Defect rate for the M17x

Maybe it's just because only people with problems look for help, and the ones who are happy with the product aren't the majority of posters here.

It seems as if many people have to get replacements very shortly after their orders.

Is this really a widespread problem? or is it just something that appears to happen a lot with people seeking out help when they encounter a problem?

I'm less worried about when my laptop will come in, and more worried that it will come in with a whole load of defects and problems now.

 

Its probably because people here are looking for a fix to something. Its the reason I came here a while back.

But to be honest for what I paid for and the run around I got until my warranty ran out, I will never buy another alienware computer EVER! Lol

 

That's true. There are probably lots of satisfied customers who never post or who are never aware of the Notebook Review forums. Its usually those who do have a problem to post. Case in point, my M17x R3 was perfect except for two stuck pixels.

 

Mine has a 1inch scratch on the lid, and had 2 BSODs. Very disappointed for the most expensive purchase I've ever made. Also very disappointed for the most expensive product dell sells.

 

I've had my R2 since September and its brilliant!!!! The RGB screen still blows me away. Not had a single problem.

If you have the Dell cover you ares sorted. They will try and fix or will replace your machine if you have any problems. It can take time but they do this.

I use this forum to keep up-to-date with updates/upgrades and tips

 

My r3 has a scratch near the webcam and a spec of dirt inside the screen. The media control buttons aren't glued down properly. Think Dell will send someone out to replace those parts if I asked?

 

Definitely not the type of news you want to hear.

I would imagine they would.

 

Got my R2 in december, had an issue with video card but i got dell to change them in just 2 days since i called them to report the issue. Since then no problem at all. I'm in the sahara desert for work now, harsh place if you allow me... I move my AW every day from life camp to the field and back. It is reliable and solid. I'm really happy with it. I cannot image the R-3 with his tendencies to loose the rubber coating standing so long in this place with continuous pull out/in from the backpack and so on.

 

The plastic bezel of the edge of the media buttons is lifted by 2-3mm. I can see the LED inside the somewhat large gap.

It was like this brand new out of the box today.

I try and push it down with my finger but it just pops up again.

Any one else got this problem?

 

LOL! mine is old but yesterday or two days ago my 'A' button popped out while I played and since then I can't make it stay there (it pops out again after not so long, while using)

 

I would say this is the most common 'defect' with the m17x-r3. Quite a few people have this issue and have had to resort to gluing the media bar down. I think DaneGRclose reported that reassembling the notebook properly fixed the issue.

 

There does not appear to be any kind of clips under the media bezel, or any type of adhesive?

Hmmm what type of glue without damaging the notebook?

When you say reassembling, do you mean the whole thing taken apart, just for the external like area it is, or can the bezel be pulled off and reseated?

 

Looks a lot like mine, but with a better camera


I have no clue. My system is being returned due to defects. Just relaying the general idea of what I have previously read.

 

The hassle of returning it will likely be more than its worth in waiting in my case. I would likely ask for my money back was to return it. There is nothing else I can fault at this moment, although I am a little suspect of the DVD reads, more testing needed.
I would rather keep it if I can tack the media bar down somehow?

 

If you do an exchange, they send you the replacement before you have to send back the defective unit.

 

I emailed Dell and someone called me back in a couple hours to process an exchange. World of difference in terms of service, compared to HP (own 3 HP computers and now I loathe them).

Hopefully the replacement will have the kinks sorted out. As long as there isn't dirt under the screen things should be good; like others have said the media keys are an easy fix.

 

While I don't expect perfection from a product, I do expect a company to stand by its warranty.

To date, I've called three times for three separate Alienware systems and have had just about every issue resolved.

I say just about every issue because the call center person apparently misunderstood me when I said my drive caddy in my R3 was missing a screw. And they literally sent a screw to replace the missing one. Unfortunately, the drive caddy screws are the retention clip type. But I expect another call will rectify that in short order - i.e., they'll ship me a replacement caddy.

The other two issues with my R3 were resolved in two days - one day to call, the next day for the tech to come by and take care of the problems. I had the adhesive issue with the control panel bezel and a stripped screw hole for the memory shield on the keyboard chassis.

The tech they sent out to replace my wife's m11x's keyboard was from Unisys, who my wife says was very quick and efficient. And the tech they sent for my R3 was from who-knows-where, but at least he wasn't a newb.

All-in-all, I'm happy with my Dell/Alienware systems.

 

I don't expect it to be perfect either, but usually close to it for the price.

My machine also has the lid out by 1mm to the side, this doesn't bother me, but I can notice it (bit silly to mention this as a defect).
The webcam is slightly twisted anti-clockwise in the display, which makes me appear as if I am slumping to one side. I not that bothered about the webcam either. Althought in fact still a defect.

The above two are not perfection, but I am not phased by them, therefore not really a problem for me.

The bezel however, I really don't think that is acceptable for anyone. If I was to put up with it, it would only be a matter of time before I caught my sleeve on it.

I called customer care. They said Dell would replace the entire unit or send someone out to repair the defect. However I am not that keen on someone coming out to repair a brand new out of the box system.
If I send it back, I may get another unit with other issues?
What are yours thoughts on someone repairing this, as it is actually brand new and not used for sometime already?
If some one was to repair just the media bezel part, how much of the machine did they actually have to pull apart of your unit, to complete the repair?

 

Get the replacement. You'll keep yours and return it when the replacement arrives. Once you have the new one, swap the drives.

To fix the media bezel, they'll remove the access panel, unscrew it from below, pop it off, and snap the new one back into place. The camera issue, tho, would be more intrusive.

Getting two back to back with issues would be sheer bad luck.

And that's what I mean by I don't expect perfection, but a company willing to bend over to make you happy, that's what I expect.

 

The fact is when you pay this kind of money, you are paying for the build Quality, the R1's and R2's and stupendous build quality. It's really discouraging to hear of all the shoddy problems that dell/alienware is shipping these out with. With the amount of money people spend on these systems they should be near if not perfect condition

 

does missing os disk count?

 

Mine is internally flawless and externally awful.

Oh and an update on my replacement. One cancelled order and 3000 made up excuses later and I'm back to no longer being with an EDD because of "an LCD cover delay"

I'd go with someone else if there WAS better, unfortunately I think all the clevo resellers tend to be worse.. That and I hate the clevo models.

I swear I am going to be raising hell if the replacement system isn't without misalignment, rattling, dead pixels, etc. The amount of time I've been waiting / being on an emotional roller coaster waiting for this thing better mean its coming to be with NO ISSUES WHATSOEVER.

I wish I could just take this system and slap it in a new case with a new screen.

To the guys with raised media bars​

Unscrew two screws on the bottom under the battery, slide bottom panel off.

After that unscrew all 5 screws with the letter I (i) next to them. Flip back over and lightly start sliding fingers around the edge of the keyboard / media bar. Re-seat it and it'll fit back flush and then flip over again and retighten I screws.

The media keys come off in a panel just like the keyboard, stupidly simple fix and no real reason to return / replace for just that.

 

Yah, the only thing wrong with mine right now is the scratch on the lid, and the 2 BSODs from the 2nd day of ownership. Haven't seen any problems since then.

 

Can't wait to spend the entire day reinstalling / re tweaking / re stability testing / re pasting cpu and gpu

...I kind of feel lucky my soft touch isn't peeling and I haven't crashed _at_all_ since I've gotten it.

 

Are laptops like new car models? When a new revision of a car comes out the first year, you see a huge number of problems in general...

One reason a lot of folks recommend you wait a year first.

Did any of this occur with the R1 or R2?

 

Which is why they shouldn't of completely revamped the M17x.... The R1's had a few problems but were really solid in general, the R2's were without comparison and just incredible.... now its basically a brand new system .... with a new host of problems.

 

Not sure on r1/r2 but I doubt its the case as it isn't radically different than the first two. I think its more Dell being a little lazy / trying to shove orders out the door to get as many customers in as possible. I don't even think they need to do anything different in terms of materials or build. They just need to spend MORE TIME looking over the system and making sure its built right... Some of the stuff we've seen in R3s seems like all sort of lookovers / quality control is out the door. Misalignment, missing screws, all kinds of crap in the heatsinks, parts misfitted, etc.

 

The whole system is different, completely different parts, build and overal schematic. It's essentially a different system from the same manufacturer.

 

Forgot to mention another defect of my R3. The sides, the panel on the left and right where all the ports are. If you press the panel in, well...yah, you can press that panel in. So where it's slapped up against the side of the computer you can squish it in n out. Go ahead, try it on yours. Take your left middle finger, and put it right above the HDMI-out slot is, and your right middle finger right above the usb hole nearest the cd-drive, and press both fingers in towards the keyboard. Do you notice is squishes in n out? Mine has like half a mm gap, and I imagine lots of dirt and dust can get in between, which might be upsetting in the long run. I can take pix later, if you still don't get me.

 

What happens if you still don't have your replacement outside your 21 day return? Do you basically keep the laptop then?

 

My system is in the returns process and I got it more than 2 months ago. Dell found that my computer was beyond the point of reasonable repair and are sending me a new one.

 

Wow you guys are hardcore Alienware fans, I don't think I could standup for the premature exterior degradation and mis-aligned parts/etc...

Makes Dell look really bad.....

 

I think the precision m6500 is the most expensive and was amazingly well built like the r2. I really hope the M6600 doesn't take after the R3.

 

It won't, it's going to remain metal. If m6600 gets a workstation equivalent of 485m or 6970 with rgb led I might grab one.

 

I'm with Joker on that. I don't need tons of GPU power. I could do with less than Aliens usually have. I may just get a Precision or equivalent workstation laptop next time I'm buying and max out the CPU, RAM, and SSD.

 

I can affirm your comments. Anyone that thinks Dell/Alienware products and support are bad has not been around the block with HP yet (hp=hopelessly pathetic). They used to make good products, but I have had 3 HP turds in the last 5 years and have sworn off purchasing anything from them again, forever.

As far as my M17x R2 is concerned, it's freakin' awesome. It's the best machine I have ever owned, hands down. As long as you don't have to deal much with the incompetent outsourced Indian support group, I have found Dell's warranty support to be outstanding. I no longer contact Dell Support. I go directly to 1-800-ALIENWARE and so far it has always been an American citizen that answered the phone. (I always ask the person that answers my call where they are, as it sets the tone for the rest of the phone call.) I have zero complaints.

The internal specs for the R3 are top notch. Based on the chassis construction of the R3, I no longer have any intention of purchasing one. The R3's plastic chassis and soft-touch finish will not meet my expectations for build quality. The R2 has spoiled me and the bar for build quality was raised higher than the R3 can reach. To be perfectly fair, had I not owned the R2 first, and an XPS M1730 before the R2, I might be tickled to death with build quality on an R3--which is pretty lame in comparison to its predecessors.

I hate to see you worrying about defects and problems even before your system arrives. That certainly can set the stage for being overly critical and diminish what could otherwise be an excellent experience.

I think it's expected that people experiencing problems are a significant presence on a forum like this one, and it may not necessarily be a good measure of what the normal ownership experience is like. No matter what the product is, there will always be at least a few customers with problems, a few lemons sold, etc. And, there will always be customers that grossly exaggerate things and embellish the truth. You have to step back and look at the big picture, and compare what you find in a forum to other intelligence that is available for review. Conceptually, it's like using wikipedia. While it's a decent source of information, you simply cannot accept everything you read as being factual... validation is necessary if accuracy is something you care about.

Without knowing the number of systems sold and the number of unhappy customers, it would be virtually impossible for anyone to answer your question "Is this really a widespread problem?" The real value of a forum like this one comes through finding solutions for known issues, regardless of the percentage of owners affected. There is also a huge benefit to identifying the known issues if you are a shopper looking to make an informed purchasing decision.

 

It may be true that a lot of ppl who post have had problems or are worried about problems...But for the most part, I'm happy with my purchase. The scratch wasnt even that big of a deal, but it's just disappointing to have visual defects even on a $1.6k+ machine.

 

Ok thanks for the input. Although it appears that the media bar is attached to the plastic surround that goes right round the keyboard. How is the media bar actually attached, with glue or something?

 

the R2 is stupid.
both of my HD5870 video cards are now dead and I need to get a replacement from dell.

does someone know how much time does it take to get the replacement and get it replaced?

 

It will for sure have the quadro 5000, maybe even the 5010
but mad expensive and ugly!

 

Besides the in home techs breaking stuff I have not had to many issues a speaker and one video card love my r2! have had it for a year now. (Purchased April 9 2010)

 

Hardware failures can happen with any system. The video cards did not fail on account of your machine being an R2. The R2 has an excellent cooling system, so it was likely just a case of AMD providing a defective component to Alienware. (By stating a defective component was provided by AMD, I am assuming you did not OC your system and fry the cards, of course.)

How much time would depend on the type of warranty you have. If you have the better warranty, they send parts out the next day if they are in stock, with a technician to install them unless you ask to do it yourself. It has always been less than 48 hours for me. (When I still had the XPS M1730 the R2 replaced, I had 12 "opportunities" to use the warranty due to hardware failures and it was always less than 48 hours of my phone call to Dell Support.)

If you have the basic warranty, you may have to send the machine to the depot for repairs. And, when that happens it truly sucks. I would go out of my way to avoid that and insist that they save money by letting you install the parts. Maybe you will get lucky and get 5870 modules to replace your 4870 modules. Then, it might turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

 

On the flipside, Dell's customer care has been very reasonable, even if their manufacturing arm isn't doing the best they can.

 

Very true, shadowyani. Dell Customer Care has definitely done right by me. Hands down, they have the best customer care and warranty service out of any of their primary competitors in my experience.

 

I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of changing my entire machine (which is great except for the media bar) with another machine that could or may have some other defect, like a dead pixel or two.

My system is only 4 days old, but I don't want to replace it or either have it repaired. Although I could still quickly change my mind and request a full replacement.

At this stage, when I called Dell again (they did follow up my first call about the issue) they offered to send out a tech to fix the raised media bar.

This shouldn't be too much of a issue for a tech to replace, or could it?
I am hoping that the guy checks the service manual before he arrives here sometime next week, and doesn't butcher my brand new machine.
Any thoughts on this?

 

Watch him like a hawk and interrupt if he isn't doing it the right way.

 

Well if you got a replacement shipped to you with the exact same config, picking up your work where you left off is trivial if you merely swap the hard drives; if any Win7 activation issues go awry, just use the key on the bottom of your replacement.

But yes, watch that tech I know I would.

 

Do you think the BSODs I reported earlier relate to the HDD? Should I do the same and just swap out the HDD?

 

You can swap this and that, ramtest this and that, but if you can't get it to blow up and BSOD in your face over and over, you'll have a hard time tracking it down.

I happen to have done just that. I've run all the test I could think of, and I've tried swapping my aftermarket parts in and out (Yes one component at a time). No crashes.



Just my experience; everything I've fixed was a reoccuring issue. On the R3, it happened once and I can't get it to happen again. Mysterious.

 

No no, what I'm asking is if you think the BSODs I got (while updating to Sp1 and while updating BFBC2) might have been caused by the HDD? Cuz if that's not likely, then I will definitely swap out the hdd when my replacement comes, cuz I don't want to spend hourrrssssss reinstalling stuff again.