Alienware to Address Incorrect NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 CUDA Core Count on m15 Ryzen Edition R5 Laptops

[Tsing]

Image: Alienware



Owners of Alienware’s new m15 Ryzen Edition R5 laptops with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPUs have been shocked to discover that they only feature 4,608 CUDA Cores based on information relayed by popular system monitoring tools (e.g., GPU-Z and HWiNFO)—a significant decrease from their official specification of 5,120 CUDA Cores. Amid wild accusations of their graphics performance being crippled on purpose, Alienware has clarified that this inconsistency actually stems from a vBIOS issue that will be corrected “ASAP.” Alienware has warned impatient owners not to switch to the m15 R4 vBIOS, which reportedly fixes the problem but introduces other issues...

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[MadMummy76]

Oh, quit your worrying, we'll have a new bios that fakes the core count out soon

 

[Denpepe]

A while ago I was thinking about getting a new laptop as mine is getting on quite a bit (it has a GTX 880) and was looking at alienware and was surprised to see they only offer 5 models in my country and only one 17 inch.

This is not helping their case either (or the crap I saw where they added extra services to clients even after they told the representative multiple times they did not want it)

 

[LazyGamer]

A while ago I was thinking about getting a new laptop as mine is getting on quite a bit (it has a GTX 880) and was looking at alienware and was surprised to see they only offer 5 models in my country and only one 17 inch.

These aren't 'laptops', these are DeskTop Replacements (DTRs). They're rather large

Not that you can't do it (ask me how I know...) but are more moved from desk to desk / work area to work area.

And yeah, it does seem like Dell picked up some executive that pushed some unethical practices down the line. Still, overall Dell's worst customer service is better than many other companies' best, at least in North America, and few competitors really build higher-end laptops as consistently well.

 

[Grimlakin]

Dells retail channels suck. Their retail support sucks and their retail sales are notorious. Their only savi g grace is their enterprise support and engagement. Sadly if you don't have that then your retail experience will always be poor.

 

[LazyGamer]

Dells retail channels suck. Their retail support sucks and their retail sales are notorious. Their only savi g grace is their enterprise support and engagement. Sadly if you don't have that then your retail experience will always be poor.

I think I have a 'business' that I order through. It's a legit company I set up for photography way back when...

Perhaps that's why my perspective differs? I'd also probably never buy an Inspiron laptop

 

[Grimlakin]

I think I have a 'business' that I order through. It's a legit company I set up for photography way back when...

Perhaps that's why my perspective differs? I'd also probably never buy an Inspiron laptop

That is a large reason. Try calling without a business account some time.

 

[MadMummy76]

A while ago I was thinking about getting a new laptop as mine is getting on quite a bit (it has a GTX 880) and was looking at alienware and was surprised to see they only offer 5 models in my country and only one 17 inch.

This is not helping their case either (or the crap I saw where they added extra services to clients even after they told the representative multiple times they did not want it)

Yeah I was surprised by the lack of 17" laptops, I recently checked my local retailer and there was maybe 5 17" laptops on sale, and about 500 15" models. I'm never getting a 15" laptop ever again, it is just bellow the usable size for me.

 

[Grimlakin]

Yeah I was surprised by the lack of 17" laptops, I recently checked my local retailer and there was maybe 5 17" laptops on sale, and about 500 15" models. I'm never getting a 15" laptop ever again, it is just bellow the usable size for me.

Odd I personally find if I'm using the laptop and transporting it around I prefer a good 15 inch laptop as the 17 inch ones are too cumbersome. Especially if I'm travelling and carrying around a work laptop as well.

 

[MadMummy76]

My 17.3 is 1.1lb heavier than the 15.6 version with the same specs. That's not a huge price to pay for actually seeing the screen without my eyes falling out, and having a normal-ish sized keyboard with a numpad. Of course it's not an alienware m17, those things are not what I'd call portable.

 

[LazyGamer]

I'd really wanted a 14" laptop... basically a 13" with a bigger battery and more ports. Settled for the XPS 15 from last year, which they'd slimmed down quite a bit from your standard 15" chassis to the point that it actually fits in many 14" bags.

That's after having everything from ultrathin ultrabooks to a 17" DTR.

Honestly, I've given up on numpads. So have most laptop manufacturers. I don't even have one on my desktop (using a TKL) and I've been training myself to use the number row for some time, despite being pretty good with a numpad.

But also: I don't see smaller laptops as being harder to read, since you can bring them that much closer. Right?

 

[Grimlakin]

Every 15 inch laptop I've used.. err maybe 15.4 had a number pad as well. What am I missing here.

 

[LazyGamer]

Every 15 inch laptop I've used.. err maybe 15.4 had a number pad as well. What am I missing here.

Apple and Dell?

 

[Brian_B]

But also: I don't see smaller laptops as being harder to read, since you can bring them that much closer. Right?

I just downsized from a 15" to a 13". I miss the extra 2" something fierce.

I agree, it's not that it's harder to read - you can always adjust the scaling to fix that (in my case, a MBP - easy and painless to adjust). The problem is just less available real estate.

I am slowly adjusting to the necessity of using Spaces / Virtual Desktops -- I use it quite a bit on the Linux CLI side, but never really got into it on the GUI side. Now I basically have to use it if I ever have more than 2 windows open.

Also, I can't say I've ever had a 15" with a numpad - not saying they couldn't exist, just I don't recall seeing any.

 

[MadMummy76]

But also: I don't see smaller laptops as being harder to read, since you can bring them that much closer. Right?

That's like the mentality that says that if you buy a larger TV you have to sit farther away from it. Then what was the point of buying a bigger TV?
Your sitting position should be fixed, you might adjust text size if you're feeling lucky, but not all apps I use are compatible with scaling, so that's a no go. And even if they were you loose usable desktop area with scaling.

After getting a 17 one for the first time I can't believe how stupid I was struggling with 15 ones all those years. Never again. This is actually usable even for limited productivity, 15 is just a pita for everything, even gaming feels much more comfortable on a 17".

 

[Brian_B]

After getting a 17 one for the first time I can't believe how stupid I was struggling with 15 ones all those years. Never again. This is actually usable even for limited productivity, 15 is just a pita for everything, even gaming feels much more comfortable on a 17".

I think I swing the other way. I won't deny that a 17" is better for productivity and gaming, but when I get a laptop, I get it because I need something portable. I really like my new 13" for that regard - it's tiny and light, and I don't need to lug a big laptop bag with a huge power supply adapter. I found a thin 15" to be the best compromise - small and light enough be easily carried around, but with enough screen size to be fairly productive.

Occasionally I'll fire up something light on a laptop to game - like Factorio or something if I'm sitting in the hotel with some hours to kill and there is no bar. But far and away I've never enjoyed gaming on any laptop, and the one time I tried a "gaming" laptop it was horrible - huge, heavy, ran hot, got crap battery life, and still didn't game all that well compared to a PC. Maybe things have changed, but I kinda doubt they have changed that much.

If I want actual productivity or power though, I'll go over to the desktop. My laptops are just necessities when traveling or out in the field working and need to hook up to a PLC or something. Honestly, most remote work now for me is just email and I do 90% of that over my phone. I get a lot of people only have a laptop - a lot of folks at work are like that, but then again, most of those people only use their laptops for work and Facebook, so it wouldn't really matter anyway.

 

[Grimlakin]

Apple and Dell?

The ones I'm thinking of are dell.

 

[MadMummy76]

I think I swing the other way. I won't deny that a 17" is better for productivity and gaming, but when I get a laptop, I get it because I need something portable. I really like my new 13" for that regard - it's tiny and light, and I don't need to lug a big laptop bag with a huge power supply adapter. I found a thin 15" to be the best compromise - small and light enough be easily carried around, but with enough screen size to be fairly productive.

Honestly to me, carrying this 17.3" doesn't feel more cumbersome than any of the 15.6" were before it. Tightly but it fits into the exact same bag I used to carry my 15.6".

But far and away I've never enjoyed gaming on any laptop

Me neither, until my current laptop.

If I want actual productivity or power though, I'll go over to the desktop. My laptops are just necessities when traveling or out in the field working and need to hook up to a PLC or something. Honestly, most remote work now for me is just email and I do 90% of that over my phone. I get a lot of people only have a laptop - a lot of folks at work are like that, but then again, most of those people only use their laptops for work and Facebook, so it wouldn't really matter anyway.

But that's exactly the point you can't just go over to the desktop when working on the field. Call me old fashioned but to me a phone is for phoning, and maybe for navigation, as soon as I get to a hotel I get my laptop out and do everything on that.