M17x R3 should i get it with the 3D?

In order to get the 3D effect, the video card has to push out an image for each eye for every frame. When playing games, that means an automatic drop in framerates since the video card is doing twice as much work per frame than it would in 2D. Due to this, I would agree with your friends and suggest staying away for now.

Great question.

I've played 3D games twice. At PAX East 2010 and a few weeks ago at PAX East 2011. IMO, it's a gimmick and I'm not that impressed with it. I have no plans to purchase any 3D hardware or software in the near future. The viewing agles of most displays only work when you are looking at them directly on. This may not be a problem for laptops, but if you are off angled by a degree, you'll see a dual image and/or the 3D just flat out doesn't work.

I am an avid gamer, and I am anti-3D.

Proof of my gaming history.

I do have an 3D Asus - but didn't even try 3D on it; 260M GTX is barely fast enough to do 3D games

I have to agree with Djembe and Steve- 3D is more of a gimmick than anything else at this point. Maybe in the future it might become more of a viable option but until then I'd suggest staying away.

People are buying 3D stuff like crazy though. Movies, TV sets and 3DSs. So you can't blame notebook wanting to get in on the market too.

I have a different outlook on the whole 3D craze.

 

I may be way off base with this, but it seemed to me that the electronics industry as a whole was looking for a way to get people to come back and purchase newer hardware after the global economy crashed.

I think that was unintentional.

Well, I guess it comes down to whether or not one feels a need to upgrade to the 'latest and greatest', and as of right now I just don't like 3D.

Do not get 3d, I mean if you really want 3d like it's the primary reason why you bought the system then I guess go ahead with it, However UPGRADES on the gpu are NOT possible, unless you are able to come up with a newer Nvidia card. Upgrades have not been possible with the 120 hertz screen on the r3, and because of this I had to order a 2nd r3 to make up for this lack. The only upgrade you can go with is a 485, hypothetically however everyone is still waiting and if you were able to get it that would be like 700 dollars no joke for that card. The ATI cards appear to come out with variations on a wide scale as every system to date has at least 2 cards it seems sometimes 3, the ATI cards will work well on the 60 hertz screens, and the 6970 is ungodly of a single card and of high value, being priced at 400 some dollars. If you pick a 3d screen at 120 hertz you will be stuck with the 460 card, and being forced to change out the screen for a future upgrade to perhaps the 6970, and well at that point you should have just ordered a new system.

a 460 isn't going to cut it for the long hull, that's just my 2 cents, you can take or leave it.

I'm about to order my m17x R3 as well.

Picking from these 2:

Option 1:

225-0536 1 Alienware M17x Soft-Touch, Stealth Black $1,390.77 $1,390.77
317-6602 1 Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.0GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
317-6116 1 MOD,DIMM,4GB,1333MHZ,DDR3,2X2G
331-1347 1 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
320-1935 1 17.3-inch WideHD+ 1600 x 900 60Hz WLED
320-1939 1 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6970M
342-2218 1 320GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD
331-1350 1 Custom Nameplate
330-6106 1 Personalized Nameplate Trigger
313-8792 1 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
421-4655 1 Alienware Command Center Software, M17X
421-1400 1 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
420-9691 1 DataSafe Local BackUp
420-9956 1 Vista PC Restore
421-0092 1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
410-1883 1 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
318-0395 1 Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
421-4541 1 Roxio Creator Starter,No Media
318-0424 1 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
430-4019 1 Wireless 802.11 g/n
330-6348 1 Automatic Updates: On
939-0320 1 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year
939-0340 1 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year
950-3337 1 1 Year Limited Warranty
950-9797 1 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
421-1721 1 Soft Contracts Service Hardware Agreement for Alienware
994-3730 1 Warranty Support, Initial Year
421-1360 1 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
330-5090 1 Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare
* -DISCOUNT/COUPON APPL




Subtotal: $1,290.77
Shipping & Handling: $39.00
Tax: $96.50
Environmental Disposal Fee:
$0.00

Total Price w/Discounts: $1,426.27



Option 2:

225-0536 1 Alienware M17x Soft-Touch, Stealth Black $1,514.25 $1,514.25
317-6602 1 Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.0GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
317-6116 1 MOD,DIMM,4GB,1333MHZ,DDR3,2X2G
331-1347 1 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
320-1933 1 17.3-inch WideFHD1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
320-1939 1 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6970M
342-2218 1 320GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD
331-1350 1 Custom Nameplate
330-6106 1 Personalized Nameplate Trigger
313-8792 1 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
421-4655 1 Alienware Command Center Software, M17X
421-1400 1 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
420-9691 1 DataSafe Local BackUp
420-9956 1 Vista PC Restore
421-0092 1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
410-1883 1 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
318-0395 1 Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
421-4541 1 Roxio Creator Starter,No Media
318-0424 1 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
430-4019 1 Wireless 802.11 g/n
330-6348 1 Automatic Updates: On
939-0320 1 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year
939-0340 1 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year
950-3337 1 1 Year Limited Warranty
950-9797 1 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
421-1721 1 Soft Contracts Service Hardware Agreement for Alienware
994-3730 1 Warranty Support, Initial Year
421-1360 1 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
330-5090 1 Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare
* -DISCOUNT/COUPON APPL




Subtotal: $1,414.25
Shipping & Handling: $39.00
Tax: $104.84
Environmental Disposal Fee:
$0.00

Total Price w/Discounts: $1,558.09

Very competitive pricing I must say

cheers ...

Well I get a discount and an additional 100 dollars off on top of that via coupon and free shipping (Thus why on the bottom it says both Discount and Coupon Applied) But anyways, my discount is pretty good through Boeing Aeronautics Thus my prices are not standard nor for everyone.

I ended up getting a phone call from my dell rep who informed me of an upcoming sale and thus I had to cancel my order and rebuild the whole order/system.

Getting back on topic though of the original thread I believe the 3d panel is alot brighter then the the 60hz model or at least as higher contrast ratio or something. You can youtube it to the differences, it's noticeable.