*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge

So I just got my lower spec 17R4 and I must say... the FHD IPS screen is leaps and bounds better than the 1440p TN panel. The colors are nice and vibrant and its super bright. I got the chi-me screen FWIW. I can't overclock it though, so that kinda sucks. I read that some people can OC the display to 75hz and got a little jealous. I am happy though bc the colors are so nice. I did get it to overclock to 61hz though so yay.

 

I feel yah, I have the same monitor and can get 61hz as well lol

 

I'll export to sRGB if I need to. However, I am using Adobe RGB 99% of the time until I'm exporting it. And if a print lab accepts a TIFF with an embedded Adobe RGB profile that's what I'm going to give them to get the best possible results.

 

You're one of the few

 

So I'm seriously thinking of just returning my 17 R4 1080. Been talking with dell and either they don't care or don't know what to do about the cooling. Had a tech come out, shipped it to dell and still has the same issue. Temp will slowly rise until 93c then it will throttle, temp will lower but slowly rise and repeat. I shouldn't have to mod a $2,800 laptop to get it to cool right. This thing is beautiful, i really like it but this is stupid.

 

Yes new panels in Feb/Mar.

 

Guys, I have got a funny issue with my alienware. Everytime I push the numlock key an event triggers
.
Does somebody know a solution to this? May it be clear... I don't have a thunderbolt dock nor is anything connected to it!

 

Did it come with Kaby lake cpu?

I got mine yesterday and it came with AUO 1080p screen, I was hoping for lgphillips. Didn't realise dell shipped 1080p screens with any other screen panel other then lgphillips or chi-me. My auo screen has bad back light bleed and yellow green tint (it's not a fault, just not great tint). So thinking of sending it back.

Also it's 6 bit color output not 8 bit, anyone who has the lg Philips 1080p panel know if there's is 6 or 8 bit?

Have you been able to update the nvidia driver, ok? Mine says cant find supportive nvidia hardware and also doesn't give me options to setup dsr upscalling. Thinking might be driver issues with the 1st batch of kaby lake cpus.

I've attached panel info -

A17 r4 i7700hq 1070 Auo 1080p panel bios 1.2

 

You might want to reach out to Dell+Alienware on twitter, this is a problem with their in-house thunderbolt accessory and I don't think the numlock trigger is supposed to happen.






In any case, look at this stupidity that happened to a poor fellow.

 

Well it appears that is not necessary I've been able to trace it back to alienware OSD, I installed the previous version and the problem has vanished!!

 

Nah, got it from the outlet to save quite a bit of money. Mine has bad bleed on the bottom right side that gets progressively better towards the top. The hue is good, no yellow/green tint at all. I did update the driver from the nvidia driver page, just make sure you select the 10 series notebook not desktop (its a little confusing).

 

I will go the outlet route, if I return, maybe they are using different screens with kaby lake. Contacted Alienware tonight, and have arranged further call Monday. For some reason when switching to performance gpu the laptop switched to discrete gpu (intel) instead of nvidia dedicated gpu. Which means I can't run dsr and upscale. Laptop runs cool thou 65c gpu and 68c cpu, just the screen quality! I have to send an image of light bleed and they will send a replacement with tech if approved.

 

Post your pic here too. The one I got from the outlet seems to have the fixed cpu cooler. I didn't do too much last night but ran it at OC3 and it was staying around 68 as well. I was installing about 200gb of games and other settings so I am sure the CPU was getting used.

I do have 3 issues though, any thought?
1. My TOBI eye tracker stopped working. It says its not recognized or connected. I updated the drivers to the newest version and its not working. Annoying as I like windows hello to login.
2. My WIFI keeps cutting out when it gets used alot. I can pretty much make it happen by downloading a file and trying to start up youtube.
3. It seems to get hung-up on restarting, sleeping, or turning off. If I shut the lid, the lights stay on but it does not sleep or hibernate. I walked away for 10 minutes and it was still this way so I tried to turn it on and nothing. I held power to force it off, then it booted up like normal. This is super annoying.

 

Wifi- will be killer driver issue - download the latest drivers from killers website, should fix it. Killer wifi are renowned for dropping out under load. If I had choice I would have bought intel 8260.
http://www.killernetworking.com/driver-downloads/item/1525-1535-1435bt-w10


Eye tracking isn't something I use I switched it off, only got it as in the U.K. It was included free.

Yes will post image, tech support said it has to be taken in daylight !

 

Well consider all the factors. Are you happy with the screen? According to some of these guys the build quality is unparalleled. And I can attest that the 1070 I got is getting decent turbos and no throttling on my 6700hq. It may be best to try to get dell to perform the thermal pad fix as outlined in iunlocks post (but maybe with thermal grizzly kryonaut instead of the liquid metal) or work something out with a team lhz member. Pretty much anywhere you go with gaming laptops these days you are going to run into some issues that need love and care.

If you're still having trouble with the nvidia driver try using "display driver uninstaller". Boot in safe mode and have it wipe off all traces of old drivers then reboot and install it. I had the same issue on my 17 r2.

 

Welp indeed color wise its night and day, its IPS vs TN. However its really a preference. I personally cannot stand the 25ms response time of the FHD IPS panel, the blur drives me nuts.
Once calibrated the colors on the QHD panel are not that bad. The lines can be annoying, and I was so outspokenly against them, but to be honest after using the panel for a couple of weeks I eventually forgot about them.
Once they fix the lines the QHD panel will be so on point with its 4ms response time.

 

Ordered mine in France 2 weeks ago and so far my temps are good, the gpu reaches 70° max and the CPU 80°. If i put a tiny book under the back of the pc, GPU dont reaches higher than 61° et CPU 68°

 

That sounds promising Atomka!

Did you do a repaste?
How long did you wait until your order arrived (like what was the planned delivery date and when did it really arrive)?

Did you get those temps running any benchmars like OCCT, etc. ?

 

No i didnt, I thought that i'd do it as soon as i received my computer but after 2hours of gaming (Overwatch in Epic settings), my GPU temps were good enough. Im more worried about my CPU's temps, 80° is not that bad i know, and with a book under my pc it's even lower but on the other side a repast is never a bad thing, unless i screw up something :/ idk.
I ordered the 10 January, was shipping the 13 january and the planned delivery date was the 24 January. I was really surprise when the computer arrived the 18 ! Only 8 days
For the temps, CPU is OCCT and GPU is only on gaming.
Bios 1.0.8 btw
Sorry for bad english :/

 

previous stock bios version 1.0.2 with OCCT run for 30 mins
Max CPU Temps 86, 77, 83, 77
Max GPU 61

upgraded to bios v1.0.8 and temps are
Max CPU Temps 87, 79, 86, 78
Max GPU 62

not much diff, might just stick with 1.0.8 for now

 

Thanks guys, and Atomka, don't be sorry, I am French too man haha.

I was thinking of maybe creating a separate thread for French owners.
The purpose would be to avoid spamming the official loung and gather information on Dell's reps in France and how we got our eventual problems solved by Dell or have techs come over.

What do you people think?

Again, the point would be only to share information on who/how we got in contact with Dell's french side to get problems solved as unfortunately getting iUnlock/Mobius,DeeX over would cost us too much in plane tickets hahaha and we haven't clearly identifed Frank's french counterpart for example.

 

@speedsweep Second that. Frenchman here too. Will report when I receive my laptop on initial stock temps, disassembly... the whole shebang basically..

Got to know whom to raise hell to in case of defective products. However, would you really entrust your laptop open surgery to dell tech onsite service? Noob as I am, I think I'd take my chances and follow the instructions from the respective threads.

 

There are also french threads on french Forums, never heard about P4G ?

 

I'll send him a message


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

So I just ran my first Timespy on the outlet 17R4 that I got (HK/1070/FHD) and it ran a 5309 with no overclocking at all. Temps were between 65-73 the entire run. This is way better than the 98 degrees I was seeing in my last 17 and 15. This one is a keeper

 

Can you try a firestrike test and post overall score, as well as graphics score? My firestrike graphics score was around 19 000 if I remember correctly with everything overclocked.

 

Seems a little low, I got to just under 22k with mine

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Well you have a 1080 GTX and I have a 1070 GTX so the difference is normal

 

Can you keep me updated on this? I've got the same issue.

 

Send it to iunlock and it will be fixed! It's well worth it he has done two of mine with amazing results


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I'm in the UK otherwise I would have

 

Not overclocked my firestrike is 13611... pretty low but firestrike is turning out to be a pretty benchmark as of recently. I am putting more emphasis on Timespy going forward. I am sure some OC will help the firestrike quite a bit though.

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/11497658

 

The general consensus the 17 with 6820 and 1080 is ok but might have to remove pads that are to thick and not needed anyway above the CPU and repaste? Would you think a refurb would be safe? Think Dell applied fixes to a refurb?

 

Hi. I recently bought an AW17R4 with 1060 and 6700HQ. Do I need to repaste the cpu?

 

Is it running hot?

 

As that other guy said... have you tested it? The 6700hq is not usually as hot. Also the 1060 is not as hot as the 1070, so odds are you are fine.

 

Hi guys. Need your advice. Got mine 17 R4 with issues (touchpad and keyboard), tech support replaced for another one, but now I got even more issues. It came to with broken plastic frame around screen, with the same keyboard, 98% battery capacity and lots of scratches on the case. Now they said we can fix it or give you money, we can't replace it anymore. A guy from tech support should call me tomorrow and I don't know what to do - take money or fix it, I have to say him what I want. I bought it with discount and now other laptops with the same specs cost about 700$+ more, so I'm not sure if it is worth to buy something else. Also I'm afraid they won't fix it properly I feel like they miss something (the guy even said we will replace screen, but why, I didn't say is something wrong with the screen). So now I'm confused, maybe better to add some money and buy Clevo P870DM3 or MSI GT73VR, etc.? I love only how Alienware looks, its design, but about quality - its like a nightmare.

 

First off where are you from?
2nd when you say tech support replaced the touchpad and keyboard, do you mean you sent the system into the repair center?
Both of the systems you just mentioned are great systems. If I were to choose one of them I personally would go with the GT73VR.
The key board on the Clevos are horrible. So horrible that its ruins the whole system.
With that said, I must say, you must realize, If these issues happened with either an MSI or Clevo system you still would be waiting for your system to return to you.
What I would personally do at this point is file a BBB complaint. Assuming you live in the USA, Dell response to BBB complaints very well and usually resolves them in the buyer's favor, so long as there are legit issues. I would document the issues as much as you can, pictures, SR numbers, dispatch numbers, etc.
Also, FYI, these laptops have an onsite warranty, which means the techs should come to your house. If they ever suggest you send your system in you have the right to push for an on site tech.
The Depot/Repair center is horrible.

 

Yes, I live in USA. They replaced whole laptop, not just some parts. Now they want to replace or fix those parts, but no replacing system anymore. The guy called me he said I have to send the laptop to them to fix it, nobody wants to come looks like. I got photos when I made when the laptop just came to me, but, there is some plastic part inside the frame that is broken and now in the left corner if fixed not properly, it slides inside. Plus what to do with the scratches on the case. I will try to show pictures here, they on my phone.

P.S. I can you got the same configuration as mine, except SSD - did you replace them? I got some Toshiba SSD for 512Gb, but a little bit slower.

 

Are you serious? The computer came with broken bezels and scratches and they wont replace it? I ordered an Alienware 17 yesterday, maybe I shouldn't have........What is the problem with the touchpad and the keyboard?

 

Its replaced one with these issues, and yes, as they said, we won't replace the system anymore, we can only fix it. First one had problem with left button on the touchpad, like its stuck on the half way, and the keyboard in the corner with "Esc" slides down and sounds different, I don't know, how to explain. I got only 30 days to return it, but now its only 10 left. If its possible to get money, I can, but I can't buy anything similar for this money.

 

Ok, so here is the pictures. It is difficult to show and explain everything, but I hope you can see at least something. http://imgur.com/a/BanSK

P.S. I don't know, how to show them here, so check the website please.

 

If my Alienware looks like that when it arrives I will raise hell upon them That is not okay on a new product. I would be ashamed if I was Dell.......

 

Believe, I'm not happy, but what can I do if they don't want to replace it only fix? Take money?

 

Question.. when you say they replaced the whole laptop, did they create a new order, you had to wait like 1 - 3 weeks like you just bought it?
Or did you send it to depot and then a new one came back fast?
Again BBB, complain. I buy Alot of Alienwares and a lot of Dells and this rarely happens to me.
To be quite honest though, I NEVER use the depot/repair center. Also, depending on how long ago you bought the system, you can easily push for a complete NEW exchange.
This is especially so because of the previous thermal issues etc. I would personally not give up quite yet, but again thats just me.

 

Yes, they made new order for the 2nd laptop. So I had 2 laptops at the same time, then I've sent 1st one back and now I got just only this one. So I have to chat with someone on the Dell website? I'm not sure if I have enough time, it's almost 30 days and tomorrow he should call me - what to say him? I like this laptop at all, but I want it to replace again and this time without any issue, but how to replace if they said they don't want? Even after they saw photos.

Can you guide me please, how to write on the BBB?

 

I would first tell them how bad their QC and customer service is and tell them that you are not going to recommend Alienware to anyone after this. If they still don't get it, take the money. Why was it discounted in the first place?

 

It was Black Friday and I got mine for 2299$ (its 6820HK, 120HZ, 32Gb RAM, 512Gb SSD + 1TB HDD, GTX 1080), and now it costs around 3000$ - Alienware, MSI or Clevo with same specs.

 

In my opinion you have the right to a new well functioning laptop. That you bought it during Black Friday shouldn't affect your rights in any way. To me it looks like the second laptop was a used laptop and not a new one. Really bad customer service. Hope they are better here in Sweden.

 

Even more of a reason to get this resolved.

Hop on the NBR discord server if you could and PM me.
https://discord.gg/EehKf

Curious..
How long did it take to get the exchange from order to delivery?