Alienware 17 - matte finish peeling off

I've had my alienware 17 for about 6 months now and i take extremely good care of it. However the corner matte finish on the lid is peeling off. I know im being picky but when spending 3K+ on a laptop its hard not to. Anyone else have this problem or any advice on how to keep it from spreading?

 

HI,

speak to Alienware, that is not good for a laptop that cost over 3K... they may say its only on a corner and its been rubbed off in a case. they are usually very helpful and im sure they will help you out.

Thanks

Ian

 

What carrying case are you using?? Would that be covered under accidental damage?

 

I have a Evereki backpack, and my brand new laptop did the same, so i put a skin on it,

 

I have the alienware backpack and mine is starting to do that in the corner.... I dont care all the much though as I plan to get the whole thing vinyl wrapped soon.

 

I have the alienware backpack. Sounds like vinyl wrapping it is the best option. Where would you all suggest i get the vinyl wrap? Id like to keep the same Matte/Satin finish. I'm not looking to add crazy graphs, keeping the appearance stock would be my preference.

 

check declarus online, i think they have some stock looking skins, I did a carbon skin

 

Do you have pics posted anywhere?

 

I would recommend 3M di noc carbon fiber skin. I bought a large sheet on Ebay and wrapped my m17x r2. I had to cut it to size myself but its rather easy to work with and streches when heat is applied. The end result was an awesome new look to my r2. I plan to wrap my AW 17 once its starts to show signs of wear. I still have plenty of the sheet left over.

 

oh just peel it all of already and be like it was never there

 

I picked up one from ebay , precut , install was easy, The rubberized coating was also bothering me where i could see my palm print ,

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Even had spare material for the mouse

 

That looks bad a**. Is it the 3M Di Noc? Texture feel to it? It looks just like the 3M to me. What I did not like about other skins was that the carbon fiber was just printed and looked super cheesy.

 

Yes its the texured stuff,
ive wrapped race cars, motorcycles and lots of other stuff this was precut so it took under an hour to finish, I took my time, and wiped everything down with rubbing alcohol before i applied the skin, and finished it with a blow drier to help the advesive set and work out any air bubbles, the materials great since its woven the air bubbles actually are not an issue for installation,

 

Yeah. the 3M material I used is what customizers use on cars and motorcycles. With heat it can be shaped to any mold/contour. It is quite resilient material. Application was the same as you described. Thanks.

Found this on Decalsrus. Seems to be the same you applied but from a different seller. The link says AW 18 but its for the AW 17.

Alienware 18 Skin cover

 

Ive never used the Declarus stuff , over priced, thats why i went with the ebay one.

 

Same thing happening to my AW17.

Sent pictures to Alienware and they offered to fix it, of course, but said it required a complete disassembly. No way. Not with the stories about techs who can't even swap a SSD.

It was really upseting because I specifically went with the Alienware neoprene sleeve to avoid issues like this and it's their sleeve that caused it.

 

Whomever you spoke with at Alienware is wrong. In your case, that would not require a "complete disassembly" of the system. You would only need to remove the palm rest & keyboard, which takes about 10-20 minutes for someone who knows what they're doing. The entire palm rest lifts off and can be easily replaced.

EDIT: Palm rests are expensive. They range from $59.99 all the way up to $119.99. So, you'll definitely want to have Alienware send you one.

 

I really like the rubberized feel ( is there no way to keep it???

 

I had almost decided to get an AW 17 when I saw this thread and was totally shocked!

Does this happen on all machines or only on an unforunate few with bad/faulty rubber coating?

Also, if something like that would happen with my unit, would it be covered by warranty? I'm really nervous to buy an AW notebook now, because something like that would absolutely ruin it for me. Such a shame!

 

Wait for official reply.

 

It doesn't happen to all of them. I've owned several and haven't come across this.

It's probably due to the way they treat their systems. That's the only explanation I can think of. Obviously, if you are constantly putting your laptop in a bag and removing it, friction will cause this. Just because the laptop "fits" doesn't mean it's a good fit. It happens with anything and everything.

As I said, it's an easy fix.

 

IM actually very anal about how I treat my laptop, even bought an overly expensive backpack to protect it. I was initially using my dell Edge 18" backpack that DID NOT HAVE the soft felt interior lining that the Everki Has. Since the new backpack i have not had any additional peeling. The rubberized coating is actually pretty thing on the lid.

 

Reconfirmed with AW that there is no 'easy' way to remove the top cover. Just removing the keyboard and trackpad won't do it.

Have you done this repair before? Do you have pictures I can use to convince AW?

 

The only thing that's pealing in your pictures is the palm rest. It can be easily replaced. It's just a bunch of screws that need undone, then the entire thing literally pops off. I've removed it many times before - every time I've had to install an mSATA SSD or upgrade RAM.

EDIT: It's not difficult, just tedious. Check the Owner's manual.

 

Thanks for the info. I'm going to dig into the manual now. I'll see if I can convince AW to just send me the part. I'd much rather DIY on something like this.

 

Ok. Looks like AW is correct.

To remove the palm rest you must:

Remove bottom cover
Remove HDD
Remove SSD
Remove battery
Remove Optical/3rd drive
Remove 22 screws
Remove keyboard cable
pop cover out of latch
disconnect lighting daughter board
remove power button daughter board
remove status light board
remove keyboard daughter board

That's pretty much a complete dis-assembly to me.

 

Those few steps, where it says to remove the boards, are just a few screws and a cable or ribbon. It's a lot easier than it sounds. The entire keyboard & palm rest assembly comes off as one giant piece. You then disconnect the cables, flip it over, and start unscrewing the keyboard. You just have to be organized and remember where everything goes. There are only three types of screws, if I remember correctly. And all of the screw holes are labeled.

There's a chance this will happen to your new palm rest if a technician comes out to replace it: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/751192-amyone-else-s-aw-getting-zits.html These systems are quite new and people haven't had much (if any) experience working on them. I recommend attempting it yourself, carefully. Technician's are on the clock and have other clients. Not only are they in a rush, but they don't care about your property as much as you do.

 

This video shows how to get to the msata which requires you to remove the keyboard. You could use it as a guide to get the the keyboard plate off. This is what i would use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYwPoUBMRFw

 

Got a link?

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