Alienware using OCZ DIY

Alienware using OCZ DIY
http://www.alienware.com/customize/...e=SKU-DEFAULT&from=EMAIL:gen_20081103_m17_pdp

price starts at $1,399.00. Nice price I guess.

 

Hell yes. That is a great price since it is cheaper than the barebones system. Plus a company that will support the drivers etc. I am all over it.

 

OMG!!! AND THEY are so much cheaper!

Man this is a first for alienware. They are at least 200 cheaper overall configured than xotic pc!!! HOLY CR@P~!

And you can still get a 5%alienware student discount!!! - that's 250 LESS!

 

how do yoiu get the student discount?

 

that's because of the lcd.... +200$ for a lcd like the selling in xotic. Although for a Alienware it's cheap.
Alienware also include vista home premium in the price.
I hate buying notebooks with microsoft SO's and/or pre-installed software.
About the drivers... Vista only -_-"

 

Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3870 - CrossFireX™ Enabled!
Processor: Intel® Core™2 P8400 2.26GHz (3MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Chassis: 17-Inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD (1200p) with Clearview Technology
Keyboard Options: Illuminated Keyboard – Alienware Exclusive Design - Astral Blue
Operating System (Office software not included): Windows Vista® Home Premium (32-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1
Notebook Tuners and Remotes: Without Media Center Remote Control or TV Tuner
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR3 SO-DIMM at 1066MHz – 2 x 1024MB
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 160GB 7,200RPM (8MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection
Optical Drives : 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW)
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® Ultimate N 5300 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card with MIMO Technology
The World's First 450 Mbps Wi-Fi Adapter!
Sound Card : Internal High-Definition Audio with Surround Sound
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Onsite Service and 24/7 Toll-Free Phone Support
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mesh Cap
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mobile Binder
Alienware Extras: Owner Identification Card
Alienware Extras: M17 Protective Cloth Sleeve
Alienware Extras: M17 Keyboard Diagram Overlay

$1899+tax
5% student discount how ever it works = $1805

Sell the CPU and HDD on ebay for $150 = $1655

Plus this comes with OS and alienware logo!

 

I've also been very surprised by its pricing compared to the similar OCZ whitebooks.

That's great students get a 5% discount and my dad's company can give me another 10% off if I buy from a larger, more "reputable" dealer. They wouldn't give me the discount if I bought from any of the OCZ whitebook sellers.

Now I'm just waiting for it to get the Mobility HD4850/HD4870 cards. Would there be a large performance difference between the HD48XX and HD38XX series?

 

lol, and I wanted to replace the lid with my whitebook with that from my M9750...

This is pretty impressive from Alienware offering this for such a price. I guess they figured out that people would figure out that it's really an OCZ whitebook, so they priced it accordingly. It would be cool though if they offered different colors for it like they did with the M9700.

 

Slm alitunay I'm considering buying one too. Please pm me about the student discount.

This is an interesting development especially considering the news about ATI shipping 4850 and 4870s.

 

Alienware states they can be upgraded to a max of 4gb of ram, you really can't go more than that just in case? I thought the Centrino 2 notebooks can go up to 8gb.

 

No. The max. amount of RAM depends on the chipset and motherboard, not the CPU. About the only notebook (that I know of) that can take more than 4GB is the Clevo D901C, which uses a desktop chipset.

 

^Actually many Santa Rosa notebooks also support over 4 GB of RAM. It was never mentioned in the spec sheet, but people have successfully done it. I'm pretty sure Centrino 2 also goes up to 8 GB.

 

Yeah. For instance, the Precision M6300 maxes at 8gb and that uses a Santa Rosa platform.

 

How much performance increase do you expect to get for the $300 8gb upgrade?

 

When can we expect these to incorporate the new Mobility HD48XX cards? I'd like to buy a notebook by mid-December.

And would there be a large performance difference between the Mobility HD38XX and HD48XX series? If not, then I may just purchase this now because it seems as though it may take a while for the HD48XX to make their way into notebooks.

I'm still amazed at how I can get this Alienware cheaper than the original OCZ whitebook!

 

Actually it may not take too long, there is no news about that. And difference between desktop versions are huge, so we can expect the difference in mobility versions should be huge too.

 

Product(s) Qty. Total
OCZ Extreme 840 Barebones System
- 17" WUXGA "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1920x1200)
- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- -Intel® P8400 45nm "Montevina" Core™2 Duo 2.26GHz w/3MB L2 On-die cache - 1066MHz FSB 25 watt
- (2) 512MB (1,024MB Total) PCI-Express CROSSFIRE ATI HD3870 DDR3 DX10 (User Upgradeable)
- - 2,048MB (1 SODIMM) DDR3 1066MHz Dual Channel Memory
- - Combo Dual Layer SuperMulti 8X Light Scribe DVDRW Drive w/ Software
- - 160GB 7200RPM WD or Seagate (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)
- No Bay 2 Hard Drive
- HDD Raid Settings - OFF
- Integrated Bluetooth® EDR
- Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 5300 802.11 a/g/n Wi-Fi Link
- None Standard
- -Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's
- 1 Year Parts & Labor Warranty Lifetime Toll Free Tech Support
- Please install the selected parts in this system
$2,170.00


Sub-Total: $2,170.00


Same specs from Xoticpc.

More than $300 cheaper for the same specs. Holly COW!!

 

I'm shocked by the modest pricing scheme AW's chosen.

But why would they undercut the home team's m17x in such a brutal manner? They just can't be phasing it out already.

 

No - they are just BLOWING the competition out the the water. Goodbye sales @ xotic (for the ocz)!

 

I just priced out a config similar to what I had at xotic and the problem I ran into is that the shipping and tax is enormous. The tax I would end up paying is about $226 plus the shipping. Sure, the initial price may be nice, but with xotic the shipping is also much cheaper. And for those that mentioned the education discount, I am also eligible for that but when you go to the University section on Alienware there are only 3 notebooks listed to choose from and the OCZ isnt one. The m17x is listed, but that is not the OCZ. Too bad the tax is so how, when I first saw the price I thought it would be great.

 

Well, that's good to know; however, it's still a question of the chipset and how the motherboard implemented that chipset, so one cannot simply go by the CPU badging and assume that 8GB is supported merely because of the badging.

 

Alienware offers also Wide XGA+ , 1440x900. What about that? Low-res screen can be better for games like Crysis and low-res movies,rips etc.

 

Yeah but can't the same thing be said for their own m17x?

You don't get Crossfire/SLI to game at low resolutions.

 

If OCZ wants small system integrators to keep this product in their lineup, they should be dropping prices by AT LEAST $250. Hopefully they will...

 

And now i tried their checkout but it doesn't list any European or Asian countries.

 

Wow,

I made my order from RK computers on Saturday and now i see this.

I can't believe Alienware is charging the same price as what I paid.

I'm still sticking with my RK computers build. I kind of prefer the more subtle look of the OCZ.

 

Just wondering, based on the recent replies, but has anyone else noticed the amount of tax one might end up paying on these? Sure, the initial price may be cheaper, but if you have to pay tax, it will likely be more. When I priced mine out the tax was around $230. The shipping is also more than xotic as well. Since I have not yet purchased mine, I'm not sure what tax would be from xotic, if there is any at all. I am simply saying that the tax will drive the price up considerably. And I looked at the education discount and what notebooks you can use it towards and the only ones that are listed are the m15x, m17x and m9750

 

The tax may be more, but you can also save more money if you bought your own HDD/RAM from newegg or somewhere, because it's still overpriced even on the m17....

 

Nice rig for sure and at a very good price . I had a 9750 alienware same chasis and it was and still looks like new (my friend has it now) . i like the alienware chasis abit more because of the rubberized matte finish, but xotic offers that 3 year warranty free or maybe its thru OCZ but either way i dont think anyone can beat that with 3 years of piece of mind and for basically free. Alienwares customer service has not been the best for many people and you dont have to look far to see its not the best . i may be getting a new rig soon and i still think the OCZ over the long haul will be the best bang for the buck even if there both priced exactly the same and having someone like justin from xotic or any of these other resellers on the boards to help out is priceless IMHO.

 

Im willing to pay just a bit more for better service and support. Xotic has a reputation to uphold. Alienware, they could care less. You're just another buck in their pocket. And, as someone else mentioned, the taxes aren't something you have to dish out with Xotic..whereas Alienware taxes the purchase. I built a similar rig to what I ordered..and it comes out to being about the same cost thru Aware.. actually, $75 more with Aware and then as Quad points out..no warranty for 3 years. Only the 1 year that's standard. So, better customer service, better warranty, and within $75..and in my case, I paid 75 less.. I'm satisfied. I'll just go download drivers off Alienware's webpage if they make any custom ones

 

Finally Alienware is back into the game. The skullcap design is just amazing and hopefully the whitebook quality will be better than that on m15x. I just wish they went with nvidia rather then ATI. I not that impressed with crossfire setups for now. Synthetic benchmarks numbers are big but there are serious issues with games scores.

 

Agreed. I just got a tuition refund from school and am planning on buying a rig from xotic hopefully sometime this week. Slightly off topic, but the rig will likely be very similar to yours and was wondering if I might be able to PM you once I get it for some tips and stuff.

 

Whichever company is the first to offer it with dual 4870 will get my business but I do however prefer the matte finish of the Alienware to the glossy finish of the standard Whitebooks.

On the subject of warranties though...would moding the case like K|N does with it's machine-gun drilled ventilation holes void a warranty with Alienware or even OCZ?

 

Are you joking? you drill holes on a notebook and you still want warranty? lol?

 

You could probably order a seperate cover and go to town drilling it, that way you have the best of both worlds, warranty and cooler machine.

 

Heh...no I assumed it would void the warranty but that's kinda the point of my asking.

Moding in extra vent holes is just the kind of "sinister intent" that lurks in the minds of a few people buying an OCZ Whitebook and that makes a 3 year warranty about 2 years 11 months 3 weeks and a couple of days too long. ;]

 

If I'm thinking correctly, drilling holes will only void your warranty if it can be implied by the manufacturer that your modifications caused the mechanical failure that you're reporting.

 

To the best of my knowledge, any alterations to the machine that change the structural, electrical, and physical integrity void your warranty. Including, but not limited to, drilling holes in the thing. However, there are user swapable parts that will not void it. Such as RAM, HDDs, CPU, and USB dongles And yea, if you can prove that what you did is not the cause of your issue..then it shouldn't be a problem. So, if ya bore some holes in it..and your keyboard then stops working, then you should be covered. Unless you bored holes in your keyboard. Then, you're likely screwed. I considered a mod similar, but uhhh..not so destructive as K|N's.. And then after re-considering..decided that I'd be an idiot by drilling holes in my computer. Johnksss helped bring me back to earth on that idea. And phin, yea..PM me if there's any guidance you feel I can offer. This thing hasn't had any issues since I received it..except was running a bit warm. I reapplied AS5 today, and swapped thermal pads on northbridge, and now it is running about 5c cooler when under load. I love this rig, but would love the 4870s too

 

Well, that's what I like about PCMicroworks. They let me put some holes by the hard drive area of the EDGE notebook. Maybe someone can call OCZ and find out if they would allow this?

 

Wonder if AW's M17 will keep the user upgradable GPUs that the standard Whitebook has.

 

Phin, they have no choice.. and they currently have them as the only option. If you find my unboxing pics in the same-named thread here in OCZ..you'll find that the cards are swappable. Not soldered or anything. And, the only other option(at this time) is the 4800 series..but it's not even released yet And johnksss won't send me his GTXs to try in my rig, and I can't blame him. He hasn't had a chance to use em much! Anyhow, this rig leaves plenty of room for upgrading the GPUs in the future. It's just a matter of the BIOS supporting them.

 

imo personally alienware cs sucks big time i would for sure rather buy from rk or xotic but i have to agree they have a killer deal on this.. anyone want to buy a 1730??

 

I noticed that as well, I suppose since it was just announced today, we'll have to wait a short while before its on the University page.

 

Oh.. and in case anyone is interested, a friend is trying to off his ES x9100.. Only $450. Lemme know if y'all or anyone y'all know is interested. Would go well with the OCZ

 

aw all late about it

 

alienware looks immature imo..

 

**** off phoduma. Do yo have to flame every manufacturer stocking the WB thats not xoticpc?

That skullcap looks cool. Lol, they label the keyboard colours as Terra Green, Astral Blue and something Red. Its the same colours as the non-AW whitebook, cept with pretty sounding adjectives :O

 

chilax man wats ur problem, i brought mine from xoticpc doesnt mean shet just that i got a good price that is all, and i say whats on my mind so get the fcuk off my back

 

Well I'm sure they could if they wanted to but it's still reassuring to hear. Depends on if it's totally a stock Whitebook on the inside or something Alienware is getting special treatment with.

Something else to consider along those lines is AW doesn't let you overclock on their current notebooks so I'd have to second guess whether or not they allow it on the M17.

The back-lighting is the same but the keyboard on the M17 uses the same Alienware keyboard that's on the Area-51 m17x.

It may also use the same WUXGA screen as the m17x (which is supposed to be excellent) since there are two options offered for screens...an option other rebranders aren't offering.

 

the lg screen they both use is the same ...