Pros: Easy to upgrade memory and hard drive without voiding the warranty.

Lots of m.2 slots

Nice gpu with 3GB memory

Customizable led colors throughout the laptop

Beautiful IPS screen

NO BLOATWARE!!!

Cons: 1TB 5400 hard drive

Would have been nice if m.2 slots had screws already, lucky for me, I found some in my junk drawer.

Heavy!

Other Thoughts: This laptop is awesome. I bought the cheapest model since I knew I was going to upgrade the memory and hard drive with parts of my choosing. I upgraded the memory to 16GB. I added a couple m.2 256 ssd. I replaced the cheap 5400 hard drive with a 500GB Samsung SSD. Reinstalling the OS to the new hard drive was a breeze. All the games I play are either on high or ultra. No problems whatsoever. The cons aren't enough for me to take away any eggs. I will update if this thing breaks!

Pros: fast, runs all games, nice screen, customizable features.

Cons: getting 3 eggs, bc the hard drive not even a month after receiving it started clicking. Cone to find out windows now won't load, issued RMA and waiting on new one. disappointed

Pros: pc is good. but about the 1st DOA one i still feel ok. and finally i got the replace one, and wanna upgrade the ssd. i got a lost package.

Cons: pc is good. but about the 1st DOA one i still feel ok. and finally i got the replace one, and wanna upgrade the ssd. i got a lost package. and then it cost 10more days. so for this pc it cost me almost 1 and half month to get it ready.

Pros: Arch linux working pretty well, with a few key missing pieces that will hopefully resolve soon (see cons)
Dual UEFI boot quite clean
I installed a crucial MX200 (Newegg: N82E16820148955) moved windows to it, and installed arch linux. Linux boots almost instantly ~1 second (will update after I install bootchart)
Windows works pretty - I use it for gaming, and I'm pretty happy with that.

Build quality seems very good - it's stylish, solid, not too loud. Battery with Intel graphics is about 4-5 hours.

Cons: Trackpad on Windows very jumpy, despite me trying to reduce functionality to just pointer movement and scroll. (it seems to want to zoom, which causes a big jump at the end of scrolling).
On linux, the scrolling and pointer work great however, so its just a driver issue not hardware.

Linux details - the biggest miss here is the wireless networking, the Killer N1525 is not supported yet.
Out of the box that was the only thing I noticed for a while - but I did notice the microphone not working yet (but I have not tried) and some of the fan i2c devices not there. I used Arch Linux, so most drivers pretty much as modern as it gets. I did not enable test repos, maybe I will investigate this for wireless.

Other Thoughts: Sometimes I wake up and go...I paid **what*** for a laptop!?! But at the end of the day, I'm happy about it - it's very powerful, super solid package, decent battery for work stuff but need to power it for games. I can always think about getting the graphics booster down the road.

Pros: build quality, lighting, ips, 970m, 4x m.2 ssd slots

Cons: ips glow, fingerprint magnet, speakers not so good, no screws for m.2 slots, no raid support, creative sbx studio kinda sucks

Other Thoughts: I needed a portable machine for LAN gaming and this seemed to be the best option for the price.

Bought the crucial 250gb m.2 ssd and I am using the 1tb hdd for storage. If you want to add an m.2, make sure it's sata not pcie. You will also need m2x3mm screws for mounting as none are included. Also, there is no raid support and they have no plans on adding it.

The 970m is a nice gpu only slightly slower than my desktop 980 by 5-10% so you can get great graphics and frame rates.

Overall I'm very pleased thus far with this laptop. Lighting is very cool and the keyboard has a very nice feel to it. Feels sturdy and not much flex. Some glow on the ips panel, but a very nice picture.

Have yourself... A good day!

Pros: fast performance
premium quality
will play any game at ultra to very high settings
4xm.2 ssd slots
looks awesome
hardware runs cool, 40c idle and 70-75 load average
no bloatware

Cons: keyboard gets a little warm due to the carbon fiber and aluminum design
hdd that comes with it sucks, I replaced it with a samsung ssd 250 evo

Pros: Great Buy!
If this helps anyone at all.

Crysis 3 MAXED out: Avg55fps.

Glad i have a portable computer that can run anything i throw at it!

Cons: none.

Pros: Strong CPU / GPU. Runs very quiet even when gaming. Cooling performance is fantastic. Screen is a beautiful IPS with no bleed or dead pixels, case is solid and strong, extra buttons are easy to configure. The headphone amp is strong, plenty of space for hands to use the keyboard. NO bloatware.

Cons: The keybaord is a little flimsy in some spots, mostly the left side. The included HDD is dog slow.

Other Thoughts: I had the new Alienware 15 and sent it back after getting frustrated with the i5 CPU that I thought I could live with. Cloning this HDD to my 512 SSD was cake using the Crucial kit you can buy on here, zero issues. I also put in some G.skill 16GB cas9 ram, not needed but I figured I would anyways.

This laptop is actually competitively priced with Asus and MSI for the specs. That's new for Alienware, Dell customer service isn't bad IMO. Side note: I also tried the graphics amp with a 970 when I had the 15 inch. Good idea but worked poorly with graphics drivers often failing. The amp also feels very cheap and has loud fans.

Pros: 1. Build Quality - The build quality and chassis is exceptional and right on par when comparing it to my Asus G750JM I purchased last year.
2. Lighting - Who doesn't like lights! You can customize everything on this laptop that lights up. The track pad also lights up any solid color you choose and you have the option in the bios to keep it on permanently if you choose to.
3. Design - This laptop fluid and sleek and is much thinner than my Asus G750JM and about the same weight when holding them in both hands.

4. Keyboard - The keyboard is what you'd expect on a 17" gaming laptop, very solid feel and the bonus macro keys is an added addition.
5. IPS - The screen is crisp and clear with no visible glare.
6. GPU - The Nvidia GTX 970M is amazing and twice as fast when comparing it to the GTX860M in my Asus G750JM. Depending on the game
you play for instance "H1Z1" you can expect anywhere from 30+fps on Ultra settings running a resolution of 1920x1080 to 60+fps running high settings. "Note" I have not been able to get Nvidia Shadowplay working so if you use this feature for game recording prepare for some hair pulling.

7. SSD - You have the option of installing up to 4 - M.2 SSD.. Only 2 screws needed to release the back panel to access the drive bays and memory - No void warranty stickers to cut through when upgrading ram or hard drives.
8. Sound - Impressive Klipsch Audio/Creative Sound Blaster - Perfect for gaming and crystal clear sound.
9. No Bloatware - Only necessary files and applications.

10. Alienware Graphic Amplifier - The sole reason I purchased this laptop. Portability at a desktop level. I'm waiting for the price to drop before purchasing this and will update my review once I can afford it and I've tested it thoroughly.

Cons: 1. Cooling - The cooling is about what you'd expect from a gaming laptop with high end components and the laptop does get warm when gaming. The fans are much noisier when comparing it to my Asus G70JM which is virtually silent and running much cooler in comparison.
2. Ram - 8GB and only upgradable to 16GB.
3. HD - 1TB 5200rpm - Only one HD bay - I'd recommend swapping this out for a 500GB 2.5" SSD if you can afford it.

4. NO Optical Drive - Alienware opted not to include an optical drive in "2015" to make room for cooling. I find this as a negative because the cooling benefit over an optical drive just isn't worth it in my opinion especially if you have older games on disk or like to watch movies.
5. CPU - The Intel i7 4710HQ is comparable and practically identical when comparing it to the 4700HQ variant in my Asus G750JM. You won't notice any difference while gaming.
6. No back up disk but they do provide the necessary software to create your own. This could be a con to someone less tech savvy.

7. Upgradability - Alienware has followed suit of it's competitors and have decided to put an end to the upgradability to the CPU and GPU which many have come to know from the Alienware brand. I think this was probably one of the worst decisions they could have made in that regard. I also believe they did this to push there new Alienware Graphics Amplifier which will cost you an additional $300 then you have to take in account the money you have to spend on a desktop GFX to put in it if you want to run games at much higher resolutions.

Other Thoughts: Owning both this laptop and my ASUS G750JM clearly Alienware wins from a gaming perspective with the newer Nvidia GTX970M. I know Asus and MSI have there own variants with identical specs to this one with a faster 7200rpm hard drives vs the 5200rpm and 16GB ram vs the 8GB on this one but when it comes down to price, performance and function I chose Alienware. As I mentioned above the Alienware Graphics Amplifier was what made me purchase this laptop over the competition.

Whether you pick Alienware, MSI, ASUS, Razor or any other variant of this laptop just know it comes down to user preference and choice. Performance wise you'll be happy with anyone of these!

Pros: 1. Solid Chassis
2. Lighting is great and you can customize
3. Very thin and light
4. Great cooling, quiet cooling
5. Keyboard has a good feel to it
6. Alienware customer service
7. Beautiful IPS Screen
8. GTX 970m....that speaks for itself
9. 4 M.2 SSD bays
10. NO STICKER TO PUNCH THROUGH THAT VOIDS YOUR WARRANTY IF YOU TAKE THE BACK OFF TO ADD MEMORY AND HARD DRIVES
11. Easy 2 screw back panel removal to get to memory and hard drive bays
12. Creative Sound Blaster sound card built in
13. This is most important! NOT A SINGLE BIT OF BLOATWARE INSTALLED ON THIS MACHINE! You get Windows 8.1 64bit, Alienware system utilities, MS Office and drivers. Not even some silly off brand virus scanner....just the Windows Defender which I've used for the last 10 years without a single problem.

Cons: 1. 1 standard hard drive bay (SSD or standard HD)
2. Max 16gb Ram
3. 1TB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
4. Unlike past generation Alienware 17's, you cannot upgrade the CPU or GPU, they are soldered on.....maybe you can if you have the tech ability, but I don't. The HQ on the CPU title lets you know right from the get go, its not replaceable.

Other Thoughts: I spent 2 hours at my local store comparing the ANW17-R2(this laptop), the MSI GT72 (GTX 970m), MSI GT70 (GTX870m), and Asus ROG G751(GTX970m). In the end, only the Asus came close in build quality. The MSI, although having awesome specs felt like a rattle box and was made cheap in comparison to the Alienware and Asus.

In the end, obviously, I chose the Alienware. I have always wanted one, the price is now in direct competition with the other companies. Although the Asus had a 7200 RPM hard drive, I knew I would end up changing out the HD anyway. When I found out there was only 1 HD bay, and 4 M.2 bays, I chose the WD Black2 120gbSSD/1TB Hard drive. Because Alienware didn't put any bloatware in the computer, a very fast cloan and install for the HD. Bam! the new hard drive boots up in 16 seconds.

I will probably put in a 256 or 500 gb M.2 SSD in the future, but right now, this rig is humming. Although you can't change the CPU and GPU, I don't see this as a bad thing. With the current CPU and GPU, this rig will be running games at Ultra settings for a very long time!

No, I'm not an employee of Alienware, just a game enthusiast that wants a quality build laptop!