m17x R3 - dookie11's thoughts :)

Its ok i figured it out. But i got my first BSOD updating rift. Btw great reveiw Dookie, but you said you dont get much keyboard flex? idk if mines the same and im over analyzing but i get a good amount above my track pad nn the gloss black part around the keyboard and on the keyboard itself. should make a video of it..

 

The frame thingy around the kb itself has flex. LOTS of it. But that's not something that getting a replacement would fix. The kb itself has very little flex. I'm lucky I guess

 

LOL this thread gets plenty of traffic. It's just from people that are waiting for their systems. You are right though that he should have went to gaming thread as I'm sure they will be of much more help to him!

EDIT: One good thing though is everyone waiting on their systems get to kind of see what probs one might have. So even though it wasn't the proper post to post in, it helps everyone thats waiting to have more knowledge as to what may happen and what they may need to do after they get their system!

 

So I can look forward to a 1-inch gash, dead pixels, crappy sound, and other loose stuff lol.

 

Yah, did you read about the "squishy" side panels (on the left/right where all your ports are)? I posted about it yesterday, but haven't read any foloowup comments on it.

 

A new photo to share with y'all

It's currently on IGP, battery, WLAN on, min brightness, power saver feature, lights off, 10% volume, firefox open on just yahoo mail, and doing nothing really. But it's amazing! Btw, why is BatteryBar always different than windows?

 

Battery bar estimates based on past sittings with the battery. So for example if you've used the R3 on the 6970M the first 5 times, your battery bar will estimate an hour of battery life. If you then go on battery with the IGP and all settings minimum, battery bar doesn't change its estimation, whereas Windows does. None of the estimations are ever enough though. It's always best to actually time it yourself, or you can use battery bar, but delete its previous history. The 3.5 hours is an estimate based on how you've used it most often when on battery.

 

Your 2nd to the last sentence is absolutely true. I left my computer on with minimum everything in those same settings as the picture, and played on my desktop instead. The laptop was just left on, with settings to not dim/turn off the display. So with screen on minimal and it just sitting there idle, it turned off after like 5+ hours. Pretty damn good.

 

Yo dookie. I`ve seen that you play with Dolphin. Have you tried Super Mario Galaxy 1/2? If so, what frames do you get with R3?

 

Havent yet tried any wii games.

 

Hm ok. That was too bad. SMG rap* my quad CPU. So im a bit interested on how good Sandy bridge perform

 

What's 5+? 5 and a half? 5 and 1 minute? You didn't play close attention right?

 

No I didnt. Sorry But at least it goes over 5hours, which is really good for ANY computer. I'm simply amazed.

 

I wouldn't consider that the keyboard really. I get a decent amount of flex on the black glossy part below the keyboard itself. Not much around the rest of it though. Not much under the number keypad either.

Your not lucky. I don't have much flex to mine either. I went into more depth about it in my review.

Not necessarily! But at least you can see what others are having and have half an idea of what you might have to deal with. As opposed to being blindsided I believe that is much better knowing what you might run into.

 

Damn I'm so envious of you!!! I really wish I had went with the 6970 now. Battery bar is different than the windows battery bar because the orisis battery bar is more accurate!!!!!

 

So it's more accurate by showing a LOWER amount of battery life? That's quite disappointing

 

I get 2:26 hrs with mine; wifi on internet radio, and browsing and typing, screen brightness is usually at half or less because this screen is way brighter than my old POS HP, 4-5 hours on battery would be friggin awesome though. I will say, that I didn't have even the 2:26 when I first got my R3. I have built it up to that by cycling the battery. I just keep an eye on the "good" battery bar and when it says A/C (as in battery fully charged) I unplug it and run it on the battery until I'm down to 6-7%, then I plug it back in until it is fully charged again.

@dookie-my battery wear is now at 5.4%. I'm not sure whats up with that. I hope they don't get to bad too quick or we will have to contact dell for replacements on crap batteries they gave us. lol

 

Mine's still 7.8%--- what the heck... I'm no longer using the battery now, btw. I just charged up to full, and took it out and set it aside. Is that okay if I leave it fully charged on the side? Or do I have to leave it empty while in storage?

 

Dookie, you'll have to cycle it(fully charge and discharge it) from time to time and if you want to store it leave at 50% for the cells integrity

 

I cycled it several times within the last 2-3 days. I guess I'll put it back in tonight to use it. Plus, I am getting a replacment so I don't care too much about the battery.

 

When my GF Dell came it said to charge for a full 12 hours before using it on battery. I did that to my R3 when it came. I looked at the paperwork briefly today and did not see anything that said that for the R3. I know some companies want you to fully discharge before you charge up again. I would suggest fully discharging the new one before you plug it in and then charging it all the way before you unplug it. See if that gets you better results. Besides you have time before you have to send the old one in. You can keep the better of the two batteries when you send the one back.

 

Quick update on my battery. This past time that I just fully discharged it (i accidentially let it go into hibernate as I let it go too long.) I got 2:30 out of the battery and my battery wear is down from what it was. It's now 2.1%. I'm not sure what I told you it was before, but I'm sure it was 3.x???

 

I will definitely keep these in mind. Thanks mang! How do you like yours so far? Anything wrong with it?

 

1 spec of dust under the screen up near the top. Pissed me off at first, but dealing with it. Doesn't bother me so bad now. And by the media keys it started to pop up. I pressed it down multiple times and kept coming back up. I pushed down it pretty hard tonight and wiggled it around a bit while I was and it has stayed for several hours now. I'm not sure if something caught like it was supposed to and is keep it down or if it gets jarred around a bit it will pop up again. If it does, I think I am just going to put a little dab of superglue on there to hold it down. Someone else on the forum here said that is what they did. I just don't want it up and scratching the screen while in transport and I don't want anything to catch on it and have it ripped right up. I understand some manufacturing defects but it seems like they may be having quite a few because it's a new system, and they are trying to crank them out ASAP. Make as much money as they can, and the QA guys aren't doing their jobs like they are supposed to be. It's ok though. I have a 3 yr full coverage warranty. If something else comes up, I will def have it replaced. You would think for the price we pay, these things would be flawless!!!

I am really enjoying it. Excellent system. I think my GF is jealous that I am spending more time with the computer than her. She started calling the R3 my new GF and nicknamed it Dell. (even though she doesn't know that Dell owns alienware. I thought that was really funny though)

 

Maybe she knows more then she let's on. Perhaps she is simply lulling you into a false sense of security. Muhawhawhawhaw!!!

I know my GF has been rolling her eyes repeatedly over my impatient obsession with checking FedEx tracking information since the end of last week.

 

Mine's flush. I think someone posted couple nites ago that you could take out the screws from under the kb and the frame thingy can be smushed down and resecured.

^^What he said. Mine thinks I'm gonna be ridiculed in grad school for having a gigantic embarrassing computer in front of me.

Also, an update: not sure if I should post the video (as I don't have time), but I played the first level of Donkey Kong Returns yesterday on the IGP while on battery and Power Saver plan. 50-60fps, mostly 60fps!!! And then fan for the cpu never came on in those few minutes (around 3-4minutes of gametime). Not bad, eh? This totally counts as gaming "while on the battery" for me, cuz I think I'm realistic enough that I know the gpu won't make it over 2 hours. My battery bar and the windows battery thingy said like 2:26 or something while I was playing Dolphin though, so WOOHOOO!

 

post more videos with the GPU on battlefield or Crysis 2 demo, which you can download it from here:

http://computergames.ro/ro/downloads/popup/id/19235/name/crysis-2-multiplayer-demo.html
and keep us updated with some new videos please

thanks again!

 

Posted this in the R3 is slooooow on battery thread:

"I can confirm that while playing Dolphin this morning on battery, the gpu clocks were at 400/900 and then they jumped to 680/900 when the game got more graphically intense (I was playing F-Zero GX). It was lagging though. And then I decided to plug it in, and the GPU stayed the same, according to GPU-Z. However, once the comp was plugged in, fps jumped up to max 60fps from the 20-30 I was getting on battery. So it seems that FPS dwindles when on battery, and I believe it's a cpu ?"throttle"? thingy."

 

dookie...no new videos on GPU?

 

Nope. Haven't really had time to play actually Yesterday I was playing SSBB though for a couple hours. It runs swell on the GPU while plugged in. As I mentioned earlier it slows down while on the igp or while on battery (gpu or igp). It's really cpu dependent though, for sure.

Only game I have that would be GPU dependent is BFBC2, which I haven't touched since that first time I did those videos to share with NBR. (I don't really play fps games, and I'm not really good at them anyway).

 

yop dookie....

i posted here :

Servere download Crysis 2 Multiplayer Demo Crysis 2 Demos ComputerGames.ro

crysis 2 multiplayer demo if you want to download it!

cheers mate!

 

I just kinda skimmed through the OP, and would like to ask the NBR fam if I need to make any changes/additions to the review? Also any requests (no benchmarking programs or Crysis please).

 

other games? it seems difficult for you to download from my link the demo for crysis... ok... but can you run another game something new to see some new videos... if you bought your laptop to play on emulators... really you should have stick to another laptop cheaper...
anyway... i will wait my laptop and i will post REAL benches and REAL FPS from games...

take care!

 

Dude, enjoy your posts, you're a riot. Was looking at your photos. Um, you agonize over the bag decision, analyzing every nuance of bag design - then I see photos of your AW on a rickety TV tray? What's up with that??

 

BFBC2 runs great maxed out. SC2 also. Remember, I don't have any PC games besides those and the emulators. I have Gears of War, but it's not compatible with 64bit LOL....it's so stupid aint it? Did you post your REAL benches and REAL FPS yet? Link me plz

The TV tray sits near my bed when I'm laying in bed watching movies or something haha.

Bag decision came down to nuttin. I have an Orion only cuz they gave it to me for free after all my complainin. If you notice my recent photo in the backpacks thread, it had to be modded with extra padding. I've yet to find a backpack that fit's me properly though. The Orion makes me look like I have a suitcase on my back lolz. Before I got the Orion, I was leaning towards getting a HI-TEC backpack from Big5, and making my own sleeve with that padding you see in my photos in the backpack thread. The backpack is big enough to fit the R3 and a custom sleeve, and is small enough for my 5'4" torso.

 

Follow up on before. I have the 2720 and dolphin runs like a dream. Pretty much 60 fps if not very close to it with super sharp graphics. The only issue would be to mess with settings so you don't have texture issues. But that's all. I now bring you back to your scheduled program.

 

Reporting in after being gone for a long time...

Everything seems good. Near same performance/condition as week 1. This computer can handle everything I throw at it. Have yet to try out GOW or Shadows of Colossus games though. Also, windows battery meter shows ~4hours for 96% when I'm in class (IGP, Power Saver mode, 2clicks of brightness, volume muted, surfing the web using WLAN).