Dead GPU, considering an Alienware laptop any users out there with comments/recommendations?

[Strangepork]

To be honest, I am having both, a powerful gaming tower and a powerful gaming laptop. Both can run multiple copies of Elite at the same time and my tower flawlessly runs Elite under Linux too, which comes at an overhead. VR is also not an issue and I can get 60 fps in most situation, excluding packed installations and/or stations.

Now, if I had to decide between the two I'd defo pick a tower. Unless you're a trucker and are rarely at home, the laptop will just come at major disadvantages, some of them being:

• More expensive for the same performence
• Worse heat management
• Smaller Screen
• Less customizeable
• Harder to replace faulty hardware (like your GPU)

In the past times I had multiple hardware replacements in my tower(s) and only built a completely new tower from scratch after 8 years of service or so as my mainboard was just too old to support the latest hardware. However, during these 8 years I replaced the GPU, PSU, added extra RAM sticks, etc. which is absolute pain in a laptop and most laptops weren't even built to be opened up and customized.

Hence I strongly suggest to get a tower unless you are really really certain that you will absolutely need a mobile gaming platform.

In case you are deciding for a tower over a laptop, I also suggest to never buy a pre-built one as they are more expensive for the same performence (you are paying the building process and eventually a completely trivial OS installation for 50 bucks or even more).
Take a look at the latest AMD hardware as they are (imo) a better choice as nVidia GPUs rn.
Last but not least, building your own tower makes sure you don't have pre-installed bloatware on your system

That’s the thing. I think this laptop is a game changer - its fully upgrageable CPU, GPU and RAM all desktop parts.

I think smaller machines are inevitable with the march of miniaturisation. Elite is the only game i play and it’s incredibly well optimised.
Thanks for the tips and thoughts man.

Have a look at this rather amazing novel upgradeable lappys internals!!

 

[Koben]

I do think Elite would benefit from 4K, especially with it being pretty processor light and with the issues i see with anti-aliasing at 1080p.

Thanks man

Not only 4K will bring your gaming experience to a whole new level, but coding/working on a high definition display is amazing! Everything on the screen is way more defined and you accomodate more applications on it.

Glad you liked the suggestion! At your service, mate!

 

[Caydran]

Laptops are great for portability. That is their strong suit, but they become dated within a year and most are not built for hardware upgrades. For the cost of a blow hard laptop, you can get much more with a PC build, which will allow for upgrades over time as well as increases in performance with additional hardware, i.e. multiple Gen-4 NvMe's, multiple GPU's, Hotas controllers, VR and Headtrackers. Yes, you can use some of this on a laptop but due to the portability, constant connections and disconnections can lead to losses in bindings and settings.

Overall, for the same cost in hardware, PC vs. Laptop, I would make that same dollar investment in PC hardware as it is just more upgradable over time, reusing most of your original hardware investment.

So, if you need that portability for both work and play, then a laptop makes sense. If your retired or work form home, or can afford a dedicated game machine, then PC's offer more flexibility in long term investments and the ability to re-use previously purchased hardware for a return on investment.

 

[theBreadSultan]

Look into the pricing of shadow tech, and see if its for you

Should probably add, its a high end pc streaming service 20 currency per month will get you a high end machine, all the local one has to do is essentially stream video.

As long as you can get a stable 15mb/s it's the way to go. Also because your machine isn't doing the processing the battery last a lot longer

 

[Lightspeed]

That’s the thing. I think this laptop is a game changer - its fully upgrageable CPU, GPU and RAM all desktop parts.

I think smaller machines are inevitable with the march of miniaturisation. Elite is the only game i play and it’s incredibly well optimised.
Thanks for the tips and thoughts man.

Have a look at this rather amazing novel upgradeable lappys internals!!

View attachment 196857

Looks like you need to play in Solo .... or fit better shields

 

[Lightspeed]

I have an HP Omen laptop, bought 'refurbished' from when I purchased my LEP ... so it's had a lot of use ! The battery has gone now; I could replace it, but just leave it plugged in. The display is excellent, and the minimal space it takes up on my desk is a bonus.

 

[Strangepork]

Looks like you need to play in Solo .... or fit better shields

Hahahaha

 

[NCFCpaul]

I have an Asus Tuf Fx505dv, my experience so far is similar to OP account of owning an Asus, might be a bit of a brick but cooling and performance have been everything I'd how's for.

Given this I'd be minded to stick with the brand you know and trust. Alternatively, for the sort of money available what would a custom build give you?

 

[Afterglow]

I had an alienware laptop and within a week the motherboard died, got that replaced under warranty and not long after that the graphics card went the same way.

My impression was that the laptop simply didn't have the cooling required for the bits inside. This was based on the fact that even when it was sat on an elevated tray to allow airflow underneath the keys would get to the point where they were not just warm but hot to touch. Whole experience jaded me to laptops and gaming so I'd suggest you look at a desktop instead unless mobility is a must have factor.

Sums up my experience with Alienware. Thank you for not making me type all that.

 

[Commander Biscuit]

I would avoid anything involving the words alienware or laptop.

 

[Dimensions]

I've had two Alienware laptops. It's a mixed bag really. The older models were better than the newer ones in terms of longevity. The one problem I had with both was they were not very good at heat dissipation and would run very hot, which in turn leads to a shorter component lifespan (esp. GPU and CPU- or in the case of the newer models, the motherboard). Also they are very overpriced for what you get (which is the case with all Dell gaming laptops). You are paying over the odds for a well known brand name and laptop bling. There are better options out there where you can get better specs with superior cooling solutions for much less money. The warranty (beyond the 1 year) is also very expensive as the specs have increased, to the point of being ridiculous, and could find yourself paying 1/4 the cost of of the laptop as extended warranty. However the Dell warranty cover is very good, one of the best in fact with next day home support, i.e. they come to you.

I suggest you check out notebookreview.com forums. They have specific forums for all the main brands which are populated by friendly laptop gaming enthusiasts that are experts in all aspects of a model's performance etc. Reading the Alienware forums is very informative, but if you want to ask people questions who actually own the specific model you are looking at, it's easy to create an account. Before making such a purchase I would research it as much as possible to avoid a very expensive disappointment. Do I personally think Alienware is worth the cost in comparison to the competition. Absolutely not. From experience the top priority besides specs is how cool does it run under load, i.e. gaming.

 

[StewartScott]

At first I had an MSI gaming laptop I used for my first VR experiences (mind was absolutely blown) but after many hours of playing in VR I think the micro graphic chip set in the laptop started failing it began disconnecting me from my games all the time, now I have an MSI gaming tower (yea I do now love MSI) and I feel the gaming tower is much more robust after hours gaming IMO (but your mileage may vary).

 

[Borko]

Do I personally think Alienware is worth the cost in comparison to the competition. Absolutely not.

Wholeheartedly agree. Don’t ever pay full price for alienware (or any dell computer). Dell always has something or other on sale; go with that.

A Black Friday discount (which is the same discount they’ve had up for months, so whatever) put my system $200 under the price I’d specced out if i built an equivalent unit myself. Done and done.

 

[Hooplah]

In 2012 I built a $7000.00 computer dealing with audio/video and thanks to Hollywood I made a lot of money using it. Eight years later it still runs cool playing ED. I upgraded it with a better video card and all works fine.The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti nailed it playing in Ultra mode with no lag other than too many ED players in the same instance. That is a Frontier server issue they may never figure out.

If future ED PC versions requires windows 10 or better I'll have some issues running windows 7.

There are laptops that have the processing power to play ED but what is the point? A huge curved widescreen with the best HOTAS controllers and many players going to VR a PC laptop will never do. If your job is flying around the world a laptop can keep your ED account up to date. But then get back to home with serious ED game play.

 

[Morbad]

Any one advise against this company?
Do you own a dell Alienware PC or laptop?

Any comments before I go mad would be most appreciated.

Have used many Dell/Alienware laptops in the past, but have never personally owned one of their gaming oriented models. No particular complaints about them, as a brand, but I have had models I didn't like, for various reasons.

Anyway, the particular model you're looking at is something I'd consider to be overpriced.

I highly doubt you need the desktop 10700 in a laptop and the cooling for it adds a lot of cost and bulk.

Three NVMe SSDs is a waste. Outside of extremely specific niches that have nothing to do with gaming, NVMe RAID 0 is a gimmick.

The display is really good for a laptop, probably one of the best 17" gaming displays available. Problem is it's still a 17" display and you also seem to be interested in VR and if you do most of your gaming in VR, or while attached to an external display, then that high-end integrated display is mostly redundant.

You could get the same gaming performance in a laptop that was ~1200USD less expensive. So, if you aren't dead set on features that only this model can provide, I'd start looking for laptops that use an RTX 2070 (or better) and keep an eye out for the least expensive of those options. We are also less than six months from RTX 3000 and RX 6000 series parts making it into laptops.

Another option would be to focus only on CPU performance and look into external GPU solutions.

That’s the thing. I think this laptop is a game changer - its fully upgrageable CPU, GPU and RAM all desktop parts.

Hypothetically, this is true, but in practice this upgradability is mostly irrelevant:

• There aren't any appreciably faster gaming CPUs for that socket and cooling, and there never will be.
• The GPU is a very specific form factor (i don't even think that's MXM, meaning Dell probably sells the only compatible options) that also will have limited and extremely expensive upgrade prospect. You could probably upgrade to a 2080 for a ~20% performance boost, for half the price of a whole new, faster laptop, if you're lucky.
• Most non-ultralight laptops allow the memory to be swapped out, but this is the least meaningful upgrade, unless you
• Three M.2 slots is still a total waste.

 

[varonica]

The ASUS G series (980m) laptop I’ve been happily playing Elite with for the past 6 years had a fit.
I’m 99% sure the GPU soldered on the board is kaput.

I loved that rugged, solid, reliable old friend.
We went from Elite to Triple Elite and beyond together.
An awesome machine.

I recently found she could play two copies of the game at once (at 90% cpu!) and just, just let me play in VR with a huff and puff with an old DK2
I figured all in the laptop was 60p a day to own over those 6 years.
Amazing value.

Anyways.,..

So I’ve gone out, all guns blazing for the best I couldn’t afford - a mid spec’ed Area51m r2.

——————————>
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 10700K (8-Core, 16MB Cache, 3.8GHz to 5.1GHz w/Turbo Boost Max 3.0)
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 SUPER™ 8GB GDDR6
16GB Dual Channel DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz; up to 32GB
1TB (2x 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID 0 [Boot] + 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD [Storage]
Dark Side of the Moon with High Endurance Clear Coat
——————————>

It’s a once in a lifetime purchase though I’m in IT and will use it for 3d rendering and film edits, so less guilt.


Any one advise against this company?
Do you own a dell Alienware PC or laptop?

Any comments before I go mad would be most appreciated.

Thank you.

I have almost that exact setup in MSI, very happy with it, I think the extra cost loading for the name "Alienware" is pretty pointless and as pinted out, upgradability is really a myth, no-one ever does it. Even though my laptop is nearly a year old the Alienware locally is still $600 more than my purchase price.

 

[Banger_uk]

The ASUS G series (980m) laptop I’ve been happily playing Elite with for the past 6 years had a fit.
I’m 99% sure the GPU soldered on the board is kaput.

I loved that rugged, solid, reliable old friend.
We went from Elite to Triple Elite and beyond together.
An awesome machine.

I recently found she could play two copies of the game at once (at 90% cpu!) and just, just let me play in VR with a huff and puff with an old DK2
I figured all in the laptop was 60p a day to own over those 6 years.
Amazing value.

Anyways.,..

So I’ve gone out, all guns blazing for the best I couldn’t afford - a mid spec’ed Area51m r2.

——————————>
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 10700K (8-Core, 16MB Cache, 3.8GHz to 5.1GHz w/Turbo Boost Max 3.0)
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 SUPER™ 8GB GDDR6
16GB Dual Channel DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz; up to 32GB
1TB (2x 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID 0 [Boot] + 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD [Storage]
Dark Side of the Moon with High Endurance Clear Coat
——————————>

It’s a once in a lifetime purchase though I’m in IT and will use it for 3d rendering and film edits, so less guilt.


Any one advise against this company?
Do you own a dell Alienware PC or laptop?

Any comments before I go mad would be most appreciated.

Thank you.

you could try pc building simulator they have a great pc building sandbox version for pc specs.

 

[Strangepork]

I've had two Alienware laptops. It's a mixed bag really. The older models were better than the newer ones in terms of longevity. The one problem I had with both was they were not very good at heat dissipation and would run very hot, which in turn leads to a shorter component lifespan (esp. GPU and CPU- or in the case of the newer models, the motherboard). Also they are very overpriced for what you get (which is the case with all Dell gaming laptops). You are paying over the odds for a well known brand name and laptop bling. There are better options out there where you can get better specs with superior cooling solutions for much less money. The warranty (beyond the 1 year) is also very expensive as the specs have increased, to the point of being ridiculous, and could find yourself paying 1/4 the cost of of the laptop as extended warranty. However the Dell warranty cover is very good, one of the best in fact with next day home support, i.e. they come to you.

I suggest you check out notebookreview.com forums. They have specific forums for all the main brands which are populated by friendly laptop gaming enthusiasts that are experts in all aspects of a model's performance etc. Reading the Alienware forums is very informative, but if you want to ask people questions who actually own the specific model you are looking at, it's easy to create an account. Before making such a purchase I would research it as much as possible to avoid a very expensive disappointment. Do I personally think Alienware is worth the cost in comparison to the competition. Absolutely not. From experience the top priority besides specs is how cool does it run under load, i.e. gaming.

I pretty much read the entire forum thread from the owners of the new Area51m r2 over at notebookreview.com, this is very sound advice, thank you.

 

[Strangepork]

I have almost that exact setup in MSI, very happy with it, I think the extra cost loading for the name "Alienware" is pretty pointless and as pinted out, upgradability is really a myth, no-one ever does it. Even though my laptop is nearly a year old the Alienware locally is still $600 more than my purchase price.

This is a valid point, though if I could have bought even a second hand replacement for the soldered GPU in the ASUS I would have kept it for maybe another 4 years.

 

[Strangepork]

Have used many Dell/Alienware laptops in the past, but have never personally owned one of their gaming oriented models. No particular complaints about them, as a brand, but I have had models I didn't like, for various reasons.

Anyway, the particular model you're looking at is something I'd consider to be overpriced.

I highly doubt you need the desktop 10700 in a laptop and the cooling for it adds a lot of cost and bulk.

Three NVMe SSDs is a waste. Outside of extremely specific niches that have nothing to do with gaming, NVMe RAID 0 is a gimmick.

The display is really good for a laptop, probably one of the best 17" gaming displays available. Problem is it's still a 17" display and you also seem to be interested in VR and if you do most of your gaming in VR, or while attached to an external display, then that high-end integrated display is mostly redundant.

You could get the same gaming performance in a laptop that was ~1200USD less expensive. So, if you aren't dead set on features that only this model can provide, I'd start looking for laptops that use an RTX 2070 (or better) and keep an eye out for the least expensive of those options. We are also less than six months from RTX 3000 and RX 6000 series parts making it into laptops.

Another option would be to focus only on CPU performance and look into external GPU solutions.



Hypothetically, this is true, but in practice this upgradability is mostly irrelevant:

• There aren't any appreciably faster gaming CPUs for that socket and cooling, and there never will be.
• The GPU is a very specific form factor (i don't even think that's MXM, meaning Dell probably sells the only compatible options) that also will have limited and extremely expensive upgrade prospect. You could probably upgrade to a 2080 for a ~20% performance boost, for half the price of a whole new, faster laptop, if you're lucky.
• Most non-ultralight laptops allow the memory to be swapped out, but this is the least meaningful upgrade, unless you
• Three M.2 slots is still a total waste.

Thanks for taking the time to chip this in Morbad, your advice couldn't be more useful if you had read this entire owners forum over at http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/official-alienware-area-51m-r2-owners-lounge.832848/

From the benchmarks I've seen the raid 0 setup gives a meager 20% performance boost. Being cautious of raid I think I may well separate those drives from the outset. Because "Dell" the only way to get the additional 2 x M.2 slot daughter board, is to buy the cheapest 3 drives they offer.

I lost my last souped-up laptop after 6 years because of a soldered GPU, I'd happily have run it's for another 4 years if not. As much as upgrading I'm hoping any new purchase will have replaceable parts, even if identical ones found second hand into the future.

I ditched desktops completely about 8 years ago, wanting just a single machine to work with. The strategy is to buy the best machine in terms of spec I can find with something approaching desktop performance and keep it for as long as I can.

Elite is the only game I play and so well optimised, I found it barely taxed that now dead 980m I had been using.

I do think miniaturization is the trend in computing, maybe in ten years we will wirelessly docking our super watches when we arrive at home and the Game and Watch cycle will be complete.



Thanks again for the bang on advice Morbad.