When are the new Alienwares with Maxwell coming?

Hey everyone,

So, after a few weeks of browsing these forums, first waiting for the 980M, then learning more about the laptops offering it, and finally waiting for information on upcoming AW models, I've finally decided to stop waiting and go for a new desktop PC instead of a notebook. I want a 120 Hz screen, and I was a bit hesitant about chiclet keyboards to begin with, and with AW not giving us any information on future models (in particular when they'll arrive and if they'll even have 120 Hz), I've chosen to forget about mobility and instead go for a desktop in order to get everything else I want from a costly new purchase.

Thanks a lot to everyone who helped me/provided valuable information pertaining to what I was looking for/looking at since I joined!

Cheers,
Norrin Radd

 

I hope to be corrected but I doubt it.

Funny what you say about your 18. One reason I returned mine was the 'jet at takeoff' when both GPU fans went to full blast. I had people knocking on my door asking what was going on - paper thin walls! I just put my cans on and ignored it but it had other issues (causing the fans to run at full speed) .

 

Wow those must be super thin walls

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Yeah thats gotta be a faulty AW18 unit you recieved MickyD. My machine was surprisingly quiet during gaming, the GPU fans was hardly noticable. More quiet than my MSI notebook despite output much more heat. Thats why I will be seriously mad if AW discontinue it.
AW18 is also more quiet than AW17 (check out reviews on. Notebookcheck) which is quite amazing. As far as SLI machines concerned, Alienware 18 is the only one that cuts it. Its a thick behemoth but thats what it takes to not become like the noisy Clevo SLI machine or that thin fireball you get from Aorus.

 

Yeah, when I sent it back the main reason was that every game throttled, even older ones, right out of the box! It was 580m Sli - nuff said .

That said along with the far superior LCD on the 120hz 17 model and I was sold.

It was only after the R3 I went for started the same issues I worked on researching it and getting a fix - kind of .

 

I'm about to join Norrin.

 

I would love to join Norrin and build a lovely mini-ITX with 27" 1440P 144hz monitor.. but I can't.

I frequently move of country a few times a year so I still need mobility. Plus rooms here in Europe are the size of American bathrooms so again mobility and size. (and most of all weight!)

They even dare to praise saying how close NotebookGPU performance is to PC desktop now....

When what we really need is NotebookGPU MXM "PRICE" to be closer to PC desktop "PRICE"

For the ones we can't afford a super notebook (for price) or directly can't ('cause we still need mobility) the story is just sad.. very sad.

 

Bahahaha there is some rumors on several chinese sites that Alienware machines will get the 980M/970M in late January or early February.

Kinda explains why my usual chinese sources havent posted AW machines running 980M or dumping a 980M Dell vbios. They usually do this months prior to launch

 

I was doing exactly the same thing you were, and 10 minutes ago I ordered my desktop too
Im done waiting, going for a much more powerful machine for a fair price, and maybe down the line I'll buy a super thin and light ultrabook to take to class.
Feels so good to not wait on AW anymore :hi2:

 

Several Chinese sites That Alienware machines will get the 980M / 970m in late January or early February. February? Then it is only 8 months to 1080m gtx goes on sale. Then it makes no sense and buy an Alienware with gtx980m as it is on the way to becoming outdated. Idiotic ..

 

Maybe they are waiting for Christmas period? Got told today by Alienware on FB that they can't say anything. All hush hush.

 

Well, sounds like one of potentially two explanations. (1) They have a nice surprise for us that we know nothing about; or, (2) they chose to withhold comment to avoid rioting and chaos over the bad news. Hopefully, not the latter.

 

I got an update with HIDevolution. According to them, the techs are consulting with a third party about 980M to work on AW. Hopefully we can get some news this week.

I may check Friday about this.

 

Try asking them on the buyer chat they got on Alienware homepage about GTX 980M. It seems like most of them do know, but after saying "be back in a minute or two to ask about the card" they always answer they cant say anything right now.

 

Thanks for the update. Sounds like it isnt quite as easy to mod an existing vbios to work on Alienware machines since they need to ask other people to help them.
On the other side, HID may be amateurs that just know how to sell notebooks and have little experience with software

 

I did ask once, I got directed to the phone. I asked them (on the phone) when they are releasing the 980M systems, he said wouldn't put his money on it being anytime soon and that it'll be about 90 days / 3 months. that was about a week ago.

 

Well It'd be great if this happens, but eventually when Broadwell comes the whole Socketed thing is gonna go crashing down. I expect Intel not to discontinue the MX lineup atleast.

 

Which is why I am keeping my M18xR2 and not open or receptive to the notion of purchasing any new laptop that I have seen in any brand. If we can get the 980M SLI vBIOS thing sorted, I will upgrade the M18xR2. If not, I will switch to desktop, keep the M18xR2 for gaming on business trips and forget about buying a new laptop from anyone. I refuse to spend any of my hard-earned money on some piece of garbage with a low-TDP CPU (or GPU) welded to the motherboard.

 

Guess the Alienware 18 was your last big purchase from Alienware then Fox huh?

Unless they up their game.

 

Hopefully if AW does go down the dark path then that new MSI laptop will be a worthy spiritual successor. The fact they are managing to put a mechanical keyboard on the thing alone makes it worthy of at least a glance.

 

The Alienware 18 is a really nice gaming machine, and yes... way better than any new BGA low-TDP turd product available for purchase. The only major problem with the Alienware 18 is the fact that it is a downgrade from the M18xR1/R2. Had I never owned an M18xR1/R2 I would be really happy with the 18. It needs 980M SLI and I think it will eventually get that incompatibility issue sorted. That may do a lot to help it cope with the power handling limitations it suffers from, since 980M is rumored to be less demanding than 780M. I don't know if that is true, or whether the difference is enough to be considered meaningful once you start cranking the voltage and clock speeds way high. As much as I am not thrilled with Haswell's thermal challenges, the 4930MX in this machine is a really respectable overclocker once you apply Liquid Ultra thermal paste to keep it from overheating.

Unfortunately, it's not worthy. I gave that MSI more of my attention than just a glace. I was momentarily very impressed, but all indications are that it will have a pathetic BGA tow-TDP CPU. The rest of the machine could be amazing, but having the CPU welded to the motherboard is an instant turn-off and deal killer... extremely worthless to me. I was bummed out. For a minute I thought I had found something special. If they manage to change their mind and fit it with a socketed mobile Extreme CPU and a PSU able to exceed the overclocked power demands of the CPU and 980M SLI when pushed to their functional limits, I think I would buy it instantly. I wouldn't pay any more for a machine like that than the eBay price for each 980M GPU. I would buy it and yank the GPUs out and sell the shell minus GPUs on eBay cover the cost of acquisition. A guy might even be able to make a few bucks profit buying them and then parting them out like that, LOL.

 

More and more points to the chinese rumors about January/February 2015 being true then. Worst company ever!

4 months after MSI/Clevo they come dragging behind. Couple more months after that again Nvidia will announce a new Maxwell card that is a full GM204 card. Customers who buy the AW17 with GTX 980M in February get 3 months or so before discovering that their 980M notebook suddenly isnt top dog anymore.

Yup, Alienware is on a quest to most people off.

 

If the delays and lack of news revolve around the introduction of the Graphics Accelerator to the other lines beyond the AW 13, then there is no real reason to believe that a future refresh won't be on time. I'm just amazed at the cynicism about a delay that is unusual for Dellienware... clearly they are reworking the product lines, and were hoping for Broadwell by now most likely. That or they just suck, but I am giving them the benefit of the doubt on this round and that next go-round things will be on time.

 

Why do we have to wait just because we chose alienware.
Even though considering they aren't the cheapest solution out there.

If it wasn't for the CPU and lack of S/PIDF port on the alienware 13 I might have bought it with the amplifier, even though I hate the concept, but just too many drawbacks.
By the way are there any results of alienware 13 benchmarks with amplifier? I want to know how much the CPU affect the frame rate on certain games and MMO's

 

hahahah!!!
thanks steve...exactly what I thought...now I'm confident about envy!!

 

As far as has been searched for, there are only fire strike, cloud gate, and sky diver benchmarks from 3DMark (13 with an R9 290x).
Sky Diver benchmark for 13.
Cloud Gate benchmark for 13.
Fire Strike benchmark for 13.
Ice storm not found, which explains why it doesn't have a 3DMark score.
We'll have to wait for more reviews to flood in to get a more accurate picture as some reviewers have a GTX 980 with the machine (and yes, the bottleneck has been reported).

 

Just spoke to a Alienware UK rep about new Area 51 and the m18 980 options.

In UK the Area 51 has sparse options at best, not even the 980 cards are listed. I am told come the 15th Nov the specs website will be completed updated to list the full range of options, including more GPU configs and Ultra HD monitors.

On the m18 front I was told they expected no update with 980m for the line as it stands over the next 2 months. He did however imply to me that the m18 will be seeing a refresh for 2015, so I expect CES 2015 will hold the key we have all waited so long for.

Talk about unnecessary delays.

 

This is the latest ad from Dell: For just 72 hours, save up to $ 540 on select PCs and up to 38% on electronics and accessories. Maybe they should sell off the last of the old Alienware laptop, before the new advertised? :laugh:
It will sure later a sale a new Alienware 17 and 18, as they should have 2 gpu revisions (Gtx980 and gtx1080m). It is not certain they will have the 3 revision (gtx980m) with the old design.

And the new design becomes with new BGA low-TDP :cry:

A switch two BGA would mean privilidge from Intel's point of view, is thatthis move puts the chip giant in an even more commanding position, allowing it greater control over the motherboard market. More Control Means more money. (Also Dell have more control over the motherboard)even more locked bios

 

Is this Porras anonymous throw away account or are you the biggest Alienware fanboy out there? Can Alienware do nothing wrong in your eyes?

There is no excuse, absolutely no excuse, for releasing notebooks with GTX 980M in freaking 2015 while their competitors have had the notebooks with 900M chips out for 4 freaking months.

That Alienware 13 with the magical GPU box came and screwed things up for them isn't a valid excuse either. Nor is it that Alienware are reworking the notebooks to change appearance etc on them. MSI managed to get brand new GT72 notebooks out in time for Maxwell. Asus also did that with G751. Gigabyte with several new types. Same with Clevo with several new slim gamer notebooks.

One can't even upgrade the freaking existing notebooks with 900M chips before Alienware is out with a proper vbios. There goes the picture of an upgrade friendly notebook. Using MXM is one thing, making GPU upgrades extremely difficult unless you use their GPUs is another.

Alienware have screwed up big time. There is nothing more to say. Get your head out from Alienware's butt and breath fresh air instead of getting high on their stinky gas.

 

The problem is that I will not buy MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, Clevo laptops when they do not have the right processor that I can overclock with.Clevo has the correct processor but a poor cooling and slightly plastic construction. In addition, they have only a weak power supply. I have the opportunity to get myself a 330W power supply for my Alienware 17, if I'm going to squeeze out more of my laptop. Will the new Alienware laptop with limitation of processor I'm going and buy me a gaming desktop instead.

 

GT72 comes with both 4710HQ and 4980HQ. Have you seen the latest AW17 benchmarks on 3DMark.com? It will come with 4710HQ and 4860HQ. Intel got control of the market now. Socketed CPUs are mostly history from now on it seems. So AW will join the ranks of all the other OEMs.

330W PSU is absolutely nice. I give them that.
But the GT72 Max out at 185W during gaming, and the PSU is 230W. HTWingNut got a Max power consumption of 196W with his 980M overclock, so you have still some headroom there so it should cover most people's needs. 4980HQ + 980M however you are getting less OC headroom so yes, 330W PSU would be nice.

 

If Dell will release the refresh on January or February, at least send us the vBios now for 980M to work on the Alienwares.

I doubt they will do that though.

 

According to someone I spoke to today, they are concentrating on getting 980M to work on AW17 and M17x. After that (god knows how long) they will begin on AW18 and M18x.

So even upgrading current Alienware machines can take quite a while GTO. I hope the guys at Techinferno are working on this

 

There becomes a huge downturn if I should buy 4710HQ and 4980HQ in a new gaming laptop instead of my overclock i7-4930mx. This is not acceptable for me. Intel and laptop manufacturers are on their way to destroy the joy and have a laptop you can tweak and overclock. Why should I buy a laptop with garbage processor like a 4710HQ and 4980HQ?

 

It is much better to wait to upgrade your old Alienware (with a serious processor) with gtx980m, and instead of buying new garbage coming (rotten processor) new laptop.

 

I agree. And the R1's will be able to be upgraded through Broadwell (and maybe even Skylake) if we needed to. Always having that option is nice. Any R2 you purchase will have an Haswell HQ processor forever. Let that sink in for a moment... Ivy Bridge, meh, okay. But Haswell? Hell no.

EDIT: Oh, and if you think you're smart and will be able to replace the motherboard: Sure, you may be able to do that, but it will cost you a lot.

 

If Alienware will ship with a soldered processor in their laptops, comes my Alienware to be the last laptop I bought. Then it is only to purchase a Desktop PC for me forever ..

 

Do you think on December, we should be able to upgrade our lovely Alienwares to 980m?

 

Depends if the vbios plays nicely with the current machines, but it's a good chance.

 

Cool. Let's wait then.

 

I'm not going to feel too sorry for you waiting given your current setup

 

Some people are acting like this issue of soldered CPU's is like a conscious decision by Alienware and threatening to go to other vendors, when the truth is this is what Intel is slowly forcing the industry to overall and given Dell's size and utter dependence on Intel, it's not surprising they are moving on it sooner rather than later. It's likely in just a few short years that is going to be the norm and possibly *all* you can get. Not saying it's what we want, but it's not a problem just limited to Dell/Alienware. The predictions in some circles are that desktops are headed that way too unfortunately

 

Considering that Intel toyed with the idea of making Skylake on desktop BGA except for Skylake-S (unlocked) parts, yes it does seem that desktops are headed that way as well. Where is AMD when you need them the most?

 

We are not blaming AW for the soldered CPUs, we are blaming them cuz its been more than a month since the 980m released without any news from them about it. For the CPUs we are blaming Intel, AMD and the consumers!

 

Win/Win for me. If it will not work on AW 18 forever, at least I got good cards regardless.

I just want them 1080p 60FPS Max settings on 2015 games (GTA V, Witcher 3, Arkham Knight, MGS V).

 

There are large computer manufacturers such as Dell that is a bell sheep for the entire industry. It is the largest PC manufacturers that come with new garbage first.

 

Nobody should be blaming any of the OEMs for BGA filth. It's Intel's fault primarily, and it will secondarily be the fault of anyone that chooses to invite that filth into their life instead of boycotting it. If you drink the Kool-Aid it will get worse. If you can refrain from allowing Intel to be financially successful with it, they will change. They are motivated by profit. This is our decision, individually and collectively. Unfortunately, the OEMs would need to suck it up and suffer through a sales slump if we were to choose to do the right thing. If not, then forever hold your peace. The OEMs are to blame only to the same extent their customers are. They are going to sell whatever we buy and deposit the funds with a smile.

I am not optimistic that my comments will have an impact. I expect the masses to ignorantly allow themselves to be led to slaughter without opening their mouths, except to complaint about the dissenters that refuse to accept the change. We can't even get most people to promote awesome things on Idea Storm, so the prospect of rallying a large effort like this one holds little promise for a satisfactory outcome. That's why I will probably move on to desktops. I anticipate the cancer will spread that direction as well, possibly giving AMD processors a distinct edge over Intel without any effort on their part, and no need for improvement to become superior. They will just quietly watch as Intel's greed effectively slits their own throat with enthusiasts.

 

Brother, I always laugh every time you use the words "Kool-Aid" or "BGA Filth".

I agree. If there are not socketed CPU in the future 5 to 6 years from now, I'll just go with a desktop.

 

The consumer won't see any difference in most cases either way; 99.9% buy a computer (even less for laptops) and never change anything. For them it's just business as usual... no "slaughter" in their experience - it's life as usual. Repair costs for most of them will be the first time they sense a difference (and most go through life never experiencing a m/b or far less CPU failures, but then they will decide between a drop in "upgrade" or get the previous CPU/MB combo for a cheaper price most likely... it sucks for us who know better but realistically the public just won't care, for them it's a non-event.

 

Since Clevo got their machine with 980M SLI running perfectly, it should be just a matter of time. I think its strange that the cards doesn't just work like plug and play. The MUX we have are just electrical connection going from A to B or from C to B, it shouldn't interfere with the compability in different 980M vbios being used at all

I've only seen the guy from Techinferno testing his AW17 and not getting it to work. The Chinese guy had no issus getting his AW17 to work with it and it was an Eurocom 980M. So I don't know if I fully trust the guy from TI and I want to see someone else give it a go