*OFFICIAL* M17xR3 Owner's Lounge Thread - Part 2

Thank you very much , exactly what i wanted to know.SSD it is , your in trouble now tablet !

 

The drawback of SSDs is of course their capacity (assuming you are not concerned with price)

I would recommend a 120+ GB drive for a system drive and then something like a 750 for storage.

 

Hey everyone! I just wanted to post to let everyone know that there is a problem with the new R3 gtx 460m 3d. I recieved my first alienware and was loving it for a week. Then it crashed. I had the computer on suspend and it wouldn't come out so I restarted. After restarting. I got the BSOD. After which I tried to load up again and the computer failed to read the hard drive. After having a dell tech support agent install another hard drive I had to install the operating system. Windows got to the point of configuring windows and then it would say it could not configure for this hardware. After being on with tech support for a while finally an old intel chipset manager was installed in the load drivers section and windows was able to complete the install(note we had to use a usb and the driver files on the website don't show up on the load drivers window, cannot eject windows disk when in the load drivers section). This is after running full diagnostics saying the system was completely fine. After which I installed the resource cd drivers and once I installed the nvidia drivers and restarted the system crashed again. Uninstalling the driver was the fix. Alienware tech support then went an installed the drivers for me with two different people through controlling my computer over the internet. Both times it ended in failure. The second tech support was way better cause he was actually researching for things to fix the driver problems. Its ridiculous that alienware would release a computer with drivers that crash it as well as the fact that you cannot update to the latest nvidia drivers from the nvidia site. I'm not versed in installing modded drivers so this is the deal breaker. Having now researched in the internet I see alot of people have problems with the gtx 460m drivers. I was able to play crysis and just cause 2 with the stock system before it crashed. The whole suspend issue is what brought this all about. Currently the screen will go blank as part of the power plan when not active then when I try to wake it back up the screen won't show anything it will just brighten up a bit. Now I'm returning my R3 and not exchanging until they get this problem fixed.

 

Not sure, but get yourself one these....

WD Scorpio Black

 

How are you liking the performance on the blacks? I was hoping someone could bench the 750s

 

I am really likeing them, granted I am running 500's in raid5, so not sure how accurate benchies would be for ya if youre looking for standalone.

 

I would expect similar performance actually since both will be using 250GB platters. The 750 would have a more mature controller and firmware though I would expect.

 

Haha. I've got one of those for my XPS 17" But I'm after an actual cooler, with fans and whatnot. A friend of mine has one for her 17" laptop, but it's a no-name one she picked up somewhere.

 

Hi guys. Is it just me? I find my font weird. It's not like the font I have on my desktop windows 7. How can I change it back to the default?

 

Yup. Me too. Mine's sitting on my desk on top of an old calculus textbook, which is of course narrower than the full width of the lappy, allowing airflow for both fans. The fan is either very quiet, or completely off. Only during gaming (SC2 on max everything) did the gpu fan come on, and wasn't even that loud.

 

You got a skinny calculus book then

Mine were all bricks! (and I had 4.....dam engineering major!)

 

Well, it's about 2inches thick, so if you call that skinny then I guess I'm lucky? I hate calc and don't remember a thing from it lolz!

 

2" should be thicker than your notebook

edit: Just noticed you said narrower which for some reason my brain turned into thinner lol

 

Anyone here has their desktop icons pixelized? Google chrome, yahoo messenger, Msi afterburner, whocrashed? Is it because we are running 1920x1080?

 

It may just be the icon itself, I don't see any pixelation at all. If you have magnifying glasses you're looking through then maybe but it shouldn't be with normal vision

 

Is a cooler really needed for this laptop? Do they really get that hot e.g gaming?

 

Well, i was able to weasel my way into the system now showing @sig as an "exchange"
Upgraded from 2630 to 2720, gtx 460 to 6970, and from 2year to 3year warranty

Oh yeah, going black this time.

 

Nope. Not here. It actually gets fuzzy when I switch down to 1600x900 (my favorite resolution). 1080p is so hard on my eyes, cuz everything's sooo small.

Haven't needed one yet. The max my stuff went to was like 68c (both CPU and GPU after playing a bit of SC2 on max everything).

 

Just thought that I'd let everyone know, that I couldn't be happier with this machine. Looks and feels great, and the performance is more than I could've hoped for. The perfect upgrade from my M15x, and even if the elusive M18x showed up tomorrow, I don't think I'd be willin to shell out the coin needed to have a bigger dual GPU setup. The R3 was expensive enough

 

Thanks.

That sounds good...


The laptop is expensive here as it is. Without getting a cooler.


Must say this laptop solved 2 things I wanted in one go(hdmi input and 3d)

 

Also, don't forget that switchable graphics was the deal-breaker for many too I know that it was mine I had been searching for gaming + switchable since April 2010, and was lucky to discover the R3

 

Nice job kune! I got basically the same deal but got parts instead plus a good chunk of money credited back to my DPA I get anymore refunds and they basically gave this thing to me for free

Why not go with 1080p with a higher font size in Windows and zoom in browsers? Much cleaner view with the same size icons/text/etc.

 

Tried it for the desktop---thx! I had already been using ctrl++ in firefox to magnify things. I still don't know what to do with all the desktop space though lolz.

 

How many of you regret getting 3d over 6970 just because you cant play mist of the games at the highest settings with 3d?
And vice versa how many of u are happy choosing 3d over 6970?
Also do you get 5 hrs of battery life with 6970?

 

I think if the 485m tests out it will be very much the reverse, Nvidia graphics equal too or better than the 6970 plus 3D

 

Nice Dane!

I'm up to those upgrades and essentially $1100 refund if you count the 15% discount on the re-order in that category. Dell's service is great, and I love getting 'free' stuff, but I really hope I never have to call tech support again!

 

In my review, you will see that when I was at 96%, it showed 4:27 remaining. This was at max brightness, on the IGP, with AlienFX on, WLAN on, volume at 10%, and Backstreet Boys playing on windows media player. So I'm guessing if I turned everything down/off, then prolly 5hours.

 

+1 more hour for not playing backstreet boys

 

Hey kune, So you got all the upgrades for freeeee? Wow.

 

Thanks I just wish Dell would hire some even McDonalds level compentent employees. I just got the parts from the tech and they sent the wrong screen, they have now shipped 4 boxes of parts in the last 2 weeks with me telling them exactly what would and wouldn't work each time and they still can't send the correct parts. This is getting ridiculous, they don't even know what happened and have to "find out what the problem with the order was" before they'll send the correct 1080p 60hz screen instead of the 900p crap.

 

You're playing Dell Tech III on Nightmare difficulty
Try turning it down to Novice - tell them to do everything for you via new system

 

They are refusing to give me a new system as I've had mine for nearly two months now. I seriously have the worst luck when it comes to getting the dumbest phone reps on the planet.

 

Want my Lv.2's contact info?
He's pretty slick and has no problem putting up with my baddie-ness
Night shifter though. I think he starts at ~7pm EST.

 

Yeah if you wouldn't mind PMing me the info it would be greatly appreciated, the big problem is that it's not them that makes the decision, unless it's a system under 21 days old or has had the same component replaced 3+ times the tech guys don't make the choice.

 

Anyone had they're R3 go into a blue screen during startup (MATS test or something) then go into an Alienware logo'd ePSA Pre-boot System Assessment? This is the second time I've seen this after being powered down and unplugged for about 20 hours. The test doesn't reveal any errors.

 

Not I...I haven't had any issues with this outside of the battery jiggling a bit =/

 

No, but I got 2 BSODs while doing updates. 1st one was during windows' update when it was trying to update to SP1. It reached like 50% download, I think, and then BSOD outta nowhere. The 2nd BSOD was during the patch update for BFBC2 at like ~70% of the bar. I have no idea what caused it, cuz BSODs don't really allow you to print screen, and they disappear too quickly for you to read what the message says (and also I wouldn't understand that mumbo jumbo anyhow)

 

Dookie - troubleshooting steps: Right Click Computer->Properties then click on "Advanced System Settings" then under "startup and recovery" click "Settings". Uncheck "Automatically restart" and you can check the BSOD error code next time it happens and continue troubleshooting that issue.

 

Cool! Thanks! That really helps! Haven't gotten a BSOD since the 2nd day though, so no idea what it was.

 

Dell really screwed the pooch on this WiHD. I wish they would be more forward with whats going on with it. Anyone know if we have the hardware to do WiHD, and if we're just missing software and the TV receiver?

 

We don't it's an add-on.

They didn't even advertise WiHD, they have been advertising Intel's WiDi, they are separate technologies. The WiDi they did mislead on since it is not compatible w/ 120Hz panels due to IGP being off.

 

This might be the wrong place to ask but - Does the R3 still have dual GPU's?? Dell only seems to be offering a single card option.

 

No, there isn't a dual GPU solution

 

R2 = Dual
R3 = Single (more powerful single-card GPU's than the R2)

*SPECULATION* = M18x will be the R2 replacement w/ Dual */SPECULATION*

 

Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 2820QM (2.30Ghz, 6MB, 4C) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
GRAPHICS CARD 2GB GDDR5 AMD® Radeon™ HD 6970M w/ PowerXpress
LCD 17.3" WideFHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD edit
MEMORY 16GB 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel (4X4GB)
OPTICAL DRIVE DVD+/-RW (DVD, CD read and write)
HARD DRIVE 750GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Intel Wireless LAN 6300 3x3 (802.11a/b/g/n) Card -
these spec are costing nearly £2800 in uk and USA it's only £1800 can someone please recommend a seller from USA thanks

 

thats setup is not 1,800... my setup is very similar and mine was like 3,500

 

Lol I m talking about British pounds my friend ur rite in dollars it's over 3500

 

I just assumed, that the secondary part saying USA its only 1800, would be in USD . But yes its clear now

 

It's ok I put a £ sign now but I just don't understand the price diffence between a US model and uk model it's a rip off . So can u tell me any reseller in USA please

 

It is a ripoff and outside of ebay there are no official resellers for outside the US for Alienware that I know it