New M17x R4, M14X R2 and M18X R2 are coming - Speculation thread.

m18x r2 definitly needs A LOT more usb 3.0 ports. hopefully i would just use window 8 and it would come as default driver.

most importantly, NEEDS THREE HDD slot. for TWO SSD raid 0 purposes as well as 1 slot for HDD for storage.

oh and m18x r3 probably wont be out until june or july this year, mainly because ivy bridge cpu will be out april, then tested, new MB needs to be tested too for pci3.0 etc etc. possibly end of this year =(

 

Any idea on release? Q2, 3, 4?

 

i think its safe to say, we will see the new versions at the PAX EAST show this april 6-8th.... all i know is, i cant wait to see the new m18

 

Nice. I think I'll wait on the M14x R1 I was going to purchase. Hopefully the R2 will have Ivy Bridge! Hah

 

So, I think it's safe to say there won't be any new Alienware laptop models this first half of the year right? Not even in June?

 

Probably not.

 

I would wait A few more months APR, The new models will be revield At PAX East.

So you don't think that after the anounment at Pax east we won't beable to order the new models ?

 

If he waits a few more months, then it will just be a few more months until he can get one. If you want a machine now buy it now, it will be 5+ months before you can get the new ones, and they will initially ship with the lower end GPUs only, so a current 580m or 6990m might even beat the first R4's.

There is also the rumor that the new M17s will have the video card soldered to the board, so they will not be upgradable. Thus, if you get one of those first units with the lower end cards you would be unable to change to the higher end cards that will come a few months later.

Not right after the announcement, there will be some delay between announcement and launch. Then when they first launch the build times will be like a month long. If they announce in April they might let you order in May and you might get one in June. That would be the absolute earliest. In reality I suspect it will be late June or early July before anyone gets their hands on an R4, and could easily be months later.

 

YODA you are wise
So it comes down to: Do you want Good, Better or Best. I already have one so it is easy for me to say wait, but i can also understand that if i did not have a gaming laptop that I would be wanting one as well. for me i will wait for the M18XR2 version to come out I have the money just have to wait the time.

 

Thanks a lot guys, you've really enlightened my decision x) yeah i'm not at all interested in binding to my laptop one of the oldest GPU's, and since I can't wait that long, I think a next week purchase is my best option (=

Feels nice listening from Experiences people

Experienced*!

 

Pretty much what YODA said. It will be 6+ months before we see anything avalible, and if so itll be the low end GPU's on the m18x and m17x side (Remember how the m17x r3 only came with the 460M and 6970M originally?). M14x I am unsure, although if youre wanting to buy one now, I doubt the small 10% increase in performance is worth maybe 8 months of waiting.

 

I doubt these rumors of the GPU being soldered to the mobo is true outside of the M11x-R4 and M14x-R2, it would send repair costs through the roof. There's just no way Dell is stupid enough to shoot themselves in the foot by having to swap out a mobo every time someone's graphics card dies on them. If it does happen... well there's always Clevo/Sager!

 

so will the newer models be expensive then the models that are out now? how long it should take for the newer models to get a price drop?
edit:any word if AW will fix the optical audio out problems the m17x r3 and m18x are dealing with?

 

i just got a mobo replacement, but am too scared to used my optical audio again....

im thinking its not fixed yet, because the mobo replacement was bios version A00, and the date on the board wad 01/01/10....

 

The prices never really dropped, but lower options, mainly on the CPU, were opened. It would most likely be the same exact price though.

 

I want a M11xr4 with a 400nit ips screen!

 

Geforce Gtx 680

 

Nice find. any more info on the card, Is it a mobile GPU ?
Here is what i found: http://www.game-debate.com/hardware/index.php?gid=685&graphics=GeForce%20GTX%20680M

 

That's not the mobile version. Mobile cards have exposed dies.

 

Okei, but it coming soon ^^

 

stop posting fake gpu-z screenshots . nothing has been leaked or officially announced yet as far as specs.

 

Not that soon, we are talking months, and even more months before they are actually widely available at sane prices. Then the mobile variant will come later.

 

Check the version number on the board via cpuz u might've gotten an old B2 mobo the one with crazy Sata issue

 

faked... for many reasons. but for one do you really think they doubled the count from the 580? and also there is a lower case k in the gpu.

 

Hmm, i am all over this forum at mo as was about to bite the bullet on an m17x r3 with a 580m card. Would it be a rediculous waste of money now if these are around the corner? Its gonna cost me about £1450 just to get the 2670 with 3d screen and the 580m card. So its a lot to throw away if there are prospects right around the corner.

What do people think? Also am i likely to get this laptop any cheaper using a rep? This was done using e-value and 8% epp discount so i cant get it any lower myself

 

I would try, the worse that can happen is nothing... but I would use the ideas from the save money thread...

 

The new Samsung Galaxy 11.6 tablet has a IPS 2560x1600, like to see Alienware fit that into a M11x R4.

 

it would need a better GPU to power that monster for games and such though wouldn't it?

 

Dont think thats going to be a problem, if a tablet GPU can power it I dont see a Nvidia card or AMD not powering it.

 

The problem is a tablet and a laptop are two different animals Maybe I could see this in the new m18xR2 with dual GPUs

 

How powerfull is that tegra 3 chip compared to the intel 4000 and the Nvidia card in the upcoming M11x R4? I doubt the tegra 3 will be more powerfull then the intel 4000.

 

It depends on your definition of right around the corner. It will be 5+ months before the M17x R4 is even available, and at launch it will not have the 680m, this is already confirmed by Dell that it will launch with lower end cards.

You could easily be looking at 8+ months before the 680m is actually available. All the data we have now also suggests that the next set of GPUs will only be an incremental improvement, maybe 30% faster. This means that a 580m will probably still be faster than the lower end 660m and 670m cards that the R4 will launch with, and only 30% slower than the 680m.

The difference is that Tablet software is not very demanding, and all the demanding stuff has to be programmed specifically to work with a certain device and resolution. This is why you see so much branding, like "Only runs on Tegra 3" because the software was specifically designed for that chip and often that tablet.

PC software is not optimized at all for a specific machine, and thus running the same game at 1080P requires twice the power as running at 720p. The M11x simply couldn't handle it without a significant GPU upgrade. You need at least a 555m or higher to run most games at 1080P.

 

The tablet is android less overhead less complex games. The laptop is windows7/8 with much more demanding games so it just wouldn't be possible unless you take the screen resolution down when playing games but that defeats the purpose edit yodagonemad beat me to it lol

 

Yeah I see now Alienware could atleast offer 900p/1080p in M11x R4 if possible.

If Alienware offers FHD and a blu ray player in the M14x R2 I would buy it without a doubt. There is no brand offering something portable with FHD/blu ray build in Or I might go back to the M17x R3 or maybe R4.

 

I Think im gonna wait till next year to buy a newer beast(prob an m18x). 6990m and a future 2920xm will keep me going to a while.

 

I think Alienware coming sooner than you say, many retailers have started selling
Alienware a lot cheaper and they know when it comes. When Apple has launched their versions, will Alienware come after.

 

gotta wait till at least the end of apirl and the release of ivy bridge. Then Alienware will prob wait till the 6xx is ready to go before they release the newer revisions.

 

I guess the Alienware M14x R2 is not going to be much of an improvement.
Seeing that current GPU memory sits at 1.5 and 3, going to 1 and 2 is not going to be pleasing to me, nor is soldering the GPU to the motherboard..


Sigh.

 

The GPU is soldered in the current M14x model so nothing new here and as I said above, the M17x and M18x will most likely use MXM GPUs.

 

Also, the amount of memory a GPU is equiped with means next to nothing, I wouldn't pay any attention to that. Nothing the M14x can play acceptably will ue anywhere near 1.5GB of RAM anyway.

 

the 28nm is what excites me most.

any word on the m11x r4? If so, will it have ivy bridge? forgive me if someone answered this already.

 

All new revisions will have Ivy bridge.

 

Hey there guys.

Well, I'm from Brazil, so any notebook here is highly overpriced.

I have a Asus G73jh, it's a good laptop, but it doesn't run all the games at ultra details anymore.

I'm in doubt if I go for it and grab a m18x or if I wait for the R2. I've read abou it and the increase in performance won't be that overwhelming, but what about the price raise?

I wan't to get a top performance notebook, that's why I'm afraid of purchasing it right now and become frustraded after the r2 releses

 

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Tough call. Buy now and save hundreds but will regret in 2 months. Buy in 2 months but will end up paying a lot more money for 15-20% performance gain. I'd probably wait 2 months and see if the R2 is super impressive and offers new features. If yes - grab it. If not - grab the R1 from outlets or ebay.

 

True... Well, gotta wait then! Thanks! o/

 

I have an Asus g53sw with the i7 and gtx 460m will that be sufficient or should I go ahead and future proof now? I plan on keeping my same laptop or getting the alienware now in hopes of it being sufficient for the next three years. Should I keep my same laptop or get an alienware?

 

The new alienware series doesn't need just ivy bridge and next gen gpus but it needs thunderbolt connectivity as well

 

You don't have that many useful compatible devices at this time. But I agree, the feature would be nice to have.

 

Oh I hope they really put in some killer upgrades on it!

 

Interesting thread. I wish I had come across this before I ordered my M18x R1 which arrives on monday (6990s in xfire, i7 2860QM).

On the one hand I'm thinking that if one waits for updated hardware you will end up always waiting for that something better and never buying anything. On the other hand will the launch cpus and graphics cards for the M18x R2 really be that much faster than the R1 I ordered?

I also got a mega discount on my system (almost 15%) which I doubt I would get on the new ones. Once I receive my laptop, do dell offer a return policy without there being a fault on the machine or is it just a case of suck it for now? I suppose if I also knew that the 7970s and GTX680 actually fit into the M18x R1 chassis I'd be less inclined to wait for the R2. Any thoughts?