*OFFICIAL* M17x R3 Owner's Lounge Thread - Part 3

That is NOT a good deal. It seems like they jacked up the price on you and applied "discounts" to get a price that you could have configured yourself on the Alienware website.

 

Well Pretty much the rep gave me about $150 off on top of the discounts I get through EPP. Should I call in and cancel my order unless they can get me a better deal?

 

Hey,

I want to get an M17x3 with following specs:

i7 2670QM
16GB RAM
750 GB disk
6990M
full hd screen
wifi intel 6300
2 yr NBD

and I can get it for an equivalent of $2577 (that's actually the best price for this setup in this god forsaken country of mine - Poland - with no discounts/outlet available ;-) ).

I'd rather have an nvidia than ati card (cause of drivers and problems with amd switchable gfx under Linux), but 580s are not available anymore .

While I understand that noone knows for certain, but would there be any chance to get an M17xR4 with 675m for similair price that 6990s go for today do you think? When they're out that is.

Also, if I disable IGP with the modded bios (which will probably be necessary to get the Radeon to work under linux) is it possible to install catalyst drivers from the AMD website without issues?

 

How did you go about getting the all the EPP discounts?

Which reseller would you recommend, I've been shopping for a M18x

 

Just received an e-mail from Alienware/Dell today stating that my Alienware m17x r3 has shipped 4/7/2012 !! I'm soo excited..

This is ahead of schedule too.. They told me it'd originally ship on 4/11/2012 and then be delivered by 4/17/2012.. Guess it'll come by Purolator latest by 4/12/2012 now. ^_^

 

Congrats

 

Dunno about this.

Your system is almost identical to mine.

The difference between mine and yours is that I have 8GB of RAM (from Dell), I've an NV 580M, I've 1.5TB RAID 0 (2 x 750GB), and I've the basic 1 year warranty plan. Oh, and your processor is a higher spec than mine. The TacX keyboard and mouse in my sig were bought separately.

I ordered through AAFES EPP and didn't have many configuration options (certainly not as much as if I ordered directly from Dell). For example, I didn't have the option of only getting 4GB of RAM...the 8GB was part of the package (I didn't mind).

I paid $2206.48, with no EPP discounts or any other discounts. There was no tax or shipping fees (shipping was 5 business days but got upped to next business day, free of charge). Maybe your advanced warranty plan and the fact that you got a higher end CPU is what made your order higher than mine...dunno. BUT, your order definitely didn't cost $3,000+...not even close.

If you want much cheaper than what you ordered, order from the Dell Depot or buy from someone on these forums. I can probably get it cheaper through Dell's normal line, but not much cheaper than $2200 with that configuration.

Just my 2 cents...

 

Is it still VERY common for Dell to ship faulty Alienware m17x r3 models?? (year 2011 models) I've read alot of horror stories and watched several bad youtube videos about people complaining about certain faults. Also sometimes some units will ship with burnt out LED backlighting.. some have faulty sound and worst but not least lots of BSOD's...

I personally haven't experienced ONE single BSOD with my current Alienware Area51 Desktop since I bought it in 2008. I guess the components/drivers have always been in perfect harmony.

And even if I get a unit that has alot of BSOD popping up, would you guys have a suggestion on how to fix that?? Or just return to Dell and get replacement?

I'm guessing I'll have to stress test it before and after installing all my favorite apps/configs.

 

guys, I have a question for everybody here which using SSD with SATA 3 speed at their system. Does you have a problem if you're installing it at port 0, like drop to SATA 2 speed ? How many are you guys have installed at port 0 and constantly have SATA 3 speed ? Both port on the R3 supposed to support SATA 3 speed right ?

I have this problem now on my system, I have read the thread that discuss about this problem, but it's on M18x lounge thread. Just curious about how many M17xR3 users have the same issue.....

 

I've been looking at the M17 on the alienware site, but I can't seem to get a configuration with an nvidia 580M video card. The only option is a Radeon HD 6870 or an HD 6990. I've seen posts on the forum of people that have it with the nvidia card.

Does anyone know why I can't get the nvidia card? Is the M17 getting a refresh soon with the ivy bridge chipset coming out, so Dell is trying to get rid of the M17s that are still in inventory and they only have Radeon video cards left?

 

I haven't had any issues with my laptop. It all comes down to if they build it correctly at the factory. The only BSOD I've gotten were from bad driver installs. After fixing them, everything has been smooth.

The day after I placed my order, the 580Ms started to appear with a delay. The website said 7 days, but in reality it was more like 2-3 weeks. A lot of people encountered these delays and Dell decided to remove them from the site. You might be able to call up and get a sales rep to quote you for one, but not sure about that.

 

They're probably 'rebiosing' 580s to 675s

 

its the same hardware after all. Wish I could flash my 6990m to a 7970m, but it looks like its not gonna be a rebadge like the 580m/675m.

 

where did you hear this bigtony? I read the opposite that the 7970's are new architecture, new manufacturing process

 

exactly, hence we can't flash our cards to the 7970m. You must have misread or I worded my response wrongly.

 

yep, that's what bigtonyman said ;-) I'd say that's good that 7970m will be a completely new card. After all, I wouldn't be surprised to both 7970m and 675 be similairly priced, while only the first will actually be worth it (just my guess, of course).

 

Thanks for the info. It looks like the laptops might be in flux with the changes, so I think I'll wait a couple of weeks to see how things flush out. I'd hate to get a laptop now with a 580 and found out that I could have gotten a 675. I know that they are the same cards, but I've heard rumors that the 675 might be a little less power hungry.

 

nothing a quick bios flash can't fix. its the exact same hardware as far as I understand.

Edit: all of the 6xx series might be 28nm now.... all the stuff flying around is diluting the truth.

 

oh ya, i misread that, my bad. 7970 will be new

 

Is it possible to disable the discrete (ATI) gfx in the unmodded A08 bios, or do I need the modded one to do that?

 

you can manually switch back and forth using the function keys, not sure why you would want to turn of the discrete card though.

 

to make certain 6990 is disabled under linux, as dual graphics cause problems (at least I heard they do) and IGP is more than enough for everyday use. Linux would be my main OS for everything but gaming . I take it I'd have to use the modded A08 to disable either of the cards, and I'm worried about giving Dell any excuse to void my warranty if anything goes wrong. thanks for the info

 

Updated! Got the mouse and a year warranty, changed to 1 HDD so I can install my own SSD.

Alienware M17x
Monitor: 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
Color: Soft Touch Stealth Black
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7 2860QM
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (2DIMMS)*
Hard Drive: 750GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Video Card: 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M
Optical Drive: Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader
Warranty: 2 Year

Alienware TactX Keyboard & TactX Mouse


I paid: $2389.03


* Gonna self install Kingston HyperX 16GB DDR3 1866 Ram

 

Ah alright I got you. Yea the modded bios works great for that. I personally wouldn't be to worried about it. I forgot to switch mine back to the stock version when I sent it in for repair a few months back. Dell didn't even know the difference.

 

Thx for the info, just didn't want to be that single example for whom it wouldn't work

One final question: are the HDMI, VGA and DisplayPort wired to the IGP, or do I have to use the Readeon (not that it would matter that much, since I could disable IGP rather than the discrete card )?

 

I have been able to use the VGA and HDMI ports on both graphics cards. Not sure about the display port but idk why it wouldn't be the same.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

Time to order m17 then ;-) +rep for all yout help, thx

 

Hi I just wanted to introduce myself.Been looking for a while but since I just got my first Alienware r3 a few days ago thought I'd join up.

 

Welcome

Care to share the specs or potential planned upgrades for it?

 

It's fairly stripped down,2670 cpu,6990,4Gb 1600 ram,750Gb HD. I plan on upgrading the Ram and get a SolidState drive fairly soon, and maybe down the road upgrade the cpu.

 

Probably the first bottlenecks you are going to hit are the HDD and ram size, the CPU is very sufficient. Only reason I could think of to change out that CPU would be to move to an ivy bridge for the reduced power usage.

A SSD will speed up your boot times enormously, and RAM will help run more applications at once. Things to remember- the SSD goes in the MIDDLE hard drive bay, the one next to the CPU, if you want to have SATA3 speeds. And you need the A08 bios, apparently the A09 removes SATA3 (not sure on A10). Your ram is very likely in the two accessible slots, requiring you to remove the keyboard to access the other two. Try and match RAM manufacturers and clock speeds with the ones already in the laptop when you upgrade.

Have fun with your new Alienware!

by the way, I would almost advise getting a new graphics card (680m or 7990m) when they come out rather than a ivy CPU. Of course, we will have to wait on modded BIOS and driver support first...

 

Anytime, thats what im here for

Welcome to the alienware club

Not a bad system, I would just leave it for now and maybe upgrade to maybe a 2920 when the prices come down for future proofing. Then upgrade the GPU when the series after this one comes out(7xx for nvidia and the 8xxx for AMD). 6990m should be good till then at least for me.

 

welcome to nbr...i love to see more canadians on here

 

Welcome to NBR and the Alienware club.

Sent from my Samsung Captivate/ICS using Tapatalk 2

 

Thanks for the welcome and the advice SlickDude80 we're practically neighbors, I'm about 800km (500mi.) southwest of Toronto.

 

lol...you're actually alot closer to me than you think. I'm only about 1hr away from Hamilton

 

Great I can bring my computer over if I have problems

 

Sure...bring wings and i drink Heineken

 

Wait... Can you switch out the GPU and install a new one on Alienware m17x r3's?? I've never even seen what a mobile videocard looks like.. I was under the impression that it was a permanent choice..
Now I feel like a n00b.. lol.. So I imagine most parts are interchangeable including the CPU? Thats cool, so there is upgrade potential down the road then.

I wouldn't mind getting the full mobo review specs for the m17x r3 so I can plan a road to future upgrades as new compatible tech releases.

 

If I'm asking this question in the wrong place, I'm sorry. Let me know where and I'll move it.

I had a few keys touching the screen on my m17x r3. Technician came and replaced the keyboard and for some reason the screen "be ause they sent the part". ok, whatever. Well before I could look at his finished work, he was gone and I got home and noticed a 1/8 to 1/4 inch gap on the top left of the screen now between the glass and housing. Basically the guy didn't put the housing back on correctly. I called him and he said that is something that usually happens when replacing just the glass and not the bezel. This true?

Can I fix this myself and is it relatively easy for a noob? I see where you take the screws out for the display to detach but not sure how to get the back bezel off to reseat it. Just snap on? But then wouldn't I be able to snap it off with it still on the laptop?

If anyone has any info on this, please advise.

Should I just have dell sending a whole new screen with everything together and all I need to do is screw it on?

Thanks in advance.

 

You can change almost everything on the R3. Look at the sigs of some of the members here and see how things have been transformed.

GPU is based on the MXM 3b standard which means any vid card that meets the standard will be compatible. Many people on here have swapped out to current best 6990m's and 580m's and someone here was successful in installing a 670m (which is a 570m in disguise)

A mobile vid card is like a desktop card but its much smaller and lacks the plastic housing that usually houses the cooling unit on desktop cards.

can you post a screen shot? 1/4 inch gap is quite large. I wouldn't touch anything because the dell tech caused it, so call and get another dell tech to fix it. If you touch it, they can blame you

PS, the screen touching the keyboard is unfortunately a normal thing on Alienware m17x R3's. I have it, but it doesn't cause any damage and i'm not willing to call dell to have a tech come over to make things worse. The worse that happens now is sometimes, there may be some oil or grease from the keyboard that goes on the screen. i just wipe it clean.

 

Yeah, had I know it would have been such an issue, I would have just lived with it. I called to see what Dell could do and was told it's policy to have to wait at least a week to have other parts sent out. You've pretty much talked me out of trying to fix it myself at this point and I'll just wait a week and see what to do as far as a whole screen replacement or a tech to fix it.

Here's a pic of his finished work.

 

For the screen touching the keyboard, I found a solution, albeit a MacGuyver solution.

I found that the oil from my fingers was transferring to the screen in the shape of my keys and it was annoying me slightly. On my M11xR2 I got the Razer mousepad that is ultra thin and is used to clean your screen as well cause its microfiber, but that is too small to fit on the M17X.

At the hospital I am working at, they received some new Cisco 3750's and they were mounted via rack. The kit that came with them also had some rubber stops for the bases if they were set on a shelf. Since those were not used, I borrowed a set. Then cut a slice off of 2 of them about .5cm wide. Then, stuck the slice at the top left and top right of the glass where the black bezel is thicker.

They are not a pretty fix, but will do for right now. Once I get some time I will go to radioshack or Lowes/Home Depot and see what else I can find that will work. They are a bit thicker than I would like, but the important part, the hinge does engage before they touch the base. Once I find something that makes the modder in me happy, I'll post a pic.

 

NiteStarr, that would bug the crap out of me too.

The thing about dell is that they often replace parts mindlessly for unrelated issues. There really isn't much you can do to fix that. The lcd panels come preassembled in a sealed unit. God only knows why they would replace a perfectly good lcd screen "just because they sent it"...sigh

Next time they come, make sure they only replace the screen and nothing else. The last time, they should have replaced the keyboard and nothing else.

 

SlickDude, should I ask for a whole screen assembly to be sent so that it's already together? Or do you think what I have now is fixable?

@Neocypher. I'm going to look into that. I don't see any problem now with the keys, but I haven't had enough time to get the keys used and oily.

 

you don't want them to try and fix that...there is a very high probability that it will look worse or crack. THe lcds come in sealed units...dell knows this and will come with a complete unit (i.e., the housing with lcd inside) to replace the current one. Check out the housing to make sure you're happy with it before allowing the tech to proceed.

 

Ok. I'll wait the one week and call them back up and get a full assembled screen. I'll be sure to look at it when he shows up with it and before he puts it on.

Thanks for your help SlickDude.

 

On my systems I always put a cloth cut from an old shirt between my screen and keyboard if I'm transporting my systems. The R2 doesn't have that issue though. The M11x my but I use a cloth so my screen is still good.

Sent from my Samsung Captivate/ICS using Tapatalk 2

 

hey guys i've got a question.

I just got my intel ultimate n-6300 today to replace my dell dw-1502. After I installed it in my M17x R3 it could not detect any network at all. Through device manager it says the wifi card could not start up. Error Code(10). Replace the 1502 back to laptop everything is fine. Swap with 6300 again it would not work. I tried CMOS reset but to no avail. Any suggestions?

 

parisienne, i assume that you cleaned out the old wifi drivers before installing the new drivers for the 6300?

I also assume that you are plugging the 6300 in the correct mini pcie slot??...i.e., the same one that the old wifi card is in. There is a second slot that is used for the HD wireless and the wifi won't work in it.

If you've done all this, then it is possible that the 6300 is bad