Completely loaded M17xR2 from Outlet just received!

Just received a M17xR2 from the Dell Outlet (using the 20% off coupon currently available). Seldom is a R2 seen at the Outlet, and a couple of days ago, was only one, and it was fully loaded (and I mean FULLY.) I think the only thing that could be upgraded is the Crossfire 4870's (to 5870's).

I configured an identical one new, and it came out to about $5400 + change, and this one (which, btw, is in MINT AS NEW condition...not a scratch anywhere), came out at a bit less than $3400. Sound like a decent deal?

Module Description Show Details
System Color Nebula Red - Special Edition - Anodized Aluminum
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit, English
Processor Intel® Core™ i7 920XM 2.0GHz (3.2GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
Memory 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Power Adapters 240 watt Adapter
Display Panels 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)
Video Card Dual 1GB ATI Radeon™ Mobility HD 4870 in CrossfireX™
Hard Drive 512GB Raid 0 (2x 256GB Solid State HDDs)
AlienFX Astral Aqua
Adobe Reader Acrobat SW Adobe Acrobat Reader
CD ROM/DVD ROM Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Burner (BR-R, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Sound Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
Wireless I ntel® Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology
Automatic Updates Automatic Updates: On
Service 1 Year Premium Service Plan
Factory Installed Games Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed
Bluetooth Internal Wireless Bluetooth® 2.1 with EDR
Standard Nameplate Trigger Standard Nameplate
TOTAL: $5,422.25

Definitely more than I normally pay for a notebook! In any case, after opening it (have not turned it on yet, thinking I may either resell it or keep it...haven't decided), this is ONE HEAVY notebook! Must be solid steel!

Anyways, as a veteran of other forums here on NBR (HP Dragon, HDX, and almost ALL the Dell forums), hopefully I will become an active, useful member!

Just wanted to gloat a bit.

Gloating done.

 

Thats an awesome machine you have there, have fun and enjoy!

 

Thanks! I have lots of catch-up reading here to do!

Just a quick question about the power supply...when running on battery, is the M17xR2 crippled in any way? Does it throttle your speed or can it still run full-bore on battery?

Sorry if it's been talked to death, but I've got this whole forum to read still, and I'm tired.

 

Haven't noticed any throttling while running on battery. But you can't expect more than an hour on medium load. Max @idle is ~1hr 30min-40min

 

You can change the power settings on battery for gpu/cpu etc, to anything you wish. Regarding selling it, it's always more difficult to sell the higher end systems even if it is a good deal.

 

If you mean Windows Power settings, yes, I know. What I meant was that when I turn it on with no power adapter connected, I get a POST message saying to connect a power source for optimum performance (or something to that effect), which led me to think that maybe on battery, I cannot get full potential of the CPU.

Yes, it is a high ticket item, but for anyone looking for the best of the best, it seems like good savings.

 

uhh, yeah! the 920 and RAID 0 SSD's would have done it for me, thats ~ $1500-2,000( that's retail, between ebay and newegg) between those two parts alone. Eventually 5870's will become available for upgrade, and they're not *that* expensive.

The default settings for fusion allow 100% processor usage to take place on the battery, the Graphics are set to maximize battery life by default which is what it's talking about. You should be able to adjust this to allow it to run full-bore, however I wouldn't expect it to last longer than a few minutes or so running both cards in a game. It's just letting you know that you're not going to be playing anything very long if you don't plug it in

 

thats is one sweet system,

If you do plan on keeping it, extending the warranty would be a good ideal.

You can always extend or upgrade the warranty so long as the unit is still under the original warranty

 

Well, I always use my Amex card for practically everything because, among other benefits, it adds 1 extra year warranty to whatever came with the item, and it's an identical warranty, too. Plus Amex pays for costs of diagnosis, etc., or if too costly, will refund the original purchase price. I've used it many times and they really treat you like a valued customer. Best of all...it's free!

 

Unfortunately, I think I am sending it back. I have one major issue with it, and a few things I am just generally unhappy with:

1. Computer will not boot when on battery. (major issue)
2. Fans are driving me crazy.
3. High frequency CPU whine, mostly when idle.
4. Tension on lid. I feel like I'm struggling to open it, and have to be careful when closing to avoid the lid slamming down.
5. Too damn heavy.
6. Touchpad very glitchy. Switched to BT mouse.

I don't know what is up with running on battery. If the battery is 100%, then it seems (in my limited testing) to start fine. Once it gets to around 94% and I reboot the system while on battery (or start it up cold on a partially discharged battery), the system completely turns off once the Windows 7 starburst comes on. Instantly off. Sometimes, if I keep pushing the power button, it might come back on. Once, I left it overnight, and it still would not turn on in the morning (on battery). I removed the battery (which showed 5 LED's on the meter) and put it back in and it turned on, but still would not boot, shutting down at the starburst animation. I plug in the AC and it boots right up. I have A05 BIOS already.

UPDATE: I also just noticed that if I unplug the AC adapter while it is on, it locks up after about 5 seconds.

The other issues are just annoying to me and not something I want to have to deal with considering the cost of this PC.

Granted, this is one AWESOME PC! By far, the most powerful and awesome notebook I've ever owned (and if you know me from other forums, you know I've had A LOT of them!). The build is spectacular. Top notch quality. But, for the cost of this system, it needs to be practically perfect, and it's not.

 

nothing is perfect, I think for a few of those faults, you're going to find they're worse in comparable systems.

 

I did say practically perfect.

Like I wrote, I've probably had more different Dell and HP systems (top notch ones...no low end garbage) than 90% of most people, and so I think I have a substantiated opinion. Obviously, weight is not the fault of the computer, but more of a personal quibble.

The fans and CPU whine will end up driving me nuts. While the fans may be a necessary evil (why on so often when just idle?), the CPU whine should not be.

In any case, not being able to run a notebook on battery is not acceptable.

BTW, my desktop is an Alienware Area-51 (new one with i7-930) and overclocked, it's practically silent and runs solid. I really love it! It too, is an awesome build, and I love the chassis design (but I digress...this is a notebook forum!)

 

Well, I would just not let a essentially $2,000 discount go by so quickly. You do have warranty support. I would use it first .

that being said, I can't imagine why the fans would spool at idle. I've never heard of them coming on at idle, unless of course, it's not idle. The CPU whine I believe you are hearing to is actually GPU whine, my 4870's did it, my 280s did it, my 5870s do it too, but much less of it. Pretty much the whole computing world does it with any sort of high powered GPU.

oh yes it is, aluminum is heavy!

 

I'll try tech support first. Chat is my preferred method of communicating with Dell, but I see that there is no tech chat for this model. Hopefully, phone support speaks American English.

Oddly, the screen just dimmed (like it does when it sits idle for a while), but did not brighten back up when I moved the mouse. I had to manually adjust the brightness back up. Battery is at 86%.

 

Did you do the discharge? Take battery out, and press and hold the power button down for a few seconds and then replace battery to see if it resets it to charge properly/run on battery? I hope you can get this resolved as that was an excellent deal. I would work with tech and see if they cant make it right.. I would also format and install fresh to make sure all software is installed properly.

 

Personally, i would contact dell TS. Confirm the issues. Then contact Dell's returns department. Do this by calling customer care and ASKING for the returns department. Otherwise customer care will try to do the return themselves.

Tell the returns person you are planning on returning the unit because it's a hassle to go through the repair process. They can view the TS notes on file and see the issues you are having.

Honestly it is a hassle to get it repaired and its worth some concession to you. So, if it were me, I'd explain the hassle and ask for a discount to keep it and have it repaired.

You may be able to get another $100.00 or so off the price. Do it honestly and dont be dramatic. It'lll cost Dell to have it shipped back so they're bound to be willing to work with you.

 

He's already purchased the laptop, he's not going to get any sort of credit back. If he really nails them for a long time, they might throw a $50 or $100 coupon code at him, but that's about all they'll do.

 

I have not done the discharge thing. I am on the phone now with TS and finally was able replicate it with them on the phone. They are sending a replacement battery (which I agree is the simplest and quickest thing to try).

If that doesn't fix it, I'll either ask for a refund or a new unit (not a new refurb, but a new unit). With any luck, they'll build me a dual 5870!

Regarding installing fresh...everything seems to be working once i'm in Windows, even when on battery. It's just during boot. EXCEPT--my FPS is WAY DOWN when on battery, and I have POWERPLAY set to HIGH PERFORMANCE on battery. I have a 3D demo that I get about 140fps when on AC, but only 20fps on battery. Also REALTEMP (which I use to monitor temps) shows my i7-920XM idling at 1.2Ghz or so (it fluctuates a bit up and down)...shouldn't 2.0Ghz be the bottom and it goes up from there?

In any case, so with the battery issue and super slow 3D on battery, seems there are some issues to deal with.

One last thing, the SD card reader...I stuck in a 32GB SDHC card and tried copying a bunch of pictures to the PC...many reported CRC errors during copy, and the copy speed was abysmally slow. I put the same card into my USB reader and connected to the M17x and got blazing speed and no errors. Anyone know if there is a firmware issue or driver issue with the reader? I do believe I have the Windows 7 update for 32GB SDHC card hotfix installed.

Thanks all for your tips!

 

I'm not sure what experiences you have had with Dell but they have offered me these types of discounts to avoid a return as recently as this past week.

So if you otherwise like the laptop and they make a resonable attempt to compensate your for your hassle its worth pursuing IMO.

 

It nevers hurts to ask. Worst they can say is no

 

I hope this is a rare scenario with all you guys, if anyone has this battery on boot issue please pitch in. Ill be using this laptop at school so it has to be able to boot on battery!!!!!!!

 

you won't be using it for very long with CF 4870's and a 920XM.

 

Hah im putting 5870s in it , hopefully stealth mode does wonders, peeps saying 2 hours which is enough for a couple classes then I can charge up somewere

 

What's stealth mode? Does the 4870 have it?

 

Stealth mode is alienwares way of optimizing your system for battery use. Clocking down CPU and GPU, so that your not burning battery life while using it for small tasks like word processing, school work, that sorta thing. Theres a button I believe its top right above the F* buttons and it turns it on or off, or theres an icon or something in the windows toolbar, not too sure though , check your user manual though.

 

Hmmm...maybe that's why my fps sucks so bad on battery...I'll see if I can find it. Thanks.

 

I get 1-1.5hours with CF5870s a 720 and RAID MHDD's. you have SSD's which suck less power, but a 920 which sucks more.

there's a reason it does that. Don't expect more than 20-30 minutes of battery life if you've got both (or even 1 ) GPU on full-bore.

 

My system im planning is the 2 5870, 500 gb hdd (upgrade to ssd when prices drop a bit more), 6 gb of 1333 ddr3, and 720qm at 1.6ghz and hopefully the LED screen draws less power, and when i go into stealth, absolutely everything will be dialed down to the lowest possible settings, how long you think it would go just using word on these settings?

EDIT: I'd probably go down to the m15x if they had an option for the 5870, but all they offer is the 5850, aswell as it only has a display port and I atleast need a proper hdmi out to split audio, I have an optical audio amp that needs an hdmi splitter, and I like the idea of Xfire 5870s.

Just to clarify I need HDMI ---> HDMI/Optical Audio box to hook up to my surround sound. and to put a 5870 sends the audio from the DP offline.

 

The 5850 is essentially an under clocked 5870. Some people even flash their 5850 to a 5870, and many have successfully used 5870s in their M15x. If you turned *everything* down you might just barely edge 2hours out on the M17x. I could be wrong, but afaik, the HDMI port on the M17x is video out only, there is no optical out, only the 2.5mm 5.1 jacks like a normal computer.

 

the hdmi port has sound also.

 

You just broke my heart Lozz, im going to have to phone dell now and confirm digital audio out through hdmi. And if you could please send the thread of people flashing their 5850s to 5870, I wanna know if the perfomance is anything comparable because I know when they market something like the 5850, its general a faulty 5870 were some of the cores dont function so they downclock and use it as a lower end model instead of throwing it away. And the 5870 again sends audio out through the display port offline on the m15, my only option might be buying a pci sound card, but I wanna save that slot for later VIDOCK come time for an upgrade. Also if the DP on the M15x carries audio why shouldnt the HDMI not carry audio?? If anyone can actually test this now on their systems that would be great. My main mode of gaming will be hooked up to a 52 inch tv and 5.1 amp(optical audio only so digital audio is a must!)


EDIT: Oopsy claxdog gave me the answer to the last question, but another question for you sir is do you know if the audio is 5.1 dolby digital and not pro logic??? and does it handle THX, im pretty sure the answer is no but id like to ask anyways.

 

afaik, the only audio you can get out of the HDMI port is HD-CP approved audio, IE, DVD and blu-ray movie audio. I couldn't get any standard sound to come out. IE, game or windows noises.

The HD audio in the M17x is the same integrated 32bit controller in all other modern mainboards, as such yes, it does support all dolby formats.

however, as I said previously, it does not have a direct optical output. It has the HDMI port and the 5.1 2.5mm jacks. A full list of supported technologies is probably in the specification PDF on intels site
http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/hdaudio.htm

 

This is straight from the ati website I will hook to my surround tomorrow to confirm or refute.

 

I couldn't get regular audio to come through the HDMI port on my desktop nor my laptop. Maybe I had it setup wrong, I just couldn't get it to work except in movies. Let us know

 

I have second monitor/tv connected to M17xR2 via HDMI and all sound automatically played on the HDMI and it can switch between HDMI speakers or headest in Windows playback devices

 

I can confirm the hdmi does do sound and video.

 

Did my thread get hijacked with all this discussion about HDMI and audio???

 

yes.

 

Haha, I figured the HDMI output had something to do with a setting, it would seem right that it wouldnt put audio through if it didnt have HDCP.