Clear Coat/Soft Touch on M17xR3 Peeling

Is this happening to yours?
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No. We have two r3's used by children everyday since the first day In January they were originally released.

 

How are you handling or transporting it? Is this the cause? Or, is it just peeling off?

 

Wow no definitely not happening to me. If it was I'd be on the phone the first time it flaked. I'd recommend getting on the phone with tech support and if necessary email those pics to them. As long as you're not abusing it and handling it correctly when moving it you should be just fine getting a repair/replacement

 

There has been some reports about this already happening to other people. You will have to be a lot more careful now with this new material as it doesn't take normal wear and tear well especially when you have it rubbing against something in your bag.

I'm having a little issue with my R2 right now and Dell is offering me a new R3 since the fan is on backorder but I REFUSED. There's no way they are taking away my beautiful Nebula Red ALUMINUM baby away.

 

Lol wow. I was worried it was going to happen, but this soon?

 

Would this be covered under the extended warranty?

 

wow looks bad

 

feel sad for ya, buddy... i'd contact the alienware techs regarding that.
p.s. on the optimistic side, you can now paint it into whatever color you want!

 

That looks pretty bad. Id venture far enough to say that it was in a canvas bag and the rubbing could easily polish the rubber coating like that.

Mine started peeling. I tipped it on its point to put the cover on from the back and it started peeling from the front. its been in a backpack and original sleeve since new every single day to and from work and there are 0 signs of wear like this though.

 

I'd call them up right away and ask whats going on! This is turning me away from an M17x, as carrying it in my backpack in college would definitely cause this kind of wear. That's pretty sad for a 2000$ laptop. I'm leaning thinkpads now -__-

 

Like I said if you use the sleeve that it comes with this won't happen inside a backpack under everyday use. Well at least about 60 days I can say for sure. Without the sleeve inside a backpack that doesn't have a soft finish I can bet it will look like the ops in no time.

If my new nebula red wears like this I'll be sanding it all off and doing something really sexy..

 

Do you also have the orion scanfast backpack?

 

That's happening to mine.
I think it's from pulling it in/out of the stupid cloth bag that comes with the r3 (in my case at least)

edit:

Again, I have a nebula red r3, and I'm almost 100% positive that the sleeve is the cause of the wearing/peeling
Mine is only worn down at this point (corners are black), not peeling.

 

wow. they really should have stuck with the aluminum.

 

Well I'm definitely bringing it to their attention if it happens (looks like it will).

 

It does look like crap.

 

Just looked at the photos. Man, that's really sad. It took like 2 years each for the rubber coating to start peeling off of my phones (Samsung D500, and then D600).

 

Well when you want a lighter notebook, concessions such as this are inevitable. You can't have your cake and eat it too. So far mine has no scratches or wear but then again I leave it on the desk at all times. When I do transport it, I plan to put it inside a very thick padded sleeve and then to put that sleeve inside my Orion backpack. I warned everyone that this would happen when the R3 was first released--it's the nature of having a rubber coated product. My R2 is FAR FAR more durable than my R3.

 

Lets not be white-knighting on Dell's behalf; lighter chassis or not, this kind of peeling, this soon, is pretty much unacceptable on a premium machine.

 

I am not sure how it is Dell's fault if someone chooses to subject their laptop to an environment where a soft cover rubs agains a rough material (such as inside a backpack AND whatever else is stored in the same laptop compartment. I really think some folks would be much happier if they purchased a "Toughbook", made by Panasonic, I think? Computer equipment has never been made (outside of specialty builds) to hold up to daily abuse. This is almost like saying it would be Ford's fault if you drive your car through a touch type car wash, with plastic spinners, and it lightly scratches the paint.

 

Yes i agree with shadowyani. Every laptop should be made and tested to withstand everyday activities including putting the laptop inside a backpack which the majority of people do. Laptops are made for the purpose of bringing it with you around, not laying untouched on a desk. The manufactorers have a duty to follow this guideline when engineering and designing the laptop. This is the first time i actually have seen and heard about this, and i have been using laptops and following notebook forums for many years.
This is really a very bad design and coating job. Outragous!

 

I am sure a few of you are engineers here. Think of it logically. Alienware corners are not like normal corners on normal lappies. the stick out. on the topside on the back and on the bottom side in front. When you place it in a bag etc, this area is gonna receive maximum friction.

In addition to that you have rubberized material coating. This coating is going to give more traction to the friction. hence the coating is going to get pulled off day by day over a period of time.

Salt from palm etc will weakn the polymer over time also. you are more like to see more of this cases in normal day to day use.

You wont see this in lappies which sit on the desk all day or those who wrap theirs in baby napkins before transport. At least not as soon as those who dont. But as for those who will use like it its meant to be used will soon find this problem.

I can pretty much vouch for this to happen. It was a really a dumb idea to give rubberized coating to a system such a weight and dimension. They could have given them goo enamel coating either matt or glossy.

Also be reminded that the corners as shown in his photos will also have higher temperature exposure. This will weaken the coating adhesive properties too.

Why could they not just make a good chassis like Dell xps M1530. It had a solid bottom and a very decent and durable topside. Lighter in weight too.

 

that's so painful , I'll stick with r2 for awhile ><

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/taruku/IMG_0444.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/taruku/IMG_0445.jpg
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I only have my site review camera here at work - and it's terrible - so all of the pics are focused incorrectly. Last pic is probably most difficult to notice, but the black non-rubberized finish that wraps around bottom of screen has matte finish stripped at the edge. This one puzzles me the most, as I'm fairly certain I've never touched that part of the screen.
Again, I feel this wear is from using the cloth bag that comes with the r3 (except last image). When transporting, I slide the notebook into the cloth case/bag/whatever and carry it by hand - Still trying to decide which bag to buy for it.

I should also note that these areas are just black - no peeling. Some images have spots that look metallic, but that's just a reflection.

(isn't the color of my desk at this office terrible?)

 

Damn. :| Have you tried calling dell and ask what actions or help they can do?

 

If the paint peeled, then you'd be right; of course that would probably be a recall item (like what happened with Dodge minivans in mid 90s).

Now we know unfortunately. If you want to transport an Alienware, make sure you pack it with extra comfy pillows around it.

 

Not yet.
I'm going to itemize all of the defects this weekend, then call.

 

Hoping they would do atleast something.

 

I'm only actually pretending to work right now, so I decided to do the list....and it's quite long!

 

Show us the loooooooong list when your done.

 

Logitech's G9 used a soft-touch rubber. Mine peeled away, Logitech corrected it in their G9x and sent it to me free of charge. Several Saabs, VW, and Audi's have peeling dashes and buttons, you can bet the owners aren't apologizing for their manufacturers.

In the PC world, we're kind of conditioned to put up with things/fix them ourselves (Clean installs, bloatware removal, etc). That mindset shouldn't have carry over to build quality; Dell should be aligning lids, making sure keyboard plates are in, thermal paste is used correctly, and that the finish doesn't peel from putting the thing back into the bag it came in.

You can bet I'm going to flex my warranty until I get the product I paid for. Alienware isn't the crummy $500 notebook I'm used to buying and dealing with in the past. I'll make no apologies for a $2000 notebook, especially since all the latest reviews have been praising the build quality to no end.

 

I don`t understand how a RMA could fix this? This is clearly a design/coating fault that needs to be redesigned. If you get a new laptop sent to you, the same thing will happen again

 

It won't, but I don't intend on letting Dell know that this is okay.

 

it will help me;
I know now that using the bag thing is a bad idea and won't make the same mistake again.

Just purchased 2 slappa products with soft lining for my r3.

 

Yeah i guess that you both have valid points. I too would ask for a replacement or money back for shure.

 

Which have the soft lining?

 

It's peeling of it's outer skin, like a caterpillar... becoming a beautiful butterfly. I'm just worried yours might be going in the reverse direction. It doesn't look promising tbh.

You could try calling Dell (definitely show them these pics) and ask for another color? Also, has anyone possibly tried reskinning them or putting some protective layer on top?

 

Its funny that the customer is stuck buying special backpacks and whatever else to make up for Dells crappy design. You all can say what you want but if I am paying a premium price then I should be receiving a premium product. To say its the customers fault for carrying the laptop in a backpack makes no sense whatsoever..

So if I drive my car down the road and it falls apart, I should just deal with it because I shouldnt have been driving the car?? Thats like saying the car was designed to sit in the garage and that I was doing something wrong by actually driving it.

Sorry but if the paint even looks like its going to peel on my new laptop.. Its going straight back to Dell for a refund.

 

Del made a mistake by coating the entire chasis + lid in rubber. They should have just kept it to the palm rest area and left the rest as magnesium or a thin aluminum layer. It still would have been light and more durable. However, the problem with aluminum/magnesium is they easily scratch so you still have to be careful no matter what. The only other alternative would be to use tough matte plastic and I doubt anyone wants that--I'd rather take my chances with rubber.

 

That's actually a pretty good analogy.
I'll bookmark your post so I can pretend I made it up when they give me grief

 

that's unfortunate wear taking place. i haven't seen reports of that sort from the other manufacturer's using rubber-ish coatings such as the asus g73 or sager 8150 boxes. wonder how widespread it will be with the m17s and/or if the peeling will confine itself to the oft-rubbed corners.

 

Wow......that is crazy. I would be flipping out right now if that was happening to my notebook. Another reason I am glad I kept my R2. If they made the notebook lighter, to make it more portable, how do they expect it to handle normal wear conditions like this?

If I were you, I would call up Alienware right now and have them send out a new lid cover. That is just outright unbelieveable, especially for the money we pay for these machines.

Build Quality: R2 > R3. This just adds onto the keyboard/palmrest/lid flexing the R3 experiences.

There is just no beating that anodized aluminum chassis. Or at least, even the M15x magnesium alloy type material would have been better than this "soft touch" garbage.

I hope Dell can get that replaced for you bro.

 

So let me get this straight. Dell decided to go from Aluminium to this coating which flakes off in exposed areas? And additionally they switched over to rubber which again is prone to get marks and will suffer from use? It is almost like "ok this notebook will look fine when i get it and the first year maybe but after a while the rubber will start to wear off and it will get uglier and the sale value will decrease"?

Why?

 

Reason 1: Its Dell.

Reason 2: Saving $$$$ on materials.

 

for the exact same reason it costs instead of $5k only $1.2k - 3.7k

 

$1300 for a aluminium casing? That`s a little expensive
I guess a lot of people (me included) would pay few hundred bucks more for aluminium instead of rubber/plastic.

 

And that coating/design job is bad and would not cost them any more money to do correctly.

 

i guess a few people that bought R3 would pay 170 bucks instead of 600 for additional ram, but that is not happening, is it? you're bargaining over nothing... it's a business, not charity.

 

The finish is fine imo.
Just don't be stupid like I was: Be extra careful when transporting. Make sure your case/bag doesn't require sliding the notebook over a surface with relatively high friction