Which Alienware

Hi all I have been looking into the M17X as a gaming laptop but I am wondering due to its weight and price is it worth it or should I get the M17 M15X or maybe something else. please give me your opinion on what I should get.

 

The M17x is definitely the best machine Alienware has offered to date as far as quality and features are concerned; I would suggest that if you have the budget and are willing to carry around a 17" machine.

You would be best served filling out the FAQ in our What Should I Buy forum.

 

You need to provide more info on your computer needs.

I can tell you the price is good for the performance/specs you get in the machine but I can't tell you whether or not that is what you need for the games you play.

Same deal with the weight.

 

Weight should never be a deciding factor unless you want a REAL MOBILE laptop.

 

If it wasn't a factor we'd all be posting on DesktopReview.com instead....asking questions like what's the best backpack for a 32" monitor.

 

I would recommend the M17X as the most stable and well built machine Dell Alienware has to offer. Although the m17 and m15x are fairly decent machines as well, they won't match the quality an endurance of the M17X.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

If you're on a tight-ish budget then I'd recommend the M17, as with the 4850s it brings the performance up to the same level as the M17x. You should NOT get an M17 if you can't get the 4850 mobility cards. Similarly, you should NOT get an M17x if you can't get dual 260Ms at minimum, they provide a massive boost.

The M17 has a larger battery and is quite a bit thinner and lighter than the M17x. Also personally I like the matte black finish. However, the M17x's 9400M means despite the fact that the battery is smaller, you can still get 3 hours out of it on the go, whereas the M17 just hits 2 hours. (On the plus side if you're gaming on the go, the M17 will last longer, especially as its graphics cards draw less power.)

It's honestly down to preference.

However, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT buy the m15x. It has SO MANY PROBLEMS, uses last-generation graphics cards and processors and yet still has a very marked up price. If you're looking for a 15 inch gaming notebook, look elsewhere, or wait for the new m15x that will come out soon.

 

The Great Debate

 

I have another question. Is there going to be a new alienware computer or a more powerful computer going to be made in the next decade so I can save up for the new one instead.

 

There's always going to be something better as years go by. You can't just wait for the next best thing all of the time or you'll never buy anything.

 

Nope last one that will ever be made.

 

True that, but if theres a better laptop coming out in a couple years would it be really worth it to spend 6,000 to 8,000 dollars that is going to out done soon. BUT, if I buy it I will be able to sell it later on though it maybe not worth alot so it realy is a debate. LET THE DEBATE BEGIN

 

where did you here that and besides there maybe other computer companies making powerful laptops too. And I don't understand why after making there most sucsessful laptop why would they stop making laptops

 

1) You're not going to be spending $6000 to $8000 on an M17x.

2) A "better laptop coming out in a couple of years" doesn't qualify as "out done soon."

 

yare yare...

 

You didn't take that as a joke? Sorry.

 

First off if you want a good M17X (trust me when I went to check out the price when I was done customizing It came out to about $7,900 so I would be spending 6000 to 8000 and Im not going to spend 2000 dollars when I could get a better one for the same price.

Second Let me rephrase. I was talking about a gaming laptop so why would a company make a worse laptop because people would still buy M17X laptops because they're better

 

Oh sorry you kind of scared me when you said it would be the last one made

 

this whole thread = *facepalm*

its just OMG

 

$3400 USD (after tax and S&H) for a QX9300 280M GTX SLI 4GB of 1066 RAM and a 500GB HDD. Throw in a 250Gb OCZ Vertex aftermarket for $675 and you're at $4075.

Or are you throwing money away on RAID SSDs and 8Gb of RAM that really aren't offering you anything for gaming?

 

Even if you add everything I think it maxes out around $5500.

 

he may live somewhere else guys

 

I hope I'm not the only one that didn't max out their system, (all said and done mine came to just over 2700, thats including tax, next day shipping etc) and still plan on getting a few good years out of this puppy. I just retired my Toshiba Satellite because the Geforce Go 7200 finally cooked itself, sure this past year there were a couple games that came out it couldn't even think about running, but I was very happy with it for almost 3 years and spent almost as much on it back then.

All rambling aside, what I'm trying to say Moneyman, is you don't need the best options available on that (or any for that matter) system to still have a decent gaming laptop that has some longevity, you only need that if you're interested in sqeezing every last drop out of benchmarks (no offense anyone here). If I have to run stuff at medium settings fine, I'm on a laptop, thats the price I pay for being able to easily pick up and head to my buds house for a night of booze and games.

 

and you got 280's in SLI ?

they do not offer a 300$ performance boost .....

and they are really a 260m GTX with 12 extra SP and a little overclock ( 10% maybe faster in benchmarks)

 

Right on...
This is the point why I just couldn't get myself to buy the 280m's. I think that dual 260m's will be good enough for most games.

 

280's are for the benchmark-ers.

 

I'll totally admit that I bought those purely on a whim. That and I'll admit to being ill-informed. I didn't find this site until well after my order was placed and I'll be darned if I was gonna cancel and re-order. Even if it cost me a few hundred.

 

By the way, love the new avatar Moo.

 

I live in Peabody Massachusetts

 

These are my specs for the Alienware M17X

SYSTEM COLOR Nebula Red - Special Edition – Anodized Aluminum edit
PROCESSOR -Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows Vista Ultimate (64 bit) + Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade Coupon edit
VIDEO CARD Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280M, 2GB – SLI® Enabled edit
LCD PANEL 17-inch WideUXGA 1920x1200 (1200p) edit
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz edit
HARD DRIVE 256GB Solid State Drive edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Load Dual Layer Blu-ray Combo (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW) edit
AUDIO OPTIONS Alienware TactX Headset edit
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 3Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis edit
Personalize
PERSONALIZED PLATE Personalized Nameplate (Ceo Derek Medina) edit
ALIENRESPAWN DVD AlienRespawn Image Recovery DVD edit
GEAR STORE Orion Alienware Messenger Bag - Fits Laptops with Screen Sizes Up to 17-inch - Black edit
GAMING CONTROLLERS Saitek X52 Pro Flight Control edit
GAMING SOFTWARE Age of Empires 3 edit
ALIENFX COLOR Quasar Blue edit
AVATAR Alienhead Chrome Blue edit
WALLPAPER Alien Cyborg edit
My Accessories
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007-English edit
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee® VirusScan Plus – 36-Month Subscription (English) edit
ON CALL PLAN On Call Services 13 months edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
BLUETOOTH Internal Wireless Bluetooth® 2.1 with EDR
WIRELESS CARDS Internal 300Mbps Dual-Band a/g/n Wireless with MIMO Technology
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0
MOUSE POINTERS Mouse Pointers, Standard
WINDOWS STYLE Windows Style, Default
AUTOMATIC UPDATES Automatic Updates ON
POWER PLAN Power Plan, High Performance
TIME ZONE (GMT - 6.00) Central Time (US & Canada)
RSS FEEDS Alienware RSS Feed
Standard Nameplate Trigger Thank you for Purchasing Alienware

 

For a total of $5881.05 after Massachusetts 5% sales tax. Not $7900.

And I didn't give you the 7% EPP or 3% DPA even though you're jacking up the cost of your specs with AoE, respawn CD, game controller, headset, bag, 13 months of on call, and 3 years of McAfee...

BTW you should take Complete Care. ;þ

 

Yeah... I would ditch at least half of those, if not all.

 

First off AoE is not that expensive 26 dollars or a $1 a month. I might need the Respawn CD not that it is that expensive anyway. I am a fan of FSX which means that the controller can be used and should be used and thats the cheapest version I can find. I need that bag because I am going into college soon AND I do alot of traveling though usually i dont use it unless I go for more than 2 hours. I am not used to alienware laptps though I could probably bring it down to 30 days. McAfee because Im not just going to let some hacker or virus kill my expensive alienware laptop in the first 3 yrs with my alienware
I also am getting vista ultimate, the special edition nebula red, 17-inch WideUXGA 1920x1200 (1200p) screen

Oh and by the way I am going to take complete care

 

DO NT USE MCAFEE IT IS THE WORST ANTIVIRUS IN THE INDUSTRY,
USE THE BEST ANTI VIRUS AVILABLE NORTON INTERNET SECURITY 2009 (won several best anti virus award from majr publications, or kaspersky internet security 9 (also came close t 2nd best anti virus in the industry garnering awards)

 

ROTFL @ mcAfEe

BTW don't complain about your price if you bought half the Dell store

 

Recent testing showed that Avira Antivir is the best antivirus app out. Oh, and it's free! lol

I wouldn't use Norton or Mcaffee even if it was free....

 

Cant go wrong with kaspersky internet security 9, it never fails me.
and its amazing. with a 98% trojans and virus detection rate cant lay that claim to other anti viruses either. I heard norton internet security 2009 scored 99% trojans and voris detection rate.

MCAFREE scored an abysmal of 68% virus and trojan detection rate, do not use mcafee!!!!
Hw mcafee is still in this antivirus business is beyond me....

 

@ sleey0

norton 09 was actually good they redesign the whole system to be less intensive and the detectyion rate was pretty dang good.... if i wasn't so cheap i might actually get it

Avast FTW

 

I bought kaspersky internet security 9 2 years key code from ebay for a mere $10.... and it works i saved tons of money.

do what i do dwnload kaspersky internet security 9 buy the 2 year code activation or a mere $10 on ebay and your set for life.

 

Ok all of you are bashing Mcafee though it protected me from a bunch of potential viruses AND besides it is the only antivirus offered though I would try to update it at a later date

 

lol we are bashin it because it is the truth

it does suck and it may have saved you from a few viruses but think how many it didn't with a 60% detection rate

 

this thread is ace!! what is it you say Moo...facepalm..or something!

 

The word is "facepalm"

​

 

my total was 5130$

i skipped the mc afee on mine
im runing Norton Corprate which has no experation date

 

LOL....... this is seriously chocked full of win.

Hilarious.

 

Massive LOL

 

...Did I just read this right? Did you just call Norton the best antivirus in the industry?

I wouldn't use Norton if they paid me to use it. It's abysmal. It slows down your computer horribly and from my experiences anyway, is RUBBISH. My friend's computer got infected by a LOT of viruses which shut down Norton and he ended up having to format his hard drive. Whereas now he uses McAfee and hasn't had a problem since.

Personally though, I think AVG is pretty much one of if not THE best on the market. It's free and provides excellent protection from viruses.

Kaspersky is also pretty good, I'll admit that, but I much prefer AVG.

I seriously don't know how in the world Norton manages to win so many awards. It's the WORST antivirus on the entire market from my experiences with it.

 

Norton internet security 2009 snatched up the best awards due t its 99% detection rate...But older versions of norton had really sucked. 2009 edition they revamped the whle system and are reliable.

My kaspersky internet security 9 is awesome, its been able to block spam and block trojans on the internet. 100% of the time and its awesome.

 

This thread is closed, it has gone too far off-topic. Original poster, you are free to start another thread if you feel your question has not been answered - thank you.