Joining the ranks

[forJAT]

Fixing to join the club .. was hesistant but decided to pull the trigger on an entry level if it works out I will gift it out and then pick up a gussied out Alienware 17 for myself

Orderd Aug 1 went into "production" the same day .. ETA changed from 8/19 to 8/22

Here are the specs (In hindsight I wish I would have got the 770m) but i hear the 765m is no slouch, Coming from what I had in my laptop before it should be a major leap)

I figured I could pick up an SSD myself for cheaper then I would have gotten from Dell.

Alienware 17 Base
16GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M with 2GB GDDR5
750GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Windows 8 Pro, 64-bit, English
Slot-Loading 8x SuperMulti Drive (DVDR/RW)
Broadcom 4352 802.11 ac 2x2 and Bluetooth 4.0
8-cell Lithium Ion (86 wHr) Battery
4th Generation Intel(R)Core(TM)i7-4700MQ processor (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Intel(R)Turbo Boost)
17.3 inch (439.42 mm) WLED FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare Display

On the advice of a few people I know that have had Alienwares good and bad experiences the consensus was to get the "extended warranties" as there is speculation that they put better parts into the builds. Probably a waste of money but I did opt for the 2 year warranty/2 year accidental damage.

This is replacing an old gaming laptop honestly this laptop until recently (gpu fan going out) has been very good to me. I can run a lot of games in full or med/high settings

DON"T LAUGH this rig works for me and will have a place in my game room until it dies

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1
System Manufacturer: Gateway
System Model: P-7805u
BIOS: Ver 1.00PARTTBL
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8400 @ 2.26GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.3GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 9800M GTS (Cuda 1GB)
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Display Memory: 4069 MB
Dedicated Memory: 997 MB
Shared Memory: 3071 MB
Current Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: ACER AL1916W
Driver File Version: 9.18.0013.1070 (English)
Driver Version: 9.18.13.1070
DDI Version: 10
Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 12/3/2012 09:47:14, 18045968 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes



Now to play the waiting game, 15 days to the ETA date of 8/22.

 

[SWAT_Glock]

Congrats on the new Alienware 17. My buddy worked for Gateway when they had retail stores many years ago. It's a classic for sure.

Be sure to put up some pic when you get it.

Welcome to the club.

 

[forJAT]

Thanks Tommy, counting the days ... lol more like counting the minutes .. if you ever want to slow time down order a custom PC .. lol

 

[MattyB]

Welcome!
Interesting what you say about using better parts with extended warranty builds. I have never heard that. Got me thinking now though.

 

[forJAT]

Welcome!
Interesting what you say about using better parts with extended warranty builds. I have never heard that. Got me thinking now though.

Thanks, counting down the min errr I mean hours .. days, weeks ... LOL

I have no proof or grounds to validate/invalidate that claim about the better parts in the warrantied rigs, but whey way it was presented to me made a lot of sense.


14 days and counting ..

 

[shankc]

Welcome to the club I'm a bit jealous I like the vents on my R4 but I do like the lighting system on the new one and the keyboard is supposed to be a lot sturdier sweet

 

[forJAT]

Welcome to the club I'm a bit jealous I like the vents on my R4 but I do like the lighting system on the new one and the keyboard is supposed to be a lot sturdier sweet

Thanks .. anxiously waiting the fed ex ... I have wore the F5 key out on my keyboard checking the status page .. LOL

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Yeah 336 hours (20,160 minutes)to go barring any delays until I can get my hands on my AW17 this is going to be a long long wait ... LOL

 

[MattyB]

Not that you're counting or anything..........

We've all been right where you are! Once you've got it you'll want that natural high from waiting for your machine to arrive back. That rush when the package goes from Manufacture Complete to Shipped from Factory! Nothing better! It makes you want another one!

Well it did for me anyway.......

 

[forJAT]

Not that you're counting or anything..........

We've all been right where you are! Once you've got it you'll want that natural high from waiting for your machine to arrive back. That rush when the package goes from Manufacture Complete to Shipped from Factory! Nothing better! It makes you want another one!

Well it did for me anyway.......

LOL I am easy just give me the rig and I will be happy ... my wife is wanting me to get the computer more than I am I think .. ROFL

 

[WaLkAwaY]

Welcome to the club. Hope you enjoy your stay.

 

[unikr0n]

lol yes, i know how you feel. the waiting game. it's a bitch but in the end when you're opening up your alienware box. it's like christmas at 7 years old again! but better! we've got 5 alienwares in the house. so that statement that matty said about "wanting another one" is totally true lol

my latest alienware purchase was an AW17 base with the 765. i too wish i would've opted for the 770 but i havnt had any troubles with the 765 yet. everything is pretty much on high. i havn't tried crysis 3. that'll probably have to be on medium high. i added another 8gb and a 120gb SSD (for boot) once i got it. i highly suggest an SSD. makes so much difference. congrats on the new laptop though. you're going to capital LOVE it!!

 

[forJAT]

Welcome to the club. Hope you enjoy your stay.

Thanks, I guess you can call me a "prospect" until I actually get it in my hands lol Looking forward to the experience

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lol yes, i know how you feel. the waiting game. it's a bitch but in the end when you're opening up your alienware box. it's like christmas at 7 years old again! but better! we've got 5 alienwares in the house. so that statement that matty said about "wanting another one" is totally true lol

my latest alienware purchase was an AW17 base with the 765. i too wish i would've opted for the 770 but i havnt had any troubles with the 765 yet. everything is pretty much on high. i havn't tried crysis 3. that'll probably have to be on medium high. i added another 8gb and a 120gb SSD (for boot) once i got it. i highly suggest an SSD. makes so much difference. congrats on the new laptop though. you're going to capital LOVE it!!

Thanks I guess patience is a virtue .. Coming from a 9800m GTS I am sure the 765m will suffice me . I was going to give this to my wife if I liked it and then pick up better spec'd one but she surprised me been working on her new Dell XPS12 her friend got one so since I bought mine she felt entitled ... LOL... I will say I am not much of a fan of the Windows 8 environment yet hopefully it will grow on me. And it looks like we will have a run at the dell support as her wifi card keeps losing connection it will go from full bars down to 1 bar and sometimes just lose connection... Hopefully this will not be too hard to take care of but most of hopefully getting it taken care of will not be a hassle.

I plan on picking up a SSD to boot off of. I do have one question I am going to be buying Acronis, I have been told and read it is the best backup/ghosting software. What say all of you?