*OFFICIAL* M18x Owner's Lounge Thread

Hey, any of you guys care to help a M17x owner with a mobility 6990 vBIOS, please?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/650376-request-dell-6990m-vbios.html

If you have the mobility 6990, you just have to open GPU-Z and press the Save to file button located near BIOS version.

Thank you

 

How many of you ordered the M18x off of the Dell's Outlet page? I put the order of mine in on Tuesday and I still have yet to receive an email for my order number, I have a Dell Purchase ID number, but I can't find the order any where on their webpage.

I ordered a brand new M11x on Thursday and I'm able to track that one no problem.

I think I'll have to call them about it, I just hope that I get that M18x as I found it for a killer price with the options it has.

 

Waiting to get my M18x working, they sent me the wrong powerbrick when they upgraded me to the Crossfire 6970m, have to use the intel graphics.

 

anyone know where to buy m18x online that ships worldwide?

I checked with HIDevolution but they are sold out and dell in my country do not sells it

 

recently i tried to change my harddrive to ssd and when i took off my battery and to unscrew the 4 screws for the main bottom panel, i droped a screw inside and i was like NO WAYYYY and i had to disassemble it.

i always thought i knew much about computer but then of course i donno much about it except changing memory and hardrive which is extremely easy to do.

i looked up on some procedure on how to disassemble the m18x and heres what i found and thought i would share it with everyone, very nice guide. i donno if i could post it here though but its just youtube video so here it is.. Alienware M18x complete teardown / review - Hidevolution.com - YouTube

mr fox please take off the link if it violates forum rules thanks.

 

Hi,
one small question: Does the M18x have an aluminium metal body? Or has it like the new M17x have this "soft touch" plastic body? I am thinking about changeing from 17x to 18x ...

Thanks for your answers and help,
Sascha

 

Yup. Aluminium casing - all around..the only soft touch part would be the palmrest when the lid is open....otherwise, built like a tank

 

+1Rep

OK, that sounds cool ... I had an old M15x and it was also like a tank and I loved it. The M17x is in my opinion a real step down!

 

You will love the build on the M18x, it really is quality. I have to agree, the M17x R3 build quality was definetly a step down from its predecessor, the R2....then again, I think Dell knew they would be releasing the M18x soon after and saved the "best" for the new flagship - the M17x R3, IMHO, was simply done to compete with other 3d gaming laptops from other manufacturers.

 

how much total you bought your m18x

 

Well, I had a great deal in the first place and have also had some components upgraded - courtesy of Dell (due to having quite alot of faulty/substandard systems).

So, my spec runs at close to £5000.00gbp but I obviously didnt have to pay for all of that

 

Ordered my M18X 2 days ago, the excitement is killing me! Soon I can play all my games on my ambulance while I am at work

This was my loadout.

I already have a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB Hybrid SSD, 16 GB DDR3-1600 ram and a Killer NIC from my current laptop

The Sales Rep I had was awesome and they gave me $207.00 in discount/coupons and free overnight shipping, so in the end I basically covered the cost of the NY state tax.

 

Ok what would you choose? I have both card.. I like both but I dont really notice any difference between the two.. other than one has cellular wireless..
any input would be great..

 

I'd choose the killer hands down. But in your case, it's probably doesn't matter since you didn't notice any difference. For me, it's about smooth video conferencing, especially when the other side has poor internet connection.

 

well I have both cards all ready.. 1 in my sony and the other in my m18x..

 

Hi Folks,

I'm usually not a huge Alienware guy but I was in the market for a decent gaming laptop rig and my buddy pointed me to a system he felt was of great value for the money.



M18x R3

i7-2720QM
Crossfire 6990M
16 GB memory
64 GB SSD, 750 GB HDD
Also comes with the integrated WirelessHD transmitter.

My purchase price was $2,425 and I am told new it would be over $3,000. Do you believe this is a good value? I'm new to ATI cards and I hear of problems regularly but seemed like I hit a bargain if the condition is as stated in the ad. Any input is appreciated.

 

Congrats on the system -wow, I can see ALOT more "work" coming your way if you are playing while in your ambulance! - I hope you got a colleague to follow you in ANOTHER ambulance to pick up all the casualties!

 

God help those emergency patients xD joking joking

 

so a for a couple of weeks, 1 core of my cpu is always 4-6 C degrees above the other 3 cores, most thought its normal. but now this 1 core its at 70C degree while all the others stay at 30C. should i get a cpu replacement?

when i first got the laptop never had this issue imo its probably the CPU or the temp sensor correct? i AM using an older version of core temp though .99.7 i dont think it matters though.

i got mine in canada, after tax it comes to about 3100, before tax it was 2700 with no discount. 2400 sounds reasonable cause it has 64 gb ssd but you know everything is about to get cheaper. if you wait for the new graphics card to come out and the new cpu, it'll probably drop to 2200

 

Heh

I actually have a pretty decent amount of down time being on a Medic unit in NYC. We only get assigned to calls that are segments 1-3 which are the priority jobs, everything else which is 4-7 the EMTs get.

In a 12 hour shift I will maybe do on average 2 calls (mainly a factor is the area I cover as well). Some days can be rough and we will do 6. But all in all I can always watch a movie and play some MW3 or Dawn of War 2 without interruption.

 

Thank you for your response. I'm not as intrigued by Ivy Bridge as I am the upcoming gpu's but then the pricing upon release is usually prohibited based on the performance you are getting. I'm usually in favor of buying gpu's about to go EOL. In terms of the proc, while there will be performance gains, I think its Haswell and the new architecture that 2013 will bring that will be significant.

 

that maybe true but you know with the current i7 extreme processor 3960x i dono how haswell is going to beat that lol. then again that processor was for desktop, unless u get a sager =/

 

Hello, Unityole, a small temperature difference between cores is normal.
Now for the significant one while idle, maybe changing the thermal paste and properly seating the heatsink will solve this.
Also, use another program like HwInfo or CPUiD HwMonitor in addition to core temp just to make sure the reading is correct.

I know that an earlier version of core temp used to report negative values, something like -30 C all the time on my old T7600g.

 

For the majority of users there's little or no difference... as you have discovered. The WiMAX 6250 is not one of the configuration options with the M18x, at least in the US.

 

Guys I wanted ask if puting a SSD that already has data on like the OS and drivers would be alright to put in a new M18 which will be my replacement. Do I really have to do a fresh install?

 

You can try it and see what happens. You could have issues with lockups, BSOD or startup errors if it was not configured for the hardware in your M18x. If you don't encounter those problems you can use the "Programs and Features" utility in Control Panel to uninstall driver software that does not apply to hardware in the M18x and install any drivers that you are missing. If the Windows OS install is an OEM version for a non-Dell system there would be a licensing issue. If it is an OEM version for another brand of computer you could also have activation difficulties. You won't really know how well this will work until you try it. Personally, I would recommend a clean OS installation.

 

If the OS install is for a machine other than your own machine, it will not work. Windows binds itself to your specific hardware configuration. Changing small things like video and sound drivers won't make a difference, but doing something like taking a disk out of one machine and sticking it into another, or changing motherboards (to a different model) causes Windows to freak out.

That being said, I used to do this kind of thing all the time back with WinXP. You just have to to a repair installation (install Windows over your current Windows installation) and then everything should come back up the way it was, sans any Windows Updates that may have been overwritten... I'm not sure if that works anymore, though: The hardware might just be too different.

 

Hmm. But my new M18 is a replacement, so configuration will be the same but I guess it will be slightly different physically.

 

Keep in mind, the use of the Cores will vary. Most single-threaded applications will default to core 1, so things are not always evenly distributed, especially when playing games.

I do like the Killer NIC in mine. It seems to re-connect with my network very fast, especially from Sleep.

 

Yep, the killer is the best wireless card.

 

Oh, so you are exchanging one M18x for another M18x. That being the case, it might work out OK. As you did not indicate that it was a SSD with an OS installation from another M18x before, some of us interpreted that you were replacing some other computer with an M18x.

 

Except that we are not talking about load here.
With all cores being on the same die, therefore close to eachother, it's pretty impossible to have such a huge temperature difference between them

 

Thats right... Does each core have an independent temperature sensor? (I'm not that familiar with the thermal monitoring.. as long as im not getting burned, i usually pay it no mind..)

 

With a full version of AlienRespawn would I be able to reinstall windows with all my previous settings and apps onto another harddrive?

 

Yes. You can use HWiNFO64 to monitor the temps of each core.

Not likely, as AlienRespawn is not disc cloning software.

 

Thinking about jumping on the 750GB version of the momentus XT SSHD. If their advertised youtube test is legit it's only a couple tenths of a second behind an SSD for most things, and only a couple seconds behind for everyday use...is the $180 price tag worth it though?

 

Your spec is perfectly what i want but i want intel 520 SSD instead.

I try to order from dell but the ETA is 4 weeks , HID evolution is 2-4 weeks.

 

Must be due to 580m availability right now - I see lots of posts from others saying the same about the waiting time if ordered with 580's. Saying that, I think a standard wait isnt that much quicker - I think I waited around 3 weeks for mine when stocks were normal.

If you want the Intel 520, just configure with a reasonably sized stock HDD and use it as a storage drive when you buy the SSD aftermarket elsewhere. Then just do a fresh install to the SSD when its up and running.

Depending on wether you want two 520's in Raid, you also have the option of removing the optical drive and putting it in an external caddy and using the optical drive bay for the HDD - seen quite a few guys do that on NBR....

 

For a Hard disk, its great, a real advancement. Nice Capacity too.

 

I'm a little pissed, but again happy at the same time.

Dell couldn't ship the M18x directly to me from the outlet since I'm at an APO address, but they can ship it to my parents. So the one listed above I was not able to get.

With that being said there are a few downgrades and few upgrades with the one I have being shipped to my parents who in turn will ship to me.

Here are the changes:

Had i7-2860 will have i7-2760
Had 256GB SSD HD will have 320GB Platter Drive
Had Nvivida GTX 560m Video Card will have dual 580M Video Cards

How I see it, processor...very minor will not notice the difference. The harddrive is a big hit, but I think the video cards way make up for it.

Opinions?

 

You're right about the processor especially for gaming. The video card upgrade is HUGE!!! I don't think you should worry about losing the SSD. You can get better pricing on a SSD elsewhere. Dell tends to over inflate the prices on SSD, Hard Disks and Memory.

Just my .02

 

I'll have to say that 80% of this computer will be used for photo and video editing and the rest for gaming. That's one reason I say the HD was a big hit, but again I could be wrong.

Than again, if I start playing games on this I may use it more for gaming.

 

Great Machine.. way better than what you had ordered. I wouldn't hesitate and go ahead and spend the $300 to get a 256gb SSD, just add that 320gb to the 2nd bay as a backup drive.

 

Thanks.

The SSD will have to wait for at least a month as the Volvo is in the shop with some transmission problems and looking at $1100 for the repair bill.

 

Not to get off topic.. but those Volvo Repairs can be a Bear. My Transmission went out in my S40 once.. $2200!

 

What really pisses me off is that I could do the job myself if I was in the States as I have over $10,000 in tools. Instead the tools are in storage for the past four years.

 

Also I would check the order after a couple days... My replacement changed a couple times by the rma team. Not saying it is going to happen to you, but it can.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

 

I noticed online that only the Intel 2670qm, 2760qm, and 2870qm are available when building a M18x. The 2 super high end ones are not on there anymore. I was just looking to see how long new order would be backordered for. Its been about a month for me.

 

Hi,
I have the chance to swap my M17x R3 to a M18x with 2920, 2x nVidia 580, 16 GB RAM and 2 x 750 GB ...

I have some questions. How much noise do the fans make with:

1. Normal Internet and office using.

2. Lite gaming (like Civ 5)

3. Heavy gaming (like Crysis etc).


Most time I will use it for office tasks and games like Civ 5. Does it work to use windows power management to slow it down and keep the fans slow or does they stay loud with any gaming?

Thank you for your Help,
Sascha