4th replacement=refund/replacement

hi guys...unfortunately my passion to own an AW has been frought with the manufacturing issues that is Dell/AW.

after the 4th M17 (having bought and replaced a 460m m17, i proceeded to refund and purchase the 6990M M17) and constant headaches i have requested Dell (who have after a lot of bickering) have accepted to refund the laptop...question is i will have to go back to my HPDV5T and the search for a new laptop.....unfortunately and despite the pain of owning an AW i am hoping these guys MIGHT get their act together and build a better IVY bridge ( i was hoping to use the SB and had it warrantied to 03 yrs..to keep me going till the arrival of Haswell) however plans have changed

question is does anyone have a clue as to when they are to launch the mobile version of IVY bridge and is there any underground info on what to expect...i mean i can wait (albeit with a lot of distress) till mar/apr ..... or would you recommend i go for a 5th replacement and HOPE this one has no issues

(the current mobo will not activate the WEBCAM, sound on BOTH SPEAKERS is fluttery and dell tech states that a 2 week old laptop ie the 4th replacemtn will need to have the entire display and system taken apart for repalcement of speakers)

 

This is the ONLY reason why I always turn away from Alienware... God it frustrates me to no end... Why can't Dell put a little more effort into taking careful steps into making sure that the components work.

Playing with thousands of dollars is not something anyone should ever do. I'm not saying they are doing such, however it's what it looks like to me. I've heard amazing things about Dell. My dad owns a desktop from their 'scratch and dent' sales and it's a wonderful computer. Been working flawlessly for the past, almost, three years and he's on it daily. Probably been in the ON state for at least a year and a half of that time.

Unfortunately I can't say much else aside from, request a refund. Because they're not taking the time to really see what the problem is or test the replacement parts. At least that's what it looks like. If not that then they're just being careless and building these machine faster than they can really manage. Grounding is important here and ESD can cause a lot of this.

 

thanks mate....but you have to hand it to them, no one (atleast commercially builds 'em or backs 'em like Dell) i dont think i have experienced any PC co. like Dell, which will at least replace the PC and then begin to talk..(problem is Dell like every other co. really socks it to us ozzies here in terms of pricing and i'd expect a bit more from them)

so any clues as to what we may expect or see for 2012.... this entire issue has really gotten me upset, as i had plans of using this sys. till haswell, and then if i still felt passionately about a portable gaming rig....i'd get their haswell designed PC

 

guys, read the alienware praises all over the forum, a TON of people are ridiculously satisfied with alienware, ANY laptop manufacturer on the planet is going to have issues with a small fraction of the production, after all this is a very very very complicated procedure, and it is indeed a complex machine...

I am sure (so sure) that Toshiba and HP has 10 times more problems with their products.. heck, 6 years ago, HP recalled about 100k pavilions just because of heating and wireless issues...

 

wow...4 bad ones? That's just horrifically bad luck. You're probably looking at 6+ months for ivy bridge, but its all speculation. The next gen sandy bridge e should be next in our laptops

 

aye. I have read this forum for awhile before pulling the plug on an Alienware prepared to get the worse but so far my lappy is rocking. Hard.

The first Ivy bridge laptops are coming in April/May from Lenovo so I guess Dell wont be too far behind.

 

@ dragon check your PM

last few questions....will the new generation mobile ATI/nvidia chips that launch with the AW be as powerful and top notch as the current GPU's (6970,560,6990,580)???....i mean i am not looking into sending this laptop back, then realising the top line chip is a 128bit (rebadge) of current cards...and despite ?looks ...sucks bigtime in comparasion to the graphical prowess which is the 6990M and 580M

 

The odds of getting 4 dud laptops in a row is probably about the same odds as getting struck by lightning. No offense, but I'm surprised Dell put up with you for as long as they did.

 

Lightning strikes are becoming more common then...

Actually, it's more common than it should be. We have the ODM (Compal) and the Chinese sweat shops that assemble them to thank for this. I'm on my third M18x since July, and it's in the depot. Dell/Alienware takes care of us, I agree. Thankfully, or there would be a lot of us left with expensive paperweights. Their warranty and service is what sets Dell apart from its competitors and keeps me coming back.

 

Sounds like bad luck mate, but the one thing that really sets Dell apart is the warranty. There are people with 4 year warranties that have had 3+ brand new computers. We are talking people that started out on mobile P4 systems and ended up on the newest M18x with duel 580m cards.

Quite frankly, you won't find any competing computer to the M17x, and the coming new hardware is a marginal upgrade at best, at worst you won't even be able to tell the difference. I would just try to get a working machine now and enjoy it.

 

yup...me agrees....that was the single reason to upgrade to the 3 year warranty ...not to mention i wanted to buy something intel when the next major revision came through..however the current gen doesnt seem to wanna play ball with me.....so back to the question

with IVY bridge...are we going to receive better or atleast GPU's at par with the current crop of top end GPUs from NV and ATI

 

Not sure I understand your question, but the current GPUs will work with Ivy (it will still be an MXM 3.0b slot). Obviously, as time goes on new GPUs will be released. Judging by desktop cards the 28 nm GPUs will be about 5-25% faster and should be out in around 6 months, roughly the same time as Ivy.

Really though, I don't know why you would think that the minor changes coming in 6 months would somehow solve all your problems. It is gonna be exactly the same machine with a 5-10% faster CPU and 5-25% faster GPU and perhaps an extra hour or so of battery life.

 

^ what i asked was....(and you have answered it..)

will the new gen GPU's that roll out (around IVY Bridge time) be as capable as the current GPU's available (6990/6970/580/560)

the reason...i am looking into a refund is...the M17Xr3 seems to be riddled with issues...heck they still can't get the front Rt. speaker to NOT "flutter" on any output beyond 30% of max., the battery rattling, etc... i was hoping they might be changing the face of the new IVY bridge machine (AW) and thus to get something a tad bit more ?well built.....????

as far as battery goes...i can eke out 5.15 min from a fully charged cell on lowest brightness, and wifi on, on iGPU at optimum settings