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Viable to upgrade an Alienware M17x MLK R2?

  • 22-10-2013 02:31PM
    #1
    Playboy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,923 ✭✭✭


    Hi Folks

    Looking for some advice from the knowledgable people on here. I purchased an M17x R2 in 2010 at a significant cost. I'm a bit of a crossroads whether to try and upgrade the laptop or go buy a new one. I have a custom build PC at home and need a gaming laptop as I travel a lot with work.

    I have already upgraded the 7200 rpm mechanical hard drives to a striped SSD and noticed a huge improvement in peformance. I was hoping that i could upgrade the processor and gpu to boost the performance futher which would save me from splashing out on a brand new machine.

    Currently it hosts a i7 620M 2.66 GHz and dual Radeon HD 5870M cards. Given the constraints of the machine in terms of socket compabitibility and size (and potential issues with overheating) is it possible for a significant upgrade?

    Also if I could upgrade, how easy would it be to source the actual parts as maybe the gpus and processors are unavailable for purchase anymore. I'm capable of building my own pc but i have tinkered relatively little with laptops other than to upgrade the hard drives in my current machine. Is upgrading a fairly straighforward exercise?

    Thanks in advance


Comments

  • #2
    Gumbi
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,698 ✭✭✭Gumbi


    Not really. Wouldn't be worth it at all. Laptops suffer hugely for gaming due to the problem of dissipating all the heat. CPUs and graphics cards are gimped as a result. You've already done about the only useful, performance adding upgrade that can be done to a laptop (HDD to SSD).

    Building a custom build at home (desktop) is definitely the way to go value for money wise.


  • #3
    Serephucus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,181 ✭✭✭Serephucus


    As far as I know, there are some people on NBR that have got 780Ms to work in their R2s, but those cards are not cheap. You'd be looking at around €700 or so to buy one off Dell, at a guess.

    I'd say your best bet is to sell it and pick up something new. I have an Alienware 17 myself, and it's quite nice (I owned the original R1 as well, fantastic machine). The screen is very nice - matte panel, finally - the overall build quality is about the same (though I personally much prefer the styling of the R1/R2). Storage options are much better too, as you have the option of installing an mSATA drive as well as two HDDs. The only thing that isn't as good is the audio, unfortunately.


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