[Walker64x]

Had a similar post...but basically it's between the alienware M17x R3 and the Xtopic MSI

Difference's in spec's between the two

Alienware


Blue Ray DvD drive
8 gig dual channel DDR 1600Mhz
17.3 HD screen
2GB DDR5 580M Nvidia Geforce graphics card
1 year basic plan protection
Specific keyboard lighting/miscellaneous light's
Come's out to 1899

Xtopic MSI

15.6 Screen
12GB DDR3 1333MHz
nVidia 570M graphics card 1536MB
standard CD drive.
3 year protection lifetime labor warranty
Come's out to about to roughly about 1600

So which would you go with? Is the protection plan worth it, as well if you would go with the alienware is it possible to buy the alienware then get a much cheaper protection plan elsewhere like bestbuy or something?

Anyway, pick what you like, try to be unbiased. Thanks

[waldojim]

Walker64x, on 21 February 2012 - 11:59 PM, said:

Had a similar post...but basically it's between the alienware M17x R3 and the Xtopic MSI

Difference's in spec's between the two

Alienware


Blue Ray DvD drive
8 gig dual channel DDR 1600Mhz
17.3 HD screen
2GB DDR5 580M Nvidia Geforce graphics card
1 year basic plan protection
Specific keyboard lighting/miscellaneous light's
Come's out to 1899

Xtopic MSI

15.6 Screen
12GB DDR3 1333MHz
nVidia 570M graphics card 1536MB
standard CD drive.
3 year protection lifetime labor warranty
Come's out to about to roughly about 1600

So which would you go with? Is the protection plan worth it, as well if you would go with the alienware is it possible to buy the alienware then get a much cheaper protection plan elsewhere like bestbuy or something?

Anyway, pick what you like, try to be unbiased. Thanks

I would rock the Alienware. I have played around with many MSI machines in store, and they always seemed like flimsy, cheap, plastic junk. That is just the impressions I get from them, understanding that the machine you are referring to isn't available in store either. Alienware machines have always seemed to be solid. Though that comes at a price. Namely the darned things are barely TOTE-ABLE, let alone anything you would place on your lap.

In either event, the Nvidia 580 is much more powerful, and well worth the additional cost by itself. Also, 8GB of dual channel 1600Mhz ram is very nice to see as well. Unless that MSI is running an older desktop i7, there is no method to match up memory for proper dual channel operation and have a 12GB total.

As for the protection plan... That all depends on the plan. I abused mine with Best Buy. For $800 I bought a Gateway Laptop (before Acer bought them! ), and spent $300 more in the warranty. Then got Best Buy to replace the battery after the first year (giving me a 100% brand new battery!), a new hard drive at 1.5yrs, and at two years, the machine died, and I got a brand new machine. So, was it worth it? Yes. Are all of them that nice? Not hardly. Be very careful what you buy into.

[coastie65]

Hi. I agree with wj in that you should go the extra $300 and get the Alienware. The specs are much better on that thing and worth the price difference. The 12 Gb of RAM on the MSI is a selling gimmick and not needed at will never be used. You get a bigger screen plus the 580m Graphics is better than the 570m. The processors weren't mentioned, but I would imagine that that would be better as well.

[Dellinsp531]

Well the MSI is a little much with the 12 RAM and graphic card but I would go with it rather than Alienware. Since Dell bought Alienware, their quality is going down hill. I have own Alienware before Dell and after Dell. The one before Dell was much better. The onces after Dell are not that great.

So far I have own only one MSI and it has worked well and have not had to repair many of them. The Alienware have been in the shop a lot.

The protecting plan is good sometimes. It sometimes it works for you or you lose money. Sometimes it is better to put the money away with interseted for future purchase.

[LiveBrianD]

waldojim, on 22 February 2012 - 02:03 AM, said:

As for the protection plan... That all depends on the plan. I abused mine with Best Buy. For $800 I bought a Gateway Laptop (before Acer bought them! ), and spent $300 more in the warranty. Then got Best Buy to replace the battery after the first year (giving me a 100% brand new battery!), a new hard drive at 1.5yrs, and at two years, the machine died, and I got a brand new machine. So, was it worth it? Yes. Are all of them that nice? Not hardly. Be very careful what you buy into.

This has me thinking... how many replacements will they give you? Maybe halfway through or so, get a new battery from it. When the plan is almost over, remove the fans and heatsinks or something, put the PC in the roof of a car on a hot summer day while running prime95 or occt so it'll fry itself to death, and get a new laptop.... heh heh heh...

[LiveBrianD]

I'd go with the alienware laptop. Btw you really don't need 12GB ram, as 8GB is overkill and 4GB is fine for most tasks. Depending on the ram config they used, you might not have dual-channel functionality (you need ram in pairs for that, but they may have used 2x2GB;2x4GB - 17" laptops may have 4 ram slots). NOTE: If it has a first-gen desktop 1366 i7, you should have tri-channel ram (in sets of 3). This is the ONE exception to the rule of having it in pairs.

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 22 February 2012 - 03:42 PM

[coastie65]

LiveBrianD, on 22 February 2012 - 03:40 PM, said:

I'd go with the alienware laptop. Btw you really don't need 12GB ram, as 8GB is overkill and 4GB is fine for most tasks. Depending on the ram config they used, you might not have dual-channel functionality (you need ram in pairs for that, but they may have used 2x2GB;2x4GB - 17" laptops may have 4 ram slots). NOTE: If it has a first-gen desktop 1366 i7, you should have tri-channel ram (in sets of 3). This is the ONE exception to the rule of having it in pairs.

A far as I know the only tri channel configusration was on the 1366 socketed boards. It was never available in laptops as far as I know.

[waldojim]

LiveBrianD, on 22 February 2012 - 03:39 PM, said:

This has me thinking... how many replacements will they give you? Maybe halfway through or so, get a new battery from it. When the plan is almost over, remove the fans and heatsinks or something, put the PC in the roof of a car on a hot summer day while running prime95 or occt so it'll fry itself to death, and get a new laptop.... heh heh heh...

I don't think they will replace it if the machine was opened up by you that way. However, riding to work in the rain with a laptop in the saddlebag is perfectly fine!

[waldojim]

coastie65, on 22 February 2012 - 05:22 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 22 February 2012 - 03:40 PM, said:

I'd go with the alienware laptop. Btw you really don't need 12GB ram, as 8GB is overkill and 4GB is fine for most tasks. Depending on the ram config they used, you might not have dual-channel functionality (you need ram in pairs for that, but they may have used 2x2GB;2x4GB - 17" laptops may have 4 ram slots). NOTE: If it has a first-gen desktop 1366 i7, you should have tri-channel ram (in sets of 3). This is the ONE exception to the rule of having it in pairs.

A far as I know the only tri channel configusration was on the 1366 socketed boards. It was never available in laptops as far as I know.

There are a few laptops that shipped with desktop i7 1366 chips. They are monsters.

Brian: A 17" laptop has no bearing on the ram options. My 15" supports 4 sticks of ram for example. The CPU however, does NOT. There are only a select few i7 quad core mobile chips that support 4 sticks of ram. VERY, VERY few are in actual use.

[LiveBrianD]

waldojim, on 22 February 2012 - 05:27 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 22 February 2012 - 03:39 PM, said:

This has me thinking... how many replacements will they give you? Maybe halfway through or so, get a new battery from it. When the plan is almost over, remove the fans and heatsinks or something, put the PC in the roof of a car on a hot summer day while running prime95 or occt so it'll fry itself to death, and get a new laptop.... heh heh heh...

I don't think they will replace it if the machine was opened up by you that way. However, riding to work in the rain with a laptop in the saddlebag is perfectly fine!

Or, what about running prime95 while putting it in a 180F oven with tape over the air vents? AND something jamming the fans? (from the outside, so you don't void the warranty)

[LiveBrianD]

waldojim, on 22 February 2012 - 05:29 PM, said:

Brian: A 17" laptop has no bearing on the ram options. My 15" supports 4 sticks of ram for example. The CPU however, does NOT. There are only a select few i7 quad core mobile chips that support 4 sticks of ram. VERY, VERY few are in actual use.

I figured that since we're talking about i7s, and since a 17" laptop is more likely to have the space for 4, that his might support that. So wait... your laptop supports 4 sticks of ram, the cpu doesn't? Huh?

[waldojim]

LiveBrianD, on 22 February 2012 - 05:40 PM, said:

waldojim, on 22 February 2012 - 05:29 PM, said:

Brian: A 17" laptop has no bearing on the ram options. My 15" supports 4 sticks of ram for example. The CPU however, does NOT. There are only a select few i7 quad core mobile chips that support 4 sticks of ram. VERY, VERY few are in actual use.

I figured that since we're talking about i7s, and since a 17" laptop is more likely to have the space for 4, that his might support that. So wait... your laptop supports 4 sticks of ram, the cpu doesn't? Huh?

The motherboard I have in the laptop support 4 sticks of ram. The CPU will not accept them. Intel lists 4 different models in their entire lineup that DO. Two of those are extreme edition. There are parts of the line up that won't even accept more than 8GB of ram. NOTE: All of the 16GB or less cpus do NOT allow 4 sticks.

http://ark.intel.com...610,52231,54616

[LiveBrianD]

So it sounds like the board has the slots, but the memory controller simply doesn't allow it... this would be like an FM1 board with a chip that lacks graphics (they make some GPU-less APUs now, probably to get rid of partially-defective ones) but has video output ports? Got it.

[waldojim]

LiveBrianD, on 22 February 2012 - 07:22 PM, said:

So it sounds like the board has the slots, but the memory controller simply doesn't allow it... this would be like an FM1 board with a chip that lacks graphics (they make some GPU-less APUs now, probably to get rid of partially-defective ones) but has video output ports? Got it.

Something like that. But in my case, I can easily upgrade the processor in the future (and yes, I do intend to) to a chip that supports all 4 slots, and 32GB of ram total.

[HG]

I would go with the MSI.

Alienware have been bad lately. My friend had one that broke less that half a year. It overheated and Dell did not want to cover it under their warrenty. Be very carefull with Alienware machines they were good once but now they are getting worse and worse.

This post has been edited by HG: 28 February 2012 - 06:01 AM