What took so long on the m17x?

you mean the way you can overclock the X9000 on the m15x? no dice.

 

Are you serious? The m15x BIOS does not allow you to overclock this chip??? Even with the latest BIOS from MyHive?

That's weak sauce.


Thank god you told me that, I was going to order a m17x this weekend. Now I better wait to see if it's overclockable...

 

But then it is all speculation.

Hmm.. might email them and ask

 

To be fair noone really knows, not until either someone official from AW says either way or someone get's one with the 2.8 Extrame chip and tries it...

The M17X is still an excellant machine and who knows in a few months time a updated Bios will be released for it allowing overclocking...

OB

 

I have already tried that and the person who answered said no but i'm not antirely sure she knew what she was talking about.....

I've asked Frank so...

By all measn try it, perhaps if everyone asked they might do it?

Worth a shot?

OB

 

Oh yeah remember that.
I suppose it depends on who you talk to in the company.
Sent the email anyway, hope they get back to me soonish.
Would be nice to be able to overclock though. I think the m1730 has a life of about an hour and a half, and it's a comparable system which means the batt life of the 17x shouldn't be too bad, gotta hope anyway.

 

Alienware had to release a 17 inch powerhorse, no matter how many competitors already have them. If I had the choice between the m17x and the M1730, I'd go for the M1730 just for the price.

 

The m17x is actually about the same price. You can get the m17x with x9000 and 8800 SLi with a single 160gb drive and 1gb RAM for $4258. Throw in 4GB RAM from Newegg yourself, and you add $65.00 (counting rebate). So let's say about $4325 when all done. This includes Bluetooth.

The Dell M1730, with x9000, 8800 SLi, 2 GB RAM (Dell does not offer 1GB), and a single 160 GB hard drive (with NO BLUETOOTH, which Dell considers an optional addon). Cost is $4284. Add Bluetooth and it comes out to about $4334.

So they're about the same price, give or take.

The only selling point of the M1730 at this point (for me at least) is that it has guaranteed overclocking capabilities for the X9000. If I knew the m17x had it too, I'd buy one today.

 

Binary GFX.

That is one thing the 1730 does not have. Now, I don't know how much of a savings it will give the m17x, but I saw a long thread at NBF explaining how to get the m15x to get 4 hours of battery life using it. Over 4 if you use an SSD hard drive and turn off wifi.

Binary GFX is one of the reasons I've been intrigued by the alienware notebooks this year. All too often I want to just type on an airplane and find my XPS Gen2 can only last about 2 hours when I need 3-4. Or I'm at a customer's site trying to debug something and need 3+ hours of VB/C# editing while unpluged.

But - my XPS Gen2 is built like a brick ****house. The sucker is a tank, yet sleek and stylish. I wish companies would use it as the bar to measure other laptop chassis against. The alienware models definately lose in the solid chassis category it seems...

 

Hate to break it to you, Dorothy, but we ain't in Kansas no more. Actually, just wanted to say that the m17x doesn't have Binary GFX.

 

I just got off the phone with Alienware tech support, where I spoke to a guy who has worked on the m17x and he came across as very much on the ball. He told me at this time, the m17x does NOT support overclocking of the X9000 chip via the BIOS (just like the m15x). He mentioned that at some point down the line, there may be a BIOS update which allows for it, but at the current time - no.

That kind of sucks, but after reading Anandtech's review of the M1730, it looks like there are no huge, noticeable benefits to overclocking where gaming is concerned. The games they tested scale about <2% for every 7% increase in clock speed. Not really huge gains. They also stated that 3dMark and PCMark crashed a few times when running at 3.4ghz and that at 3.2 and 3.4 ghz, the fans are always on at full speed and it is quite loud and annoying.

So it doesn't look like it's a huge loss to miss out on the overclocking settings in the m17x (for me at least).


EDIT: I also asked this question on the Alienware official tech support forums and AW-Warner confirmed that at this time the BIOS in the m17x does NOT support overclocking the X9000.

 

The m15x, definitely has features that make it worth the premium. With binary gfx and smartbay battery, you get 6 hrs of battery usage. That's insane, esp considering its a TRUE gaming laptop (which usually have, what, 1 hr batt life?). You also have the option of having an additional internal HD. Throw in the fact that it looks cool and has cool lighting effects and I think the added expense is justified.

The m17x is different... all the portability features become less important b/c its a 17 inch beast. It could have 10 hrs of batt life, but who's gonna be lugging this thing from class to class? Who's setting this thing on an economy class tray table to watch movies? Batt life on something this big is a farce.

So what does the added price get you? Looks and lights. I think that's it. (although black ripley really does look awesome).

If I had to go desktop replacement, I'd go totally the other way and get a 'portable' desktop like a Fragbox.

 

Why? Fragbox you have to carry a screen, keyboard and the box. Even though the m17x is huge, it's still pretty portable if you want to go to a LAN, if you are in college etc....

 

Thats true... I was thinking more from a space saving perspective. I have a pretty small desk and a not too big apt overall, so would look to smaller options

 

What? No Binary GFX? I could swear it was listed under the original tech specs of the m15x/m17x release. Damn... they just removed it and never said anything then? Now I'm pissed.

 

yep, no BinaryGFX. on a 17" notebook, it's pretty pointless anyway.

 

No word on the smartbay battery for the m17x as well. I don't think AW is planning on long-lasting battery life for the m17x, just power.

 

yeah but wouldn't you be able to put in an SB battery for the m15x? i don't think the SB designs differ fundamentally...

 

Smartbay would be the same on both laptops because the optical drive would be the same in both computers meaning that the battery would be the same too, that's my logic.

 

the m17x has a 12 cell battery and a smartbay so the amount of battery life should be equal to the amount of battery life of the m15x with smart bay.

 

The smart bay is a feature you pay for, the AW name is something you pay for.

Meh, the m17x could never be the killer laptop people want it to be, because no tech exists right now that could take it farther than the m1730 or d9092

 

really? I had no idea. Then the m17x should be really portable for a 17"er. Even with binarygfx that's a load of battery life.

 

Well I disagree. Binary GFX is not pointless on a 17" laptop. I take my XPS Gen 2 EVERYWHERE with me. Its flown on planes about 2 dozen times now. It's crossed the country several times over. It has gone to work, to class, on the road and to the lab. Whether I am using it on a plane, in a car or over at my cottage in the north I find the need for more battery life.

For example I have a laptop-controlled Meade ETX-90EC telescope. I love to sit outside and just click stars, planets and glaxies on my laptop screen and have the telescope pan to them. But with less than 2 hours of battery life it sucks. Sometimes I'm not even situated by then so its a waste. This is just one example of how extended battery life would serve me well.

The m15x would be my laptop of choice but I need 1920x1200 resolution and know the 15" screen would be too small for me. 17" at that resolution I think is my limit :/

 

I just read through this whole thread and I still haven't heard a reason as to why the m17x took so long and got caught in development hell. I have heard the whole "better late than never" reasoning as to why it was released but with montevina around the corner as well as 9-series possibly showing up soon as well, it would have made more sense to either literally just recase the 1730 for the time being or just hold out for montevina. The day that montevina is officially "released" there better be an option for it on the m17x. That might actually be explainable and offer some purpose to it. I think I can see a small strategy here form Dellienware but it's a poor one - release the m17x now to generate buzz about looks then re-release with montevina and more options as soon as possible and hold back on having the 1730 with such technology for a time being.

I don't know that for a fact but it makes sense on some very odd levels and would explain a few things.

 

well from what people hear confirmed, m17 or m15 wont have montevina. If they did do this, i would throw my laptop right in their front door and block AW out forever, nothing worse than paying over 2000 for a laptop to know a better model from aw just came out

 

Which is why it is a horrible business strategy for the m17x

 

Did Alienware ever have a good business strategy? ( - poor customer service)

I've been thinking of buying a 17incher so I've been researching different companys, everytime I looked for reviews for Alienware all I found were bad ones and complaints about the service recieved.

Nb. I'm not just bashing Alienware, try and find a site where all the customer reviews are glowing (or even just nice) - It's impossible.