Alienware 17 Build Messed Up And Downgraded After Being Confimed

[plaggie]

Ordered the Alienware 17 back in late February with the following 4900MQ processor with the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780M with 4GB GDDR5 and 17.3" 120Hz WLED FHD (1920 x 1080) TrueLife Display w/3D with a 1 TB hard drive.(These were the peripherals I wanted). I first get the acknowledgement and later (March 6th) get the confirmation.. All is good heading into shipping when I receive a delivery status from Dell this past Friday where the order has for whatever reason changed to the video card AMD Radeon™ R9 M290X with 4GB GDDR5 -no 3D screen!!!!!! I'm like what the hell.... I'm so disappointed, that I called Dell and asked them how this could be!!!? So I get a rep who says that I should refuse the order return the Laptop and Dell will refund my money. So here's my plight how good is the RADEON card compared to the GTX 780M and of course no 3D monitor at 120hz compared to the 17.3 inch (439.42 mm) WLED FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare Display that has now showed up on my order.

I've also gone back to see about rebuilding the 17 with the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780M and 3D 120hz LCD and you can't get it anymore... Mis-representation anyone!!! This after being acknowledged and later CONFIRMED!!! And know facing this....... What should I do????

 

[MattyB]

That's pretty messed up. In Aust the 290 is actually an extra $33 on top of the 780M. Not sure what they have over there.
I have never used the 3D screens on the AW laptops so I can't really judge there. I never worried about it. The option is still on the Alienware website here though with the 780M. They would at least have to refund you the difference though.
I would say that they have run out of stock of one of the items. Most likely the 3D screen since it's not an option at the moment. I'm not sure if the M290X is all that compatible with the 3D screen either. Unless they worked around it.....

 

[Alienwulf]

The AMD card will not work on 3D that said I have had a couple m17x's with the 120 screens and was one not impressed two found the 3D a pain on such a small screen useless to be honest. The M290X is just a rebrand of the HD 8970M with identical performance. When compared to mobile Nvidia GPUs, the M290X performs a bit below the GeForce GTX 780M and slightly above the Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M. Therefore, almost all demanding games of 2013 will run fluently on very high details and 1080p resolution. I would return and reorder the 780m, now when you receive the system and call to return they will offer you a discount if you decline they may offer a deeper discount to not have to put it for sale on the Dell Outlet. You may want to consider since performance is close.

 

[MattyB]

Or.......get your full refund and then hold off a little while longer and get the 880M!!

 

[Sarah]

What the hell - zero out of ten there Dell A shoddy way to treat you and I'd be upset too. But as said, the 880M will be out soon so send the machine back and reorder when the new GPU is available. Also, the i7 4910MQ will be out shortly too - or so I believe.

The 3D screen works and is pretty good considering the relatively small size. It is glossy and very bright and vibrant so if you prefer bright and glossy then I'd definitely hang about for that too.

Good luck

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One thing to consider with the 3D screen though is that the Intel integrated graphics does not support the 120hz refresh rate. Therefore any machine with this screen has the integrated GPU permanently disabled This obviously destroys your potential battery life to about 2 or so hours at best!