*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge

When you reply to old posts like that (July 26, 2017), you might check to see if they are still around. That poor guy @ankurg with the Dell / Alienware disaster experience never came back, his last day online here at NBR was the same day he posted that report on his horrendous Dell repair history with his AW laptop (read that whole post I quoted).

He was talking with @DarkthorZ who is still around, at least he last shows as being here Sept 10th, and he had a similar horrendous experience with Dell / Alienware, and I'll include his post below.

Perhaps @DarkthorZ has more to add?

These aren't unusual experience reports about Dell incompetent tech's ruining people's laptops in their home, with this being reported many times over the years.

 

I don't know @iunlock personally but I can tell he's one of the few guys I know I could trust with my life. I wish I knew him in person but we probably are just very very different people and he probably has no need for chess players or compulsive gamers

 

That's humbling and thank you. There are a lot of good people within the community of 'tech,' in general and I too appreciate good people when I see them.

It is also very refreshing to have people who actually have valuable flight time with certain machines to share their experiences, rather than regurgitating info. found online. Keeping things pure and away from he said / she said, is the best way to go, yet it is often hard to find...

I always do my best to give an unbiased opinion on the things that I drive and quite frankly, some things are what they are. Every company has their faults, some greater than others, however the best thing that we can do is to correct those faults and as individuals just go with what satisfies our tastes.

Healthy debates and chatter is fun and entertaining, however, when it becomes an orchestrated attack made by some that don't even own the product, then that's when it becomes odd.

On another note, what games do you play?

 

Well, right now, chess, random RPG's, league of legends. sometimes some fighting games.

 

Nice...looking forward to Ace Combat? I wish there were more airplane games...

 

I haven't flown a plane since battlefield 3. Something I really need to start doing again. I wonder if my X-52 pro and rudders still work...

 

DCS World! I own just about every release they have.

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/products/world/

 

Hello. Nothing at all constructive to say. Just want to vent to somebody. Anybody, really. Purchased my 17 R4 back in April from Costco. 7820HK w/ GTX 1080, 1440p , 32 GB ram. Since then, I haven't had one gaming session last longer than five minutes without the screen freezing for several seconds. So very, very angry and upset. It has been sent back to Dell for repair once, had two onsite techs out, countless hours on the phone/RDP/email with them, and they have sent me parts to replace on my own. Nothing has worked. It is basically new inside because the last onsite tech replaced the entire mainboard and a new SSD. Just downloaded Project Cars so I could expand the games I have tested (maybe it was unfair of me to expect this machine to play ME:Andromeda). I always just use GeForce Experience's recommended "optimal" settings. First couple of laps on any race seem to go okay, then I'm getting five second screen freezes. That makes steering really, really difficult.
HWInfo is now (since they replaced my board) not showing me hitting thermal throttling, but my CPU Package did hit 92 max. Why does this laptop do this? I absolutely loved my 18xR2. I still have it. My daughter now has it on her desk and she loves it as much as I do. I bought this 17 and it has been a complete and utter disappointment. I have to hang my head in shame when my co-workers see the tech show up to work on it (I should never have bragged about buying this laptop...). I hate this laptop and I now hate Dell. Sigh. Why does it have to be this way? Thanks for listening.

 

do you live in the US?

 

Heatsink is not balanced on the VRMs.

You can keep trying with dell replacements, or repad repaste yourself to try and balance out heatsink. Or pay someone to do it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Hello Vasudev. Yes, I do.

 

Tag anyone from Team LHz closer to you for repaste and repad.

 

Hello, Freitz. From everything I have read, I believe you are correct. I appreciate the suggestion but I've resigned myself to getting Dell to fix this, even if I end up bankrupting them in the process...one return/visit at a time. I guess that overnight shipping for a 17 R4 has to be close to $50 each way(?). Onsite Tech visits should be around $100 (I would hope, not really sure what those guys make). Not to mention the costs of parts (but I assume they just recycle them from returns without testing them so this is probably pretty cheap for them), payroll for the folks who have to speak with me, etc.

I also need a hobby. As part of my midlife crisis I went to law school and graduated back in May. Took the bar exam in my state in late July. Getting the results in October. Since I already have a pretty good job, I don't believe I will actually practice law. But maybe I can figure out a way to get Dell to fix/replace/??? my laptop so it works the way it is supposed to. I am too late to get a refund from Costco, but they extend the manufacturer's warranty for all computer by 12 months. Maybe after the Dell warranty expires, Costco will do a better job of taking care of me? Their customer services has always been stellar for me. If I get bored, I can try to go toe-to-toe with Dell. I took a few arbitration classes in law school so maybe I can be the unicorn who actually wins one there? Once I get my law license it will almost be free for me to take actions. They will have to pay someone to respond. Maybe they will eventually realize it is just cheaper for them to get me a working computer. Sadly, "Lemon Laws" in my state only apply to vehicles, but maybe I can find another avenue. I only get about two hours a week to game anyway, so instead I will just spend that time working with support or customer service. Either they will get it fixed for me one day or eventually the warranty will wear out and I'll have an overpriced word processor. If I drop the resolution to 1080 and dial the settings back some games are playable, so I can always fall back on that.

Okay, I've started rambling again. I appreciate the suggestion, Freitz. If I decide to stop being so melodramatic about the whole thing and just suck it up that Dell failed me, I will do what you suggest. For now, I just feel like whining and feeling miserable about my laptop.

 

Instead of calling dell for repairs just give the PC to @iunlock @DeeX @zergslayer69 They will charge you economically and the system will the best you have ever owned. Maybe you can PM them or tell them where you reside so whoever near to you will be providing the actual fix. You can try your luck with warranties and stuff like that but there is only a 10% chance you get the fix.
Have a look at repaste guide done by @iunlock if you're capable of repaste and repad.

 

Thanks, Vasudev. When/if I go that route, LHz is who I will trust with the work. I've read all the success stories. They are awesome.

 

I went through 4 replacements. Liked the build of the system despite the issues. Liked the system as a whole for travel gaming. Paid someone to fix it works great was worth it for me. Not happy with Della inability to launch a working system but have faith the next gen will have this issues fixed


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I've gotten 2 systems replaced, once for a dead pixel and the second for "inadequate" build quality (bit of creeks compared to the other ones I've gotten) both times I've gotten them to send me a full replacement, i'm not looking to mess with opening and fixing **** just yet lol. Luckily for me both units passed thermals and benchmarks with flying colors. Imo dell does need to have a bit more consistency between units but that being said, the worst unit was lightyear ahead of the msi, Asus, and sager I owned or got to play with vis-a-vis build quality and overall feel of the unit. Definitely feels like a premium unit. My second sager while it had some aluminum here and there, it's definitely not in the same ball park. I'm happy to deal with the weight (extra 1.3 lbs) for a more robust unit. Dell customer service has always been stellar and stood behind their units (both the aw and previously a precision laptop), they do like to play the custom service shuffle game though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Also would you happen to know what the performance difference is?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

If your apps are using multiple cores of CPU then you get performance improvement 30 to 50% depending on the application.

 

Thats interesting... How will that affect the gaming though? Also Do you know what the price point will be?

 

On current games, I'd say best case scenario would be 10-20 FPS and worst case scenario 1-5 fps on stock clocks.
Maybe after six months or so, games will catch up and scale over more cores.
@Eurocom Support Will the size of F5 tornado change, I mean will it a little bigger to accommodate that big CPU and HSF? I'm curious to know.

 

I am so there. I almost went with you guys to upgrade the GPU in my 18xR2. But I figured to spend around $800 to just get me to a 980 versus putting that into a brand new 17 R4... Well, I should have gone with you guys, I now realize. If I can get anything out of this 17 I would love to put it down toward one of your rigs.

 

8700K will be priced around 7700K pricing. Performance should be approx higher per core. So depending what games you are running and how many CPU cores your game is using you should see faster performance as long as you using really fast GPU.

 

Please remember the reseller-specific rules:

A discount/trade-in program can be included in the signature area, provided no prices are mentioned.

Debating the pros and cons of new cpus and gpus is fine, of course. And if you have hands-on test results of preview samples of such components then by all means; share them.

 

Thank you for feedback. We will share test results soon. Just finalizing them. PS. We will update our signature.

 

Honestly ive had horrible luck with Eurocom support.. few options out there with really good support.

 

Would you please contact our Support Team and provide them your support ticket# so we assist you.

 

What has happened? Maybe we can help out.

 

Yes this is normal. SSAAx4 is rendering the scene at 4x the resolution so you are essentially playing the game at over 4k resolution. 60fps seems good cpnsidering.

 

That's insane that a game that old is still crippling a 1080 ( I understand this isn't a ti)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

1440p with 4xSSAA is 7.111... times more demanding than 1080p with no SSAA. So 30 fps would be the same as 213fps on 1080p with no aa.

 

Welp, quick update... computer was working fine and then started glitching and acting weird. I was typing one second and then heard a subtle "click" then I noticed the "Esc" and the surround keys began sinking a bit more than the rest and making a louder "clack-ing" noise, then I had the PC glitch out several times along with some very erratic behavior on Witcher 3. I called the service desk on Friday and they said they'd send a tech on Monday to give it a once over and replace the entire KB. I confirmed the date and time and ended up working remote that day just to make sure I'm here for them. No call, no visit the entire day so i call them and i'm given a "oh well the part isn't in stock", which is something they knew on Saturday. Not a phone call or an e-mail for a heads up. I was pretty aggravated that they ended up wasting my time, but shrugged it off. I get a hold of the tech and he mentions he's going to make it Tues, which i end up taking off once again to wait for him... you guessed it... no show, haha. I figured maybe he's busy so I call him at 6 pm and he said he'll call me back on Wed to confirm a time.... It's 8 Pm and not a phone call yet. I called Dell and they offered yet another replacement but honestly at this point, this is my third machine and something is always off. It's unfortunate because there isn't another machine on the market I feel checks the boxes I want. I think I'm going to take them up on the return and wait for AW to get their act together, which honestly is a bummer because I genuinely think this is the most premium unit on the market and I was really rooting for it.

...contemplating just going back to my Sager for now

 

Hey got my aw 17 yesterday, specs are in the signature. Laptop works wonderful, PUBG is high 70s low 80s on ultra. Got a question though. Is there a way to FN lock the top keys, I got spoiled with the XPS like that and its nice.

 

Good question, I'd like to do this as well. If it's possible, I'd put my money on it being a BIOS setting. I'm going to check tonight.

 

Not that I am aware of. I always hit the damn macro switch key next to ESC and end up having to cycle it through back to the one set I use. I wish there was a way to just lock them on one setting and leave them there.

 

Whoa... I didn't think AW had company reps on here anymore.

Damn man! I thought you were going to be all set with #3. You've got me doubting my decision to exchange the unit - maybe I should just live with the dead pixels since everything else is perfect.

Either way, something should be done about that crap service tech.

 

Honestly, I'm just not willing to settle for something at this price point. All units were within the appropriate temp range so I guess they addressed the thermal issue but there is just too many little things. It's honestly all down to QC. A more rigorous qc would honestly make such a huge impact on this otherwise premium unit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The biggest annoyance is that they won't just send you the parts... your choice is either in-home tech or return for service/replacement.

These techs never worked on one of these machines before and there's always a little thing they **** up... I don't know how they can just think every laptop is the same and go through it without watching any disassembly videos. Please just let me do it myself.

 

Yep, there is a BIOS setting for it, I just changed mine. It's under Advanced > Function Key Behavior, and you just change the setting to Multimedia Key.

 

Really? I highly doubt that. You may have screwed the repaste up, LM is more conductive if theres a relatively good contact but much less tolerable the bigger the gap, perhaps this is your issue?

I don't believe that's the reason mate otherwise the problem could just be solved by using thinner pads. To fix the differential issue you not only need new pads but also need to properly balance / adjust the heatsink.

So I guess I fall into one of your categories but I'm not dissapointed! Far from it in fact, absolutely in love with this thing rocking at 4.3GHz @ 1.2V with hours of gaming berely breaking 80C! GPU OC'd and never over 70C and PCH low 80's or less. It's a monster that chews through every game at any setting with 90+FPS on a QHD screen. Build quality and materials used is phenomenal as well. (admittedly I was in the enthusiast DIY category though)

 

Looks like there is finally a 4K screen option WITH G-Sync. Any ideas on what panel it is? Had it been available when I bought mine a couple of weeks ago I might've gone for it.

 

Hey guys, two small questions:

- Does anyone know the sound card specs on the 17 R4? Mainly how it handles high impedance or high sensitivity headphones. I fell like my AKG K712Pro don't sound so good on it.
Messing with Sound Center makes it better though.

- What's the best way to go about installing the Killer ethernet and wifi drivers? The files from Alienware's site are giving me some issues. Mainly lag spikes when playing with other people (without killer wifi) on the same network. Are Windows drivers better? Or should I get the simple drivers from Killer's website?

Thanks!

 

use this link [Question] AW15R3 and internet lagging?

 

I don't think there are any amplifiers for the sound card to push higher impedance headphones. The 712's are pretty easy to push as the impedance is only 62ohms. But I really don't think the sound card is designed for anything higher than 32ohm and probably more in the IEM 2-10 ohms range. I would suggest getting a amp like the Objective 2 amp or even an external sound card from Sen or Creative. I use a Sound Blaster x7 pro on my gaming machine and use Senn hd800s's and it pushes them pretty well. For my music I use a whole different setup and HiFi Man he1000 headphones. I travel with 712pro's and 701's and a portable amp to help warm them up some.

 

Has anyone used nvidia surround and extended their laptop to 3 screens? If yes, how were you able to? I am having a hard time finding a solution to get to connect 3 monitors to R4. Any help?

 

My audio setup is with a fiio A3 amplifier connected to 16ohm RHA MA750's. I also use equalizer apo with a custom parametric eq that I configured myself. I set volume to 50 on the laptop even tho 100 allows less snr to be amplified I feel like the laptop can drive 50% volume better. I'm mainly concerned about the low bass. On high volumes it seems to get compressed out. I tried a jds labs cmoybb as an amplifier. I thought it sounded great. But it was far to quiet for my tastes even with my high sensitivity ear buds. The fiio a3 is a great amp for 60$ and I think part of the sound quality comes from the laptop having to drive a low impedance output instead of a higher one.

Edit: if you like to use an equalizer I HIGHLY recommend equalizer apo. Being able to set only the filters and adjustments that you want with no extra rules or for example having to use multiple overlapping peak filters like a 10-band eq would do, really cuts down on the distortion added. Also it is universal to any output the computer makes and can be configured any way you want for different inputs and outputs. Its great really.

 

But you may have ended up being disappointed. I placed an order (and have had it delivered) which included a "17.3 inch UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS Anti-Glare 300-nits, Enabled with Tobii Eye-tracking (G-Sync)" screen. I also, before confirming the order, talked on chat to Dell to confirm the screen was actually G-Sync. Needless to say what has actually been delivered is the second part in your list "17.3 inch UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS Anti-Glare 300-nits, Enabled with Tobii Eye-tracking" i.e. non-G-sync. As you would expect there is an open Support issue which we will have to see what the resolution is.

Having said that the item you have highlighted is 400-nits rather than 300-nits so may be a real part with G-Sync (although the fact it is 60Hz worries me)

 

Yeah, only 62ohms, but I find they are harder to push than my previous 300ohm HD 650s. But those were pretty burnt in
The K712s sound bad on the AW. Bass is all over the place. I usually use them connected to a Creative SB ZXR in my desktop and they're great there.

 

Yeah, I meant the 400 nits one, which seems to be new. Sure its 60hz, but its also IPS and might have better color gamut than the 120hz TN. I'm mostly interested in how it compares to the previous 4k panel.

 

The option has no tobii also apparently.

Though I wonder if that's due to some hardware limitations or just a omitted feature for costs/manufacturing.

I wonder how useful GSYNC is for 60hz screens also.

I wish they had OLED 1440p that's 17.