which one should i buy alienware 17 or 18?

Of course the performance is going to be better with dual 780M's, who said it wouldn't? You act as though I don't know this. In the first page, I made it very clear: If the OP wants to base this purchase off of performance alone, the AW 18 is what he should get ( read here). Choosing the AW 18 over the AW 17 is not a bad idea, I would probably do the same. But between the two options he has provided, I would choose the AW 17.

To respond to your benchmark scores: The AW 17 can reach over 10K with a modded vBIOS, which proves it is more than capable of providing an ideal gaming experience. My point being: The OP needs to consider whether or not he needs the extra FPS (20~30) in games and if it is worth sacrificing some portability for that.

The AW 17 is not difficult to upgrade. It only takes more time.

 

Great advices guys thank you so much for your help, I decided to go with the 18, I will upgrade the ssd later on because 64gb is well not enought I think xD, but I only wanted to ask you another thing, if in a couple of years I just want to put new graphic cards, I can call DELL and pay them for the upgrade?

 

No, you can't. You may be able to buy the parts from them, but I doubt they'll offer to upgrade your system for you. You will likely end up having to buy parts from eBay.

 

Damn that's harsh from them, but ok no problem, after all I just want an alienware because I trust them

 

It's not difficult and they are not the cheapest source of parts. You can keep the originals and put it back if you have an extended warranty though.

 

Only true if you get the 120hz screen, I think. $150 with tax and half of the battery life for a properly-secured display cable. Fair trade...

 

Yes, that is true. The 3D display cable does have retainer screws.

Honestly, I have been an Alienware owner for a good while and I really don't see a need for this to be attached by screws. I have never experienced a problem with them coming loose at the motherboard.

 

Not to belabor the point, but I mentioned it because $500 Latitudes have retaining screws.

I wonder if this warrants an IdeaStorm post...

 

Dear all, I am new as a poster to this forum but I have been reading either the reviews or many threads on the forum for a while. I love the quality and support that we can get here!

Today, I am hesitating (great offer currently on Alienware) between a 17 & 18 AW laptop. My questions revolves mainly about the ease to upgrade either RAM or HDD/SSD on both machines. As background. I still have an 'old' XPS L702x Dell laptop that I have upgraded with SSD and new RAM and it was pretty easy to do it.

Two questions:
1) is it easy to access the RAM and HDD slots on both latest AW models (17, 18)?
2) following my first questions, do the 1/2/3-year Alienware warranty or support ends as soon as we open the computer and change RAM or HDD?

Thanks for your help,
L.

 

Hello lothebanker! Welcome to NBR and the Alienware Community. We are glad you joined us and look forward to hearing more from you once you decide on which beast to buy.

Those are good questions to ask and the answers are pretty straightforward:

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1. The 18 is much easier and faster to work on than the 17. I have taken the motherboard out of both machines, so both have been down to the bare chassis.
   - the HDD are easy to access on both machines, and the mSATA slot is easy to access on the 18 (simply remove bottom cover)
   - two of the four SODIMM slots are easy to access on both machines by removing the bottom cover (same as HDD access)
   - to access the other two SODIMM slots (and the mSATA on the 17) requires removal of the palm rest on both machines
   - removal of the palm rest on the 18 involved disconnecting some cables and removing some screws
   - removal of the palm rest on the 17 involves removing/repasting the CPU heat sink and GPU, cables and twice as many screws
   - removal of the palm rest on the 18 takes about 15 minutes or less and at least twice that amount of time on the 17
   
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2. No... and this is one of the really nice things about owning an Alienware. Essentially, nothing you do voids the warranty.
   - user induced damage is not covered by the warranty - you will need to pay for anything you break or damage
   - warranty and technical support does not extend to the aftermarket parts (kind of a no brainer on this)

The 17 and 18 are now on a level playing field on build quality. This is the first time that has been the case since the M17xR2 was retired. Both are built extremely well. If having the best performance available in a laptop is more important than saving a few bucks on the price you will want nothing less than an 18. SLI makes the 18 significantly more potent (depending on the test, between 50-100% higher FPS and benchmark scores). The ease of service, larger screen and dual-GPU features are also extremely compelling reasons to go with the 18 over the 17 if you can afford either of the two options.

I am going to merge this with another thread covering essentially the same 17 versus 18 topic.

 

According to a couple members here (in the Owner's Lounge for the AW 17) they claim to have accessed the memory slots and mSATA port without having to re-paste the system by following Alienware's Owner's manual for disassembly for the AW 17. I have not attempted to do so, yet, because the memory I want to buy is back-ordered through the end of October. Hopefully there is another way into the system...

Don't forget about the hardware on the inside, too! 765M SLI ≠ 780M.

---

Having owned the AW 17 for some time now, I would say the only "downside" is the loss in performance in comparison with the AW 18. The AW 17 is much more preferable in most other aspects, except the fact that it only has one GPU. What do I mean by this? One example would be the screen. The AW 17 has the option of having a 120Hz TrueLife display, which is incredible for gaming. The refresh rate makes all the difference. I purchased an external monitor (60Hz) and I don't even want to use it anymore because of how much of a difference it is. Note: With this 120Hz screen, max battery life is approximately 2.5 hours, but then again, that is about what the AW 18 gets anyway.

Bottom line: They are both excellent systems. If you're seeking the best 'desktop replacement' performance, and money is no object: go with the AW 18. Otherwise, I'd consider the AW 17.

 

In particular, there are three screws and one ribbon cable underneath heat sinks and GPU fan that must be accessed to remove the palm rest on the 17. The CPU heat sink covers up one screw near where the WiFi antenna cables are routed through the chassis. The GPU heat sink covers two screws and one ribbon cable. You cannot even see those three screws and ribbon cable until the GPU fan and both heat sinks have been removed.

One feature about the 17 that I wish was the same on the 18 is the SATA interposer design. The 17 HDD/SSD SATA connections do not involve the use of cables and I like that. That being said, the 18 SATA cables are a MASSIVE improvement over the type of interposer that was used on the M18xR1/R2. They are rock solid, whereas the latter was fragile and required caution to avoid breaking the plastic ribbon cable retainer/clamp mechanism. That problem is fixed.

 

I've seen screen cables come loose, it's better safe than sorry when you are producing 10s of thousands.

 

Of course, anything is possible. If the connection is designed properly (which it seems to be) I see this as a non-issue... just my own opinion on the subject. I have seen it happen too, but never on my M18x. Additionally, if either end of the LDVS cable is not securely attached/seated during the assembly process, coming loose in time can be expected. Mine has never come loose in spite of extensive travel, rough handling and being intentionally disconnected and reconnected probably at around 20 times. Mine always has a nice "snap" into the socket and feels very solid. Having screws would be nice and eliminate that possibility, but not having them isn't the end of the world if the connection coming loose isn't a known issue that causes frequent problems for many people.

 

I totally agree. The design is excellent.

 

Thanks to all of you for your feedbacks! it's confirming the great quality and help that can be found here!

I get that the 18 is the best choice for my concerns...however it is so huge, even to keep it at home and move it on a few occasions. I'll think about it.

Thanks again.

 

There is very little difference in size between the 17 and 18. I had both at the same time for a while and the 17 is just a little bit smaller. It is almost the same size as an M18xR1/R2. Don't let the assumption that the 18 is much larger be a deterrent, because that is not correct. If the performance of the 18 is attractive to you and you can afford it, you will likely regret purchasing the 17. If finances are such that buying the 18 creates a hardship, the 17 is a good machine.

 

The decision really is pretty easy. I know the biggest factor I looked at was performance. There's really no comparison. I have already owned a 17in laptop and I can't see that a 18 would be alot bigger. Not only that but, with an 18 you know you got the biggest and the best. Just my opinion.

Does anyone else still make an 18 other than Alienware? I know that Toshiba used to but, I dont think they do now. I believe it was based off of a Sager/Clevo? Correct?

 

Yes, they used to be Clevo before Dell made them better. I am not aware of another 18" laptop.

The 17 is a larger than normal laptop for a 17 inch... I have three 17 laptops at my disposal and it is larger than all of them, including the M17xR2.

I know some of folks that are content to compromise performance think thin and light is the way to go, but that's not an option for the true performance enthusiasts. Extreme performance, and cooling to support it, cannot be achieved in a thin and light package... for the same reason 10 gallons of water cannot fit into a 5 gallon bucket. Big fans, multiple drives, and robust heat sinks take up space. Start cutting corners on these things and you get some nice looking, but ultimately mediocre, fragile or both.

 

The problem with asking us what system to choose is that most of us are enthusiasts, and most of the people asking are not. So, obviously we are likely going to suggest the most extreme, fast, and expensive system that the OP likely does not need. While I agree that the performance of the AW 18 is substantially better, we have to consider whether or not the one asking us for our opinion on which system to buy actually needs that extra performance, especially if he/she must sacrifice other things for it.

There are several pros and cons to both the AW 17 and AW 18 -- if you choose the 18, you lose some of the 17 features; if you choose the 17, you lose out on performance. You have to weigh the pros and cons with your needs and wants... It will be different for every person. I cannot agree with anyone that simply says, "The AW 18 is better than everything else, period." in this specific situation because that is not necessarily true, considering the needs of the individual. If we're just talking performance, that is probably a valid statement, and I'd agree to it then, and only then.

My point being: consider all of the options on the table, and research the heck out of them.

 

I may have come across a little over enthusiastic.

I was speaking purely from my own personal standpoint. There are indeed pros and cons to each system. I just kind of took it for granted that, seeing as we are in an Alienware forum that, performance was one of the main criteria. The 18 is not an end of all discussion. A fully loaded 17 should outperform a base model 18, but I'm pretty sure a maxed out 18 dominates just about everything this side of heavy duty desktops.

I will take Mr. Fox's comment one step further and say that the majority of all people think thin, light and pretty are the way to go. Otherwise, we wouldn't see all these different companies concentrating on ultrabooks. I myself would rather have a hamster in an Altoids tin than an ultrabook, but that's purely my opinion.

The one thing that really had my considering the 17 was that 120hz 3D screen. The one thing about the 18 over everything else is the screen size. It's the only one on the market right now, and Alienware is the only company that has had one in their lineup this long.

The guy down the block tears a chicken house down with a hammer and his bare hands.
The guy next door ties rope to the rafters and pulls it down with his old farm truck.
I want to go out back and take 20lbs of C-4 to mine and not have to worry about picking up splinters!

 

The use of cables in the 18 is likely due to PCB routing issues but I find it odd this was not changed in the latest revision of the R2.

 

I like the way you think...

Yes, but just barely, and then only with a talented tuner... it's very difficult for a single GPU to catch up with SLI when both are close in the generational hierarchy. A single 780M can only beat 770M SLI by about 1,000 points and 780M SLI beats a single 780M by ~6000 in 3DMark 11.

Remember what kind of people we are dealing with. Following the lead of Apple and now Micro$lop, these big companies are the "thought Nazis" and they are making what they want us to have... what they THINK we need. There will always be the Kool-Aid drinkers that follow along with the program because it's what their friends are doing. And, as far as the folks that really, really, like that cheap crap... Well, we can already see what happens when they are allowed to breed and make decisions that affect everyone else just by looking at the messed up world around us. Majority, even if and when that is accurate, does not by any means equal good, right, intelligent or desirable. In fact, it frequently means the opposite, LOL.

A couple of famous quotes come to mind here... "Can't fix stupid" and "stupid is as stupid does."

 

I don't consider myself an enthusiast, a bencher or really hardcore Alienware anything. I consider myself common joe on the street and am someone who didn't really care or felt "special" or better than the next guy that I got an AW machine. That's not to say I'm not happy with it, just not superior or wanting to limit it to a select few. I'm glad Dell took over AW and allowed more of the masses to pick up these great machines.

All that said, I never really considered the 17 at all. Maybe it's because there are so many other 17 options and I don't mind the size/weight as I don't move my machine much anymore...Having an 18" screen is also nicer since I like having larger screens.

I also don't play anything new so things I play should run perfectly fine on the 17 or the 18. That said, the 17 is still a huge machine and I've stated many times before that for the majority of gaming people, getting the 18 is just a "better" choice since both are huge machines and the 18 gives you better gfx performance, larger screen real estate, better cooling, flagship, easier resale value, etc...

I suppose getting the 18 is simply a safer purchase and less wrong since like the M18x R1/2, it should be far easier to resale if you didn't like it and wanted to get something smaller. On an earlier post, someone listed that Dell Outlet had a lot of AW 14s and 17s for sale already, but no 18s still. Someone was also trying to sell a 17 with no takers on eBay.

I've also stated that if you are patient, you WILL be able to buy AW on sale (at least for the time being). Maybe not today or tomorrow, but give it a few months or even a year and the price difference is really negligible between the 17 and 18. I'd had many instances to buy AW over the last few years for 20%+ off so it's available if you're willing to do the work and be patient. Of course, not everyone is patient...but unfortunately, I'm so biased on this last point that if both machines were practically the same price, why would you want to go with the 17?

Again, there's probably some people who will list off a slew of reasons for the 17 and again YOU NEED TO SEE WHAT YOU REALLY WANT AND NEED PERSONALLY, but maybe like when you buy a house, it's good to know if you ever need to sell it, is this house as easy to sell as some other house for the general population looking for these types of houses?

I would think most people who buy AW care the most about performance and less about weight since even the 14 is damn heavy compared to many machines out there.

 

C'mon Brother Joe. You know you are... an enthusiast. I know you are. You've been here along time, buddy. You're hardcore, dude... face it. You're awesome and so is your beast. Give in to the power.

 

I don't always game on a notebook, but when I do, I prefer the Alienware 18...

 

Lol, now there's a tag line for alienware, the new 18, the choice for notebook connoisseurs

 

I have finally pulled the trigger. It was a tough choice for me and as much as I would have loved to go for 18 inch, I went with 17 inch for number of reasons. Money was not an issue for me, but I was not keen on dual graphics card because of driver issues and some games don't support it. I selected 17 inch with geforce 780m, then I upgraded screen to 3d so that I don't have to deal with optimus (heard stories about graphics switch from dedicated to integrated during gaming) and also 3d screen is 120 hz. I don't mind going for 18 inch next time as long as I can get it with a single graphic card. I know SLI is great but I don't think I will ever want to go for dual graphics card.

 

If you are avoiding dual-GPU Alienware based on what other people say, you need to find some more knowledgeable technical advisors. Most people that criticize CrossFried and SLI have either had an isolated bad experience or believe what they have heard rather than knowing what they know. After owning 8700M SLI, 8800M SLI, 4870M CrossFire, 5870M CrossFire, 6970M CrossFire, 6990M CrossFire, 580M SLI, 7970M CrossFire, 680M SLI, and now 780M SLI I cannot imagine settling for a single GPU machine. It's hard not to love having a 50-100% performance increase, and in the rare circumstance that a crappy game developer releases a buggy game that lacks support for it, you simply turn it off if you want to play particular game, then turn it back on when you are done... very hassle-free.

I don't know your situation or experience and you may have a really fantastic reason for feeling that way. It's OK to have a preference based on personal experience or even just to save money, and I respect that if this is the case. But, I always feel sad when I see someone that might simply be settling for something less based solely upon misinformation when they can afford the best. There are a LOT of talking heads that don't know anything, although they often present information as if they are some sort of an expert on the subject and many are mislead by their nonsense.

Here are some of my own tests (not something I found on the internet) as a point of reference.

Fire Strike: Result - 780M vs 780M SLI

3DMark 11: Result - 780M vs 780M SLI

 

Thanks a lot Mr Fox , you see I am a pharmacist who play games sometime to release stress, and I have to rely on expertise from people like you as I am not very good with laptop technology like you guys. You are right in saying that I decided about not going for SLI based on few other people's experiences and views as I heard a lot about driver problems and heating issues. But what you have said is quite convincing as well and you have proved it with figures so a noob like me can understand I think deep in my mind I was trying to stay as simple as possible to avoid any complications

 

No problem... that's what makes a community like this so great. You're going to really like that new 17... it's a really nice product and a single 780M is going to kick the teeth out of just about everything except 780M SLI.

Looking forward to seeing you shows it what it's capable of.

 

A single 780M is not going to leave you crying in the corner, lets put it that way, you can have great fun in all the modern titles.

 

The scores Mr. Fox presented are insane, but he's using dual PSU's and overclocking the heck out of the system to get that performance, which is cool, but presumably not what you (the OP) plans or wants to do, which brings me back to the point I made earlier. His point is one that should be taken seriously, though. Mr. Fox has just proven exactly how much better 780M SLI is over a single 780M, and if one is considering performance as a primary factor in their decision between the AW 17 and AW 18, the AW 18 is the way to go -- hands down, the best option.

With that being said, you're going to love the AW 17... It's a very well balanced and high quality machine that can tackle anything from every day tasks to the latest games at a smooth FPS. The 120Hz screen is also quite nice. Everything pops and makes the entire experience just that much better.

 

FYI - none of those game results were with a dual PSU mod. And all of those game benchmarks are 680M SLI, so I think you perhaps missed my point... I was laying to rest the mythical nonsense that SLI (or CrossFire) is undesirable or prone to problems and that's absolutely untrue. Look past the numbers at what I said... has nothing to do with overclocking or number chasing, but everything to do with ending the nonsense about multi-GPU. There are lots of imbeciles posting (not necessarily here at NBR) stupid stuff and it is obvious they do so mostly out of ignorance. I don't really care about those people, but I do care about helping the people that have been mislead by providing them with some good information like our friend very_hardcore.

 

Ah, yes, I see now. He mentioned issues with SLI...etc. I must have missed that part. All of your fancy graphs with insane numbers stole my attention away.

I agree, though. Not choosing the AW 18 because of what some people said about issues with SLI is ridiculous.

 

Damn Fox, those are some insane scores. 100+ average FPS in Metro 2033? I mean damn, that's impressive.

 

Hard to not be distracted by them.

Looks like he has been mislead about Optimus as well. I don't particularly care for it, but it can be disabled on Alienware systems and it doesn't have serious issues. I really hate seeing an innocent bystander make bad decisions based on inaccurate information. That has had happened to me before and I am sure others can identify with this. In this case the decision was not particularly bad because what he ordered is still very good, but it was still based on misinformation... choosing the 17 with 3D 120Hz screen based upon lies about SLI and Optimus. The post is also for the benefit of other readers that may have read similar lies.

Thank you. I did those to silence a stupid person in another forum that needed to be convinced that an Alienware M18xR2 with 680M SLI could match or beat his new desktop Titan gaming performance.

 

Well, you sure did :thumbsup:. After seeing your benchmarks I realy have to say; that the Alienware M18/18's are realy impressive machines. Those benchmarks are insane!

 

Thanks a lot guys for your kind words. That's my first alienware machine as well. I bought Toshiba qosmio couple of years ago and well, lets say machine is not doing very well because of overheating. Most of the time I play left4dead as I have nice community on steam and most of them play left4dead but I do like to play games like crysis, company of heroes and farcry occasionally as well and I am sure my rig would be fairly reasonable to play those titles which are lying in my drawer from quite a long time (thanks to qosmio). Also that's my first flagship card as well. I regularly look at those boards and I was reading Mr.Fox's posts very closely from last few days and his debate about sli and windows 7. I couldn't convince myself for sli but I did take his advise to other members and went for windows 7 though

I am not regretting my decision for not choosing 18 inch with sli even though there was a mere £450 difference between my present configuration and 18 inch which is not a lot, but it would be nice to try SLI when I upgrade for new machine next time in future.

 

True, that's always a possibility.

To further comment on this: Alienware PC's hold their resale value much better than any other gaming notebook on the market. (Hint: Warranty helps a lot with that.)

 

IMHO , You should go for the 18. Start with a basic configuration , then when you got extra shiny coins to spare, you can upgrade to the potential of the name Alienware.

 

That can be a very expensive option though overall.

 

Might be too late to this, but having had a previous M17x R3 and now a X7200 dual card setup with two PSU's, I'd probably for my new gaming machine go with a single card setup. Was just a simpler setup and still performed well. That is partially based on the larger footprint the latter leaves me between weight and the dual PSUs. I realize this is different than a M18x, but I figured some of the comparisons were somewhat relevant.

 

Wow, an X7200... totally forgot about that critter. Did it have the 980X CPU and 480M SLI? That was quite a while ago in computer years. Was that back in 2010 or 2011? Time just flies by so fast when you're having fun. Back in the day of 480M, AMD was really giving the green cards a stronger run for the money than they are today.

 

Heh, my x7200 config is actually the one in my sig. And yeah I can't believe how long it's been already. Mine doesn't have the 980X CPU, I have a i7-970 hexacore in there, with 580M sli. It started it's life as a lower configured Sager version of the machine - I actually bought it here on the forum - then sent it over to the Mythlogic guys to do a few upgrades and some cosmetic stuff (new palm rest, new CPU, new video cards, etc). I use an external keyboard and mouse with it, but i just wanted it looking clean. I'm running the original SSD boot drive, a spare SSD for just games, and a HDD for backups/storage. It's still going strong, though I would like to look into downsizing a bit when I can, just need more room, and my dual PSUs are huge

 

Heh it is a beast, should not be too hard to find something smaller with similar power lol.

 

Sorry bud, did not catch your sig. It is nice seeing an old beast like that one still kicking. If it comes, it will rue the day that our massive dual-GPU leviathans move into extinction.
That will be when I surrender and go back to desktops for my thrills. I just can't hang with the idea of compromising performance for something thin and light...

 

It isn't possible to get an Alienware 18 without the SLI setup is it? I would love to be able to get it with one GTX 780m, I do not need all that extra power yet, but having the option to add SLI later would be great, I really would appreciate the 18" screen though, it would be nice to see Dell/Alienware choice of options come back, I hate that we are funneled into buying what they want us to buy .

 

No, they don't sell it that way any more. They offer the 17 for those that want only one GPU. Upgrading to SLI later on is generally more expensive than buying it with the specs you ultimately want... Also, the aftermarket parts are not covered under warranty.

 

Yes I am aware it is more expensive to do it aftermarket, and that it wouldn't be covered in the warranty, but I would like having the option to, even if I never get a second gpu, like the freedom of choice given in the Clevo P370SM, choice is never a bad thing, lack of it is .
Alienware in this regards has gone down hill imo, I hope they realize this and revert back to the way things were before