*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R2/R3 Owner's Lounge

just reading this page, haven't read it all yet, there's so much! I just bought a ANW-17R2 with the i7 4710 & 970M. I did call tech support and went through the process and they are sending me a 240W PS though. I just told them that it was draining the battery during game play, did the A03 BIOS update and it made it worse and reverted to A01. I have also ordered 2 Crucial MX200 CT500MX200SSD6 M.2 Type 2260DS SSD's.
just need to do a backup of the system now so I can install the SSD's when they arrive.

 

I have to praise Dell/Alienware's customer service. It's absolutely top notch, best I've ever encountered. So today I called them to change the laptop I got recently from a 970m to 980m. They said that the order can no longer be changed, but offered me $100 so I can buy it myself. I told them that the cost to upgrade is $300, so they calculated what is the maximum they can compensate and told me it was $150, which I was happy with. Called again to the technical support, asking them to replace my LCD screen because of 2 little halos I have on the bottom left screen and also for the 240W PSU, and scheduled a service guy to come to my place to give me those. The $150 credit back to my credit card was on top of a 25% employee discount I got before, which made my 17-R2 with 970m basically $1000 pretax. This customer service is so ridiculously good, in fact I wonder how long they can keep this up without going bankrupt.

 

I have the 970m with the 180w supply and I have 0 issues, cpu or gpu never throttle. Temps are 42 idle 70 load

 

just received the LCD replacement screen from Dell today. Installed it and perfect again, no stuck pixels, no dead pixels. Dell, if you are reading this, love you guys.

 

The 180w PSU is the standard supply that ships with all AW models this year.

It is enough for the base model without any overclocking.

 

Seeing as I sold off my desktop for this computer, its most likely going to be a desk quen. Should I try and see if dell will swap out the 180 for the 240 or will it really not make enough of a difference compared to the frustration of messing with dell. I doubt I will be traveling with it much, but is the size that different as well?

 

The size is different.

There is no performance difference with the base model.

It's only an issue if you want to overclock.

 

Got the repair guy to come, gave me a 240W PSU (much wider but thinner and there's a blue light at the end of the cord) and replaced my screen. Checked, double checked, absolutely 0 dead/bright pixels this time. Very impressed, and the repair guy was very nice too. A+. I think Alienware division definitely give you special treatment.

 

Just got my 17 R2 970m, bought it for a really good deal ~1050 refurb. Starcraft 2 was playing fine for 10 mins and then the fps dropped 20, and then it's would starting going back and forth. The problem stopped when I updated the bios from A00 to A03.

I have countered some things I would like to change. Is it possible to change macro key 6-7-8-9 to Laptop display on/off, Mute, Vol -, Vol + ? Having to hold on to function key is too much of a trouble, because it requires two hands to mute the system, and other multimedia tasks.

 

Hi Guys,

I'm still very happy with my R1 and am waiting for a i7 4930MX CPU to arrive, I've been told that the AW17 R2 has a much higher capacity fan (10 cfm as against 2 cfm for the stock R1 item!) and I would like to get the R2 fan and modify it to fit my R1, so I was wondering if one of you guys would be able to post the Dell part number for the CPU fan on their new machine.......

Many thanks in advance

Dave

 

How you get the 25% employee discount? I want order Alienware R2 base price $1499, thank you for your sharing.



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How do we request Witcher 3 if we bought the laptop already?

 

See my thread: http://slickdeals.net/f/7715487-ali...c-1215-ac-for-15-6-free-shipping-dell-com?v=1

 

sad day fellas. I returned my R2, I installed the SSD's and the computer did not recognize either. went into the f2 setup menu and could not configure for the laptop to recognize the SSD's and the regular hard drive, this just doesn't make sense to do to limit the computer like that. I did go into the devices and it did recognize the SSD's being there. but I could not get the computer to recognize the hard drives in a normal configuration of any way. I am going with the MSI GT80 titan with 970's in SLI, already ordered.

the service I got from Alienware was great though as i did get the upgraded power supply quickly. best wishes all and I hope you guys enjoy the laptop!

 

I thought recovery disk does all the work for ya.

 

sorry for the confusion, nothing wrong with the laptop OS, I was just trying to add 2 500GB SSD's on top of the 1 TB HD that comes with it. I was going to swap the OS to one of the SSD's and have all of them in a RAID 1 format. but alas this alienware does not let that configuration work. I find it odd to have 4 SSD slots, but the laptop wont auto configure to recognize them when added.

 

I just had a tech come and visit me to replace a trackpad that caused a BSOD, I took some picture for my curiosity. Traded my 180 for 240 also.

I figure some people may also want to see it too. Here is the link.

 

I just got my new Alienware 17 R2 today. My CPU idle temp is around 65 .C and room temp is around ~31.C. Is that abnormal ? Btw i'm using AO2.

 

Test your laptop with Cinebench 11.5 and 3Dmark11. This is not exactly a very low temperature on your AW17 so try to reduce the room temperature or use bios A00 if you run into problems with high temperatures.

 

I've noticed that while gaming, one of my CPU cores runs really hot.
It normally looks like this:
85
77
76
75

How normal are these temps?

 

Hello, Alienware 17 r2 now ships with 7200rpm hdd? Or 5200? Its strange, but on site there is 7200rpm, but I see many users with 5200rpm.

 

Howdy folks, just had a quick question. The 240 watt PSU(the one it should be coming without hassle), is that the same as the one from the AW17(2013 model)? Or a different one?

 

Same

 

Thank you sir.

 

The option for the 7200rpm hdd only appeared a couple of weeks ago on the Dell site, and there is still an option for 5400rpm, this is why most users currently have a 5400rpm hdd.

 

Thank you.

 

So much problems with R2, bios, psu, fan noise, heating so I just wonder, it worth it to spend around 3k$ to buy this machine or not

p.s. My razer blade died when I play dota 2, so now I aware of notebooks

 

So you're using your mSATA SSD in the 17 R2?

What M.2 to mSATA adapter did you use? Or did you use a mSATA to 2.5" adapter?

 

I got a hold of an AW rep and he agreed to send me a 240W PSU but I have to send him proof that it's needed to cover his back, what's the easiest way to show evidence of throttling? Right now I guess I'd need to roll back my BIOS as when I game my battery goes down a bit.

 

I'm surprised they've asked you to do that, because they do know that there is this throttling problem, which is why they released later BIOS versions that used charge from the battery to supplement the power coming from the power brick, which is why your battery drains using the later BIOS. Therefore, perhaps the easiest way is to prove throttling is to compare various 3DMark benchmark scores (3DMark11, Firestrike, Sky Diver) between the two different BIOS. Although, having said that, if you do that then they might just say to use the latest BIOS, but then you could come back saying you're not happy with the battery drain - you also won't be able to charge the battery & game at the same time which could be another point you could bring up. (Most pronounced throttling comes from the Sky Diver Combined Test - this is where the A17 R2 scores REALLY low with the older BIOS and 180W brick).

The other way of proving it is to monitor GPU clocks when running benchmarks or gaming. You could use GPUz, and while on the 'Sensors' tab you can increase the size of the window to view more graphed history of the clocks - have that running while you're running the games/benchmarks, and do a screenshot showing the throttling while the GPU is at load (obviously that would be a screenshot taken after you've finished the gaming & benchmarking - you'd be looking at the graphed history). You could also monitor your CPU clocks too, although I don't do that and the programs I know of for doing so aren't as helpful when it comes to interpreting the data I find: HWInfo, HWMonitor (there are other programs too & hopefully someone else can give you advice on CPU monitoring - graphs)

 

Some tests of Aw17R2... http://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-17-R2.139485.0.html

 

So just got this laptop today and I'm really disappointed....first off it has a dead pixel, 180watt PS and it idles at 64-70c, as you can see in the Pic the CPU goes all the way up to 97c when stress testing and 86 on the GPU.

Do I even call Dell to replace the PS/Screen/repaste and then hope for the best or should I just return it?

 

return it, system replacement

 

Is it just me or are the speakers weak as hell compared to the prior model? The last ones were pretty loud, these seem pretty anemic.

 

Whos make the aw17 mobos? Thanks

 

Im between this laptop and msi gt72 and asus g751 what do you guys recommend me?

 

This one solely for the graphics amplifier option

 

Yea but i think graphic amplifier need evo in nexts gen because justo get 4x poder instead 16x of the msi gs30 what you think?

 

http://www.ideastorm.com/idea2ReadIdea?v=1432006980935&Id=087700000009mDXAAY
Help me help you save this laptop from burning.

 

Submit this link also in your thread in Idea storm... http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-15-bios-s-information.775039/page-2#post-10004400

 

Hi, I just got the Alienware 17 R2 with the GTX 980m and the 180W adapter. I contacted them and they didn't give me any problem and immediately ordered me the 240W AC Adapter. I however, was stupid enough to update my bios form A01 to A04 which I think really bad because now my laptop is hot and gave me BSOD and I dont know if it was because of the bios....


Anyone here can help me find the A01 bios so I can downgrade to it? Dell has removed it from their website and only left the A00, A02, and A04....

Please if anyone have the A01, give it to me.

Thank you.

 

New bios A04 from Dell. As expected. Same heat issues as previous Aw 17 and 18 models. LoL. It is time now that Dell develops an ap in ACC for manual control of the fans like other PC manufacturers are doing now.

Edit: I think this is tragic. Dell destroys the pleasure of owning a laptop when they cripple bios such as this in Aw15 - 17R2 and previous 17R1/18 models. Dell will never make a proper bios/Ec for the new and previous Aw models. What is the purpose of exclude raid functionality on latest Aw models when previous Aw laptops and other laptop brand has this integrated as standard? This is deliberate policy by Dell.

 

On their download page they have previous bios versions

 

If you have read what I wrote, you would know that I clearly mentioned that they have removed A01 and A03 and I cant find them there anymore.

 

Please anyone can give me the A01 bios? They have removed it from their website....

 

if you have read the topics on that subject you would know that to date bios a00 is the best solution for 240w and temperature

 

Actually, I read. That is why I want the A01 so badly...

 

A01 was a strange bios. I had some random stange sounds from my notebook in idle on this bios. I think they removed it because it was faulty. If you dont want to stay on A04, move to A02 or A00

 

Hey guys, I should be getting my 17 r2 in the mail today. It has the 980m. From what I've been reading, I've just wanted to make sure that I have everything correctly. If I have the 180w psu ( I asked for the 240w ) I need to use BIOS A02? And BIOS A00 for the 240w? It really upsets me that they haven't got the fan profile adequate yet. Here's to hoping it works well, it's also my first semi-powered computer/:

 

I order AW17 with 4980HQ and gtx 980 and after read forum just think, its really all who have that laptop have problems or not?