*OFFICIAL* "All Powerful" M17x-R2 Edition Owner's Lounge - Part 2

Hi Guys,

I just purchased the M17x but I am not sure if it is the R2 version. It comes with the i7 720QM and the HD5870 GPU. I am guessing it is.

I initially purchased the Envy 17 but decided to make my switch over to the Alienware due to the better warranty, better RGB screen.

I just have a couple of quick questions:

1) I only purchased it with 1 regular HDD for now, and am looking to add a second HDD down the road. Will it be a simple process to obtain the HDD bracket and do the self install? This laptop has the capacity to have dual HDDs right? even though I only purchased it with 1 for now.

2) Can this laptop fit the larger 12.5mm capacity HDDs?

3) Is it ever possible to add a second GPU down the road to CF it? Any special parts needed if possible?

Thanks so much for all your answers!

 

Hey! Guess me and you both joined the party!

 

Haha Philthy84, I think we were on the same Envy 17 thread . Guess we both made the jump over to Alienware.

Btw, hope someone would be able to answer some of my earlier questions

 

I7: R2

1) Five min job to add second hard drive. Computer should come with bracket and imposer for installing second hard drive. And if not, people have had success calling Dell and get it for free.
2) Don't think so (not 100% sure).
3) People are ordering R2 with two 5870 so my guess is yes. Will have to order second card, cooling fan, heat sink (all may come in one package), and crossfire cable.

 

Thanks for your reply ils

Well, I am happy that out of the 3, at least two of them are possible. Although I was hoping that the Alienware m17x would have no problems fitting the 12.5mm hdd since it was already thicker than most laptops out there that had the ability to do so like the Envy 17 which is thinner in build.

Other than that, I am really excited about my order which has an estimated delivery date of June 10. Just need to develop more muscles from now to than to handle the massive weight hehe.

 

Does anyone know where to get this screensaver/load screen?

Alienware M17X-R2-AlienFX And Best Screensaver

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjVU6er1m2g

 

One more quick question for you guys.

Does the system come with a seperate DVD for Win 7 OS for clean re-installs? Thanks.

 

Yes it does.

 

Awesome! Thanks for letting me know.

 

Just curious but did you order yesterday also?

 

Yes I did. What were your reasons why you finally decided the Alienware over the Envy 17?

 

Lucky! Your EDD is 7 days ahead of mine, ordered yesterday also.


It's a long story why I finally decided on the M17x-R2 haha. I first was going with a M15x > Sager NP8690 > Envy 17 and had orders placed for all of them. I was trying to find a notebook that would be perfect for gaming and to be used for my business related task. But yesterday I just decided I'll buy the M17x for my home use and buy another cheaper and smaller laptop for my work.

 

LOL, I had spent the last 5 months looking for a suitable laptop too. I had placed orders for the Asus G73JH-A1(Twice!) and the Envy 17. The Asus just had too many issues with it. I ordered the first G73, it arrived and suffered from the GSOD issue. I did not like the RMA hot and miss experience suffered by so many G73 owners, so just returned it. I than ordered another G73 and while it was in process and during shipment, I heard wind that the ENVY 17 would be arriving for retail sale, so I rejected that delivery right at the door. Frankly, the G73JH with its poor make quality and atrocious RMAs just put me wayyy off. Did you know that some components inside the G73 are actually held in place with double sided tape?

So, I went ahead and ordered the ENVY 17 within hours of its release, but after going through the HP forum boards, I realised that it's so called On-site warranty was a sham for the consumer 'grade' laptops. Most stuff hardware related had to be sent in for RMA. I could not take the time lost in such a case, plus the risk of further RMA related damage. Just see some of the RMA horror stories on it.

Thus, based on my personal experience with the Dell On-Site service on my faithful 4 year old laptop, I decided to go for the M17x. The other factor that helped me was that I do lots of coding, graphic and photography work, and the 1900 x1200 display real estate will trump any 1900 x 1080 in my mind. Plus the fact it is importantly RGB.

The trade-off in the Alienware purchase over the ENVY was the lost of the USB3.0 port and its lighter weight and smaller form factor. The choice was simple, my eyes will use the RGB display every moment I use the laptop and appreciate it more, but I will likely only use the USB3.0 much much less frequently. And I know that if I wanted to add any USB3.0 capabilities in future, I could always insert a 2 port USB3.0 express card(about $30) into the express card slot. And like you, I will use a super portable light multimedia device/laptop while travelling and will not use the m17x. But at least with the m17x, I CAN have the option of moving it around (as I will move it around the house), and at times(not often) take it outdoors.

 

By the way, I do know that the m17x is like a mini light city by itself, but I was wondering if I could turn off the front speaker grill lights but leave the keyboard light on....or do I have only the option of all or no lights?

With a total of 3 display ports built-in to the laptop, does this mean I will be able to take advantage of ATIs eyeinfinity capabilities?(Display on 3 external screens).

Thanks again for all you fellow Alienware owners!

 

No one has verified Eyefinity yet. As far as the lights, you can do whatever you want, different combinations of colors and ON/OFF settings.

 

Does the performance of the i7-920xm justify it's high cost? Especially compared to the 820QM.

Cheers.

 

I think that's the all powerful screensaver, it was available when AW first had the teaser site up. A company called bigspaceship.com designed it. They have a demo of the site still up but the archive doesn't contain the actual screensaver which sucks because I want it too.

 

Yes. You can set any of the "zones" to black.

 

Thank you for the info, I am sure someone will dig it up

 

Hello friends! Can some one help understanding my possibilities regarding adding a second disk to the M17x?
I asked the Dells rep for a primary SSD and then to add to my order a second 500GB 7200 HD.
In his answer he write: "I’m not seeing an option to add a 2nd hard drive anywhere on this system, and I know that usually having 2 hard drives that do not match is not something that Dell installs from the factory. "
I remember having read in a post (which I can't find now) that the M17x comes with the caddy and the connectors, etc. for a second hard hrive. Is this true? Can I be confident that I can add the second hard drive? Even if this is not the "best" I preffer to have it factory installed, since I'm not in any way a "specialist" in dissasambling/assambling hardwares...
I will appreciate any useful advice.
g.

 

Dell will only sell the two hard drives in a raid config and will only allow identical drives to be used. You should just order with the 500 gig drive and add your own ssd. You could also just order with their ssd as the primary and add a 500 gig drive yourself if you don't want the hassle of having to reinstall windows etc. Installing a second drive isn't technical by any means and will take less than 3 mins. Its as simple as unscrewing the bottom plate and sliding in a new drive.

 

Hi all, before I reset my computer, I wanted to make sure, will I be able to re-install Windows 7 using the copy supplied with my M17x? When I get a new laptop from Dell, the first thing I do is format the hard drive and re-install the OS and drivers myself. Will the supplied copy of Windows 7 allow me to do a fresh install? Thanks!

 

Why would you go through the trouble? Alienware does not come with a bunch of crapware like most laptops/computers, spend your time playing on it instead

 

I so want that screen saver too. That has awesome written all over it lol.

 

Alright, I'll give it a shot. Like you said, I'm use to Dell laptops, not Alienware. But if I do decide to reset the laptop, can I do it with the disk provided?

 

Yes you can. I also like to do clean installs first by the way. It gives me a sense of control.

 

scratch that..

 

I think that I will preffer to buy it with the SSD as primary drive (to avoid the mentioned hassle) and then install as you suggest 2nd HD. The question is do the M17x comes with the necessary caddy / tray, the conectors, etc. to install the second HD? Will the computer recognize it? As I say I'm a dummy in this matters... (so, why I'm buying such a machine? As a surprise present to my daughter... Ssshhhhh!!!)
Thank for advice and step-by-step instructions "for a dummy" in computers...
g.

 

The newer shipments have the second caddy in there if you do not get a second hard drive. If there isn't one, you can call AW and they will send one out NBD shipping for free. And yes, its plug and play with hard drives (SSD might require AHCI mode)

 

Thanks s0ysauce45!
My intentions is that the 1rst HD will be the SSD (so will it be installed already with this AHDI mode? - I even do not know what this AHDI means and how to install it is not factory installed). The 2nd HD will be a 500GB hard disk @7200RPM (will it need this AHDI too?).

 

AHCI is a mode you set in BIOS of the machine. It's really not complicated, don't worry. Assuming you buy it with the SSD as primary drive all you will need to do is plug the second HDD (5 minutes of work tops even for an unexperienced user) and you're done. Windows will recognize it automatically..

 

I picked up my 2nd hard drive and installed it with no problems. It even auto detected and changed to AHCI unless it was already like that.

So yes, super easy!

 

So my new-to-me M17X-R2 will be arriving at some point this week with a blank hard drive. I'm just wondering if there are any hints/tips/procedures that need to be followed when installing the OS? I know that I've read at least a few reports on other AW machines that the stock drivers for some components can actually brick the whole thing if the bios has been updated and obviously I'd like to avoid that. So if there's a to a guide or someone wants to shoot me a PM that'd be greatly appreciated.

Also, if anyone has any recommendations for a 80 - 120GB SSD I'm all ears. This one seemed like maybe a good option.

 

all i can tell you is that if you install windows and then install the drivers that are linked on the first page of this thread (chipset driver first) you won't have any difficulties. Never heard that a driver bricked a M17x-R2...

 

The intel X-25M SSDs are at the top of the game. I would recommend looking in the marketplace of the NBR section. You can usually find some good deals. In my opinion they are the All around best SSD's. There are ones that are faster, your your going to need to sell a kidney at least to pay for them.

Also be sure to check out the link in mfractals sig on SSDs, There are some good pointers there, and I used the knowledgeable people there to work out a few problems of my own.

 

Thanks for the help, I'll have a look over the first post and see how it goes and good to know that the CC issues that some other models have don't seem to be a problem here. Can't wait to see this beast and throw some 3D CAD stuff at it (what I do during the day) and of course a game or 3.

 

I think you are referring to the cc issues that happened with the 05 release, it was briefly on dells website but was removed due to issues it was causing. All that was a while ago and u have nothing to worry about.

 

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service
Here is the link to that screen saver that you wanted! Enjoy everyone that wanted it! I managed to get a hold of the guy on Youtube.

Also as a side note I know that it has been mentioned before in other posts/threads but I still find it funny that on Alienwares URL Alienware: M11x
there are references to the m11x as "The most powerful 11” gaming laptop in the universe"
and
the m17x as "The most powerful 17" gaming laptop in the universe"
BUT poor little m15x gets the "The Most Powerful 15" Alienware Laptop Ever!"
LOL not the greatest anymore awww I think it's funny that the site followed up with the m11x refresh video.

 

Thanks for link +1 for your effort

 

A little bit hot, IMO. I've Just run the same test with 4870s (ambient is 27.5C) for 7min and only MEM on primary got above 80C, the rest are 80 and below.

 

Feel free to check out the SSD I am selling if you are in the market

Link in my sig

 

Thank you very much +1

 

@jesmith8 Are there any other screen savers like that?? I like it.

 

Thanks dude!

 

I'll try and see if I can find anything else out and let you know.

 

OK, that is an awesome screen saver! Does it do the lights and all by itself or is that a plugin of some kind? Thanks for the upload!

 

Google alienfx themes.

 

Now I feel stupid...lol, thanks!

 

Interesting screensaver.

+1 rep

 

Thanks WaR! I forgot to ask, are the Alienware wallpapers and icons included in the Windows 7 disc or do I need to back them up first?