M18x Makes Landfall! Pictures, Videos, Unboxing Thoughts, etc. Share away!

I got 3.5 in my R1 so if I can beat that we are all good. Although in IGP only I expect closer to 5-6 hours.

 

#2 Sarge... Congrats. Disconnect from the forum and go have fun! Tell us all about it later.

Did you order with RAID? if so, ring support now and let them know the factory botched it.

 

Yeah ordered with RAID 0.

 

What have I done to displease the dell gods such that I must live with the torment of seeing others receive their M18x while I am left alone in the dark?!

 

CF probably - its a lot easier to cut off from one GPU than 2 id bet

 

You're not alone... trust me. Wait... that just sounds wrong.

 

Just wondering if it would still require a reboot to switch gfx if c/f was disabled in CCC first? - total noob thought but nonetheless, worth a punt....

 

Make sure your BIOS is set to RAID. You probably would've BSOD'd if it wasn't and the drives were imaged for RAID but might as well check.

This will turn into a hassle if you really want RAID - I hate to say it, but I would probably call them and tell them I ordered with RAID (they can verify the order) and it arrived without RAID. Send me a new system. If you go that route, you'll hold on to your 18x while the new order is processed and send it back once you receive the new replacement.

You could also create a recovery USB flash drive using AlienRespawn. Configure the drives via the console for raid and then boot up with the recovery stick. I dont believe the factory recovery image can be applied to RAID if it wasn't already setup for RAID. Worth a shot but probably will not work.

I would just call. Bottom line, the factory screwed up and you shouldn't have to settle or mess with it.

 

Thanks for all the pics and stuff guys!! Keep them coming!

 

Where great Benchmarking God are the BENCHMARKS or better yet how about a nice fat You Tube video of some of the action.

 

They got ~3:30 (or 3:50 they never clarified) with the IGP enabled: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ady-reviewed-hardwarehaven-9.html#post7398157

Did you guys see what a monster the M18x looks like compared to the R2? Check out the dude's pics, the speaker grill on the M18x looks like it dwarfs the R2...I better buy a back brace asap.

Someone plz do a vantage run for us. Heading out to the gym to get ready for the beast tomorrow, I think I'll need it. Hope to see some benchmarks when I get back.

 

Seems very close to the 990x and 485m sli in a x7200. It will be interesting to see some overclocked scores as well.

 

You will be blessed with oodles of benchmarks as soon as me, Joker, and a few others get their M18x's lol

 

this thread needs MOAR PICS and Videos!

How else will the rest of us make it without high res pics and videos!

I can't wait till the 31st for mine to get shipped

Stupid dell not refunding me the money before the 6th now I have to wait even longer than the rest of you guys.

 

A video booting windows:
YouTube - Booting m18x

Goodbye

 

For those unaware, the benchmark thread is now open and jfbrea has been kind enough to supply us with some initial benchmarks.

Looks promising

 

OH YEAH BUDDY!!!!!!!!!!

Ship date May 16, 2011
Estimated delivery May 17, 2011 by 3:00 PM

Expect a FLOOD of information tomorrow guys. I plan to do the following:

• Review Build quality and initial impressions
• Photos of all angles of the laptop (Hi-Res taken with Canon T3i)
• Video overview of laptop (1080p) will be uploaded to youtube
• Benchmarks including Vantage, 3DMark 11, Top 10 FPS shooters in both Xfire and without
• Benchmarks of Top 10 RTS games (Starcraft 2, HoN, Anno etc...)
• In depth screen review, measuring contrast, brightness, color gamut etc..
• HD benchmarks of Default 7200 rpm drive, M4 Crucial Drive and Seagate MomentusXT Drive
• Sound impressions and testing
• Memory Benchmarking (Before and After upgrade)
• Final Thoughts

I've taken the next two days off to do it all and I'll be putting multiple video's up on you tube as well as photo's.

I'm so excited I might not sleep tonight!

 

Sooo glad I got mine in red. That thing is pure beauty.

 

Looking forward to it man! It'll hold me over until mine gets out of the build stage...

 

THANK YOU!!!!

 

the red looks better than m17X-r3....I should get red instead black for my M18X~ but it's too late!!!

 

Many of us will appreciate the "•In depth screen review, measuring contrast, brightness, color gamut etc..." offered by The1TruJok3r.

Also it will be greatly appreciated and useful if he/she (or someone else) can provide us with a set of comparative pictures of the pixels dimensions (and their density of course) and of the gaps between adjacent pixels between the native 17" 1920x1280 and the native 18.4 1900x1080...

Many thanks in advance!!!

 

SOS just FYI I'm a guy in his 30's but my wife says I'm more of a teenager now more than ever as I am giddy as a school girl waiting on prom....man I can't wait for my box. I do not have an alienware 17" but I do have a Dell Studio XPS 16 with RGBLED so I can do a screen comparison at 1920 x 1080 and I'll put up some pics as well as video. Going to be a very full day tomorrow. I already have the review table setup and ready with my Sony HD camcorder and my Canon t3i ready to snap some shots.

 

It does look good in the vid

 

Thanks pal! in this case we are all teenagers... (even me at my 67...) Take your time: don't do everything on the first day... ( if I may, enjoy your wife first of all, then slowly and gently discover and enjoy your new Alien girlfriend, remember she's just 18! ).

Sorry 4 my ignorance but: What's the native resolution in the Studio XPS 16? Hope you can take some HD comparative macro pictures of the dimensions and density of the pixels...

 

I've gone the difficult route for the time being. I spoke with tech support for 2 hours letting them guide me through reinstalling windows and all the drivers. I'd never done a RAID setup so I wasn't quite sure where to start. I've got almost all of the drivers installed, excluding the internal graphics card, which won't install because my computer does not meet the specifications to use the software. If i'm still angry when I speak to my rep tomorrow, which is reasonbly likely, I may have them take it back. I'd be satisified if they send somebody to me to double check the tech call work though.

More to the point of this thread. The build quality is excellent. No creaks, groans, smudges, or cracks. Screen looks good so far. I didn't check the steam install but the Eve Online install is an entire expansion behind. Keyboard is solid, no flex anywhere that I can find. I'm much happier with the mouse buttons as they're now two seperate buttons.

All in all I'm happy as long as I get it back to looking like it was coming out of the box.

 

I can't wait. I'm in my 30's too and my wife has long given up trying to figure me out with this laptop!

Finally a person with a proper camcorder!

 

Cool, lots of us in our 30s. Nothing like a bunch of old dudes getting excited over tech.

 

Man at 41 I feel real old then lol.

 

Thanks for the update. Hopefully support will resolve this quickly for you, and I hope this is an isolated incident. I'd hate to see this turn into the first 'major issue' with this system.

Any chance you can grab the HardwareID for the display panel in Device Manager?

Thanks!

 

Ha, Ill be joining the 30 decade in.. a little over a year.

 

If someone does this, please use this program.

 

NICE find! deserves a +rep

 

The camcorder is a Sony HDR-XR520V. I'm a gamer in my 30's and always feel a little beside myself with all the 14 year olds out there who I seem to end up gaming with...Nice to see others in their 30's get excited over a gaming laptop. I know for me it took me to my 30's to be able to afford this puppy.

 

Whom you're calling 'old'...!!! I'm 67 and feel young and starting to live every morning!

 

We should all get together on steam or something!

And yeah I worked 8 years to finally get this baby and now I cannot wait!

 

You are what I live for! I know I'll be in the same spot living the life at 67 gaming like a champ! You sir are my hero!

 

Well, support gave up on installing the internal graphics telling me "it doesn't show up in your system configuration." Batboy, to answer your question the hardware ID is MONITOR\SEC5448.

 

Samsung display. Sarge, can you run Astra32 so we get teh actual panel id? Thx.

 

Don't worry my grandpa just to say the way you see me is the way you will look and look at me now

 

Sent you a PM. Just checked your specs in one of your older posts... 2920XM! When you have time, please post up the factory settings for your 'Performance' section of the BIOS. Specifically,

OC LEVEL 1, 2 and 3 settings (my gut tells me that the factory oc'd version will have a Level 4 - similar to the way they had it set up on the desktops - Area-51 ALX). Whatever is shown in the BIOS as default for factory OC, everyone will appreciate seeing this.

No rush - enjoy messing around with the system. Hopefully, we can get your FN+F7 integrated working...

Thanks for reporting on the display panel. Had a feeling that was it. If you find the colors a bit dull, try increasing the vibrance a bit.

 

That's the way to live, nice outlook. Hey BB, did you get a 2920xm too?

 

lol... I know what you mean. Im 29... and my girl has already told me shes concerned about the amount of time I have spent researching and discussing the laptop. When I get it she told me she wouldnt be surprised to see me "in relationship" status with it on facebook.

I think she was joking.. I think.

 

Everything about the M18x seems amazing now with this new information. I think I'll still be holding off until we hear about the supposed new screen option possibly coming, along with the new GPU's and possibly even Ivy Bridge.

 

At that time, you would again reconsider waiting for another Bridge from Intel (Stonebridge?). Have fun waiting homie

 

I don't plan on it, I need to build up some funds right now anyway. I'm assuming by the time I can afford it, it'll be early 2012 at the earliest. I've waited long enough to get an Alienware, but right when I can afford it I'll make the plunge, no matter what's looming on the horizon.

 

My dear friend, in life, every morning when you wake up and decide to get yourself out of bed to start your day enduring your life, you’re your own hero! Just remember: At the 40’s you're in the elderness of childhood, at the 60’s you’re staring the childhood of the old age… or ‘elderness’… And at the 80’s you’re just beginning the childhood of longevity… but with an actualized alienware… you can’t stop gaming… or ‘betting’ every new day with plenitude!

 

SEC5448 - interesting.

According to google:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/432114-how-tell-diff-between-wled-rgbled.html

I know its not the same size, but one could hope...right?

 

Can you tell me what it's called in Astra32? I don't see something called "PanelID". I see monitor ID which shows SEC5448.

 

Anybody who has there's already and got one of the 2 memory stick options which slots have the memory in them? 2 on the bottom or the 2 under the keyboard?