M17x "All Powerful" General Information Thread

Huh- I never considered that an issue, as I was raised to be of the school that 'unused RAM is wasted RAM'. So I don't particularly mind if Windows is using up a reasonable percentage of memory 'idling' just so long as when I need the RAM dedicated, it knows to let go. In my experience, Vista (and 7) do that far, far better than XP ever did.

 

THANK YOU

I am getting so tired of hearing the whole world complain about how bad Vista is......they seem to forget that XP sucked too until SP2 came out

And I agree, I didn't put the ram into my machine to watch it not be used

 

Good Gawd yes....

XP took the better part of 6 years to become the OS people seem to think it always was, but people expected Vista to be perfect on arrival. The hardware wasn't ready for it on the mass consumber level, but when you throw it on something like the M17x it is orders of magnitude better suited for just about everything than XP is. And 7 is only going to make it better.

 

so far my M17x has been enjoying Windows 7 Pro x64

 

maybe this is a stupid question...but is it somehow possible to have the hybrid functionality with the ATI cards? some modded drivers or something?

 

Someone posted a work around on getting PhysX working with the ATi cards. I wouldn't doubt if someone posts an ATi driver that will work with the 9400M.

 

hi people,
i was wondering if you guys knew where to find the drivers for win 7 on the M17x? or have you been using stock vista ones?
thanks!

 

and do you guys know if we can buy video card somewhere later down the track? ho and if anyone is interested i bought a pelican 1495 case for the M17x and it fit perfect in it i can even put my sidewiner x8 on the side ;-)

 

dell will possibly sell video cards down the road. you can just use the vista drivers

 

Which drivers do everyone use? My 186.82 drivers keep crashing mid-game.

 

nvidia 186.81 have been fine for me, as well as the modded 186.24 that batboy did

if you dont need the 9400m, dox 182.46 work good (especially for benching)

 

Is 186.81 more stable than 186.82?

 

I dont know, never used 186.82. But I can say that 186.81 would not load in Windows 7 at all if that is a factor for you

 

Hey guys, I was just wonderin how CoD Modern Warfare2 would hold up on my system. I'm sure it's probably playable, but what kind of expectations should I have? Anyone know if it will take advantage of the quad core? Thanks so much, and sorry if this is the wrong place to post this!

 

I was curios where I could pick up a qx9300 extreme and some SSD's? Thanks!

 

eBay ... Dell.... Newegg....

 

hey guys. i've looked around , but being in a particular situation since i live in Puerto Rico, Dell apparently isn't an option for buying hardware other than the pcs themselves. My m17x i got through ebay before they were available in PR website.

that said.

I need to get an additional hard drive to add to my m17x. And im going kinda crazy searching and i can only find hard drives for the area 51 m17x on ebay, which if im correct, is not the same.

Any of you have any idea where i could buy an additional hard drive for the m17x? or if it has to be specifically for it...maybe the area 51 m17x drive works but im not really sure.

i got dual 260ms on mine but might upgrade to the ATIs eventually. So anyway, if anybody can send me a tip about where to look at least for the hard drive, or if just any old hard drive will do, ill appreciate it ^^.

 

Any 2.5 inch notebook SATA Hard Drive will work, they're not laptop specific or anything.
Here's a few:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150380 1035915133&name=SATA 3.0Gb/s

 

awesome. thanks so much!

 

Ok thanks so where would u get the ATI cards?

 

Dell is the only place

 

Mmm not looking good on the GDDR5 front, check it out.

 

Sorry to ask a noob question, but i don't have the time to go through all posts.I was wondering which Sli graphics solution( 280's vs 4750's) was giving best results in the M17 ??

 

So is it a mixed bag for some, or are they all GDDR3?

If they are all GDDR3 that = Class Action Lawsuit. Everyone that ordered based on marketing material, not to mention the listing of GDDR5 on the order sheet, is entitled to a complete refund no questions asked and maybe more.

It's the same at a local store as it is for Dell, offer a product bit in the end the product is not what you promised = big problems.

 

Still being tested at this point, we've only got a couple stock benchmarks to compare at the moment, and I hope you're talking about M17x not M17.

 

Hey all,

Just a quick question - how is the 1440x900 display on the 17" screen of the M17x? Is that sufficiently high so that things don't look MASSIVE on your desktop etc..?

Thanks!

 

Also, can anyone tell me how these two specs would compare:

Firstly, an M17x with the standard setup (4gb ram, 1gb gtx 260 & the default quad processor -it is quad, right?)

Against an M15x with the obvious upgrades (4gb ram, 1gb gtx 260 & the default core i7 processor)

The M15x should be faster, right? Seeing as they are mostly specced the same apart from the i7? Although the standard M17x processor is faster than the standard i7 - does anyone know how these two fair against each other?

As it stands an M17x with this setup costs about £350 more than the M15x with that setup - is it worth the extra £350 for the bigger screen? Or does the M17x only really excel because of it's dual video card capability?

I'm stuck on this one!

 

You should decide what you really want the laptop for.
Going to use it to travel? Maybe the M15x as its more portable
Heavy duty gaming but not so portable? M17x will probably excel here. Remember, most games still don't take the quad cores to their full potential yet.
Basic surfing, work papers etc? At this point does it matter which is faster? A netbook would handle these tasks easy.
My 2 cents.

 

^ Agreed. And if you are going M17x, you're missing out on the most important upgrade - SLi.

 

Cheers for the advice to Marvie also.

I need to be able to move the laptop, but not far, or often, so portability isn't the issue - anyway the M17x is only a couple of lbs more isn't it? Money was really the issue unfortunately.

Basically I'm wanting a desktop replacement that I can move from time to time with much greater ease than a standard desktop job!

The reason I was drawn to the M15x was the i7, because I thought it'd have more legs (lifespan) with it only having just been refreshed - how does the older M17x standard cpu fair to this?

If I have both setup like I described in my previous post, are they going to run basically the same? Becuase if so, then is it worth spending £350 extra for the bigger screen?

If I get the sli option for the M17x (+ £300), I know it would be significantly better at gaming, but the problem then is the cost again, it'll be £650 more than a M15x! .. To me that's a hell of an increase, is the performance justified?

Basically, and very unfortunately, it all comes down to money

But if I'm spending such an amount anyway, I feel I may as well get the best I can, so I don't mind spending the extra bucks if it's considered "worth it"..

Any help, or other points of view on this pickle would be great..!

 

Maybe you can describe what you're looking to do in terms of gaming.

And as others posted, you could easily do without the quad core processor and go for the lowest 6mb cache core duo (T9600 I think). It's what I'm using and I'm very happy with it. Currently OC'ed it to 3.15 ghz and working like a champ.

In terms of portability, you will likely want to have a backpack for the M17x. It's too heavy to comfortably carry around in a sidebag (though others will probably disagree).

Either way, keep in mind that the M17x is pretty new itself

 

Games; anything and everything!

 

The basic processor in the M17x is the Core 2 Quad Q9000 2Ghz - how does that stand up to the basic i7 1.6Ghz in the M15x?

Is it really worth £350 more for the bigger screen..? Providing I don't get the SLI option with the M17x that is.

 

ok so I went to Dell's site and I can understand where the confusion was w/my earlier post. Apparently, a lot of the options we have in the US aren't available for you in Britain. Namely 1066 RAM (you only have 1333) and the processors are rather limited and pricey (we have a bunch of "slower" but cheaper processors available).

Though if you do go this way and choose not to get SLi, I'd suggest getting the Radeon 4870, since it's a no cost switch/upgrade (wow). Also, get the 1920x1200 screen. At 80 pounds, it's not that bad and you can always upgrade to a blu-ray drive later and watch full 1080p movies on it. I'd also suggest going for red, since we have to pay an extra $100 for it.

A quick note - I purchased my 1730 with a 4 year warranty. When my 1730 crapped out in just over a year, I was upgraded to the M17x. And I still have just under 3 years remaining. I know there's some guys in Britain w/1730's who have had a very tough time getting their problems taken care of, but it might be worth investing in a longer warranty.

So that said, maybe going to the M15x would work better for you financially. If you do go that route, grab the 2nd tier processor - with the 8mb l3 cache. It does make a difference! Also, keep RAM at 3gb. You're better off upgrading to 8gb later on down the line anyways and you can do it cheaper on your own than via Dell.

 

It's a TRUE desktop replacement.....complete with desk. Made out of SOLID STEEL.

 

80 pounds as in the currency in England.

 

*sigh* Even puns are explained now on the Internetz...

 

question

if i get get one of the core duo processors
will I be able to upgrade to a quad at some point if i want EASILY?


also

are people having more of those "stuttering" issues with quad cores or due cores OR is it equal between the two?

 

hii guys, i just bought a m17x which has 250gb hard drive with raid1, what i would like to know is if i change the raid from 1 to 0 so i get 500gb, will it void my warranty, and i live in india over here they have only two pre-configured option for us, the one i am getting is 260m in sli, i wanted to know, is the card 1gb each or 512mb each, cause on the site it says SLITM Dual 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M.
thanks in advance

 

It will not void your warranty, you would have to reinstall vista after switching to RAID 0.

 

Dell EPP for Alienware systems is 10% off right now.

 

That ok, no worries about it, but would i still be able to use the respawn disc normally, i am a bit concerned as i might change to raid 0 or remove raid all together and the original factory settings are raid 1

 

Yes you can use it...

Switch it to what ever you want and install the drivers and make your own respawn disc using axronis true image

 

hi guys!
i was wondering if any of you had any trouble when going for win 7, i instaled it with the upgard option and now my tuchpad doesnt work gta4 is slow and so is empire tw and i cant install the latest nvidia driver! crazy i recon, my plan of attack is going to reinstal win7 from formated ssd and see what it does... any better idea or avices?
thanks!

 

Hi there... I'am also curious about raoul question.. Anyone know what is the performance diffrence in RAID 0 and RAID 1? And any method to switch them with windows 7?

 

well, crap i've had my m17x for about a month and a half and already had the gpu fan replacec, the hard drive replaced, and now the mobo and ram will be replaced on monday.

i called customer care after the crappy tech broke 2 tabs on my sense bar - the plastic is still in the laptop rattling around. and i had to show him how to change the frikken fan! he also worked on my laptop with rain water dripping from his coat!! ?? and no anti-static strip. now i know the chance of needing one isn't very high, but when i work on other people's computers i always have one on for just in case - on less mistake to worry about.

they told me because of my situation that i can replace the mobo myself. i'm seriously considering this since the last guy was worthless. it'll just be a pain keeping up with all the screws and watching my daughter, but at least i won't leave the repair up to someone who doesn't give a rat's butt.

i love the laptop but i'll really have to reconsider buying another dell. then again i doubt the other companies offer any better support.

 

anyone played modern warfare 2 on their m17x yet? any feedback...

 

ye it runs great, no option in game for sli, and i placed the settings to qaulity in the nvida control pannel but 2nd card wasnt working, so i manually placed rendering to 2 cards and sli AA x32 sli but it has stuttering due to sli =/ works gr8 on single card though no fps drops par stuttering when sli is on manually but not sure if this game uses sli in the 1st place

 

this is a stupid ? i am just getting into computers and gaming what is internal 300mbps a/g/n wireless mimo tecknology.and what does it do?i am getting my first alienware next week.cant wait.

 

o my good! my m17x just wont start! i puch the start and nothing, i tried taking the button battry in and out and still nothing! please help i dont know what to do anymore! any idea?