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

I think in may sometime, but im not sure.

 

It could come as early as March though.

 

The word directly from Intel was that IB will be here in April, at the earliest.

 

Hmmm, I heard that when the new editions do come out, the first wave of them will not have high end graphics cards... Can anyone confirm this?

 

Yup...we might be looking at the 560m and 6870m equivalents at prices rivaling 580m and the 6990m (sarcasm) and perhaps by august ..again with excessive pricing the "big daddy's of gpus" will become available..
Some rudimentary specs on upcoming ATI mobile devices are out on wiki

 

On the Nvidia side, 660M, 670M, and 675M are all set for April releases.

 

Yep and the AMD is supposed to offer up to the 7970M CF.

 

so the 7970m will be the replacement for the 6970..... any ideas or info on how they go against each other....oh well my m17r3 is nearly ready to be shipped back to the mother ship....cant make up my mind whether it is worth holding onto it for the sake of the 6990m AND the hope some bios will completely fix this laptop for me

ps the nv gpu's (on wiki like the 675m etc..................) dont seem to be made for the pcie 3.0 rev..as opposed to the ATI cards listed for pcie 3.0, also i hope all those expensive KVR sodimms will be compatible with the new IVY bridge

 

Anyone know if M11x R4 will even be release this year? I'm thinking of getting a M11x R3. Should i wait it out for R4 to come out?

 

prob after is released ivy bridge there will be a refreshed. which could start shipping in the may-april time frame . Nobody really knows for sure yet. if you really need a new machine, snag one, for there will always be something more powerful around the corner.

 

This is almost always true when it comes to tech.

I would also recomend getting one if you really need a new PC right now, otherwise I would wait, not (just) for the cpu upgrade (m11x) but mainly for the gpu upgrade.

 

I understand the "there's always something new.." argument, but things are different when the something new is literally two months from availability.

In this case, there is some merit to be found in waiting.

 

But this is all based on speculations that R4 will be release in april or may, which is y i am hesitant in waiting especially they are having a sale now on the R3. But if the R4 does come out i am kinda losing out. It's like i can't make up my mind.

 

Just wait dude, it'll be worth it in the long run and it'll feel better as you waited longer for it.

 

Well this is what I can say with confidence. CeBIT is running from March 6 to 12, and every notebook which is going to be released in the next 4 months should be there on display.

With today being 2/16, I would at least wait out the few weeks until we see what is revealed at the tech conference.

 

good advice, ill have to keep a close eye on that conference. Not interested in buying a new machine atm, but I like knowing what the latest and greatest is.

Edit: Just read this and it doesn't look to good for a release of ivy bridge in apirl : Mass Shipments of Intel's Ivy Bridge Reportedly Delayed Until Summer

 

....that means inflated prices for the first shipment...great!!.....they won't mass ship it until June. Guess i won't be seeing or getting a m11xR4 soon. Darn it. But i hope they post the specs soon!

 

So what kind of performance gain can one expect from m18xR2?

I am on the verge or buying m18x but can wait for few weeks if its going to be worth it, in terms of performance.

Don't really care about price jacking due to ivy bridge shortages.

 

So since Ivy bridge will be delayed, does that mean the new refresh will be delayed too?

I'm excited on the new m14xr2. Hoping to see 655m or something like the 555m but faster.

But boo to the delay.

 

I did that once and got the first series of a new sager line when it first came out. Not only was it delayed from the announced date for almost 5 months. The initial batches make you the final beta testers. The machines were known for there overheating issues and an assortment of revision 1 problems.

Initially it was Nice to have the latest and the greatest but the delays and quality issues can suck.

 

I can attest to this fact...however i still feel like a beta tester.... having bought the release ed. of AW-SB's ...i had trouble from the get go, delayed shipping, build issues (till now) and exasperation..the only rig to have some semblance of sanity was infact the 4th RIG i received....but AW had to muck that up a little as well....i kinda decided i would now only buy in the "tick" phase of Intel's products....but now that they are intentionally delaying IVY bridge's launch and coupled with the over-inflated prices (expected), i may as well give up on the dream to own an AW (PS all the 4 machines i had..including the 2 purchase were all specced with the max. warranty on AU soil... just so i could eke into the "tock" phase and buy smartly....but it doesn't pay to be an "early adopter"

 

If ipad3 is going to have a 2048x1536 res screen surely laptops need to be higher then 1920x1200 wishing

 

Just remember that you are gonna need more graphics power to get decent frame rates then.

 

You can always lower it

 

Well, yes.

The cutting edge of technology is caked with the blood of early adopters.

But I just can't help myself.

 

^^ Second every word

 

Does anyone want to speculate what the graphic performance is going to be with these ultra books sporting the new ivy bridge? Should the performance in terms of frame rate and graphical quality be comparable to the m11x discrete card? I read somewhere that we should expect 120% improvement over Intel hd3000.

 

Is gonna be comparable, but not like the 355M, Dirt 3 gets 45fps in medium settings at 1280x720, if you put it against previous integrated intels, Dirt 3 was at very low settings at 800x600 at 20-30fps

And other thing, it only has 256MB dedicated....

 

I saw a test where the desktop HD 4000 scored 199% higher than HD 3000 in the Vantage GPU benchmark.

If the mobile HD 4000 shows similar gains, it would be scoring well over 3,000, which is much higher than the GT 335M can manage, and would be in the league of the GT 540M.

Whether that result then translates to gaming as well, we will have to wait and see.

 

If that's the case, I'll be wanting a very big battery in the M17x R4. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm perfectly happy to game on the go with a 540M.

 

There is no way an m17x will be designed to game on the go. Also if that is the case just use a 15 inch ultrabook to game on the go.

 

So when is the M17x R4 going to be released? I can't wait any longer!

 

at this point dell might be better off releasing new cards for the R3 since Ivy bridge has been delayed. I'm not a "pro" though so i could easily be wrong.

 

I love comments like this. Why isn't it able to game on the go? Is there something magical that makes a downclocked 580M suddenly completely unusable in everything everywhere? Or is it that you just think a 580M operating at 40% designed power might as well not be used at all, and that it's simply not applicable to your usage pattern?

If I wanted a 15" ultrabook, I'd buy a 15" ultrabook. What I want, however, is a powerful 17" laptop that can handle anything I task it with, but still gets decent battery life.

 

I would like to buy an M14x and I can buy a refurbished one from dell outlet for 1200 for the i7 and 1100 for thei5 model with 1600x900 screen. Though the news of the R2 is the reason why I am holding. Do you think with the R2 model can we get a good M14x for around 1300-1400? Or should I just give up waiting and enjoy my new M14x?

 

If you're really patient, you can get a new M14x for around $1200 for the one in my sig with coupons, haggling. You can also go the outlet route and wait for a 20% off coupon as well. I got the 2 year accidental coverage as well. I think the R2 of the M14x and M18x won't be much more than the R1 versions. Timing will be hard to say since Intel keeps delaying Ivy bridge and Windows 8 is coming (when?).

Read the Alienware ordering advice thread completely and keep an eye out for coupons or haggle hard:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/456885-aw-dell-ordering-advice-how-save.html

 

So dear Bill, have already some license to kindly say "something" to the thirsty in the desert?

 

Unfortunately not

 

Intel Ivy Bridge launch delayed until June

Yep, it looks like Intel is having some issues with their new 22nm process. DANGIT!!! I still love my M17x R3 though hehe.

May not see any new Alienware Laptops until June!!!

Intel Ivy Bridge launch delayed until June

 

Just wanted to post and let people know that waiting for the M17x R4 is a total waste of time. Ivy Bridge has been delayed, and even when it releases it is not perceptibly faster, maybe 5-10%, the only way to tell will be with benchmarks.

To make matters worse, the new mobile graphics cards are just re-badges. The new 675m, which will be the top-end card in the R4 at launch is just a re-branded 580m, it literally has the exact same specs. If you need a computer, do yourself a favor and stop waiting.

 

One reason why one MIGHT consider waiting for Ivy Bridge would be the (apparently) much better integrated graphics. This can be useful if you game on the go not only with demanding games but also on casual games which still require a bit of GPU power.

 

Well that's us dissuaded then, eh?

Given that the dedicated GPU will spend most of its time shut off when the laptop is on battery, I don't really mind. If - and I stress the word "if" - the new cards are rebadges, well that's not uncommon in the mobile market, nor has it ever been uncommon.

As HerrKaputt rightly points out, there are other advantages to Ivy other than pure CPU performance. To be honest, I don't much care about CPU performance (as long as it's not a step backwards of course) given how insanely powerful the Sandy Bridge mobile processors are at present.

 

It isn't much of an if, the specs are out, people have them installed in laptops and have provided verified GPU-Z specs. The new Nvidia line except for the 680m are rebadges, and the 680m is not slated for release until very late this year.

Certainly it is still a personal decision, I just wanted people to be aware. There are an incredibly limited number of circumstances in which it would be worth it to wait 4-6 months minimum (with the Ivy Bridge delay, they are saying June for desktop and later for mobile) to get a somewhat faster integrated GPU, the exact same discrete GPU, and a similar CPU.

I also posted just because I have been advising people for months not to wait, and now information has come out that really drives that point home. Unless you are willing to wait until near the end of this year to get a 680m all you are gaining from waiting is a better integrated GPU at this point.

EDIT: I was also directing my post at people who really need a new computer, because their current one is not able to play modern games at the settings they want or at all. Judging by your sig you don't actually need a new computer, so waiting for you is no issue, but a lot of people who have posted in this thread need a new computer to actually enjoy upcoming games, and with the steller release list for the next 6 months it would be crazy to wait.

 

that 4-6 month delay is coming from the guy in charge of intel china. there is other parts of the company that are saying that there is gonna be a lot less of a delay so I really have no clue who to believe at this point.

Intel Confirms Slight Delay in Ivy Bridge Core CPU Launch

I also found another article that was rather interesting. I know this is a desktop chip and im not really a CPU overclocker..... yet, but if the unlocked mobile CPU is anything like the desktop chip, the Benchmarkers are gonna be having quite a bit of fun when it finally gets released. if your not planning on getting the extreme processor though, I would agree with yoda and say that the time spent waiting is not worth what you will get in the end.

Worth the Wait: Overclockers Push Ivy Bridge Chip Past 7GHz

 

So will AMD delay their next gen (7990m) gfx chip? I may opt for that anyways if it can run 3 external monitors out of the box. When is Windows 8 coming out? That may get the gfx card makers and Intel more motivated since they are merely killing themselves (more for nVidia and AMD since Intel may want to clear out s-bridge anyways) if people care more for Windows 8 compared to ivy/sandy or nvidia/amd.

 

Last I heard was fall 2012 for Windows 8.

 

who thinks that alienware will include the 3612QM (35W) as a low power option in the m14x r2?

 

A while ago, when Windows 7 was nearing release, I recall that many vendors offered a free upgrade from Vista to 7 when it was released. If the release of new-generation CPUs and GPUs comes earlier than Windows 8, vendors can do that.

 

Yeah, i figure they will do that about 30-60 days from release, just to clear out inventory. Worked well for the last few windows releases.

 

That was Microsoft, not the OEMs