Alienware M14x R1 Vs Alienware M14x R2

[Caladdon]

All knew this was coming...but is it all in the R2's favour?

Compare here...

[RocketPower]

It would be cool if the mobo fits in the R1, so when it burns you can upgrade the mobo, chipset and GPU all at once and be ready for ivy bridge!

[Caladdon]

It would be cool if the mobo fits in the R1, so when it burns you can upgrade the mobo, chipset and GPU all at once and be ready for ivy bridge!

That would be excellent.
I just hope the motherboard is able to be exchanged because thats the 'only' piece we would really need to upgrade as I am happy with my Hard drive, Ram, etc for the moment.

Im mainly curious as to the Gt 650m vs Gt 555m (Which in my eyes is still a very capable card and an excellent overclocker.)

[Gearsguy]

R2 is better in about every way so far, unless we find out theyre using a crappier display or something, or it overheats. I dont think its worth it to upgrade but you shouldnt purposely buy an R1 (like people who buy an M17x R2 over R3 for the RGB LED display)

[niko2021]

The gt650 is a good step up from the gt555m. Essentially, the gt640 is on par with the gt555m. So the gt650 that is in the new m14x will be a quite better. I knew it wasn't going to get a fully fledged mxm style gtx card, but the gt650 should be all you'd need in a 14 inch laptop. But the gt650 is about equivalent in performance to a gtx 560m anyway. So that hopefully stops people from complaining on here why the m14x should have a dedicated mxm graphics card

Still loving my r1 though. I don't think id ever been inclined to sell to get the r2. I dont think anyone should buy a laptop just to sell it in a year when the better version comes out, because that will inevitably happen. Unless you're lucky enough to exchange it from dell. But its awesome that dell didnt use the gt640 which is a slightly better gt555m, they used a much better card.

[clautenslager]

Basically from what little info there is on the 650m is that it's at least on par with the 560m probably better seeing the r2 uses gddr5 ram.

However no one can confirm this until benchmarks come out.

To me this big because while the 555m was good it just wasn't able to play all games on high. The 650m looks like it will do that. Plus the 650m should run a lot cooler which is a significant win with the m14x's cooling problem

My only concern is when ivy bridge is added they might bump the price up to a point where the m14x isn't cheap anymore.

*facepalm* I was writing this when niko2021 posted...

[Caladdon]

I'm not sure I'll exchange after all.
My Gt 555m overclocks well and temps are good - Especially with the i5.
I can play all my games on suitable settings anyway.
At the moment I'm now actually considering exchanging for an M11x R3 seeing as there will be no R4. I'm after as much power in as little form factor as possible.

Or maybe the M14x R3 later on...

[HSN21]

Basically from what little info there is on the 650m is that it's at least on par with the 560m probably better seeing the r2 uses gddr5 ram.

However no one can confirm this until benchmarks come out.

To me this big because while the 555m was good it just wasn't able to play all games on high. The 650m looks like it will do that. Plus the 650m should run a lot cooler which is a significant win with the m14x's cooling problem

650m is faster than 560m we already have data

MSI Global ? News

"The powerful MSI GE60 and GE70 come locked and loaded with the Nvidia GeForce GT 650M discrete graphics card which boasts 2GB GDDR5 of display memory to give it the most advanced hardware. These machines boast over 10,000 points on 3D Mark Vantage (P Score)"

That is higher than 560m results ~

Nvidia official benchmarks also confirm it

[owatch15]

So far, it appears it outspecs the R1 by far.
Gt650 GPU
The capacity to hold up to 16Gb of RAM.
A good improvement.

I admit, I am jealous

[HTWingNut]

Vantage is far from an accurate measure of real gaming performance. And I wouldn't trust nVidia official benchmarks. Of course they will boast their latest GPU. Let's see real gaming results before making any claims or conclusions. If you have a 555m that overclocks well, you might be within 10% of GT 650m performance.