*OFFICIAL* Alienware 18 Owner's Lounge Thread

I was looking all over for the NUM LOCK status LED on the keyboard only to find they designed it out of the AW-18 keyboard, maybe to save on battery drain, ha ha. I downloaded an app called Keyboard LEDs, so I don't have to buy an external keyboard to get that one extra LED.

 

Indeed that is good news indeed. If we wanted Ultrabooks / tablets / lightweight portables, then why are we here?

We are here for the performance.

And I am happy with my 3920XM, and will await Intels' incoming Broadwell & DDR4 before I upgrade to a newer M18x.

Other than Metro 2033, (not tried Crysis 3 yet), no game is taxing this system in highest settings yet.

I'll also be holding off for AMD cards again too. No fanboi here, they are just better with cracking passwords, Bitcoin / Litecoin, and certain workstation-esq applications that I use from time to time.

Can't we have it under 5kg, and with IPS?

 

My AW18 went into production! Hopefully will have it soon and not by October! My AW17 stayed in production for just three days, so I guess 780Ms were allocated to me and now they are just building it?

 

Mine have been in production for 3 days now. Its the 770M though

 

Congrats! It is a beast of a machine!

 

the 780Ms are back! you might want to reorder

 

Thanks! I just hope they won't take a month to actually produce it! Production means they actually got the parts allocated right?

 

Good catch, and great news for everyone. 780M is indeed available @Dell now. Also, I think the price for the GTX 780M have increased. Earlier it was +$400 for the upgrade, now it is $530.

I could buy 780M earlier since Norway have been offering them the whole time, but I dont need them.

 

alright now that the third model has it back I've emailed my sales agent and am looking at canceling my existing order so I can get it much cheaper along with the blu-ray drive built in

is the 4930MX worth ~$450 more than the 4900MQ that comes with the base third model?

actually it was $500 and has been increased to $550 (or $490 to $539 for EPP members)

 

If you plan on overclocking the CPU. Otherwise its a waste of money.

Both 4800MQ and 4900MQ can be overclocked too though, but not as high.

Im pretty sure I saw the upgrade from 770M to 780M to cost $400 earlier. Are you sure it wasnt 765M to 780M that costed $500?

 

to be honest I've never really messed with overclocking before, my goal is to find the best value combined with future proof as much as possible

I would like this laptop to last me 3+ years, it's one of the reasons I decided to go with the 18 over the 17 because I've been getting 17" models for a while now and always find myself upgrading every 2 years

 

I'd say go with 4900MQ. It wont bottleneck the 780M GPUs you have, and a 4930MX wont give you any more FPS in games. 4930MX is for those who run benchmarks and need to squeeze out every single megahertz they can get to beat records, and in that case MX chips is the best since they overclock the best.

 

Since your machine is in production, stick with it! You can learn how to OC from various guides online, plus you can always ask for help/ advices...

I also switched to an 18, instead of another 17, as after searching eBay, looks like m18x are easier to sell and retain their value a bit better and provide you better performance in the short/long run

 

nah I'm swapping down regardless, I much rather save several hundred dollars and get the blu-ray drive built in (I don't need the SSDs in RAID, the only thing I'll miss is the mSATA SSD since for some reason the third model won't let you get it and have Win 8)

I had only caved on the top model for ~$4300 after tax because the coupon was about to expire

edit: second question for you all, if I got the config with the 512GB mSATA and Win 7 but upgrade to Win 8 using my previously purchased copy of Win 8 Pro what would I lose? I do want all the Alienware tweaks to the boot process and programs and from what I've read you can only get that with Win 8 if the system shipped with Win 8?

 

Changing in the middle of production will knock it on back to the ned of the line generally, hopefully they will re-allocate 780's to you again.

 

hmm



I've waited this long to get the Alienware 18, I'm perfectly okay with waiting a bit longer and getting the build I really want instead of having to settle for the one I currently have ordered just because it was the only one with the 780Ms at the time and then having to buy/sell parts in order to get it to what I want

 

The 4900MQ is a great CPU, but you're buying the largest, most powerful laptop "in the universe," so, why not go all out? Especially since you had a good deal.

I'm hoping to get a good deal for buying two systems at the same time. I'm definitely going to grab the 4930MX, if the price is right.

 

Ahh ok! Up to you! To be honest as Cloudfire said, even the 4800QM which I am going for, is good enough for the 780M SLI!

 

Sometimes "good enough" isn't enough.

If money is limited and you do not intend to overclock a whole bunch, the 4900MQ is perfect. It performs "similarly" to the 4930MX and is $500 less...

 

Not to mention that everyone who ordered has EDD into Oct which hasn't updated yet while new systems have mid Sept ship dates...

Unless ours update (which I assume would), you'll get it sooner buying again than keeping the old order.

 

I asked them about updating my EDD as new systems got a newer one. It looks likes they won't, I got a generic response. However I was at the end assured that they are using a FIFO approach (First-In, First-Out) to their systems and parts allocations; so expect yours before the webpage's current EDD. Unless they are and they will rush new systems over ours...

Mine went into production today, so hopefully will be shipped next week or so.

Irrelevant: If you plan playing Total War: Rome II, get the 780M SLI; the game is a beast and badly optimised (Creative Assembly said they are working on a patch), on its' benchmark my single 780M got around 29.8 FPS average -with a friend spamming my Steam on the background. I play the game maxed out, but for some reason: It doesn't allow me to pick a Haswell-related option (!!!) and recognised the 780M with 3 GBs vRAM... maybe gets confused with the desktop model?

 

Well I hope everything go well. I just canceled my order and place a new one with the vindicator bag, and I'm saving about $800.00.

 

I dropped down to the 4900MQ and 16GB of RAM but now have a 512GB mSATA and blu-ray drive plus 1 year accidental and still saved $500

I think your sales person is better than mine for one I couldn't get them to let me have the 17% off again so I had to settle for my 10% off coupon if anyone had a sales agent that promised to let them use the 17% off if they canceled and placed a new order once the option came back please send me a PM with their info ^_^

edit: wait Bumbo did you do it through Seth? he's the one that couldn't let me get the 17% off still

 

no it was with some one else. I got 4 Year Limited Warranty, and Accidental Damage Service, 4 Years.

 

any idea if they could give someone the 17% off coupon still even though it expired at the beginning of this week? >_> I had it on the order I placed on August 29th and canceled for this order, saving $500 is nice but if I can get the 17% off I think I'd put the 4930MX back in the system

edit: how did you get 4 year limited? I was told you have to get enhanced if you want more than 1 year >_< so I settled for 1 year limited and somehow (by accident I think so I have no plans to point it out to them) 1 year accidental for free

if you could send me this new persons info that would be amazing ^_^;;

 

Has anyone calibrated the screen of the AW18? I know it has an amazing screen, but it might look even better if it was calibrated with spyder elite or some other calibrating software

 

For people who are waiting their machines, but got a late Sept-early Oct EDD: I asked Dell again whenever orders with an earlier EDD than mine will get a priority and I got the following reply (replaced names with dots):
Dear ..,

No, orders placed online showing an EDD will not get priority over you. As mentioned: first in, first out.

No charge for collection fee.

Regards.
...

So yeah, I guess for example my system will be delivered before 16 Sept -earliest EDD I saw over the last week, for a 18" with 780M SLI. If it does, not only I will be happy but also Dell made me a royal customer

 

Don't know, I just select it from the configuration page.

 

I received my first machine and replacement about 10 days - two weeks in advance of the estimated delivery date. Both times I followed up on the phone to find out the status and the representative opened a case for me even though I did not request it. Does phone follow up speed up delivery? I can't say for sure but it probably won't hurt either.

 

Heh, I'm hoping that mine actually doesn't ship for a few more days as I'm wanting this to show up on my next cc billing cycle instead of this one...I tend to not trust any of what the dell reps say, but there are reports of people getting their machines so things are starting to move again.

 

I thought they charge you when you place the order?

 

They do a Pre-authorization to make sure you have the money when you place your order, but don't charge till shipment I think.

My pre-authorization is already gone from my CC since the order was placed so long ago...

 

When I ordered my AW17, another guy in the forums adviced me to call them. I did so and the next day my order went into production and was shipped 3 days after. So I guess it does indeed helps.

I already dropped a couple of emails on my customer care advisor and the sales rep, who arranged the sale. The former sent the email I posted and the later said he would try to prioritise it, but then ignored me!

Mine is in production since yesterday, so if it isn't shipped on Monday I will give them a call. At the moment I still got my 17 -until Friday- so I am not really "rushing"....

 

Hey 18 owners! :thumbsup:
Quick question. I was just trying out my friends new 18 today and I noticed that the @ symbol doesn't work. He was trying to type an email address and it keeps coming up with " instead of the @ symbol. Any ideas?
Is this normal and is there a fix or? I just thought this was strange lol. Has anyone else noticed this?
Thanks.

Cheers.

 

It looks like the displays come calibrated from the factory. See the review thread I made yesterday.

 

Just your friend is using a different keyboard layout! Check if he is using a UK layout as we get the " where you (US) people get your @ Nothing to worry about...

 

I purchased my AW18 on Aug 26 and it shipped today I am going to receive it tomorrow

 

OMMMMGGGGG MINE TOO HAVE SHIPPED!
(I also ordered mine August 26th)

 

Hey, your friend has a different language keyboard. If you set your computer up in a different language, there is a way to configure it so that you can swap between 2 different keyboard layouts in the quickbar (if he doesn't already have it that way).

 

LOL. yeah we are both very excited about our new systems. I can't wait to start playing games on it.

 

heh, kinda makes me wish I hadn't canceled the order I placed on the 29th but I'll be much happier with the one I ordered yesterday

hopefully it'll ship as quickly as your order did

 

Just curious: I noticed in your signature you said you will upgrade to Windows 8 immediately. I'm assuming, from the specifications you ordered, gaming will be one of your most common activities. If so, it would be best if you stuck with Win7.

I only mention this because I found that games and benchmarks perform better with Windows 7, not by a bunch, but enough to justify staying with it for a bit.

But yeah, if it's for work or school, Windows 8 is nice to have.

 

I've been using Windows 8 since beta and I honestly can't go back to 7, the under the hood improvements are just so good especially with how file transfers work now (in 7 I would use TeraCopy but not in 8) the only reason I didn't get 8 with the system was because Dell's stupid configuration system claimed that the 512GB mSATA wasn't compatible with Windows 8

also will use it for possibly work and school (a friend has been telling me about this work from home tech support job he just started doing) been planning to pick up the Office 365 University with my gift cards once Dell emails me them

 

Yeah, I assumed it was something for work/school. I may be more inclined to purchase Windows 8 through Dell if they offered a recovery disc. Not sure if they do now, but they didn't before (about six weeks ago). You're going to love that AW18.

 

I am currently using Win8 for work, but also for gaming. I found them much more "light" (the kernel is actually lighter).

I remember some comparisons and they offer the same performance in games with 7 atm. However Win8 got a full Dx11.1 and will get 11.2 support! 11.2 has TR, which if implemented properly, prepare for some nice graphics!

 

My aw18 is still processing with edd of 18/09.

Hurry up dell, technically I don't NEED it straight away but WANT it right noooowwww.

 

Hey Peeps,

Thanks for the responses. Yeh very strange. We're in Australia. So is that the correct keyboard layout setup?
We only thought it was very weird because the @ symbol is shown on the number 2 key but when you press it is gives you a ".
So it doesn't really make sense lol. Is this a Windows 8 thing HAHA

Cheers.

 

Australia is using the US layout! You drive the same side as us (UK), got similar political system, customs, etc etc BUT different keyboard layouts! Same goes for New Zealand! Heh funny isn't it? At least you drive at the RIGHT side ^^ -joking ofc, hope I won't offend anyone.

With Win 8 it is a known bug, even after setup the system to automatically get you like 2-3 different keyboard versions of the English language. Just press Window-Space to switch to Eng-US!

 

I'm supposed to get mine tomorrow
I didn't realize that 4700QM bottlnecks GPUs in games
Does that mean my 780m SLI will not play Crysis 3 maxed out, because of the low spec CPU? Ehhh I regret I didn't get the 4900QM

Does anyone know if the Alienware 18 with 4700QM CPU come with a 3-pipe CPU heatsink? If it does I can still upgrade my CPU!

Appreciate your response guys.

 

I'm not sure about the heatsink but the CPU is upgradable.