*Official* Alienware Launch Discussion Thread

Ouch to all the people who got their's cancelled and pushed back. I ordered mine on the 11th, got an email about it being cancelled the 24th and it went into production the 26th. They also gave me NBD shipping now and its EDD is one day earlier than my original order.

 

Just got an email from them - parts shortage again!

 

EDIT: Oops.

 

Seriously nice prices guys. I might have to hire one of you to order my laptop if I decide to go alienware.

 

Sure i'd help.

PS: I was on the phone with a sales supervisor and they said they weren't allowed to discount over 10%.

Lying or truth seems easy to achieve now.

 

Why is everyone taking the GTX 765 for the 14". Is there something wrong with the GT 750?

 

GT 750M ~ about 3000P 3D Mark 11
GTX 765M ~ About 4300P 3D Mark 11

 

Is....is that good? what does the P mean?

 

Stands for "Performance" In those raw numbers the GTX 765m is about 45% better.

Its also soldered to the board never to be changed.

 

I think I made a mistake ordering the GT 750 :I. I doubt they can change that without canceling the order.

 

Yes, you would need to cancel it. But its better to wait another week or 2 than to have a remorseful purchase.

 

For me, the 750 was never even an option. The 750 can barely handle the standard res screen on the 14 at somewhat reasonable settings, much less the 1080 option.

 

Lol, I'm sporting an AMD Radeon HD 5650. Not to mention, my computer is HP, and when I bought it for the price of an alienware m14, I didn't know they had hardcore overheating issues... So I can't even game anymore =(... When I try to I get blue screen of death and a burnt smell coming from the motherboard (It already fried once under warranty, it no longer is tho lol). Also thinking about going with 765 SLI for now +upgrade in future.

 

I would not says it about 45%. I would say about 20% I saw a cool site with a bunch of benchmark test. And sense I already have a gaming desktop, I don't need to spend a other 160$ for a better graphic quality.

Reviews:
GT 750m
GTX 765m

 

GeForce GT 750M 384 cores @ 967 MHz 128 Bit @ 1000 - 2500 MHz
3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 2734 avg: 2734 (21%) max: 2734 points


GeForce GTX 765M 768 cores @ 850 MHz 128 Bit @ 1000 MHz
3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 4311 avg: 4316.3 (33%) max: 4320 points

Its literally double a GT 750m

 

Comparing benchmarking scores and frame rates for most newer games, it's at least 35-40% better. Fair enough if you have a desktop rig, though I'd guess the 750 will be outdated pretty quickly.

 

If i was you, I would cancel right now and order it in with a better video card. I wouldn't even think about it. You will regret getting the GT750, because you can't upgrade it. In about a year you will want a laptop with a better video card.

 

We won't know for sure until benchmarks with updated drivers, I would think 20% is probably fair, 40% seems a little high to me.

 

Most things saw more than a 20% gain over the evolution of the driver for the 7970s. I would think 40% is not out of the question.

 

Congratulation. You guys made me so insecure that I canceled my order. It delay the delivery about a week.

 

My order was cancelled and rebooked yet again.

Not getting a happy feeling at the moment as this has delayed the delivery date by more than a week from the original delivery date. "Maintenance" of their order software platform is the culprit this time apparently.

 

Congratulation. You guys made me so insecure that I canceled my order. It delay the delivery about a week.

 

it will be worth the extra wait, trust us that 765m is alot better than 750m GT, without a doubt worth the extra for the upgrade.

 

Worth it my friend worth it

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

Btw how did you guys find out that your order was canceled? On dell.ca my still says in production. Am I good?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

You'll thank us i'm sure.

Most people you'll find are stating there is a 30-35% difference in FPS. But the potential is there for more.

 

called and whined about shipping and got a refund for my shipping costs (should have been free anyways) plus they gave me next business day for free

ETA july 18th

so im maxed out on what i can spend. Would you guys really think getting a 14 1080p with the 750 is worse than getting a modded out m14x r2? (from the outlet)

im only wanting to play WoW on ultra really, the 750 could do that at least right?

 

Well, I'm pretty sure I can confirm that even though units showed as "in production" they didn't have all of the parts to actually build the systems. The reason is that I got an email a few hours ago from my case manager and said that they finally have all of the parts and they are currently building my machine (17"). They said they will update me once it ships.

 

Quick question: What's the difference between the 256GB SSD Boot and the 64GB mSATA SSD Caching Harddrive in the Alienware 14?

 

Although I'm not 100% sure. I believe the 64GB SSD Cache only increases the speed in opening the programs that you commonly use. The actual SSD will increase boot times/performance throughout the system.

 

Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Cuddles View Post
Quick question: What's the difference between the 256GB SSD Boot and the 64GB mSATA SSD Caching Harddrive in the Alienware 14?

The 256gb SSD will act as a boot drive giving you fast boot up times and fast access to other applications and software installed on the SSD. Note that you can choose what to install on the 256GB SSD Boot. The 64GB mSATA SSD caching is merely a place where common files that you use a lot are stored. So as you continue to use your computer it will recognize what files are a commonly accessed and move them to the SSD. Note that you do not get to choose what is installed on the caching SSD and your computer will boot from the harddrive. All this really does is let you have quicker access time to commonly used files. Hope this gave you some more insight.

 

Only if you instal windows on the SSD. Anything else that is not on a SSD will be slower. Personally I would wait until they go cheaper, then instal a 500GB SSD instal all my programs in the SSD as well. I could use my mechanical hard drive for mass storage space.

 

I wonder for games, how many of the crucial game files are moved into the SSD cache to speed up launches.
It would be tempting to just keep the 64gb mSata as a boot/app only device. Then again if the cache is working really efficiently, it should do a better job over all.

 

Thank you so much ! Very good explanation

 

Windows is always installed by Dell on the SSD (if you decided to get it configured with it). The only time it wouldn't be installed is if you do a DIY install afterwards. It seems like the original poster got the quote from Dell installing the drive themselves. The only problem I see with waiting for a larger SSD (like you mentioned) is the price. If people order a system now they probably don't want to wait for months to pass so they get cheaper. I always recommend getting at least a 128 - 258 GB SSD as they are still relatively cheap. That way you can hold out a bit for the prices to drop without suffering a let down in performance in the mean time.

 

Yes it will play wow on ultra.

 

Yes it will play wow on ultra. You will also want the extra screen resolution of the aw 14 1080p over the 900p too.

 

So my Dell Rep at my company who handles our EPP orders as well said there is a 20 day lead time for the Alienware 17 laptop.

 

How do they not have some of these half built before release so that they can pop in the hdd video cards and cpu and be done?

 

agghhh, I hope they can ship the laptops sooner, I'm getting excited once they arrive. I have nothing to put in the vindicator backpack (which they delivered ahead of the laptop).

 

LOL your rep wasn't helpful at all. That cold mean anything depending on which Lead Time he was talking about:

Order Lead Time - Time from customer order received to customer order delivered.
Order Handling Time - Time from customer order received to sales order created.
Manufacturing Lead Time - Time from sales order created to production finished (ready for delivery).
Production Lead Time - Time from start of physical production of first submodule/part to production finished (ready for delivery).
Delivery Lead Time - Time from production finished to customer order delivered.

My hope is that he meant the first one

 

I think the 20 days is from order to delivery.

 

I know it taking too long to receive the order. But just think about that moment when the Purolator guy knock on your door with your new laptop. Epic moments.

 

Well for me its the UPS guy and I am having it sent to my work so I can jump for joy in front of my co-workers.

 

So does the 64GB mSATA SSD Caching harddrive improve gaming performance? I assume if you play a game a lot it moves there? The SSD boot drive is out of my price range as it requires the processor upgrade too, so I'm trying to determine if the caching drive would be worth the upgrade cost. Thanks!

 

It'll certainly boost the speed of your normal HDD configuration to near-SSD like speeds. Games should benefit from faster loading times, so yeah - it's gonna be beneficial in that respect. Also, as your OS will be on the HDD, it'll also mean the OS works snappier, too. It's not gonna get you more FPS though, as that's limited by your cpu/gpu combo, with emphasis clearly on gpu.

 

Just got an email from a Dell rep, he says there is still a delay in sourcing the parts required. He gave me no further information..

 

I think samsung is having a hard time with their panels :/

 

Yup, HDD caching makes a tremendous difference. It's not as fast as a good SATA3 SSD, but it is still very good. It's similar to SATA2 SSD speeds. Here is an example.

 

^^^^^ you can never have too much storage, eh?