Need Help Please - m18x R2 or Alienware 17 R4

I have a dilemma here and could use some opinions. My m18x has been in and out of the damn repair depot over 2 months now. It keeps coming back with new damage. I took it apart and looked at why they never repaired the two things they were supposed to repair. The Media buttons, they told me they needed a new daughterboard, which it did not. One of the techs that came out to my home was looking at the instructions after damaging it, then put the ribbon cable in with the contacts the wrong way after destroying the keyboard frame. and the SLI was not working and they could not figure out that it needed a new cable. Sad to say that they damaged the screen while it was there, and I don't know if I can live with the scratches.

My dilemma is that they have offered to replace it with a refurbished Alienware 17 r4.

I currently have an m18x R2, dual 680m w/2 gig vram, running home premium with 16 gig, 1866 ram, processor is the i7 3940xm, I also have a blu-ray burner. a 256g SSD, and two 500g HDs.

The replacement they are offering me is a refurbished Alienware 17 r4, with the i7 7700hk, a 1070 video card, and they would include a external optical drive. Thats all they offered at this point.

I would be losing over and inch on the display, they say that I wouldnt even notice the difference (maybe across the room but at about 20 inches away, 1.1 inches is a lot of real estate on a monitor). I run my m18x at 4.3 ghz. I would lose my internal blu-ray burner, I could only use one of my hard drives.

Just sick that they keep damaging it EVERY time they touch it. They even damaged the brand new keyboard frame when they sent this back to me this time. GRRRRRRRR

Let me know what you all think. Is it worth it to sacrifice my machine for the 17 R4?

 

I am sad that things are turning out poorly for you. The M18xR2 is a legendary product that represented the pinnacle of laptops in its day and for several years after it was released.

No, that is not a fair trade. It is a downgrade in almost every measurement except GPU performance, but you'd have a disposable soldered piece of crap for the CPU and GPU. The CPU, screen, drive capacity, form factor, build quality, thermal management capabilities and BGA design are all massive downgrades.

There are two issues you are faced with regarding the offer that has been presented:

• The clowns offering this "deal" are clueless morons that are feeding you a line of crap
• They lack the ability to service your needs because the M18xR2 is end of life with hardly any service parts available

I would push for a refund of the original purchase price so you can either build a desktop or buy a Clevo with desktop CPU and stronger GPU and modular design. You'll get push-back on that since the machine is old, but the bottom line is they cannot offer you an acceptable replacement because they don't have one. Don't take no for an answer. File a Better Business Bureau complaint if they don't agree to your terms after a bit of back and forth banter. Ask for everything in writing and keep a copy of it. You might need it later. Do everything within your power to sever ties with Alienware and never go back. Their glory days ended the moment they moved to a turdbook-only product line.

 

Thank you for your input Mr Fox. I started out with a top of the line maxed out M1730. It had cooling issues and problems with video cards from about 5 months after I got it. It was a $5200 investment. They pushed it off and eventually offered me the m18x as a replacement (valued at the time at $4700). The m18x is probably the best laptop they ever made, hands down. It is so simple to pull off the bottom door to clean the fans. I dont know how the techs that worked on it ALWAYS damaged it.

I was borrowing a 17 inch laptop while waiting for mine to go back and forth. It took ME to diagnose the problems. I had asked MANY times to just send me the parts and let me do the repair myself. I can, and have, taken my m18x completely apart on many times without damaging or over tightening screws into plastic. They returned it to me with a cable pinched under the hard drive bay so the drives would not sit completely. How they damage an "irreplaceable" screen is beyond me. Just set it on something soft. EVERY thing they did to it should take no more than a few hours tops, even for someone that does not repair laptops on a regular basis.

I dont think a refund is an option. I am thinking that I need to find a replacement screen and then sue them for the damage they did. I will get them to replace the keyboard frame, sending me the part. The marks on the screen are small, but I noticed them right off because of the gloss, and my eyes find them even while gaming. (so annoying). The m18x was and I think is the best laptop they had cause it had so many options and room inside. Shocked to see that they discontinued it.

Anyway, thank you for your quick response Mr Fox. Oh, would you know where I can get an Alienware Win 7 pro disk (I think Win 7 Ultimate also supports 32 gig)? I have 32 gig of 1866 mhz ram that I can only use 16 gig because I only have the Home Premium.

 

@Garry7263 their incompetence has been causing problems for them and their customers for many years. The fastest way to destroy any nice Alienware is to let the Depot people get their dirty mitts on them. They've be breaking things for as long as I can remember. Replacing the parts yourself and taking them to small claims court to get reimbursed rather than accepting the downgrade is probably the right thing to do.

I'll get you fixed up on the Windows 7 thing, but not here in a public post.

 

I would definitely keep the m18xr2 even after all these years I still have fond memories of mine


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I can clearly see Dell continues to sink. When will they reach the bottom? Don't accept this Scam. Not even a new AWBook 17R4 with 7820hk+Gtx1080 Can justify a real deal. All their newest Jokebooks coming with Hell lot of trouble and ain't a good enough as a replacement. Only money back(refund of the original purchase price) is good enough. If Dellienware can't provide you laptop with the same size screen... Then that's their problem. And not yours. Please follow bro @Mr. Fox's advice. @iunlock @DeeX @Vasudev See how Deep Dell is able to sink!! Offer refurbished Alienware 17 r4 as a replacement is a SCAM!! Is it possible sink deeper?

 

@Garry7263 - see my reply to the private message on the YouTube channel for two private links you can use. Those are for you only, not for sharing.

 

Thanks guys. My m18x is more of a portable desktop for me. It rarely leaves its station, and I clean it from dust every 2-3 months religiously. Imagine my horror when the guy Dell sent out to replace my keyboard the first time, takes a screwdriver and pries on the edge of the metal overlay where the buttons are. Then has to look on his phone to realize that those parts do not come apart, then starts yanking on it to find that there are 5 screws in the keyboard frame. The dual 680's have plenty of power when they are working right and I dont think that a single 1080 offers much more to offer than more ram. The bus speed of the new 17 r4 is a little bit higher but my CPU is running at about the same as an overclocked 7700hk.

A refurbished unit? I thought that was a joke myself because who do you think would build a refurbished unit but the repair depot. Either way, 1.1 inches is a lot of real estate on something less than 2 feet from your eyes. At least the SLI and the media buttons are working now. Im off to send them more pictures of the new damage to the keyboard frame, again.

 

Dell use outsourced techichian with low knowledge for saving cash. Cheapest way for Dell. Not the first time these outsourced techichian monkeys destroy hardware with a screwdriver. See below, they used a screwdriver to remove the thermal paste. If you turn your eyes away for 2 seconds like I did, Your hardware will be destroyed forever. Never again!! After this mess, Dell sent always parts and I fixed everything myself. Every time.

 

wow, thats harsh. I guess they don't know that a little alcohol, goof-off, or acetone cleans that stuff right up. My warranty expired about a week into this last repair so I will be on my own from now on anyway.

I will post pics of what they did when I get a chance. Makes me wonder now what is under my heatsinks.

@Mr. Fox I dont see a reply there

 

I wonder what are the requirements to be hired as a Dell technician. The last repair that I had directly with Alienware was with my M17 R1 back in 2009 so it's sad to see Dell making sure to kill the brand.

 

I've had some rather legendary offerings regarding 'like for like' when it comes down to replacements - I also would not be wanting to accept the offer of a lesser quality machine, simply because Dell do not make good machines any longer. If they cannot offer you what would be considered the same, they should be looking at some kind of refund. Now, saying that, I also came up against the brick wall of "well, you've had your current machine for x years and have had x years use out of it, therefore will will pro rata your ass and maybe offer you peanuts. A LOT depends on where you are in the world, unfortunately. It used to be the case that Dell 'global' would offer people the same treatment...not in my experience. If you are outside of the US (I was in EMEA territory - UK) then the replacement procedure seemed (and was) completely different to folks in the States.

I've been absent on these forums for some time, I don't know if things have changed much since then. We're talking a couple of years. I still have my Alienware 18 and it's still going well and I still have a year or so warranty left on it. I'm hoping I don't have to start a battle with Dell again like I have had to do in the past. When my machine dies, I won't be going Dell again, I'll look around elsewhere as no longer is it the case that Dell warranty was a huge plus point in buying Alienware.....corners have been cut, no doubt processes implemented which impact on the pathetic offerings of replacement specifications. Asking one to simply 'suck it up' is not cricket in my book and I would be pushing as hard as I can for adequate recompense. If they cannot, or will not, offer you something worthwhile, then you need to escalate things to the relevant people. You might get a result, you might not....if you don't try, you'll never know.

I'll keep my eye on this one, like I said, I've been away for a bit......but in the immortal words of Arnie, I think I did say "I'll be back........"

 

I sent you a message here.

 

@Garry7263 Idk but perhaps this might help..

Take care of the last breed of true Alienware DNA machine which was a pinnacle of achievement of it's own class, I never got my hands on one unfortunately but I used M15x when I was younger and I still regret on not taking proper care of her, Svl7 was also active during those glorious halcyon days on true portable computing. I still have the last generation left, cannot part with it as I have memories bound with her & shares some of the design elements with the M17x R4 Voyager, her twin.

As brother @Papusan said the latest BGAware machines are infested with a lot of hybrid issues & unbelievable castration and gimping totally against consumer. Just forget that Notebook portable powerful machines exist anymore, with the MXM standard gone awry and monopolization of the market, I don't see good future anymore.. All the best, And In case you didn't know not to worry you even can fit the 1060 MXM into the M18x R2 Avenger Mark II and get more power, Since the Intel IPC is a joke and X299 is a massive cash grab milking fest (crap thermal paste and non soldered IHS on top of that) and Volta is just incremental (from the initial reports), still maybe we can still get one in MXM in the future, Quadro P5000 does exist too, So ultimately we can expect more out of these machines.

 

Welcome back, Brother Steve!

 

I think you should take the AW17 R4 and give it to me and I will give you my M18x R2 with a new 980M (specs in sig).

PM me if youre interested.

 

Nah, @Garry7263 would be far better if he could cut all ties with Alienware, get his money and move on to the better things available out there. I'm actually rather surprised you would want that emasculated piece of trash @vulcan78. It's such a wimpy piece of crap compared to what you have it's not even funny. Is it because it has a soldered 1070? Its shortcomings are pretty well documented, and glaring.

 

Check on eBay for some parts. Some can be had for cheap. It sucks that they would offer the 1070 and not even at least the 1080 since yours is the maxed out version. I would have expected 7820Hk, 1080, 2560x1440 120hz display.

I actually have a brand new M18x R1 coming to me soon thanks to @Donald@HIDevolution they are truly the best designed laptops I've had ever used.

P870DM3 for powah and M18x for battery life/hdmi in LOL bet no one ever thought they'd hear that.

 

@Papusan: Here, the new AW can barely manage stock CPU and GPU clocks because of high ambient temps. I prefer the old 15 r2 if given a choice.

 

Did they fire all of the aliens working on these things at Area 51 or what? They probably figured they could make more profit having them made in China than by advanced interstellar civilization captives.

They gonna change their name to ChinaWare anytime soon? They can change the logo from the alien head to a picture of a bowl of ramen lol.

 

Dat 1070 though.

Dude 980M isn't enough and I can't afford a new unit. You should donate your Clevo to me brother!