Battery and LAN issues: Normal or Just Me

I have what I think is an Alienware M17X R1. It has a Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz processor and a single GTX260m graphics chip.

1) The first issue is related to battery performance when gaming. I know that I'm not going to get much battery life on this computer playing games. (Although I get 3 hours on the integrated chip). However, I've noticed recently that I can't play games AT ALL on battery. Let say on a game like Bad Company 2, I can get 30-40 fps when plugged in. On Battery I don't think I can get past 4 or 5. I turned off the integrated chip to make sure, but still same problem.

I was wondering if this is normal or is there something wrong here.

2) The other issue I've been having is with the wireless adaptor. For whatever reason, in order to get my wireless connection to work, I need to disable my LAN. Is that normal?

 

1. When you're on battery, the video card and the CPU will clock themselves down to very low levels. You could try changing your power plan and Nvidia settings to no use the highest performance on battery as well.

2. This is a known issue with the M17x R1. Check out the Guide to properly solve M17x wireless connection problems, it includes a workaround for it.

 

Thanks for the response. The Wireless is now working perfectly.

As far as the GPU goes, I disabled the integrated graphics card and changed the windows battery settings to High Performance. I don't have the Alienware Software installed so that shouldn't be a problem. However, I couldn't find settings to change in the Nvidia Control Panel.

If you don't mind me asking, can you play games on the battery with your M17X?

 

This is mainly a bump. But seriously, has anyone ever tried to play games on Battery using an M17X. I just wanna know where or not this is normal or if there is something wrong with my computer.

 

I doubt that many people would play games on battery alone. Between the graphics cards and CPU, the M17x uses a fair bit of power. You can play on battery, but the power draw is enough to drain the battery pretty quickly.

I would give a concrete number, but I'm still a couple of weeks from ordering my system (the 16th can't come quick enough!!!).

 

Yea, I'm not really planning on playing games on the battery. I just want to know if I can and is the low performance normal. It seems weird that a "laptop" needs to be plugged in order to get full performance.

 

check your processor power setting in the power options and make sure it is set to 100% on battery. also GPU power state on battery is max. depending on which Nvidia driver you are using, there may/may not be a Nvidia setting in the power options

 

It's a bit odd until you think of this computer as a desktop replacement, not a true "portable laptop". Any machine with a 17+ inch screen and 9+ pounds of weight isn't exactly designed to be portable.

 

I think me and you and just about the same computer. Are you able to play games on battery?

 

I'm not denying that. But with the power issues that I've been noticing lately, I just need to know if this is normal or not. I don't really ever intend to play games on battery, and if I do, not for long. I just worried that something is wrong with the CPU. The Alienware reps say this is normal, but quite frankly, those guys didn't really sound like they knew what they were talking about. I just need confirmation from one of you guys.

 

Nothing's wrong with your computer--don't worry. Yes, your fps will drop when you try to play on the battery--AFAIK, the battery can't supply the same wattage as the ac adapter.

 

Next time I am rocking RB6 Vegas 2, I will go on battery.

 

Thanks man.

 

bump...

Can someone with an R1 please tell me if they can play games on battery? PLEASE????