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Hi Guys, I'm looking at buying a M18x and I've built it on the website BUT I really don't know much about computers (As long as theres no graphics lagg and people drop when I shoot them I dont care much! In game...obviously! ). I've trawled the internet trying to find if theres compatibility problems with anything in the build Im looking at but I think I keep going in circles! So I thought I'd come on here and ask the experts.

I'm hoping for a machine that will run all the latest releases but mainly BF3.

Anyway here it is (Built to a budget of £2k);

COLOUR CHOICE Alienware M18x Stealth Black
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 2670QM (2.20Ghz, 6MB, 4C)
OPERATING SYSTEM English Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
GRAPHICS CARD Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD® Radeon™ HD 6990M CrossFireX™
MEMORY 4096MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
HARD DRIVE 320GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
LCD 18.4" (47 cm) WideFHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD
OPTICAL DRIVE Blu-Ray ROM Combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read and write) Drive
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 - EUR
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth Card - EUR

What do you guys think to the above build?
Any recommendations/suggestions?

All help would be greatly appreciated! Also if there is a thread already going for this kind topic I will switch it over.

Peace.

 

Setup looks very nice

 

That build pretty much mirrors my own. Only difference is I went for a slighly more powerful CPU .. otherwise identical.

All I'd really like to recommend is do a proper search on this site for how to get the best price (in the UK) or as a minimum search thoroughly for dell discount coupons. I applied a 15% off pluss a heavily rebated 2860QM


Some may advise you look into the debacle of the 6990's, but as long as they're an extra £550 in the UK then dual nVidia SLI's are off the table I feel (ie not worth it)

 

would be better to add some more ram prefferably 6-8gig, also unless you rent a lot of blu-ray movies, maybe you could switch to dvd drive or if there's an extra hdd option.

 

It's much cheaper to add more RAM later, an 8Gb kit (2 x 4GB) cost me about £35.
Personally I wouldn't be without a bluray drive, had one for years in my desktop and even my 3+ yr old M1710 has one.
The spec is the same as mine when I ordered it, other than the 2670 CPU.
I then added the RAM and HD's (removed the 320GB one) to get the spec in my sig.

I went through quidco (topcashback is similar) and got 15% off and it's also tracking 10% cashback as well (on the ex vat amount). The spec you show would be about £1923 with the 15% off and then £160 back later.

 

Everything looks great. My only change would be a SSD. This might sound funny.. but I play BF3 flawlessly.. and there are people with better specs than mine but are having issues. The only difference ive seen is the fact that I have a SSD. Thats just MHO.

 

Wow! Such a fast response! Thankyou!

I'm basicly getting this laptop as a strong base but will look to upgrade it gradually as I can't justify spending like £4k on a laptop(as much as i want to ).

This is going to sound stupid...whats is a SSD?

Like I said I have no idea when it comes to the technical side, thanks again for the fast responses.

 

Solid-state drive - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basically a big USB drive in your lappy for super fast access/transfer rates

"A solid-state drive (SSD), sometimes called a solid-state disk or electronic disk, is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data with the intention of providing access in the same manner of a traditional block i/o hard disk drive. SSDs are distinguished from traditional magnetic disks such as hard disk drives (HDDs) or floppy disk, which are electromechanical devices containing spinning disks and movable read/write heads. In contrast, SSDs use microchips which retain data in non-volatile memory chips[1] and contain no moving parts.[1] Compared to electromechanical HDDs, SSDs are typically less susceptible to physical shock, are silent, have lower access time and latency, but are more expensive per gigabyte (GB). SSDs use the same interface as hard disk drives, thus easily replacing them in most applications.[2]

As of 2010, most SSDs use NAND-based flash memory, which retains memory even without power. SSDs using volatile random-access memory (RAM) also exist for situations which require even faster access, but do not necessarily need data persistence after power loss, or use external power or batteries to maintain the data after power is removed."

 

SSD: Solid State Drive. It is a Hardrive with NO moving parts. Its basicaly a BIG stick of RAM (RAM: Random Access Memory) Thats what your computer relies on to read and write TEMP data with. So imagine the performance increase if you had a SSD ? My Windows Index Experience went from 5.9 to 7.1 by putting in a SSD.

The catch to the SSD is that its expensive. I have a 120Gb SSD and t cost me like $200.00. Thats why i paired it with a 500Gb 7200 RPM HDD For storage purposes. I use the SSD primarily for the OS (Operating System) and my game installations.

 

As for the ssd, no sense doing it through the company. Best to leave that for an upgrade down the track, like the ram.

 

Thanks again guys for educating me! I was all set to order today so I went to the website and built my rig up to graphics cards...BUT the option for; GRAPHICS CARD Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD® Radeon™ HD 6990M CrossFireX™ has been taken off! I went on Dell chat and asked the question and they said they were out of stock or something!? What a joke.

So I called the 'technical team' in India...and they gave me all the usual pushy rubbish just trying to get me to order straight away with;
Dual 1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560M SLI™?

Is it best to wait for the Crossfires or go with the 560 SLI? The vibe im getting is that the Crossfires will last longer as in not need to be upgraded as often? Ugh im so lost! Help! >.<

 

Dont get to frustrated with it, things are always changing in computers. I like Nvidia cards, thoug have had a bit of a bad run with the 460M series as of late. Either way if you perfer the crossfires you might want to ask when they will be instock, and waite for them, on the other hand alot of folks have gone with the SLi 560 or 580's. Memory wise I bought my M18X with the bare 4GB of memory and ordered the memory I wanted from newegg. Much better price and installing it is no problem. There is a walkthrough for installing on the sight done by SmoothJ http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/583324-ram-upgrade-m18x-pics.html Dont know if this is any help to you, but, this froum has lots of really nice and helpfull folks I have found, and any questions you may have theres someone here that can answer it.

 

6990's are back in stock on dell uk website.
Your spec seems good, base spec m18 plus
graphics upgrade is more than enough. Get SSD
and hyperX memory from Amazon and you
are set. Don't forget 15% dell discount and
quidco/topcasback 10% offer aswell. Should
get your m18 down to £1700 inc VAT.

 

Thanks guys I did get a really good deal, but when I asked dell about the Crossfire they couldn't give me an answer. Then a week later bam! Crossfire are available again, what a joke!

Now I'm having trouble getting it delivered as for some stupid reason they don't deliver on Saturdays?! I'm a professional and work away from home all week and they tell me they only deliver from 9-5 on week days! After spending 2.5 k on a laptop I'm kinda pissed off with the service.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/575859-official-m18x-owners-lounge-thread.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/575529-m18x-order-status-discussion.html