*OFFICIAL* M17xR3 Owner's Lounge Thread - Part 1

I ordered mine from AAFES too and still have an EDD of 2/21. I don't want them to canx my order. Was to good of a price in Jan (got an EPP discount of over -$1000). Did not even see that the system was on sale.

 

Lol. I had the exact issue with my XPS when I received it. Someone didn't sysprep properly. Looks like their QA team is fail.

 

Quite possibly, have you contacted AAFES ?

 

GPU activity "None" means that it's on the IGP. I don't want the 460m anymore now. Damnit.

Yah, no change in my order yet.

I haven't, but I doubt they'd know anything or be able to do anything, as they're just a middle-man, and the order has already been "received by retailer/vendor". They also already charged me. In that dell thread in the dell community, it says that you will not be charged until the unit has been shipped. Welp, I've been charged, but it was by "EXCHANGE" or something (aka aafes store). My guess is that I'd have to ask for refund or something through aafes, which might be a bit more complicated than I thought Someone correct me if I'm wrong though. PLEASE CORRECT ME LOL

 

Quoting just so you see this, since it seemed to upset some peoples. It's still not as high as I'd like to see.

Edit again lol:

same as above, with wireless turned off

 

It's still pretty good, perhaps it can be better down the line.

 

Hello I would first like to say thank you for making this thread I have been following the past couple days. I am REALLY thinking about getting this laptop so all the input from you guys is really helping me decide. Any way.... I read your comment about 3d and totally understand how people see 3d as a gimmick including things popping out at you kind of a lie. Being an owner of a 3d tv for a little under a year I can safely say I have gained lots of knowledge about the 3d technology. I have a Samsung tv and it can automatically convert live 2d television into 3d as well as games. The 3d is EXACTLY as you describe it. Its like looking into a window. And for the people who think thats all that these 3d tvs can do I am sorry cause I am happy to say your wrong The secret lies within the content itself. A LOT of movies I think are just trying to make a few extra bucks saying its in 3d an it is, but its not "TRUE" 3d. Your only getting 3d outwards into the screen (window effect). For the TRUE 3d you want actual "3D Blurays" or actual 3d games. These movies are actually filmed with 3d cameras, one for each eye. example would be Avatar. It was actually filmed for 3d. I know the ps3 supports 3d and MAN! Sony has the 3d down good! Their 3d games on the ps3 will blow your mind! My favorite game in 3d: Stardust HD. This kind of 3d will literally reach WAY out of the screen at you. My advice, just to get an idea of the difference between "3d" and "true 3d" is to rent or buy an actual 3d bluray and pop it in or put that hdmi in to use and hook up a ps3 to it and try the stardust hd demo and check out some of the other 3d content Sony has to offer.

Sorry for the long comment but I just HAD to let people know there is GOOD 3d out there!

 

there should be a distinct advantage in battery life for optimus (60Hz optioned units) as compared to 3d (120Hz optioned units), but this does seem right in line with the http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/552545-m17x-r3-review-kitguru.html...

 

Nah, I was hoping for 5-6 hours. Usshell's 6870+IGP gets him somewhere around 5+ hours. This is unacceptable to barely get 4. Kunekaden, are there other options we can mess around with to make battery life go higher (not including undervolting, etc technical stuff. I just mean stuff within windows that might increase that number)? I would just like to get what usshell gets.

 

I just edited it again. Sorry, I should have thought of everything first then posted
The new edit shows 5 hours with alienfx dimmed and wireless turned off

 

In usshellfire's battery test, shown here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/550930-m17xr3-6870-a.html, he has these settings: "both battery life estimate done with screen @ 50% brightness, alienFX on, high performance power option", and he gets 5:04 (95%)for IGP, and 3:26 (100%) with 6870.

Can you match his settings and tell us whatcha get?

 

See?

A little waiting and already you've gained an hour.

 

Screen brightness can easily add or take away an hour

 

You've made me smile hahaha. I'd hope for more than 5 though, with similar settings to Usshellfire ("both battery life estimate done with screen @ 50% brightness, alienFX on, high performance power option."). This makes me want to switch to 6870 now, especially cuz it's 2 spots higher on notebookcheck's gpu list hahah.

 

You do realize that the systems are identical except for that discrete GPU.....so if both are running on the IGP and the discrete is powered off then the battery life will be comparable. There are all sorts of power settings you can alter to get difference results

 

No, I can't. My system shipped with only 2 power options
"Balanced"
"Power Saver"

I've been using "Balanced", which is 50% brightness.


And on another not so great note, my battery is no longer charging. Unplug; 95% remaining. Plug in "Fully charged". After being plugged in for 20 mins, it's still 95% when I unplug.

 

You click on show other power plans and batter saver will be there.....lol

 

epic failure.

 

95% is a safety precaution I think, so it doesn't overcharge/wear out the battery or something.

You don't have high performance profile? Maybe it's a CCC (ATI/AMD) setting. Can someone else clarify?

 

LOL ^^^ Another note for you on AW systems is that until the battery discharges to a certain point it won't start charging again Nothing wrong with the system, if I remember correctly it's a Windows setting.

Dookie read scook's response and you'll know what is actually going on with the "2 power plans" situation lol.

 

No worries, we all learn something every day

 

High Performance
Wireless on
50% Brightness, AlienFX on (not dimmed)

IGP: 3 hours 27 minutes @95% Battery


You'd think it'd be the same as with the 6870. I mean, Optimus is supposed to turn the GPU completely off.

 

Naaa.......we all learn at one time or aneother

 

"The person" was me actually. I think it's ok in this situation

 

Seriously. This is pretty lame.

 

it could be that with optimus, the 460 is in standby mode.
thus draining that little bit of juice.

with the 6870, it totally seems to shut off power to the GPU. because when i switch from discrete, to IGP. my 6870 disappears from device manager, and even hwinfo cant detect my GPU as well.

 

Im in the uk, dell have removed the m17x r3 off the website!! haha

 

because noone bought it at this price? they may take it back when it reached R2 price? lool.

 

i think its more the issues with intel! i had a quick look on the US site couldnt see it there either

 

OGOD. This totally makes me want 6870... How would I go about getting the swap and refund? Will they charge me anything?

And did you mean hwinfo cant detect your "GPU" or CPU? Confusededed

 

Wait for 6970 if you are going to swap it out.

 

sorry, typo error on my part. "cant detect my GPU as well."

can anyone with a 460 with 60Hz screen comfirm if the 460 GPU can be detected in both device manager and hwinfo when it is in optimus mode?

 

It is still there but no data is being sent to it. It has to be there or the driver would not know what to do since it is bound to that device.

 

then its different from the AMD 6870 as when you switch to IGP, the 6870 totally disappears from the device manager and from hwinfo as well.

i was conversing with murmuk the other day on why the GPU or GPU fan doesnt appear in the sensor list at time, and he mention that if the device is not running/on at that point of time, it will not be displayed as his programe wont be able to distinguish between "off" and "not present" since both states will be giving a "zero" signal instead of "one"

if my hypothesis is correct, this could very well be the main reason why the R3's with the nvidia cards have lesser battery life.

it could be due to the fact that even with optimus on, the 460 will still be drawing a certain amount of current even in "stand by" mode'"

while with the AMD cards, it seems to totally shut off the GPU and thus does not draw any current.

can anyone prove this?

 

I hope its just a fluke, and it's just kunekaden's system only. Reason why I opted for the 460 in the first place was Optimus, cuz I thought it'd be good. But doesnt look that way anymore.

 

I'm going to take advantage of the Intel fiasco and return my M17xR3 and reorder with ATI graphics because I really need the battery life more than the 3D. I'll be calling Dell next week and if they'll let me make a replacement order immediately, I'll do so. Otherwise, I'll wait until they reappear and order with the 6970.

 

I am sure you can disable the GTX 460m from the BIOS achieving the same effect as the 6870 just with the need for a restart (not the end of the world....I do it on my R1). All assuming you have the 60Hz screen as apparently the IGP cannot handle 120Hz, thus the lack of optimus for the 3D option (completely irrelevant to actual 3D apparently)

 

Agreed.

Agreed. Minus the 6970 thing. I just want the 6870 though to save some cash. Maybe I can apply it towards something else to save them the trouble of refunding me.

I wish.

 

Can you remove the GPU and still boot the system?

 

Yes the system will start up, but you will see a black screen and hear a couple of beeps. It won't pass the BIOS.

 

So 5hrs+ with wireless turned off...Hmm, I'll be check with Usshellfire to see if he had wireless on or off during his screenshots. He only indicated wifi on with his movie watching test.

 

One thing to remember is to take those battery life estimates with a grain of salt... They're not spot on... But do give u an idea... Yes

 

Meh. I'd rather the estimate give me 5hours like USShellfire's, instead of just 4hours. Still waiting for Usshellfire's response re: wifi on or off though.

 

wifi was on. had to be on to upload results online.

 

My battery life is (and the times listed on the kitGuru review are) almost identical to Dane's. Optimus does nothing in terms of extending battery life at this point. We'll see what happens in the future.

 

Hey guys I don't know where to really post this but being this M17X-R3, it made sense to me, so I've been checking the alienware website and I can't find any option to order the M17-R3 did alienware put M17X-R3 apart so they could modificate it?

 

LOL ^^^^ Have you not seen the fiasco with the chipset? You may want to do some additional research if you haven't. You won't be able to order the R3 for a while due to an issue with the chipset.

 

I was just curious because I won't order M17X-R3 I will just wait till the M18X. Thanks anyway

 

NP
10 char

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I see it now on support.dell