*OFFICIAL* M18x Owner's Lounge Thread

I just ordered the WD Scorpio Black 750gb for my system. According to reviews it is pretty much the best laptop HDD ever made (not including SSDs of course)

 

I'm pretty close to buying a new HDD as well. My first SSD to be exact and it's looking like it's gonna be a Crucial M4 256GB drive.

Wish my laptop was shipping though.

 

Don't believe what you read about the M4 and laptops or sandybridge stuff. It's just a driver power issue in the latest intel RST driver. If you run the previous version with an inf fix then it's fine. Just run the tweaks for Windows 7.

 

Man 16 hours and FedEx still hasn't received the laptop. Not looking to good for getting it tomorrow.

 

I'm always surprised when a rep knows what they are talking about. Luckily, I've run into a few. They always also seem to get done what needs to be done with problems as well. Understanding is always a good thing in customer service.

 

Posted in the landing thread, but this is the official thread. Got it yesterday and it is unbelieveably fast.

 

Added this to post#1 of this thread:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A note concerning GPU thermal compound replacement

For those of you looking to replace the TIM on your GPU's, be sure to reference the service manual. What is different with the M18x compared to the good ol' 17xR2 style is you will need to tear down the entire system - this includes removing the display

Documentation

Above all, take your time and don't rush the disassembly.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Shame they will not be as convenient to get to as in the R1 and R2...something clevo style (bottom accessible) would have been even better.

 

I too noticed that a display removal was needed to get to the gpu's.....that's not really very practical...im sure it will just take time and practice for those who rip 'em to bits regularly !

 

I knew this would happen as soon as we learned the palm rest was redesigned. They eliminated the magnesium cover to save some weight but the trade off was a bit of inconvenience, no biggie. Those of us used to opening these things up should feel right at home.

 

Anyone do a Unboxing vid yet ?

 

Mine's nearly done. Youtube is processing it.

Done: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...g-thoughts-etc-share-away-19.html#post7503073

 

Just watched it Joker Thanks. Anyhow.. that keyboard is really flexing.. is that how all the alienwares are ? I currently game with Toshiba, and my keyboard is sold as a rock. you couldn't flex the keyboard if you tried. I dont know if I like that.

 

I didn't notice a whole lot of flex. I know the keys depress more than most notebook keyboards though. Maybe that's what you saw? most laptops I have ever used the keyboards depress quite a bit. Adapt and overcome!

 

omg. I find that disgusting. Toshiba must have one up on the keyboard standard. Its like having a a REAL keyboard. ZERO flex. Great... Ive been spoiled..

 

Do you have to reboot to switch from iGPU to 6870 CF or can this be done with an Fn key or is it automatic?

Thanks,
dt

 

Reboot required.

 

I don't believe there is a fn function for fans at 100%? I'd assume that will require going through CCC and manually setting the fans to max.

 

Nothing can control the fans but temperature itself.

 

Matrix there is 0 key flex. The keys do have more key travel than most keyboards and this keyboard feels much more like an actual keyboard than just a laptop one. It's by far the best laptop keyboard I've ever used and I've used the Toshiba and the MSI on friends laptops.

 

Does anyone know what webcam driver to install? BTW black m18x looks beautiful as well got mine earlier today.

 

@The1TruJok3r

Have you noticed any problems with the Crucial M4? I just bought one and was having a heart attack after reading about it having problems with Sandy Bridge. I believe the M4 would stutter when entering power saving modes. Does anything funky happen when you try running on IGP without being plugged into a wall?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...er-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html

The webcam does not require a third party driver. Windows uses a microsoft driver for the webcam.

 

Ray take a look here. This is the fix for the issue you are having.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/578505-m4-xps-17-l702x-blue-screen.html

I get my M4 tomorrow and this is one of the first things I plan to do.

 

Yeah I saw that. Hopefully the registry trick will not cause any weird affects to running on battery with IGP. It'll be a while until I can personally check it out due to ordering tonight.

 

I don't know what to believe about the screens except they'll come when they come and AW probably knows what a hit the RGB was. If "technical difficulties" is true, then upgrading may not be all that simple however...

Anyway, that aside, I'll go on history. When the R2 was released with the RGB screen (or push back to when the M6500 came with it) there was NO screen on the market beforehand that was 17.3" RGBLED, if I recall. So saying "go see what's out there" is misleading really, because there isn't a Dreamcolor screen on the market either. These things use market panels (typically, but not 100%) and custom backlights. Adding custom backlights costs money, but nothing like a tooling for a custom panel. Backlights play a large role in screen quality and there is a wide variety of designs out there.

Anyway, Dell/AW has zero interest in telling you you'll be able to buy what you want in 2-6 months. That doesn't make a sale now. So just use a few grains of salt with what you hear is all.

I don't think the current screen is going to be bad and if 580's come and no RGB well that's that, I'll live and maybe upgrade the screen later if I can. I'm still interested in what various parties think of the WLED when they see it though

 

Well, I'm gonna try to mod the lid in a month from now and land a proper RGBLED+Matte+IPS/TN there. After modding a few Sagers I'm optimistic.

 

The beast has landed!!!!!!!!

 

What you see as a flex in the keyboard is actually a flex in the box under the M18X

 

Haha - yeah, I spotted that one too.....

What made me laugh about Joker's unboxing vid was the way the hat, mousepad and sticker were all casually "discarded"......exactly what I would have done too

Great video btw Joker....and nice benches on TI.

 

Looking forward to this!

 

Well I considered that as well.. i still saw some bounce. Maybe ill like it I dont know. Hope so after suck a investment. The keyboard is as important to me as the screen.

 

Me too! Go ahead Aki!

 

accidently hit post....whoops.

PS where's my M18x? Someone go look for it please.

 

What are stock temps for you guys so far?

 

Has anyone else swapped their drives yet in their M18X? I switched my 750gb out for a 512gb Crucial M4 and the Intel Rapid Storage interface is telling me Port 0 and Port 1 are ONLY 3gb/s and not 6gb/s like I'd thought. Can anyone else confirm this? If this laptop only has 3gb/s I'll send the M4 back and just get another Vertex 2 240gb to match the one in Port 1.

*edit* scratch my post... rebooted after installing the latest Catalyst drivers and now it magically says 6gb/s.

 

The keyboard is very solid. I'm not sure what you saw in my unboxing video but I made it a point to say that it doesnt' have any noticeable flex.

 

Well I'm very relieved to know that... Because I was real worried. After this much of an investment.. I was like.. damn. Thanks for the confirmation. I just got my email from dell saying its in the HANDS of FedEx Edd 5/21. Cant wait for Saturday

 

I hate you mine still says its in production

I ordered it on the 6th but I still check every hour on the hour in case its outside my door

 

one issue I have noticed is,while plugged in if you put it to sleep, then wake it up the brightness is below what you had left it at. Mines is set to 100% but when it wakes up its like 40-50%, anyone else having this issue. BTW i do retain control of the brightness via power settings and slider, but just that fact that it auto lowers it everytime on wakeup is annoying.

 

M18x parts list is up... added link to Owners Lounge page 1 and also to the Alienware General Info sticky in the main forum.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/579752-m18x-part-number-list-reference.html

 

Id be VERY interested to know if you can control brightness using Fn & F4 or F5 after resuming from sleep?

 

yes you can increase it with FN keys or slider in power settings.

 

Thanks. Although I would suggest keeping an eye on that as sometimes it takes a while to manifest like on the R2....can resume a number of times without issue and then it will become uncontrollable via Fn keys....

 

I forgot how long it takes to get a system all setup the way i want it with all my stuff installed. And that is without having to re-install all my steam game ssine i just moved the game drive from my m17x lol.

 

My M18x will be my first steam migration as well, it is a pretty easy process?

 

If you can, just copy your Steam Apps directory over to an external or network drive. On the new system, install Steam and then replace the default SteamApps directory with your copy. Steam backup is horrible and doesn't always work properly. Using this process is much faster. No game downloading.

 

I was planning to copy the directory. I also have a considerable abundance of spare hard disks to use for muling data haha

 

That is the easiest. You still have to go back and run each game to let it do the initial setup (redist installs and the like).

I like to keep my games on a separate disk so I put my 2nd hd in an used mklink to point the pre-installed Steam to my existing SteamApps folder.

 

I was wondering what temperatures that you guys were hitting at various times and usage. Obviously I wouldn't want someone to go full prime95 and toast their machine so early. If someone could also comment at these various instances, that would be wonderful.

@idle
@gaming for a few hours
@slight overclock levels

Also it would be nice for someone to comment on whether or not the keyboard gets warm since certain laptops can generate some serious heat through the keyboard.