*OFFICIAL* M18x R1/R2 Owner's Lounge Thread

I think the newest revisions have the stickers placed on the right side of the palm rest. My R4 did, at least. I have no idea why, I liked it a lot more when they came on the bottom. It isn't a big deal to me, though.

 

sounds like good stickers for inside the battery compartment

 

any other efficient way to remove stickers? i tried using nail method on my asus laptop to test it out and its no good lol. need another way.

edit: looks like i most likely wont be getting R2 this year at least not 3920xm or 3940xm =/. quote from tom's hardware " Intel counters the smaller die by dropping Ivy Bridge's thermal ceiling. Overclocked, Ivy Bridge must dissipate close to the same heat as a Sandy Bridge-based CPU, but across less surface area. It is pretty clear that Intel's decision to use thermal paste instead of thermally-conductive solder puts a vice on the frequencies this CPU can stably achieve. The end result is a more pronounced and rapid thermal ramp-up that can only be effectively addressed using more aggressive cooling solutions. In a nutshell, for an average system builder, there are clear limits to overclocking Ivy Bridge. We will have to wait and see if future products from Intel employ better material between the processor die and heat spreader." so there, intel decided to use thermal paste that might run out after 3 years or perhaps just 2 years after strong OCing to 4.5ghz, this most likely apply to all ivy mobile as well as ivy mobile extreme.

unless some proof or some source stated clearly ivy mobile extreme processor do not use these cheap thermals, i wont be getting a 3940xm or R2 this year. if i do end up going for R2, it'll just be base R2 with graphics upgrade, then purchase 2960xm myself. good bye alienware year 2012 :'(

 

Hm, really? I did it just now with no problems, lol. Just put my thumb under the corner after loosening and pulled up slowly. They're now relocated on the bottom, where they belong.

Also, interesting post there on the Ivy's...

 

Whoa, I wish I heard about this earlier. Well on the upside, you could just purchase an R2 with the weakest, inexpensive processor and purchase a heat sink and put your 2960 in it? You would save a bit of money. But I believe that the truly impressive change to the M18x is of course the GPU's, you could just put in either 7970 X-fire or 680 SLI. Unless, you are worried about warranty issues?

 

Try using a hammer....

 

Seems like you might be over-reacting a bit. First, all the articles and proof have been using a single DESKTOP IB CPU that someone tore apart. Do we know that the mobile IB chips are the same? Has anyone torn apart an Extreme mobile processor?

Second, does it really matter? As far as Alienware M18xR2's go, I don't believe I've read many (or any) complaints from users that their units run hot. As a matter of fact, mine is very quiet and the temps are very manageable. Plus, mine is relatively overclocked.
I'm very happy with the thermals. Could it be better if the internal paste were changed to something else? Maybe. But I'm not really concerned. I'm definitely happy with what I have.

 

Ditto. Been running 42x for a few days, temps have not exceeded 80 C whilst playing Skyrim for hours on end (CPU intensive) and the max temps are spikes.

We should look into this further. I don't believe Intel would do something this stupid.

 

Intel rarely does stupid things. It seem they often defer the opportunities for stupidity to their main competitor.

 

you have a few things to learn about ivy bridge....

 

u guys are right, i probably should look into it more further than just spreading stuff around, but i definitely wont be the one getting an ivy mobile extreme cpu just to open the lid up, plus i dont even know how to do that without breaking the cpu =/

what the article said is fair imo, smaller die sure uses less energy and have less heat but its smaller area surface too. theres also the thing with thermal pastes, i would like to assume w/e intel is using is much better than just regular thermal paste so it would last longer, or rather i wish it would last hella long but i know many of my lappy thermal paste all needs repaste in 2-3 just because i leave it on 24/7, and i dont even OC on my old computers.


edit: again i just want to be proved wrong and this info doesn't include all ivy chips and hopefully just the desktop one. would suck to pay 1k for a 3940xm only to find out it doesnt run as cool as sandy at 4.4, or stable at all. i've yet to find articles regards to ivy mobile though, i guess gaming laptops are still too tiny of a market for majority of people.

 

These mobile chips don't have the heat spreaders the desktop chips have. Direct die contact removes the complaint the desktop people had.

 

That's what I thought but because I'm not an expert in laptop CPUs I wasn't sure! Thanks for confirming what I thought!

 

that sir, please let me know where you get this information that would calm my head down.

edit: nvm i must be blind lol, i just forgot how a mobile CPU looked like even though ive seen plenty of them =/

 

Just look around (ebay, for example) for images of ivy bridge CPU's. They don't have a built in heatspreader, just the shiny die on top.

Issue resolved. Now, go buy a new M18xR2 w/Ivy Bridge!

 

Wonderful, they replaced both my video cards last friday (6970's) and now system has even more issues than original. A few complete reinstalls and much troubleshooting they're telling me to send it to the depot. @ home warranty seems pointless when they always force your hand. Anyone want odds on whether this machine comes back beat like a rented mule and not fix the issues?

 

You have the right to refuse the depot.

 

Yes I have the right to refuse the depot and then they tell me that's the only way the machine is going to be properly diagnosed and fixed. They explicitly tell me that they won't dispatch another technician, it's their default stance it seems. I've run into this issue before, exactly what do you recommend I do?

 

I am so glad to finally have my new M18x R2! I ordered mine the day they released the 7970's in CF on the R2. Every time I would receive it there would be a problem like broken case, defected part, or not like I ordered it. 4 M18x's later and a couple months of raising hell its all right and runs great! Now that I have one that runs properly it was so worth it. Even got a SSD upgrade for free on the last one because they keep screwing up! (wasn't much they could upgrade for me other than the HDD. lol)

 

Kindly ask for a full refund to go towards the purchase of an M18x R2. I was in an identical situation about a month ago and that's what I did. I had an M18x R1 with GPU failure (580 SLI). Dell's repair policy is to replace failed components with refurbished ones. The refurbished GPU's were all faulty, with the 3rd replacement DOA.

If you get the right technician, they may accommodate your request of refund and switch to latest model, or maybe I got lucky.

 

Wow, site is having massive problems...it's a good idea but financially I couldn't afford it and I doubt they would do it since it's a replacement.

The fact that I've spent the past few hours looking at what market value is for selling my machine probably tells me where I'm headed. I really can't take the constant stress of all these components failing. I've had three weeks of downtime on my machine as is, now with depot I'm looking at over a month.

This machine was supposed to be a new start, instead it was x2 motherboard x2 graphics cards and now depot service.

I feel like a beta tester and I'd certainly like to go to the olympics for AMD graphics card hurling.

 

I know exactly how you feel, I was getting very frustrated after close to three weeks of GPU replacement. Cost wise I ended up paying a difference of $1400 up to the M18x as configured in my sig with two years of Advanced Care. All of the headaches aside, I LOVE MY R2. All of the games play great, maxed out, High Res Texture packs and ENB's etc.

It may be difficult to sell your rig in its semi-functional state, your only option may actually be to upgrade, and then if youre truly finished with high powered mobile gaming, sell that brand new.

But yeah, if my R2 fails this time around, especially after my two years of Advanced Care are up, I am probably done with PC Gaming with overpriced hardware.

I will likely do something dramatic as this:

$7000 laptop vs. $7000. handgun

 

that guy paid 7000$ and only took 1 year ... i mean ... wow ..?
i only paid 3700$ and i made sure to take 3 year ... i mean for 3700 it should AT LEAST last 3 year .. after that i don't really care its time for a new laptop anyways lol

 

Actually we need to move away from this mentality of replacing perfectly fine sophisticated computer hardware with large amounts of embodied energy in their construction every 3 years. We can make them to last 10 years no problem. I will not purchase another Alienware/Dell/Anything if this one does not last at least 7 years.

I do not intend to run out and spend $4k every 3 years to have the must up to date and fastest hardware.

I personally cannot afford it financially, we collectively cannot, and the planet cannot absorb this level of wanton consumptive waste.

Planned obsolescence, the engineering strategy of intentionally designing a few components for short life spans (~3 years) with the hope/intent that the consumer will just throw the entire computer into a landfill (first being disassembled by slaves in China, as thats where all of our E-Waste goes) and run out and purchase another one (on credit, borrowed from China, the irony) is one of the most heinous aspects of contemporary consumer culture and Capitalism in general.

Must see:

Manufactured Landscapes

 

Yeah, yeah, save the earth and all that. Your preaching in the wrong forum, though. This is ALIENWARE. People pay LOTS OF MONEY for the fastest, best engineered systems available.
Unless you have a plan to stop the progress of technology, then everyone here who shelled out 2-5x the amount of a normal laptop in order to have the best and fastest, will CONTINUE TO WANT THE FASTEST!
That's why we spend as much as we do, because we want the fastest! So, 2 or 3 or 5 (or in your case 10) years from now, you really think the fellow who paid $5000 for THE FASTEST systems will
be content with his 5-10 year old, slow (in relative terms) computer? Of course not. We all make that choice of upgrading or keeping our systems with every new generation (R1, R2, R3, R4).

You should sleep well tonight knowing that the replaced system will probably find a new home with a family member less picky about speed, or it will be sold to someone for even more years of use.
I would hope a functional machine would give many, many years of use to whomever has it until it's CPU has pumped out its last cycle, at which time it is e-wasted properly.

 

I agree with lancorp... not all of us buy into that save the planet stuff. No offense, but that simply doesn't belong here for the same reasons political and religious discussions do not. This is a technology forum and the Alienware sub-forums are exactly what lancorp mentioned... enthusiasts that care about having the best and fastest computers available. I will not continue using a computer that works perfectly when it no longer offers enough performance to make me happy. I don't always sell them, and rarely throw them away, but I do buy newer and faster. My old tech is better than what some folks have and old computers can be given as gifts or donated to charity. Plus, just think of all the holes we would have in the ground if we didn't have obsolete electronics to fill them up. Everything has it's purpose, LOL.

 

I'm in moderate agreeance. When I finally get to buying my M18... I'm doing it for two reasons. 1 - is that I want the best power for my needs. 2 - is for it to last me quite a few years.

Of course, the reality is that I'm going to want a different machine a few years into things. HA!

 

I still own all of my old gaming systems... desktop, old Sager/Clevo, M17x R2... they're like members of the family, and they are being used by members of my family on a daily basis. They just don't serve my gaming/overclocking fetish any more, that's all. If you get an M18x with maxed out specs, there is no reason it cannot last you a very long time. It will still be considered a powerful system (compared to ordinary consumer laptops) even after a few years have passed. But, you're right. You'll want more, better, faster. It gets into your blood... and it's an awesome addiction to have.

 

Ordered a new M18x r2 with the 3920XM @ 3.8. Can someone outline the process to set it to the factory overclocked 4.1Ghz? Do you just select the Load Level 1/2/3 OC like on the older models?

 

Yes it is, hit F2 during boot when you see the alien head, select the Advanced tab, then select Performance Options, Enable OverClocking Feature if it isn't already, enable Extreme Edition to BIOS, then select Level 1-3 OverClocking(1 is 4.1GHz), and then hit F10 to save and exit.

 

Actually I don't max out or overclock my machines. I'm happy with a moderately to high end system without pushing for the absolute best. I've gone down that route with extreme edition and unlocked processors and found that they can be quite temperamental.

Once dell gets through with my machine I'll be able to sell it, I still have almost a year of warranty. Then again if they fix it I might just extend the warranty.

All I want is a working machine and not a constant nightmare of endless hardware/software problems that should have been addressed before they release these units for production.

Meanwhile I'm mired in my old q6600 desktop that feels like it was built in the dark ages. The upgrades I'd need on it are quite extensive, I don't think it could play pong well with the amazing 256mb card it has. The "velociraptor" makes the experience worse, it feels like the disk platter is powered by a waterwheel.

I am so spoiled by this alienware and SSD's.

 

LOL, I have a couple along them lines sitting in my closet. Keep telling my self that I'm going to make a MAME machine with one of them some day.

 

Have a quick question. I purchased x2 8gb corsair 16000 RAM. Regardless of what configuration I put them in either alone or with the stock ram my WEI index drops. I know WEI score is essentially worthless but I was curious if anyone else had this experience? All memory has passed MEMTEST+86 with several passes so there's no issue there. So either with 16gb or 20gb of RAM my score dropped. Upon removing the corsair ram the WEI score goes right back to where it was. Any ideas?

I'm planning on returning the RAM The extra RAM was excellent for scratch disk and rendering but with the uncertainty of keeping my system I'd rather wait on investing anything else into the system.

As indicated in other threads/tests I saw absolutely no performance gains with gaming.

 

wei test for ram has things to do with single/dual/quad channel test. m18x uses dual channel so i think size of ram has nothing to do with the score. more or less the speed of ram, and changing from dual to single will result in difference in score. i don't know much about memory though.

and how would you go higher than 4.1 with 3920xm? samething with 2960?

 

Well the speed of the ram is the same, they're all 1600. Normally it's 8gb 4x2GB. Taking out two and adding x2 8gb (16GB) = 20GB. Score drops. In this scenario there's still four slots filled with RAM.

If I take out all four X 2gb and replace them with the corsair 1600 for 16GB the WEI score still drops.

Replacing the original RAM the WEI score goes back up.

Seriously have no idea.

 

I registered here because i was a former gamer looking for a way to get back into gaming on a mobile platform. I found this place and so much more.

I ordered my system with the 3610q, 6g ram, 680m sli, and 750g hdd. Price was around 3500 bux after tax.

My system arrived and I have to admit, after watching so many youtube unboxing video's i was expecting GOD to arrive at my door, as that's how excited I was. When I opened it, no leather binder, no hat, no so much more. At first I was disappointed, but it didn't matter later on.

As far as defects on the outside here is what i got...

Ugh! is what I thought. For a 3k+ system, how can Quality Control over Quality Assurance, miss this? It's built in China! NOT by my hands as an American.

Am I perfect? NO! But, for 3grand or more, ya better be putting out!

So, now I am worried about what i have under the hood! Why? Because the outer was so easily dismissed, how much more could be dismissed about the engine inside!?

I fired up my machine, all went well, but i noticed the right speaker was at least 50 percent louder than the left speaker. Again "how could they miss this?". So I press on, post in a topic already here, and move on with updating my system bios. I updated. Problem fixed!

Onto STEAM and buying games, and downloading games, and so much more. I bought 280.00 bux worth of new games. I had to download them all. Took 4 days on a 50mb/sec AT&T cable connection.

After the DL, I went through each game, only to find out that I am behind the times, and most games now do NOT have a quick save, and that they are dependent upon gaming with an internet connection. So single player is now a big issue, !@@@

So I have tediously went through each game I "BOUGHT", only to find out that if you want to play offline, there are steps to go through! OH YAY!

In addition to updates, patches, whether the servers are ONLINE or NOT, etc. It has become crazy since I had left the scene.

On a side note, i hope that developers will go back to single player games and F5 for quick save as that's what we all love and hope to live by. Stop with the check points, as life as we are playing, doesn't allow us the time to start where we left off an hour ago!!!!

680m SLI is why you are reading this thread! Well, without benchmarks i can tell ya this. All my games that I play on max settings so far are MORE than playable, they are BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

Games I have played are Alan Wake/American Nightmare/Arkham City
Dues Ex:Human Evolution/Elder Scrolls:Skyrim/Grand Theft IV/Also Episodes of LIberty/L.A. Noire/Diablo 3/Max Payne 3/The Witcher 2:Assassins of Kinges/BF3. etc., IOW's i have a HUGE pile of games. They are all wonderful to play. Skyrim is another story, as the uber settings make me crawl. But in a laptop defense, it will make MOST desktop system's crawl!

I have built desktop systems to achieve maximum performance. Although we can achieve greatness in our eyes, or in the eyes of the public. We cannot do such in the laptop rhealm. We are what they give us! As for the inability to O'C the GPU's I am actually stumped.

I've researched this and have found that it's no different than what i'd expect, and that is, a lack of resources. People! Here me when i say this, but, the media sites are NOT into laptops!

This laptop is awesome! I have no known issues as of yet with any games i have listed above. I have older games that have issues, but they are issues that "thankfully" someone, somewhere has resolved. I.E. Call of Duty 2 will NOT run on Windows 7. There is a fix, just google it. As with many older games you may have with DirectX11 or below.

I am scared this system is too good to be true as i am typing on it to you through a LOVES truck stop wifi connection that i paid 4.98 for a 24hr session.

I'm in Seattle, Wa. btw. The built in Wifi is phenomenal.

What i mean as too good to be true is, will i have a problem 3 weeks later? Will the hardware fail, etc.?

I hate to admit it as a man who travels, but what the hell do i do if something goes wrong with my system?

I just want to game, leave the rest to alienware! that's my answer.

 

Try pressing that raised keyboard boarder down and toward you from the upper edge (right under the numpad 0 key) but be gentle. They are plastic clips and it seems the clip is not seated for you.

 

Yes thats a easy fix ! but should he really have to do that ? after only just receiving it ?

Terrible imo ....

 

As far as I dislike lengthy driven rants like that, I agree that AW quality control is poor. I received my M14x with a (mechanically) broken keyboard and a bright spot on the screen. Both parts were subsequently replaced. It undeniably felt that nobody even bothered to turn the laptop on and see if everything worked okay.

 

Join the club
I've just learnt to live with it, the tech Dell keeps sending me is absolutely terrible, never calls ahead of time and always rushes and makes mistakes (like forgetting to screw things in and not routing cables properly leaving giant bumps under keyboard)

 

Guys, that's so easy to be fixed; just at a slide press of your fingers. Most probably when you will have to add / swap memory in, you will say: Such a silly thing, it could have been fixed without even wasting the time of taking pictures etc etc. Even if this solution is not enough for you and you are 'scared' to deal with it, there you go, alienware support is there for you! They will come and fix / replace whatever you want as long as the warranty is there. Since you spend so much time in taking the pictures / writing here / call them and email them your pictures. They will come within 2 days and have your system just the way you wanted.

I am not taking sides, but nothing is perfect in this world, even we are not perfect and to make things the way we want, we have to work towards 'fixing / solving' them.

Alienware is a custom built computer and you are free to open it and do upgrades the way you wanted (if you google a bit, you will find a way to fix the keyboard frame). There are so many youtube films made on how to open it completely and how to fix it back... Since you play a lot of games, I am sure you have so much of IT intuition and you can solve this matter ASAP.

 

yes that is the same too. Just select level 2, 3, or change each cores multiplier individually. If you change each one individually make sure you watch your temps and do small amounts at a time. Remember everyone's hardware runs different.

A lot of the other guys on here know more about overclocking than I do, but I like to help with what little I can.

 

^^^what juliant said. Simply slide your fingers across the area where the bezel is not seated. If necessary, rock the surface back and forth between the palm rest and keyboard and that should click into place. If it does not, then one of the tabs at the lower edge of the keyboard is on top of its retaining pocket instead inside of the pocket and you'll need to remove the bezel, take the screws out of the keyboard and re-seat it properly. I doubt this will be necessary, but it could be. This is a simple task, and as juliant pointed out, many M18x owners are going through these same steps almost immediately to install more or faster RAM.

Quality control needs to improve and Dell/Alienware knows it. They are taking steps to improve that situation, but there are limitations to accountability when a third-party vendor and the vendor's employees are involved in the process. As long as these machines are being built in China and never touched by expert hands prior to delivery to the end user, (they ship from China to your door, without being seen or touched by Alienware,) there will be issues minor issues like this. If you think they are expensive now, they would be even more expensive if the assembly and QC process was improved and involved skilled American laborers that care about customers. I'm willing to save a few hundred bucks and deal with sloppy assembly by people that don't care as long as the components are not defective or broken. I can deal with the incompetent assembly myself easily enough. The M18x is extremely well built even if not assembled with care.

The shortcomings in the Chinese assembly line are more than made up for in the warranty and service provided by Dell/Alienware. The Alienware Support Reps in our forum are great examples of what competing companies aspire to have in their workforce.

The 680M SLI totally rocks... awesome choice to buy that and skip the 7970M CrossFire!

I agree about the online game garbage. That irks the daylights out of me, too. I mean, that is fine for people that like online multi-player, but requiring an internet connection after installation simply to run the game for a single player campaign is just totally lame. The Steam and Origin "cloud synch" thing is idiotic in my opinion. (We have game pirates to thank for a lot of these draconian control measures.) And, only being able to save progress at pre-defined checkpoints also sucks. The children that call themselves game developers need to step away from their XBOX and PS3 consoles and get back to basics in terms of functionality. I recently purchased BF3, and while it is a great game to play, the fact that it launches through a web browser ticked me off immediately, LOL.

 

I agree with Mr. Fox and juliant. QC is an issue but I can live with it; the Alienware systems are extremely well built. That, and the warranty more than makes up for it.

I agree with this. Online DRM (especially for SINGLE PLAYER games like Sim City 4) really agitates me. Although, I have to admit I do like cloud sync and saves for some things. It is nice to carry your save files across multiple computers. FPS game design is also getting pretty annoying in this day and age, IMO. The market is completely over-saturated with serious military shooters.

Oh, and you're talking about BattleLog, LOL. I had the same reaction. Are you up for some online multiplayer, Mr. Fox?

To the OP, good luck with your system! I hope all of your issues are resolved and you can jump right into enjoying it.

 

check my new M18X laptop.
.............i took the highest configuration known to man via Dells site.

price tag; $11319 (= €9214)

spec:
................
Alienware M18x Cosmic Black - Anodized Aluminum
# Intel® Core™ i7 3920XM (8MB Cache, up to 4.1GHz Overclocked)
# Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64-bit
# Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M SLI™
# 24 576MB (4x8GB), 1 600 MHz DDR3
# 1.5TB RAID 0 (3 x 512GB Dell Mobility Solid State Drive)
# 46,74 cm(18.4") WideFHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD
# Blu-Ray Drive
# Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 with Bluetooth 4.0
# Primary 12-cell 96W/HR LI-ION


ps..i just kidding......i didnt buy this laptop...but i want to

question.........how big is the power cord ??

 

Intel® Centrino

ಠ_ಠ

the power cord is 8 feet long I believe...

 

Actually I take apart my Alienware quite often to repaste, upgrade, etc so I can 'work to fix problems' as you say lol. But in my case the actual palm rest assembly is malformed leading to the clips not latching on. But I have learnt to live with it, it doesn't bother me much! Although I am disappointed with the QC in China.

I had a tech visit to replace the keyboard trim, but it didn't fix the problem at which point I found out it was a problem with the palm rest. But I didn't have the time to arrange another tech visit so I just lived with it and now it doesn't really bother me much. The picture I included was the one I sent to Dell to illustrate the problem, it was taken months ago in fact.

So maybe the OP just needs to push the trim to make it latch on, but if he has the same problem as me he will have to contact Alienware. In which case he can use the pictures he took to show Dell the problem.

 

awesome...how bout expensive....

 

My bezel isn't perfectly seated either, but I am not OCD/perfectionist, I got the system mainly to play games with, not really as a mechanical idol without any aesthetic defects.

Skyrim crawling?

What are your settings? ONE 680 M can handle Skyrim in Ultra at 1920x1080, 16x anisotropic and 4x AA. Skyrim is extremely finicky. Like I updated to the latest version (1.68) via steam to get Skyrim Script Extender to work (a mod required it) and I immediately lost 20 FPS. I was pretty distraught to say the least. It was only after a few hours of digging did I find that I had to save my .ini files and then AFTER the update go and revert them to their previous state. Luckily for me, I had the entire copy of Skyrim, including the modified .ini files on an external HD as I just transitioned from an M18x R1 and could do this. And voila, my frames were restored to 60 FPS (Ultra everything except shadows: High, 16x Anisotropic, 4x AA, 1920x1080, 2k textures AND Sharpshooters ENB ).

The learning curve with PC gaming is a bit high. I too am newly converted, having switched from console gaming about two years ago and I had the same complaints as you now have.

Trust me, there is no going back, the modding, the ability to play all of the console games in max resolution, check out Eyefinity, cant do this with a console!

Dead Space 2 Eyefinity

And most games do have the quick save function, its only the direct ports that don't, like Assassins Creed 2 which I am going though only saves at checkpoints etc.

Oh and how is GTA 4 running? I heard that it is still incompatible with SLI. When I had my M18x R1 configured with 580 SLI I was shocked that it couldn't run GTA 4 without massive stuttering. Come to find that you just need to disable SLI for better performance, and luckily with on 680 M you should be able to play it with higher settings than usual.

Oh and GTA 4 is CPU intensive, if you truly enjoy that game as much as I do (Republican Space Rangers! LOL!) then you may want to consider upgrading your CPU and heatsink, it makes that much of a difference.

Ok dude, have patience, it will be tested as you navigate the complexities of PC gaming in the years to come but enjoy the performance as well!

 

Um, excuse me? OCD/Perfectionist? 'Mechanical idol'?
For me the bezel was impeding on the space bar, arrow buttons and the '0' key on the numpad, where when pressing them they would not spring back or get stuck. On rarer occasions the space bar would get stuck and act like it was permanently pressed down, which can be annoying when typing.
This is not an aesthetic issue.

And I am sure if you had this issue to begin with, you would get annoyed too, OCD or not.