Alienware 14x R2 review

After using the M11x R1, I was kind of burnt on using Alienware products. The heat of the system, the really lousy tech decision (low powered cpus), screen that has glare and etc, but at least their customer support was excellent to me.

Fast-forward to about 2 years later and Diablo 3 is finally released. Obviously the M11x R1 could not play this game even with everything set to low and it was even worse when there's 3 other people playing at the same time the framerate is like a slideshow. It was time for another laptop (sigh).

I was looking around and well wanted a laptop that i could lug around and still play games on medium to high settings. I saw the M14x R1, the reviews were crushing, the heat was too much, i steered far away from it. Then I was reading reviews from forum members that the R2 was out and temperatures were better. I was rubbing my hands gleefully.

So I went to a laptop dealer and brought home a Alienware M14x R2. To my horror I found out that the "Alienware" words on the LED will not turn on no matter what I do. Also the speakers when there was bass involved had so much distortion and crackling, I was so pissed off, this was a day 0 laptop fresh from the box and it's not cheap.

But performance and heat wise from playing games? Really top-notched. Alienware really improved on their heat dispersion, it's honestly one of the coolest laptop (think ASUS gaming series takes the crown) around. Even with these 2 naggling issues abound I was very happy.

But now I face a problem. Do I tempt fate and get a Dell person to fix these issues (or I could get a worse problem, aka the M11x screen replacement). Did anyone else have the Alienware words not lighted up , what was the tech solution?

Don't take this wrong way, I am overall happy with the M14x R2 laptop, but these 0 day issues really me off.

 

1. Well the M11x is marketed for having ULV CPU's. You cant blame Alienware because you bought a computer without knowing its specifications

2. The m11x should still play Diablo on Medium, especially if you overclock it. Was the GT 335M activated?

3. You will most likely need to have a technician fix it. They should only have to replace the one light, so you should be okay. Your speakers/subwoofer will probably need to be replaced too, but that is also an easy replacement.

 

Diablo doesn't run smoothly on M11x R1. Even on low settings, FPS goes to the @!$%hole with 3 players blasting through monsters. running on an overclocked CPU and stock GPU.

 

1. Probably overall it is my fault for that. But it was a poor tech decision for a gaming laptop.

2. Not possible, yes it is set to the nvidia 335GT, Diablo 3 FPS is totally terrible on a M11x R1.

3. Can they just replace the LED Alienware word on the screen? I think they will replace the full screen , which i worry might have dead pixels which this screen doesnt have. Yeah most likely have to replace the speakers, do they need to open it up deeply? I am very worried if they have to, then I rather wait awhile longer before getting the tech to change the speakers.

 

The single LED can be replaced I believe. Whether or not he fixes the entire screen instead is up to the technician. He will have to take the entire thing apart to get to the speakers, but if he just replaces the subwoofer then he only had to take the bottom cover off.

 

I just bought a new R2 as well and If anything is not right or goes with the system wrong I will demand a new laptop. If your computer is not working as promised make them ship you a new one. You just spent over $1k for a laptop so everything should work perfect. Don't they test these products before they ship them out??

 

I agree, I am trying to do so but they claim that they will only service it. Replacements are not an entailment. Ugh.... I mean its less than 7 days old for goodness sake.

Is there a Alienware rep here I could write to?

 

You said you WENT to a laptop dealer and bought one in person right? Why dont you just take it back and get them to give you a new one?