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

No way - The r1 is not worth more than $800, even w/ the bumped up 2670, 3GB VRAM, etc.. It will run very high temps, it has messed-up SATA support, and the GPU is well underpowered now. If you buy it outlet, then you also lose the nice packaging, further eroding the value/resale value. You're buying an outdated, defective notebook, so make sure you get a very fair price. With a CPU/GPU repaste, you might be able to shave 10c off the core temps, but taking the m14x apart is not easy. So sorry, but it's way too much baggage to pay more than a very fair price. I suppose you could still argue for an upgrade if your r1 is bad, but time is money...

Not to mention no mSATA or 16GB max RAM (officially...)

 

officially or not I don't care. As long as it supports and works I could care less if alienware decides to use 16gb as a marketing point. The 16gb is built into the cpu and motherboard not if dell decides it will support it. I agree with you on the other points and this is why I have a r2 as well but with any other technology everyone would prefer the newer version money aside. In reality no matter what the item is you always want to stay away from the first gen model and make sure you have an awesome warranty. If you do not then constantly check how much is it on the phone, tech support, online and sales rep to add additional warranty. Of course choose the lowest price rep and one who will toss in gift cards to sweeten which you can flip to offset price.

 

Hi guys, I was just wondering. Is there anyway for the M14x R2 to change the various backlighting automatically depending on certain conditions? For example, I want it to change colors depending on the day of the week, i.e. Monday = White, Tuesday = Red, Wednesday = Blue, etc etc.?

Also, how do you guys clean the outside surfaces of your m14x?

 

True enough, but if it's not official they will just pass the buck if you run into problems.

I expect a laptop to deliver the advertised spec, no matter what gen it is. A defective product is a defective product. The SATA support alone was enough reason to return the r1 IMO.

 

I wonder if it's just me, but to the right of the LCD screen, there is some kind of empty gap that the left side does not have as if the screen was too small and didn't fully fit it O_O. Well, that's fine anyways since I sent it in to be looked at while fixing the chassis and etc. which were getting loose. Called Wednesday, they overnight the box to me, I shipped it Thursday, it got to them on Friday I believe and they finished fixing it Friday night and shipped it back to me. Sadly Fedex won't deliver it on Sunday so I'll have to wait till Monday. Hopefully they fixed it and I don't get one of those horror stories where the laptop comes back scratched up and worse than before.

 

Mine is still very new so I haven't cleaned it yet. I'd use a cloth suitable for cleaning glasses for the plastic coat on the screen while the exterior and soft-touch surfaces, I'd likely run them over with a slightly damp soft cloth, then again with a dry soft cloth.

You wouldn't happen to be looking for the M14x R2 owner's club, would you?

 

I use these. I wipe it down every few days and it looks like new every time.

 

I just might be xD Hohoho, accidents happen.

 

Oh I know - I didn't even realize there were two threads till that happened.

 

[edit]
decided to create own thread to avoid any threadjacking

 

1.Download the latest nVidia Driver
2.Do a clean install (remove everything from nVidia completely then install the driver)
3.Download MSI Afterburner + iObit Game Booster 3.5
4.Overclock and Boost to maximum
5.Get modified BF3 user.cfg file
5.Start Battlefield3 and play on a server
6.Realise you get an average of 90 FPS on low on 900p
7.?????
8.Sh*t bricks

 

Announcement:

My final post on NBR as a Dell representative.

 

Guys, does anyone know if our beloved M14x will be able to run Dishonored?? I can't really understand if we fit the requirements. Thanks!

 

It will run on Max settings on 720/900p but with lower on 1080p

 

Wait, wait.. My M14x is the R1, I don't have 1080p just 900 as a maximum.. It will still work fine?? Thanks for your answer anyway..

 

I have the R1

 

Yeah 900p would be the max resolution with your M14x, he probably meant a 1080p external monitor or TV. However if you have the 3gb version you may have some luck with that as more video ram will help render higher resolutions.

 

I've been trying to track down a replacement battery for the 14xR1 (11xR3 or 14xR2 should be fine as well - same batt). I've only been able to locate it online from suppliers other than Dell. Today I asked Dell via the Sales Chat why the part wasn't available on the site - none of the compatible batts are appearing. Response I received was:

Does anyone know how long this has been going on? From what I've been able to locate via searching, the batt was having "stock issues" going back to mid 2012.

I'll most likely order it from Dell since I don't trust any of the third party sites when it comes to batteries...

 

Hello everyone, I have my first Alienware laptop, an M14x. I traded it for my 2 year old macbook air. Great computer, it has the i7 3610qm chip, gt650m 2gb, 16gb ram, 750gb hd, and the 768p screen. I think it's a great laptop overall however I am disappointed with the screen quality. Ive played around with colour settings a lot but ultimately it just doesn't seem like a super great screen. I was thinking about doing an upgrade to a 900p screen from screencountry. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is it just a screen that is interchangeable if you pull apart the monitor? I spoke briefly with alienware but they wanted to sell me a whole top lid assembly. Any comments or advice on this? Also, it looks like you can get a matte finish screen (currently sold out though), but I don't know how much of a difference that would make since the screen cover is glossy.

I love Dell laptops overall, my main work laptop is a precision m6600 with 2860qm chip, 16gb ram, firepro m8900, 128gb system boot, 750gb data drive, 1080p matte screen, it's a real powerhouse. I still have an inspiron 9400 as well with the 7900gs, core 2 duo 2.16, and just upgraded it to a ssd drive. For a 6 year old laptop it can still do some decent low res gaming.

 

Hey, so I ordered a 900p screen from screencountry.com. Expecting to receive it tomorrow. I'm going to see if I can upgrade from the 768p screen by simply replacing the lcd/screen panel. It's only $62, and if it doesn't work/fit I can return it. I couldn't find any info on the internet about if you can upgrade the screen by simply swapping in another lcd so I'm going to just give it a shot, hopefully it works. I'll let everyone know details so at least I can put to rest whether it is doable or not to upgrade the resolution. Going off the youtube video some guy made for some guidance on how to replace it. Looks pretty straightforward. The 768p screen really is pretty bad so I'm eager to upgrade it.

 

Ok, for the record, you CAN upgrade the resolution of the M14x R2 by only replacing the LCD panel. I got my Alienware 14x, 3610 qm, gt 650m 2gb, 16 gb ram, but with the AWFUL 768p screen, as I bought it used. I looked all over the internet for a full dell display replacement but that was typically the whole top screen casing including the frame, etc, and was often over $300 CDN on ebay. I ordered a 900p screen from screencountry.com, $60 CDN, glossy version as they didn't have any matte finish ones in stock. Well, all I did was unplug the old lower res screen and plug in the new one and it immediately worked when I booted up. I was very careful to take off the plastic alienware screencover however I cracked it slightly on the black frame at the bottom as the bottom of the screen where the alienware symbol was had been glued with a stick tape material to the lcd panel. Luckily it's a tiny crack, I also broke a couple little tabs but the cover still stays on fine. I followed the video on youtube someone had posted for their repair and it sure helped. Overall the new screen quality difference is like night and day, the higher res screen is SO much better. The screen has 1 green stuck pixel but once you're using the laptop at a normal distance you don't notice it otherwise screen is perfect and I'm not going to try and get a better one. I also downloaded the notebookcheck icc profile and the colours look great. Anyone who is thinking about doing this, go for it!

 

Thank you very much for this guide. Installed a SSD and removed the bloatware, and wow is there a difference. Earlier I had to wait for 5mins after boot to use the Laptop not anymore

 

Wondering if anyone has any ideas where to look for the cause of the following symptoms:

An original M14X (1.5GB video memory) is exhibiting very poor video performance and Windows Aero is disabled.
The cause appears to be related to the fact that the Desktop has become 2624x1360 (as seen by a screenshot of the desktop). The actual built-in LCD screen is providing a viewport onto this desktop showing the bottom right hand part.
At one point the event log showed
"Video hardware error"
"A problem with your video hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly"
"LiveKernelEvent"
Locale ID: 1033

The screen resolution is set to the recommended 1600x900 resolution (32 bits) and no higher resolution is offered. Toggling it to something else and back again doesn't help.

At one point it is reported that the NVIDIA video had disappeared from Device Manager.
Both NVIDIA drivers and Intel drivers have been reloaded.
Both appear to be working (e.g. the optional system tray icon turns coloured when looking at the rotating 3D test in the NVIDIA Control Panel)

 

A screenshot of the desktop consisted of a 1024x768 rectangle at upper left and a 'normal' primary desktop rectangle of 1600x900 resolution at lower right... together making a combined area of 2624x1360.
Changing desktop picture etc. did not resolve the problem. Neither did using an external monitor.

Just to document the solution (in case anyone with similar symptoms finds this post). The solution was to uninstall Air Display. Then run the "Find and Fix Problems" troubleshooter to re-enable Aero.

 

Please disregard this post as I just realised that it was posted on the wrong place! Sorry just don't have access to delete it. The post is now up on the right topic.


Hi everyone! I was gonna go through a detailed explanation of the problem I have with my newly purchased AW 14 and then I thought that would be better if I post a photo of my machine and see if you guys could spot the issue and kindly come up with possible solutions.
Hopefully this is not a big deal, however, I, myself think otherwise!

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Edited: I am not sure whether this is a defect or just part of the machine behavior/characteristic! So that if you notice that, it is a defect then, otherwise I can live with that anyway!

 

I got my hands in with one of these at walmart and I have to admit that I do feel the quality of the laptop but it is really THICK!

 

Hello
i just format my Laptop
& as you know the dell tech only helps in format & rest we have to fig it out

I want to know what other thing i must do & downloads i need to do Please

Do i need to download Java, Adobe, etc ?
all i did was update to W 8.1

Thank you

 

Well hello guy. I'm new to the Alienware 14. Not new to alienwares. I've owned them since they were a stand alone company back in 2003. I just scored an Alienware 14 for $150.00! Yes $150 from the registered original owner. So as it sits I own an Alienware 14, M17xR4, M18xR2 now. Is there anything I should be worried about with this laptop.