*OFFICIAL* Alienware 18 Owner's Lounge Thread

Yes, I remember. I would not keep it either at this specific point in time. I love the 18 in concept, but it's lackluster performance is disgusting. When they fix the fan tables and remove the Secure Flash crap so we can unlock the BIOS (or just give it to us unlocked) that will be a major improvement. In that case I would keep it and just live with the fact that it is powered by a Haswell turd CPU. Everyone is in the same boat with that raw deal from Intel no matter what brand they purchased. But, right now there's not much point in owning a new 18 with messed up fans and a crippled BIOS if you are a true enthusiast. If all you plan to do is play games, it does a fine job of that.

 

Hmmm - so looking at this from a humereous viewpoint: as an M18 owner I am not a true enthusiast as I really do enjoy my ownership without worrying too much about the fans and BIOS, and becuse all I do is play games on it.

Whereas I do agree that they should fix the fan tables, and perhaps open up the BIOS somewhat, I do disagree with the extent some people are taking this. There are a lot of M18's that won't be any better or worse off for different fan RPM's/kick-in times, and a lot of users out there that won't go looking for some hidden tweak setting in the BIOS.

For those that do want to get the full beast experience I feel with ya, but don't discourage the rest. My M18 has played every game I've chucked at it fully tricked out, without any thermal meltdowns or similar hissy-fits

Oh, and I am an enthusiast regardless

 

Beautifully put... I had a nice 15 hour session of bf4, bf3 and left for dead 2 with my daughter yesterday and the 18 performed flawlessly. My little 14 handled itself admirably also. They really are great gaming machines as well as for work. I'm not a big overclocker so I'm not effected like the guys trying to triple their power bills and use the lappy to keep warm for the winter.

 

Well this is how it looks, when history repeats itself. These were the words I read online when m1730 came out, and now I am reading same for aw18.

It took about a year for m1730's started dying right and left, lets hope it's less than a year for aw18. Because many people were left with expired warranties and a dead 7kg laptop. Don't want to see that again.

 

Sorry guys... not trying to be insulting or anything, so forgive me if it came across as a slam against anyone. That was definitely not my intent. Maybe I should have inserted "overclocking" before enthusiast and my comments would have not come across the wrong way. There are many things I really love about the 18 and Alienware deserves a lot of credit for the things that are good about it.

It is a huge disappointment to me to have a machine that responds so poorly to performance tweaks compared to the last two generations of machines that preceded it. The fact that it has avoidable (imposed) limitations, such as a locked down BIOS, gimped fans to help it run quieter, and a power handling limitation that prevents the dual AC adapter mod from working are serious problems based on what I value most in a high performance laptop. Those things have to be fixed before I would be totally happy with the machine as a "beast" laptop. I agree that it is a fantastic gaming rig, and I absolutely love how it is built. It's a beautiful machine in many ways, but I expect a lot more than that and can't be completely satisfied with something that merely works fine as a gaming machine the way it shipped from the factory. It's too ordinary if all of them that share the same specs run more or less the same. I want something extraordinary, that stands out from what other owners of the same machine have with the same specs after being tweaked and tuned, and it needs to be better performance than the older machine across the board. At this point that is not a reality.

Looking at the lackluster overclocking results that I am seeing all over the place from Haswell-powered laptops and desktops, even if they fix everything we have complaints about it will still have limitations that I am not pleased about. I don't blame Dell for Haswell... it is what it is, and that part can't be fixed. I would be resigned to live with that part and tickled in three shades of pink with Dell/Alienware once everything else gets fixed. So, now we wait for that to happen.

I hope that clears things up.

 

i love mine, FWIW, i do just play games & Code on it so its fine for me. I do miss the constant tweaking and seeing how far i can push it, but i guess my need for that is dying with my age heh.

 

I have no complaints about mine.

 

Today I was thinking how happy I am with my laptop and an hour ago, I got this:

There was an error while AlienFX Controller was communicating with the computer. This might have been caused due to a problem with the hardware or the software.Try these solutions to correct the issue, in the following order:
- Try to enable AlienFX Controller again. Right-click on the AlienFX icon in the Windows notification area and select 'Enable Alienware AlienFX'.
- Shut down your computer and power it back on.


In case anyone else gets this, while online most people fixed this by re-installing windows:
-I shutdown the machine and took off the battery, waited for a minute.
-Went to device manager (Win Key + R, then type devmgmt.msc) and search for new hardware. Disabled a couple of USB things and then did a troubleshooting on my machine.

 

I have been a alienware owner for almost 5 years now
i wouldn't have even replaced my m17 except dells worldwide next day service with by the way i have used world wide ran out after 4 years
i expect to turn on my m18 and have it work if the ambient temp is 20c or 40c without carrying a canister of nitrogen
they are built to last and preform better than almost all other laptops I dont know any other laptop that can still carry the own after 4 years
I have had mine now for almost 5 months with no complaints
I do alot more than just play games, if we need any improvements it would be going back to the 1920 x 1200 display for those of us that like to get work done between games
I appreciate you working on dell for improvements but please dont dis my laptop

 

I agree with most of your comments and feel the same way about most of it. There are a lot of us here that are long-term Dell/Alienware fanboys, so you're preaching to the choir about that. I haven't stopped being a Dell/Alienware fanboy, but I am not going to pretend things are OK when they are clearly not.

I'm not dissing your laptop. I am dissing the one I am using. Until it gets fixed it deserves to be dissed. It is a nice machine with crippled performance that does not meet my expectations. It is not realistic to expect those that are dissatisfied with the performance of the 18 to hush up just because others think it's OK exactly like it is. Charging more for something with less performance and fewer features than its predecessor doesn't qualify as progress in my view. I can forgive the loss of features, but not the loss of functionality and performance.

Everyone makes mistakes, including Alienware, and there are some pretty glaring mistakes in this case. The good thing is they are (mostly) fixable problems if they choose to step up to the plate and do so. I expect they will, but being patient after this many months is not easy for some people. Loosening up locked down Secure Flash feces so we can exercise ownership rights and unlock the hidden menus in our BIOS and fixing the goofed up fans tables are things they must take care of. Until they do those two things, I regard the 18 as being a messed up and an incomplete product. It's too late to redesign the other things, like the power handling limitation.

I'm not blaming Dell/Alienware for Haswell being a piece of crap. We are all victims of that abortion. Hopefully, Intel will undo some of their mess with the 5th Generation Core i7 mobile processors. To properly undo the mess, it (unfortunately) probably will not be compatible with our 18 motherboards, so we're stuck with 4th Generation mediocrity. Anyone that wants to is free to have a different opinion. Nobody needs to be quiet about how they feel about it or be offended if someone has a different opinion.

 

keep up the pressure if i remember correctly my bios on the 17 was at a08 we r only at a03 on the 18

 

Yes, and the clock is ticking. At the rate we are going with this protracted timeline, some customers will be out of warranty before they ever have a machine that works better. Hopefully, the majority have 3 or 4 years warranty. I hope A04 offers something meaningful. They know what needs to be done, so unless there is something they are having technical difficulties fixing, it's taking way too long.

 

Intel confirmed that Broadwell will be compatible with Haswell's sockets: Intel reveals more details of 14nm Broadwell chips | News | PC Pro so I guess we can upgrade our CPU if needed.

Question is when the new AWs will come out. 880Ms will be out soon, but Broadwell is not here until Q4. Maybe an update for the 8-series now and another for the CPU at the end of the year?

 

So, all of those suggestions I made about upgrading weren't bad after all...? That's surprising and exciting.

As for Broadwell not coming out until Q4, I don't believe it. It wouldn't make much sense for them to release these CPU's at the end of 2014 right before their next generation comes out. They would have to delay almost all of their future plans because of such a late release. I'm willing to bet that was just an 'estimated' time frame. I'm sure they're rushing it and planning to release at the end of Q2 2014.

As for Alienware, I'm going to assume we'll see another "June" release of the next Alienware lineup. That's late considering the previous generation was released in April.

 

For the Q4: Intel delays Broadwell release date until 2014 because of defect density issues | ExtremeTech , Report: Intel Broadwell-K CPU to Launch in Q4 2014

If we see another June release, depending on the price I can sell my 18 I might upgrade. However AW will loose money from potential costumers as Clevo and I assume MSI, will refresh their machines with the 8-series in end February-March.

 

If those release dates are accurate, this will delay everything. I just can't believe it.

Those articles were written a few months ago. I'm willing to bet things will change in a few months. A lot can happen in half a year.

 

We will see. At the moment Haswell's desktop refresh is coming first.

 

I've been reading up on this and found several articles supporting the fact that Broadwell will only be slightly delayed. Mass production has already begun.

I think it's safe to say we'll see another late release (June 2014) for Alienware.

 

I'm not expecting this to turn out well for gamers and especially not for overclocking enthusiasts. Everything they have to say about it discouraging. This power-saving mission is so idiotic. Their focus is clearly not on manufacturing high performance processors. Their focus is on building anemic garbage for crap like netbooks and tablets... cell phones on steriods, LOL.

 

I know, it's a bunch of crap. They're delayed because they couldn't get the chip density right for tablets... All of this over ridiculous little tablets. I'm going to agree with you on the enthusiast side. It looks like Ivy Bridge is going to be the champion, yet again. What's up with all this power consumption crap lately? Man, it's ruining everything...

Let's just hope Alienware releases a suitable BIOS, at the very least. Maybe with everything unlocked it won't be so bad... Wishful thinking.

 

My machine has worked fine, but I agree that they have majorly dropped the ball on this. I really think someone/some company or group should file a class action or something to at least force the issue. Unfortunately, it seems most things aren't done unless there is a lawsuit to "encourage" people to play the way they should play...

Or, if the next gen fixes this, Dell/AW should go after Intel to upgrade everyone free of charge to get the latest tech if that solves the problem. Barring any financial hurt, I have my doubts this would be fixed at all actually...

I could be wrong since I don't follow AW that closely and how long this typically takes, but it's already in the new year and this seems like a very basic thing that should have worked since it was sold...

Obviously, someone/something is keeping this from being resolved so I'm not holding my breath, but as I mentioned in many posts, if you just use the machine, it works very well and going new is still a good idea, but if you overclock and all that stuff, then yes, you should probably wait to see what happens before giving them more of your money...

 

Man i got my 18 (My first laptop) Simply the best gadget I've seen. I never had so much Swagger
i bet there would be hardly - 10s of people here in India who own it because
1. People rarely buy such a costly gadget here. They would rather buy a bike at the price
2. It is not available in India.

Being in that group is really a huge deal for me

Sent from my HTC Desire X using Tapatalk

 

I am an Indian living in Australia and every time I visit India with 2 alienware laptops in my backpack, it's all good till I sit at a cafe and get my laptops out, it changes everything on the spot.

To put it mildly I was recently treated like a god at a Internet cafe, because I had aw18 and m17xr4, and I was just using m17xr4 as a secondary display and I could hear guys talking about it behind my back, "how is he running 2 laptops with that cable?" "Is he running that laptop as a server or what" "He must be super rich..." Etc.

And here's the kicker, when I am in India, I usually dress in raggedy clothes with a $40 watch and 4yr old sneakers

 

What kind of backpack can handle an AW18 + a m17x + 2 chargers + other stuff?

And even in the US, owning an AW would get you the "this guy/gal is rich" assumption...

 

The Everki Titan can probably hold that much stuff. I know it can hold two AW 17's, I tried it, lol. That thing is a beast.

 

I don't think they will do that, they did it on for or with the purpose of...

 

The only place I ever see a negative reaction is from internet trolls. The responses with the M17xR2, M18xR2 or the Alienware 18 have almost always been very positive. It is usually a response like "Awesome, I have always wanted to see an Alienware" followed by lots of questions, or "OMG, what is this beautiful laptop" kind of response. One question that often arises is "how much does it cost?" followed by a surprised look and "do you think it is worth it?" That opens to door to explain why it is and why they should get one.

 

It is looking like the 880M's are not going to be bringing much more performance to the table - rebranded 780's, with more RAM. Check out the link below.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M is rebranded GTX 780M, has 8GB memory | VideoCardz.com

 

Unless Broadwell brings a tangible increase in performance it won't really be worth considering. I expect it to be another performance downgrade. I would love to see Alienware pass on deploying Broadwell on the 17 and 18 if it doesn't perform as well or better than the current product. We don't need any more stinking tablet-friendly CPUs in the beast. It's unfortunate that more research did not go into Haswell before releasing the new product line. It would have been a lot better to delay launch for 6 months or so and release the 17 and 18 models with Ivy-E 6-core CPUs instead.

Unless AMD releases a 780M killer there is probably not enough market pressure to expect more than a rebrand in the 880M. There is no incentive for NVIDIA to release something remarkably better at this point.

 

That does not prove with 100% certainty that the cards are re-branded 780M's with more vRAM. The sources for that information are from forums, including NBR, where speculation can take its toll. Also, those screen shots are of programs that can be easily Photoshopped from unofficial sources, which isn't all that reassuring.

Only time will tell. Hopefully NVIDIA will release some news at CES.

 

LOL, we can always count on tons of wild speculation. It's predictable with every new generation CPU and GPU. That's a positive thing because people are passionate about technology, but it is often far from accurate. Guarded skepticism is a better approach. You can enjoy being pleasantly surprised (who doesn't like that) and rush out to buy your own slice of the action, or have the pleasure of knowing you didn't throw money away on something mediocre. It is predictable that Intel, NVIDIA and AMD will put a huge spin on marketing to tell us everything good and conveniently leave out the details on wait ain't so good. And, we can count on another round of hype and hoopla from the "professional" reviewers. Until we see some of the new stuff being tortured by performance enthusiasts we really won't have a good idea about whether the new stuff is actually worth buying.

Regardless of how it turns out, we can certainly expect to be entertained by a full spectrum of drama from the reactions of the "point and click" masters and tech-savvy early adoption group that will give the stuff a brutal beating right out of the chute.

 

All I know is, if this year is yet another re-brand year with performance issues, I'm going to skip 2014 altogether with Alienware and build me a nice desktop.

 

Many people have that exact same idea!

 

no me. lol my r1 still running like a champ.

 

Hello all. Soon to be owner
With little luck tomorrow my Alienware 18 will be finally in my hands. I've ordered one from HIDevolution 29.11.2013 and after 35+ days, 2 continents, 4 countries, many holidays (laptop was in each country 3 days because of that. Atm it's in "city of love" ) few problems with FedEx here and there i hope i'll get it tomorrow I'm from Serbia btw.

Specification:

Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
i7-4800MQ
GTX 780 SLI
Kingston HyperX 16GB DDR3L 1.866MHz (2x8GB kit)
256GB SSD Samsung 840 Pro
128GB Plextor M5M mSATA SSD (OS)
2x1TB SATA III 7.200rpm (storage)
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103
Alienware Vindicator 18" Backpack
CM Storm SF-19 notebook cooler
Logitech G700s Wireless Laser Mouse
Logitech G930 7.1 Wireless Gaming Headset
Logitech F710 Wireless Gamepad
Razer Goliathus Control Edition Mouse Pad + XTracPads Micro Pad x2
1 Year Alienware Basic Warranty
No DVD/RW or BR

I bought it around black friday and i got discount around 350$ if i remember. 5% BF discount and 120$ from HID. I didn't want DVD/RW or anything because i don't need it so additional 1TB is better for me. And 1 year warranty will be replaced for 3 years here or more depends how much i can get. I'm working at one company here that is distributor of Dell products (but not Alienware because some stupid licences) so i can get 2 more years for 200$ so i think its good deal.
All in all i really hope i'll got it tomorrow. After tomorrow it's holiday here and i don't even want to think about it

 

Hello Serbian Brother. Welcome to our community and congratulations on your new beast. I'm excited for you and look forward to seeing your posts about the experience.

 

Thank you Mr. Fox. I was lurking on this forums few weeks now and i've followed conversations others have and your advices and i'm sure i'll have some questions for you But first finger crossed. Paris is not far from here so should be here tomorrow.

 

I have a raggedy old Targus notebook backpack. which I first bought for M1730, it can hold AW18 in main compartment and M17xR4 in seconday compartment and chargers in third compartment. After that 6x750GB WD black hdd's go in fourth compartment. With plethora of cables and adapters in front pouches/compartments. My mobile phone on the compartment on the straps. With few other items in front of the pouches.

 

NVidia's CES press release was a few hours ago, with no news about Maxwell, as their presentation was focused on Tegra and G-Sync.

For PC-gaming it makes sense to focus on marketing gimmicks like game streaming and G-Sync, as they try to market their-version of PC gaming over consoles. In terms of raw performance, they beat AMD. However AMD’s announced like AMD Mantle and hUMA, which are great source of marketing and may get more devs work with AMD over nVidia –especially since both consoles are equipped with AMD technology. Thus nVidia is trying to pull marketing stuns to the brainless press and consumers, throwing huge numbers like 8GBs of vRAM. When consoles announced their 8GBs, the press went crazy with the number, so nVidia is using the same, magic number. 8GBs is pointless as both DirectX 11.2 and OpenGl 4.1 integrate libraries for texture streaming to the memory, reducing the need for lots of vRam. Consoles need the 8GBs as they share it (under HSA architecture) between the system (CPU) and the GPU, but that is different.

Similar story with Intel; they don’t worry about raw power, the market trends at the moment are tablets, convertible and ultrabooks. In the first two, they are loosing due to the more power-efficient and cheap ARM designs and now AMD released their affordable, power-efficient A-series chips for ultrabooks and laptops. I won’t be surprised if they put more resources into Atom and GPU-integrated CPUs in 2014-15.

Apple is the big player that shifts market trends in computing. They care more about integrated GPUs and power efficiency. Both Intel and nVidia listen to Apple's needs and desires, as Apple pays top-money.

Obviously none of this Alienware’s fault and outside Dell’s control. What is in AW control and I want to see: higher res displays, manual fan controls/ profiles and push fixes on BIOS. Even if the current machines are cripple compare to what they could perform, I still love mine and I believe the average user/gamer won't notice a thing. They pack amazing power and the next AW model will definitely pack even more power; just not enough for me, a happy gamer, to upgrade.

I hope I make sense; cycling in to work in a rainy, British winter day is not fun.

 

What you say makes perfect sense and seems accurate to me. Indeed, it is a grim-looking future for extreme performance enthusiasts that like laptops due to a lack of quality high-performance hardware on the horizon. Those extra features would be nice... like icing on a cake or gravy to go with your meat and potatoes, but they are not an acceptable trade-off for less horsepower. I'd prefer that they skip the glitter and focus on performance above all else. They should give us delicious power-gobbling unlocked Ivy-E desktop K and X CPUs and a capable AC adapter if Intel's priorities are going excludes us. Abandonment is a two-way street. If Intel is going to focus all of their resources on building only crap for mobile platforms, companies like Alienware shouldn't peddle their trash. I think I may end up dragging myself, kick and screaming all the way, back to self-built desktops. That really sucks. It is not what I want at all, but the bottom line is I won't spend any money on new products with diminished core hardware performance no matter how much glitter they sprinkle on it. Ain't gonna happen in my house. I'll just go with a disposable $200 Chromebook for mobile web browsing at the recliner and spend my thousands on a desk anchor that collects dust in a isolated area and gets used about 75-80% less than my beast laptop... or buy a plastic P570WM and hope it doesn't end up cracked and falling apart in a year like every other plastic DTR I have owned. I hope Clevo keeps the faith and does not stop building that beast. It may end up standing all alone in a world dominated by severely overpriced mediocre gaming laptops. Seems like history is repeating itself in that way.

 

I paid the price premium, over a desktop, for a laptop as I travel and I'm going back to University next year to start my PhD. I don't plan to move my machine a lot, but I need to have the option. Like you, I don't want a cheap web-browser, office writer. I got used to power and premium machines, anything less-par from my current machine, will end up flying out of my window. If my PhD starts well, I will upgrade in 2015 or early 2016.

If in 2015 we don't see any dramatic chances in performance, I might build micro-ATX tower and maybe get a premium laptop for University and abroad trips for around with the same total as the AW would be.

Unfortunetely Alienware is trapped to Intel. AMD is going with APUs, leaving Intel alone in the field of high-end mobile CPUs. I hope Broadwell, as they move into 14nm, will be better than Haswell giving us more flexibility. However even if you heal the wounds in the CPU, GPUs' problems stay. AW went with nVidia only for mobile cards and only recently started offering AMDs on their desktop lines. For that we can only hope AMD's recent money boosts from consoles and all that Litecoin hype, will be used to provide us with enough performance to challenge nVidia. For me at least, GPU > CPU for games.

I agree about the Ivy-E CPUs. Haswell-E are also coming at the end of 2014. Eurocom already has laptops with desktop-CPUs, such as the power-hungry Xeon CPUs, why not AW? AW 18 definitely has the internal space for ventilation, just give us a better fan and bigger PSU. I doubt anyone with a high-end SLI setup uses its' laptop as an everyday laptop and cares that much for the PSU bulk.

If they don't give us the performance, they should give us the features. MSI already released gaming laptops with screens >1080P.

 

Funny you should mention that. I just posted comments about it a few minutes ago. Bulk and weight does not bother me enough to avoid it. I travel extensively with the M18xR2 and I already have my own dual PSU setup. I care about performance at the expense of almost everything else. As long as it will fit in an aircraft overhead storage bin, I'm good to go. Based on the options I see now with Haswell and what I think Broadwell is going to look like, I am considering other options that meet my performance expectations. Having >1080p would be nice, but I'm happy with 1080p as long as the rest of the machine provides an SLI option along with off the hook extreme CPU overclocking without any kind of limits from a locked down BIOS and Secure Flash, or power-handling capacity limits imposed at the motherboard. The only downside to the superior core components is a huge sacrifice in terms of lackluster support. I'm not going to play games with Clevo. If they get ~$4,000 of my money for their flagship product, I expect flagship service and support to go along with it.

 

I agree with you. 1080P is good enough, but if we are not getting a drastic performance increase, I would rather get enough features upgrades than nothing. I had a go with a Clevo yesterday; it feels cheap, plastic and like it will melt inside-out! Another option I might consider is a Steambox. If it can fit my bag, I can buy a cheap monitor to carry with me.

In my view Alienware should focus now on:
a) Marketing, improve their public. Most people believe they are overpriced, paying for things like lights or you get the same cheapish Dell design and build. This to get new people-in and increase their revenue.
b) Fix the issues raised by the community in all THREE laptops, not just at the 14 and 17. Yes the 14 and the 17 machines sell more than the 18, AW even said that the 17 is their most important machine to get right. However this doesn't mean you should ignore the 18" people. When Apple dropped the 17" machine lots of people, including me, switched over back to Windows. I doubt you Mr. Fox or anyone else will "compromise" with a single-GPU 17" just to keep going with AW. AW may not be dropping the machine, but still ignoring us is pretty much the same in my eyes.
c) Drop the Aurora line completely; focus where the money are: gaming laptops and small machines like the X51.
d) Copying sometimes isn't bad. Alienware Command Centre feels not compete, with the lack of manual fans controls. How about copying a few bits from MSI's Afterburner.

 

and how many people does it take to carry them? Lol

 

Well said! I like how you think. +1 Rep.

This part is dead-on accurate, too. I will not compromise. I am near the edge right now due to the performance crippling stuff that has happened, but I will immediately go get it somewhere else without pausing to think about it if they stop offering a dual-GPU machine. A single-GPU laptop will never satisfy me no matter how potent that one GPU is. Two is better than one and I'll accept nothing less. No company can offer service, support or build quality good enough to get me to compromise on this. I am approaching the point of being alienated right now with the crappy Haswell CPU performance that is being exacerbated by no visible progress on the unlocked BIOS and fan tables.

You know, we do this charade in too many areas of life. We see a growing trend of an inability to think and act in every aspect of life... obsession with political correctness, personal values (a lack thereof) and, of course, the adoption of trash in tech and other products. Consumers are their own worst enemies. We shrug it off and accept the unacceptable because that's what they offer us. Like a bunch of stupid sheep, everyone is falling in line with the status quo. We need to start bankrupting companies that don't do exactly what we want them to do. We are where we are because people pay more to get less with a smile on their face. Instead of giving us something awesome, they mold the mindless into compliance and put them into a trance through marketing hypnosis. The next thing you know all the kiddos want some cheap piece of crap because all of the advertisements convince them that all of their friends think it's cool whether it is true or not.

I mean, c'mon... really. When was the last time you saw people break-dancing and doing cartwheels at the office with a Microsoft Surface? Or how about "The Power to Do More" ...with anemic hardware? Really? Even though it doesn't perform as good as what you already have, it is better because it's thin and lightweight. Really? Who says? Why are they saying it? Because they can make more money by offering less and charging too much, and people are stupid enough to believe it.

Have another glass of Kool-Aid, and don't worry about the bitter aftertaste... you'll get used to it. Just drink up and play another round of Angry Birds on the tablet and it will be OK.

 

Well my school backpack can carry 3 of those
I have gotten used to carrying 10-15 kg backpack to school since the start of high school so carrying the 18 around aint one prob for me.
I guess studies are more of a back pressure than mental pressure for us here
nevertheless we're used to it

 

Thank you! Looks like those business modules, part of my Computing degree paid-off!

I feel the same. I might not have the top AW18, only a 4800MQ, but there is no chance I can compromise in terms of performance in my next upgrade. I might not be the overclocker you are or I used to be -blame my 4+ Mac usage for this- but I got standards and I like to buy power. I needed a good machine, with a great 17" screen for University, programming and photography: I bought my Macbook Pro 17". Apple stopped offering the 17", I switched to AW as nowadays gaming and games dev take most of my time. Now that I got used to all this performance, a 17" will be a downgrade. Even if the 17" will perform as good as my 18" does, it will feel like a downgrade.

I agree with you. I am from Cyprus, living in the UK at the moment. Back in Cyprus people were just accepting whatever the politicians were saying, whatever they were "served" to believe. The end results? While originally everyone was happy driving his Mercedes, the end-results were two of the largest banks collapsed. However in the case of performance vs power, we are the minority. The majority of the consumers nowadays buy stuff based on brands and what an idiot, eee I mean a reporter, said online. If we all stop buying Alienware, AW may try to do things right in terms of features and software; however that won't force Intel or nVidia to release proper hardware for us. AW and Dell in general got a much lower voice than they used to.

PS: I just managed to scratch my AW -.-' It is a reaaally tiny scratch, almost not noticeable, but my OCD is killing me.

 

Nobody could state my own thought as well as you did, amazing!!!

 

Whilst I agree with a lot of what is being said here, I would like to add my own experience with my 18. I would state that I did not have the cash for extreeme power, I instead went with a basic 18 (although I got a free copy of Win 7 Ult and the MSata), the price was discounted a little so I think I got a good deal all in, I got it direct from Alienware.

I love the design of the chassis, its jazzy without having to spend 200 years practising "tension" notes! I have the GTX 765m's and I have OC them by 4 or 5% and I am getting temps of no more than 60c after a couple of hours in Skyrim (not quite full settings, I lowered the AA a bit), giving 60fps albeit with the occasional stutter to 40fps however it is extremely playable.

I have had a brief look at the bios and will be setting my mind to the CPU overclock next.

As a casual user I am more than happy with my AW 18 experience. I do however hope that Dell will sort out the Bios, such a thing needs to be sorted out. One of the reasons I pumped for AW was to upgrade the CPU and GPU when I have the cash. I would hate to have to bottleneck the system because I cant get enough power to the components.

I would say that I built my own Desktop Rig specifically for my recording studio back in 2010, one of the key things I needed was to access control of the cpu power states. Whilst I have some access with the 18, it is not as free as I would have liked. That said, I have no issues running Cubase 5.5.3 and all the tracks and VSTi's I like. My Asio usage is fine and that makes me a happy bunny.

 

The sad part is, someone with basic aw18 might never feel the pinch from secure flash and CPU current limitations, chances are only those who paid extra (and that extra is literally double the normal price of the base model), will feel the pinch due to current limitations for CPU and secure flash crap.

So in essence, when someone pays double, they want more features and more power, be it a laptop/car/etc, in this scenario, you pay double, and you get shafted more.