*OFFICIAL* M14x Owner's Lounge Thread - READ BEFORE POSTING

(wow, I forgot to make an OL for the 14x... lol sorry folks)

Welcome to the Owner's Lounge for the Alienware M14x!

If you haven't already checked out the launch video, click HERE

This thread is a place to discuss your new M14x and share information on your system with fellow owners.

Below are some handy links -

Manuals, Teardown, Drivers, etc.

System Teardown -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKuZYMHbp9Y



Manuals (Owners Manual and Service Manual) -
Documentation

M14x Parts List - Reference
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/579758-m14x-part-number-list-reference.html

M14x Drivers straight from Support.Dell -
Drivers & Downloads

Benching, Overclocking

Overclocking -
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/576951-m14x-overclocking-discussion.html


Benchmarks Discussion
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/574778-official-alienware-m14x-benchmark-thread.html

Misc. Links

Order Status Discussion -
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/572033-m14x-order-status-discussion.html

Gaming -
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/574849-m14x-gaming-discussion-thread.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/578671-m14x-owners-steam-friends-list.html

Bags, Backpacks, Cases & Sleeves -
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...4x-backpacks-bags-sleeves-etc-discussion.html

Clean Install -
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...er-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ook-feel-after-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

Community Driven threads -
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/581941-alienware-m14x-review-thread.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/637043-suggested-memory-m14x-upgrade.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ll-secondary-hard-drive-your-m14x-w-pics.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-m14x-disassembly-teardown-upgrade-guide.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/626346-m14x-xp-drivers.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/575001-m14x-rainbow-theme-here.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/658146-alienware-m14x-r1-vs-alienware-m14x-r2-2.html
BIOS Recovery in case you brick your M17x R3 This applies to the M14x too


Congrats on your system purchase! Once you receive it, feel free to show it off... pictures, benchmarks, etc. Have fun!

 

First!..... ok no not really lol

Is there like a thread somewhere where we can all like exchange Steam IDs (obviously to those willing lol) so we can like game together?

I need more people to add to my steam friends list!

 

thanks for this thread batboy!

 

You could at lest post few pic of how this laptop looks like )

 

Thanks Bat Boy

Just about time !!!

I am sure we all have many issues to talk about here & hopefully we will make the M14 a real success for users! No for Dell as it seems they are not spoiling us! I would call that discrimination lol not even a hat in the box lol

 

Look at this post, there is a few pics with m14x and m15x, so you can see the size difference and what it looks like.

 

Thx man, difference is really huge!

And disassemble pictures?

 

Wahoo I am an official owner!

 

Great forum, great thread, great community! Superb!!

 

Heads up for those reading that are soon to join the 'Owners Club'.

- Upgrading to SSD has reduced the heat I feel under the right wrist rest area, and also improved my windows experience for disk transfer from 5.9 to 7.5. Boot times went from 30-40 seconds to 8-10 seconds. Extracting files is a TON faster. Everything also seems much zippier (if there is such a word). It feels like i'm slowing the laptop down by taking so long to click on things.

- You can change the backlight colour for everything except the power brick ring and the alien logo on the back of the display.

- The fans can get loud. I mean, it rivals some desktops running full speed with fans. They can push a lot of air. Most tasks do not cause it to ramp up that much, but when you are in a hardcore game, expect noise levels to rise considerably.

- You do not need to back up your Alienware laptop if you are going to upgrade the HDD right away - just use the included windows 7 CD, and resource CD to load drivers, applications, etc. Also, take a screenshot of your device manager contents (expand the trees). This was useful when I couldn't find what driver I was missing when I reinstalled. Also, you don't need to write down the windows key before you start a reinstall. The alienware windows 7 disk seems to already know what your windows key is on the system during the installation.

- If you call Dell support, they can remotely view your screen, so if there is something that you have difficultly describing, you can show them so long as you have an internet connection. (I caledl them about a problem where I cannot find the x-fi software on the dell downloads page, and they are escalating the problem).

- The screen is really bright! Its hard to describe, but it rivals my recent Acer laptop purchase that has a larger screen. 1600x900 is a must! At full resolution it looks great and is still easy to read. After seeing 1600x900 and trying lower resolutions, i'm staying with the highest setting to allow me to see more while web browsing.

- The laptop has a good weight to it, but it doesn't seem unmanageable. My 15" Acer laptop is close to the same weight (but with a larger battery).

- On the left side is a powered USB port, that will keep powered even when the laptop is shut down (great for charging ipods, etc).

- I still can't tell if the screen has a glass front or its plastic. Its very sturdy regardless, and i'm not going to try to damage it to find out. Its very glossy, so it will be harder to read in bright light.

 

Screen is plastic is has a lot of flex to it if you press it

 

What SSD did you use? Is it easy to install?

I plan on getting one for when my M14X arrives. Going to use the SSD for Windows, the default HD for random stuff.

 

I got the Vertex 2 240GB. I could have spent more and got the Vertex 3, but the difference in performance would be minimal, as currently the m14x does not support SATA III speeds (although it will accept it and run at SATA II speeds).

SSD was very easy to install. Just remember that the cable that the optical drive is connected with has a little white tab that you need to pull up to extract the ribbon from. Everything else was minor with 2 screws to remove to slide open the back, 4 screws on the optical drive, and another 3 screws and a cable to remove the original HDD. The HDD is housed in a drive cage so you remove the cage (4 more screws on the sides) and install the SSD into it.

First time I booted I got some sort of error message about the controller, but when I booted with the Windows 7 factory disk, it saw it right away and began installing. Installation time was about 30 minutes.

Biggest time-sink was putting all the drivers back on, but the resource CD that comes with the system will help with that. Also note that if you get the bluetooth option, the resource CD i had did not come with the drivers for that (windows installs some sort of default). I had to google it (I took a screenshot of device manager before upgrading) and pull files from another system at dell. I also opted out of installing the Intel Rapid Storage Technology software, as this caused me blue-screens and lockups.

Totally worth the time spent. The speed boost is very noticeable (windows boots in about 10-12 seconds), and the heat under the right wrist area has dropped significantly.

 

Parts list for the M14x is up. Link on page# 1 of the owners lounge and also linked in the Alienware General Info sticky in the main forum.

 

I thought the all the mobile Sandy Bridge's chipset had a SATA III controller

 

Very easy to change drives. Welcome to the forum. Since you are new here, please take a moment and review the forum rules + this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-information-read-before-posting-updated.html

The 14x service manual/documenation link will show the entire process on changing out the drive.

 

It does, but they haven't enabled it. You will only get Sata II speeds with a Sata III drive.

 

Thanks, I'll it out.

Do you know if it will be enabled in the future? Or is there any way for us to enable it ourselves?


I'm torn on whether to get an SSD or not. I checked out the Vertex 2 at 240GB you mentioned and the price I'm seeing is just over £300. It's a lot of money for not a lot of space.

I'm sort of tempted to take out the optical drive and keep both of them in there, but the slot load drive could come in handy. Does it void warranty taking out the optical drive and putting the default HDD in there? Probably a stupid question but, can you tell from the outside if there's no optical drive in?

 

Don't know - Dell has not commented on it except to say that it is not enabled.

No it will not void your warranty to take out the optical drive, unless something broke as a result of your tinkering that they were able to detect.

 

How much battery life are you actually getting from your M14x? Doing stuff that does not include gaming of course.

 

about 4 1/2 hours

 

Just don't install the chip-set drivers and rapid storage, then apparently you get sata 3 speed

 

hey guys i noticed in our alienFX we can set the lighting to change if we get an email, but how would i link google mail to my laptop ?

 

Laptop has Nvidia's Optimus technology (which switches to a less power-hungry GPU when unplugged) and a 14-inch screen, I think good battery life.

 

on my m11x i had i tried to get that working but failed.

 

anyone else find it weird that you can turn all the lights off ( alienFX ) but you cant turn the touch pad light off to save power

 

touchpad light is considered a "status" zone, so you need to turn it off separately

 

it really doesn't suck much power seeing as they're leds

 

Can I get more information about the 1600x900 screen anyone?

I'd love to get myself an m14x, but really am shuddering at the idea of going back to a basic WLED. I've yet to see info on the contrast ratio, black levels, overall quality, etc of the screen.

 

there is a review just posted at notebookcheck in german.

900p screen seems good! 250nit, 0.5 blacks and 500 contrast! Colour gamut isnt that great though

 

Is it possible to underclock the cpu to maybe 20-30% of it's regular speed (2 -> ~.5ghz) to save battery life, or is it impossible and/or useless?

 

IDK, I might have to give this a pass. 45% gamut screen is unacceptable for a $1000+ system (in my opinion). The other specs are okay, but 45% gamut? Come on AW.

 

yes its possible to underclock the cpu using Windows 7 power options (turn max cpu power to 30%) I use this on my MBP for different reasons (I cap mine to 90% which locks my quad to 2ghz whilst gaming to keep the fan and temps down). I dont think it would save you much battery as intel auto throttles the cpu's down when idling or low load

 

Ah, I figured the CPU might already have some function like that, oh well, ty for the response!

 

Just placed my order!!!

You know what, I thought about it for a while. The m14x is the perfect laptop for me minus a kickass display, and most of you are saying the display is good just not amazing. So perfect laptop minus a perfect screen, I can swing it.

Very excited to get this bad boy:

Estimated Delivery Date: 06/08/2011

System Name and Type: Laptop - Alienware M14X
Monitor: 14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight
Color: Stealth Black with Soft Touch Finish
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7 2720QM 2.2GHz (3.3GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
Hard Drive: 256GB Solid State Drive SATA 3Gb/s
Video Card: 1.5GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M using NVIDIA Optimus™ technology
Optical Drive: 8x SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Slot Load Optical Drive (Your computer will only play BluRay if it is specifically listed here)
Internet & Communication Features:
Wireless: Intel® Advanced-N WiFi Link 6205 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO Technology

 

Can anyone else confirm/post battery life with their processor?

I tend to hear conflicting reports that the weaker processor gives better battery life, but I've also heard since the 2820QM and such is more efficient, it gives better battery life. ???

Little confused.

Intuition would say the 2630 gets the best, but I have read on the m17x R3 forum that the 2820 should be the best?

 

They all run at 45 watts so it should be the same. It depends on what you're doing on it for it to consume battery. If you're doing some heavy gaming, it'll last for a good a hour or two. If its just some other stuff, it should be around 3-5 hours.

 

Word processing, wifi internet surfing...

 

Man, this owner's lounge is surprisingly quiet....

 

Nice one mate.

Screens are obviously important to you like they are me. Can you give me your impression when you receive it. Not expecting it to be envy radiance quality but expect a lot more than the nasty cheap panels Dell use in their xps/inspiron range

 

I will give a detailed opinion of the screen when I receive the system. I'm working on getting some calibration software and hopefully something that can measure the screen including gamut, nits, etc.

If I can acquire all this, I'll post calibrated ICC profiles as well. They won't work exactly the same for you as the will for me (since ambient lighting and minor variance in display quality takes effect here), but it should be a good starting point and at the very least improve the stock look of the display.

 

that would be much appreciated

 

Well i just got my laptop. A bit disappointed because i asked for bluetooth, but didnt get it. Also when i started it up the laptop, the 'launch windows - launch system repair' screen popped up before. It did say though that the laptop was in it's first time use, but i saw that it already had it's window experience index. . . .
Did they just give me a refurb laptop or is my disappointment just getting to my head? .

I've had/seen other laptops/comps before and usually they don't have one unless you update it or do the windows check or whatever.

 

If Bluetooth is listed on your invoice and you do not have it on your system, call Dell immediately and ask for a new system WITH Bluetooth and a nice fat discount. Be unhappy and threaten to return and request refund, so they give you a discount. That's unacceptable.

 

Is there a certain number i should call, because i tried calling a couple times.
The call got dropped twice and then when someone was going to transfer me to customer and right when got through, it said that the department was closed for the day. Some luck I got.
Is there anything I should say because i fear asking for a discount or so, they wont be willing to give me one. =(

 

Threaten to return it for a refund and they usually throw discounts/free upgrades at you.

 

Am wondering if any NBR person who has had enough time with this laptop would post a thread of a official NBR review of the system?

 

If you don't ask, you have no chance of getting something.

Now, let's look at the absolute worst case scenario when you ask for a discount/free upgrade:

#1 You don't get anything.

 

so how well does this thing play games maxed out at 720p with no overclock? Do you think it will be able to play battlefield 3 at high settings?

 

I don't know how BF settings work (is there an ultra or is high the highest?), but I will say I highly doubt it will be able to max out BF3, even at 720p.