*OFFICIAL* "All Powerful" M17x-R2 Edition Owners Lounge!

.... After 2 hours on the phone with some outsourced assistance I was told I cant cancel even though Its not even made... FFS. I'll keep trying though...

 

Only the Hxx series chipsets support the arrandale igp.....

 

Finished my order through Dell EPP, got 10% plus the 3% Dell preferred discount.
Thanks to 5150Joker and Mandrake for helping me out with a few questions!
Here is my configuration:

224-8107 1 Space Black - Anodized Aluminum
317-3656 1 Intel Core i7 620M 2.66 GHz (3.33GHz Turbo Mode, 4MB Cache)
317-3660 1 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
330-7841 1 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
320-8856 1 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)
320-8858 1 Dual 1GB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 4870 in CrossfireX
342-0671 1 256GB Solid State Drive
980-5877 1 CompleteCare Accidental DamageProtection, Inspiron, 3 Year

They said it is supposed to ship on 2/4.

I am going from a 3 1/2 year old Toshiba P105-S9312 with a dual core 2ghz and a 7900GS.

 

Just placed order, EPP + Dell Prefered + they threw in free shipping

1 224-8108 Lunar Silver - Anodized Aluminum
1 317-3658 Intel Core i7 820QM 1.73GHz (3.06GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
1 317-3665 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
1 330-7841 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
1 320-8856 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)
1 320-8858 Dual 1GB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 4870 in CrossfireX
1 342-0677 640GB Raid 0 (2x 320GB 7,200RPM HDDs)
1 421-1400 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
1 313-8565 Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
1 313-8944 5.1 Channel Audio
1 430-3739 Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology
1 430-0628 Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR

Shipping 2/4

props to 5150Joker for answering my PM's and questions

and the old w90vp has a solid buyer soon as this new one arrives

 

You're going from 4870s to 4870s.

 

Yup...I am but the deal I got offered on the w90vp made this well worth it. I am also takeing a nice bump up in processor power as well as memory

 

And the new 4870s will have twice the ram as well as better cooling

 

@ Scook9: do you have a link for this information?
Thanks.

 

A lot of information in this thread but I wasn't able to find the answer to this question:

Do we think that Dell will make the HD 5870 an option in these in the next couple of months?

 

The w90vp's only had 512M per vid card (I know because I own one) and this one has 1G per vid card

 

what exactly prevents h5* from being multi gpu compatible, they and pm55 all have 8 pcie lanes(which are configurable as well).

 

the PM55 has 16, which are split to x8 x8

Intel does not allow it. Just like you can't do crossfire on the G45 chipset but you can on the P45, just the way it is

 

Woo! Got my order canceled, re-ordering now.

 

Wish I had my own personal rep to check up on my build :'(

 

don't we all.

 

money coming back for my old m17x, due to it being a box :\

will buy an i7 / dual 4870's once they are out here in aus at the end of jan!

 

Hi,
could anyone anyone please tell me how you manage to order through EPP? As I don't think everyone who does is an employee?

Thank you!

 

Students qualify as well. At least in some places

 

I'm now into my 7th day of the build phase with this notebook. It's supposed to ship out in 8 days officially so now I'm getting worried it might not make it's ETA. If anyone hits boxing in the next few days let us know. I also noticed that Dell stopped offering the 1333 mhz memory with the M17x-R2, what's up with that? I hope that's not the reason for all this delay.

 

Thanks to all that responded. I can try AAFES to see if they can take the order but the last Alienware system I did through them took over 2 months to get here - thought it was lost in the mail. I don't pay sales taxes here so that isn't an issue for me when ordering. I can place the order on the home and home office website but want the EPP discount. I'll try again tomorrow with EPP to see if I can find someone to take my order. Will let all know how it works out.

 

Make sure you click on a i7 chip becuse the i5 chips can not support the memory 1333

 

Call the stateside EPP number on skype, it's cheap. Thats what I did. When they ask who your employer is, tell them the U.S. Army or what ever service your in. Thats what I did since I'm in the army.

 

When I ordered a couple of days ago, the Dell salesperson said there was a 2 week production delay due to high demand on this system. But this was in Europe though.

I bought the 820QM and they could only offer me the 1067MHz memory, due to "incompability issues". They had 1333 on stock but his system deselected it and chose 1067mhz. When I pushed for the 1333, he said techs had told him 1333 was only usable in 920XM setup... Beats me, might be some lame excuse when they are actually running out of 1333 right now. I'll order some better ones from somewhere else anyway.

 

Right now UK Dell Site

No Crossfire Option
No Blu-Ray Drive
No SSD
No Intel WiFi 6300

 

And i've got a strange feeling it's going to stay like that on the website for a long time to come.

 

Can anyone actually confirm that the 1.2 TB RAID is 7200RPM HDD's. As far as I know only Western Digital makes a 640GB HDD and it's a 5400 RPM. Also for additional drives, they only offer 640GB as a 5400RPM. So any confirmation on this would really help me decide whether I'm going 500GB 7200RPM with a 640 for storage, or 2X640GB. Thanks guys

EDIT: Whats with the price jump on the SSDs? For a single 256GB SSD it was $400 to upgrade from the 250GB HDD. I thought they were still using the same old Samsungs. Price hike simply because they can? Now it's up to $520

 

The 640GB drives are not 7200RPM. 500GB is the largest capacity at 7200RPM for laptops.

 

Exactly as I figured. I might just order 640GB RAID at 7200RPM and then complain later when I recieve the laptop in order to try and work the system in my favor. Think it'll work as I was "mislead?" I can always grab a $20 enclosure and have another 640 5400rpm as a backup drive.

 

Spoke with my business Rep and another to confirm. I still can't get this on the business side.

 

what's the advantage of buying through the business department ?

 

But these options are all available if you give them a call and order on phone. At least it was with me. And the french site has been without crossfire and SSD for 2 weeks now.

When I ordered by phone, they used web price and upgraded to dual ATI for free (after a few calls, he needed to get it authorised by his superior).

 

If I find he hard drive are not 7200 rpm I will send it back. Point out False advertisement.

 

Yeah I noticed that too.... it's amazing how everyone gets these different stories from reps though, I hear blu-ray is a "special reserved" option, one guys says there is a backlog, another says its all on time. Really makes me wonder if the issue is the distributed set of folks who take orders that are just out of touch with what's really going on and repeat rumors.

 

FWIW, you don't actually GET it any faster.... just some sense of progress. Why they just don't update the order on the web when they have it in their system is beyond me...

 

what kind of info do they have about the build ?

 

Hi, my first post but I've read all posts here

1. I also want to buy this M17x, but in Poland I can't
Looking for someone, who can buy it for me and send it to Poland. If anyone has an idea how to do it, plz let me know...

2. will 2x256GB SSD RAID-0 be the best for gaming?

 

i have a few question regarding this r2 refresh.

since its an intel chipset and from what i heard there is no integrated intel graphics chip, whats the estimated battery life and is there still a stealth mode function to save power?

i noticed that dell site offers 1.2tb (2x640gb) drives @ 7200 rpm. from what i know the largest 7200 drive is a 500 gb one. so is dell lying or is there a new series of hard drives

 

640GB RAID at 7200RPM makes sense because that would just be 320GBx2 with RAID 0. 1.2TB RAID at 7200rpm doesn't make sense.

 

Yea thats what I was figuring too, I just hope they don't take it down before I order so I can score a discount refund or some feebies.

 

1. Others have bought through a US service. There are a few and I'm sure someone will come buy with a name of a company.

2. No. I would avoid Dell OEM SSD drives.

Stealth mode is just AW app for controlling Windows power settings. If the app is not their Windows power settings will still be there. Battery life will depend on those power setting and what you are doing while on battery.

BTW, Dell isn't lying. It's more likely that whoever updated the webpage didn't know the difference.

 

1. take a look at my post that i made especially for that here
2. It is a very very expensive option, i would put my money towards other things... also, i red here that the SSDs that dell install are samsungs and their performance is not very good in the long run.

 

I was thinking that too with the hard drives. If the facts are false I will rase hell on Dell. Beleave me I am not Happy in the last 3 years.

I am looking at two hard drive at 7200 rpm with a large amout of space which help in game and other applications.

 

I see your sig. You should add an asterisk next to your drives.

I know I've said this before but I think RAID in a laptop is a dumb idea and will present more issues than what you gain out of having it. 1 SSD + 1 HDD is the way to go.

 

I completely agree, I stay away from any RAID setup. Only wish decent 512 SSDs were more affordable, but I'm thinking with the R2 I might get an SSD...$$$

 

Raid in a laptop is a big joke. Don't do it. I've said this countless times as well.

Having 2 drive bays is PRICELESS in a laptop, and a big reason to go 17 inch and lug that thing around. Don't neuter it by turning it into one virtual drive. 2 bays is huge

 

I went with the raid not due to raid it was due to the fact If I have to do trouble shooting I will have a spare hard drive. I dont like raids due to the fact if one failes they both have issues. I am looking at 2 hard drives one a main and repair drive if Dell/Alienware mess up on the last 2 laptop I had. I rather be able to go I have windows on 2 hard drives and spend less hours with techs that do not know there facts. If I send it in I wait 1 or two months. If I have a tech come up they dont know there facts and tell you I never work on this system and you have to show them how to do something.

If I send it in they do not read or listen to the online tech support. They put in parts that are not needed and they ship it back. It just pure stuipdity

I am tired I learn most of my tech skills due to alienware/Dell faults.

 

Hey Mandrake, any recommendations (beyond Dell) for buying quality SSD at a decent price to add? I was up in the air with my order and just settled for a single 340 GB to start with the goal of figuring out later what to do based on my combined gaming and return to school...

 

so does this mean the r2 will have like only 1 hour battery life even if you put everything to save power on windows setting since there is no integrated gpu?

 

Oh dear, I'm getting 2X 256gb SSD raid 0. Is that bad?

 

apparently seems like it might be.