M17x "All Powerful" General Information Thread

it is fine in a backpack

cant imagine carrying it any other way frankly haha

 

Thanks for the info. Now I just have to sell a kidney and I'll have about half the money I need...

 

Thanks to all contributors for their time taken to post these reviews and opinions. I am currently looking to replace my 3 year old m9700 and these articles have really helped.

 

Another thumbs-up for backpack transport of the M17x. Believe it or not, the M17x + a/c adapter is lighter than my old AW m7700a + its adapter. I feel so...liberated!

 

well that is because the M7700a is a BEAST haha

got to take a friends apart and fix/clean it, Clevo makes them BIG and HEAVY lol (and it has that MONSTER power supply)

 

god gave you two so you could sell one...

My only regret is not getting the red one. Get the red one.

 

The silver one is pretty much safe from scratches and does look mighty fine if I do say so myself (and will be able to match my M11x! lol)

 

Hey! Please help...
Just a real quick stupid question. I got the higher res screen (see sig) and in Win7 it has the option to make the taskbar etc bigger, I have mine at 125% size bc thats just whats comfortable. A friend of mine told me that this isnt healthy for my screen, to be running it on my non native resolution. Is this true??

Also just real quick. Ive notived in the last few weeks that Ill be typing and just randomly my text line will just shoot somwhere completely random in my text, like it wont stay in order. it happens fairly often and really messes me up. And yes i have my Tpad generally disabled and im positive im not accidentally hitting something, my girlfriend has noticed this alot as well. Thoughts? maybe one of my drivers, ive tried a bunch of stuff.

Thanks!

 

do you use firefox?

Also tell your friend to shut up Its fine

 

Whats your friend thinking?? The computer and GPU control the display output, the monitor just displays the light. Theres not way it could be bad to run it at anything lower then max res, thats why they give you the option

 

Thanks so much guys! Thats what I was thinking too, just wanted to run it through higher powers hahaha.
What about the typing problem though, it happens everywhere, in Word, browsers etc. I look like a retard whenever I type, and Im not even hitting anything.
Thanks!

 

that has happened to me on every notebook I have ever owned, think it has something to do with brushing the touchpad while typing

 

yup that's why I like using the synaptics driver - I'm able to turn off the touchpad when a mouse is connected. damned annoying.

 

Wow! I'm in Alienware forum for a while but never knew that we have a chit-chat club here

 

Well, the majority of these misc. M17x posts belong in the M17x Owner's Lounge thread. For now, its no issue - the M17x General Info Sticky will be receiving a makeover soon. Important links will be the main focus of course. More on this later.

 

Hey, sorry this has probably been asked alot but whats the refresh rate of the 1200p screen?

 

The "Friend" thinks you're making the screen elements larger by running at a lower than native resolution. Having the DPI set to 125% doesn't change the resolution of the screen, it just makes everything bigger and beautifuller. I run at 150% myself.

The refresh rate is 60HZ. I can assure you that any laptop with a 120HZ screen will have hoo-hah about being "3d vision ready" all over it's product page.

 

i'am having problem with me Fn+F4 and F5 keys.. they are not working.. anyone has this problem as well? anyone know how to fix it?

 

I can't seem to disable the integrated graphics in the BIOS, the option is set to [Enabled] and it's greyed out
I still have the option to enable or disable Hybrid graphics.

 

You have to disable hybrid graphics to disable integrated graphics

 

Hey guys,

I was wondering what's the best 8gb RAM I can buy for the M17X because I plan on buying it with 4gb ram and upgrading it to 8gb once I receive it.

Also can I get a link to it? I've heard kingston is the best, not sure if that's true though

Thanks a lot

 

I ejected a disk out of my BD drive, and now it's no longer accepting disks. It's as if something is in the way. Anyone heard of this?

 

This might sound crazy, but if the slot loading drive continues to block disks, scroll down this page to Solution #1 and give it a try.

Basically, the drive might not be in line with the slot on the outside anymore.

 

I checked that out already. The disk actually goes almost half way in before hitting some kind of blockage. I may just tear it apart. Thank you though.

 

I have already had my drive replaced for the same thing, crapped out 3 weeks after delivery

not a big fan of the slot drives, too much can go wrong with them, and they love to eat disks

 

Half way in, that's a sign the spindle isn't working. This isn't the reason they've pulled BD drives from the store is it?

 

my blu ray drive has been working like a champ so far....would prefer if it were a sony, but lg aint bad

 

Day I sli my machine is the day it goes out my door

farwell my faithful gtx 260m and p8600

 

What happened?

Alex

 

Hope I am posting in the right place, but the system I have on order will be my first SLI rig. When doing typical computing ie not games or video, etc, is only one card utilized? I was curious from a power management perspective...

 

If a program doesn't have an SLI profile in the driver settings, it will use one card. The other card won't turn off though, and enabling/disabling SLI needs a restart. SLI is usually something implemented in the drivers, so check if the game has a profile in the nvidia control panel to be sure if it will use SLI.

The unused card might down-clock though.

The R1 users, on the other hand, can save power by turning off the 2 cards and falling back on the integrated graphics

 

that's not sli set up yours is going to be crossfire at the end is the same thing but sli is for nvidia

 

Helping my brother order a m17x. He does some gaming and the rest is just internet stuff. Is the 2.53 cpu plenty capable for intense gaming apps? He is getting the doul m260ms in sli and the 1200p screen. Any help would be great he wants to order tonight but I told him to hold on and Ill ask a few questions. Anything else he should be aware of? Thanks again.

 

So we know for sure M17x R2 will not have IGP right? No more 9400M? No more 3.5hrs battery life? Too bad...

 

Anything else he should be aware of? The thing you should be aware of is DON'T GET THE R1!

Tell him to config his new lappy under "Core i7 customization"

Then if you have question with that config you can always ask

 

Sorry to sound like a moron but....what is the R1?

 

the core 2 version is R1

the i7 version is R2

Get the R2 lol

 

Scook, I have just read your post selling your desktop. I don't wanna buy it lol but I was confused about its performance.

I saw on YouTube people brag that with Core i7 and GTX 295 they can play Crysis in the extreme heavy Real Lifesis mod, HD res, 16xQ AA and got decent framerates but it seems a fail statement right?

 

I don't have any mods or anything done, just using version 1.21. I also was quoting stock performance. I could OC the CPU to 4 GHz and the GPUs to well past what they are at now. If I did all that I could do those things too probably...

I am just being honest lol

 

Agreed! Bragging that Crysis @ 16xQ AA can be handle like a piece of cake is ridiculous.

And does anyone know how to change the Notebook Evangelist under my name?

 

get to 700 posts then you can set it yourself, or leave it as "notebook deity"

 

Is the R1 just lower performance due to the CPU or is ther problems with the R1 as a whole? Sorry so many threads so little time to read lol.

 

That's a nice title, why don't you like it?

 

Have people had problems with dead pixals with these machines?

 

I don't want to answer your question but I'm aiming for 700 posts as Scook said so... (just kidding)

There are few things you want to know:

- M17x R1 with nVidia GPU config is known for audio stuttering/crackling/skipping/popping issues in media playback, for example: mp3 or YouTube playback... Some people report they have sound issues even during gaming. The symptom is very high value as shown in DPC Latency Checker.

The root cause of audio issues is basically unknown. Dell attempted to fix it with BIOS A03 but it's reported that only ATI users are really benefit from the new BIOS. For nVidia users problem persists.

- R1 has old display called CCFL which is dimmer and has low color gamut. It also has color bleeding at the edges of the screen and annoying auto-dim feature that cannot be fixed.

The latest RBG LED display in M17x R2 is much more brighter and brilliant.

And they have different chips which mean different mobos and some other minor differences you can find everywhere.

 

Yeah it's a nice title but I want to put my own stuff like The Moo with "whatever"

 

I have owned a Alienware 17X for some months now and i'm very, very happy about it under Windows Vista 64 - but - not under Windows 7, from wich i can't get the 17x to run smoothly. Lots of issues.

Has anyone ever got a 17x run under Windows 7?

 

Yes because the systems do come with Windows 7 now.

 

If I recall some of the posts that discussed these points, the Nforce board in the m17x R1 is suspect as having bugs... the M17x R2 with the ATI cards is an Intel P55M...

*we expect different problems*

 

I am sorry to ask old questions but we are about to order one (R1 or R2). Nextag has a coupon for the R1 with the core dou 2.53 dual 260ms and the 1200p lcd for 1899. So with just a 25 dollar hard drive upgrade(320gig) I have the system I want. However if the R1 is really that bad and the screen is that horrible I may pass and save for the R2. Anyone with the R1 care to comment before I make a decision?