M17x vs 9150 Help me decide!!

Alienware M17x
- 17.3" (60Hz) WideFHD WLED (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare-Type Screen (SKU - A1R604)
- 3rd Generation Intel® Ivy Bridge Core

 

Ask yourself, do you want a laptop that looks like a spacecraft? Is that a laptop that you can bring to a job interview for example?

 

True story...

Really, it comes down to the price, looks and your preference, I would always go for the 17" P170EM/NP9150

Unless you we go 18".. which in this case Alienware for now dominates

 

I can't decide for the life of me. I'm in the military, might be deploying soon and maybe the alien is to flashy and has a higher chance to be stolen. Then again the alien performs better since you can disable enduro. The Sager is more portable.
Which has the better screen?
Which has the better keyboard?
Which has the best overall quality?
Reliability? Temps?
Omg I can't decide halp!!

-Sager
95% gamut matte, chiclet keyboard, 8gb 1333mhz ram
-Alien
6gb 1800mhz ram (everything stock)
-Same for both
2.3-3.3 processor, 7970, 128gb SSD, 500gb HDD, price $1800

 

I went with the 9150. You planning to get the 7970m? If so, keep in mind the M17x will keep it 10-15C cooler, is quieter, and has as much as a 15% performance advantage over the 9150 in several games due to being able to shut off Enduro. Also the M17x can overclock the CPU.
That said, the 9150 has a much more subdued look, is 3 lbs lighter, and is several hundred dollars cheaper.

 

u can get a better screen with the sager. 95 gamut matte looks great from what ive heard

alienware has too many lights on it for me

i like backlit keyboards but lighting all over the sides and front and im turned off
m17x is bigger a lil too big for me
its also more expensive
but at this point is the better choice for performance with 7970m

of course many of the gripes i have with m17x are just preference and for another person may be a pro not a con

 

i believe you can turn all alienware lights off including the logo.

if the AW machine was thinned out a bit in a refreshed design (the current ones been out for years now and they should make it more classy like the razer blade laptop), used the front vents for intake and gave a matt screen option it would be a much harder decision

 

The only reason why alienware haven't changed their designs is because people buy them, they purposely used that design to attract people, but i digress.

I do agree with you, if it wasn't too flashy and bulky, I would have definitely gone with the m17x, though 17" laptops aren't too portable, I spend most of my time on a train and in an office anyway, so not much mobility is required.

Also the alienware laptops have better cooling due to the size of them, screens can be replaced with aftermarket ones i believe.

 

i was pushing my size limit with the 9150 at 6.83 lbs to begin with
gonna be carrying around in college a lot i truly wish i could have gotten one a bit lighter but after weighing my options i decided it was worth it

so the alienware definitely too heavy for me

also how much does it cost to upgrade the screen like that

 

Exactly the same struggle I had a while back. Admittedly, if the AW came with a matte screen, high gamut option, the choice would be more difficult. There is a price difference, but we are paying for a 17" model versus 15". Funnily enough I'm happy with the look of either a plain Sager or a jazzed up Alienware, so that was no issue for me.

But man, the lack of a matte screen on the AW was such a deal breaker. My brother has an M17x R2 and it's a fabulous machine. Pity they seem to have cheapened the deal on the new versions by doing away with an aluminum exterior for chassis. But I'll stand corrected on this one, if the new versions indeed still use an aluminum fascia.

 

If you want to go with a 17" screen, I would go with the NP9170. It's lighter than the Alienware, plus multiple HDD drives and options the Alienware doesn't have, such as getting an mSATA SSD drive. (Which is a HUGE speed increase)
And since it's still only around 10 pounds, it's not extremely heavy (compared to the Alienware)

 

After seeing the 95 gamut screen for myself i would turn down the alienware just for the lack of not having one.
10-15% more performance is good but what is it worth without a great screen to see it on.

 

no matte on alienware sucks, but then again never really liked spaceships for laptops. Discreet and silent look of Clevo FTW!

 

I personally would go with the 9150 or 9170 but probably because I don't like laptops that look like they might take off at any moment lol...

But besides the looks, as others have stated, you probably will save money going 9150/9170 and you're getting a professional looking high performance laptop that you will be able to take with you anywhere and not attract too many eyes, unless that is what you are wanting but I don't think it is ever a good thing that your laptop is attracting a bunch of attention lol.

*edit -- I should have added this. I THINK that some of the alienware laptops have both a HDMI in and HDMI out port giving you the option to use your screen for like a PS3 or something. If you are someone who likes playing console games this may be something that interests you. I know several cases where I could have used the HDMI in on my laptop.
I believe that's how the HDMI in works, if that's something that interests you I would check it out on youtube or the alienware forum.

 

Did you see the 95% matte or glossy gamut screen?

 

Do you know of where and how much a good replacement screen would cost?

 

Decided to get the m17x, found a good deal on it

 

But it's not like the stock matte looks bad, right. I am just going to live in ignorance and try not to see a 95% gamut in person.

 

Congrats on the purchase! They are both good computers, the choice is a matter of horses for courses.

 

I actually bought an M17x R4. I sent it back to get a Sager NP9150. The laptop was nice but the novelty of the pretty lights wore off fast. I was expecting an aluminum based chassis but it was clearly plastic. I also wasn't very impressed with it's sound quality. Its a very heavy laptop at 10 pounds and I decided that I wanted something more portable. The screen is as beautiful as it is glossy and it is VERY beautiful (in a dimly lit room).

 

^^Starting with the R3, the M17x line is no longer equipped with aluminium chassis unlike the M17x, M17x R2 and the M18x line.
They actually stopped producing the M15x and replaced it with the M14x and a single dedicated GPU M17x line.