*Official* Alienware Launch Discussion Thread

My 18 has also been in production since 5am Central US time. First thing I checked this morning before heading to work. So it does seem like US screens have been approved. Also don't know about michaelkirk1984 or SaintSatans but my 18 is just base model with dual 765ms....

 

I haven't looked too much for others laptops.. But the ones that i searched like the MSI GT70, and razer blade pro got nothing... Even a proper Asus ROG was hard to find...

 

Mines in my sig. Dell called me today to let me know it was in production and they told me they're upgrading to overnight shipping for free. They should after all the crap I've been through.

 

Did Dell give you an idea when your system will be shipping out?

 

For all those about to order, this is my experience.
If you want a quick discount talk to a US rep over the phone. I was able to get the same discount over the chat but took about 4 hours. When you talk to a US sales person all I had to say that it was a bit expensive and they gave me a 100 dollar discount off the purchase (I probably could have gotten more but was so tired after a 12 hour shift and had to wake up in 5 hours.) Also included was a 200 dollar student gift card. For me my specs were.

Alienware 17
4th Gen Intel Core i7-4700MQ
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M
17.3 inch (439.42 mm) WLED FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare Display

I originally decided the Alienware 18 with the dual 765 cards. But after thinking about it 17 in would suffice. Better single GPU and edging just slightly ahead of the dual 765. Overall price $1800.00 and added one year accidental for 100.00 more. ETA for shipping 07/22/2013 and ordered today.

 

That's in my sig too. 25th now since overnight.

 

I ordered basically the same comp and mine was 2305 after tax. And you say all you got was a 100 discount?

Just checked the website again to make sure. The price of the cheapest 17 you can upgrade the gpu to 780 is $1999 and that's without upgrading the gpu which costs at least $250. So now were at $2250 without tax $2150 with your $100 discount. Something isn't adding up.

 

Oh and as I was checking this info I noticed that if you were to order an AW 17 right now your estimated ship date would be 7/16 which means that with my next day shipping I would get that comp one day sooner than the one I ordered a week ago. LOL!

 

I got that same configuration too and it does add up either. I got the $1999 configuration M17 + $200 for the 780M. Subtotal came out to $2199. I chatted with a rep and got $100 off, Dell advantage bonus ($48 off I think), and 2% EPP discount. My subtotal came out to $2013. I'm also getting a 5% rebate card ($100) and 2nd business day shipping for free. After tax it came out to $2200

I tried adding the $200 student card but my rep said there was an error when he tried adding the card to my order. Is there any chance I can call Dell and ask them if they can give me the $200 student card?

 

Grajjie, I'm pretty sure you can only choose one or the other, the 5% GC OR the $200 student card. In my case, the 5% GC is far more than the $200 student card, so I went with that.

Vidien, (is that a Star Trek reference in your name, btw?) my specs are now exactly the same as Saint Satan's, now that he downgraded his HDD a little due to reorder. (Except for the Windows 8.1 (beta) part, I don't know what that is, lol. I know what 8.1 is, just not sure about beta. What is that about Satan?)

 

There, I added my specs to my sig too, lol :thumbsup:

 

And btw, for those of you who might be interested, the Alienware Vindicator Briefcase (the new version, up to 18") is reg. priced at $119.99 on Dell. If you use this code (in US) ZCZ5MMX9JLG01M, it will give you 15% off, making the total $101.99 before tax. So if some of you were wondering what to buy with your 5% GC's, that might be a nice pick up!

 

Alienware 17 Base
16GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M with 3GB GDDR5
750GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
3 Year Limited Warranty
i7-4700MQ
17.3 inch (439.42 mm) WLED FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare Display
$200 Dell Promo Gift Card

$1678.70

 

How much of a discount were you able to get?

 

Hey guys, kind of interesting article here about the Haswell architecture, but the main point I want to bring out is this quote, to address previous questions of dropping a i7-4000 series into one of the previous generation Alienwares...
"Anyway, the final part of the Haswell puzzle involves the supporting platform. With Haswell comes yet another new socket. Thus, LGA1156 begat LGA1155 and now we have LGA1150. Inevitably, this breaks backwards compatibility. You can't upgrade an existing PC with Haswell chips. You'll need at least a new motherboard"

I hear the 780's are "theoretically" possible to drop in to the m18x r2 for instance, but the 780's take up more power than the 680's, so that makes it problematic.

 

I have no idea. My order process was a nightmare. I first ordered on 06/05. Had issues getting a m17x and eventually got switched to the new model. I think in total I spent about 7 hours on the phone in a 10 day period.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

I have a question that I remembered. A few years ago the old Alienware laptops that had the colored Alienware head on the outside had the ability to act like an indicator. For example, I recall a video that showed when an email came in the outside head would pulse or be a different color...or if it were fully charged, etc. Since they brought back the colored head will they have this feature or do you have to open the system up to check certain alerts?

 

I factored in the 200 dollar student gift card which could be used as a refund when received but will opt to use it to get a vindicator briefcase and maybe a monitor. 1999.00+200 for gpu upgrade = 2199.00 - 100 = 2099 - 200 =1900.00. I'm not the best at math also considering I just got off a 12 hour shift and was on 3 hours of sleep

 

awesome, confirmed for laptop and desktop accessories.

 

Thats true regarding putting a Haswell cpu into an Ivy HM77 socket - not backwards compatible, so will not work. The 780m, however, is a 100w tdp card just like the 680m, so should not be problematic. In fact, a few guys already have 780m Sli in the R2 and they work just fine.

 

Yeah, when Intel change a 'family' it requires a different set of support chips on the MB (Northbridge/southbridge) so you can never change up without a new MB if the name changes. Being socket compatible is not enough.

As Stevie says, the GPU is going to be a lot more straightforward. The slot is rated at 100W so although being used on it's limits (isn't that what it's about?) it is not a worry

 

I will be grabbing two 780m soon or maybe just wait till next year for 880m. 780m is rated the same as 680mx, it is 100+watt tdp but I don't overclock GPUs much so im cool. I need a super CPU heatsink though, aiming for low temp 4.7ghz

 

680M is only about 5 FPS greater than 770M. & 780M is like 20 FPS better than 680M. . . I don't doubt that the 880M will be epic though, but will you even need it then, either? I mean 680M is pretty epic, unless gaming is your absolute life or your rich -- and if that's the case just get a new system next year lol xD.

 

Agreed. Nvidia is overdue for releasing a graphics card that makes very little progress over the last one. 880m will probably have better power draw and 10% better performance.

 

Si here is my new quote:
Components
1 Alienware 18 BTX Base Mod
1 4th Gen Intel Core i7-4800MQ (6MB Cache, up to 3.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
1 18.4 inch (467.36 mm) WLED FHD (1080p) TrueLife PLS 350 Nit Display (1920 X 1080) 1 Alienware 18 LCD Hinge Up
1 16GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz
1 1.5TB RAID 0 (2x750GB 7200RPM) + 64GB mSATA SSD Caching
1 Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BD-ROM, DVDRW, CD-RW)
1 330W A/C Adapter
1 8-cell Lithium Ion (86 wHr) Battery
1 Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M with 4GB GDDR5 - NVIDIA SLI Enabled
1 Broadcom 4352 802.11 ac 2x2 and Bluetooth 4.0
1 5G WiFi Broadcom 4352 802.11n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0 driver
1 Internal UK/Irish (QWERTY) Keyboard
1 Thank You for Choosing Dell
Software
1 Power DVD 9.6, 3D,V2
1 Operating System : English Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium (64 BIT) 1 Os Media : Included with your OS
1 Alienware Avatar -Alienhead 3D
Service
1 Standard Service - 1 year of Next Business Day coverage included with your PC 1 1 Year NBD with Premium Phone Support
1 No Accidental Damage Protection

2841 gbp after tax. Is this good enough or should i try another rep?

 

Guys.. Just a quick question.. Is the warranty worldwide?? Or it just covers the country where you purchase the alienware?

 

Im curious to know, where did u get this quote and when. Because the screen LCD is listing as 400nits online and not 350nits

Edit: yes its a good quote for the spec and price.

 

Well, its a UK & Ireland quotation (keyboard gives it away) but interestingly enough, when my fella sent me a quote, it shows 400 nit. Go figure. Maybe that's what all the hoopla has been about regarding delayed orders....

 

tbh steve the m18x order config now has the screen LCD as 8 days lead time. Figures same for new model.

 

It is a full international warranty. service can be obtained in any country dell operates (look for a list of countries on the dell site) and for periods of up to 3 monhs out of home country. After that you have to transfer the warranty to the 'new' home country. Full coverage is only available when Dell sell that model in the country of destination though. It's how many people purchase cheaply in the US, get them shipped elsewhere and just transfer the warranty for full coverage (accidental damage not transferable).

HTH
PS, I was working for a Canadian company, using a dell laptop purchased in the US, and had a HD failure while working in Brazil. One call to CA support and they passed it to local services who replaced the HD at my hotel in SP! Awesome service and I was surprised to see that the consumer warranty and on-site is exactly the same for AW laptops as offered for business models .

 

Thanks micky... I'm actually from Brazil and I'm returning in a few months.. the problem is that alienware is not sold in brazil.. therefore there is this problem with not being fully covered... I hope I will never need it.. but we never know...


in the meantime.. IGN has a small review of the 14... Alienware 14 Gaming Laptop Review - IGN...
looks promising and will get better once proper drivers are released... however, they are pretty concern about the lousy fans...

 

Sure

I wouldn't expect them to be sold in Brazil - the import duties and tax would put them in Ferrari customer territory! I've never returned from Brazil with a laptop I took there , far too valuable to pass up...

You'll still get telephone support but hardware will require shipping to the country of origin - at your cost . Hope it never happens for you but if you're purchasing before returning then you get a good chance to give it a work out in case of any QC issues.

Good luck.

 

I got this quote several hours ago.. do you think they can give me a higher discount. i only managed to get it down to 2800.

 

thing that puzzles me is why are they quoting 350nit but to order online its 400nit?

And yes im sure £150 possibly

 

Can you please tell me how to haggle with these people. This will be my final attempt.

 

haggle over the phone.Better than email haggling.

 

You could always try my rep. if its a UK/Ireland purchase. You'd have to wait 24-48 hours before he could quote you, as they have customer ownership rules - one rep quotes you, and you are 'his' customer that any other rep. cannot encroach on.

 

Thanks for the info. Yes it's a UK purchase. Please help me out, i'm desperate for a better deal.

 

Okay - have a look the first post on my money saving thread here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-aw-system-accessories-please-contribute.html

Send me a private message, I will hook you up with my Dell rep and I'm sure he can help you out. You might have to wait before he can quote you, so I suggest not getting any more quotes to allow him to take you as 'his' customer....

Hope that helps
Regards
Steve.

 

Had to post this, found it on alienwares facebook:


Sean Michaelson The computer I built is cheaper and better than Alienware
Like · Reply · 4 · 21 hours ago via mobile

Aaron Iqqagin Towarak The sandwich I made is cheaper and better than Subway.

 

He must be really mad and jelly since he can't afford one lol

 

cheers mate... lets hope for the best

 

Well, the 18x panel is likely limited now as they are pretty much EOL (End of Life) and as such, stock of 18x displays will be only getting smaller, hence the lead time warning. The new 18 does not use the same panel, and is not affected - at least according to the UK configuration tool.

 

Hey I am Aaron! lol. I just got tired of some peoples attitude towards alienware.

 

I don't really get the attitude. Of course it costs more for the same parts. Do people think they should build the things for free? For some reason a bunch of enthusiasts view the PC market as completely different from any other market.

And to be fair, their laptops really aren't that much more expensive than the competition either. My 17's list price was $3049, versus a Sager from Xotic spec'd similarly for $2550. After haggling, the 17 was $130 more for better build quality and service, and a bit of extra stylistic flair, and all the prestige that comes with owning a premium product. No brainer for me. Of course I build my desktops, and enjoy that a ton, but the same options just aren't there for laptops, and it's unlikely it will ever be as feasible to build your own.

 

Yeah I feel the same way. There is a lot more thought that would be needed to put into building a laptop and if you did it would be very cookie cutter and a little silly. I was trying to decide between the 17 and the GT70. My only requirement was that they have atleast a 780m. They had similar specs only difference was a 128 gb SSD and a blu-ray reader. The GT70 that I was looking at costed 2300 and they wanted to charge like 100+ dollars for shipping. I got the Alienware 17 with a 780 for 2100 and a 200 dollar gift card and free 2nd day shipping. The only thing the GT70 had going for it was it would be shipped within a week.

 

The fact is some people don't know that you can haggle/negotiate the price with them. So people may just build their systems via their site and see the final price and say that is way too much. Using your own example is the best. If a similar machine is priced at $2,550 they will see the $3,049 as a $500 premium just for the brand. The same argument is often made with Macs. The one comparison that often annoys me is the "build your own" when discussing laptops. As you said...at this point that is not feasible so that is like comparing apples to oranges.

I will admit one thing. Hopefully they start making laptops more upgrade friendly. It would be great to have a store/company start selling laptop parts for upgrades. It would be great to be able to modify laptops a bit for future cards if you still like the system/specs. That is about the only difference I like in desktops...you can gut them and do a rebuild if you like it.

 

Does anyone know what model of RAM they are using in the new models?

 

Ok, I'm sorry if I was wrong about the GPU's, I was basing what I said on this website that compares the 780's vs the 680's and it shows that the 780's use 22 more watts apiece...Is that not really a big deal? I'm actually asking, I'm not at all trying to be sarcastic, just so no one misunderstands.

 

Fair enough. And yea, I get the same thing when I bring my MacBook Pro to engineering classes. Apple's service is hands down the best I've ever dealt with, and I was honestly a little torn when buying the 17 just because Apple's been so good to me. I've jumped in a pool (twice actually ) with my iPhone and had it replaced free of charge with no questions asked. My Pro recently developed a fault with the power management circuitry (actually entirely my fault due to some tinkering around) and when I took it to the Apple store, I realized my warranty had been expired for just over a week. They said no problem and replaced the motherboard/Mag Safe board for free, and sold me a new power adapter at a heavy discount. It can't play games worth a damn (though it handles my CAD and simulation work surprisingly well), but it's a great machine for just about anything else, and with a student discount (or Black Friday sale) the price isn't too terrible.

Also agreed on upgradeable laptops, though I think that's unlikely at this point with everyone moving to make things smaller, which usually requires everything to be on one board. Though I do wanna try replacing the CPU in my old HP with one of my school's reflow ovens one of these days. Thing is a piece of crap and not worth anything anyways, so no harm done.