*OFFICIAL* M18x Owner's Lounge Thread

good price, but i would add the 3 year warranty....

 

I have a chance to grab a refurbed M18x(1 year in home warranty), that includes an i7 2820QM cpu, crossfire/dual 6970m video cards,8 gigs of ram,750gig HD,advanced 6200 N wireless card,dvd-rw and windows 7 home premium for $1999 shipped(And dont have to wait till the middle of next month for it to ship). Good deal?

 

yes for sure, but get the 2-3 yr warranty...

 

Seems like a good deal. I just built one similar at Dell Canada and it was over a grand more. 6970 are decent cards.

 

I have the option to extend the warranty through Dell direct I believe? Is it really necessary or worth it? Cost? Known issues with the M18x?

 

Get the accidental damage warranty it is well worth it dell has the best in the business hands down

 

FWIW, I got mine off the Dell Outlet 2 weeks ago.

2360QM, 16GB@1600, 2x6990 Crossfire, 2x750 GB HDs, DVD-RW, and 1080P

I got it for $1819.00.

 

BTW will this slot load BD drive work in the m18x? : NEW HL CA21N 6X Blu-Ray Combo 3D Player BD-ROM Slot-in DVD RW Burner SATA Drive | eBay I cant seem to find any info on what drives can be put in.

 

Yeah any 12.7mm slot loading drive should be fine. Thats a good price as well.

 

Bought mine off the Outlet for 2400.00 added the 120 SSD and added the accidental damage for three years. Yes worth the price anything happens it gets fixed or replaced, best deal around.

 

Regarding the Soundblaster® X-Fi™ Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled option, I was reading this post by N0¢yph3r who says it uses extra processing power from the CPU even when in idle mode. One of the reasons I'm choosing the M18x is to obtain as high of a CPU clock speed as I can. I don't want any extra added features or superfluous software added that may use extra processing power from the CPU.
So is it true that the Soundblaster X-Fi option will put a slight increase on the CPU usage? I can always go to the store and pick up a brand new sound card if I am dissatisfied with the default sound card. Or will new soundcard hardware put a strain on the CPU as well?

 

hey guys, i was just wondering how accurate dell's estimated ship dates were. are they usually on time or do they take longer than estimated?

 

With my experience it's been sooner than the date.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Usually it's less than the estimated.

 

If you cheap out on warranty you will regret it or pay a lot more later

 

Yes, unless of course you were as unlucky as me. Anyway, I ordered off HIDevolution and am really pleased.

 

I am getting an offer from dell to replace my 6970XF on my old m18x with 580 SLI, Paying extra 40 usd, should I? or will it bring more trouble than it's worth?

My second M18x is already with these specs.
Video: Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M AMD CrossFireX
Memory: 32 GB Ram DDR3
Processor: Intel i7 Quad Core 2960 XM OC 4.1 GHZ 8MB C
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit

 

Most definetly that's a great deal

 

I would think it's a great deal too but do the 6970s have a problem? If they don't, I'd say don't fix it if it ain't broke.

 

This is a waste of $20 IMHO. It's not a better sound card, it's just software. The IDT Control Panel has plenty of options. I ordered this on an XPS M1730 a few years ago and was very disappointed with it. I ended up just getting rid of it.

 

+1

I totally agree, I actually thought it was a sound card but then I read the fine print and saw it was just software, this of course is after I went ahead and bought it lol.

 

I was wondering, since you own both a Clevo and AW, what's your impression regarding build quality?

 

If you only get the basic one year, when you get it, the options to upgrade your warranty is spendy after the fact. For mine, they wanted almost 1700 U.S. for three additional years and accidental coverage.

 

Hi all,

My m18x will be here tomorrow

Specs:

i7-2670QM
8GB Ram
750GB HD
GTX 560M

What I want to do is change out a few things:

Memory - I want to upgrade to 16GB ram. Can I just use 2 x 8 sticks in the back under the battery? And speaking of ram, I have this at home: Amazon.com: Komputerbay 16GB (2x 8GB) DDR3 PC3-10600 10666 1333MHz SODIMM 204-Pin Laptop Memory 9-9-9-25: Electronics that I bought for my mac, but haven't used yet. Or will I get noticeably better performance from PC3-12800 ram? If so, any recommendations? Kingston?

BD Drive - is this the BD drive recommended?: Hitachi-LG HLDS CA30N Blu-ray Combo BD-ROM Slot DVD/RW | eBay - And is changing it pretty easy?

HD - Eventually, I want to swap the HDD for a SSD - again is that pretty easy, is there a tutorial for it? Any drive recommendations? Samsung?

And finally, how about bloatware to remove?

Thanks! Coming from a mac, so I'm excited to tinker around with it.

 

alienware doesnt really have bloatware but i always do a full reformat anyway.

the ram should work and no idea on the bluray.

crucial m4 or samsung is fine for the ssd. avoid sandforce controllers until Vertex this year 4 etc...

 

Thank you for the info so far! Are there Windows OS install discs included?

 

yes of course

 

Changing the optical drive is probably the most difficult moment, you will need to remove the palmrest to get there.

 

In all honesty, both keyboards feel kinda flimsy, with the Alienware being mroe so but I guess that's expected due to the backlit LED lighting. The Alienware definitely feels more solid but then again it has to be its huge.

The frame around the m18x's screen kinda worries me a bit, because of how I open it when its closed, you do tend to put alot of pressure on the area where the web cam is and there is definitely some flex there.

But other than those things, I would say the Alienware definitely feels alot more solid then my Malibal P150HM, the P150HM does present flex on the body when there is no battery inserted which also always worried me a bit.

Also I actually took both apart at one point in time and I have to say I found the Alienware to be much easier to work with and I worried less, the innards did not feel like they would break on a 5 year olds touch lol.

Now when it comes to quality control, thats a whole other matter, the screen on the m18x came flawless while my clevo even after choosing the dead pixel guarantee came with 3 dead pixels, VERY small ones though and I barley noticed them until I actually was looking very close to the screen, literally around 1.5 to 2 inches away from it. So that's another plus for alienware.

But overall quality control I have to give it to the Clevo manufacturers, there are just so many horror stories with alienware laptops its not even funny, I am just glad mine is running well so far. Also that's to be expected I guess since there is a lot more demand for alienware laptops. Those are just my two cents. Hope that helps, if you want me to compare anything specifically like speakers, screen hinges, etc just ask.

 

Compare warranty...

 

Very valid point!

 

Thank you for your input. I also owned Clevo's and AW in the past and ended up with a M18x. I mostly agree on your points. Also, in terms of features, AW is unbeatable. Same goes for warranty. And I simply love the sound of this beast!

 

I was asked about build quality, and quality control is related to that so that's what I talked about. I know the warranty with dell is much better than that of the competition, but again I wasn't asked to compare everything

Definitely, hands down Alienware has the competition beat when it comes to features, I always considered alienware to be the swiss army knife of gaming laptops. Switchable graphics, HDMI in, WiHD, all the ports you would want, the list goes on and on. If I am asked today what my next laptop is going to be, its definitely Alienware. And I also agree, the speakers on this laptop is great, far better than any laptop I have ever used.

 

I fall in there..

 

Now that I re-read your post I understand what you meant, sorry I thought you actually just meant to state that the warranty is obviously better with AW. Especially after reading Stevie's post after yours.

I can't really say much about the warranty other than what I have been reading since I never used it for either of my devices. As for screen hinges, I do believe the m18x to be more sturdy than the Malibal, but again I only had it for a few weeks so time will tell.

So here are some more comparisons...

Speakers, definitely the m18x hands down, I only play with the sound half way on my m18x, while on my Malibal I have to increase it to max and still it does not come close to the m18x.

There is another reason why the speakers aren't that good in the Malibal, and definitely another plus for the m18x. For the most part the m18x is completely silent unless I play something that really stresses the GPU's, the Malibal on the other hand has its fan running every 5-10 minutes and it gets really annoying. At full blast the fans on the Malibal are definitely a lot louder than the m18x. One thing I do miss though is the ability to just turn up the fans to 100% with a button combination.

On the P150HM you can do that by just pushing FN+1 and then that thing gets as loud as a hair dryer lol, but it does keep things cool, while on the m18x it usually starts to work when the GPU's hit 70 as far as I can tell. Not sure when the fans start pushing with the CPU.

Lets see what else, as far as features go the only thing that the Malibal has that the m18x doesn't is a finger print scanner but I barley used that anyways, and the m18x has far more features than the Malibal, don't need to tell you that as I am sure you know.

Also temperatures seem to be very similar on both systems when it comes to CPU temps, and since the 2860 runs faster than the 2820 its safe to assume the m18x has better cooling, but of course I wouldst expect otherwise since after all that is tiny in comparison to the m18x.

I also wouldn't dream of overclocking on the Malibal, while on my m18x I was very pleased with the results I got. (GPU overclock only)

Thats everything I can think of atm of the top of my head, anything else you would like to know?

 

I agree, that would be a very important addition to the AW features. I'd love to have a one-button-turbo-fan option. Even if it was a small app that could be bound to one of the macro keys. Would be very handy for extreme load. Wish AW will implement something similar in the future.

 

Congratulations on the new system. I moved your thread to the Owner's Lounge.

 

Thanks, I got the crucial SSD. Will attempt to install it tomorrow when it comes.

Thanks. I don't suppose there is a video or a tutorial somewhere is there?

 

Here you go. I made this tutorial for CPU upgrade but it should be pretty straightforward after that.

 

Also here

Alienware: Online Documentation

 

Hello all.

Valle here from the M15X forums. I just ordered an M18X. I cant wait to mod the crap out of this machine.

PS. Damn it seems like alot of work to replace gpu/cpu compared to M15X, that was a great machine.

 

Congrats on the forthcoming M18x, I'm sure you will love its power and build. Great system.

 

Wow! Thanks for the info. Might have to have a drink before attempting that!! External BD player is sounding good right about now

 

Yeah, I normally do this after a couple of beers, no fun otherwise

 

Got my m18x today, and installed the SSD and 16GB ram. Very easy. Man I love it so far!

I'm coming from a mac, and haven't used windows in years. Any particular tweaks you all recommend to Windows or the software? How bout themes?

And is there any aftermarket touchpad software for it? I can't seem to get it just right yet.

Also I have a 27" Apple Thunderbolt Display. Will this work as an external monitor with the m18x?

Thanks

 

Check this thread out for the touchpad http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...option-2-finger-vert-scroll-ala-mackbook.html

 

Been reading this forum for the past couple of weeks before I signed up and wanted to let you all know I found it invaluable in my decision on buying an m18x and the configuration I picked. A wealth of information and I'm sure I will be using a lot. Thanks.

Now, for the questions: This is not my first laptop, but it is my first high performance laptop. My standard prep for past laptops has been upon receipt I perform a POST to ensure everything is in working order. After I'm happy all the guts are working I will usually pull the hard drive and ram, put them in a static bag and set them aside then replace with high performance parts and more memory/storage.

I ordered the m18x with the default ram (4) and hard drive (750). I plan on picking up 16GM ram (4x4gb), a 120SSD and either a second SSD or a larger HHD for data storage.

Can anyone tell me if the 1TD Western Digital HHD's fit in the m18x HD spot? I plan on doing a fresh reinstall of the OS and know (from reading here) that I get a full copy, but is there also a recovery disk for drivers and Alienware settings? Newegg.com - Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD10TPVT 1TB 5200 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

For ram I may go with Corsair Vengeance 204-pin DDR3 SO-DIMM 1600 from Newegg.com - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model CMSX8GX3M2A1600C9

And for the SSD I'm looking at Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

I have until early March to pick my upgrades so I thought I would ask
the community for tips.

Thanks,
BiggerJon

 

Grats on your new laptop. Performance wise this thing is a beast.

Yes that harddrive will fit inside, and yes the laptop will come with a windows 7 install disc and driver/resource cd. I would personally not rely on the resource/driver cd though, download the drivers from dell. There have been reports of the resource cd causing issues with motherboards. I can't say for certain if this is the case with the m18x, but better safe than sorry.

Another way you can install, and this is what i used. You can create a backup media, either cd or usb, to reinstall the factory image on another harddrive. I changed the hd in my machine and reinstalled this way. It was quick, easy, and puts the recovery partition on your new harddrive should you want it there.

 

just checked my order status and it said my m18x was shipped and it would arrive valentines day! then i click the tracking and it says it is out for delivery! i wish i wasn't stuck at work. i want to get home now.

 

Congrats! The machine is by far the best laptop I have ever used, you will not be disappointed!