Alienware’s Latest Gaming Laptops Feature New AMD Radeon RX 470 GPU Options

[kewlguy239]

Alienware dropped a bombshell at PAX West when it revealed its new Alienware 13, 15 and 17 notebooks. Jaws hit the floor when the company revealed that AMD Radeon RX 470 mobile GPUs would also be an option for the new gaming laptops.

Alienware’s Latest Gaming Laptops Feature New AMD Radeon RX 470 GPU Options : Read more

 

[techy1966]

Ok so time will tell how this pans out but if they say it is the same chip as in the desktop cards then most likely it is the same chip. Just because it does not have the big PCI-E 16x card sticking out the side of the laptop does not mean it is not the same chip. You guys at toms sometimes seem a bit harsh on AMD products by down playing their tech. So again if it has the same specs as the desktop chip and performs very close to that then this would not be a mobile chip at heart just like Nvidia's 10 series in laptops they are desktop parts that work fairly good in mobile also I can not remember if you down played that as well. And no I am not a fanboy I plan on getting a 1080 Ti when & if they come out because that is the amount of GPU I wish to have. If AMD's Vega chip beats the normal 1080 then I may go for that but the normal 1080 is not an option for me because we have already seen DeusX bring it down..lol

 

[Poozle]

I too agree with @Techy1966. You do seem to downplay AMD, while not nvidia. Heck, the 1070 laptop isn't even the same but you didn't downplay it. In fact, you made it seem better with "higher Core count" making it possibly better, which is not true in most laptop cases. I too use Nvidia GPUS, but AMD is looking better and better by the day.

 

[Poozle]

On top of that calling out AMD's 470 as not VR ready is a bit of a overstatement. It is SO CLOSE to that of a 480, that in most games it would be fine, something you didn't state or seem hopeful about in the post.

 

[photonboy]

Poozle,
You have to drawn the line for VR somewhere. You either get the stamp or you don't. It's more critical for VR that you meet the recommendation than it is for desktop (to avoid feeling nauseous due to latency and stutter issues).

The GTX1070 had a higher core count to offset the lower GPU frequency which makes a big difference. The RX-470M is going to have to perform a LOT slower than the desktop version so I think they have been reasonably fair with their comments.

 

[Earnie]

Photonboy
That's not how I read it:
"However, the new mobile Radeon RX 470 seeks to change that. The Polaris GPU features the same technical specs as the desktop card"

And then Tom's tries to downplay AMD again:

Concerning the actual form factor of the RX 470 inside the new Alienware 17 and 15, AMD's Jason Evangelho, Sr. Technical Marketing Specialist for the Radeon Technology Group at AMD, made a somewhat suspect statement in a blog post:


"This isn’t a mobile variant; this is the full-powered RX 470 featuring our latest Polaris GPU architecture."

Why is it "suspect"

 

[psiboy]

I find bias in "journo's" from everywhere now. Objectivity and "not leading" your audience seems to be a thing of 10+ Years ago now. I'm not a fanboy I have some of every brands products in various systems but it does certainly seem down on AMD rather than perhaps the expected excitement of their achievement. Why so Negative Derek Forrest? If you don't find your job exciting anymore go and find another one and let someone with enthusiasm and passion do your job instead!

 

[g-unit1111]

On top of that calling out AMD's 470 as not VR ready is a bit of a overstatement. It is SO CLOSE to that of a 480, that in most games it would be fine, something you didn't state or seem hopeful about in the post.

Honestly I'd be more interested to see how having desktop class GPUs in a laptop would affect battery life more than they would perform in VR.

 

[Ibian Pahiva]

Spot on @Techy1966. I too use Nvidia atm, amd is looking better each day, and im tired of the huge lobby\bias most people have for nvidia.

They are overpriced, they even gimp "old" cards through drivers and still everyone defends them, im not an AMD or NVIDIA fanboy, i am a PC fan, period.
Competition is what makes things go foward, if AMD wouldn't exist you would be paying Titan XP values for the 1080.

 

[alextheblue]

The GPU is the exact same chip found inside the desktop counterpart (similar to Nvidia's 10-series mobile GPUs), but it's inside a laptop. We're fairly certain that makes it a mobile variant, despite the marketing spin. After all, the GPU is in a mobile device, and it's certainly not a full-sized PCIe 3.0 x16 graphics card crammed into a notebook PC.

This is factually incorrect, Derek. You don't need a separate full-size graphics card for a device to use the desktop GPU, so long as that same chip exists in a desktop card under the same name. You should probably retract this statement before you get your butt chewed any more than it already is. Here's an example of a mobile variant (keyword here is variant): You have a desktop chip called a "2000". Then you have a laptop with a "2000M" and it's different from the desktop "2000" in some substantial way. Such as having substantially different clocks, TDP, and/or shader count, and often different silicon. They do this to cut down on heat, power, and sometimes cost. When they say "this is the desktop GPU in a laptop and not a mobile variant" they mean it's the same chip running the same specs with similar clocks and TDP. Remember the variant part. So as long as it's not hugely underclocked or otherwise cut-down, their statement is fairly accurate and your narrative is at best misguided.

 

[alextheblue]

The RX-470M is going to have to perform a LOT slower than the desktop version so I think they have been reasonably fair with their comments.

Except that this laptop doesn't HAVE a 470M or M470 or anything like that. It's got the desktop 470. I haven't even seen a mobile variant of Polaris 10 announced yet, and when it does come out it will probably see a marketing name like 490M to properly align it with the other mobile variants.

 

[Kapre_]

Alienware service is the worst.

 

[3ogdy]

It's great to see competition, that's for sure. I love how more and more desktop GPUs find their way in mobile devices. I can't wait for the day desktop hardware is so power efficient a tablet could have one. On phones they would be a bit useless...unless you play in VR on your phone...then not so much , ha ha.

Regarding many comments here, yeah...I believe nVidia's butt has many MANY red lipstick marks on it. And that's not particularly because of AMD's general theme color.
This company is slowly rising and it's great to see its evolution both on the CPU and the GPU fronts.

 

[Geekwad]

If a more up-to-date mobile gaming platform was more reasonably priced, then I'd consider one. Nvidia/Gsync gaming laptops are absurd, but a nice 15" with an RX470 and FreeSync would certainly have my attention.......

 

[vaughn2k]

Without AMD, nVidia would be expensive...

 

[dE_logics]

Now driver problems on higher end laptops too.

 

[cknobman]

What do you expect from Toms, they have to express the interests of their financial backers.

LOL.

Regardless of your spin Toms, this is exciting and cool.
Its good for the market and the consumer.

 

[jkhoward]

I agree with everyone here. They will frequently have an AMD review and it will disappear from the main page the next day being replaced by "SSD of the Month", "Motherboard of the Month", "New NVIDIA Drivers change the game!", and more. I am looking forward to the return of AMD.

 

[warezme]

Translation - Dell (who owns and trashed Alienware as a brand) is looking to make a bigger profit because that is all that really matters to them, was likely offered a sweet and cheap deal from ailing AMD. Dell is not to be trusted since they cut so many corners it might as well be a circle, like their logo.

 

[Vogner16]

glad to see Dell, my brand of choice for laptops, is working with all partners to get hardware available to consumers. I hope this card is a good competitor to the 1060 laptops