PAX East 2011: Alienware's M17x Notebook Steals the Show Discussion

Alienware has a reputation to uphold. It's been known for years for creating some of the most powerful gaming PCs on the planet, so it made sure to come out guns blazing at PAX East this year with an impressive display of their notebooks. One machine, however, stood out in particular.

Read the full content of this Article: PAX East 2011: Alienware's M17x Notebook Steals the Show

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that wireless HD function is pretty cool!

 

So why do we need a nVIDIA GPU for stereoscopic 3D again? Thought the new AMD HD6xxx GPUs already supported that feature.

 

You don't. The thing is, with AMd you have to get a third party software/glasses to use it, while the nvidia one comes with nvidias propietary solution, so they can pack it in one go.

I am happy to see someHD6970m love, awesome card.

 

This is pretty incredible.

Wonder if this will be offered on the Dell M6600 as well?

 

"so the fact that a notebook could run this at all (and look great doing it) was impressive. "

What does the author means by this.

 

Hey guys the AW m17x r3 is finally available in Belgium today at a starting price of + 2000€ (= 2776.40 dollars).

I'm not here to discuss the price difference of the laptop itself(in the US its like 1500 dollars), but the price difference for getting the amd 6970.

In the US the upgrade from the 6870 to the 6970 costs 250 dollars, here it costs 420 euros (=583 dollars).

Does this have anything to do with the price of gpu's in general in Europe compared to those in the states? I was really expecting the new m17x r3 to be cheaper than a clevo 8170 with an nvidia gt485m, but its actually 800€ more expensive when you have a similar configuration.

 

I meant exactly what it says. Crysis 2 is an incredibly demanding game (in terms of required specs), so I was surprised that it could run and look so good on a notebook, as opposed to a full-fledged gaming desktop. Despite the fact that Crysis 2 is--graphically-- very intense, it ran at a smooth frame rate with virtually no pop-ins or jaggies.

 

Outside U.S, Dell is usually ripping you off. There is no logic with regards to the prices. Sometimes I think they set their prices so high just to compensate for all the low prices, deals and coupons they have in the U.S.

 

Not really.

US laptop prices are pretty much among the lowest in the world across the board. Aside from the fact that Europe also tends to have higher sales tax, there's also the fact that Dell can afford to sell their units at higher prices simply because everyone else is as well.

 

Yes, it is up to the local Dell (in that country) to set whatever prices they think the consumers are prepared to pay in that country. Taxes does not explain the differences.

I am not prepared to pay double the price, or higher, compared to the U.S. So Dell is not getting my money.

 

So what I want to know is how do you use the wireless hd. I know the tv has to have the receiver, but I just received my m17x r3 today and I see nothing that indicates wireless hd is available. I called the tech support folks and they stated that when you turn on the receiver the m17x "sees" it and then the wireless hd icon will be seen on desktop to configure. Can anyone confirm this? Also where are receivers? Most companies like Vizio are all out of stock or coming soon. Also none of them I've seen online are "about" or anywhere close to $100 as mentioned in article. Grant do you have any info on these points?

 

Ah, unfortunately I don't. When they let me demo the technology, they already had the Crysis 2 demo set up and running, so they didn't show me the steps to getting the two machines synced up. As for the receivers, I agree with you that the "about $100" price range was vague, but that was a direct quote from the representative. I'll try reaching out to my contact from Alienware and see if I can get some answers about the syncing and availability/pricing of the wireless HD receivers.

P.S. Excellent avatar, Jedi.

 

My point was that it applies to almost all companies, not simply Dell.

 

Well luckely AW/Dell give some nice discounts about twice a year with the price being 2-400€ lower (bargening with them on the phone does not work here) depending on what configuration you take. And with Asus products (the only alternative aside from MSI, which have a design for 3 year olds) being around the 1700-1900€ price tag (for the g73jh), I could still consider an Alienware.

 

Grant, a question:

I'm a futures trader and think this wireless HD would be great to throw onto my bigscreen for work...

But there can't be any lag. In your experience, do you think WiHD will be functional for faster paced trading? Was it buggy at all?

 

From what I could tell, there was no lag. I would estimate that I watched the technology at work for approximately 10 to 15 minutes and at no point during that time did I ever witness any sort of bugginess or lag; the mirroring of the actions on the laptop versus what was displayed on the big screen were basically 1:1. It may sound a little silly to compare the two, but if the technology was good enough to work for gaming--something that requires a smooth enough connection to allow for hair-trigger reflexes and precision down to the millisecond--then I think it will be fast enough to work for your line of work.


P.S. Jedi, still no word on your questions, unfortunately. My rep responded to let me know that she had received my email, but said she would get back to me later with her answers. I'll let you know if I hear anything.

 

Yes I use gaming reviews to qualify my trading systems purchases, as games place higher demands on them.

Thanks for your help.

 

Thank you, I have finally found someone discussing the wirelessHD functionality of the m17X R3. I bought my M17X R3 in January and I have not been able to figure out the wirelessHD. I have looked through the device manager and there is no reference to SiBeam or wirelessHD. Although there is an item in the BIOS that says DMC/SiBeam. Its status there was enabled. I was wondering if anyone has tried taking their M17X by a TV store and seeing if they have a tv with wiHD built in to test their computer. If you look at the wiHD.org website they show some TVs that already have the SiBeam receiver.