*OFFICIAL* M18x Owner's Lounge Thread

Sounds like a very nice beast, sunnyflava99. Congrats.

 

Same here. My first laptop was a Vaio Z. Although they said it was high-end, it really didn't feel like it. I actually had much more pleasure with my G73 although it was a lot cheaper. I guess thin and light laptops don't cut it for me.

 

Registered on this site specifically for this thread and the M18X section of the forums.. I have a few questions regarding this fine piece of equipment and will be looking for help.

First of all, the specs of the one I'm ordering..

Intel® Core™ i7 2760QM (2.4GHz,3.5GHz,w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M AMD CrossFireX
1.5TB RAID 0 (2x 750GB) 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
18.4-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 WLED
Intel® Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 a/b/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology and Bluetooth 3.0
Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Internal High-Definition 5.1 Performance Audio with SoundBlaster MB Software
Alienware TactX Mouse (Free)
Razer Naga Molten Special Edition Gaming Mouse
Logitech G35 7.1-Channel Surround Sound Headset

Any advice on maybe lowering the price but keeping the general performance? I'm going to be using this to record high-end gaming videos with Fraps and would like any advice I can get..

Also, as far as the eSata port goes, can I connect almost any SSD to it? And when I do, does it just hook it up to the laptop but not give it power, requiring a wall jack for power?

Thanks in advance.

 

Buy these items from newegg. im guessing you will save at least 20% off dells price.

Welcome to the club. The M18x is the best lappy i have ever owned. Also it is more powerfull trhan my desktop. You will be very happy

 

Yeah, that's probably a good idea. The thing is I was most likely going to be following this sort of plan -

I would be starting out by paying for it monthly and then in the summer when I start to do construction work for my brother I'd rack up enough money in less then a year to pay off the rest of the full price.

I'm happy with the Headset, though, as it's general good quality for recording but am subject to change the most to a logitech one.

I get really excited as the day comes near when I order this beast, I don't care what people say about it, this thing looks amazing and the AlienFX just makes it better for me.

Also, is it possible to get a combination of an SSD and a, say, 750GB HDD?

 

@madcowzone

Getting a combination of an SSD and 750GB HDD would be possible if you don't order directly from Dell. That's how mine was configured however, I ordered from hidevolution.

 

Yea I have only owned this laptop less than a month and it still ended up costing me 250$ to add it to the 2 year warranty I already had. To extend it all the way to 5 years was like 1500$. I dont belive I will go farther than the 2 years because I will more than likely replace this laptop by then. For me accidental damage is a good thing since the laptop will be traveling with me to off shore drilling platforms.

To be honest with you I would go for the fastest processor. The memory I took the default along with the 750gb hard drive. Now I have added 8gb of 1866 ram kingston hyperX for just 120$. As far as the HD goes I did spend 350 to get me a 240gb SSD(something I have always wanted) but for extra storage space you can drop another 120 on an external HD for storage. I got a 1 TB seagate drive. I recommend the processor due to the fact that its very expensive to upgrade later, and Alienware would want to do that for you. After all is said and done my windows exp scores are all 7.9 except for the processor which is 7.6. Buying the extra HD and Ram from alienware will cost you about 4 times more than what you can buy it yourslef for. And if you are not technical in nature there are alot of usefull threads on this forum explaining how to install new hardware along with videos on you tube. To install the memory and new HD that i bought took all of 10 mins very very simple. Also on another note if you have an external HD(not sure if its all or just seagate) make sure you unplug it from your system before you do a restart. Powering up from a shutoff is fine but a restart it will hang on the bios loading screen.

 

Its not just seagate. My patriot usb stick does the same thing.

 

You using it in USB 3.0? Both ports on left side of machine caused it to hang for me. I called alienware when it started since I was worried bout something being wrong with my machine. I have no problems unplugging it to restart but they had told me they have never heard of this problem.

 

Thank you sir and a big thank you to all the forum members who made my decision to purchase an Alienware easier.
On a side note, I picked up my M18x from one of those Dell Kiosks at a mall and I scored a very good deal. I think I saved an additional $250 by buying at the kiosk versus online. This was also when they were offering 15% off the entire system. By the time I priced it out it was considerably cheaper than similarly spec’d gaming rigs. Those of you who are interested in buying any dell device hit up a Dell Kiosk and don't be afraid to ask for some stackable coupons codes, manager specials etc. I ended up going through the Dell MPP site and received even more discounts. I'm sure this has already been mentioned somewhere, but just wanted to share. Thanks, again.

 

You can pick up 16gb of DDR3 1600 at newegg for around $80 (4x4gb, GSkil or the like)

The Hard drives.. I would buy a single regular drive and pick up a Crucial M4 SSD for the 2nd drive bay.. Mucho Faster.

Skip the Soundblaster software and save $20

The accessories, buy them from Newegg or elsewhere..

 

I more or less HAVE to get mine directly off the Alienware site which, if I'm correct, is getting rid of the option of initially getting a 750gb HDD and a 256 SSD internally.

What should I do, get the SSD internally to start and buy an external HDD or get the HDD internally and buy the SSD externally and connect via eSata?

 

The M18X has 2 Internal Hard Drive Bays.

When you use the online configuration program, Dell Offers 3 Initial Choices for pre-configuration. Your Hard Drive Options Differ, based on which of the 3 you choose.

If you choose the cheapest one, you can select a Single 500 or 750gb Hard Drive installed.

Then purchase the SSD somewhere else.

The SSDs run about $300-$400 for a 256gb Internal. The Internal 750GB Drives run around $100.

So, Choose your best options based with those prices in mind.

If you get a 256SSD from Dell as the default, Simply buy another internal drive and add it to the inside of your machine. Its easy. No need for external drives.

 

So you guys are suggesting I should get a, maybe, 750 HDD to start with right off the bat and buy and install a 256gb~ SSD myself? I looked up videos and it's quite simple, it seems.

 

Just to save money, yes.

If you have money to burn, im sure Dell will put anything you want in there, drive configuration wise.. but it might cost you $200 more than buying them separately.

Keep in mind, Dell makes a lot of money on the upgrade options. On Some Models, they want $1,000 to go from 4gb to 16gb of ram. .. That same ram goes for $80 Retail..

 

Would it also save me money to just get 4gb ram and upgrade it myself?

 

Yes.

80-100 Will get you 16gb of Ram. Unless they have a special that will get you 16gb for $100, then you stand to save some cash.

For example, If you take the Base Config, (2.2ghz, 4gb, 750gb HD) and add dual 6990Ms only. You get a base price of $2550. Add 16gb of ram yourself and a 256gb M5 SSD, and your total price will be around $2950.

Have Dell put a 256gb HD and 16gb in it, and you are out $3,350, and buy a 750gb HD to add to it, You are out 3,500. So thats a $550 Savings.

 

SHOULD I get the 2.2 ghz processor though? I know the dual 6990's are very powerful cards as I only had one 6870 in my computer and it worked wonders.

 

The 2.4 is around 10% faster.. Not a major difference I doubt you will notice it.. I got it because it wasn't that much more.. Figured might as well get a lil bit of a CPU boost..

Spoiler

Here is a chart on how they stack up;

Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist - Notebookcheck.net Tech

And in case you havent seen it, the GPUs;

Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

Well, with the 6990's I think it would be safe to go with the 2.5, or is that too much? I know my old computer I built myself had a 3.4 and only one 6870..

 

Oh... You can never have too Much.. Its all about your budget. All of the Quad Core i7s are great. You wont be disappointed with any of them.

 

ghz isnt the only thing to look at, there is also amount of cores. and also, this is 2nd gen intel cpu you're looking at, hyperthreading and of course its sandybridge-E.

these cpu are A LOT faster than the old ones, its definitly enough for the dual 6990m.

also ive got a few questions here. on both dell.com and dell.ca for m18x configuration page for hard drive options, it shows the SSD options they provided is still SATA 3gbps.. wth? why would dell still uses the old solid state samsung drive and not use the newer 830 model which is SATA 6gbps.. paying raid 0 for 512 gb cost 800dollars only for the speed of one 830 6gbps drive is a no brainer, no one would do it.

 

Cost or Inventory are two of the most likely reasons. They either get the drives cheaper, therefore make more money on them when 90% of buyers wont know the difference. OR, they have a Stockpile of them.

 

oh right, another thing i notice is my cpu temp are all different. i remember when i first got the machine it would all pretty much the same, differ by 1-2 degree at most. now im having 1 core (2 threads) about 6 degrees above the lowest temperature core.

for example, 4 threads at 40 C, 2 threads at 38 C, and 2 threads at 45 C... just what is going on.

 

I believe that difference is due to how far the cores are located from the junction. That is normal.

 

Do you guys think an internal SSD of 128 gb is enough? or should I go 256?

id have a 750gb or 1tb HDD in 1st bay.

 

Depends on how many games/apps/programs you want to benefit from SSD speed.....assuming an average game these days can run well over 10gb in size, you may not get many games on after the OS install. If you are happy moving things around from HDD to SSD frequently (if you want to take advatnage of the speed) then by all means, a 128gb drive would be fine.

Personally, I couldnt put up with anything smaller than a 256gb...

 

Has anyone ordered a M18x lately and received it. Im still waiting patiently for mine. Very excited but the wait sucks. Memory was crazily overpriced along with the SSDS. I just picked them up and ready to go.

 

Another question, is the i7 2960 WORTH IT, not price wise, but will it work better with the dual 6990's?

 

Short answer is no... most games are very GPU dependant these days, some exceptions of course, but a standard I7 will provide more than enough CPU power to any modern GPU... what you do get with the 2960 is an unlocked CPU that you can pretty much squeeze a ton more of CPU performance, that said, very little gains in the gaming side, just awesome bench scores.

 

What CPU do you guys recommend to get good performance with the 6990's? I know even the standard 2.2 ghz would give me enough power to play games but I'm also going to be doing some video editing, spending most of my time uploading videos and such and working with sony vegas/fl studio/fraps.

(i know recording SSD/ram helps)

 

Keep in mind, SSD's slow down considerably as they fill up. If you get down to 10-20% less you will see a drop in performance.. Still a lot faster than a Hard drive.. but i plan to keep mine at least 25% free, minimum.

For Video Editing and Compression, CPUs make a Big Difference. For a Gamer, its not dramatic, but for encoding, you can cut minutes off of a task with a bump in Speed.

 

Would I get that much of a quality/frame rate difference with a better CPU? What do you guys suggest to get a solid framerate and not so big of a drop if so?

 

GPU is for Game/Framerate, CPU is for Encoding/Work.

You might see a bit of a boost with a faster CPU, but the Vast majority of it is on the GPU.

An SSD can also increase game performance too (not so much frame rate, but load times between levels or loading large textures)

 

Yeah, I'll start out with the 750gb HD and buy a 256 later on when I have the money. Same with starting with 4gb ram and upgrading to 8 or 16 later.

Probably going to get the 2760 or something with dual 6990's.

Also ordering logitech headset and mouse, the orion backpack, anti glare screen and cooling pad.

 

Big Mama...Meet your baby!



Now here is the story behind this picture. As many of you know the m18x isn't something you want to be carrying every day with you to work unless your The Hulk lol. Don't get me wrong I love my baby, its performance is outstanding but its not really meant to be the most portable laptop out there.

So I am starting to work on my senior project for college, and I need a laptop I can take with me to meetings and whatnot. I thought and thought and researched, then I decided maybe an ultrabook is the best route, good battery life, alright performance, something to work on.

So I did a little research comparison what is available here in Kuwait to what is new and good, and ended up deciding to get a Asus Zenbook. Like the states where you guys have Best Buy, we have a shop called X-Cite, so I checked their website and was just about to order until I hit a little bump. After reading up some more, Asus does this shady thing where they put 128GB SSD's from two difference manufacturers into their ultrabook, one from ADATA and one from SanDisk, with the ADATA one performing MUCH better. The only problem here though is you don't know which one you get until you actually unbox the laptop.

Anyways so I decided to hold off on the ultrabook and go to one of the stores nearby, keep in mind this was at around 3:30 AM, these guys have certain stores that are open 24/7 which is awesome!

So I went to the store nearby and looked through their laptops, stumbled apon an HP Envy Beats 14 inch laptop, it had a 2640QM and some AMD gpu, it didn't matter which one since remember I want this for work, the fact that it had a discrete gpu at all was what mattered to me at the time.

Anyways, I ask the guy for one and he tells me the shop does not have them in stock, and that I had to go to another store which is a bit further for one, which is also open 24/7. So I am like okay and I go there.

I found the HP but the rep was nowhere in site so I decided to just look around, then I find a small booth near the gaming section of the store with what looked like Alienware laptops, they had both an m18x and something smaller. At first I thought it was an m11x because of how the m18x dwarfed it, but to my surprise it was in fact a m14x! I was shocked at how small and light it was (of course who wouldn't be considering I am coming from an m18x lol).

I saw the price and it was actually cheaper than the HP! I was like this is definitely a sign, and without hesitation I bought it!

Its not fully spec'ed out but it will do the job, it has an i7 2670QM, a 3GB 555m, 8GB of ram, and a 1600 by 900 screen.

Now here is the cherry topping...Here in Kuwait everything is outrageously more expensive than the states, so outrageous that I bought my m18x from the states, shipped it to Kuwait which costs me over 350US and it still ended up cheaper than any of the real gaming laptop alternatives here. But what shocked me the most is the m14x at its spec was only 262 USD more expensive than the states! Now factor in the probably shipping costs from the states to Kuwait, and the fact that my 1 year warranty here is actually something I can use, there is barley any difference!

So all in all this was one of the best purchases I have made...and god it looks so cute! lol

Sorry for the long post, but I was just so excited lol.

 

Congrats on the M14x!!! For the specs you were willing to entertain, that M14x is SERIOUS overkill

 

That's a great setup you have there, both beautiful laptops.

Just wondering, if you don't mind, what kind of work do you do?

 

I know dell changes the configuration options depending on weather parts are in stock or have a lengthy lead time.

On the m18x it allows me to configure two 580m's, or a single 560m or dual 560m's.

However to save money I would like to only order it with a single 580m, and then add in a second one some where down the road.

Is this configuration not allowed?

 

New member to the M18x owner club.

Just bought the M18x with the following specs:

Processor i7-2860QM 2.5GHz turbo to 3.6GHz
16 GB Ram at 1600MHz
Nvivida GTX 560m Video Card
Blu-Ray player
Internal 60GHz wireless HD Transmistter
256 GB Solid State HD

All for $2300 shipped.

 

All right, got my 18x yesterday, only took one delay and a full month to get it to me, but in Dell/Alienware defense I received at least three calls from customer support keeping me up to date on the status, delay and shipping, they also upgraded me to free two day shipping. Can't wait to start breaking it in.

 

Congrats!

The only disadvantage, IMO to ordering straight from Dell is the Wait. Their Ready-to-Go and outlet machines get to you in a day or two..

 

You might want to give Dell / Alienware a call directly to see if they can make that happen for you. Technically speaking, it should be possible to configure your M18x with one 580m card. Don't let them charge you a high premium because you are not following the "script" (on-line configuration page). There is room for negotiation, look here.

Good Luck!

Welcome to the club homank76!

Nice specs! You are going to love your new beast!
If you haven't already, check out the first post of this thread for some "light" reading while you await the landing of your new alien craft.

 

Going to be a happy owner of M18x.

Processor Intel Core i7-2760QM 2.4GHz
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz 4DIMM
Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M
1 TB Raid 0, 2 x 500GB 7,200 SATA 3Gb/s
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-Ray reader
Sound Blaster X-Fi
2 year advanced warranty
Alienware Orion M18x Messenger Bag

Total with taxes: $3,898.15

Can't wait to get this beast!

 

Nice setup!

Did you order with the 16gb ram from Dell? - only asking as you may well (almost certainly would) be able to save some $$$ by getting the ram afterwards....16gb 1600mhz HyperX would be under $200 for you as opposed to Dell's $400....just a thought.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104257

Congrats on your inbound beast regardless!!

 

Yes the 16GB is from Dell. I was going to choose 8GB first, but then noticed that the one that had 16GB of memory ended up being cheaper then the one with 8GB and 4GB as well, so I didn't see any reason to choose any of them. This was in Alienware Canada website, don't know about US though.

Just checked: The one with $1,999.99 base price ended up $4,152.98 with same upgrades. Second with $2,199.99 ended up $4,177.98, and what I chose with $2,499.99 base price ended up $3,928.98 so it was $224 cheaper to go 16GB instead of 4GB.

 

Since you are going Top End like that,... i would call em up and argue the price down a lil bit.. just 10% off will save you $400!

 

i have had the m18x for about a month now and i have to say i love this thing. it's kind of a pain to travel with but for what you get, it's totally worth it. i am noticing one thing that's kind of annoying. sometimes i get these audio pops when i am listening to stuff. usually music or videos. i don't think it is because of my headsets because i have tried all 3 of mine and they all do it. anyone else ever run into this?

 

Dont know if you have Nvidia gpu's but.....

You might want to have a look at the following thread which discusses latency problems on the M18x, which can cause pops and clicks.....the last few pages hold a fix for the problem which involves using nvidia's latest WHQL driver and also Nvidia Inspector to increase the P-states of the gpu clocks.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...e-m18x-gtx-580m-sli-dpc-latency-problems.html

If you implement them, it should hopefully eradicate any odd noises you are experiencing....

 

Those prices were without taxes, and the one I bought I was able to haggle 13% off the price.