When are the new Alienwares with Maxwell coming?

can i purchase the Alienware 15 with 8gb ram and then buy a 8gb ram elsewhere and add to the laptop? cuz $150 for the upgrade at the website is too much!

 

Well, defining what an anti-consumer practice is and how to classify current practices into such a category, in a capitalist economy, is a completely different argument, and one that I am not interested to get into. I was just trying understand what you meant in your previous post and why you might have said that.

 

InB4 Mr. Fox anti-BGA rant.

BGA is anti-consumer.

 

It cometh!!

 

Thanks. I was just wondering if there are statistics available to compare the percentage decrease in the performance of a laptop (includes it's individual components, i.e. GPU, CPU, etc) when used with a 4k screen as opposed to a normal screen, over time. Furthermore, it would be good to see how the decrease compares with the percentage increase in the average performance requirement for future games - and how the future requirement changes over time. Also, to put all this in context, it would be nice to know the percentage of gamers that buy proper gaming laptops who always attempt to use their machine until they absolutely cannot play the games they like.

 

I'd go with the 15 personally, but i depends if the trade-off in size vs performance matters at that point.

 

Art thou descend'd from Shakespeare, good sir!

 

If GPU-bound (typical for laptops), 4K will have around 75% lower frame rate than 1080p.

 

This gives you some good idea of the type of decrease seen, although not a mobile card it is in theory the same scale of decrease:
GALAX GeForce GTX 980 HOF review - DX11: Crysis 3

 

What I find humorous about this particular question is the same attitude applies equally to simply overclocking the processor. People push them as far as they can with little regard to lifetime; now asking a video card to do what it was designed to do, ie drive a high resolution screen, it's suddenly a lifetime issue. The cards are obviously aimed at running high resolutions for average lifetimes 3+ years or more, and if you have a warranty who cares? Running laptops without warranties if you depend on them doesn't make sense to me personally, they are far less reliable with regular use than desktops. As I have said before, maintaining a warranty is now paramount.

 

Same country, probably about it though - Shakespeare was not my favourite to read by a long shot!

 

Then it is officially announced. Alienware has been a destroyed brand. This can Dellienware not (manages) repair again. Then I have already bought my last Alienware laptop. Thanks to Dellienware. This trash will I not buy. Total Failed ...

 

I thought more people would be happy, there were plenty of posts complaining about how the 14, 17 and 18 were too heavy and thick

I will probably pass on these and go with another brand after owning only Alienware for the past 6+ years

 

Agree. This is the same reason I said what I said. Unless, it has clearly been shown through extensive experimentation that the percentage decrease in performance of a GPU over time due to the use of 4k is significantly higher than that of overclocking, I am not sure I can take the arguments seriously. Agreed that overclocking allows the gamer to experience better gaming, a 4k screen, on the other hand, provides better aesthetics and overall experience for people who can see the difference in that.

 

I'm still not happy, the alienware 15 weighs 7 pounds while most gaming laptops without optical drives weighs between 4.5 and 5.5 pounds in 15.6". I wished it weighs 5.5 pounds instead of 7. Laptops are meant to be taken to places, not to sit on a desk all day.

However, I agree that alienware 17 must stay upgradeable and not go full soldered.

 

Same thing here mate, waited since September to this alien nonsense.

Now the MSI GT80 is the most appealing to me.

Any chance for a 18 R2 surprise appearance?

 

Thanks. I am hoping they did something along these lines:

I.e., Laptops A and B have a 980m. While A has normal screen, B has a 4k. Suppose that I run a game X on A and B over time T. Note that I run X on B at native or 1080 resolution. At the beginning of time, for game X, A records a max fps of R1 and B records a max fps of S1. Over time interval T = 1, ..., t, we record the max fps for the game X on both the laptops and find out the percentage decrease in the performance over time for both the laptops between any two time points. We could compare these numbers with the ones for overclocking as well, under similar settings.

 

i dont think the majority of complaints here are about the weight, alot of people eventually learn to live with the weight anyway. But the true problem here is that alienware has soldered everything in an almost intentional way to screw the consumer. This in an analogy would be like breaking your leg but giving you the best crutch there is, but in the end youre still crippled. It just isnt an ideal compromise to gain a bit of thinness at the complete cost of the internals and upgradability.

 

There's tradeoffs to both. You can still claim warranty on individual components in a custom build but of course it won't be as convenient as an all-encompassing type warranty Dell offers.

The biggest thing that turns me off from prebuilt systems is I basically lose the freedom to do things my way. I can probably specify a particular brand and make of hardware (usually at extra cost of course), but stuff like cable management, fan setup, lighting, cable sleeving or running my own custom watercooling loop there's just no substitute for doing it myself. Yes i could probably adjust and tweak those to my liking with a prebuilt system, but in that case I may as well save myself the trouble and build the system myself and get it right the first time. That being said if you've been building systems for 20 years I can see how it can grow tiring.

 

@Midao why you gotta be so confusing...

Especially this:

Are you somehow implying that running at 4K res decreases component lifespan like overclocking does? Robbo99999 and J.Dre were simply stating the fact that a 4K screen makes a GPU obsolete (as in can't perform well in new games at high graphical settings) much sooner than a 1080p screen does because you're pushing 4x the number of pixels. How you turned it into this, I have no idea...

 

The people who complained about Alienwares being too heavy and thick have no business buying an Alienware in the first place.

 

To pay $ 3220 $(Home perhaps $ 4000 +) for this garbage maxed (Alienware 17r2) is absolutely disgusting .. + you must buy graphics amplifier to $ 300 + one gtx980 to nearly $ 620 = Nearly $ 4,500.(Home Over $ 5000 +) Then I might as well build me a gaming rig. With this graphics amplifier I can not use it other place than home. Its at least not something you carry around with.
This is what they write about i7-4980hq : Performance
Thanks to its higher clock rates, the Core i7-4980HQ should be somewhat faster than the forms 4960HQ. However, the Turbo Boost could be limited by the TDP, leading to a slightly(BIG) lower performance Compared to Extreme Editions like the i7-4930MX. My extreme processor has surely 30% higher performance than this soldered trash. You can not expect any serious overclocking with 180w power supply. Dell has certainly placed useless power settings in the bios on this garbage. It makes me sick - unwell of this garbage .. If I'm upgrading my old Alienware with this BGA trash, I get a laptop that has reduced PC performance except gaming. I will use my pc to more than just gaming and then I get a much poorer performing laptop than my Alienware 17 Ranger ...

 

I thought more people would be happy; I JUST GETS unwell, nausea, SICK OF THIS garbage.

 

Yeah, you don't sound too well, papusan. You're turning red, green, and blue all over. You should go see a doctor about this.

 

I don't think the current Alienware Amplifier is doing well. The bandwidth is insufficient. I hope they will revise this product.

Btw, people can you suggest me which to buy? Alienware 15 and 17?
I'm confuse.

Alienware15=4K screen, 15 inch, i7-4710HQ
Alienware17=1080 screen, 17 inch, i7-4980HQ

Thank you so much and have a nice day.

 

It's sure not wonder that I get sick.
All Alienware (perfomance) enthusiasts should go to the doctor after (when) they saw the launch of the new Alienware.

 

It does not matter. Everything is soldered = garbage

 

I actually did spend the day at the hospital, but...

Spoiler

It wasn't me that was sick, and I didn't even read this thread until I got back in late afternoon.

On a more serious note, wonder if the M18x R2 and even the AW18 will appreciate in value now that Dell has completely killed the brand. (but hey at least the alien head power button makes a comeback right RIGHT?)

 

Those who are the right Alienware enthusiasts will surely acquire an Alienware 18 R2 and upgrade the laptop with gtx980m. Prices should certainly not go down on the Alienware 18, rather increase.

 

I'd say for enthusiasts, the cost of previous generations will be of no concern, but rather scarcity.

 

Not gonna lie, if I had the funds I'd snap up an R2 if only for posterity sake. (preferably the Nebula Red version too)

Oh well have to set priorities now that I have a desktop. Between a pair of GM200/R390X + waterblocks, the Clevo P750ZM, and the R2 I'm going to go bankrupt lol

 

I thought Docsteel somewhere talked about "burning out the GPU" and I assumed that they were referring to the decrease in GPU lifespan when using a 4k screen - even by gaming at 1080.

If they just meant that running a GPU at 4k would make the GPU obsolete due to a high-end display, then we have a no argument here.

In any case, I am trying to find valid reasons against buying a 4k - even if the user is ready to game at 1080 (and shell out the extra money).

 

I would imagine a 4K display would definitely tax the GPU moreso than a 1080P display....it has double the pixels to fill. Pair that with gaming at 4K, and for sure you will be stressing GPUS hela lot more than on a 1080P system. Soldered GPUs? Replace the whole board

This is like going back to 2006 geez. I thought it was an advance to introduce modular graphics, not regress to soldered boards.

 

The sad thing is... Even if the warranty may seem like more of a necessity now, it's really not worth purchasing more than 2 years. An argument can be made for 3, but 2 years is the sweet spot. As technology doubles in performance in this time, and these new Alienware laptops are all soldered, the laptop will be practically worthless after 2 years. Nobody will want it. You can't do anything with it - can't even part it out. Everyone will want Pascal or whatever the latest components are.

Not only are the components soldered, but Haswell is still inside these new systems, lol. How messed up is that? I'm about to just forget about purchasing anything for the next year or two and just be a leech and use work / school computers.

 

4k is quadruple the number of pixels than 1080p

 

Well according to this article, the lineup of Alienware is going to be refreshed later this year. (Thank Jayayess1190 for providing article in this thread)
In other words, the current lineup is not truly 2015 ready. Then again, neither are other brands, but still. Companies are just making due with what they have currently from Intel.

 

Also I haven't checked, but are they even IPS screens?

or is that 1080p only?

 

All of the 1080p panels across this lineup are IPS. Same goes for the touchscreens.

 

lol and clevo said eff it we'll put desktop cpu's in.

Well thats a plus!

 

The clevo socket cpu models use the z97 chipset, so they'll be up-gradable to broadwell when they come out as well. With Alienware, you'll need a whole new motherboard.

 

I've said this all the time; Dellienware could wait with the launch of Alienware with soldered hardware, nor delivered the previous version only with an updated gtx970/980m graphics card. Why this rotten upgrade? They could launch something completely New Alienware 15-17- 19" with Skylake processor.

 

The #1 valid reason is that you'll have a sub-par gaming experience right now with a single mobile GPU and an even worse experience when games inevitably become more demanding in the near future. Then you'll hunger for a faster machine. And since everything is BGA...well you're forced to literally buy into Alienware's planned obsolescence scheme instead of being able to upgrade.

And don't even get me started on the Graphics Amplifier. If that is your solution for 4K gaming at a desk, you'd be much better served building a desktop. And it's not as if you can SLI inside the GA, I'm pretty sure, so a couple of top-of-the-line MXM mobile GPUs in SLI will still be faster. Multi-GPU is required for playable frame rates at 4K and decent settings in new games.

 

Even a desktop GPU like the 980 isn't going to save the day for any of these 4k models.
These things should have come with gsync, at least they would have a fighting chance.
Or just 120hz 1080p screens... for, you know. .. gaming

 

Too bad Nvidia doesn't let you SLI different GPUs like AMD allows with CrossFire. A 980 in the GA together with the notebook's 980M might have a fighting chance at 4K. The 980M is just sitting there as an expensive waste of money when gaming with the GA.

 

It will take 3 gm200 to get 60+fps at 4k in demanding games.

 

Well to be fair I don't think you can run a desktop AMD card with a mobile one in CF either.

Depending on how nuts you go with AA at 4K, 2x GM200 should be enough. 4K gaming benchmarks with 980 SLI seem to indicate that as long as you don't go completely bonkers with AA, 60 FPS is actually pretty attainable in most games. Plus it could be argued that at 4K you don't really "need" AA.

If the leaked benchmarks showing that GM200 is around 35% more powerful than 980 is to be believed, then 2x GM200 should be able to provide a smooth experience at 4K (with all the usual caveats of SLI of course).

 

No, but you can CrossFire different desktop cards as long they're the part of the same family, e.g. you can mix-and-match all the Hawaii cards--R9 290, 290X, and 295X2--as long as the total number of GPUs doesn't exceed 4. Rebadged cards work the same way--7870 XT, 7950, 7950 Boost, 7970, 7970 GHz, 7990, 8950, 8970, 8990, R9 280, and 280X can CrosFire together because they're all Tahiti. Nvidia doesn't allow different cards of the same family, or rebadges (680 + 770), or single and dual-GPU cards, to SLI together.

Anyway, I bring it up because 980, 970, 980M, 970M, and 965M are all GM204 and that's what got me thinking.

 

Not necessarily true, that is a constraint that you set that made most sense to you.
I'm getting 4K, I don't like touchscreen. And I don't plan on getting the Graphics amplifier before alienware launches a new desktop GPU lineup.

The 980m is almost as strong as the GTX 970, Perhaps It can be surpassed when overclocking. On high settings with the GTX 970, 4K games can just about stay above 30FPS.
I don't mind lowering certain graphics settings such as anti aliasing, ambient occlusion, shadow quality, even tessellation.
Keep in mind that I still can use 4K for older/less demanding games, which I tend to play, such as half life, counter strike, diablo 3, etc.
Also, 4K on a 15 inch has SUCH small pixels, scaling games to 1080p shouldn't be such a big deal. And then I can still play games at ultra settings.
And when I finally get a desktop GPU after a year or two, I will be able to run the latest games of that moment at 4K in at least medium settings.

Another reason I want to buy the 4K display is de dell truelife screen. I really hate matte screen. Only demi-matte is okay. But I prefer glossy. That pure subjective, as I find matte to cause the image quality to drop. And higher PPI raises the contrast ratio of the screen, and combined with the beautiful IPS panel they use together with the very good brightness, should be pretty darn impressive.

 

I think you've lost your mind! ;-)

Performance decrease (related to games becoming more demanding) over time as a percentage of previous performance will be the same for 4K and 1080p screen. Not sure what you're getting at. All 4K vs 1080p discussions so far have really just been based around the amount of fps you lose on any given game when you compare native res gaming between the two. I don't think there are any other considerations really.

 

It is only to forget overclocking of gtx980m in the new Alienware. The motherboard has certainly current limiter. Dell delivers 180 W power supply for Alienware laptops. They probably have introduced the same type watt limit into the motherboard such as in the Alienware 18 . Maybe Maximum wattage is 180 W on the new Alienware ...