*OFFICIAL* Alienware 18 Owner's Lounge Thread

Yeah, very true indeed. At the time of my saga, the new 18 had literally only just come out, and as such, the 4930mx/Haswell limitations were pretty unknown.....to me, XM for MX would have been the only way to go, had Dell been doing 'like for like' replacements. As it turned out, the Dell offer of the 3630qm was a wild under-estimate of 'like for like' - so much so that it shocked the pants off me that ANYONE with an ounce of basic computer knowledge would think a 2960xm was comarable to a 3630qm, regardless.

Anyway, what's done is done....no point crying over spilt milk as they say.....

 

I will as soon as I get it Tuesday

 

I will I hope no more delays from FedEx I really wish Dell would use UPS instead

 

Gonna have to disagree this one onetime with Brother Fox. LOL.


It is only inferior due to how Alienware/Clevo had the bios encoded. If they had encoded it correctly, the 4930MX would be a screamer. The settings we have no access to with bios unlocked need to be changed. and they are pretty much set to the lowest state. Just like desktop cpu over clocking...Main cpu voltage & turbo voltage gets you only so far, then you have to readjust other voltages to accommodate. The easiest thing they could have started with is the amps. (which by they way is still not addressed at how many months?)

How does it take more volts to run in a laptop than it does if it's counterpart can run the same exact speeds but with lower voltage? That's pretty much what is going wrong with mobile cpu's. Going a bit over board with this turbo bin and power saving stuff. I didn't pay for power saving 100 percent of the time. I also paid for max power.
And the 2960/2920 will still be king of single and dual core operations because well...it was actually done closer to right....It still takes a higher clock, but the fact that you have that option open makes it all the more nicer.

Just a bit of ranting for a bit...now im done...

 

Just the one disagreement, Brother John? hahaha

I hadn't read much about the 4930mx (Clevo or AW) over the last few weeks/months, however, I was aware that Dell were supposedly 'working on it'......

The thing I really don't get is WHY they won't unlock the hidden settings to let the 4930mx run free (or at least open her up a bit to let her stretch her legs more).....it's not very likely to do any harm, or increase warranty claims for cooking the CPU, right? - much like you, I can see the benefit of being 'able' to save a bit of power here and there as and when required, but that should not come at the cost of performance - especially when buying a flagship performance product of any ilk.

I have my doubts as to if Dell will ever do anything about it......but that will cost them customers in terms of enthusiasts. I wouldn't expect to buy a Bugatti only to find out that some nerd at the production line fitted it with a speed limiter.......

 

Your answer.
Ramifications of being the first notebook maker in the world to actually do that and the many returns they would face from the many versions of "user error & potential legal actions if Dell decided to decline your request because of user error and not actual part failure"

 

Yeah - if they totally unlocked it for anyone, that could be a problem. They could probably open it up a bit more, though....don'tcha think?

Kinda harks back to your own idea of an 'overclocking option' - if someone wants it, they'll pay extra for it and that 'extra' should cover user induced error.......maybe....LOL

 

Your second answer
1: They sell me an unlocked bios
2: I then share it with you
3: You then brick your machine
4: Neither me, fox, svl7 or you can fix it.
5: You call for service and they attempt to service your machine.
6: They replace you board with a new one and you are now a happy camper.
7: They put your old board under the scope to see what's wrong and find that you flashed a coded bios that was coded for johnksss
8: They in turn send you a bill for 545.00 dollars for the replacement board you just got.
9: You are now declining to pay....

And it just goes on from there in many different directions.... And that is just one possible story.

 

Yeah, I see where you are coming from. It's no different from someone taking the chance to flash a modified bios right now though, is it? - I mean, anyone taking the risk of flashing a non-100% Dell official bios is running the risk of a brick and the possibility of a user-induced costly repair.....

I'm no expert, but maybe there would be a method by which Dell could lock the 'unlocked' bios to the embedded service tag on YOUR board so that no one else could flash it......speculation, of course.....but a bit like a user licence....

 

In a way they are doing something similar to that. It's called "Secure Flash" and if it is not signed by Dell it won't flash. They probably could do something to read a service tag and refuse to flash it it did not match.

Well, now that I repasted the 4930MX with Liquid Ultra it is getting very close to the performance of my 3920XM, which is clearly more potent than a 2920/2960XM. [ LINK] Not being able to use a dual AC adapter it will never be able to match the M18xR2 in benchmarks because the 4930MX draws between 120-130W when pushed hard enough to match my 3920XM. Anything more than a moderate GPU overclock/overvolt going along with that CPU power draw completely exhausts the available power supply real quick, LOL. But, having the temps controlled really well with Liquid Ultra is like having a totally different computer now. It's AMAZING how much better the 4930MX is running when it is not on the brink of melting. Another compelling reason for them to fix the fan tables... soon.

 

I bought a M18 to replace my Acer 8930g, but I can't register it under my name as it's already under Best Buys name.

Has anyone register a Futureshop bought system who can help me?

I have the stupid Broadcom issue so add that to my issues, and I think if I can't register it it's going back.

Spend $3000 and you'd think you could register it...

Thanks


Edit,

Looks like I may have got through the registration switch..
Now to figure out the driver issue.

 

A lot of ways this can go, but none of them leading to them unlocking the bios for the many or even correcting the bios for the few....and the saga continues....

 

I would return this, order directly from dell and save yourself a bunch of headache.

 

how long does this whole process take? especially from 6 to 7 to 8, just curious.

 

With the Canadian dollar drop, the same system has gone up $300! So I can't justify buying it now.

 

To replace the board, a couple days. Not sure about the rest of the steps. Could be days/weeks/months. @johnksss, has this happened to you in the past? What was the timeframe?.

 

Oh no. This was an example of what could happen scenario
For dell to replace my board under warranty, next day. They would ship me my parts and i would replace the problem then ship the problem back.

Anywhere from 1 to 2 days in the States and if you have next day service.

 

To the best of my knowledge no Alienware M18xR1/R2 motherboard or CPU has ever been damaged or adversely affected by virtue of having an unlocked BIOS (stock Alienware BIOS with hidden menus exposed). There could be a small number of examples that the end users never mentioned or sought our assistance for in this forum or Tech|Inferno that stemmed from not following directions when flashing the improved BIOS firmware.

You cannot count user error because that is not an inherent danger attributable to an unlocked BIOS. User error and ignorance can result in damage without an unlocked BIOS simply because people: (a) make simple and legitimate mistakes, or; (b) are stupid, and/or; (c) both of the above. All customers cannot and should not be penalized for isolated mistakes or the stupidity of a very small percentage of the ownership population.

The only real problems I can remember was when Alienware updated the M18xR2 BIOS with new locked-down measures without disclosing anything in the release notes. As a result, I think one or two (very few) people bricked their system trying to flash down to an older version of the unlocked BIOS. Motherboards can usually be successfully resuscitated or downgraded to an older version with blind flash, but a normal flash attempt bricks it with the locked down firmware that was added. So, that was user error facilitated and driven entirely by lack of communication/disclosure from Dell about the effect that new breed of BIOS would have on the systems. Those customers were victims of the undisclosed change. It was not a problem or damage caused by a stock Alienware BIOS with hidden menus exposed.

My last depot repair took 4 calendar days, including shipping time. It was very fast, and I was very pleased with the timeline.

Except for times when parts are on backorder, POS (my preference) is always NBD... I am always pleased with that kind of service. A friend of mine with a brand new Clevo P570WM had like a 2-3 week wait for motherboard replacement. Communication from Clevo was poor during that waiting period.

 

User error can be the guy messing with the watchdog timer/the icc settings/the wrong dmi setting/pcie reset/internal graphics setting and a combination of a few others.... all fall under user error.
and most can be recovered from with out doing to much, but some take a bit more time to recover from. Now with the normal and better than normal users..this can be fixed, but with the new user who has no clue....Falls in the 50/50 category...Where they would need to take the machine apart. (gpu flashes and some stubborn bios settings)
The reality of it is that at least 98 percent can be recovered, but since it's not 100 percent. that's where the buck stops on doing it.....there is allot more under the surface, but you know this already..

Bottom line is if they unlocked it how it is.... We can recover, but it's not us that has to worry...it's dell with all the questions they will need to have answers for. and them referring people who call on the phone to another forum other than theirs is just not proper business ethics. Even though we might think it is....

 

Some customers could mess anything up no matter what, even if they could not press F2 and access the stock BIOS menus, LOL.

The scenario is kind of like this... Bob is shopping for a new house. Bob finds one he likes based on the model home he looked at, and buys one. Bob gets a warranty with it that covers everything. After the new home is built, Bob closes the deal and signs final paperwork. When Bob goes to move in and set up residence, he then find out all the doors and windows are locked and no key is provided. Bob starts asking questions and finds out that the reason they are not giving him a key is because Bob might mess up the carpet, misuse the central air conditioning system or damage the plumbing and they don't want to risk having to pay out anything on the warranty if that happens. As part of their "arrangement" with the contractors, they don't provide any keys to their new homes. Or, they say it's "not their policy to not provide keys to new home buyers" like they used to. Bob should be happy just looking at it from the outside. After all, it's a beautiful new house and Bob should be proud of how great it is just from looking at it.

Bob can't buy a key anywhere and the locksmiths he contacts are unable to pick the locks. They are too secure for the tools at their disposal. Bob can't use his new house because he is locked out and decides that the only option left is to break down the door or knock out one of the windows to gain access. Not the end of the world by any means... a risk Bob is willing take since he can't use it the way he wants by staring at it from the outside. But, Bob then discovers that the doors and windows are heavily armored and extremely difficult or impossible to penetrate with the tools at his disposal. Bob has to decide whether he wants to admire this beautiful new home from the curb, make a big deal about it and rescind the purchase, or wait around and act cool about until he (hopefully) finds someone with the armor-piercing artillery needed to let him in the front door of his house.

 

Maybe this guy can help you get into your house, Bro..... (dunno if he does freelance bios work, though.... )

 

All i did was hit F2 and the laptop shut off and never booted up again...

The part they left out...

I flashed a home made bios and rebooted with over clock left on and presto. No more booting laptop.

 

Poor Bob...

 

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone had tested the battery life when playing 1080p video on the 18 while in battery saving mode and running on IGP (So basically the ultimate power saver setup for if you were in a plane or something)

I remember my old M18x R2 running about 5 hours that way so I was wondering what to expect from my new 18 which should arrive next friday! (4800mq, 780sli, 16gb, 256msata, blueray)

 

I'll do that for you today if I have time. I tested it once a long time ago like that and cannot remember since I've never used it on battery power for more than a few minutes since then. I'm thinking it was like 3.5 hours, but it is better to not guess. I do remember that it was substantially less than my M18xR2.

 

That would be great, Really appreciate it!

I'm scared and excited at the same time The decision to get a the new AW18 was pretty big since the change is huge. Some of the things I really miss are

-No more HDMI in (Correct me if I'm wrong, I hope you do )
-No more Media keys for quick volume and eject button ect.(Unless I can bind that to the macro keys above the numpad)
-That they removed a HDD slot
-The Alienware head above the keyboard, personal flavour.
-The design of the M18x R2 screen (edge to edge and really well designed in my opinion) the huge bezel is a gigantic turn off for me, it looks cheap
-The bigger and longer battery life for those 1 or 2 times a month that you could really use it but that's a matter of opinion I guess.
-And lastly the sloped front on the M18x R1/2, the new front seems to be a real palm's nightmare in terms of comfort.

On the other hand, I've slowly gotten attached to the new design and I've even started to like quite a lot of things about it. The updated hardware will also be better in the long run when all the kids diseases have been fixed. All in all I'm looking forward to my new laptop!

 

I finally got my new laptop and love it so far no issues, it has Bios version A04, I do have a question in the bios it has 2 settings legacy or uefi boot, not sure what this is.
I have played metro last light with no issues or lag, turbo boost was 3.9hz standard 2.8hz.

 

You have a new Alienware 18 with BIOS A04? If so, I am excited. Hopefully, that means we can expect something good very soon. That may also explain your satisfaction with the 18. Right now, A03 is the only version available for download.

See answers in bold red. Don't be overly scared. The 18 is an excellent machine that needs some software/firmware fixes. Those should not be hard for the Alienware BIOS engineers, just a matter of them doing it at this point. While it cannot keep up with the M18xR2 in overclocked benchmarks, it is still the most powerful new gaming laptop with a mobile CPU that money can buy... but you have to take care of a few things on your own to get it where it needs to be in terms of cooling and performance. If you repaste the CPU with Liquid Ultra and use XTU and ThrottleStop to take control of the messed up CPU power settings it will help a great deal.

 

Yes it has A04 . but It does not show that I have integrated graphics , in the bios main it said not detected . I was under the impression that it had integrated graphics.

 

Can I ask which wifi adaptor, do you use wifi, and what router?

I too got an AW 18, with win8, and the Broadcom and its killing me with crap connections.

 

OK, I am jealous that you have A04 and nobody else has access to it. My hope is that the CPU power settings are corrected and the fan tables are fixed so that the fans react quickly and are able to achieve their full RPM capacity. I am excited about the possibility in spite of my jealousy, LOL.

It does have integrated graphics, but you have to switch from discrete to integrated for it to be active. There is no Optimus like the M17xR3/R4. You switch to IGFX using FN+F5. You will be prompted to reboot. After rebooting the integrated graphics will become active and the discrete video cards will no longer be visible in the BIOS or Device Manager. This manual switching is a superior design compared to Optimus. It works better, has none of the issues associated with hybrid graphics and provides slightly better battery life.

 

Thank you your the man, I am guessing no bluray codec comes with the laptop, is there any fee ones out there to be able to watch blu-ray movie's

 

BluRay codecs generally come with software, like CyberLink PowerDVD. If your system did not come with that, you might call Tech Support and see if there is something missing from your installation. If that was included with your M17xR3, just go to your "My Dell Downloads" and download it from there for your new 18.

I would imagine there might be an open source option out there, but I haven't looked. There may also be a Windows Media Player plug-in that you can buy. I no longer use optical drives. I moved my BluRay burner to an eSATA enclosure a couple of years ago to make space for another HDD in my M18xR2 and have used it probably less than 10 times since then. I don't even have or use an ODD with the Alienware 18. I have no need for one.

OK, I have the CPU set to 3.2GHz max, c-states re-enabled (I normally have them disabled) and "Power Saver" selected in ThrottleStop. I have AlienFX turned off and screen dimmed to the max and Windows Power profile set to power saver. I also set the Intel Graphics Control Panel to maximum battery life. I am playing a 35 video YouTube play list and it appears to be 3.0 hours. If that changes, I will mention what the actual battery run time turned out to be.

Edit: Now that the battery has had more time to calibrate it is showing 3:15.

 

Mr.Fox thank you for testing that out for me! 3.15 hours isn't bad for such a calibre laptop so that isn't too much of a disappointment. I would also like to thank you for clearing up some of the things I was wondering about and especially really happy to hear that the 18 has HDMI In. Although I do hope it doesn't have the same issue as the M18x where the input is too deep for some cables to completely fit it and thus having no sound.

If anything, Reading up on all the various topic you described about the 18 in great detail and depth is what made me buy the new one. So once again many thanks!:thumbsup:

 

Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad I was able to help you with my comments.

It is probably hard to get a read on me sometimes. The Alienware 18 is a fantastic machine. I like it a lot and wish a few lingering problems were addressed already. Hearing that A04 is on shipping machines, I have renewed hope that it might be fixed and our wait will finally be over. Let's hope it appears for download by existing 18 owners in the next day or so.

The M18xR2 is an extremely tough act to follow in every measurement and it may never be able match its performance. But, it is still head and shoulders above everything else. It is overshadowed by no competitor's product with Haswell mobile CPU in terms of build quality or performance potential.

 

Yeah, I have sold my cosmic black M18x R2 since I figured I won't really need it any more. But I might just buy one again in red this time just for the sake of having it. It just has a feel to it no other laptop has ever gotten close to. It's weird and I cannot explain it but it's just on a completely different level.

Alienware is what got me into laptops in the first place. I was never a big fan of laptops for performance reasons but once I read more and more into it and got an Alienware I just got addicted to the idea of having all the power in the world, and yet be able to always have your machine with you. (I always took my M18x R2 everywhere on a daily base, My shoulders needed some time to adjust but after a while you get used to it )

 

All right, I am getting tired of waiting it out, but 3 hours seems about right. There is still a bit more than an hour left after non-stop YouTube videos playing for the past two hours. With less demanding use or more stuff turned off, it might stretch out to 3.5 or 4 hours. This is also with Windows 7. It might be slightly more or less with Windows 8.


click to enlarge image

Switching it back to discrete graphics and AC power now. Hope this helps anyone that is curious.

 

Also maybe completely off topic, But back when I had my M15x it came with this nice fiber cloth sleeve. I was wondering if the M18x R1/2 version of the sleeve would fit the new AW18 and if so, Where to get it.

 

... OMG A04.... soooooo excited. Please tell me they opened up the BIOS a bit?!

 

LOL Mr. Fox you going to be busy as soon as you get your hands on A04. so many things to go through so many to test out

 

Unfortunately, the M18x sleeves are very hard to come by. But, if you can find one they do fit perfectly on the 18. They actually fit the 18 nicer than they do on M18xR1/R2.

The M17x sleeves will fit the M18xR1/R2, albeit a very snug fit that is too tight for my liking.

Look at post # 880 in the http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-would-fit-alienware-m18x-88.html#post9536242 thread.

 

I will check the Alienware 18 that I received couple days ago and see what BIOS is on it after work.

 

I do not know what the old bios was like (A03) but I will check on anything in the bios you want me too. just ask.

 

This is something I am having a hard time understanding why is dell making it so hard to get a sleeve for these laptops it just boggles the mind, you would think with so many asking for it they would make them easily obtainable.

 

Logic is not the path Dell chooses my friend.

 

Couldn't you make a BIOS backup and um... help out AW by letting us test it?

 

I have A04 on my replacement 18. Post up instructions and I will upload a backup

 

let me know how step by step and I will give it a try as well .

 

That does not work. You can't do it with a system BIOS dump like we used to because everything is locked down. Nobody else would be able to flash the dump files due to Secure Flash. We will have to wait for it to be posted for download.

 

Sounds like an awesome feature that the consumer wants