Precision M4800 or Alienware 15 ?

[Siddhartht]

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)

 

[sumonpathak]

what will be his main workload?

 

[gagan_kumar]

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....

 

[$hadow]

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]

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.

 

[kunalgujarathi]

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.

 

[$hadow]

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

 

[kunalgujarathi]

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.

 

[$hadow]

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

 

[kunalgujarathi]

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.

 

[SaiyanGoku]

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.

 

[Siddhartht]

what will be his main workload?

Bioinformatics applications like Amber and Sybyl packages.

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.

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.

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.

 

[SaiyanGoku]

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.

 

[Siddhartht]

what will be his main workload?

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.

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.

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

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.

 

[kunalgujarathi]

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.

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.

 

[Siddhartht]

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.

 

[kunalgujarathi]

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

So It's better to ask the software publishers.

 

[Siddhartht]

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.

 

[perspex]

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....

 

[$hadow]

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.