Can you help me choose my new AW laptop?

Hi,

I currently own a 6+ year old Dell XPS 17, it has served me well (fantastic machine really for the money) and still holds up where I need it to but it's time for something new. I am looking to buy an Alienware laptop but I have read about the heat issues and I am just unsure what's my best course of action?

I'll be using it for graphic design (Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign etc), some occasional video editing but not often and nothing massive, playing GTA V and possibly some other first person shooters (non-competitively), modelling and mapping for Counter Strike Source (if I can get it all to work on a new system) and hopefully learning to model and map for Unreal Engine (so I can move over from Source engine). Portability neither here nor there, battery not an issue as mostly near a socket.

Looking at the options available in the UK I think I have decided on the following...

- IPS screen (FHD)
- 16 GB DDR4 2667MHz RAM (I presume the £11 extra for faster RAM is worth it as opposed to the £60 extra for 32GB 2400MHZ?)
- 256Gb SSD (Boot) + 1TB HDD

I feel like I would ideally like a 17in again however the 15in offers GSYNC IPS screens and the GTX1070 (vs the 1060 on the 17in with the IPS screen). I could probably get used to the smaller size but I am worried heat issues more likely with the smaller chassis? I also don't want to open her up and repaste or anything though I could be persuaded to pay to have it done if someone can recommend a UK technician to do it for me...

So what's your recommendation?

17 Inch
A: i7-7700HQ, GTX1060, (1920x1080) IPS, 16GB DDR4 at 2667MHz, 256GB PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA

or

15 Inch
B: i7-7700HQ with GTX1060
or...
C: i7-7700HK with GTX1070
or...
D: i7-7820HK with GTX1070

Both with (1920x1080) 60Hz IPS G-SYNC, 16GB DDR4 at 2667MHz, 256GB PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA

or

E: Your personal other recommendation?!

Thank you in advance!

 

-Choices B and D look to be the best picks depending on your budget and needs.
-The 7700HQ will bottleneck the 1070, so C is a no-no.
-A is too heavy, at least for me.

If you want overclocking capabilities and a more future proof GPU, the 7820HK+1070 is the ideal pick.

If your budget is limited but you still want horsepower, 7700HQ+1060 still gets an honorable mention.

Now, about the temps, both AW 15 and 17 have a thick chassis to properly cool everything. With the Kaby lake revisions having CPU temp issues solved, you can go with either, as the 17" only has a slight advantage with few more inches.

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Thanks for the fast reply, should have said all configurations listed are in budget (looking about £2k) but not averse to spending a little more if it's significantly worth it

Just the sort of knowledge I was hoping to find, I don't know enough about the specifics of components to know about this stuff.

Do you mean literally heavy? 95% of its life will be at home with the occasional trip to see family or to a hotel so size/weight not a problem for me.

I doubt I'll bother overclocking, I like stuff to just work without too much messing from me (as I'll probably brick it). Future-proofing is good though, I went for the top end XPS17 and it's paid off over the years.

I had read that the temperature issue from the uneven heatsink had been pretty much sorted with the newest production but with no official confirmation it was still worrying mewhen it came to the 15in.

Looking like option D so far!

Thanks again.

 

Also, am I right in thinking the 32GB of 2400 RAM isn't really worth the investment over the 16GB of 2667?

 

7820HK will be worth your investment because if your CPU bottlenecks or isn't enough for your workload you can tweak it by OC'ing. Option D looks good.

 

Thanks for the input!

 

32GB is always overkill unless you are running multiple Virtual Machines. 16GB is the sweet spot for gaming. Memory speed will make almost no difference at all, unless you're jumping from DDR2 to DDR4. 2133, 2400 or 2667 will show no apparent difference, provided they use the same amount of memory.

If budget is not an issue for me, personally, I'd pick the 7820HK + 1070 all the way, since it gives me the ability to set CPU profiles rather than relying on Windows power modes (Performance mode = 40 for 4.0Ghz, Battery mode = 20)

The AW 17 is just subjectively very heavy. If you prefer 17" screens, go for it. I'm used to 15", and the AW 15 is already too heavy for me.

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16GB it is then!

So even for the sake of £11 extra it's just not worth bothering?

Looks like that's the way I'll be going, £2100 and I've a code for 10% off (student discount) so it leaves space for a new mouse and case and cooling tray. You lost me at CPU profiles, I assume this isn't something I need to be concerned with?

As I say weight not an issue but the 15in is the better spec anyway and even with the smaller screen the 1920x1080 is still better than my current 1600x900.

Cheers!

 

CPU/GPU profiles can be created with the AW overclocking utility, it's not a big deal. It just helps with switching fast between a gaming and a battery profile, depending on what you do. This would work with the 7820HK but not the locked 7700HQ.

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with a £2k budget I'd look at the outlet, you could get a 1080gtx with a 6820hk processor. Even ebay resellers are good, you still get the full dell warranty.
I got mine from the outlet for £1637 (there was a 15% off code at the time) it was listed as having a scratch, turns out there wasn't a mark on it!

 

I'm nervous about dropping £2k on electronics from eBay TBH, I prefer to it either direct or a known resale company even if it costs more - the outlet sounds interesting, is that an official Dell/AW outlet site? Am I just buying someone else's return though and could I end up with a pre-heatsink fix laptop? Cheers!

 

You can tell who the alienware resellers are on ebay by their feedback and how many of them they have for sale. Just make sure it comes with full dell warranty and you're laughing. Often they have bought them from the outlet themselves and have added a bit on, but you can still get a good price.
Dell have an actual outlet page themselves:
http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?brandid=7&c=uk&cs=ukdfh1&l=en&s=dfh&frid=145

You may end up with a pre-fix heatsink, however if your temps are high you just report it through warranty and it'll be sorted that way.
Although I got mine from the dell outlet i wouldn't have issue buying from an ebay reseller. You're covered well by paypal and of course the dell warranty.

The savings can be massive, I must have saved around £1k.

 

I'll give them a look, thanks!

 

Hi,

So I got impatient with myself, going around and around wondering if I should stick with the 17inch or save a few quid and get the lower spec, reading review after review...

Alienware 15 R3
Intel Core i7-7820HK
15.6 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS Anti-Glare 300-nits Display
16GB DDR4-2400MHz
256GB PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 with 8GB GDDR5

£1773.94

Thanks to everyone who contributed!

I'll be back once it arrives to see what the community recommends I do with it (overclocking, BIOS etc) and to get a 2nd opinion on my temps.

 

Nice!

Closest 1080gtx to that price is this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Alie...7ff9479cca1e3&pid=100506&rk=1&rkt=1&#viTabs_0

 

Nice machine for someone out there!

I'm a designer mainly and only an occasional gamer so the IPS screen was a deal-breaker for me.