Pros: Good power for the price

Cons: Screen has a slight brightness flicker
Unable to upgrade to Windows 10 without issues

Other Thoughts: I bought this computer based on numerous reviews and many of them were correct, it is the a good gaming laptop for the price. However I would not recommend this product to anyone other than those who enjoy Windows 8. I tried upgrading to windows 10 twice. The first time went smoothly until a few weeks later the computer crashed and afterward the USB ports would not detect any device even though the drivers said they were working fine. After sending the laptop to Dell for repair (I was lead to believe it was a hardware issue) they simply wiped the computer clean and returned it to factory new Windows 8.1. They USB ports worked again. Thinking the corrupt drivers were fixed I upgraded again, only to find the USB ports once again fail to work a week later. I found online that numerous people have had the same problem, as well as others, after upgrading these computers to Windows 10, and Dell's tried and true response is to simply roll them back to Windows 8.

If you want to stay in the Windows 8.1 environment by all means get this computer. If you actually want a good computer with an equally good OS, try another brand. I have been impressed with neither Dell's crack team of computer problem solvers (found a screw rattling around in the laptop after I got it back from the "cleaners") nor with the quality of products they are putting out.

Pros: great over gaming laptop for the price; gtx 970m + i7 4720hq processor. (when it was 100 off). At least cheaper than buying from dell direct.

super quiet, haven't heard the fans kick in yet.

btw, the title states 4710hq processor but you actually get the 4720hq processor which is a bit faster.

Cons: wireless drivers had to be updated manually from dell's website, wireless was cut off initially and not fixed til i downloaded an updated driver.

Other Thoughts: do yourself a favor and turn on vsync to keep those temps down. no need to get over 100 fps on a 60hz screen.

Pros: see other thoughts

Cons: see other thoughts

Other Thoughts: After years of building PC's decided to buy this laptop so I can have some mobility and more space in the room. Right out of box this laptop is truly beautiful and well build. It's quiet, keyboard feels right, screen is beautiful and sharp and overall from hardware point of view a great laptop worth its price tag. Now the software is the big issue as you would expect with bloatware slowing down any new PC. I also ended up buying a 500gb Samsung ssd m.2 and had major issues with installation. Bios recognized the ssd but windows was giving me a hard time. I called customer service and got a windows restore USB flash drive. The customer service is below average as you are being transferred without any notice to multiple associates.
The flash drive does not give you option which hard drive to install windows on. I had to remove my 1tb standard hard drive and only use ssd to install windows. Then after the install I connected the standard drive and it worked fine as my secondary D drive. By doing the fresh install and drivers I avoided all the bloatware that comes with the laptop. The performance difference is huge without bloatware. Frame rate is better in games and the "every 5sec" lag is gone that was there when I used the laptop first few times. Now the laptop is what you would consider a end game laptop and I'm finally happy.
So for those who want this laptop get it but consider installing fresh copy of windows not from the alienware USB flash drive but your own system restore image. A ssd also benefits the laptop since the standard hard drive is clearly holding back the performance. Windows 8 boots in about 6-8seconds with SSD M.2. Also do not call the customer support to request your windows key since the motherboard actually will activate windows on your HD. Customer service was not willing to give me the key and tried to sell a $250 software warranty instead.

So overall fantastic laptop and this is my first month review. If there should be any changes I will edit this review.