough and people to "possibly" make a good move.
I personally think its very counter productive to knock systems that haven't even been released yet.

By all means if they release these new ones and the Wattage isn't what they promised, preach on brotha.
If they do some wack shenanigans with the power supplies again, preach on brotha.
If they just plain suck, preach on brotha.
Until then please stay impartial or in the least bit don't spread all the negativity.

At the end of the day the intent of these forums is for a place for Alienware owners and people interested to chat and find info.
Alienware is not going anywhere, there are plenty of other gaming laptops that actually horrible and still get sold.
Rest assured that if they have major flaws or suck that bad, plenty of people will be posting about it. Let nature take its course.

Also I wouldn't exactly say just because one doesn't buy a desktop laptop like a Clevo, that they are not an enthusiast.
I would say the word "enthusiast" is in the the eye of the beholder. I have myself and many other people have taken these "BGA Turdbooks" and do some enthusiast things do them.
Plus now that we have 1080 pascal cards coming with full TDP again this gap closes further
I have also heard of people that buy "enthusiast" P870DM laptops and were afraid to even take the thing a part and repaste it. Would you call them "enthusiasts"?
In my opinion if you are spending $3000 - $4000 on a notebook you are an enthusiast.
99.99% of people that are buying these laptops are "enthusiast gamers" We all game.

Anyways, end rant.
As usual much respect, just throwing my opinion out there.

 

I agree...


For those who are wondering what's going on here, let me give you the cliff notes version:

• Alienware used to be the King / Pioneers that offered machines in all different flavors, including ones that catered to the extreme enthusiasts.
  
  
• Dell (Alienware) went private many many years ago and since then the company has just gone down hill in a lot of ways, one in which involves going all out bga and killing the AW18.
  
  
• This move by Dell really kicked the loyal followers and enthusiasts to the curb and since then, it has been nothing but war and outrage among the former AW enthusiasts. Understandable, however what is being projected here is often beyond the scope of focused attacks on Dell/AW, as it is evident...just read the threads...it's more so the haters bashing on future and/or current owners of AW and making them feel bad in order to make themselves feel good.
  
  
• The breakdown (rough exaggerated estimates) are as follows: You have the majority of the consumers who are considered the average gamers etc..who make up about 99.9% of the market share. Then you have extreme enthusiasts who are into benching that make up about 0.01% of the market, if that. Of course there are a good chuck of people who actually need the horsepower and torque for their work load, but here's the thing...
  
  
• Before Pascal, comparing a desktop to a laptop was a joke in terms of sheer power as they are obviously in two completely different categories. Then there are DTR's (Desktop Replacements) equipped with Desktop components, which is also in a class of its own. So there's Mobile Gaming Laptops (MGL), Desktop Replacement Laptops (DTR) and Desktops. Therefore...
  
  
• It makes no logical sense to be comparing a Mobile Gaming Laptop with Mobile chips (bga or not) to Desktop components...follow me? DTR's should be compared to Desktops. Period.
  
  
• However, with the release of Pascal and with capable mobile chips like the 6820HK, the gap between Mobile Gaming Laptops (MGL) and Desktop Replacements (DTR's) have narrowed to almost 1:1 in most categories (real world scenarios).
  
  
• If you take all the popular titles and played them on a Gaming Laptop equipped with a 6820HK/GTX1080 and DTR with a 6700K/GTX1080, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
  
  
• The only areas that a DTR will take off on a Gaming Laptop now is with CPU performance as the 6700K is obviously greater than the mobile 6820HK.

Now if you (the reader) haven't picked up on this by now, remember the whole thing about comparing a mobile chip to a desktop chip? Silly isn't it? Well now that both MGL and DTR's have the same GPU...isn't it obvious that the times have changed and more props would be given to a MGL who's already in a lower class, now being able to run side by side a DTR in almost all real world scenarios?

Ok, then there exists the ignorant who unfortunately make up the majority of the mainstream market share. (Ignorant isn't a bad word, it just means that one does not know. I'm not being derogatory here with saying that.) The majority of the people will buy whatever is given to them pretty much and this is where Dell has gone Apple on leaving behind the true enthusiasts. It's not to say that AW doesn't build great machines, but what is being bashed here is the fact that Dell is going "commando proprietary mode," stripping away the freedom of what once used to be a part of their DNA. It's like Dell/AW got a complete make over or better yet a sex change. No seriously.

So the question is, "Is bga really that bad?"

Answer 1: To a hardcore enthusiast who wants the freedom of LGA/MXM for expandability, flexibility, tinkerability, and did I mention FREEDOM? - YES! Of course bga is NOT wanted and a disgrace to this group of people. Let alone having the door shut in your face by a company who completely neglected the followers....who wouldn't be pissed?! If AW would have just followed through keeping the AW18 alive....that would have solved a lot of these feelings of being neglected.

Answer 2: BGA is heavily misunderstood and a lot of people are forgetting that there is a purpose for bga. It is required for thin form factor and makes a lot of the real world every day stuff practical. Do you know how think your phone would be if it had socketed CPU's and GPU's? Let's be real here...does this mean that bga's suck? No, obviously not. However, due to the nature of not all chips being created equal, anyone who buys a BGA Gaming Laptop is already running into to high probability of having either a poor CPU or GPU derived from bottom end of the barrel. Therefore, you might get lucky to get a decent CPU, but if you get a crappy GPU that can't OC for nothing, well 1+(-1)=0. And vice versa. Follow me? However...

In some cases one may end up with two pretty decent chips and most often times than not, that holds to be true, if running things at stock. Now when I say decent I am referring to the two chips being able to provide the user with stable and decent performances on stock clocks and voltages. Where it all changes is when you try to Over Clock...that is where the bga's fail because of the CPU and GPU being soldered onto the mobo., crippled BIOS etc... ie....SOL.

So in general terms, does bga serve and have a purpose? Absolutely. --

Is bga the ideal road map for high end gaming laptops? Absolutely NOT. Shame on Dell and alike. At least offer a DTR variant.

So then in what cases would bga gaming laptops be acceptable? - Razer is one example. There is a purpose see.... How about the new AW refresh? In order to keep it that thin, it needs to go bga and just because it is bga does not mean that it automatically sucks lol...watch out DTR's ...

While DTR's are having major temp issues out of the box of hitting 90C's with a single 1080 and 100C with 1080SLI, if the new AW17R4 with a 1080 can cool a 1080 better than a DTR, then that is going to make one big statement.

Here is a repost of my earlier write up:

"The thing is, the bashing of bga's are occurring because the current DTR owners are in denial and feel screwed over by Clevo. If you visit the Clevo threads you'll clearly see a lot of folks who are heated over the fact that they can't even upgrade their current DTR along with heat issues. (Ex. Click to be linked to the threads: Complaints, complaints, complaints...granted with some tweaking the temps can be tamed, but still there's a point to this.) (Poor engineering = cramming in desktop components into a plastic box and hoping it'll work. Lack of engineering.) Also due to NDA's put in place by the resellers (not their fault), there has been minimal information within the DTR community to keep the good folks in the looop, then suddenly one day, BAM, the DTR owners get screwed over. Shame on Clevo. Another thing is that MXM is a dying breed and the future looks really grey at best moving forward. Those with the previous models have been screwed over so now that leaves them with options similar in weight to what a bga owner would be faced with. Wait, what's worse right? See it's getting confusing already.

All the while, they are seeing bga's and alike thrive, especially with the roll out of Pascal so this is making them even more in a state of being shunned by what used to be in a league of its own. There are unreasonable thermal issues out of the box with the 1080 and 1080SLI in the Clevo's, which is embarrassing because this clearly demonstrates a lack of quality engineering with the mediocre plastic boxes that these desktop components are being shoved into.

Wouldn't you expect more for a ~$3-4,000+ machine? It's like you're already going into it knowing that you're going to be screwed over with a generic machine. ie...imagine having a Ferrari engine being stuffed into a bare bones rental car. That's pretty much what the Clevo is. Amazing hardware (of course) in a poorly engineered cookie cutter plastic box. It's just the truth and hey, bga's have issues of their own so fair game.

The bga bashing is already lopsided from the get go, because some DTR owners were (and still are *roll eyes*) comparing their desktop components to mobile components, silly I know, but now with Pascal being equipped in both DTR's and gaming bga laptops, the gap has closed even more to literally 1:1 in almost every category. This still doesn't negate the fact that a DTR and a gaming laptop are still in a league of their own due to the CPU's being different, although the 6820HK is able to hold its own as demonstrated by me and others like @Mobius 1 etc...it's more than capable. ( Click here for the thread.)

So now when you look at it from a real world perspective, in almost every category aside to the CPU and possibly the BIOS (Clevo's without Perma is rubbish, even DTR owners will admit to that), a gaming laptop equipped with a pascal gpu and a 6820HK will be on par with a DTR in almost everything, except when it comes to benching (6700K>6820HK).

This is a hard pill to swallow for DTR owners to despise bga machines, let alone seeing the new AW line coming out that are build better with quality materiel than the plastic Clevo boxes. So of course this is going to stir up a lot of internal, jealousy, denial, and the coming of the realization that the days of having a DTR walking circles around a gimped mobile gaming laptop is coming to an end with Pascal and worthy mobile chips like the 6820HK. This is not to say that bga machines don't have issues of their own with crippled BIOS, hardware limitations etc...

Remember that it is already lopsided to be comparing a DTR to a gaming laptop with mobile chip-sets in the first place, therefore, with this much emphasis and effort of the haters coming into threads like this and acting childish only shows the amount of denial they are in, now having been screwed over by Clevo, dealing with thermal issues, lack of upgradability, quality issues and the lack of screen options. Did I mention a dying breed with MXM?

So the real question becomes...what's in it next for bga haters? Having to silently opt for a bga themselves or to inconveniently haul around a desktop because it'd hurt their pride too much to buy a bga? Let's be real...most will buy a bga now that it's coming down to it being the more practical choice. Especially when you can get more than enough power from a bga gaming laptop with Pascal and CPU's like 6820HK for gaming and most all other tasks aside to CPU benching.

I want just as much as any enthusiast for LGA/MXM to stay alive and will support the company who does make an effort to provide these options, because there is a level of freedom and fulfillment in such machines that you'd never get in a bga machine. Most people won't understand this, but for those that know....well...just know...

However, in reality benchmarks really don't mean anything to real world usage. It really boils down to practicality, but that doesn't discount the fact that companies offering LGA/MXM machines for the real enthusiasts shall become extinct just because the overall market will buy what they are given. That's subjective of course...

To each his own..."

The golden questions:

What's worse? ---->

1.) A MXM 1080 that can't keep its cool OR a crippled BGA 1080 that can?

2.) What's the difference between a rig that can't be upgraded past 1 generation (if that) and being forced to buy either a $1200 graphic card and/or a $300+ CPU or both AND/OR being forced to buy a whole new rig all together... OR...Being able to sell your current rig that holds its value and upgrading to the next refresh?

Seems pretty 50/50 to me with the exception that with #2, as much as it may seem that we'd be catering to the sleaze balls at corporate, the same would hold true in its own respect with a consumer having to dish out ~60% of the cost of their DTR to upgrade components or being forced to try and sell their DTR only to buy another one, but wait...isn't that the same thing as what bga'ers would be doing? LOL...get it?

 

Really comes down to pricing

Don't buy BGA machines at DTR prices.

 

Yup, as we've been saying all along... if the prices of the new AW's are outrageous, a DTR (6700K/1080MXM) can be had for cheaper.

Checks and balances though...if the prices are close, then one would have to throw everything on the scale to see what comes up top as the winner because...

Those who typically buy DTR's are already a small group of people to begin with so when trying flipy your machine, there will be a much smaller market, let alone it being likely that most DTR owners are probably on the same page of wanting to refresh...

Whereas with AW, it's a much larger market and there will be more people looking for an AW than a DTR...

So at the end of the day it really boils down to about the same thing. Especially with the goofy times we are in with technology...Kaby Lake yea yea...but what about Cannon Lake and Volta? See the point? A current DTR owner will have to sell and repurchase, which is the same as selling a bga machine to repurchase.

Checks and balances.

To each his own...

 

DTR's are often stuck with a really big, heavy chassis and sometimes even 2 huge powerbricks. Its just not a laptop.

 

Yea the 870's are not the prettiest, but IMO the P775DM3 is a decent effort and with the single 1080 it's the same comparatively bulk wise to an Asus, Acer etc...1080SLI? No thanks. 100C, yea that's a real winner.

True, a DTR is in a class of its own regardless. Some people just can't seem to understand that.

 

Well written, kudos to ya!

Maybe one thing not mentioned is, that BGA "threatens" the survivability of LGA/MXM in every way. So the more BGA the less LGA/MXM, in the worst case: to extinction!

Imho "enthusiast" rigs should have been reserved for LGA/MXM only, and I mean the extreme ones like P870DM2/3, Acer Predator 21x, Asus GX800 and MSI GT83S.

As you stated before BGA binned components are overclockable like a "Trabbi" (Trabant), and I get really upset when those OEM's/ODM's advertise it as "ultimate overclocking experience". That's utterly BS with cherry on Top to cloak the stench.
That's most probably the reason why we "hardcore" fraction are so against it.

Me not likey lies made right through Advertisement. The OEM's are great in this, sadly....

 

Thanks mate. Appreciate it.

Yes it is unfortunate to see the mainstream OEM's falsely advertising the gaming laptops and its components. See on the other side of this, the majority of the consumers are consisted of those who are ignorant enough to fall for such advertising like, "Ultimate Overclocking Experience." Just sad...SMH...just to be clear I did say, "..there are those..." meaning some, not all.

The best thing we can do as enthusiasts who appreciate LGA/MXM is to continue to support them. However, the companies who provide DTR's also need to stay on top of their game and offer innovation by getting on Clevo's back and not letting go until there is change. As you know it's not looking good for them right now and they (Clevo) has screwed over a lot of people with them slacking off. There are many variables to this equation...it's not just about bga's...the fact is if DTR companies want our business, then they need to get on Clevo and keep them under a microscope, because at the end of the day, WE need something worthy to buy right?

With the new refresh of AW, if they come out strong and prove to be a worthy contender then that's actually a step forward for bga and a step back for Clevo. They (Clevo) need to be very careful right now being that the same Pascal GPU's are now in bga machines.

Like I've mentioned, IF AW17R4 comes out strong and their design language turns out to be a winner by being able to cool the very same 1080 GPU, then there is a lot more for haters to worry about than just getting their jollies off of bashing bga's. This isn't an lopsided race anymore. In most real world scenarios and usage it's 1:1, aside to CPU benching. That's a hard pill for any haters to swallow. See, none of this negativity would exist if everyone understood what practicality means...

I've said it several times and I'll preach it again ...."Do not pay DTR prices for a bga machine."

 

Considering how hot these new cards run, how much better could the new AW be than most of the competition? If they did a good job at most it might be a 5c difference right? Or throttling will occur later than on competing laptop.

I just don't see heat being a clincher for AW. More likely to me would be a better overall build quality, better aesthetics, maybe a better screen. This is all wild conjecture mind you.

And of course: TOBII who could forget that guy.

 

As of right now, we can only gauge our guess based on what we're seeing from MSI, ASUS etc... It's not apples to apples, but the big question here is if the new cooling design can cool the GTX 1080 (180W) in the new AW17R4 to temps better than what we're seeing with the current offerings. Lets hope that it pulls through and proves to be worthy....

Yes the AW will by far have one of, if not the best build quality along with some other perks that may be class leading...

We'll just have to wait and see....

Ohhh Tobi...whatever happened to that guy? LOL

 

To be honest there are no diferences. Dont expect better quality binned chips with MXM boards for example (which are BGA too just you can remove the whole board). Some have excellent results in for example the AW15 when it comes to overclocking. Some dont. Same goes for MXM boards etc. They all have fairly limited VRM circuit anyway. It's nothing like to third party desktop board solutions.

I hate the term enthusiast because it has nothing to do with laptops itself. If more performance in a similar formfactor without the compromises would be possible you could use that term. But you cant now. There is always a compromise somewhere. The P870 has size, weight, batterylife as compromises for example. Others have upgrade ability. There is simply always a compromise.

 

That's the 10 bajillion dollar question

The only thing holding me back from purchasing a GT62VR is the vague, unrealistic hope that Alienware might have done the impossible and created a thin'ish, powerful, QUIET machine with a 120hz screen.


But surely that's impossible, and I should just grab the MSI?



First world problems

 

Good points.

Interesting times for sure....there are a lot of bold statements made and that confidence in what AW is projecting in terms of how much they've put into this refresh; that it only makes you wonder just enough to hang on to see what happens....

Haha yes...First World problems for sure....



::iunlock::

 

I don't disagree! It's not easy in present times. Even the LGA rigs are somewhat screwed as the ODM's decided to alter the PCB's for every new Generation, so it seems. If so, then it lost its value, as you are forced to buy the neweset stuff anyway. Doesn't matter if BGA or LGA then.

I - for my part - do not care about slimfactor, batterylife and lightweight Notebooks as Long as I am able too upgrade the innards and have superior cooling and an unlocked Bios. But for others it matters more or most and that is absolutely okay and justified! No Point in arguing here.

If Alienware releases the new fully BGA'ed series which performs great with good cooling and oc'ability, then it will surely be a nice surprise. At least I hope so!

 

Its refreshing to see a civilized reply in this subject. Thanks for that! No size fits all. Options for all type of users I can only encourage.

 

I think one way these companies could improve their cooling is by just putting high quality thermal paste. That by itself would make a very big difference and not add more than $10-$20 (including scaling due to mass production) to the overall cost of the laptop. Don't know why they don't do so but get yelled at by customers. It's a no brainer.


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What are you comparing the temperatures from? The Clevos with the warped heatsinks that are mostly running SLI? Or perhaps some Asus ones?
There is no evidance the cards run hotter then the 980 from previous generations.
In fact I know one cannot fully compare actual desktop cards to laptop variants but just for discussion purposes and critical thinking I will.
My desktop 1080 card runs about 10C cooler then my previous 980ti in the same setup. In theory on paper the 1080 cards should be running cooler.
So based on what we know I believe that the laptop variants run cool or hot depending on how their cooling system is designed. Remember with laptops there is no much room for error (no pun intended).
So since AW has decided to focus a bit more on designing their cooling system, as opposed to doing what they and other companies have been doing for years, there is a chance they are on point when it comes to cooling. I guess we have to wait and see.

 

In general it appears laptops like the Asus GL, MSI GE (I think) and acer predator seem to run hotter at least than their predecessors. For various reasons obviously.

I was thinking this could be foreshadowing for the AW but I'd be glad to be wrong.

 

If I had to guess, I'd say these new systems will throttle due to the CPU. The 6820hk has some serious throttling issues.

 

On what system? My R3 cpu doesnt throttle.

 

That's because your GPU is 2-3 times weaker than the 1070 or 1080.

 

One of the main reasons I went with the p870dm3 because it was possible to get a 1080 sli setup with a desktop cpu. The performance 1080 sli offers will definitely last over 3-4 years playing the most popular multiplayer games at 120 fps. The laptop has sufficient ccooling for prolonged with max temps reaching 80-85c for games, without throttling or dropping fps. If alienware had a refreshed model this year with a 1080 sli and 6820hk with 120hz and no throttling issues that will affect fps,Id probably buy that just because of the better build quality. That being said, the build quality on the p870dm3 is very solid, the plastic they use is similar to my ibm t series,. So that should not be a concern. Biggest concern i have about the new alienware 17 is whether or not it will throttle performance and drop fps.

 

Indeed and that's the magic question we're all waiting for at the moment.

I can understand the reasoning to go SLI, however, there are a lot of folks like me who refresh every year so future proofing isn't as relevant for leap froggers like myself. (Buy now, Sell, Buy the refresh etc...)

If the AW 17R4 (gtx1080) ends up being able to hold its own...a lot of things will become irrelevant, along with leveling the playing field in a lot of areas.

::iunlock::

 

But why would you think they throttle if the previous gen didnt. One could reasonably assume the new systems will have a power system to handled the rated specs.

 

You cannot cheat power

A thin alienware with 2x1080 would also require 2x330w nonetheless

 

Thats true, such a setup is something I just do not wish for.

 

We always had have laptops that will get 2-4 years , it's rinse and repeat. Be it BGA , DTR laptops ..etc.

We say the exact same sentence to every high end laptops for a long time now. Two years from now , you will say the exact same sentence to the successor of the P870DM3.