Initial impressions of M17x R3 by Choppus

Ok I know you have all been waiting for another review. This is gonna be totally unscripted, and I'm just flying in the dark on this one.

Lets start from the beginning.

1 225-0536 Alienware M17x Soft-Touch, Stealth Black
1 317-6602 Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.0GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
1 317-6117 6GB DDR3 at 1333MHz (2DIMMS)
1 331-1347 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
1 320-1932 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 120Hz WLED w/ NVIDIA 3D Vision Bundle
1 320-1938 1.5GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M
1 342-2220 750GB 7,200RPM HDD
1 313-8792 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
1 421-4655 Alienware Command Center Software, M17X
1 421-1400 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp
1 420-9956 Vista PC Restore
1 421-0092 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
1 410-1883 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
1 318-0396 Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
1 421-4541 Roxio Creator Starter,No Media
1 421-4550 Power DVD 9.6, 3D
1 318-0424 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
1 430-4021 MOD,CRD,NTWK,6300,ANW
1 330-6348 Automatic Updates: On
1 939-0330 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Extended Year
1 939-0320 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year
1 939-0380 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, 2 Year Extended
1 939-0340 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year
1 950-3339 3 Year Limited Warranty
1 993-8552 Accidental Damage Service, 3 Years
1 421-1721 Soft Contracts Service Hardware Agreement for Alienware
1 421-1719 Soft Contracts Consumer Accidental Damage Agreement for Alienware
1 993-8582 Warranty Support, 2 Year Extended
1 994-3730 Warranty Support, Initial Year
1 421-1360 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
1 421-4060 Fast Access Facial Recognition 3.0 SW Application
1 421-1593 Alienhead Chrome Blue
1 421-1574 Alienhead Chrome Blue
1 331-1349 Standard Nameplate

It was delivered on 01 Apr 11, @ 1633. Although it should have arrived between 0930 and 1000, if the delivery driver didn't run the route backwards that day.
Signed for box, came inside, and ate dinner as it was just about done. After dinner it took me between 45 min and an hour to open the box with all of the pictures I took. Once I finally got the computer out of it's sleeve and snapped a few more pics, I opened it and turned it on while I was hooking up the power brick. Snapped a few more pics along the way. I was a little disappointed that their was not plastic screen protector on mine screen when I opened it. The only plastic that I had to remove from inside of the computer was a little square that was on the alien head. I'm thinking that I was missing the plastic screen protector and another white sheet of some sort that should have been over the keyboard.

The initial setup to get to windows wasn't too bad. Once I got to windows I downloaded firefox, chrome, the osiris development battery bar, and the 24 hour clock side gadget from world time server. I then proceeded to change the date and time format on the task bar to military formats. That was a little tricky because you can't do that from anywhere in the date and time settings. You have to go into Region and Language, change the date, time, or number format. I also added an additional clock so that if you run the mouse over the time in the task bar or click on it you get the ZULU/GMT/UTC clock. (whichever you prefer to call it) Since then I have also loaded Microsoft Office Home and Student.

I have been messing around with the Fast Access facial recognition software. I really like it. I no longer have to type a password in, to log onto the computer. The program offers to save your passwords and log you into sites online if you want. Basically it double checks your face and makes sure that your the right person and will log you on. I have had my GF and her daughters sit down before and after the computer has locked and it will lock or stay locked if I'm not in front of the computer. I have it set to continuous security now to lock after a min if it recognize my face in front of the screen. No worries about doing videos, it has a feature to let full screen videos continue to play, but once they are exited it has to verify my face before it will let me back into windows. I know some other people have had problems with it but I think they may of had a different version of it or a different brand. Not really sure what others have had problems with. I have the Fast Access Facial Recognition 3.0. The only problem I had with it was when I was using the HDMI IN with my 360 and sometimes when I would pause it to see what the controls were for the game it would just go go a black screen. The game was already paused so there was no problem. I just ht the FN button with F8 and go back to windows and have it recognize my face and then hit those buttons again and I was back to gaming. It didn't do it every time but it did do it a few times and was slightly annoying. One step below Continuous Security is User Switching which I'm guessing if you have multiple accounts on the computer and someone else sits down in front of it, it changes to their account on the computer. Below that there is Face Login (which is the default for logging into windows if your using the program) and below that off. There also other options to use the face recognition AND your password. (I have that disabled) There is also Recognition Strength, which by default is in the middle. Low (most convenient) and High (most secure). There are 5 steps total counting high low middle and one step between middle and each of the high and low. I haven't had any real problems logging me in so I think eventually I am going to up it a little bit for added security. I leave for NTC in a few weeks with my NG unit and I'm going to have some of the guys sit down in front of it and see if it lets them log into the computer if it does then I am going to up it a bit and see how it reacts. I will update you guys afterwards. I just upped the security one step from default to half way to High (most secure). It took slightly longer to log in. (2-3 secs total now) Before it would log me in while I was sitting back down in the chair and I was still moving, and my face was blurry. I don't know how it recognized me while doing that, but at the same time it would not let my GF or her two girls get logged in weather moving or not. Anyhow, will do some more testing and give an update later on. OVERALL I AM VERY IMPRESSED WITH THIS SOFTWARE!!!

Ok now I'm going to give some pros and cons from my notes since I first received my system.

-The lip below the 0 on the num pad is a little high to always effectively hit the zero. Gonna take getting used to.

-The Lights by caps lock/num lock/scroll lock are kinda small and if your sitting back while typing it hard to see. If yor sitting up it's a little easier. Not a huge deal, just noted. I actually like the looks of the little dots marking the lock key's as on. Just a little hard to see if sitting back with arms fully outstretched typing.

+ I love the media keys. I know some people have said that they don't really like them. You have to hit them at the top or the bottom of the key depending on which one. (closer to the straight line) They work great. If you hold the up or down volume keys they will go all the way up or down if you need, for quick response. If you adjusted the volume with your mouse from the task bar and it's not on a multiple of ten and then you hit one of the volume keys it will go to the nearest ten in the direction that you hit. (ex. you set on on 48 and hit the up volume it will go to 50 or if you hit down it would go to 40) They all work great. The only ones that I haven't used are the rewind/play,pause/FF. I haven't played a Blue Ray on it yet. Shame on me. I will see about doing that tomorrow and check those buttons out and add to this tomorrow hopefully.

-This whole system is a finger print magnet everywhere. There is no real good way to open the lid without leaving fingerprints on the glass that is edge to edge. Good thing I have a big tub of Endust electronic wipes to keep the finger prints and dust at bay.

-I was really disappointed that the system didn't show up with a plastic protector on the screen. There doesn't see to be any damage though. There does seem to be a spec of dust on the inside of the glass in the top center. It's only a few pixels down from the viewable area and not really noticeable under most circumstances.

+ Track pad is HUGE. I seriously need to get used to all the real estate that this track pad offers. It's VERY sensitive and I actually turned it down and it still seems really sensitive. I might turn it down again. It has a nice recess to it. Not to far down and not to flush.

+/- The front of the computer is higher than most and you have to raise your arms more in order to type properly. Although you should always have your arms and wrists raised and not rest them on the computer we all get lazy. lol. So yes it can be a little bit of a pain when you are lazy, it helps you have better typing posture and do what you are supposed to do, as far as typing goes. The "u" button is the hardest to hit for a reason. I don't know it's less responsive than the other keys or what, but I have missed more "u's" while typing than anything.

+Keyboard flex is good. I notice no flex while typing and I do type hard at times. When just pressing keys to check the flex it's not to bad at all. If you really push on the key's you can get a decent amount of flex though. I don't really count this as flex though as that's not the keyboard was made for.

-I had to set up scrolling on the keyboard as it wasn't automatically set up. It took me a while to do this as I kept getting sidetracked while setting up other stuff. lol. I did eventually find it and got it set up.

+The screen is AWESOME. Simply amazing. The text is tiny though. I did go in and check out the change text size. It come at 125%. You can change it to 100% or you can go up to 150%. I clicked on 150% to try it out but it said that I had to log out and back in for it to take effect and I was to busy to actually want to log out and back in again. I will try to get to that at some point and update you guys about that.

+Went to youtube (missed the u in youtube (both times)) and I just typed 1080P and watched a few different things and the screen is absolutely amazing.

+The brick gets warm while plugged into the wall and the computer, but never gets hot at all like other laptops. if you unplug it from the computer it's cool/cold to touch.

+On my old computer if it started to go into screen saver because I didn't move anything in a bit, I could swipe the trackpad quick and catch it from going into the screen saver and prevent myself from having to log in. This one is too quick and you can't catch it. I say that is a good thing for security measures.

+It does not ding when it goes into screen saver and the screen locks. (Although it started doing it after I setup the facial recognition software)

+Speakers are excellent. Loud and crisp for laptop speakers. They do suffer a bit if you have a long sleeve shirt on and are being lazy and leave your arms in front of the vents in the front. It muffles it slightly. Not anything to really worry about though. Great speaker system.

+If your going to be new to Windows 7 (like me) I found out that to the far right of the task bar there is a sliver that's slightly different. Run the mouse over it and you can see the desktop, pull the mouse away and everything that you had up pops back up. If you click on it, it minimized everything and you are on the desktop.

+The rubber feet pads on the computer and the power brick are great and I have had no slipping at all. I was really surprised at how well the brick holds up when you try and mover it. The rubber feet really grip and doesn't let it move very easily at all. The computer has some weight to it so it's expected that it holds better anyways.

+On the left and right side of computer the bottom part of the base goes in a bit, which really helps you to get a good hold of it when you are trying to pick it up. (lid open or lid closed)

-The angles of the keys or the depth or a combo of them allow you sometimes catch another key after you depress one and are moving up a row to another key. Seldom, but notable.

? I have only put one disc in (Microsoft office) and it seemed like I had to put it in really far before it would actually take it. But when I hit eject and it spit it out, it came out half way or a little more. I guess I expected it to take it about have way in. Not sure if this is normal or not and not sure if good or bad???

-/+ The sides around keyboard do not flex at all. The sections above and below keyboard do flex slightly. Bottom, more so than top.

+I did not have a problem with the HDMI IN like dookie. I had the R3 on and plugged the HDMI from the Xbox into the R3 while the Xbox was off and hit the FN/HDMI IN button and it said to plug the cable in. I then turned the Xbox on and I saw it come on with the white/green swirls during start up. It worked excellent for me. I had no problems whatsoever with it. (other than a hiccup or two from the facial recognition software, but that is easily turned off if you go to the arrow on the task bar and find it double click it and then turn it off before you do something with the HDMI. I haven't tried it, but would assume that when you get done and turn it back on it would have all the same settings you had before you turned it off. (Xbox=360, just so their is no confusion)

There are tutorials for AlienFX. There is basic and advanced. You can get quite creative in advanced. I watched both tutorials and played around with basic a bit as you can still change all zones and use the morph and all the features in basic. Advanced, you can set (I can't even describe it now. lol) different colors and flashing and blinking and morphing on a type of timeline, and you can do that for each zone and the timelines are stacked so you can try and make them correspond, or keep them doing different things. It would be easy to spend hours in there, seeing what you could come up with, and with some many colors and feature, the combinations are never ending.

If I could change anything on my system; I guess I would have given up the 3D and went with the 6970. I get just a little over 2 hours on battery with the 460M. I have not used 3D yet, and I'm sure I will not use it that much over the course of this laptops lifetime. I guess it was just a buzzword at the time, and I thought it would be really cool to have. Also watched M17x R3 unpacking video on youtube, and the guy had the 3D glasses. I don't know. I have lived this long with out 3D. I have seen 3D before in theaters, but not on a personal computer or tv. Like I said, I think it was just a buzz word at the time and it seemed like, it would be really cool and I guess I wanted to get it. I'm not a computer expert and i guess I didn't compare everything enough to know what I would have gained if I had went to the 6970. Most of the time I am around a power source, but there are times for me that the 6970 would have been much handier.

Well like I said, I shot from the hip for this review. Please let me know what you think of it, and ask any questions I may have missed. (minus gaming questions)

ADDED: I set power button and closing the lid to hibernate mode. I timed it and it's about 23 seconds from turning it on until I am looking at the windows screen. (NOTE, this is with the facial recognition software, and I do not have to type in my password)

ADDED 2: Forgot to mention all the screen real estate with the 1080 screen. Even though the font's are small it enables me to have the page at half size and have to pages side by side. I currently have 2 firefox pages and 2 chrome pages, all with multiple tabs. But having half pages enables me to have to different web browsers open side by side with different stuff going on. VERY handy!!!

ADDED 3: I opened facial recognition and went to advanced and the to security and convenience and upped the recognition strength to the max and there was no lag or hold up in the program logging me in. They system is working great and I can't say enough about it.

ADDED 4: I downloaded skype and found out that skype can't use the webcam if you are using the facial recognition software and have it set to continuous security. Only one program at a time can use the webcam. Which makes sense, I just didn't think about it. It's easy and quick enough to change the security level of the face software if you want to use skype. I used skype quite a bit when I was in Afghanistan, but since I have been back I don't use it much at all. I'm going to keep the continuous security of the facial recognition on, and if and when I use skype I will just lower the security of the face software.

ADDED 5: Been trying to get my CAC card reader to work with Firefox all day. I couldn't get it work on my last computer and I still can't get it to work on this one. I'm not sure exactly why I couldn't get it to work on the POS HP, but on the R3 I can't find c:\windows\system32\acpkcs201-ns.dll It was on the POS HP, but I can't find it here on the R3. I downloaded everything that I was supposed to. I really hate IE and wish I could make the dang thing work with Firefox.

ADDED 6: I used the windows update and downloaded and installed SP1 for Windows 7 today. No problems and no blue screens. So 2 thumbs up there. While it was downloaded it stayed at 24% for quite a while, but then it continued on without any other problems the rest of the time and during the restart.

ADDED 7: The media bar is now sticking up on the right hand side. There have been a lot of people that have had this problem. In the M17x problem/technical question thread I think it was X3nia that gave a good description on how to tear it apart and fix it yourself. I think I am just going to use a SMALL drop of superglue to hold it down as someone else on this forum has done.

ADDED 8: This screen is super brite. I have been running the screen at one bar. (ie no bars - the top bar is 8 different settings, and if you count no bars as one and the first bar as 2 and so on) I have been running it at #2 or just one bar above no bars for screen brightness. I hope that makes sense as I'm having a hard time explaining it.

ADDED 9: I'm getting right around 2:30 hours with the 460M on balanced performance setting. That's with an internet radio station going, wifi on, and multiple browsers/pages/tabs. Most of them are minimized though. Skype is running as well, but minimized. I'm going to see what I can get out of it while it's in power saver mode, with everything else remaining approx the same.
Well I'm not impressed. I only gained about 5 min. on power saver as opposed to the balanced power plan.

ADDED 10: I just downloaded the Zune music player the other day. I'm not sure if it's Zune that downloads faster than Itunes or if it's the R3. I do have the 3x3 MIMO, but my router is not a MIMO router, so I don't think it has anything to do with the MIMO. I ripped a bunch of my CD's with the R3 and added them to the Zune playlist. The first few were extremely quick and ripped them in no time. After that they slowed down a bit. I don't know if it was because I wasn't right on the page where it showed them being ripped or not. At first I was right on the page where they were being ripped and then after that I was doing some other stuff in the Zune software. After I realized that it slowed down I went back to the page where they were being ripped and it didn't speed back up. Was still pretty fast even after it slowed down. Was just disappointed that it slowed down compared to how fast it was ripping them at first. (R3 was in high performance and it was plugged in.)
As a side note; I have had Itunes since shortly after it came out. I started having problems with it on my windows based computer a little over a year ago. I just dealt with it and it wasn't that big a deal. I'm sure Zune shouldn't have any problems as it is a Microsoft program. I also like the Zune application much more because I can download as much as I want when I want and I don't have to pay for every song that I download. I think in the past two days, I have downloaded more music and podcasts than I have ever downloaded with Itunes in years!!! Also for those of you scared to switch over to Zune for fear of loosing all of your Itunes music; Zune recognizes a lot of different formats and it will readily accept your Itunes music. So all of my Itunes music is in the Zune program and I have been adding stuff like crazy, just because I can. LOL. the $15 a month for a Zune pass is worth it's weight in gold!!!
I ordered the WWP special edition 32GB HD Zune. Can't wait for it to get here.
Another good thing Zune has that Ipods don't is that it will only sync with your main computer and not to anyone that it is connected to. So if you are out and about you can charge it on a friends computer and don't have to worry about it syncing with someone Else's computer just because you are trying to charge it. Also from what I have read, this Zune has a 33 hr life for just listening to music, so you shouldn't have to worry about it too much anyhow. I guess about 8.5 hrs watching videos. It should def keep me occupied in my free time while I'm at NTC in California. (not that I'm going to have much free time at all anyhow.)

 

nice first impressions! Let us know if you get any problems.

Mine should be coming in soon

 

No problem. Will do.

 

Terrible review.

Horrible.

You gave actual real life reality based look\feel\impression information that could be of actual use to a real live person using an M17x R3.

I thought there were laws against that sort of thing?



This was, of course, total sarcasm

 

LOL thank you much. Hope everyone enjoys the time I put into it, even if it wasn't in the normal format.

 

Format is fine.

I just happen to enjoy when people mention those little things that are part of a real use experience that never seem to get included in "professional" reviews.

I am looking forward to mine arriving. I already know that I will have to upgrade the CPU and RAM at some point but that will be six months to a year out.

It will just be nice to have a new top end (for the most part) gaming laptop to play with. My old one is a Dell XPS M170 that I took from a friend but it was already highly outdated so it has mainly sat in my server rack at home running SETI@Home.

My M17 I totally intend to make work and earn it's keep.

 

Well I'm glad you liked all the stuff I included. Like I said I have had a note pad next to me since I got it and I have been taking notes along the way. I'm sure there may still be a thing or two that I missed, but I have been really trying to keep track of the good, bad, indifferent, look, feel, and the general operation of everything.

Also you shouldn't have to make make it earn it's keep. It should be able to do that on it's own no problem!!!

 

If you're using Dell's stock OS installation, DPI scaling is enabled. You can turn it off for more screen real estate if your eyes can handle the tiny text. Its great for my programming work to not have to scroll or use extra monitors when at the office.

 

Stock, the font's are at 125%, was thinking of going to 150%, but didn't want to log out to change it. I have great vision (20/15). I more or less just wanted to try things out. At that point in time I was busy doing several things and didn't want to log out. To me, they are fine the way they are, and I don't think I am going to mess with them.

What do you mean DPI scaling and you can turn it off??? No idea what you are talking about sorry, but I would like to know more about what you are talking about.

 

The font dpi scaling. Its default is at 125, like you said. You can set it to 100 (off).

 

Ok, yeah I did see that, and mentioned it in my post. I guess I just didn't understand what you meant by "off".

 

Download World Of Warcraft, play it on Ultra settings... and then go to Org! lol

I want to see if the FPS is decent!!!

 

Is it free?
If not I have to respectfully decline. If it islet me know where to download. (steam?) What do I have to DL to measure the FPS. And what do you mean by Org???

 

Nice revieuw, have the same system on order. Could you add some pics?

 

Never mind then...

I thought you might have been a nerd like me.. lol

 

Link to pics happens to be in Choppus's sig

 

I'd happily have done this had I not canceled WoW for the third and final time

 

great reveiw there young man, outstanding

 

Im holding on to mine. I'll be hitting Org ,desolace & nether. I was stuck in Desolace a bunch of times and a GM had to move me close to org. you'd have to wait till 4/14-19 though

 

Im happy Choppus is excited about Face reco..that tells me the camera is cool, its a relief since I'll be skyping a lot!!

Great job with the review Choppus!

 

GJ on the review, mang. Your pics are great too You make my review look lazy, almost

 

Thank you, and yes the camera is pretty good. That reminds me, I need to download skype. lol

Thank you. Your review wasn't lazy. I really liked your review and you set the bar high for me. I don't have a tripod to take video like you, and I haven't tried any games on it. So I guess we are working good together getting everyone info.
I just used my notes, and I'm a little long winded at times when I explain stuff to people. I want to get my point across and make sure I am understood. But that's mostly the military in me. LOL

 

My friend's Dell XPS (I think that's what it was) has the face recognition enabled. I was playing with it one morning after we were drinking the night before. I was trying to "hack" into it with a picture he had on the table next to his couch of him and his kids. It would focus on his picture, but wouldn't let me in. His head was kind of turned in the photograph so I think that's why it wouldn't recognize him. I then used a picture from his Facebook page by displaying it on my iPhone and held that up to the laptop's camera and it let me right in!

I wonder if it would work if you set it to recognize your cat or dog... or butt! haha

 

Quick question on the facial recognition, was it a part of your base install or did you have to pick and pay more? When I ordered my R3 when they first came out it was not an option.

 

You could set it up to recognize whatever you want. But if you have constant monitoring on you have to keep displaying whatever you have it set to every so often to keep the computer from locking.

I paid extra for it. I think it $25.

 

Good review! The pros and cons actually made sense to me and the pictures make me want more pens.

If you could do things differently would you opt out of the 460 3-d and go for the AMD? Reading from the review it seems like it's your only concern that got me.


You can pick up a free trial of WoW so you can get some frame rates to us. My EDD is 4/22

 

Man, updating Wow made me too lazy to want to try it. I guess I'll let it update in the background for y'all curious-bees

 

I'm thinking that the AMD would have been a better choice so that I could have much more time on battery. Although I have not had the chance to check out 3D yet. So I kind of feel like I lost the battery life and haven't benefited from the 3D yet to make up for the lost battery. If that makes any sense.

That would be great dookie. I really don't know where to start on any of this gaming stuff on the computers. I only use my 360 for gaming.

 

I have way too many WoW updates behind me.

Original beta through February of this year when I finally had had enough and left for good.

Now I am just biding my time until my next MMO addiction hits.

However I might have to re-sub just for a month to see how well my M17 handles WoW compared to my desktop.

 

50-60 FPS with everything maxxed at 1900x1200. I typically do circles in Org and look to the sides to check this.

 

Continuing the update from this afternoon on WoW. God, it's just as much patching as my SC2 had to undergo. Amazing stuff, I hope. I don't play any MMOs, so I really have no idea what to do in the game. I'll try my best though, if this thing ever finishes.

 

Well WoW is the most eazymode MMO I have ever seen so you should be able to pick it up and figure it out pretty fast.

Just go Horde.

Alliance is peopled by annoying pansies

 

Too late. I had no idea what the diff between any of the races was, so I just went with the sexiest one: humans. LOLZ. I turned up max everything and enabled everything in the advanced tab.

 

Nothing was sexier then my Blood Elf Priestess of Ultimate Evil.

 

K the game ran from 40 to 45fps with everything turned on/maxed out. This was at the beginning where I was killing black wolf thingies for Mr. McBride or something. Got bored then quit. MMOs just aren't my thing.

Hope this helps those who are considering the R3 with 2720+6970. The game seems to run fine. Almost seems like CS:S speeds (which is absolutely fine). Here I thought the game would run at 60fps, but meh watever.

 

That works.

I still might re-sub just to test it out since WoW is the one game that I am very familiar with.

I also want to see how well it dual-boxes my two EvE Online accounts.

If all goes well I will be able to start doing so later today.

 

How does it look in 3D ??

 

I don't have 3D, so I defer to others for this.

 

Choppus, how is the noise level with the laptop?

 

Hey Choppus, how is the laptop in terms of portability?? I am planning on getting one for college(Undergrad). Do you think it is a good idea or will it be too large??

 

And once again we can now ask, but does it play Crysis? Have you tried Crysis 2 yet? What setting can you get smooth game play at?

 

Generally, 17-inch laptops run in the realm of "Desktop" replacements. The weight and size generally make them something you wouldn't want to lug around all over the place...but it's all a matter of preference to who is carrying it.

When I get mine, it will likely be parked on a desk somewhere.

 

I hadn't tried them until you asked. I got the glasses out and set everything up through the nVidia software. Not much to, it was all pretty much set up. It asks you to look through and what you see and then you have a few choices and it sets it up for you. The 3D images that they put on the screen afterwards were amazing. I don't have a Blue ray disc that has 3D or I would try it.

I have been trying to make the glasses work with 3D videos on Youtube and can't see to figure out how to do it.

 

People who don't want to lug around a $2000+ lappy because its a little heavy should all be spanked. lol

 

It has pretty darn good sound in my opinion.

It depends on how much you want to lug around. I carry mine in the pelican case 1495cc1. I think total weight is like ~23lbs. with everything packed in the case. I don't think it's too bad to carry around. Realistically I don't really carry it around that much or that far of a distance.

I guess it depends on how much and how far your going to be toting it, and if your willing to do so.

Correct, 17 inch laptops are generally considered desktop replacements. Because it is portable, there are a lot of people that will tote it around. To each their own I say.

 

hello. new here but not to computers........WONDERFUL review.....it was just what i have been looking for.....i have been contemplating this laptop.....but on my overclock forum i frequent they all say negative things against alienware.....they say go with sager or asus!! im pretty much thinking no. LOL you have pretty much swayed me in the M17x direction!!!

im thinking 2820qm, 6970, 4gb ram...ill update ram myself for a lot less than what dell wants. do you see the need for a laptop fan system under it at all? didnt know if it gets too hot sitting on the desk all the time

first question (with many more to follow) can you say light up each key with a different color? or is it all in zones? i was thinking all letters one color, numbers a different color, symbols yet another color. it just seems fun!!


also looking at your pics..........it appears your instruction manual didnt come in the leather bound booklet like dell site says?? what the heck?

 

9 zones total. There are 4 zones for all the keys. The power button is a zone by itself. The media keys and the dots above the caps lock/scroll lock/num lock are a zone. The two front speaker vents are a zone. The Alienware writing at the base of the screen is a zone. Finally the edging around the track pad and the buttons are a zone.

I guess the R2 and before had the leather bound booklet. There really isn't much in the way of paper material they send you. I actually opened that stuff up today.

EDIT: Almost forgot your first question. I don't think it needs a cooler under it while it is sitting on a hard surface. If your going to use it on your lap or in bed or on couch I would definitely recommend a cooler so you don't burn it up. Other wise they have the cooling down pretty good and the fans blow the heat right out the back.

 

Here is a screen shot of the zones.

 

Is it possible to set each speaker as a different color? I'm guessing no by

your zone post but am still curious.

 

You can make them all different.. Looking for pix now..

Here ya go...