M18x Order Status Discussion

My Universal Wireless HD Video and Audio Kit was in the leasing office. Everything appears to be in box.

I hooked it up to my current toshiba laptop to get a preliminary idea of how well it streams audio/video. I'll hold off judgement until the m18x arrives, but initial impressions are a regular hdmi cable is better if your laptop and flat-screen are close enough.

 

I think a cabled connection will always be the 'best' option but the convenience of wireless might make it worth any (hopefully) small differences.

That's my M18x landed. Was originally scheduled for 27/10 then shipped from China on Sunday with an eta of 20/10 and delivered a day earlier!! From order to built and delivered in 1 week & 1 day. Looking forward to getting home from work tonight.

 

Good news stu. I'm glad u didn't have to wait long.

I have some good news too. Placed order last Thursday (oct 13), went in to production Friday. Monday (oct 17) wireless HD arrived. This afternoon I checked website and the system is out of production, showing as shipped. Fedex should ship to me by 3pm tomorrow (oct 20). Considering there were two weekend days in there that's impressive Dell. Even if I don't receive tomorrow I still have Friday as a backup delivery day. Ofc I'm hoping for tomorrow. Fingers crossed

 

I ordered the m18x a few days ago with the below config. I had an m17xr2 with 5870's xfire and I've had it for a year. I continuously had problems with it and dell finally offered me a full refund. So this system ended up costing me $300 . I am VERY happy to get away from the ATI xfire and the crappy drivers.

25-0887 1 Alienware M18x Space Black Anodized Aluminum
317-8642 1 Intel Core i7 2960XM, Quad Core Extreme, 2.7GHz(3.7GHz w/Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)
317-8691 1 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz 2DIMMS
331-2428 1 Alienware M18x 330W A/C Adapter
320-2269 1 18.4-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 WLED
320-2318 1 Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M NVIDIA SLI Enabled
342-3649 1 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
313-8792 1 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
421-5099 1 Alienware Command Center, M18X
420-9691 1 DataSafe Local BackUp
420-9956 1 PC Restore
421-0092 1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
421-5789 1 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media
410-0548 1 Adobe Acrobat Reader
318-0842 1 Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner, DVD+-RW, CD-RW
421-1305 1 Roxio Creator Starter
318-0770 1 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
320-2320 1 Intel Advanced-N 6200 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO Technology
469-0549 1 Bluetooth 3.0
461-8389 1 Anti-Virus included With Dell Advantage Care
953-9080 1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year
953-9100 1 Third Party At Home Service, 24x7 Technical Support, Initial Year
950-3337 1 1 Year Limited Warranty
950-9797 1 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
421-1723 1 Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware
994-3730 1 Warranty Support, Initial Year
421-1360 1 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
331-2425 1 Standard Nameplate
Subtotal: $3,399.00
Shipping and Handling: $0.00
Sales Tax: $220.93
Total: $3,619.93

I was able to haggle just a little and I got a couple hundred off.

 

That's a lot cheaper than it would be in the uk. Nice spec (but no bluray?) hope it lands soon.

 

I have the bluray on my current m17 and I have never used it. I will probably just switch out the drives when I get my m18. They are compatible.

 

That is a nice config. I would also switch out the Blu-ray drive to properly round out your config.

 

I totally agree, especially so if your M17x R2 has the BD-burner. The BD-RE is no longer offered as an option on the M18x for some odd reason and I have had to switch it out on my end (with Alienware's full knowledge and blessing, of course). Watching BluRay movies on the M18x is very nice and the HDMI output with the BluRay makes for a very nice portable entertainment system.

I never used my BluRay for a long time, but after watching my first movie I was hooked for life. Another nice plus with the BD-RE is that an AlienRespawn restore disc will fit on one ordinary BD-R disc instead of two DVDs. Having 25GB or 50GB on dual-layer available is a really nice backup option. (But, be advised that RW discs cannot be used for creating restore media. Only write-once media can be used.)

BTW - congrats on the new system. Very nice config. Since you have chosen 580M SLI, you should not have any major reliability issues to contend with like some of us with AMD 6990M CrossFire are currently experiencing. In comparison, the 5870 CrossFire on the R2 was much more reliable. I still love the R2, glitches notwithstanding, and I am glad to still have one. My first R2 had 3 known issues that could not be repaired, but the unit with 4780 CrossFire is flawless other than the crappy AMD drivers.

 

Thanks for the comments guys.

Then it's decided, I will switch out the BD burner from my m17r2.

I keep looking at the status page of the order, the "In Production" status doesn't give much info on whats really happening. I wish there was a little more granularity into what that nebuous term means. GRR.

I looked at a few videos on taking out the optical drive, that is quite a process!

 

Nov 9, 2011 6:45 AM At local FedEx facility
Well, would you look at that. 6 days from order to the system being at the door. Looking forward to getting it today!

 

Hmm, I just noticed, it shipped FROM Chicago? Is that normal? Maybe there was a behind the scenes shipment to Chicago from Austin? I was expecting it to come from Austin. That's interesting to me, maybe there is a QA department in Chicago?

 

I just ordered another m18x for my brother. Almost same spec as me, except he took Intel Wireless and BluRay instead.
Dell got the money at 7th November, and now it's already "In production"
And the ETA is 30 November, guess it will arrive abit faster than mine did, which took abit over 3 weeks from payment -> my door.

 

I just had a replacement/exchange order placed yesterday. There is no estimated ship date like there usually is. Anyone put in an order recently with a ship date?

Alienware M18X; Black
8GB Ram
i7 2760 @ 2.4
Intel Surround Sound
Bluray Reader
18.4 " LED 1920x1080
Intel Advanced-N
Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon 6990m
1 TB Raid SATA
Bluetooth 3.0

 

Mine is a replacement and was ordered the 16th or November and ETA February 6th Hmmm doesn't seem right. When ordered re said 2-4 weeks. Currently sitting in "work in progress"

 

mine is already in the initial shipping status, had settled the payment days ago, and now hopefully it will arrive in my door step next week tuesday

Alienware M18x Nebula F+ing RED : Intel Core I7 2860M : nvidia gtx 580m SLI : 4gb DDR 3 1600Mhz RAM : 2x 500gb HDD 7200 rpm : 1920x1080 WLED : Win7 64 bit : Killer N WiFi :

 

Did your have a 2month ETA when it first was ordered?

 

@ DanXbix nope i haven't. i just ordered straight away.

its funny and ironic what happened to me, as i finished the order they built it and waited for my payment before they ship, initially they finished the production yesterday, and yesterday also is when i did the wire transfer, so my laptop is now on the air, will be here on tuesday since i intentionally made an international priority.

the waiting is not the hard part, the real hard part is when you open the box, and hopefully no surprises and specs will be seen as specified in the order. online ordering is not 100% perfect. im also happy to place it at the right time (actually i made the order while i was overseas, and did the transfer exactly when i arrived home)

 

I wonder why mine is saying estimated date of delivery 6 feb 2012? Maybe they have not started hence no plausible date?

 

strange, i think it varies from reseller to reseller, its quite again strange because im outside US and thinking i might get a long waiting period.

 

I ordered a Alienware m17x before and it had a three week wait and I had it in a week. You just never know and unless parts are back ordered it doesn't take long to put parts in a case. It's the sitting around it does for them to make you wait on purpose. I heard once that the more you call the status line or check the status online they see how many times you looked. So I don't know if that make them delay it or rush it.

 

Mine is a replacement of a replacement grrrr this one better work otherwise no more alienwares for me! I heard 580m's are on backorder

 

When did you order and what is your ETA?

Replacement ordered 11/17 ETA none
Alienware M18X; Black
8GB Ram
i7 2760 @ 2.4
Intel Surround Sound
Bluray Reader
18.4 " LED 1920x1080
Intel Advanced-N
Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon 6990m
1 TB Raid SATA
Bluetooth 3.0

 

Ordered 16th November and ETA 6 Feburary 2012
Also you should be able to get ETA on the automated phone no for orders in your area

 

When I call the automated line it only says this order was received on November 17 and is currently being processed. Then it tells me I can hang up. Online is just shows in production and my order number. Nothing is there where an estimated ship date would be. I went to alienware.com and clicked on build an the estimated ship date said 12/1 that day so I'm going by that. Except I don't know if because it is a replacement order if they consider it less priority or higher priority.

 

System exchanges typically take about 10 to 12 days, sometimes less, if no parts are on hold or out of stock. You may receive it next week, or the following week. I believe that replacements are given equal priority as new systems, not less. (I'm not an expert on the subject, but that is what I have been told my Alienware Support.)

You're better off checking Order Status online rather than by phone. In the list of orders, click on and drill down to open the actual order detail. Sometimes the list still shows "In Production" for status, but a tracking number will be displayed when the order details are viewed. It takes some time for the list of orders to refresh to show the correct status. Not sure why, but I have seen that more than once on my orders.

 

Thanks but the AUS site may be a little different. mine only shows Delivery Status, Delivery Address, Order Details & Shipping Status. Still stuck on "work in progress" and ETA 2/2/2012 (which i'm thinking should be 2/12/2011 maybe typo?) anyway making it worse on myself by looking 5 times a day lol

 

haha! I do that to myself as well. At least 5 times a day... sometimes more frequently. Not very patient, are we? I know I'm not.

I'm sure it has to be Dec 2.

 

to be honest its opened at work in the background and i am frequently pressing F5

 

NO! SAY IT ISN'T SO, bro! Birds of a feather... me, too. I bet there are plenty of us that do.

 

I just saw on the alienware site that the AMD Radeon video cards are on delay. So I chatted with a rep to see if that would effect me. He said my computer would not be affected because it has already been built. And he also said my laptop is set to be shipped on the 23rd this month it is currently in the boxing and testing stages.. Don't know how true this is but I hope so.

Replacement order 11/17 no official ETA
Alienware M18X; Black
8GB Ram
i7 2760 @ 2.4
Intel Surround Sound
Bluray Reader
18.4 " LED 1920x1080
Intel Advanced-N
Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon 6990m
1 TB Raid SATA
Bluetooth 3.0

 

I'm happy for you bro hope mine is too wish Dell AUS had a online chat service

 

I take this as a very positive sign of Dell being proactive and customer-centric. If Dell is subjecting the AMD-power M18x systems to additional testing to ensure the M18x systems shipped are those units which are not affected by the current issue involving the 6990M CrossFire, this is a great thing for Dell and for Dell customers.

 

Well I believe every system goes through the testing stages, I remember calling for my status of my M17x before and it said testing stages. It didn't help with my laptop because it had problems straight out of the box. So my conclusion of the "testing stages" are just that the system turns and the OS is installed. Also maybe that the lights work, you know the basics.

 

I know what you are saying, and you are correct that all systems go through some basic test procedures. My optimism is based on the possibility that the extra 4 days is for testing they do not do need to do under ordinary circumstances. On the conference call with Dell last week, Bill and Louis told us about the standard testing that is done for systems in production and it would not have been extensive enough to reveal the current problem. That's why I think the 4 day delay in shipment might be something to be glad about.

 

Well I just got an email from the manager that ordered my laptop in response to confirming the ship date of the 23rd as the other rep said. The manager said it should ship by December 10th. So I have no idea anymore.

 

If it is being delayed to ensure that you don't receive one with the current defect, that's a good thing.

 

He said my computer is not apart of the delay. The delay is for the availability of their video card. They have to wait for more to come in. It has nothing to do with being defective.

 

This was explained in our conference call by Bill and Louis. The person you spoke with either doesn't have all the details or chose not to share them with you.

There is an engineering hold on distribution of AMD 6990M video cards. There is no shortage of parts unless there is an updated video card that has gone into production since our conference call with Dell on 11/15. The engineering hold has the same end result as not having parts in stock in that systems are not allowed to ship while the hold on that particular component in place.

If you haven't already done so, you can review this thread for more information about what is most likely delaying shipment of your M18x. As an alternative, you may wish to enquire with the them about opting for 580M SLI instead of 6990 CrossFire and you would not have a delay. (A shortage of 580M cards could develop due increasingly high demand surrounding the issues with the 6990M cards, but nothing of that nature has been announced.)

 

my order will arrive today! i confirmed that the customs has released it and will be in my door step in the next 24 hours things are going to get busy here soon in my room had to make a good coffee cup on stand by lolz

 

When did you order reaversedge?

 

Congrats, reaversedge! I'm excited for you. The GTX 580M SLI is awesome... you're going to love it.

 

Keep in mind that in benches the 580M SLI is throttled by stock vBIOS. Outside of benches the 580M SLI is a beast.

 

I found this interesting... I have spoke with three different people at Dell and I have been told three different estimated ship dates. They range from this Wednesday to December 10th. I hate this, I'm wondering if I kept talking to people if I would eventually get the same date?

 

i ordered 5/11, then the item was finished then headed to Fedex 18/11, roughly like 2 weeks of wait or actually i didn't made the wait because i made the order while still on overseas, and when i flied home they shipped it here (from 19/11 till now) but i had it on international priority

EDIT : Sky, i need some help on the bios, i browsed some threads here in AW that unlocking the full potential of m18x lies on bios a03? is that correct? then a04 has the worst bios? anyway when i open the box tonight i will check each driver in the utilities disc and i will ask soon if upgrade or driver update is necessary specially the nvidia drivers. and honestly i had no experiece if Dell drivers will accept (just in any case) the modded nvidia drivers.

i remembered a thread here in m18x that all the drivers update and some helpful tips regarding software awareness like fusion, fx, command center etc. but i can't remember where exactly i saw that one here in NBR.

 

A04 BIOS causes high latency....especially with Nvidia reference drivers. I am currently on stock Dell vBIOS, A03 and 285.79b drivers. The first thing I would do is install the 285.79b verde drivers and test out a few games. If you're satisfied then you're done. If not then you'll need to install the modded vBIOS. The stock vBIOS are good for almost everything except benching...congrats again and enjoy your beast!!!

 

Ordered 16th still in work in progress �������� I wonder if the red is holding it up? I got my m17xr2 in 14days new build. Congrats to getting yours fellas

 

Just popping in to say Hello to everyone. Been alongtime since i posted here, but im currently trying to get my system replaced as im getting 95C and 105C on the GPU alone along with other problems. Told them i want a m18x as a replacement, will keep you guys informed.

 

Are these specs any good or is the CPU/GPU outdated?
DELL Alienware M18x Notebook Intel Core i7 2630QM(2.00GHz) 18.4" 8GB Memory DDR3 1333 1TB HDD Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD+/-RW NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M.

Thanks

 

most of the specs you made is default configs, those are good in my opinion

 

I've gone and finally done it:

SYSTEM COMPONENTS

Alienware M18x Qty 1
Nebula Red Anodized Aluminum, Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit Unit Price $5,677.00
Estimated Delivery Date 12/6/2011
Save 50% off Killer Wireless-N upgrades - $40.00
12 mo special financing on new computer purchases $899 or more with
For purchase subject to promotion, interest accrues at your standard rate of 19.24% from the date of purchase.
Upon Expiration of your promotion, any remaining balance will be charged at your standard rate of 19.24% .

Catalog Number: 29 DKCWKR1
Module Description Show Details
System Color Nebula Red Anodized Aluminum
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit
Processor Intel® Core™ i7 2960XM 2.7GHz (3.7GHz with Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)
Memory 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
A/C Adapter Alienware M18x 330W A/C Adapter
Display Panel 18.4-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 WLED
Video Card Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M – NVIDIA® SLI® Enabled
Hard Drive 512GB RAID 0 (2x 256GB) Solid State Drive SATA 3Gb/s
Nameplate Personalized Plate (JoeWulf -- Rush2112)
AlienFX Plasma Purple
Optical Drive Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Sound Internal High-Definition 5.1 Performance Audio with SoundBlaster MB Software
Wireless and Bluetooth Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 3.0
Security Software No Anti-Virus Software Selected
Hardware Support Services 4 Year Advanced Plan
Pre-Installed Software Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed
Pre-Installed Software Eve Online, Factory Installed
Alien Wallpaper Alienhead Chrome Blue
Standard Nameplate Trigger AW: JoeWulf -- Rush2112
ACCESSORIES
Razer USA Kabuto Mobile - Gaming Mouse Mat Qty 1
Dell Part# A3975233 Unit Price $17.99
Estimated Delivery Date 11/29/2011
Manufacturer Part# RZ02-00340100-R3M1
Dell Part# A3975233
Alienware TactX Mouse Qty 1
Dell Part# 330-5797 Unit Price $79.99
Estimated Delivery Date 12/5/2011
Manufacturer Part# W333N
Dell Part# 330-5797
Alienware TactX Headset Qty 1
Dell Part# 313-7972 Unit Price $59.99
Estimated Delivery Date 12/5/2011
Manufacturer Part# T255P
Dell Part# 313-7972
Alienware Orion M18x Backpack - TSA Friendly Qty 1
Dell Part# A4869114 Unit Price $119.99
Estimated Delivery Date 11/29/2011
Manufacturer Part# AWBP18
Dell Part# A4869114
TOTAL: $5,914.96

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Total Price
Sub-total $5,914.96
Shipping & Handling $30.98
Shipping & Handling Discount -$30.98
Tax* $345.36
*Exemptions reflected in final checkout page only

Total Price2 $6,260.32