*OFFICIAL* Alienware 18 Owner's Lounge Thread

Maybe you are under some kind of investigation or something.

 

The packaging is marked with my number. They should have called if they had any questions. Anyhow, I think I will call tomorrow to figure this out.

The waiting is killing me

 

There is a brown outer box, yes. However it does have a tiny little Alienware head down in the corner of it...

I hope you get it soon unharmed and safe.

 

Probably some sort of red tape or simple employee incompetence with customs is causing a hangup. Some of the unnecessary rigmarole that government agencies cause is outright ridiculous. The encouraging part is, some of the customs employees probably aren't very bright and I wouldn't be surprised if many of them have no clue what an Alienware is. I bet they are not playing with the system, but it would not be shocking to find the box has been opened for them to snoop. I have had toothpaste, toothbrush and dirty undergarments "stolen" by airline baggage screeners, and this is the same sort of motley crew that would be inspecting your package.

 

My beast just got updated on dell website, it's finally built and ready to be shipped, but the edd is moved 2 days further to 20/09

Hurry up dell.... I want it nao

 

I just recently got mine!

Unfortunately I am having some GPU performance issues very low FPS in Crysis 3 (got some very useful tips from guys on the forum and will try to implement them tonight).

Once I sort this out, I'll proceed to my first ever OC and am considering upgrading CPU to something more potent

 

Ordered mine on Aug 25th... EDD 9/11 (for some reason changed to 9/10 and from 2 BD delivery to Next BD)

Woke up today to find order delayed to October 3!! Kept calling up all their departments, had order expedite messages sent from three different dept., now I have a personal extension for a supervisor, and I'm told to call everyday to ensure that I get it on time. He said I should expect it to be shipped in the next 24 hours. I sure hope so.

 

Still no new BIOS fixing the issues on the 18, I am checking it every morning every night.

The 17 is getting outperformed in some benchmarks. It's all over the place, quoting the author. Haven't seen much review of the 18 yet, apart the one from MobileTechReview.

AnandTech | Alienware 17 Gaming Notebook Review

 

I actually thought the packaging was not as good as before. The M14x purchased a few years back had 2 actual boxes while this new revision just has a paper wrapping...Cost savings probably. It's not a huge deal since the regular AW box was probably enough since no issues here.

 

Finally got a sms from delivery company, getting it on 19th, sooo pumped but this wait is killing me. I just want my beast right here, right now

I still havn't ordered the msata SSD, not sure if I would go for Crucial M500 or plextor M5M. Can't find Crucial M500 anythere for some reason, only crucial M4 is available. From what I read, both use same controller but not 100% sure what to get.

 

You will surprised by customs and security how the proceed! A friend of my mine, imported a high-end Wacom tablet (I think the model is Cintiq 22). As the custom officers never saw one before, they were unsure about the price on the box. He had to wait for a month until they managed to get someone who could evaluate its' price... He ended up paying a few extra pounds.
Personally I was beta testing an XBox 360 S a few days before the announcement and when I was travelling within EU, I was stopped originally at the airport security for it and then at the customs office...

I know what you mean about the wait :/ Good luck!

 

Thanks Athonline.

Good news though, I talked to Schenker today. They said the package was not in Denmark after all, although it said that in the tracking website. The package is actually somewhere between China and Norway.

I got a date and time for the delivery though. September 17th, somewhere between 08:00 - 16:00.

Yay

 

Wow, talk about taking a slow boat from China. At least you don't have to worry about some rogue band of Norksy pirates gaming your beast behind a stack of empty crates.

 

haha, slow indeed. My tracking info says "by road", so who knows, maybe they used donkeys in the first part of the journey, then upgraded to one of them Rickshaw's in the early part of the route, before stuffing it in to a huge pile on top of a really old 80s car which barely doesnt get crushed by the thousands of packages it is carrying.

 

Wow, that's crazy.

 

So my order just shipped today (9/11), but I'm still looking at the EDD of 10/3....

No tracking number yet either; I'm told "A link to track your order through the carrier’s website will be available within 24-48 hours", even though I have Next Business Day shipping...

 

So I finally got my 18. Ordered on Aug 4th, shipped on Sep 5th, received on the 11th.

Great build quality - after hearing some horror stories here, I was worried about dead pixels or faulty manufacture. None of that came to pass.

With stock drivers (311) it is shockingly quick. Got 11300 on the 720p free version of 3dmark 11.

Most software only seems to see 3gb of video memory. Probably a 32 bit limitation, but no doubt smarter minds than mine will know for sure.

Windows 8 version of Alienware Respawn does not like USB 3.0 devices at all, but aside from that the drivers and firmware have been reading and writing to USB 3 devices fine (and fast!)

I had to enable SLI as for some reason it was disabled out of the box.

The screen has surprised me with how clear, colourful and overall pleasurable on the eyes it is on the eyes. I am tempted to get rid of my 23" gaming monitor.

Still not a huge fan of the grey plastic shell - it will attract marks and dings and my cat has already proven it shows teeth marks. That said the overall chassis is rock solid.

The fans are quiet. Even when looping 3dmark thee is only a gentle hum.

Sound is passable but can get a bit tinny. Limitations of the form factor at play I suspect. Headphone output is terrific however.

Overall Im very happy with my purchase. Now to find a case for the damned thing ...

 

Hi there.
That score is actually pretty low for an SLI 780M System.
Many people i talked to complain about severe gpu throtteling when running benchmarks like 3dmark11 on the Alienware 18 with 780m.

 

Apparently mine has been updated to delivery for tomorrow.

Using the latest 3DMark, I won't be able to compare scores with 3dMark 11. Is that correct?

 

Prerelease benchmarks shows a score of 11000 - such as here ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M, GTX 770M and GTX 765M SLI Performance Unveiled | VideoCardz.com) - so I thought 11300 was about right. Although you speak the truth when you say throttling is an issue - I suspect the fans are kicking in too late to be useful, so performance is not as high as it could be.

To add some context - my comment it was 'quick' was really in comparison to my old Desktop system - which dreams of one da cracking 7000

Also worth noting this was run 'out of box' - stock drivers, stock clocks, straight from the factory. No overclocking and old drivers. I suspect when the next round of WHQL drivers arrive there will be a performance bump.

 

3dmark has been spli into three versions - one for each DX version. 3dmark 11 is the newest I believe.

The first few posts in the benchmark thread are very informative - http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...e-m18xr1-r2-18-benchmark-thread-part-3-a.html

 

That's exactly right for a 780M SLI system for the overall score. The GPU score should be 14-15k at stock.

 

Yep 11300 was the overall. My GPU score was indeed in the 14-15k range, I believe the CPU score was 7-8k. I'll need to take a screenshot next time.

 

what is the pros and cons of this?
what you like best about it design and weight?
Any hardware issue so far? If so how is dell Alienware support?
Any issue on configuring the dual card to play any games ? If so what games ?
how many hours can you play game on battery only?

 

Looks like my lucky day. I managed to get a 20% off coupon, so, I may proceed with the AW18 purchase after all.

 

I hope so, it's such an amazing machine.

 

Probably about right...I scored 11861 stock...Not sure what CPU you got, but sounds around there.

 

3DMark 11 was released Oct. 2, 2012 on Steam, and the new one is just called 3DMark, and was released Feb. 11, 2013... I'm thoroughly confused lol.

Edit: And I already purchased it anyway...

 

3DMark 11 is meant specifically to test DX11 performance. 3DMark is overall performance.

 

Pretty sure that 3DMark is just the latest one.

 

Yesterday my EDD was delayed from Sept. 11 to Oct. 03. Today I find it's been updated. It was shipped on Sept. 11 and will arrive one day late, Sept. 12. And for my 'trouble' they added $100 on the $200 gift card they already send out.

How about you? Any updates?

 

Think of the new 3DMark the same way you would 3DMark11. 3DMark11 requires DX11 and so does the new 3DMark suite. There were 3 levels in 3DMark11:

• Entry - suitable for anemic junk like netbooks and cheap laptops
• Performance - the most common test, widely used on gaming PCs
• Extreme - heavy load that only a very powerful system can handle well

Instead of three of the exact same test with progressively challenging settings, the new 3DMark has 4 different benchmark modes, designed for a similar range in device capabilities:

• Ice Storm - suitable for the most pathetic devices money can buy
• Cloud Gate - suitable for average computers and weak gaming systems
• Fire Strike - suitable for stout gaming machines
• Fire Strike Extreme - intended for the most robust high performance systems

Since the four tests offer a little more versatility it helps the budget device owners not feel slighted and all four are totally different graphic experiences so it's more interesting to play with, even for beast owners. It feels nice to see an Ice Storm benchmark score 6 figures long when you have a powerful machine, even though it's not as meaningful as a killer Fire Strike score.

The main thing to remember about using any benchmark is to go with default settings or defined presets whenever possible. That way you get a consistent result that can be reliably compared against other systems. If you start tweaking the benchmark settings instead of using preset defaults, it not only invalidates the result for competition, it also gives you and others a false impression about the results. It makes the results worthless for comparison unless you compare it against another system where the benchmark was run with exactly the same non-standard settings.

 

So, now the AW18 only has two HDD bays and one mSata slot? They removed one?

 

Yes that's correct. What's the bet they add it back for the R2 like last gen?

 

Probably good.

And um, I just looked at the Alienware site, and they removed the 780M's except on the config with quad SSD's, which is crap! I wanted to buy one today and they do this now?!

What is going on with Alienware these days... They're limiting so much stuff. This really ticks me off... I don't want the 770M, nor do I want 4 SSD's.

 

Give them a call! Calling their sales rep is usually better... the can get you discounts and extra configs, etc etc...

 

I called yesterday to ask about changing a configuration and they said they can't, so, I'm assuming I need a supervisor.

Edit: This is ridiculous. So, I probably won't buy a system now, LOL. The representative I spoke with yesterday says that the quote I made is not valid for this sale. So, now I'm forced to get dual 770M's or buy the config with four SSD's and no optical bay.

 

My guess is low stock again...Pretty clear that if you want the 780m x2, you need to get your coupons ready and fire once it's available again.

 

In the UK site 780Ms are available for all AW17/18 models expect the really cheap, first tier. Erm try another rep? Or maybe wait a bit and give it another go?

To be honest you can't go wrong with any of the specs. 770M SLI outperform a single 780M, which is pretty good. The only game I had issues with, was Rome II, but lots of people got issues with it. The four SSDs should be blazing fast in booting/loading... but then again up to you! The lack of optical bay isn't a negative, the less mechanical things inside a computer the better it is!

 

I'll just keep trying to get it and see what happens. I really want to take advantage of this deal and grab me an AW18, if possible. For me: it's now or never. With this coupon, they fall right into my price comfort zone.

 

Does the 4 SSDs one fall into your comfort zone? If it does, go for that. If not or would rather spent extra cash elsewhere, go for the 770M SLI system.

 

Actually (the 4 SSD's), after the coupon is applied, it's about $300 more than what I can afford to pay... But it's still a very nice deal, so, I'm considering it.

 

There is also one for the Alienware 18.

 

4 SSDs will actually slow you down.

The best option, speed and capacity wise is to buy 1 or 2 big SSDs instead of using 4 small SSDs. Like 2*1TB instead of 4*512GB

 

Well, now Dell's site isn't working, so, that's fun...

 

I have a config saved in my cart with the dual 780Ms but when I go to apply my 20% off coupon it says "We're sorry, the coupon code you have entered has already expired or has reached the maximum redemption limit."

 

This is my first post from my new Alienware 18! As an ex-owner of the 17, a few quick notes:
-The package size is the same.
-The weight difference isn't that much to the laptop.
-The power brick is literally a brick for the 18! The 17 one, for the 780M SLI was much better.
-The screen is MUCH better than the 17. The contrast ratio is at least. The only complain is the uneven lighting in a black background. The colours are much better however, especially the blue.

Now I got a small issue with it: I can't get my external HDD to work! It is a 2.5" SATA-III. The computer feels to pick it up, I can see it in device manager, but can't see it in explorer. Instead I see an "F Drive" appearing and disappearing... any tips? I got a bad feeling, that the USB doesn't give it much power.

 

Woohoo! - they delivered (Walsh Western) in the end!!

As for the External HDD, is it a WD 3.0 by any chance? - if so, this might help: Alienware Systems: Why is my Western Digital 3.0 External HDD not detected? | Dell US

 

Yes they did! They parsed the package to UKMail and they to Package Pete, but they finally did so!

No it isn't! It is a Samsung one.. didn't have any issues with it on my AW17 before and neither today at my desktop at work nor my TV!

Update: After rebooting the machine, unistalling the drive from Device Manager and rebooting it, it appears to work at just one of the four USB ports! :S At least for now....

 

It looks like they're having issues with the site. I guess someone screwed up something...