Brian

That M18x blows away my expectations. I didn't expect it to be fully aluminum, props to Dell for that! The macro keys look quite interesting but I hope they don't get in the way of typing (by throwing keyboard alignment off). They claim the 18.4" is the best display of any Alienware, I'm assuming that's the R3 they are referring to so I hope it's brighter with a better color gamut. Fuck I'm excited and am ready to order as soon as my R3 sells!

You definitely got raped with the M17x man, I feel for ya. And yes, if your R2 suddenly breaks down in a year while its under warranty, Dell will likely give you an M18x.

So today I decided to sell the R3 and move up to M18x! What can I say, I'm a junkie, I need my dual card fix and aluminum body so I'm moooovin' on up! If anyone wants to buy my R3, let me know! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9y4iXAso4I

Nicely done svl7! For the fans, did you try mumak's hwinfo32? I'm not sure if it works with the M15x but it should. The scores are pretty good, almost like the R3. And yeah we definitely need more M15x owners here, it's got a huge Alienware + M17x owners slant Keep spreading the word and hopefully more people with M15x's and other brands will migrate.

Here's a sneak peek at one of the benchmarks I recently did:

I don't think it will be limited to 2 dimms nor have the same chasis as the R2. It should be closer in design to the R3 and I think this time Dell is going to position all the fans + sinks below for easy access rather than go with the R2 design. The chasis will also employ rubber coating so it's going to be quite a change from R2. I'm anticipating the following: 1. 320-330W PSU with 6970M Xfire 2. No 485M support. 3. 18.4" that is relatively teh same size as the 16:10 17" found in R2. 4. Anodized chasis w/rubber coating. Same may hold true for lid as well. 5. 16 GB memory capacity like R3. they'll put the extra dimm slots under the keyboard like R3. 6. Widi supported like R3. 7. HDMI In. Basically a better performing, better built version of the R3.

I think it should be 320W but could be 330w too. I really don't need the M18x's power, weight and noise to be honest. The R3 fits me just right for my use but I'm a new tech junkie and I know it'll be difficult to resist. So in the end I might cave and sell the R3 for $100 less than I paid to Michael or someone else and then get that M18x. My other R2 + 920xm sale is pending so we'll see.

Yeah I hope the price is that low during the final launch! 1. It should have the same 16 GB limit as R3. 2. 18.4" should make it similar in size to the R2 17" screen 3. It will definitely have a blu ray rom. 4. I'm guessing they will toss in a 320W PSU when xfire is configured on launch day (they never charge for something that is required to run the system). As for whether it's worth it or not, I think it depends on your needs. The M18x will be constructed of anodized aluminum + have the same rubber coating as the R3 so overall it will be a much better constructed system. The trade off is that it will also weigh more than the R3, cost more and likely be louder due to an extra fan. You also get 6970m Xfire performance which should obliterate the single 6970M in the R3. I'm on the fence right now, I might sell my R3 to Michael (who is leaning towards R3 more than M18x) or whoever else that is interested and then purchase the M18x for myself when it's launched this month.

Check it out: The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

Welcome to T|I! Glad you registered and we look forward to your impressions of the system once it's released and you get it.

Well done job strigae! Looks better than I thought.

Nice, how much did that set you back? Should get some really interesting results with the voltage raised all the way up along with fsb/mult/tdp increase. Just hope your motherboard circuitry can withstand all that.

This video will never get old: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFKt0j-UoXE

In that case it should be an easy choice for the M14x unless you really need a thinkpad.

You could but you get better heat transfer with a retention mod. With a copper shim you're adding an extra layer of metal to transfer heat through.

It can play games for the next few years quite easily. It's still more powerful than the R3 overall.

HP loves using single fan designs for some reason. I had to fix my ex-gf dad's HP once and holy shit, taking those systems apart is a huge undertaking! The manual is nowhere near as detailed as the one's Dell makes available and it is so god damn cumbersome getting to the mainboard. I love the way Dell designs their systems and it's why I've stuck to Dell all these years. The simplicity of their designs coupled with above average to excellent cooling has me sold.

Wbabt007- Are you using bios A07 for your R1? If you are, it's recommended that you disable PCI Gen 2 in the bios. You should be able to use the latest driver from nVidia or Dell.

The 6970M still has issues in the r2. For one thing there's no real bios fan control, the 5870M heatsink isn't designed for the 6970M, there are some throttling issues I experienced and other problems. Basically if you want the 6970M, get an R3 or M18x.

CPU performance shoudl be the same in either system provided there's adequate power.

Hey man, welcome to the new forum. You haven't missed too much, M14x/M18x are coming along with the new M11xR3. I've got an M17x-R3 and am nearly finished with the benchmarking portion of the review. Should be ready soon.

Depends, if it ships with a 240W adapter, then no way. If by chance they man up and offer 320W adapter, then yes.

Wow man, very nice run! I bet even dual 6970M's won't be scoring much higher. Keep it up

LOL I love it! It also reflects my view on unboxing videos--I hate them and think they are a huge waste of bandwidth.

I don't see M18x there, I'm assuming it was?