NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Alienware Notebook Forums › Alienware General › Just ordered my first Alienware
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Just ordered my first Alienware

post #1 of 8
1/13/09 at 6:01am
Thread Starter 
Hey all,

Been reading these forums for quite a while and I always enjoyed the inciteful posts and reviews.

Since the beginning of the year I have contemplated building a desktop system for gaming but finally decided on going for a notebook to ensure an extra degree of mobility incase my job requires me to move in the next year(s).

My previous experience with gaming notebooks is limited to Sager but after experiencing artefacting and overheating problems with that I want to try something new.

Here are the specs of the system I ordered on 12.01.2009 (ordered from the German site but I don't think the components need to be translated):

[1] M17®

Design und Bildschirm: Ripley-Design schwarz
Bildschirm: 17" WideUXGA+ 1920 x 1200 LCD-Widescreen mit Clearview-Technologie
Grafikprozessoren: Dual 512 MB ATI® Mobility Radeon™ HD 3870 – CrossFireX™
Prozessor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9600 - 2,80 GHz 1066 MHz FSB mit 6 MB Cache
Fingerabdruck Lesegerät: Integriertes Fingerabdruck-Lesegerät
Tastatur-Optionen: Beleuchtete Tastatur - Deutsch
Speicher: 4 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SO-DIMM mit 1067 MHz - 2 x 2048 MB
Festplatte: Extreme Performance - RAID 0 - 500 GB 7.200 U/Min SATA (2x 250 GB) mit Free Fall Protection
Betriebssystem: Original Windows® Vista Home Premium 64-bit - Englisch
TV-Tuner: keine Auswahl
Optische Laufwerke: Blu-ray-Laufwerk: 2x Dual Layer (BD-ROM, DVD±RW, CD-RW)
Wireless Netzwerkkarte: Interne Intel® Ultimate N 5300 a/b/gDraft-N Mini-Card mit MIMO-Technologie
Soundkarte: Internes High-Definition Audio mit Surround Sound

In the past I have shied away from AW because it seemed like you never really got enough bang for the buck, whereas the M17 seems to be a decent value proposition at EUR 2'400 for the above configuration.

Any of you running this model, what are your experiences like?
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 8
1/14/09 at 2:09pm
I don't have an m17, but I've got an m9700. The m9700 was the first Arima platform that AW carried. It was followed by the m9750, and now the m17.

If it's as reliable as the previous models, you shouldn't have any issues. I still love my m9700 though it's a bit past it's prime regarding hardware, but it still does everything I ask of it well.

Since the m17 is pretty new, we haven't seen much feedback yet, so let us know how it works out for you if you have the time.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 8
1/14/09 at 8:15pm
Thread Starter 
The reliability you mention was one of the reasons I went for this model, sure hope this platform has some longevity.

I'll be sure to write a review once it arrives.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 8
1/14/09 at 10:03pm
Looking forward to the review and some pics, Endugu. Like Hammerhead, I have the m9700 (he bragged about his so much, I had to get one ), and it's still going strong.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 8
1/14/09 at 10:48pm
I spec'd out the M17 and loading it up as I would want it, I came up with a price of $2600 which I though was very good for the performance. I've got 2 AW machines and they still work like the day I bought 'em. I sure you'll be very happy.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 8
1/15/09 at 9:46am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mjdart View Post
I spec'd out the M17 and loading it up as I would want it, I came up with a price of $2600 which I though was very good for the performance. I've got 2 AW machines and they still work like the day I bought 'em. I sure you'll be very happy.
I totally agree about the price being really competitive, especially when you compare it with the M17x which was considerably more expensive but featured less recent components (CPU with slower FSB, DDR2 Memory etc.)

I did gather from the reviews I read that the ATI GPUs are not quite as powerful as the 9800M GT featured in the M17x but I play mostly WoW and I don't think that will take the Crossfire configuration to its limit... at least I hope not. Anyone here played WoW on the M17 or a comparable system, what kind of settings/frame rates are you able to play at?
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 8
1/20/09 at 12:33pm
I heard frame rates are rubbish in WoW, people are only getting around 1000 FPS on maxed out settings...Totally unplayable.....













Sorry couldnt resist....
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 8
1/20/09 at 3:15pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah I guess that was a bit of a rhetorical question.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Alienware General
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Alienware Notebook Forums › Alienware General › Just ordered my first Alienware