Alienware M18x R2 Notebook Review: NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 680M in SLI
by Dustin Sklavos on September 28, 2012 12:01 AM ESTDisplay and Build Quality
Given that the Alienware M18x R2 uses an identical display panel and shell to the original M18x, it doesn't make too much sense to revisit those stats in any great detail; all of my conclusions regarding the M18x's shell are again applicable here. I'm not a fan of notebooks this oversized, and the macro keys on the side actually make the keyboard more difficult to touch type on. As for the display itself, a visit to bench reveals that not much has changed. The M18x R2 is using a slightly brighter backlight which hits the contrast just a little bit, but basically there's no news to report here.
Battery Life
When comparing the M18x R2 to its predecessor it's important to note that there are a couple of things bound to affect the battery life results. It's not just that Ivy Bridge is a more efficient chip than Sandy Bridge was, but the i7-3820QM in the R2 is also rated at 10W lower than the preceding i7-2920XM. On top of that, we've switched over to two SSDs in a RAID 0 instead of two mechanical disks, which again should prove to be more power efficient.
Interestingly the newer M18x R2 enjoys roughly the same level of gains in efficiency as the M17x R4 did over its predecessor despite having theoretically greater advantages. That's not a bad thing, necessarily; it may just be that the 18.4" display is sucking up the lion's share of the power on its own. Since the notebooks were switched to integrated graphics for our battery testing, the two 680Ms in SLI don't really affect the power consumption at all.
Ultimately the M18x R2 can pull roughly four hours of useful running time on the battery, which is none too shabby for an enormous gaming notebook.
Heat and Noise
Where the Alienware M18x R2's girth really excels is in being able to transfer what's essentially a cumulative 245W of heat out of the chassis. It's actually remarkably efficient that way, too. Under sustained load the M18x R2 is definitely audible, registering roughly 40dB of noise to the user. Extreme duress punches it up to around 47dB, but that's not going to be as common. When you consider what the notebook is actually cooling these results are pretty reasonable.
You can see thermals are actually pretty good. The system seems to be configured more for silence than thermal performance, with the i7-3820QM breaking the 90C mark, but the two 680Ms run comparatively frosty. They actually run cooler than my desktop 680 does despite being together in a more enclosed space.
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Silma - Friday, September 28, 2012 - link
The conclusion is a bit flawed though.A. You don't buy a gaming computer to play today's games. You buy it to play today's games plus games in the next 3 years.
B. There is a display port. When at home you may want to play on a 30" 2560x1600 screen and still want a laptop because you are often on the road.
A5 - Friday, September 28, 2012 - link
If you want to play for 3 years, don't buy a laptop.Meaker10 - Friday, September 28, 2012 - link
The M18X supports intel XTU.The 3820QM is partially unlocked allowing you to add +400mhz to each turbo boost frequency (4 core, 2core and single core). You can also adjust TDP limits.
If you upped the frequency by 400mhz and the TDP limits up to 75W short and 60W long then you could see for sure.
Steveymoo - Friday, September 28, 2012 - link
Unless that screen refreshes at 120hz, I would have a hard time justifying spending this much money on a gaming laptop, even if I had all the money in the world. It's bulky, heavy, noisy, and hot, and all games are naturally capped at 60fps because of the LCD panel. There comes a point where the diminishing returns make the practicality of such a product null & void. Sure, you can say it's probably future proof, but graphics will only seriously improve when next gen consoles come out. By then, dx12 will have been released, and we will see another 1 or 2 generations of video cards from both AMD, and Intel.So, I have to ask, who exactly is wasting their hard earned cash on these laptop configurations?
Notmyusualid - Friday, September 28, 2012 - link
I'm one of those who 'wasted' their hard-earned cash on an M18x R2.Yes, the screen is the low-point (in the daylight), and yes I'd like more resolution, but no choice. Other than Crapple, who else does a better screen now, for this sort of machine?
Anyway, it is not noisy, and for the 70% of the time I'm not gaming, completely silent too. I have to run Sandra SiS, or something to provoke the fans to any noticeable level. Even gaming the noise is quite acceptable. The girlfriend's MacBook is actually louder in everyday use, I kid you not. When her fans spin up, I hear it clearly over my usage.
Hot? Where? Do you sit near the back by the fans?
Games do run over 60fps, whilst it not noticeable on the screen, it is from the mouse, in feel / fluidity of play. E.g. MW3 is capped at 91fps, if I sync every frame, then yes it will run at 60fps. At home, I use the VGA output to my 3D screen, and it looks lovely. Not a fan of hdmi.
Heavy, it is kind of, but with the Alienware backpack, I must say, it is quite manageable, and I am a frequent traveler. In 6 weeks, this M18x R2 has been to Thailand, Saudi, Venezuela, UK, and Thailand again. No problem. Even my previous was an 18.4"er, and I carried that across the globe for 2yrs.
Price? We are not talking about the price difference between a new GTR, or a Ferrari, 'tis just a couple of grand more than a competing quality notebook, and not every household is short of money, I can tell you.
I can also justify it, as our in-house software is heavy on cpu / memory requirements, and sometime the databases I need to run bring the supplied Core 2 duo laptops to their knees. So, I went with Crossfire, 3920XM, 16GB 1866MHz RAM, dual SSDs in RAID0, and this machine thus performs admirably when I get to site, running 4.4GHz on all four cores, all day. I know of some that run theirs higher.
Its a real talking-point when meeting new customers too.
Still waiting for AMD/ATI to finalise their drivers though (no 680Ms in mine, dual 7970Ms), so gaming can be hit-miss sometimes, but I hear this will be solved next month.
Have a nice day.
bji - Friday, September 28, 2012 - link
I cannot even look at the pictures of this Alienware. It is so ugly that it hurts my eyes.Also, Anand doesn't respond to his email, so don't bother ever emailing him. Not sure why he even puts his email address up on this site.
AstroGuardian - Monday, October 1, 2012 - link
If i was Anand i wouldn't even bother to reply most of the stupid emails, but would use the time to reply to constructive emails.tphillips63 - Thursday, May 2, 2013 - link
It depends on what your subject is. I and many others have email conversations with him over the years. I can tell you he does answer cogent emails on subject.DeeeNYC - Friday, September 28, 2012 - link
Aside from a pro gamer or people who are always going to LAN parties I don't even see the point in something like this.Notmyusualid - Friday, September 28, 2012 - link
Frequent travelers, such as myself, don't have the option to own a desktop, and indeed I just sold my last desktop, because of the dust gathering on it. (but I still prefer desktops, and would have one again, if I was stationary enough)I also hear people living away at Uni, like to use them too, as they can have large screens for watching movies, and pack up and go home for the holidays with their computer too.
Don't forget others needing mobile workstations.
And thus, for those of us who need raw power & portability, this is the only way to go.
Also, you can pack it away in 5ms, when having parties / people over to visit, can't do that with your tower & screen & keyboard quite as easily...
I hope that elucidates you.