Partizan

Thx for the warm welcome ^^ I also moved here from NBR becuz most of the AW threads get closed there. I agree with you on the fact that the m17x r3 is an overal better laptop (with the hdmi input, the longer battery life, and probably a lower cost than the clevo 8170 and ofc the warranty), the only thing that I don't like about it are its looks (yes, I prefer the clevo looks). But your argument for the m14x making sense (the trend towards extreme portability with the current netbooks) doesn't convince me. AW already has an 11" for this area, and if they would supplement it with another model a 13" would still seem more beneficial for consumers (exept maybe for the marketing arguments on the previous page: replacing the m15x, or maybe they also don't want to cut into the m11x sales, because tbh, how many people weren't dissapointed with the small and low quality screen in the m11x? and they could have fitted a 13" screen in that laptop, but ofc then they couldn't brag about having the most powerfull 11" laptop). And regarding your last argument, where you mention that a 485m would not be profitable in a m15x kinda surprises me aswell. AW always used to offer the biggest upgrade options, thats what the brand is (or maybe we should say 'was') all about. So when you configure a m15x or m17x with an extreme cpu you have to pay like 1000€ more for it, while the price difference between a gtx460m and a gtx485m is around 450-500€ (I think kobalt uk charge slike 380+-pounds for the upgrade). I don't see how offering the strongest gpu would not be profitable, since it doesn't near as much as the most expensive cpu. And in fact, being a gaming brand, it should actually be the other way around, the GPU should be more important than the CPU. And I doubt that a redesign of the heatsink (like the one on the clevo 8150) would cost that much more for production. Personnaly I don't understand why gaming enthousiasts would buy a current m15x or m17x r3 with the gtx460m. Ok the gtx460m offers 3D, but have you guys tried playing 3D on a high resolution with that card? Exactly, we need way more powerfull gpu's to be able to enjoy 3D in decent resolutions and good fps. Not that i'm into 3D gaming, but if I was, I wouldn't go for anything less than a 485m.

This is my new theory: One the one hand, Alienware is no longer really worthy of its own name since Clevo has 15" and 17" laptops which are way more powerfull (with nvidia gtx485m gpu's) than what AW currently offers (especially in the 15" segment). [note: we'll see how the m17x r3 will fare with its amd 6970] Yet AW has its m11x, which is something other manufacturers don't offer. (Aside from the fact that an asus 3820t with an ati hd5650 performs about the same, is not as thick, has a 13" display while the laptop is smaller than the 11" AW, and that the m11x has one of the worst design flaws ever with their crappy hinges. Luckely for AW the marketing makes up for all those things and people don't realise this). And with the m18x comming, it seems AW is trying to offer products that other companies don't: 11", 14" and 18" gaming laptops. IMO, a 15" screen is the absolute minimum if you want to enjoy your games. Making a 14" just to be able to clame to have the most powerfull 14" gaming laptop doesn't convince me to buy their product. It also seems more like a failure of making a slimmer 15" model that will actually fit normal backpacks. Just to be clear here, i'm not an AW hater (on the contrary), i'd just prefer if they would make their current line up better instead of replacing/adding it with stuff that imo seems to offer no advantages compared to its current line up, nor to the line up of other manufacturers.

I'm quite surprised with the release of the m14x, I expected AW would first update their m15x (make it thinner and lighter like the m17x r-3). And tbh, after the revision of the m15x (which didn't happen) i'd expect a 13" model, not 14". It doesn't make any sense to me, unless AW is planning to replace the m15x with the m14x.