Precision M4800 or Alienware 15 ?

S

My friend is kind of confused with Precision M4800 and Alienware 15.
Now if it was a question of pure hardware requirements, I would have told him to go with Alienware, but he does have some arguments which are confusing me...

First, the questionnaire:

1) What is your budget? (INR or USD)
Max 200K

2) What size & weight consideration (if any) would you prefer?
Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen

3) What are the primary tasks you will be performing with this notebook?
Visualization and Bioinformatics tools; Equivalent to Siemens NX or Catia

4) Anything else you would like to say?
Local(Through Dell/Compuindia)

He is mainly confused because of the GPU. While Quadro K2100M can handle professional software to some extent, but the sheer computing power of GTX980M overshadows K2100M in both, DirectX and OpenGL applications(my argument; and I own Precision). According to him, GTX 980M might not be that stable(something I can't confirm, but I can't outright deny too).
He is worried about driver support and application support, and in particular, the warranty(3 Years ADP by default for precision vs 1 year ADP for Alienware).
What should I suggest ? (Knowing that he will follow the suggestion....and if something goes wrong, I will pay the price by ever persistent taunts and credibility loss)

what will be his main workload?

im oi would recommend precision instead of alienware , my friends have alienware and trust me you do need that 3 years warranty especially in case of laptops....

Get one imported from Xotic. It would be a ultimate laptop at this price. And along that do not buy alienware it is super costly in India.

K

I recommend you to buy Zbook 15 instead.
Much better quality than Dell.
Lenovo W540 is also good option.

Quality of Thinkpads is top notch.

K

$hadow said:
Get one imported from Xotic. It would be a ultimate laptop at this price. And along that do not buy alienware it is super costly in India.

Workstation - Sager a big No.
Concerns of battery life and warranty a big issue in India.

I guess OP is not a tech person who can geek with Sager laptops all the way.

Thinkpads and Zbooks are way better imho.
Just my 2 cents.

Thinkpad carbon X 2015 is the best what OP can get.

K

$hadow said:
Thinkpad carbon X 2015 is the best what OP can get.

It's ultrabook of business line.
OP needs a GPU so I guess Thinkpad Workstation W540 or HP Zbook 15 will be a better option.

kunalgujarathi said:
It's ultrabook of business line.
OP needs a GPU so I guess Thinkpad Workstation W540 or HP Zbook 15 will be a better option.

X1 2015 is already equipped with HD5000 which will be ample.
Or else OP can get Eurocom P5 Pro Extreme (Clevo P750ZM) Notebook Review - NotebookCheck.net Reviews base model is $1500

- - - Updated - - -

On a side note OP here is top 10 list *www.notebookcheck.net/Top-10-Workstation-Laptops.65537.0.html

K

Visual Bioinformatics tools require a CUDA GPU compulsory for smooth rendering.
HD5000 cannot match them.

Plus Eurocom is a Sager.
I have mentioned that if OP can maintain Sager's himself then he can go for them.

Else HP and Lenovo are best bet.

kunalgujarathi said:
Workstation - Sager a big No.
Concerns of battery life and warranty a big issue in India.

I guess OP is not a tech person who can geek with Sager laptops all the way.

Thinkpads and Zbooks are way better imho.
Just my 2 cents.

Xotic PC has laptops from other brands too including alienware which you can customise as you like.

S

sumonpathak said:
what will be his main workload?

Bioinformatics applications like Amber and Sybyl packages.

$hadow said:
Get one imported from Xotic. It would be a ultimate laptop at this price. And along that do not buy alienware it is super costly in India.

Warranty is the prime concern, so no to imports.

kunalgujarathi said:
I recommend you to buy Zbook 15 instead.
Much better quality than Dell.
Lenovo W540 is also good option.

Quality of Thinkpads is top notch.

Thinkpad W540 is not available in India, according to Lenovo sales rep, and ZBook 15....well HP have entry level models only, and they are not ready to give a custom one....dunno why.

$hadow said:
X1 2015 is already equipped with HD5000 which will be ample.
Or else OP can get Eurocom P5 Pro Extreme (Clevo P750ZM) Notebook Review - NotebookCheck.net Reviews base model is $1500

- - - Updated - - -

On a side note OP here is top 10 list Top 10 Workstation Laptops - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

HD5xxx won't cut it, even IRIS pro won't. the workload can be directly compared to high end CAM/CAD, and therefore need a professional graphic card.
The problem is, when I saw the benchmark results of current Kepler Quadros available, and Maxwell 2.0 geforce cards(970M,980M), I saw that they(970/980) are outperforming even the topmost quadro (K5100M), which is sorta confusing. If they can handle professional applications well, then Alienware seems to be a better choice overall(168K+ Hopefully Approx 20K for additional 2 year ADP). The question here is stability.

I can maintain pretty much any laptop, but I won't say same thing for my friend. At extreme he will just change the HDD to SSD.

Siddhartht said:
Bioinformatics applications like Amber and Sybyl packages.

Warranty is the prime concern, so no to imports.

Thinkpad W540 is not available in India, according to Lenovo sales rep, and ZBook 15....well HP have entry level models only, and they are not ready to give a custom one....dunno why.

HD5xxx won't cut it, even IRIS pro won't. the workload can be directly compared to high end CAM/CAD, and therefore need a professional graphic card.
The problem is, when I saw the benchmark results of current Kepler Quadros available, and Maxwell 2.0 geforce cards(970M,980M), I saw that they(970/980) are outperforming even the topmost quadro (K5100M), which is sorta confusing. If they can handle professional applications well, then Alienware seems to be a better choice overall(168K+ Hopefully Approx 20K for additional 2 year ADP). The question here is stability.

I can maintain pretty much any laptop, but I won't say same thing for my friend. At extreme he will just change the HDD to SSD.

Costliest Alienware 15 with 980M
XOTIC PC | Alienware 15 - 15.6" Gaming Laptop

For 115k, shipping and customs additional. You can add a 128 GB M.2 ssd and get the warranty transferred to India. Still will cost less than 165k.

S

sumonpathak said:
what will be his main workload?

$hadow said:
Get one imported from Xotic. It would be a ultimate laptop at this price. And along that do not buy alienware it is super costly in India.

kunalgujarathi said:
I recommend you to buy Zbook 15 instead.
Much better quality than Dell.
Lenovo W540 is also good option.

Quality of Thinkpads is top notch.

$hadow said:
X1 2015 is already equipped with HD5000 which will be ample.
Or else OP can get Eurocom P5 Pro Extreme (Clevo P750ZM) Notebook Review - NotebookCheck.net Reviews base model is $1500

- - - Updated - - -

On a side note OP here is top 10 list Top 10 Workstation Laptops - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

SaiyanGoku said:
Costliest Alienware 15 with 980M
XOTIC PC | Alienware 15 - 15.6" Gaming Laptop

For 115k, shipping and customs additional. You can add a 128 GB M.2 ssd and get the warranty transferred to India. Still will cost less than 165k.

I don't think that is the case, the warranty can be transferred only when one buys from Dell directly, or so I have heard from dell representative.

K

SaiyanGoku said:
Costliest Alienware 15 with 980M
XOTIC PC | Alienware 15 - 15.6" Gaming Laptop

For 115k, shipping and customs additional. You can add a 128 GB M.2 ssd and get the warranty transferred to India. Still will cost less than 165k.

Siddhartht said:
I don't think that is the case, the warranty can be transferred only when one buys from Dell directly, or so I have heard from dell representative.

I don't think that the CAD/CAM applications will work smoothly on 970/980.

It's better you contact respective software publishers and crosscheck compatibility.

S

kunalgujarathi said:
I don't think that the CAD/CAM applications will work smoothly on 970/980.

It's better you contact respective software publishers and crosscheck compatibility.

Well....that is something which is creating the paradox:
980M
SPECviewperf 12 - Maya (maya-04) 1900x1060 : MIN: 83.74
SPECviewperf 12 - Creo (creo-01) 1900x1060 : MIN: 26.3
SPECviewperf 12 - Catia (catia-04) 1900x1060 : MIN: 38.64

Quadro K5100M
SPECviewperf 12 - Maya (maya-04) 1900x1060 : MIN: 41
SPECviewperf 12 - Creo (creo-01) 1900x1060 : MIN: 37.94
SPECviewperf 12 - Catia (catia-04) 1900x1060 : MIN: 55.3

Taking account of price...I don't think there is any comparison. Also K5100M is available on M6800/ZBook 17, which are beyond acceptable dimension limits.

K

Nvidia generally disables CUDA computing algorithms on Geforce GPU's.

So It's better to ask the software publishers.

S

kunalgujarathi said:
Nvidia generally disables CUDA computing algorithms on Geforce GPU's.

So It's better to ask the software publishers.

After going through documentation...all mobile GPU solutions are unsupported, but may work. At the same time, most of the packages do support consumer grade GeForce versions.

P

What about buy the alienware with the graphics amplifier and attach a suitable card for the purpose of your work applications? idk, just throwing out ideas....

perspex said:
What about buy the alienware with the graphics amplifier and attach a suitable card for the purpose of your work applications? idk, just throwing out ideas....

Your thinking is good but the fact that alienware cost a lot more when compared to the US models is a big fail.

S

perspex said:
What about buy the alienware with the graphics amplifier and attach a suitable card for the purpose of your work applications? idk, just throwing out ideas....

Will not work, Graphics Amplifier uses custom set of drivers speciall tuned for GeForce series.
Anyways, he decided to go with Precision M4800 @158K.

K

Siddhartht said:
Will not work, Graphics Amplifier uses custom set of drivers speciall tuned for GeForce series.
Anyways, he decided to go with Precision M4800 @158K.

Great choice

That is probably a good decision.

G

Regarding Alienwares, this year, the lower end Alienware 15 ( 970m and i7) seems a great deal compared to what we get here from the likes of MSI and ASUS. I honestly don't think the overpriced tag fits on the new Alienware anymore. Besides Dell isn't ripping us off by giving the i5 965m or the amd r295x here.

Gokul J said:
Regarding Alienwares, this year, the lower end Alienware 15 ( 970m and i7) seems a great deal compared to what we get here from the likes of MSI and ASUS. I honestly don't think the overpriced tag fits on the new Alienware anymore. Besides Dell isn't ripping us off by giving the i5 965m or the amd r295x here.

*www.zauba.com/import-alienware-15-hs-code.html

I think the one around 70k mark should have 970M. Selling price is 58k extra over that 70k. And you say Dell isn't ripping us off.

G

What I meant was, Dell is offering us a much better package when you consider the model retails at 1750 dollars at the states. Comparatively, MSI is offering the GS60 2QE at 1800 dollars in the USA but charging 184000 here and everyone seems nothing but praise it. Whats more is you can haggle for additional couple years ADS as well in case of Alienware. Import sites usually don't represent the true value. If they are to be believed, even Samsung is ripping us off. Galaxy note 4 costs 36k according to Zauba but costs 53k here. Dell ripped us off with the Alienware 14 but honestly not with the base 15. Upgrades are ridiculously expensive though.

If you want better package, you should look for Azom.
MSI India's pricing has amused me since they launched their laptops. Their reason for overpricing is for the "quality" they provide over other brands. :facepalm:

Samsung is always ripping people off in mobile segment, there's no denying that.

Dell should've included 3 years ADP and 3 years international warranty within that 128k and it would've been the best package at that price.

G

Actually, you can get 3 years ADP if you are willing to forgo the flashy headset they give. My friend recently ordered an Alienware 15 with 3 years ADP ( 1 + 2) for 129k . Azom is a new player with not much reviews. Otherwise, I can see they offer the best package. As for Alienware, you can always get a better deal if you call sales instead of ordering online.

Edit: I'm not sure about the international warranty though.

S

Gokul J said:
Actually, you can get 3 years ADP if you are willing to forgo the flashy headset they give. My friend recently ordered an Alienware 15 with 3 years ADP ( 1 + 2) for 129k . Azom is a new player with not much reviews. Otherwise, I can see they offer the best package. As for Alienware, you can always get a better deal if you call sales instead of ordering online.

Edit: I'm not sure about the international warranty though.

Any and all Dell ProSupport warranty is international by default. Just one need to transfer the warranty to respective country.