*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Owner's Lounge

so no need to install Alienware OC Controls if I'm going to use XTU as they may conflict with each other?

 

Its XTU in disguise but can cause a glitch sometimes and most of them OC using TS without additional bloat added by XTU. You can ask @iunlock @Rei Fukai and others.
Some of them were able to undervolt upwards of -180mV. For tweaking ICC max its better to use TS and use the slider all the way to the right for CPU,Cache and System Agent if you do see lot of Yellow colored bars in Limit reasons due to TDP or EDP limits. You can even silence TDP throttling using RW everything driver in TS to push your CPU to work on high TDP on AVX2 workloads or benching.

 

Its forced installed when AWCC is fetched from Windows update, otherwise you will notice yellow bangs in AWCC tray icon. I tried the new AW CC on my AW as well. Its fast, fluid and only nagware is XTU,Overwolf and OC tools.

 

I agree 100%. XTU will only bloat your system where as TS a 25MB package does the same job without crashing people's systems.

 

I had all 3 installed. Use whichever you find best for yourself.

 

Hello again - good news at last, the replacement m15 turned up and it runs at reasonable temps. Some peaking on cores, but no throttling like the previous one! I am so relieved. Now I can get set up properly.

One thing that I am struggling to understand at the moment is connecting the laptop to a X34 monitor. I have a HDMI cable, but it only offers 50hz. I know this is a limitation of the hdmi port on the x34, but how do I get the laptop connected to the display port and get 100hz? Is it a simple adapter, or something else?

 

What CPU/GPU Configuration do you have? You say temps are fine now but we need to know your specs. I suggest you fill in your signature like mine.

 

Err - you buy a display port cable and plug it into the display port output on your m15! No magic required!

You need to use the displayport output to get gsync anyway.

 

There is a display port? Colour me embarrassed. I did not see the mini display port. Still need to buy a cable, though.

Thanks

 

Is it a recent update that the m15 order page shows a 4K OLED option? I'm looking again as I've put my 17" 51m order on hold pending the burning graphics card issue. An OLED display would strongly tempt me to this model. I loved the OLED on the AW13....

 

Yeah is the OLED panel the HDR400 certified one? I remember Dell said there will be an update of panel choices later this year.

 

This is terrible! OLED 4k + Nebula Red = Can't resist....

 

What's more tempting is this! Arrgghhhh the moment I get my laptop this shows up! Bloody hell!

15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) 240Hz Anti-Glare IPS, Narrow-Border Display

 

ehehe that's how thing goes sometime. Be happy with your config, (hell! i'm am with mine ) and just got the confirmation that my unit has been shipped too!! yahiii!

 

Hello, since Bios 1.5.2 the fans wont stand still in Idle. Is this only happens to my m15?

 

Greetings folks. Sorry I took an extra day to post this. But I ran three runs on firestrike to get an idea of the thermals on the laptop. Power Mode is set to Best Performance and Thermal was set to Performance in the Alienware Command Center. No other changes. And the specs are in my Sig. But short version is this is the RTX 2060 with 8750h model.
First picture is with the laptop flat on my dining room table ((wood for anyone that cares)), the second is the laptop elevated with a laptop stand, and the last is the laptop stand with the fan on full blast. I was happy to see that the temps never went over 88. But the temps are all over the place on the cores. So it will need rebalanced at some point. I'll run some games later today and report back with that later. So far I'm impressed since I got this for $1600 on sale at Amazon.

 

Time to upgrade!

 

I think 4K is resiculous on a 15” screen...

 

QHD would of been the sweet spot.

 

I thought about waiting for this. I was more looking forward to the m17 getting something similar. But, knowing my luck that's not gonna be for awhile. And honestly my girlfriend said it best. We were at bestbuy one day and I showed her the OLED Tvs. She was floored at how nice they looked. I explained to her some of the tech about how they worked. But, she pointed out that the non OLED right next to it still had a great display. . .and at the fraction of the cost. And I have to agree with her. Until OLED is more standard I'll pass on it and be happy with what I have.

 

OLED TVs at bestbuy are not quite the same as laptop OLED. You have to experience it in order to fully appreciate. After 2.5 years of ownership of my AW 13 R3, I can't stand any other screen, no matter the refresh rate or any other specs. To me, that 300-400$ extra cost is more justifiable than upgrading Ngreedia 2070 to 2080. In fact, if I were to buy a m15 today, it would have a 2060 + OLED most definitely.

 

For media most definitely but to game at 4K 60fps would be challenging unless you have the top of the line.

 

Unless you can see the pixels on a 15" 1080p screen at normal viewing distance, I really cant see the point in having more of them!

I had a QHD work laptop and to make it readable I had to set the scale factor in Windows to 125-150% which left me with less desktop space than if it had had a 1080p screen and looked pants as well as it was scaled.

This logic helped me choose a 1080p screen for my m15 even though 4k is way better for bragging...

 

Scaling never gave any hinderance with the 13 r3 oled at least not to me. Games that I am able to play at 2k look amazing on this panel.

 

Yeah 1080 is way too low this day and age. My phone has more pixels than that.

 

Doesn't mean your eyes can see them though! Marketing always wants to sell you bigger numbers!

 

It’s pretty messed up dell charges $300 for a Toshiba 512 ssd when I can get the 500gb Samsung 970 evo for $149. On top of that. They won’t give you the 90 watt battery without the 256gb ssd which cost $149. Anyone have advice on getting around the upcharge here?

 

Nope and that's the SSD that is covered under their warranty too. I'd suggest maybe you sell it and pay the difference?

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

Yeah but your phone can't play something like The Witcher 3 at max setting at that resolution and get 144hz now can it? I'll take less pixels at a higher refresh rate any day of the week over more pixels at a lower refresh rate.

 

So is the OLED panel 60hz I’m assuming?

 

That's what their website says

 

How well would the 4K panel scale down in resolution in games. If you were to bring it down to 1080p when gaming since it’s unlikely you could game at 60 FPS at 4K.

 

It will look blurry, trust me. I had a 4k panel before that I compared vs a native 1080p display and the 1080p display always looked sharper in games.

I originally bought Alienware with 4k display with the idea of "oh, I'll is aga to game at 4k and discreet gpu when gaming at 1080p!" WRONG! lol

I recommend HIGHLY 1080p for 15.6" ALL THE TIME, you get better framerates, sharper images at native resolution, less battery drain and they tend to be cheaper.

Only buy 4K if you are doing creative work OR you are a casual esports player. Overwatch, league of legends or even DotA at 4k look beautiful @ 60. But if you want to play a little more competitive, go for higher refresh.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

Depends really. My AW13r3 with OLED screen downsamples to 1080p beautifully. Not sure how far down the 4k will. Reviews will start popping up.

To bad only silver comes with 240hz and ole option. I wouldn't buy one unless I can get it in red.

 

Thanks for the responses! I guess let’s see some reviews when they come out.

 

I’m of the opposite mind. I always go with 4K. I can’t stand 1080p on a 15in screen even at 144hz. I’m getting the 4K oled m15. I enjoy all the colors popping out on a 4K panel especially oled with the contrast ratio. You can see the laptops in my sig. I’ve had both the Alienware 17r4 or 5? Can’t keep track at this point. It was less than a year ago. I tried the 1080p screen first hated it. QHD next and noticed the immediate change in sharpness, even at 1080p setting. I then settled on the 4K AW for the extra oomph with color and seeing as it wasn’t a TN panel like the QHD. Returned it because of the core temperature difference. Also owned the blade 15 in 1080p and 4K. There’s really no comparison in my mind. 4K downscaled was even better in my “usage” I enjoy a wide color gamut. For the guy above ^ I don’t see him being competitive on a 15in screen.

 

OLED 1440p without AA and 1080p with AA looks exactly the same on 13 inch.

 

Is it possible that OLED scale differently than LCD screens? I've heard from several people that it works great on the 13R3, but my own experiences with LCDs is quite different and there was always scaling problems, especially since I started using one with Optimus and Intel HD, the previosu in XPS M1530 and only 8600m GT scaled beautifully to lower resolutions.

 

Thanks for sharing. That’s good perspective actually. I also don’t really play FPS so the 60 hz wouldn’t be a deal breaker for me.

 

There is a reason why almost every gaming laptop now has 1080p. That’s the big push again this year. It’ll change next generation or the one after.

 

I think the problem we have with the 144hz screens is that most games won't reach 144 fps with current gen CPUs, high refresh are usually CPU bound and current 6 cores don't turn high enough to get consistent 144 fps in many games like league of legends ( a lightweight and unoptimized title) because it only runs on 2 cores.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

@Terreos @ssj92

FYI, the Alienware m15 144hz FHD Screen is HDR Capable for Streaming Videos. At first, in the Settings page, it said NO for HDR Streaming, then I hit the calibrate HDR link below and after calibration, the settings page showed that the display is HDR Streaming Video capable

 

Windows 10 scaling might be a concern for a 15 in. 4K panel. On a 17in. 200% scaling on 4K is absolutely perfect. I can't imagine what kind of scaling you'd need on a 15 in. panel. 250%?

 

200% scaling would get you back to 1080p which IMO is quite readable on a 15" screen. It will however take more effort and therefore energy than 1080p on a 1080p screen.

 

Yeah mine says the same thing on Area-51m. Thought I posted it for you awhile back when you asked.

Although it can stream HDR, it won't actually be in HDR I believe.

 

guys anyone of you updated to BIOS 1.5.2 since after updating my M15 displaying it needs 240 watts adapter is it ok to just ignore it. I have an RTX2060 version thanks

 

I updated but I have an RTX 2080-MaxQ and a 240watt power adapter so no such messages

 

m15, latest BIOS, power supply warning

 

I have an old school 1070 version, and according to Alienware Update v1.4.1 is the latest for my machine.

I'd imagine they'll roll out a fix for the PSU warning quite quickly- it seems like we've had a new BIOS about every 4-6 weeks so far.