*Official* Alienware Launch Discussion Thread

That would be consistent with the previous generation. I believe there is compatibility issue with hybrid graphics switching and 3D display technology. The Intel HD graphics is possibly the reason it is not compatible.

 

So I wasn't able to get them to actually give me a discount. But after haggling for a while I was able to get them to send me a 200$ egift card which I will use to buy a new mouse. And I did get the 17 with 16gb ram, 780m gtx and 1920 x 1080 screen. Woot! Catastrophe averted!

 

Use the gift card for extra warranty!

 

If it's the same as mine the intel GPU is completely disabled always. Long story but I understand why it happens, simply put if the 120hz display was multi-sync and could work at 60hz native as well as 120hz there would not be an issue. I was hoping the new panel was compatible but it sounds like it is not.

 

The Alienware 14 has the HDD slot, an mSATA slot and the ODD. You can add a mSATA SSD, or get a regular SSD and replace either the stock HDD or the ODD.

That goes for warranty as well as upgrades, it has always been this way and I don't think that will change. Combos are always cheaper

You mean the new Alienware 14 It has one fan

It is matte

 

+1

Do this. Invaluable!

 

Just saw that video now. http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/721574-official-alienware-18-owners-lounge-thread-2.html#post9236849
It seems that the display indeed have pretty wide viewing angles from the sides. And the reflections are there, but looking pretty good considering they are using the notebook with very bright lights around them that shine on the notebook display.

I think I`ll go for Alienware 17 with 120Hz or Alienware 18 with PLS.
Still not sure which one god dammit. So difficult

 

I just had a chat with the alienware sales team as I was concerned about Optimus and the 120hz screen and they told me the new alienware 17 supported Optimus regardless of screen choice? Would be good to get an official answer on this

 

For sure! This is very important to many people that would like the 120hz option but do not want to half the battery life!

 

Am I correct in understanding this to mean that you were told that the 3D screen does not compromise battery life b/c it - like the non-3d screen - can be configured to run on integrated graphics while on battery power?

 

I call BS.

You have two options.

Either you connect the display to the IGP. Signal runs from the discrete GPU which does all the hard work when gaming, to the IGP which just sends the signal to the display. You can shut down the discrete GPU when not gaming since the IGP is still connected. = Optimus.
The downside of this choice however is that the IGP can only run a 60Hz screen but not a 120Hz screen.

The other option is to connect the display to the discrete GPU, which have enough juice to power the 120Hz screen, but you cannot shut the discrete GPU down when not gaming because the IGP is not connected to the display. Which means you have no Optimus.

The notebook or the GPU still supports Optimus, but that doesn`t mean it will be enabled.
Atleast this was the way it worked before unless Haswell brought some new innovations which the earlier IGPs didn`t have.

 

The main problem is at POST, only NV cards can drive a 120hz display without a driver (VGA compatibility mode) so if the bios sees the IGP it attempts to test it - it will fali with the 120hz display . People have tried external displays with no luck, you would probably need to disconnect the panel to get the iGPU to be available..

 

Not sure, we'll have to wait for some users to get theirs.

The official answer is no, the 3D model comes with the intel card disabled.

 

His exact words were "yes, the 3D screen would support Optimus" and I did rephrase how I asked the question several times. Reason being is my 17 with 120hz screen is in pre-production so I am a bit concerned.

How long exactly does the battery last without this feature when doing various non-gaming related activities?

 

Looks like we have an authoritative answer from Luis.

Speaking for myself, this makes the 18 possibly more appealing than the 3D 17. Since battery life will presumably be a draw between them, you may as well go 18.

An accessory battery apparently runs $175 for those who want to travel with the 18 or 3D equipped 17.

 

You just got a drongo and dell have still not made this point clearly on the 3D model

lIt will all be different with haswell and the new low power consumption cards but I did some asking around and on the R4 battery life on floptimus/endurOh people were getting 5 hours plus. Mine gave me between 2.5 to 3 hours - way more than I need

HTH

 

The GPU downclocks pretty far down when it have no Optimus.
Asus don`t have any Optimus in their G75JX with GTX 770M but get 4 hours when surfing with WLAN.
Test-Preview Asus G750JX Gaming-Notebook - Notebookcheck.com Tests

 

So it shouldn't really matter then?

 

Just read this: Cool your jets: Overclockers must pay toll to play on Haswell highway | Ars Technica - seems Intel might be locking down overclocking on Haswell cpu's....don't know how this affect's Alienware's "overclocked" listings for their cpu's....or mobile Haswell as a whole...

 

There is also the fact that you cannot game at all on battery with the 120hz display. The GPU downclocks to a ridiculous low number and makes games unplayable. The iGPU is quite a bit more powerful than older ones and is capable of playing many games (although lower settings) and this gives you the opportunity to 'play' on battery.

 

I'm pretty sure AW would have tested, tested and tested some more before-hand

 

The idea behind Optimus is to disable the GPU completely to preserve power as well as reduce heat and noise from the fans.

I don`t know how much battery life you get with the 120Hz + 780M, since 120Hz screens use more power than 60Hz, and the GTX 780M use more power than GTX 770M when both are downclocked. So its difficult to compare the Asus notebook against the Alienware 17. I guess you will just have to wait and see.

The real powerhog in a notebook is the CPU and the GPU. Since the CPU runs on low speed when browsing the internet and the GPU have downclocked pretty far down, you can expect atleast 2+ hours I think. If thats enough, then go for it.

 

Yeah this will just be the standard OC that intel offer in the BIOS (mine has 3 levels to choose). It's the hardcore guys that want to go further that will suffer.

I've seen intel do this before and got widely panned but AMD was competition back in those days and they realised that by doing this they were loosing business. Now they have pretty much sewn up the market it's a case of 'if you want a faster CPU buy one, we are not going to help you get more out of CPU when we could get more money out of you!'

 

Maybe Luis or Mark can clarify this. If it works like the previous generation the sales rep is misinformed and that is not accurate. If it is like the previous generation the Intel IGFX is totally disabled and there is no Optimus, no manual graphics switching, and a dramatic reduction in battery life.

 

I managed to talk to my account manager and change the screen back as I would prefer this over having a 120hz 3D screen. Thanks to this thread though or I would never have known!

 

Glad you got it sorted. I can't tell you how many people got the r3/r4 3d only to discover that they expected more than 3 hours battery. For me, this is my gaming DTR so not having optimus to get in the way (it is not perfect) is a bonus

Come on dell, make this point clear in the 3D advertisements!!

 

I agree with the aluminium anodized material but I prefer the old design.

 

Agree with MickyD... this needs to be crystal clear for customers. I think it should actually say something on the order configuration web page when 3D is selected as an option.

Also agree that not having Optimus/Enduro get in the way of the gaming experience is a plus. Unless someone really, really needs something with good battery life it's better to have the higher quality display (even if you never use 3D). To be fair, Optimus has very few issues any more, but I tend to be old school and prefer eliminating anything that has the potential to get in my way. Life is better when you can exercise absolute control over every aspect of your computer hardware. Problems tend to occur more frequently when a PC thinks it knows what's best for its master. I don't think so... homey don't play dat.

 

Good point, Mr. Fox.

About the new design... The 14 has an open bottom, yes? For cooling to allow air in. I wonder why they didn't make it a dual-fan system as Razor did with their 14" laptop.

Razer's 14" laptop:



Instead of having intakes on the side, they could have divided the Alienware 14's front speakers, half and half, to accommodate for intake vents. Oh well, too late now!

 

Is the standard screen still good quality for gaming though? (that will be its primary use for me). And will it cause stutters etc. when not plugged in or work just as well?

 

Alienware 18: Expert Review - YouTube

At 0:55, it seems that the heatpipes are above the mainboard, instead of under it, like on the AW 17. Also it's dual heatpipes for the SLI gpu, unlike the triple heatpipes on the AW 17, albeit the dual heatpipes seems to be bigger, width wise. Can any current users of M18x confirm if the heatpipes on M18x are on top of mainboard, or under the mainboard?

I am just waiting for my paycheck this month to place the order. I'd prefer to get the one with 4800MQ. Blu ray drive doesn't matter much. Then I will get a 500GB Samsung 840 as storage drive, and transplant the 512GB Samsung 840 Pro in my Y500 to the AW18 as boot drive. From the review, it seems that the stock 256GB SSD is not as fast as the 840 Pro. My 70% filled 512GB 840 Pro beats it handily. To be frank though, I doubt I will see any difference, but I like Samsung SSD a lot. Then to go one step further, I might get a Crucial M4 256GB msata (for the speed it uses the least power among msata's).

Also, for the AW18, for those options that come with 16GB dual channel DDR3 memory, are those 2x8GB? Or 4x4GB? I do hope that it will be 2x8GB.

Is the new Vindicator backpack still checkpoint friendly, like the old Orion backpack ( Amazon.com: Mobile Edge Alienware Orion M18x ScanFast Checkpoint Friendly Backpack: Computers & Accessories I have to get a new one since my current backpack can't even fit the Y500 properly.

 

90123, I asked the dell rep when i ordered my 18, and he said that it does ship with 4 slots, so my assumption is that it is 4x4, but i will have to wait until i get it to confirm this. It doesn't actually say on the website. But I am seriously thinking about upgrading it to 32 gb (4x8) 1866mhz from Corsair I found on Amazon fairly cheap. Does anyone have any thoughts on that? Worth it or not? Just not sure if I like the ddr3L idea.

 

The heatsink pipes are above the motherboard on the R1 and R2. You can see in Mr. Fox's teardown video below at around 19 minutes in.



Anyway, aside from that, I'd like to ask the AW reps here for a bit of further clarification on some things. Hopefully one of you guys will spot this and reply. Here goes:

1. Alienware 18 screen brightness. On the opening post, it says 350nit, I've just had a quote which clearly states 400nit - which one is it?
2. On Dell UK website, there is no option for Windows 7 Ultimate or Windows 8 Pro - why is this, because if you want more than 16 gigs, you HAVE to have Windows (yuk) 8. - please advise.
3. Again on UK website, there is NO option for Raided SSD's - 512gb only with 750gb HDD. Where's the "Quad Play" SSD configuration that is available on the US site?

I'm sure it's not just me that would like answers to these questions. Rock solid answers, please, as I'd bet my nuts that Dell aren't offering two screens with two different brightness levels in the Alienware 18 (if it IS 350nit, Dell UK needs to correct itself LOL)

Thanks guys.

 

The 18 has two screens, one TN and one PLS this is clearly listed on the side by side comparison list one the first page.

 

Thanks. I always thought that Mr. Fox is a young man

 

destination, where are you seeing two options for the 18 screen? According to the US site, there is only one option for every iteration of the 18, and it is the PLS.

 

Alienware 18 - Product Review | Dell US
18.4-inch WideFHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD BLK
18.4-inch FlatFHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD-Samsung (Post RTS)

 

That's wrong, just like the video cards offered for the R2 are wrong - if they were correct, it would also mention 680m. It's saying the R2 had Truelife when it did not. There has never been any 'choice' of panel on ANY 18. End of story. The 'side-by-side' needs correcting LOL. By me! hahahaha

 

UK Website only has one kind of screen thought.

Also is it windows 8 or windows 8 pro?

My order just says windows 8, the side by side says windows 8 Pro.

 

There's a lot wrong with that table, destination. I don't know where that came from, but I was told by Dell rep that the new 18 will support 1866 mhz RAM, and I know that the R2 supported windows 8 and 680m's. And that's just to start...maybe Dell screwed up the table somehow?

 

Luis, could you pls clear the doubt here. Thanks

 

Nah, I am just a tired old heavy metal head-banging computer geek that like fast machines, gaming and overclocking. But, I'm still a kid at heart.

 

Haha what?

Well I am a Saint AND Satan.

 

Just you use a lot of the same phrases (with the same forcefulness) as someone that used to post in the m17x owners lounge. Though you might be the same guy, not important just struck me as curious

You have fun!

 

Nah, definitely not the same person. I think he is the copycat lol.

 

Your avatar reminds me of that guy.

 

Funny! That would be a war I would follow , sorry for the suggestion :laugh:

 

Oh no he even has a similar avatar?

Not really concerned about this guy and his little 17 incher.

:laugh:

Anyways, back on topic. Computers. What is the first game everyone is gonna try on their new laptop? I'm probably gonna go for Metro: Last Light first. It was just shy of running smoothly completely maxed out on my old 680m SLI, I think I had to just lower one filter to get it above 30-40 FPS constantly. Can't wait to see how it will work on the 780m's. Hopefully newer drivers will be out in a month when I get my new 18!

 

No, I'm just being silly and joking around. I am not even sure of the person MickeyD is referring to at this point.

 

Lol, sadly, I'll probably boot up World of Warcraft, just to see how well it runs with 8xAA, SSAO, and all the bells and whistles turned up. My first raid night will turn my room into a laser light show with all the spell effects Same with SWTOR, my 460m could barely keep up, would love to see what it looks like all jacked up. Then finally I may actually purchase GW2, as my G53JW had no hope of running that smoothly.

From a non-mmo, real game standpoint, there's a couple games i've been looking to play:
- Borderlands 2, again all jacked up with the physx effects turned on
- Tomb Raider 2013 - with the hair effects on
- Max Payne 3 - had to play it last year at 720p on medium just to get it to play well. Not this time around
- Skyrim with as many texture packs as my 4GB 780m will be able to handle

Finally, the last thing I'll do is plug in my PS3 to the hdmi input, just to see how well it runs.