If you read our recent mobility GPU comparison using the Alienware M17x, you might have wondered why the price on the GTX 580M was $300 more than that of the Radeon HD 6990M when performance was so close. Well, I guess you can no longer say we didn’t do anything to help the consumers (you wouldn’t say that, would you?) because today Alienware has dropped the price of the GTX 580M by $225!!
It looks like Alienware and NVIDIA have listened to our feedback and decided to drop the price on the GeForce GTX 580M on the M17x, M18x and others – and by quite a bit! As of this writing you can go to the Alienware.com website and now upgrade from the HD 6990M to the GTX 580M for only $75 – that is a $225 price drop compared to last week.
What does this do for our opinions and thoughts on the battle between the HD 6990M and the GTX 580M? I think it makes the added benefits of the NVIDIA ecosystem (Optimus, 3D, Verde driver updates, PhysX) much more attainable and in my book well worth the additional cost. With this price change, Alienware has really shifted my view on the mobile GPU of choice.
I am going to update my award from the Gold to the Editor’s Choice for NVIDIA’s GTX 580M for this specific reason – be sure to read the full review if you haven’t already! Happy gaming!
It’s about time, this is what
It’s about time, this is what it should have been from the beginning, you guys did a good thing.
Awesome job.
I’ve been
Awesome job.
I’ve been thinking of leaving desktops behind and going mobile. The Dell XPS (a loaner) amazes me everyday. A Dell Alienware would be a step up for Gaming performance.
Still have to try BF3 on a GT555M card. It’s not fun on my current GTX285 as the frame rates sometimes dip too low…
I got a gaming laptop 3 years
I got a gaming laptop 3 years ago – about $1600 worth – and it’s hopeless today as a gamer. And of course, it’s not upgradeable, except storage & RAM. Was thinking about doing it again for 2011 when I thought, dang, I can get a $1000 laptop that beats my current one, *plus* a $600 desktop that beats the $1K laptop, *and* is upgradeable.
I was addressing the ‘leaving
I was addressing the ‘leaving desktops’ post above. Sounds like a good idea (it did to me), until you prorate your laptop budget over 3 years. Do that and see if you still like your cost per annum.