*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Owner's Lounge

Pretty much, I just work my fingers around the edges until something pops up for me.

 

Is it normal for laptop batteries to discharge while gaming and plugged in. I know I can buy a bigger power supply but if the one they send with the laptop isn't efficient then why not package it with a bigger or offer a bigger when you buy it? Last night my oldest son Dell 7559 960m, my daughter Alienware 17r3 970m, and my wife and self m15 1070mq were all playing GTA v online and after a few hours the m15 are at 80% battery, my 17r3 is 100% and my son's Dell is at 100%. This doesn't sounds right to me at all.

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BATTERY LIFE TESTS NEEDED

Can new owners of the m15 (90wh battery) post real and serious battery life (wifi/streaming) test with the combination they have of :
1060/1070 and fhd/4k screen.
That would be very helpful for future buyers.

Thank you

 

The Alienware m15 have a hybrid power system where if the system load is more than the power brick can handle, it will take 5% from the battery per hour to prevent the system from throttling. The hybrid power system will disable when the battery is at 30% or less and you might experience some throttling. I recommend you try undervolting the CPU and maybe monitoring the watts the system is pulling from software.

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I've undervolted 0.145 and it power limit throttles constantly.

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Did you lower the Max turbo clocks?

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It's set to 60 watt max power long turbo, short turbo is set to default 90 watts. I tried throttle stop that didn't seem to change much, XTU gives me bluescreens after a shutdown. I'm not sure how to set anything other than voltages in throttle stop.

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too much undervolt

 

Looks like you can't order the M15 with just one 512 SSD anymore.

 

Are these good to get in preparation for my m15?

https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Hea...2&sr=8-2&keywords=970+evo+m.2+heatsink+laptop

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0795DP124?aaxitk=x2mqCUl6eY8A158-qcm1OA

Or anyone have suggestions on what’s a better option? Thanks!

 

it is still showing available for me here in the US

 

I don't understand your question.

 

I've got 0.135 undervolt and 45 watt max power long turbo set. The CPU is still hitting mid 90s and I saw it calling for 94watts of power. I thought setting to 45 wouldn't allow this. What am I missing?

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I am in the US also. Tried configuring all of the various builds on Dell's website and none of them seem to have JUST the 512 SSD. You can still get a 512 SSD, just seems not by itself...

 

I've seen some people use cotton swabs (some say they leave fibers) some use the brush that comes with the kit (but it's sloppy) was wondering if there's another way to do it.

 

Finally got around to adding my 2x 1tb ssds and repasting with kryonaught. Just put thermal pads on the ssds, I need to source a copper sink if they start heating up.

Since the repaste it will now run the xtu stress test at 3.7ghz without undervolt. I still have a 10c higher temps on a couple of cores, not sure if it is a bent heat sink or if my paste job wasn’t the best. I might paste it once more to see

 

I repasted my AW 13 5 times never could get cores close to even, then decided to try removing pads and used k5 pro and had cores within 2c.

System ran great after that. Just a suggestion.

 

Never heard of that stuff before. But it's a lovely idea. Thanks so much for the suggestion! What a great looking product.

 

It's there as "Single HHD" from the models starting 1,529.99
edit:
nope seems to be there for everything now, might have been just updated

 

Has anyone of those with the smaller battery (which means you have 2 m.2 and 1 2.5" HDD) tried installing 3 drives at once in their unit?
Can anyone confirm that it works to have 3 drives at once installed in your m15?

 

You're right. They are back and moved up from the "other" area at the bottom. They were not there last night. Many speculated that the 512 GB SSD was the "bottleneck" in production because it seemed like most people who ordered them that way had their orders canceled. Anyway, I am glad to see it's back. I think it's a sweet spot for those that want the 90 wHr battery and decent storage out of the box. Of course you could go 256 and buy a samsung 970 EVO, but I plan on using liquid metal on mine first. I'll add the storage later.

I plan to own this thing for a very long time. My current system is running a GTX 660M, so even though the 2000 series cards are on their way, I don't really need to wait much to see a huge improvement all around.

 

I cannot physically confirm, but during the AMA that AW did on youtube, they did address this and it can be done.

 

I've spoken to this some in previous posts, but for my i7/1070/144hz/90w on battery at default settings I am averaging about 4-5 hours with roughly 40% left. That is a combination of light web browsing and YouTube watching.

 

I ordered mine with the single 512. The second slot did NOT have a heatsink or screw for the drive. However, that said, the free slot is SATA capable. I threw in a WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB drive (model WDS100T2B0B). I've yet to see it get over 45c so don't see a need for a heatsink cover. If all you're doing is adding storage, save yourself some money and grab one of those. Great drives for a fair price.

 

Oh great idea, I forgot to look at the pads. It was easy to take apart so once I have windows all up and running on the new drive I will have another go

 

I was wondering if single SSD versions got a heatsink that covered both slots. Now I know it doesn't. Thanks.

 

Guys, I am debating doing everything I want to do to the PC up front before even trying to use it. That is, I am considering getting a Samsung EVO 970 1 TB SSD and making that my boot drive before even starting to use it, and I am definitely going to use LM for thermal transfer.

It's been a long time since I have had to do anything like this and I have certainly never done it on Windows 10. I have some experience, but it's been a while. Here is my proposed way of going about this based on the research I have done, but please correct me if I am wrong in any step. (Looking for guidance on the hard drive swap/Windows 10 install moving the drive that comes with the laptop to a D: drive... Not so worried about the LM - I think I have that down)

1. Download Windows 10 ISO to thumb drive
2. Download Alienware drivers to thumb drive
3. Move existing drive to other slot (I don't have a way to format an M.2 NVME drive outside of the laptop, so if I have to wait to install this drive until after I get Windows 10 up and running on the EVO drive, let me know).
4. Install Windows using the thumb drive.
5. Install the drivers from the thumb drive.
6. Update Windows 10
7. Profit.

Is there anything I am missing here or should it be this simple? I'll do the LM while I have it open the first time to do the hard drive. I plan on using the 3M electrical tape method to protect components in case my meathead decides to use too much LM.

Thoughts?

 

Yep that all sounds good but I would boot into the original drive first and test the machine. Nothing worse than doing all that work and then realising you got a lemon.

Point 3 is fine, just delete all the partitions on the old drive before selecting the new drive on the windows 10 install. Windows may choose to install some it’s its recovery partitions to the second drive if they are both in for the set up, so for the absolute cleanest install I usually install with a single drive present and then add a second drive once complete

 

I know back in the day, driver install order could matter. Windows 10 seems to do a much better job of managing drivers, but do I need to worry about order?

 

Nope. I just normally do chipset first and then work my way down the list. Just install intel gfx before nvidia

 

here is what i see :

 

Yep, it's there today. Wasn't there (for me) last night. And prior to that it used to be under the "Other" heading at the bottom. No big deal I just thought I found a change since a lot of people that ordered the 512 had their order canceled at least once.

 

Also everyone don't throw away your money. At the price of the 512 on the Alienware website I would get it with the 256gb PCIe and then throw in a second drive in the empty nvme slot yourself. I went with this one from adata as an example :

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BLMP9ZT/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Only thing to keep in mind is they are not giving you the screw for it but those are simple enough to get. If you go this route you get 256gig more storage for $50 less

 

Yes I have 2 970 Evo 1tb m.2 and a 860 Evo 1tb 2.5" sata

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I couldn't get Alienware Control center working from the drivers list so I downloaded the program from Dell. Also if you are using killer the the driver suite and if you want Dell support assistant.

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I originally didn't plan on doing anything to the laptop and I thought 512 was a good compromise to get me started. 256 just isn't enough for me. My old PC's contents when I get to moving it over will use all of that easily.

It was a $50 upcharge to go to the 512, so it wasn't that big of a waste.

If I do add another SSD (still debating) it will be the 970 Evo.

 

Did the single 512 come with a single heatsink at least?

 

Yes, which is an advantage to getting the 512 over the 256.

 

Actually, if I choose the one that starts at 1529.99, and swap out the 256GB and the 1TB for a 512GB and larger battery, I end up saving money. Around 50 or so.
16GB/512GB/1070/Pro/144Hz/90Wh is 1989.99 before discounts.

 

Uh, that config is $2,165 (USD) if you choose the Nebula Red or $2,140 (USD) if you choose Epic Silver before discounts.

Not sure where you're seeing $1,990.

I know because I got that exact config and I paid $1,792 after discounts (of 18.9%) before they offered the $150 off.

 

I skipped the SSD and installed my own their storage prices are too high.

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I wanted the 90 Wh battery, so I had to go SSD. I agree though.

 

Mine is officially on the truck!

 

I used a cotton swab. Thermal Grizzly is sending some high quality ones with their Conductonaut. At least for me that was the case. They should not leave fibers.

 

Did you start with the cheapest option, or did you start with the one that stays at 1500 or so? The price I mentioned is in my cart now with no discounts.

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I started with the one at $1,500. Oddly, if you chose the 3rd option, it costs slightly more.

But in any case, the price is over $1,990 for the config you mentioned.

 

Looks like the $150 off is now gone anyway.

 

Nvidia driver 417.22 was released this morning on GeForce Experience. After receiving the notification, I installed and rebooted. So far, no issues. Installed without a problem. For good measure, I even did the "express" option. I wont be able to try any games until later tonight, but if I experience any problems I'll post here.

 

Nice! Now has anyone tried to install the drivers from Nvidia's site instead of using the GeForce Experience app? Were you successful?

 

Yep. Damn.