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

Hmmm..my custom, brand new R2 shipped in a week from when the Dell reps placed the order, and it shipped from California. There was no China involved in the shipping.

In Dell's defense, everyone (especially here) is disgruntled already about how long it takes to build and ship a custom R2. If it were possible, they'd want it the next day. I'm sure Dell is pumping them out as fast as they can, and unless everyone is
willing to wait for high-cost American workers to go over each and every R2 with a fine-tooth comb to make sure everything is perfect (which would add major delays to EVERY order and increase the cost), then expect some minor imperfection in assembly.
Most "issues" can be self-fixed by just re-adjusting things (take a few screws out, align, reassemble). Big deal.

Really, if people just want to complain, buy HP. Then, at least, you'd have good reason! At least Dell cares.

 

If that is true, something has changed in the way they are built and shipped, or there was something unusual about your situation. My comments were not my invention, as they were based on what we were told in a NBR Forums conference call with Dell_Bill-B and Louis Bruno (AW Graphics Lead Engineer). How do you know it was shipped from California? Perhaps that is where it first made landfall and had a FedEx label affixed to the box in the United States... some kind of shipping hub, maybe? You also cannot go by information on the shipping label because it shows a US Dell return address in case the system cannot be delivered to the customer. I doubt they would want it to be sent back to Compal in China.

Love this statement, bro. I couldn't agree more. I also agree with the other comments about simple fixes and adjustments. I'd rather pay less and get it faster and fix the minor things myself, too.

Agree... that's not good. It needs to be taken care of. If your palm rest is not deformed, it should be very simple to rectify, as pointed out. I had a deformed palm rest on an M18x R1 exchange once, too. I swapped them out and sent the deformed new palm rest back with the old M18x and kept my original palm rest. Wasn't a big deal to me because it was easy to fix, but I was lucky enough to have the part available for the swap.

 

That's what I was thinking.

You can't blame a bugger who's only earning $0.10c an hour for overlooking that.

To be honest if I was earning 10 cents an hour assembling computers for someone across the seas I wouldn't put too much effort into it.

With that said. Imagine hoe much Dell is earning in profits.

At the same time though I do get pissed off at Dell or Apple or whichever company I am buying from when I pay a good sum of money for a product and there seems to be something at fault.

It's a good thing Dell try to fix the fault at least.

You'd be damned if you were dealing with HP or Asus.

 

Their wages are consistent with the market forces in play in their country, and I would venture a guess that many are very glad to have a means of income. (At least those that are not jumping off of buildings probably are.) I think it could have more to do with low skill level and lack of regard for quality than what they are being paid, and those things probably also relate back to their earning capacity to some extent.

At any rate, the economic issues in other countries should not have any bearing on Dell or its customers, or how we react to those conditions. We did not create their dilemma and it's not our responsibility to correct it. If they were not building them inexpensively we would be paying a lot more for our laptops, and many of us could not afford to buy them, so I am grateful that economic forces are such that we can get them at the current price point.

We don't have enough information to know how much profit Dell is making, so that's not something we can accurately comment about in our forums. I hope they are making very excellent profits so we can continue having their products available for many years to come. Dell, Microsoft, Apple and other gigantic companies give back millions of dollars in charitable support and humanitarian causes, so what goes around comes around. Without their enormous taxes as a resource and their voluntary charitable efforts, things would be much worse in more countries.

 

I have purchased HP computers online and they DO ship from China. The moment your order status changes to "Shipped", you can track it from China to Customs, then customs to a "hub", then the Hub to me. When my R2 changed from In Production to Shipped, it left California (which is where I am so it didn't take long!).

Date/Time Activity Location Details

BONITA, CA Jul 3, 2012 9:27AM Delivered
BONITA, CA Jul 3, 2012 8:35AM On FedEx vehicle for delivery
SAN DIEGO, CA Jul 3, 2012 7:02AM At local FedEx facility
SAN DIEGO, CA Jul 3, 2012 2:02AM At destination sort facility
SAN DIEGO, CA Jul 2, 2012 7:05PM Left FedEx origin facility
TORRANCE, CA Jul 2, 2012 4:50PM Picked up
HAWTHORNE, CA Jul 2, 2012 4:01 PM Shipment information sent to FedEx

Maybe mine was "Made in California" and that's why it works!

 

Don't get me started! It's easy to be philanthropic when you're making BILLIONS OF DOLLARS in profit every three months from your own customers! Billions! People are brainwashed. (This is a topic for, though, for a different forum!)

 

That would certainly be a good reason to expect it to work better.

Seriously though, unless something has changed, Dell made it clear to us that they don't handle any Alienware systems between the time they leave the factory in China and the point of delivery to the customer. I would venture to guess your timing was excellent when the order was put through and incomplete information as to the origin was visible in the shipping details. The order status information often lags. I actually had one M18x R1 arrive when the system still said "In Production" and it was updated to "Delivered" on the same day. My last one took about 12 days from order to delivery. I'm just glad you have your R2 and that it works so beautifully. The rest is kind of irrelevant.

Agree... enough already said on the other topic... doesn't belong here.

 

Maybe you are right about being shipped from California, but before changing the status from production to shipped, your system was already on the way from China, that is why was in production for most of us atleast 5 days. In china they do not take longer than 1 day to build it and send it out... Delays only come up when parts are not available. Like Mr. Fox stated many places, I even have a very good source who is working for a number of years with Alienware and ALL the systems come directly from China to the Dell location of your country of purchase. That is why your sticker is from California... You are just lucky that you had no issues and enjoy it

 

So, what about you guys? Did your tracking numbers show tracking status that started in China or US? If US, from where did it start?

 

if im correct, 20gbs dont work as dual channel then again im not sure probably better off reading wiki and other review sites on how memory channel works.

i went to the overclocking threads, only people posting about default dell OC configuration and their OC score. never a real step by step thing.

 

anyone tried windows 8 beta on alienware yet? i installed it, was quick and found+ installed all drivers on its own including 6990m driver. after installation i went to device manager only to find one GPU was showing 6990 the other one is still VGA, means no crossfire =(.

 

I don't think blaming China for it is appropriate either...that bezel issue probably came about because the front had to come off to install the SLI upgrade...

 

I don't know about the OP, but that is certainly not the case for me.

 

FWIW, I show the shipping from California on the Fedex tracking info after my order status changed to shipped.

 

Sure, that too. If you can afford it, have fun and go for the gusto. Awesomeness always has a price tag of some sort, whether financial or otherwise. When financial resources are limited, whatever the budget allows will have to do.

 

Good points, but with a modular design it may be possible to satisfy our insatiable need for the fastest, the most powerful and do so with less of an impact. Those who have held on to their M17x R2 are showing what the future may be, consciously chosen or otherwise, in that they have been able to put every new GPU into it, with the fastest CPU that is compatible with it still capable of processing the newer games, the limiting factor being the PSU.

Flex ID at 3, no BSOD so far. Will try 0.

 

Hello again. I have to admit I was a little under the weather when I posted this.

I don't want any of you to think that I'm displeased with this new system. As another stated, I give this a 9 out of 10.

As for the Trim sticking up in the photo's, it has been easily fixed. I followed a few recommendations from those of you who posted on how to fix it.
Really it came down to me not being afraid to apply extreme pressure along the edge as i ran my thumb along the trim. I was afraid I was going to break something.
It snapped into place. So outer defect fixed.

Once again, all my games play EXCELLENT! You will not be disappointed! Buy one if you can.

In regards to my comment about it being built in China, I have my own opinions and will leave them sit with me. I don't think anyone who sweats and labors from another country is somehow inferior just so you know. It's the companies who choose cheap labor over quality that always gets under my skin .

At any rate, my post was well intended. I simply was trying to give my own impressions, from opening the box, to even my own personal thoughts. Not to start a debate or flaming thread...lol.

I truly hope your system is as good as mine with the 680m sli. No buyers remorse here. I will buy another Alienware laptop if this one lasts to my expectations

 

All good man, I would feel the same because it is a very expensive item. Glad you got it fixed and please continue to post about your experiences/issues we are happy to help.

 

You've got your own view and I've got mine.

All I can say is you're right Mr.Fox

Those people in China are so happy they are just DYING to work for Dell and Apple....

Dying in a literal sense that they commit suicide (Foxconn now makes them sign an 'anti suicide' pact before anyone works for them which includes a clause that states if they commit suicide there families aren't entitled to any outstanding wages.

But they is not because of Dell or Apple that is because of Foxxconn.

As for charity work they don't do much.
Just watch the documentary called 'The Corporation'. They want to maximise profits for their shareholders so charity work (if it is on there list) is not going to happen if ever. That is simple capitalism for you.

Anyways to the OP. My last note is use your purchasing power!

Sure nothing comes perfect but you have the power to tell Dell you're not happy (I would be unhappy too if my new 4k laptop came with a pretty obvious defect).

 

Don't talk too loud, the moderators here are extremely "apolitical" (if active suppression of dissent can be called that) here. I have had entire threads erased from the 'Panopticon' because the were too "political".

 

Guys, let's stay on topic. Let's stick to technology discussion (specifically 680M SLI for this thread) and observe forum rules. I'm not making any further comment on the above subject even though I would like to. We mods are not "apolitical" by any means, but this is not the place for such discussion, and this is simply not a platform for folks to share their views about whatever happens to be on their mind or push an agenda of any kind... just technology.

Feel free to discuss those things in the appropriate places.

 

a perfect laptop will cost more or about $10,000 or even more, and it will take more time for manufature to realease a product.

 

Hi guys
I just ordered new M18x with 3720 cpu ,7970 crossfire and 8gb ram.
I am thinking to put a ssd or may be put m sata for now to boost performance of 750 hdd and also put more ram.Should i upgrade RAM right away or is 8gb still enough? Also does it have 4GBX2 or 2GBX4 sticks?Second i do not do online gaming that much so i stick with intel centrino wifi card. Is there a big difference between killer and intel and i made a mistake or am i fine? If yes can i change wifi card down on the road. I dint buy any anti glare for screen. Should i?Lastly does alienware still have 7970 driver issues or are you guys having issues with gpu? if you guys can plz reply that will be great. I am excited for laptop.

 

HELLO and welcome ..good choice on lappy!. you should be happy over all.. the only thing you may have issues with is the 7970s , but there are a few that good working cards and they are beasts!

ill let some one else go into more detail tho..as im eating lol and if no one has by the time i get done ill edit my comment and help you out some more..!

 

Welcome!! You're going to be STOKED with the M18x R2. Let me provide my feedback (my specs are in the sig):

Definitely spring for an SSD if you can. They're relatively inexpensive these days, so you can spring for a good 128-256GB SSD for a decent price (I got mine for ~$200 USD). Huge performance gains using an SSD - you won't be sorry. For the RAM, I think 8GB is fine for now, unless you're doing photo/video editing or something else that's RAM-intensive. I figured the R2 would have 4x2GB sticks, but when I popped mine open, it actually had 2x4GB. Yours may be different though, so the best way to find out is to crack that sucker open yourself (it's pretty easy to do).

You'll be just fine with the Intel Centrino WiFi card - the Killer Wireless adds one more antenna, but you need a router that supports 450Mbps wifi as well.

I have the Nvidia GPUs, in part because of the issues folks were having with the 7970. That said, I had 6970 cards for a long time in my R1 and didn't run into many major issues. In fact, the only problem I ever really had was with Skyrim (weird stuttering in the pause menu). My guess is that AMD will get their act together soon and put out something that's more stable than what's already out there. Again, I'm in the Nvidia camp this time around, so someone else with more first-hand experience with the new AMD GPUs will be better suited to answer that.

Welcome to the club!!

 

Hi Citius and welcome

You will be fine with the configuration you chose, 8gb of ram is good enough for gaming, no need to upgrade. About the 7970s is hard to know before you get it if they are going to work fine but from what I've heard, most people are not having any issues with the new revision, anyway, all those issues have been escalated and we are working really hard on solving all of them.

EDIT ADD: The 8GB configuration is always 2x4GB.

 

Oh ok. Thanks guys...I was gonna buy RAM online...Should i buy 8gb corsair 1866..If i install it with 8gb at 1600 i currently have,the corsair will switch to 1600 correct and later on when i add another 8gb at 1866 it, will be running at1866 right..Any stability issues and which brand is best?Will i see any performance gain with 1866 over 1600 and when i buy two more sticks later, do they need to be exact same model ?If i install OS on 7200 rpm and then add msata ssd3 80gb for caching, will i see any improvement in boot time and overall speed. From what i been reading online ,people are saying if you put your os on say 120 or 240 gb ssd drive ,then adding msata will not make any difference because you are caching ssd onto a ssd and intel smart start wont make a huge impact. I am just trying to cut cost right now if i can see some gains with msata then might aswell and later on add ssd.

 

you would think they could hire a few extra workers for the 20 cents an hour they pay the rest of the workers at the factory. You know, to just look over the systems before they are boxed up to make sure there are no glaring exterior blemishes, or mess ups. Would cost them like an extra 4 grand a year, and save then tens of thousands by not having to deal with the hundreds/thousands of returns people make because their bezel is cracked, or their keyboard is broken.

 

Sorry, but thats bunk. even the lamest most crappy computer brands can come up with a "perfect" model if they do some quality control.
I am not asking for dell/AW to be perfect, but am asking for them to be better. Apple typically puts dell in a box when it comes to quality, even when you get up into dell/aw's most expensive machines.

 

Hey Guys,

Soon I will be joining you with this awesome machine.

I pulled the trigger yesterday.

I opted for the XM processor and 680 Sli. I tend to like to have the best of the best as a lot of you do.

I alreayd have 2 Samsung 830 256GB SSD's on order and from another post I plan on running them in raid 0. I always make backups and I have owned quite a few SSD's and never had any problems.

I plan on buying Kingston HyperX but they only sell the 1600MHz ram now, with the XMP profiles do these stick allow the OC? I don't think its that big of a deal but if I could run faster I'm all about it. And I am not sure I want to go with the Vengeance sticks.

Anyways, can't wait for it to arrive so I can start messing with it.

 

That would depend on the end user's definition of "quality" to a great extent, and it assumes that everyone has an interest in or a fondness for the product in question. Being assembled without any visible evidence of technician incompetence doesn't qualify it as a good product if you don't like the company that built it or the operating system that runs on it by default. The wrong tool for the job, or the wrong product for the buyer will be a massive failure every time. Without question, I would choose to buy an Alienware that I expect to fix a few problems with over an Apple product that, by design, is incapable of meeting my expectations or pleasing me as the end user.

 

tecrp7 - congratulations on the new beast. I'm excited for you.

 

I think the quality of my M18x R2 is right on par with an Apple Macbook in terms of fit, finish, screen quality, battery life, but the performance completely destroys an Apple.

What exactly are you talking about, please note the superior qualities of an Apple?

Steve Jobs became an extremely self-interested, apathetic tool in the end. The company was founded on the premise of doing things differently, manufacturing with a low ecological foot-print, well built products with longer than PC lifetimes and treating employees fairly only to metamorphose into a Wallmart/Apply hybrid where all of the labor is outsource to slaves in China and the sole design imperative is planned obsolescence, data mining and facilitating domestic surveillance.

Apple: Big Brother Incarnate (Part II) - CollapseNet Blogs | CollapseNet

I will never by another Apple anything. Oh and notice how the I-pods fail every 2-3 years no matter what? I will be in the market for a PC based media player when my 4th Gen Nano bites the bullet, should be any day now, I have owned it for almost a year....

 

Good choice in hardware configuration! Looks like someone did their homework.....In my opinion an Extreme Processor and 680 SLI are the highlights of the M18x R2.

 

Congrats on your purchase. Makes me kinda envious of not going for the XM processor with my R1 but I have to say that the 2820QM isn't shabby. I'm really glad I went with it back then.

 

True, but what I mean is, in comparison to the horror stories of broken bezels, unresponsive touchpads, dented/scratched chassis, and simply broken hardware you get when googling Alienware, you get almost zero in comparison when googling MBP's.

The CS is also completely different. Sometimes dell CS can be good, and sometimes is complete garbage like in dumbdumb's case.
If you have applecare you can just walk into any applestore with your machine and they will fix it on the spot...

 

Thanks guys.

I have been waiting a few months before I decided to buy so I have been doing a lot of research. I have always been an Nvidia fan, I have had ATI cards back in the day and I always had problems and it seems thats still the case. I chose the XM because I also plan on video editing on my GoPro videos so the extra horsepower will help.

Either way tho, these iCore processors are all great.

 

Congrats on your new beast! I'm excited for you!

 

Congrats on the purchase!

They do have 1866mhz ram.

here: Amazon.com: Used and New: Kingston HyperX Plug n Play 8 GB Kit (2x4GB Modules) 1866MHz DDR3 SODIMM Notebook/Netbook Memory 8 Dual Channel Kit (PC3 15000) 204-Pin KHX1866C11S3P1K2/8G

 

I'm probably gonna send off an email and contact support tomorrow but wanted to know if this happened to anyone else. I got my machine back form the depot, filthy, a bit scratched up.

One the repair sheet nothing is checked but other and the list is so exentisve that there's really nothing they could have done unless they used other to be lazy.

So I throw HD's in, launch machine and bluescreen. I use another HD with an image and that crashes to the desktop. They obviously did not fix the problems. 5 weeks now.

::sigh::

 

Anyone know if a solution was found to the Fn+F2 combination to disable battery charging? So far, no matter how many times you do Fn+F2 you still get the Battery Enabled message...

 

Well i returned my m18xr2 with the 7970 xfire as i was sick of driver isuues. I have always been a fan of ATI but no longer now. I got a full fefund from dell and reordered but this time with the 680M Nvidia cards (and Black not red outer case this time). Super excited and cant wait. Delivery should be aug 12th.

So i have a question for all the raid guru's out there. I am planning to install a 240 gb SSD and a 750 gb seagate ssd/hdd hybrid in my syastem as soon as it arrives. What is the best way to set this up? Just run windows and games on SSD and keep HDD for storage? Or is there a way to put them in raid to act as one drive and whould this help or hinder my performance? Any help from you gents would be appriciated!

 

If you were to create a RAID membership, the system would run at the slow HDD speed and be limited to 480GB. The additional disk space on the HDD would be inaccessible. It's possible to do this, but very undesirable.

For the best results you would need two matched SSD to create a RAID array. Either way, leave the BIOS set to RAID (not AHCI), do a clean Windows installation on the SSD and use the 750GB Seagate for data storage. Your system will run great that way.

And, congratulations on the new M18x with 680M SLI.

 

Thanks for the reply Mr.Fox. That helps a lot. I will keep the 750hdd for storage and run the ssd for operating system.

 

Okay, so I spoke to several Alienware guys and I believe for customers in US and Canada, lately (from the last few weeks) all the systems ship from China to California. Those systems are reviewed / checked again by the Alienware team and then sent out to the customers. Only think what I can say is that my system was built / shipped extremely fast and I am in Canada. It took 3 1/2 days from production to shipped and 1 1/2 day with purolator.

 

hi guys..

when do you think the 7990 crossfire would be available in m18x? i want to get an m18x now however i'm afraid it would come out after i placed an order with 7970 crossfire.. thanks..

 

I finally upgraded my SSD from the Crucial M4 128GB to a Sandisk Extreme 240GB. I have to say, it's much faster than the M4. One thing I would like to ask though, should I be concerned that there seems to be no temperature diode?

 

Its a total guess when the next gen AMD card will be out. I personaly would not buy another AMD gpu untill they have better driver support and i have owned a lot od different AMD mobile cards. If you want an m18-r2 now i would go with the Nvidia cards if the budget can handle it.

 

What issues did you have with the stock Dell drivers?

 

As I dont have anything interesting to do at the moment, I decided to get out my kill-a-watt and see what my system draws in some things.

Desktop 41W
Lid down desktop 30W
Diablo single player 155W
3DMark11 220W

Not bad.