When are the new Alienwares with Maxwell coming?

It won't work with 180W unless they do something really evil to emasculate the performance of the GTX 980M. It will require a 240W AC adapter for one 980M even with a wimpy HQ CPU.

 

Once again we get hints toward soldered:

TGP (package): 103W (MXM)
TDP (chip): 85W (Soldered)

 

Since when were GPU chips socketed on the board they were in?

 

Haha, now we're getting technical!

 

Well I believe that's what those figures are stating, 85W for the GPU and 103W (max) for the MXM board.

 

(DOH, I was making a joke at your light-hearted joke to cloudfire! I know what you mean in both I think.)

 

I have been thinking about this whole bga thing and the GA, reading a bit on the aw13....

So, the 13 can only really use the dell drivers at this point right? Kinda like when the m11x first came out, you could only use the dell drivers, then driver support stopped.

You think the new 17 is going to be running the same thing? are we going to be limited to only the dell drivers? With my m11x, I was fine with it, by the time I got the computer, the game I played as already 5 years old, so any drivers worked.

Now, with my current 17, I like having the newest drivers because I play newer games.

I was thinking about a new 17, because I dont care all that much about the bga thing.... but if I will locked to dells drivers to use the ga, I may have to rethink it.

 

Not really, no. To use AMD GPUs, you need the Omega driver, which Dell does not provide. The only thing GA users are waiting for is proper Nvidia drivers, and the hotfix driver (344.70?) works the best, but it does not work with all supported GPUs.
In other words, laptop + GA may have longer wait times than without GA, but at least Alienware laptops will get more up-to-date certified drivers.

 

OK, well thats good news to hear.

At least driver support will be ok. Now I just need to wait to see what it looks like and what the actual specs are.

 

Wow, that's just so not worth it... way too much drama for something that will still ultimately be crippled by pathetically weak core components, 2 RAM slots, limited configuration options and proprietary impediments. A guy would have to be a glutton for punishment to go down this road, especially as an early adopter. Until it gets thoroughly field tested by end users looking to abuse it, this will be a work in progress. The best R&D humanly possible in a controlled lab environment is never enough to work out all of the kinks in a new product. They never fixed the problems we have complained about with the 2013 Alienware 17 and 18, so why would anyone expect them to fix problems that are guaranteed to surface with this new experimental hybrid filth?

 

It is confirmed the lack of 120hz in the A17 R2?

 

Notebookcheck just published the AW13 review.
It does a lot worse in The Crew against Clevo with same GPU but with faster CPU.
With GTX 980 inside the GPU box, its roughly spewing out 2.2x as many FPS as GTX 860M.

GTX 860M:
640 cores

GTX 980:
2048 cores

In a perfect world, it should have been 2048/640, 3.2x faster. I would estimate the performance to be slightly below GTX 980M with this GPU.
So yup, bottleneck confirmed.

 

Thanks, Captain Obvious.

 

Hey have you seen reviews of AW13 pitted against other notebooks and desktops before? No?
But it was obvious that it should get exactly 36.9FPS in The Crew right? You knew this before?
No?



Its pretty interesting to have exact numbers on it

 

Performance like this is what Alienware needs to focus on and stop burning calories on making thin and light jokebooks for the console-loving kiddie crew.

 

The 970M and 980M do not support 3D. But, we still don't know if 120Hz is gone from Alienware.

I highly doubt 120Hz is gone. That's the main selling point for the 17" model. Most of us don't care for 3D, anyway. 120Hz is what we love.

 

You know, I would love to see some real "engineering" for a new TIM or heat dispersion method that would shrink form factor, along with new SOCKET (PGA/MXM not BGA/BGA), that would allow for thin and light laptops with a crap ton of performance inside. Going to BGAs and using the standard heat dispersion method is hardly ground breaking; it's simply the trivial solution.

Too bad I'm not an electrical engineer.

 

I was just gonna post the same, you beat me to it! The GA is a complete fail in my eyes given that review, maybe it will be better with a stronger CPU, but with the A13 it's just a travesty! The A13 and the GA are such an inefficient & expensive mess it makes me sick, Alienware have really lost their minds!

 

Exactly that is the real and only reason I would jump into a A17 R1 instead of a A18. I wonder why they couldn't implement 120hz in the A18. Anyways I'm waiting till late Jan (PAX San Antonio) to see how this new Alienware Nobel finish.. And then decide.

 

I totally disagree. I'm 99% sure the 120Hz screen is gone.

Yes to us the 120Hz screen was the biggest appeal of the AW 17, but that's not how Dell see it at all. It was clearly stated numerous times that the AW 17 was a "3D capable" high end gaming machine, that's it that was the whole Marketing campaign for this machine. The 120Hz was just the vehicle necessary to make it happen. Believe me once the 3D is gone the screen is going alongside it I'm afraid.

I'd like to be proven wrong there's zero doubt about that, but all the indicators point to the contrary.

 

"Indicators?" I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

 

My guess is that even though we are loosing the 120hz, we may be getting "the first 4k gaming laptop"

Or at least some super high res that no one really even needs.

 

Especially a small 4K screen. Instead of 3D glasses, maybe they will provide magnifying glasses.

 

4k although it's not a fad.. feels that way. I think the engineers need to think about walking before running. What fun is gaming at 4k on a single mobile GPU at 10 fps? or squinting to read text on a 17" screen?

 

Thank you Sirs!

Many people here are so hyped about getting 4K screens but I don't think they understand what they're asking for.

4K is meant for big screens, I'm talking 40 50 60 inch TVs where the extra pixels are put to good use and make for extra good viewing and picture quality, but do you understand what that means on a 17" or 18" laptop screen? At 1080p I'm already having trouble reading fairly average sized texts, I even have the text size set to medium (125%) in the Display Settings. Can you imagine what reading would be like on a 4K screen of the same size?

And gaming wise I see no benefits at all either. I mean even a single 980M will struggle with running games at a decent frame rate and for what? A better looking image output? On a screen of this size you won't see any difference trust me, what I would ask for instead is a 1080p screen with a higher quality than TN or True Life.

 

17" - 1080p @ 120hz - yes please
17" - 1440p @ 60+hz - yes please
17 "- 4k - just dumb

I've got perfect 20/20 vision and I still wouldn't want 4k even on a 17" monitor. It's just not the right tool for the job. If windows scaling was up to snuff things could be different. But I also don't see any gaming getting done at 4k unless it's an old game. Here they are worried about battery life too, then spending all the savings on powering a 4k screen instead of hardware to fill the pixels.

 

Sager already has a high performance (GTX 980, i7) 4k 15 inch gaming laptop; MSI has a similar offering as well (only has a GTX970 though). Lost of powerful 3k gaming laptops out there now too.

 

The scaling in windows 10 makes it look like ur using a 1080p resolution screen with 4K resolution.

 

Scaling in Windows 8 and 10 both suck. Windows 7 is much better. But, even on Windows 7 the OEMs crank up the scaling because they have to for the screen to not be miserable to use at 4K. Dell scales up their QHD+ screens as well, and this practice really negates any value of having the higher resolution. You're left with similar usable screen real estate as 1080p, plus above 100-125% scaling text no longer fits properly in message dialog boxes, text on menus get truncated, etc., etc. Essentially, everything is out of proportion and looks like trash. You truly gain nothing except for a slower gaming experience, unnecessary overhead, a higher price tag and a screwed up UI. 4K on a laptop screen is a joke for people that like to waste money on something that will make them feel like they have something "cutting edge" and the truth is they just don't know any better. 4K belongs on a large desktop monitor or big flat-panel television, not a laptop screen. It would consider 1440p the most acceptable for a 17" display, and even that is borderline. Anything below 17" needs to be 1080p, even if you have excellent vision.

 

People I'm going bananas over here..

All this mess about the A17 R2 most probably loosing the 120Hz capability stress me a lot. I don't want to lose the chance of getting that kind of screen in a notebook.
Saying so I'm about to trigger on a A17 with a 120Hz and a 860M listed as "Dell Outlet Previously Ordered NEW". I guess the screen included would be the mayor factor for me as I wouldn't have to install it my self, reading tedious stories about getting the special cable + right revision of screen + living in europe is a torture bringing stuff in (expensive)

So I really hope to be happy with this system although the A17 R2 is around the corner.Then I guess that I'll have to upgrade my self: new video card (probably a 980M), new 100W heatsink, new 240PSU, but not the screen!! and then in the future a nice 4940MX

Would you all recommend me doing this?
I've recently deeply thought about the A18 but I had to take it out of the competition as I decided to prioritize the screen + the size and weight. I would have to carry around the world two notebooks then. One for work/office/clients + the A17 at home

I only hope that the lack of a sub-buffer doesn't make the A17 to have a crappy tiny sound compared to the A18.

Ahh and also would you recommend me getting this "Dell Outlet Previously Ordered NEW" over a "Manufacturer refurbished"??

Many thanks for your help everybody and Merry Christmas for all! :thumbsup::

 

Lol in my experience when u crank up the scaling in windows 7 , it makes everything weird and overlapping . when I installed windows 10 came out all perfect no issues with scaling , handled it itself. But again that was my experience with a desktop. So I wouldn't know how it handles with a laptop.

 

Text should be sharper when scaled and the 4k panels tend to have better specs in general. I could see a 4k panel in a gaming machine if it has high end sli in it.

 

Curious what people think - if you ran a 4K screen and didn't need AA or at least minimal, would it be worthwhile on a 17 then barring reading on the desktop, etc?

 

Well, on the alienware.co.uk website you can now only buy the 17 & 18 with the 880m graphics card (minus the AMD option for the 18). So maybe they are trying to clear out some inventory before the 'announcement'?

 

Hopefully that is the case but dell do have general stock variances too.

 

It would make sense. I recently jumped on the black friday deal they had, saved a ton of cash but the 290x bricked within a week of having it. I asked them to replace the entire rig and in doing so they're upgrading everything ($1200+ in upgrades). Must be trying to dump current stock, not that I mind. Kinda concerned about getting a 880 though.

 

You could look into adding a 970M yourself.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, we are less than one month away from PAX South 2015.

 

Kind have to point out that a 180w charger still isn't enough for a GTX 980m. I think this review explains why (head to power consumption area).

 

Pretty happy with my 880, honestly. I also don't futz with overclocking or anything like that and run purely stock, but the production has been great for every title I've thrown at it. I think you'll be satisfied.

 

Remember Msi always has had 180 watt power supply on their best gaming laptops with battery boost. For the first time Msi selected and use 230 power supply. All the latest Alienware Laptop came with crippled bios so they gave poorer benchmark results than the other laptops from MSI, Clevo and Asus .. Everything Dell has made over the past year (BIOS- Ec) have been too bad. The laptops have often had poorer bench scores than other comparable laptops with the same hardware...

 

212 watts from the wall assuming 85% efficiency is bang on 180w and that's max stress load.

 

Well, the 15 and 17 R2 have been leaked... again. Credit to a user at my forum, but it's strange how he is getting all of this.
http://geosquare.in/Alienware.htm

The i7-4980HQ is becoming more popular.

 

The choice is very simple if you plan on upgrading to a new Alienware 17 r2 .. The next PC becomes a self-built gaming rig or the wildest Clevo or Alienware 18 r2. :thumbsup:

Declared prices are:
$ 2,149 for 17 with 4980HQ = Useless.

$ 1300 and $ 1900 for 15s

$ 1,600 for 17 with 4710HQ = Useless.
Why should I upgrade to something with a much slower processor than what I have today
This is like going back three years With processor power

 

Game over for Alienware 17 !!

 

Sorry...Double post

 

Hahahahah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw6sZGZTaWs

 

Goodbye dear Alienware 17 FAREWELL. No more a 120 hz monitor and a extreme processor you wanted DELLIENWARE HAVE DESTROYED YOU .... :cry:

 

gg no re kthxbai

Never has this expression been more adequate. (sorry for piling it on )

 

such a waste..