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The InsydeH20 bios is surprisingly good, offering a variety of settings for customising the machine.
The user interface is easy enough to navigate and there are settings for all areas of the machine. If you aren't comfortable with bios settings, then just leave it as is, there are no glaring problems with the default configuration.
Alienware/Dell explain a little about the overclocking capabilities, but they clearly want users to either leave the machine as is, or to use one of the three built in overclocking settings. The machine was shipped at a ‘Level 1' setting, but both ‘Level 2' and ‘Level 3' offer slight improvements without sacrificing stability. The image above shows our slightly tweaked ratio limits which offer slightly higher performance than the preconfigured settings.
We used MSI's Afterburner to overclock both graphics cards and settled on a final figure of 825mhz core and 650mhz memory. We found they would overclock slightly higher, but overclocking a laptop system is more delicate than a desktop considering the more constrained airflow. Playing ‘a little safe' is always a wise long term choice.
The overclocking really helps to boost overall performance, clearly noticeable from both the results above. An increase of 800 points in 3dMark 11 is substantial.
The overclocked settings enable the i7-2960XM Extreme Edition to outperform the reference clocked i7 2600k by a clear margin.
Overclocking the processor enables it to perform at almost identical levels when directly compared against the reference clocked desktop Core i7 2600k. Excellent results.
That really is insane. the price makes my wallet cry however
🙁
That is an incredible computer, kind of a dream machien for most people. Also that CPU is amazing, its like a desktop chip in a mobile package.
The 2960 extreme edition is breaking new groud, especially for mobile systems. problem is the price, its a hell of a lot more than the closest CPU which is only moderately slower (until its overclocked anyway).
The red is much nicer than the boring black IMO. the bare bones system isn’t a bad price, do you get the same panel for the entry level priced model?
How did you update the driver? my m17x says it isnt a supported device on the Nvidia site? ill have to try again with that driver you used.
This is a great laptop system, I have the m17x and love it, but im sorry I didnt buy the 18 🙁 id love dual 560m
They cost so much money, but they make a statement. I dont think this machine could be carried about however it is far too big and heavy. almost 6kg? ouch!
The appearance is spectacular, the black one looks so dull. Its interesting to see they dont charge more for the red in this range, but the lower specification machines it costs £10 extra.
They should make some with specialised Alienware skins, like they allow for on the inspiron 17 inch range, but make them all alien based transfers for the lid.
I would not pay this much money just to get so little in return. But i’m not reach and i don’t need/like laptops, if i were all that i guess i’d take it. As stands i can make a desktop that outperforms that laptop with $1k.
Sure, I think we all could, but its missing the point. its a laptop, and it looks pretty nice to me, with a very impressive screen.