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

I know it wont max it out but I'm saying like high settings no aa or filtering or hbao and maybe shadows at medium. Keep in mind that the m14x can play crysis 2 maxed smoothly. I am sure that battlefield 3 will be better optimized seeing how it is being made for pc then being ported to console. crysis 2 was made for console then ported to pc.

 

Hmmm...I wonder if I can dual boot with this method. I have Windows on one HDD and a certain OS on another. Would be nice to have the other OS boot with bootloader and be able to select which OS I want to boot.

 

And I've gone from being in the 'Awaiting Shipment' category to being a full-fledged owner now.

 

Received my system today!

Initial review (will expand in coming hours-days) can be found here for those interested:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/581941-m14x-review-thread.html

 

Guys im still on the fence between this and the sager np8130 with the 560m. I am worried because I don't really know sager that well and I know alienware. I am also wondering how long the m14x will be able to play games at high settings. And will I be able to game better with the m14x at 720p or with the 560m at FHD. Any help would be great. I know that the sager can play bbc2 at 1080p with everything on high except for aa and filtering and vsync at a pretty solid 35 fps avg. Do you thinkthat with those same settings the m14x could get those same frames per second or better at 720p and no oc? Thanks.

 

Well, there's really no doubt the 560m will smoke the 555m. The Sager is somewhat larger being 15 inches, and I can attest the build quality (NOT QA) is much better with Alienware. Really, nobody designs laptops like Dellalienware.

If you're that concerned with performance on the m14x, I'd definitely go for the 720p native res screen and a solid 555m overclock. With both of those I don't see that much of a performance difference to the 560m as the Sager will be 1080p.

My personal opinion is m14x > 8130. The biggest pro for the Sager is an option for a B+RG LED (same screen as the XPS 15) which is BEAUTIFUL.

 

Alright thanks for the input. Would it be too much to ask If you could do a quick bbc2 vid on multiplayer maxed out except for the aa filtering and vsync with no oc and with fraps in the corner? If you (or anyone) did that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

this is another worry I had. Is the build quality good and how hard would it be to have an issue get fixed should one arise. Of course I know that dellalienware has great customer support and build quality so idk what to do.

 

The build quality (meaning the quality of the components used to build the system) is top notch, and much better than Sager IMO.

The QA (quality assurance, meaning Dell shipping you a laptop without manufacturing defects or problems) is another story. I actually think Sager might take the lead here, as Dell has had known issues.

Dell DOES have great customer support if you know how to push the reps, and generally will fix and replace any issue under warranty. If you receive a unit with QA problems, you can have another one built for you while you continue to use the affected system, then when the new one is received you simply send the defective one back.

 

Is there any way to get the fn keys to operate their multimedia functions without having to press fn first? I searched for an options in the bios and couldn't see anything.

 

Another issue: Any time the Nvidia card is used, it resets the gamma profile I have set for the display. The only way to get it back is to recalibrate the display which is very obnoxious.

 

I was waiting for this review, as it confirms my suspicion of the biggest and only major flaw with this laptop.

A $1200+ laptop that cannot at least cover the sRGB spectrum is very, very fail

 

Not meaning any offense, but then why did you buy one?

 

Because Dell obscures their information regarding their displays, and have been factually inaccurate on different occasions.

The upgraded display on the m17x R3 has 72% gamut coverage, which is good. I assumed the 16x9 would be a similar figure. No premium laptop should have a 42% screen, that's just absurd, let alone on a display you pay extra to upgrade to.

 

I can see where you are coming from, but having never owned a display that has been amazing, I won't know the difference. On my m11x, I though the screen looked amazing.

 

Go to dell config screen choose lcd type, click on help me choose, click on compare side by side dell says 42% gamut 300cd/m.

Yes i will agree with you, 72% is awsome! that's why I still keep the dv9000 with the dual lamp screen.

 

Are the AMD LLANO Processers coming to the M14x as the hybrid crossfirex will really help it.

 

I just wanted to drop a quick note to say thanks to you all for the good advice on this forum! I was originally going to get a maxed-out m14x but after reading most of the forum I went with a 2720QM, 1.5G GT 555M, 4Gb RAM (upgraded later to 8Gb Kingston HyperX). Cheers!

 

Same specs as me Congratz

 

Does the screen really look that bad? Maybe I will just take a leap of faith and get the np8130 then. I am scared of the performance drop gaming on a 1080p screen though.

 

One thing that I've noticed lately is that while using HDMI to my 32" HDTV every once in a while any motion will 'pause' for a moment on the screen.. My TV is an LG 120 Hz 1080p HDTV...

 

I belive that more than the performance drop, I would be scared for your eyesight. At native resoulution the small text will be really small.
Yes you can enlarge the text but when text and pictures are mixed together it will not look right at some point.

 

Seriously? huh. Well then I am stuck between the two again. *sigh* Battlefield 3 is my biggest concern.

 

Finally broke down and ordered one after talking with numerous reps and getting nowhere with the Xbox Deal.

So, sans Xbox here is what I got:

i7 2630
4gb Ram
500gb (gonna replace with SSD sooner than later)
Standard Wireless N
1600x900 Display
Neoprene Sleeve
Next Business Day Shipping
Nebula Red

$1328

Did I do well? I didn't want to spend an extra hundred for 2 more gb of ram and Bluetooth I wouldn't use even though an Xbox would have been involved. I would have had to sell that anyway because I already have one so just more hassle.

Mike

 

Hybrid Crossdirex is lame(as of now), read the threads in the hardware section.

 

my temps keep creeping up and up. my cpu just hit 92 C and my gpu 88 C while playing bad company 2. when i first got it a month or so ago the cpu was in the mid 80s and low 80s for gpu. should i be concerned?

 

it may be too early but there could be dust slowing down fan. ive used a can of air to clear dust around fan and it helped temps a lot

 

Summer perhaps? If your ambient temps rise then so will the internal temps.

 

in hype of me ordering my m14x i made some wallpapers.
i can change colors if you want but the size is unchangeable.

m14xwallpack 1366x768.rar

 

Hello everyone! I'm currently waiting impatiently for my M14x to arrive! This is my first gaming rig. So much to learn so I hope you guys can guide me if I'm all lost and blurry.

 

Can someone please comment on the fan noise? I understand the noise is loud while gaming/under load which is fine.

My concern is the fan noise while idle or just doing office document, watching youtube (flash) and browsing the internet. Is it loud, does it go up and down like first generation M11x does or is it pretty much silent during aforementioned conditions?

Thanks...

 

The fan noise at idle, web surfing, doing document things is nearly non existent.

 

i dont sign that.

websurfing and ideling on "Low Power" Energy Profile keeps the fan off for most of the time. on mid-heavy multi-tabbing and videos it kicks the fan on to lowest speed for ~1-2 minutes.

i just hope dell releases a better fan control then just "off - mid loud - hairdryer"

 

Thank you both for the response, 1 is silent 1 is low fan noise...I can live with both Will get mine tomorrow~!

 

Hey all, I am not an owner of this laptop. I am actually wondering whether or not I should get this due to the varying opinions each person has! Well anyways, I am going to college this fall and I wanted to build a desktop gaming rig, but for college, I feel it is best to obviously get a laptop. I am a gamer, a big one and I would LOVE to have a laptop to satisfy my needs as well as help me school wise(Im majoring in computer science...programming!).

My parents are willing to pay half for this laptop so I want to keep it under 1600 for their sake at least haha.

So my main question is: What specs for this laptop would be ideal for me if I want to play games with amazing quality that runs fast?(ie: Team Fortress 2, HOPEFULLY Skyrim, Portal, Battlefield, etc.) AND should I bother getting the Microsoft Office 2010 add-on? I really feel as If I should buy it for a lower price..

 

@Erock I am actually on the same boat as you. Can't decide between the m11x and the m14x. But whatever. It should play all the games you listed with generous performance. As for the Microsoft 2010, I would skip it.

1) As a college student, most universities offer many different types of software free of charge, so that would be the best option, its freeee.

2) There are free alternatives you can find online that work the same and look almost identical to micrsoft office apps.

 

I own a m11x r2 and a m14x and the m11x r2 is for sale if that tells you anything. My m11x with the super charge thing was hitting around mid 8000's in 3d mark 06 and my m14x is hitting low 15000's OCed stable. The m11x is a great netbook? gaming PC but TBH playing BC2 on it was horrible, and I don't mean performance wise I mean screen size wise. The m14x really isn't that much bigger and you get nearly double the 3d mark score, bigger screen that you can actually game on, optical drive (Or second HD), and WAY WAY better sound. That's something else, the sound on the m11x is pretty wimpy and relys on a desk to bounce sound. the m14x has amazing sound, when I first tried it I literally double blinked and took a step back. The m17x IMO is not very portable, I carried my G73 to work for about 6 months before I threw in the towel and bought my m11x. I think I would have originally got a m14x vs a m11x to begin with but it wasn't an option. Just my .02 but I think the m14x is an amazingly rounded gaming laptop and really lands right in the sweet spot between the m11 and the m17 (The m15x IMO was a lot closer to a m17x).

 

Darn you. Just Darn you. I was set on the m14x, but I decided to go a little cheaper and smaller. I kept on changing my mind this past month between the 11 and 14 and finally decided on the 11. You are one of the only posters on here that gave a very nice description of both and your preference, and now I am back to being hesitant. Thanks.

I am mostly a console gamer, but I do the occasional pc gaming.
Starcraft 2, half lives*, crysis 2, witcher 2, portal 2.
I am not worried about performance, hell for some reason I don't really care about graphics either(im weird) but your emphasis on the screen makes me worry. Is it really that bad to try and play on? I have a 17'' gateway 900p so perhaps it would be hard to adjust to the 11''.

Do you think the m14x would be a nuisance to be at college with? And is the battery life sufficient?

 

hehe, some tight confusion you've gotten yourself into Hey if it helps, I'll tell you what I've decided. I wanted the m11x a LOT, cos its so portable, comparatively lighter and for the battery life. But then, I think the screen size and the power just doesn't cut it for me. I need to be able to play newer games at decent settings and decent frames, and I wanted the i7 upgrade all the way, SO I've settled for the m14x.

Oh yeah, I'm starting college too, this fall. Apparently the m14x gives 6 hours with all bells and whistles turned off and brightness dimmed to the lowest level , which is fine by me for word, internet, etc since most laptops I've used [vaios, toshibas, macs, hps] can't get past the 3hour mark under the same settings. I wondered if I should sacrifice power for 2 hours more on the m11x and I can't find myself saying YES to that lol. M14x all the way for me, this summer. I think you won't be disappointed with it, either

The only thing I can't settle for now is whether to get the 2720 over the 2630, since I'll probably get 1866 or higher freq RAM sometime in the future...

EDIT:

Hey, and if it helps, the m14x can run crysis 2 , starcraft 2 and whatever else at 30fps AT LEAST even on really high / max settings!

 

Sorry if this has been asked before but. Is the 6gb from Dell dual channel or single channel? Also what are the advantages of dual and single? Thanks in advance

 

From what I've heard, the 6GB option is Single Channel compared to the 4GB and 8GB options which are DC... Dual Channel is when two similar memory modules are plugged into two adjacent memory slots. eg. 2GB+2GB

Now Dual Channel is ALWAYS faster than single channel - I'll leave it to the experts to explain it to you but I'll tell you about some personal experience. I had a desktop PC with one stick of 256MB ram, which was upgraded to a 512mb stick... then one of my friends had an extra 256mb stick. The timings matched with my 256mb one, so I put in both in dual channel mode. Equivalent ram = 512mb but my system felt atleast a third faster than when I had just the one module Guess that's the benefit of dual channel!

I think what it does is split the tasks assigned to memory between the two modules, so rather than all the load being on one module its shared by two, and hence they work better and faster at the same task. [correct me if I'm wrong]

EDIT: I got info that the 6GB option consists of a 4GB+2GB bundle.

 

hey I dont know if its because my laptop is new, but from what I've read, I'm either really lucky or the multitude of little problems people have experienced occur after a certain point in time. (do they?)
So far (4 days of use)
Each day I boot up, and then shut down at the end of the day. During the day I put the comp to sleep. I have an ssd btw so boot time is amazing!
The past two days I played a good amount of eve online.
Things I noticed: My comp got warm of course, but not uncomfortably hot or to the point where I thought I should stop playing. Fan noise is very quiet compared to some youtube vids I've seen . To me it sounds like a baby fan. Also, I've been playing plugged in, because as I've read and noticed, the performance is much smoother plugged in which is understandable, but would have liked performance to have been a little smoother unplugged. Everything besides gaming is blazingly fast tho which I'm happy about Also another important thing to note. When gaming, I have not noticed any lag spikes or loss in connection due to heat, which a lot of people have complained about.
Basically, I'm just wondering if I'm lucky or if theres a certain point in time when I should expect to see some problems arise. As things are right now, I'm very happy with my laptop and hope it will be able to last me a good 3 years for college lol (I wish)
Tell me your thoughts

 

I'm in the same boat as you, havent noticed any issues either. will be needing it for my 3 years of schooling as well its only about a week old now.

 

lets hope our laptops work at their current functionality for the entirety of college! (I really need it to)
Forgot to mention the only thing I really dont like about the laptop is the webcam. First off the auto white balance was making the picture quality all blue and in general the quality of the webcam is horrible lol.
Also a general question to all. Does playing plugged in damage the battery? Technically, doesnt that overcharge the battery and reduce battery life? If so I'm just going to remove the battery cause theirs no point playing on battery.

 

Have had my m14x for little over a month now and loving it! Quick question for everyone though, as I'm getting a little paranoid.

I kicked and tripped over the power cord while the laptop was plugged in at my friends place, and luckily my friend caught the laptop before it fell on the ground. Inspecting for damage, I found that the power cord wiggles a bit at the connection port, but I'm not sure whether that was how it's always been or if I caused that by tripping over the cord.

How does everyone elses power cord behave at the connection port? Otherwise, the laptop charges fine and nothing has malfunctioned, but I'm worried that if slightly damaged it would be a concern for long term usage. Thanks!

 

mine wiggles a bit.... not something too worrying

 

Ok, I've made the decision to go with the M14x. Will buy as soon as my big fat Sager NP8170 sells. Great laptop but just don't need a desktop replacement notebook now. Hopefully some decent discounts wil crop up in the next week or so!

 

Excuse me..
How much GB the system( C: ) on Alienware m14x ?
40Gb ? Or ??

 

there is an update for the camera firmware, that fixes this, its on the website

 

Which website? Links please and thank you sir

Also I just turned off auto white balance and set it myself.

I haven't had any real issued with my laptop. I purchased it the week it released and have been happy since! Hopefully it holds up for the rest of my college years but I will probably sell it as soon as another release of the m14x comes out. I'm the type that if I feel I can get something better for only a little bit more I will gladly sell this to buy another one lol.