Alienware slaps NVIDIA's Quadro FX 3600M into Area-51 m15x

Some five months after NVIDIA took the Saran Wrap off of its professional-oriented Quadro FX 3600M, along comes Alienware patting itself on the back. Why? Because its Area-51 m15x is the first 15.4-inch laptop on planet Earth to offer said card, giving users who practically live in CAD, DCC or other visualization applications an option to still look 1337 (and tap into the occasional 3D game) on their lappie. Unfortunately, such graphical prowess will add $600 to the cost of your rig over the standard 256MB GeForce 8600M GT, but no one ever said that dancing on the cutting edge was cheap.

[voodoo @ Jul 29th 2008 8:03PM]

The kind of person who buys an expensive 15" CAD workstation isn't the kind of buyer who tolerates the M15x's wobbly screen or propensity to fall apart, everheat, and downclock.

[Striker @ Jul 29th 2008 9:19PM]

Completely true, that's why I own a ThinkPad T61, and I have a rather odd hobby of opening it up, pushing it off a 5-foot tall table and making it land on a corner, and then dumping a pint of water on the keyboard, and then returning to my Photoshopping and my other CPU intensive workstation tasks.

[Craig @ Jul 30th 2008 7:40AM]

Wow...good points *and* you didn't mention being first. +2

[jason @ Jul 29th 2008 8:17PM]

heat?

[AlekZander @ Jul 29th 2008 8:53PM]

Probably as bad as the battery life.

[ctbear @ Jul 29th 2008 8:18PM]

overkill anyone?

First of all, what kind of an engineer would lug around an alienware?






a 1337 one O_o

[Chris Macdonald @ Jul 29th 2008 10:18PM]

So this is where deyanimay got his wonderful idea.












see below

[ctbear @ Jul 30th 2008 12:35AM]

no...he's just out of his mind.
My "Enter" button got stuck, and so I was too lazy to hold down Backspace or highlight/delete..

[KyleC @ Jul 29th 2008 8:36PM]

unneccessary?...naw of course not

[Falcom @ Jul 29th 2008 8:52PM]

I'd love to know what the difference is between a geforce and a quadro technically. I know its minor, but why is(or isn't) it worth so much more cash?

[Striker @ Jul 29th 2008 9:26PM]

The only difference (for most models) is drivers, as my NVS 140M is just a GeForce 8400M with CAD-optimized drivers. The main difference between the drivers is that the Quadro drivers MUST finish drawing all the tasks presented to it, whereas the GeForce drivers can only half-draw objects if needed to keep framerate up, like if an object is sticking out of a wall. On a Quadro, the whole thing would have to be drawn, causing framerate to suffer, as CAD usually allows the user to see every part, unlike a game. You can actually save your $600 and just hack the drivers so you are turn your 8600 into an equivalent Quadro card.

[quomen @ Jul 29th 2008 9:29PM]

Quadro supposedly has 10% decrease in framerates in games but 50% increase of OpenGL performance. However, most tests prove that it's the same as it's Geforce counterpart. (I have the M90 which has the 3500m, not sure how much different the 3600m is)

[Forrest @ Jul 30th 2008 11:43AM]

I have an M6300 with a Quadro FX 3600M. I don't know how the GeForce equivalent would perform, but the video on this machine is freaking incredible. It blows away the dual 7800 GTs in my desktop - there is no comparison.

Of course, it should, considering the $700 *upgrade* was as much as I paid for both of those cards :P But I really wanted 512 megs of dedicated video ram, and the only way I could get it was to go with the 3600M. I don't regret that upgrade for a second, though.

[Chris Macdonald @ Jul 29th 2008 8:58PM]

you're going to get so low ranked your gonna have to be hospitalized

[ryan @ Jul 29th 2008 9:07PM]

I love Engadget, but there's something to be said for Gizmodo's moderation system. Anybody notice you don't have to put up with this bullshit at Gizmodo?

Engadget, get a fucking ban hammer!

[Chris Macdonald @ Jul 29th 2008 9:32PM]

@ryan

how do you post at Gizmodo, nothing ever posts for me :@

[ryan @ Jul 29th 2008 10:00PM]

"Its ok, I just wanted to see if engadget allowed unnecessary space."

I think significantly less would have sufficed.

I'm fucking sick of 'first!' and other asshat-ery.

Help us, Engadget, you're our only hope.

[ryan @ Jul 29th 2008 10:03PM]

@Chris Macdonald

IIRC, to post at Gizmodo you have to submit an 'insightful' comment as sort of an application, and if the moderators approve, you get an account. It's a little annoying, but it allows them to keep out the riff-raff and drop the ban hammer.

[John Doe @ Jul 29th 2008 10:04PM]

lame as the use of the said graphics card in the laptop

[Chris Macdonald @ Jul 29th 2008 10:13PM]

ah, i must have made a really dumb first post attempt... Do they wait for you to post something insightful? or if your screw up your first post are you screwed for enernity.

[ryan @ Jul 29th 2008 10:20PM]

I think they'll probably give you a second chance.

[rick @ Jul 29th 2008 10:32PM]

So this is the same core that the Inq's been writing about?

[Louis @ Jul 30th 2008 12:03AM]

COOL

[Aaron @ Jul 30th 2008 1:49AM]

Acctually the HP 8710w has had the option of the 3600M for a few months now. I think you can only get it in a custom build though.

So this wouldn't be the first system on the planet earth to have the card.

[cdub @ Jul 30th 2008 11:55AM]

From the 8710w Specifications on HP's website:

"NVIDIA Quadro FX 3600M, with 512MB dedicated video memory - coming soon"

So sir, you fail.

[DonatoM3 @ Jul 30th 2008 12:15PM]

Good thing Engadget said "is the first 15.4-inch". Seriously does noone read the articles in their entirety anymore? The 3600m has been out in 17" laptops for a while.