Alienware's M17x R3: An Antidote to Clevo
by Dustin Sklavos on June 20, 2011 9:06 AM ESTA Screen Good Enough for Prosumer Work
Now we get to one of my favorite parts of the Alienware M17x R3: the screen. I've seen a lot of professionals buy gaming hardware (be they desktops or notebooks) because that class of computer often includes both high performance components and, as is the case with the M17x R3, a quality screen. While I'm not a fan of the glossy finish, the edge-to-edge display is attractive and more importantly, the 1080p screen looks fantastic.
While the contrast is slightly above middle-of-the-road for 1080p displays, color accuracy is reasonable, and more importantly, the color gamut is stellar. If you're tired of looking at cheap, low-resolution TN displays on consumer notebooks, the Alienware M17x R3's 1080p screen is going to be like a breath of fresh air. It proves that just because a screen uses TN technology, it doesn't have to be terrible.
The viewing angles on the M17x R3's display are also for the most part superb. They aren't perfect and are still largely limited by the display technology being used, but they're also nowhere near as bad as some of the awful displays we've had come through here.
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aranyagag - Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - link
It is very rarely that I play any games or watch any movies on my laptop, however, I do use my laptop for Internet browsing and productivity software like Microsoft Word and open office.. Even when I watch movies, I strongly prefer to have player controls below the actual picture. Therefore, for me, And the taller a screen the better. Why is it that nobody other than apple can manage to find a 16:10 screen on a 17 "laptop.b0tch02 - Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - link
One thing I haven't seen anyone mention is an option for laptops I've been wanting for years... HDMI-In. For those of us that travel a lot (i.e. Military) and don't have the means of transporting a 55" HDTV with us, HDMI-In for a laptop is a big selling point so we can hook up our XBOX360 or PS3. I for one will probably buy this "blinged-out kid's toy" for this feature. Blasphemy you say? I love computer games just as much as any of you, but the cold hard fact is that game designers are obviously focusing their efforts mostly on console games. And even if a game is multi-platform, the console versions tend to be the most polished versions and less buggy. For example, both a friend and myself who are professed PC gamers who have always loathed console gamers have crossed to the dark side. Because the PC version of Battlefield 2: Bad Company had initially been so buggy, and unplayable online, we both bought PS3's and the PS3 versions of the game to get our Battlefield fix.So, in short, having a gaming laptop and portable HDTV ( HDMI-in option) for my PS3 has sold me on this laptop or the m18x.
arvee - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
Thanks for the excellent review; timely because I'm in the market for something like this and was just looking at these machines a few days ago.My main issue is that I'm not really a gamer, I play the occasional game but what I really want is everything that comes with these machines minus the expensive video cards. I'm a programmer and also need a good CPU and large amount of RAM for virtualization. My general formula at the moment is:
SNB i7 + RAM++ + big beautiful screen + 2 drive bays
The Dell Precision line is more up my alley but I can't comprehend how those prices are justified. It seems to me more of a market segmentation exercise--business users *can* pay more and are less likely to skimp than personal users (who buy gaming laptops) who are forking over their own money so I'm sure the margin from Precision is much larger than Alienware.
Because I need this for work and I'm often with customers while using my laptop I *really* don't need something that a 14yr old would want a poster of for their bedroom wall; I need a bit more professionalism. This is one of the major drawbacks for me with the Alienware line.
I've been looking at the ASUS G73SW but the specs already look like they could do with a refresh--the inputs for example (1 USB3.0 and no eSATA?) when stacked up against the competition like the Alienware. Plus.... a "stealth fighter"? Really?
The one that I'm more interested in is the MSI GT780. I've never owned an MSI before but the specs look great, though it's not due out here in Australia for another few weeks: http://au.msi.com/product/nb/GT780.html
A notch up in terms of a professional 'look' than the alternatives, I'm glad they didn't just make a bigger version of the GT680 case.
Does anyone have one of these? I think they are out in the US aren't they? Any comments on MSI in general?
And what are the chances of an Anand review of one of these?
Bolas - Thursday, October 13, 2011 - link
Just ordered a refurbished Alienware m17x R3, based largely off of this review.Mod Number Mod Description
K972H 210W/240W switchable Slim 3P A/C Adapter
N971H 125V Power Cord
DK04N Alienware M17x R3 Laptop
5GMTT Processor: Intel Core i7 2820QM 2.3GHz (3.4GHz w/Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)
3K4G1 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (4 DIMMs)
HD4KK 750 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
02TT0 Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
D50W4 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M
GY0N1 Internal 60GHz WirelessHD Transmitter
H9XM4 Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO
VX5CJ 17.3 inch Wide FHD (1920 x 1080 60Hz) WLED Display
8VWCN Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate
8409V Soft Touch Nebula Red
1M57Y Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth Module
WHD6215-R Wireless HD Receiver