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

why would you compare different laptop build? plus i doubt you have same driver/ same application on start up. my intel 520 SSD in my asus boots up in 6 sec, in my m18x boots up in 8 simply because i have more stuff installed on the m18x.

my samsung 830 on a dell also with hm67 chipset boots in 12 sec. i dont need to say more. the 830 was originally transfered from m18x to asus, then to this 15inch dell. intel is a better drive hands down and no doubt i will be moving to 525 when its released.

 

You do that..........I'll continue to stay with the 830 that scored HIGHER than the 520 on the AS SSD benchmark when I ran it, and that shows a real world advantage in start up times over the competetion when I press the little Alienhead above my keyboards. :thumbsup:

 

lol at AS SSD.. well its like people uses CDM which only shows the best results, AS SSD tends to show the worst result ontop of that it doesnt measure access time all that well but w/e. pretty sure your startup time doesnt beat 8 sec =/

 

It doesn't matter if it's the best or the worst if it's applied evenly to both drives. But I'll tell ya what, congrats on your "8 second" boot up time, if ya send me an address I'll make sure and mail a cookie to ya. lol

 

Retiring the M17X R1, and just ordered a M18X R1... now I'm second guessing myself... About $2050 for the R1 system as follows
Alienware M18x Space Black Anodized Aluminum, Intel Core i7 2670QM 2.2GHz (3.1GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache), 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz 2DIMMS,18.4-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 WLED, Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M NVIDIA SLI Enabled, 750GB 7,200RPM SATA 3Gb/s , Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media, Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader, BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software, Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 a/b/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology, Bluetooth 3.0, Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year

OR is the R2 about the same price a better machine?
3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.3GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0), Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, MEMORY 6GB DDR3 at 1600MHz, 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s, 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660M, WIRELESS + BLUETOOTH Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 With Bluetooth 4.0, Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

These machines cost $20 difference.... Which one is better?

 

The 660M SLI is not very powerful, but otherwise the M18x R2 is slightly better. If you cannot afford at least a 3720QM and 680M SLI in the M18x R2, stick with what you ordered because the 580M SLI is better and more powerful than the low spec R2 you are comparing with.

Excuse the kids bickering about whether or not the Intel 520 is better than the Samsung PM830.

 

Do yourself a favor and do not buy Corsair SSDs. I owned two of their drives so far and had (at the time serious) issues with both. That's not something I can say about Intel 510, 520 or Crucial M4.

 

I had a brand new Corsair fail about a week after owning.

I have 2 Samsung 830's and opted for these because they are reliable and I believe Intel is still using Sandforce and it's just not worth the risk right now.

 

Anyone know how to reset bios to default, mistakely changed an option in unlocked bios which is preventing POST.

Edit: fixed by resetting cmos battery

 

hi guys.. noobie question, Does the factory bluray player you get from m18x r2 3d capable for movies?

I mean can i just put a bluray 3d movies in there and will work on my 3d monitor or do I need a seperate external 3d bluray player?

 

intel is "still"? the only drives intel used for sandforce based is the 520 and 330.
320, 510 and everything before that are non sandforce. on top of that 520 and 330 hasnt even been out for that long.

im not saying marvel, samsung or indilinx are inferior to sandforce because each has its own pros and cons. but did it ever occur to people how why intel chooses sandforce based drive? this gen 520 and next gen 525 will be sandforce. maybe it's for profit, maybe not. but intel such a big company would go switching, there must be a real good reason for it.

 

^^^I'm still trying to figure that one out. Why is a good question. Generally, Intel makes really great decisions and offers the best products. I was very puzzled when they started using a notoriously poor SSD controller. Maybe they'll change the bad rap by using their magic... but it may not do anything to make all of the other brands using SandForce technology worth buying or any less buggy. If they will stop raping people on pricing, the Intel SSD product line might represent a good value. Historically, they have been severely overpriced and offered little in return for the premium.

I think you will need 3D BluRay software to play a 3D movie on an external 3D monitor. PowerDVD, for example.

 

This is exactly why the intel ssd's are the only SandForce Based drives you should buy. Intel roll their own firmware and it does not get shared amongst other manufacturers. They're not infallible though - remember the recent encryption issue and refinds offered to affected customers

 

hi bro fox ty for the response.

I do have the Asus VG23a 3D monitor and Power DVD 11ultra which is capable of playing 3d movies. I just need to make sure that the m18x r2 factory bluray player will play it. Dont want to buy capt. america 3d bluray movie for $40 then find out I cant lol.

Anybody tried playing 3d movies on their m18x factory install bluray player?

 

intel does have good firmware, they uses sandforce 4 series. no company shares their firmware except the controller company, marvel and sandforce lsi. i dont know much about marvel and their firmware but LSI is has been going from firmware 3 4 and 5.

there are other good sandforce drives though, like sandisk extreme 240gb for $165 =D cheap stuff yet very fast.

 

Ok so quite a few pages back I mention my purchase of an M14X and an M18X R2. I was concerned after purchase reading ow many users had faults and had my fingers crossed I wouldn't be one of the unlucky ones.

Here is my experience so far.

M14x arrived and had 8 dead pixels and a dead graphics card so contacted dell straight away, they sent a tech out. Shortly after my M18X R2 arrives, it also had a group of dead pixels in the middle of the screen and the light on the front right false exhaust was out, the entire case also looks slightly warped with gaps on one side so called Dell again, they didn't want to do anything to help in the way of replacing the NEW laptop, all the wanted to do was replace broken new parts with refurbished ones which I didn't want at all considering I bought it new and they sent it to me broken. After fighting with them for so long and they would not budge I agreed for them to come out and replace my parts with refurbed ones. While they were filing this claim the tech arrived for the m14x and replaced the motherboard and the screen and left the repair half way through installing windows, after leaving once again we spot dead pixels on the newly replaced screen and this time the screen isn't even on straight and rubs against the base of the laptop when you open and close the lid. Called customer service again and they say they will send someone else out to sort it yet we haven't heard anything from Dell for over a week about the M14X so this is now over a motnh with 2 laptops, one of which is warped and the other we can't use at all, so a few days later I receive an email asking for photos of my m18x and its issues which I fund completely insulting due to the fact I had spent hooours on the phone with support and had them guarantee that they would repair the laptop even though it was refurbed parts.. but I sent the photos anyway and received another email saying to send the photos which I had already sent.. this time I called Dell up again and made sure they received the photos. They guaranteed me that a Tech would be out to fix my laptop today (Monday) so Today comes and I receive a phone call from Dell support and they say they will be here tomorrow instead with a new touchpad for the m18x, I don't have a problem with my touchpad and have never stated I have a problem with it.. I don't see how that would fix the warped case, dead pixels and dead light.. not to mention my wifes m14 which we haven't even be able to use since it arrived.. Do I just get a refund and avoid Alienware all together? I could very well be getting old parts replaced on my new laptop and having to wait and wait.. Do you think Dell will compensate for all of my time they have wasted and the fact that I purchased two BROKEN laptops and haven't been able to use them which is also in hand eating into my warranty which I didn't expect to use on day 1. I thought Asus has the worst customer service but this just takes the biscuit. Really disappointed and wishing I had just built my own desktop now

 

Sorry to hear that dude.

Personally,I will just return everything and get a refund then maybe re order a completely new system from them to avoid re stocking fees. Totally NOT acceptable what you are goin through.

You were just part of the unlucky ones. My m18x r2 I customize online to max and recieve 2 weeks ago came perfect. There is HOPE

 

@dudewheremydvd

sorry to hear you are experience this kind of thing. what you're going through is the most common thing among the unlucky alienware owners. i myself went through that but after many phone calls i was able to get them to agree sending me a new laptop, and i owned my "brand new" yet broken laptop for about a month and half.

do not give up and keep trying, just be careful of the warranty and in the worst scenario, send it back as refund to avoid restock fee like the person mentioned above. dell have some serious problem with quality checks, the same goes for many laptop companies, simply too many things to go through and too many things to cover, they will miss it. i definitely recommend you to repurchase, this system is too good when its working.

Asus's onboard integrated GPU 670m/660m/560m for their gaming laptop cant compare to alienware's dedicated Graphics in crossfire/SLI.

MSI's single fan cooling solution isnt very good at all for a gaming laptop with 680M and high end ivy mobile CPU. where alienware have a fan for each.

Razor.. overpriced macbook looking laptop but in black/green, with poor specs

alienware is the way to go.


Edit: sorry for Asus scratch the 670m being integrated GPU, its probably a GPU card, but for 660m and if its from bestbuy the bbk version then its integrated GPU.

 

Mr Fox, how did you purchase your 7970m. im curious and looked up on ebay and a single card is around 700 dollars =/

 

Ok guys. Here it is. I normally don't buy Alienware, but I'm in the market for an 18 inch laptop and I've played with a friend's m18x. I have a few questions if someone wants to help me out.

1) How locked is the BIOS? Can I flash the BIOS myself? Do I HAVE to follow Alienware's reccomended settings?

2)That keyboard drives me insane I know it is removable. My only question is...can I replace the keycaps with similar sized non-framed around the edges keys?

3)I'm going to assume fit and finish isn't a big problem-since nobody is really complaining around these forums. Does anyone have ANY complaints about build quality?

I have bought alienware before, in 2010- I have an Aurora R2. But this is my first real foray into laptop gaming. Just trying to make an informed decision-ty for youz help~!

 

There is Unlocked Bios, but any changes like that may void your warranty, i'm sure someone else can clarify, otherwise the bios allow some overclocking if you have the 3720qm or above, thats for the R2 that is.

Keyboard i'm not entirely sure but with alittle time the keyboard isn't all that bad you'll get comfortable with it after afew days. but i'm sure there is an alternative somewhere or an external keyboard if its that bad to you.

Fit and Finish are amazing, you should have no problems with the build quality or fit and finish, pretty outstanding in my opinion

i had an Alienware LONG ago when they had the Desktop replacements and were using Clevo barebones... with a FX-60 Processor and all these goodies, spent just over 5k and it was a piece of junk i used it for 1 month and it absolutely garbage and alienware sent me a replacement video card twice, and it just couldn't be fixed, and they refused to help me so i just gave up and wasted 5 grand, Now having said that, the new alienware and from what i can tell with the newer systems they are rather amazing.

now without saying there is some issues people have with all devices in general.
but the biggest problems your gonna see with the m18x is the 7970m's are pretty hit and miss lots of bad cards out there not to say there isn't any good ones, but thats the biggest problems you hear right now is the 7970m users, so i'd stay away from those in my opinion.

 

As long as you selected the bluray option, I believe you should be fine. The optical drive is definitely fast enough to play 3D movies. If I'm not mistaken, it is the same drive that is offered in the M17x 3D kit. Since you have the 3D monitor and PowerDVD 11ultra, I would imagine you'll be good to go.

 

somehow 3d and 3d glasses hurts my eye, but that maybe just me.

 

Nothing wrong with my duel 7970, just lack great drivers but currently using 12.8 with cap 3 all is well.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

 

just based on drivers alone i'd never buy ATI/AMD ever again.

 

Just to clarify, changes to an Alienware system do NOT void the warranty. This comes with authority from Dell officials. The warranty remain intact regardless of changes. Support for changes is not covered. User-induced damage is excluded from coverage. Aftermarket parts are excluded from coverage.

This is one of the most intelligent statements I think I have read in more than a week, and I agree with it.

 

Well then. That was quick and informative ^^

Any resellers reccomended here? Perhaps they offer customization outside of what Dell offers? I've been doing some research and I have a couple more questions:

1. Is it possible to self install 2 4GB cards in the chassis as opposed to the 2GB ones dell provide?

2. Does Triple Raid 0'ed SSDs have a significant speed advantage over just 2 SSDs in RAID 0? (I know 2 ports are SATA III and one is SATA II)

3. How can I get a sweet color on mine like yours Mr.Fox?

 

I am going to merge this thread with the Owner's Lounge. That would have been the most appropriate place for your questions to be presented. Unless you like spending more money and potentially complicating other aspects of ownership, avoid resellers. (A reseller may be a good option for folks that live outside of the US or Canada.) You live in TN, so buying directly from Alienware would be the best option. Don't purchase it online. Configure it online, save your shopping cart with the setup you want, then get a better deal by negotiating directly with a sales rep. Or, get a quote through our forum. See both of these threads:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/456885-aw-dell-ordering-advice-how-save.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/669327-alienware-sales-assistance-thread-redux.html


​

1. Is it possible to self install 2 4GB cards in the chassis as opposed to the 2GB ones dell provide?

Yes, but there is no clear performance advantage. The aftermarket 4GB video cards will not be covered under your factory warranty. Look at this thread.

​

2. Does Triple Raid 0'ed SSDs have a significant speed advantage over just 2 SSDs in RAID 0? (I know 2 ports are SATA III and one is SATA II)

No... it will be slower if you include a SATA 2.0 port in the RAID. Just RAID the SATA 3.0 ports and buy a 750GB or 1TB drive for data. Look at this thread.

​

3. How can I get a sweet color on mine like yours Mr.Fox?

Have a look here for more information... You'll need to do this on your own.​

 

Ty for the merge. I just thought that posting in an owner's lounge without being an owner would be presumptuous.

 

lol my 2960xm went berserk on me and system wouldnt start up at first i thought it was my mobo =/

i took out 2960xm and replace it with old 2760qm which is stock at 2.4ghz, but then i turn on CPUZ and during stress all 4 cores goes to 3.2ghz at mutiplier x32 showing in CPUZ how does that work?

 

Thank you for the advice, it is appreciated.
It turns out now I can get the R2, 2720QM, 675 SLI's, 6 gig with the blue ray for about $350 more.Worth it for that better machine?

 

@senodil - yes, the 675M SLI is basically the same thing as 580M SLI. With that configuration I would be willing to pay $350 more for the R2 because of the newer chipset, minor performance improvements and additional SATA ports. The M18x R2 should come with a 3720QM, not a 2720QM. If that's not a typo in your post I would be asking some questions.

 

You are correct, it was a typo. Thank you very much for the advice, +rep!

 

Thank you so much for your responses, I will ask for a refund on the M14X and M18x r2 as there have been toooo many issues. The screens being the biggest problems, I mean switching out the screens 3 times and not one time were they dead pixel free is a bit of a worry, the other issues on top is another thing all together. As I was about to avoid Alienware all together I went ahead and bought this instead lol and will purchase additional warranty with Dell.

What do you guys think? A bit of a step up from 675m sli isn't it lol


Edit: It is in fact an r4 and not an r3, maybe why that mistake is the reason I got it cheaper. To build the same machine in Australia comes to 6k.

 

Hi guys,
im having bsod issues with my m18xr2. when i received the system i turned on and after about 2 hrs when i was about done setting it up, i got the bsod while i was installing the printer driver.it was caused by 'ntoskrnl.exe' .. then after 30 mins i started getting bsod for the nvidia driver and the intel wifi driver aswell..dont remember the bug name. i have the xmp 1866 mem 8gb installed also sli 675m and samsung pm830 sata3 ssd... i ran 3d mark to stress test the gpu and it ran fine. i then ran a stress test for the ssd from alien autopsy that was fine aswell and same for the ram... computer is running super fast just dont understand why getting the bsods... also i reinstalled windows from recovery cd a few times still got the bsods, however the last time i reinstalled it didnt show bsod, but then i used it for about 2 hours running stress test etc. since then im abroad travelling so i dont have the system to check it more comprehensively.... when i get back ill post the bug check errors... till then any guesses????? thanks for the help.... did ran all the alien autopsy checks in detail everything passed windows score 7.8, 7.9, 7.9, 7.9, 7.9....3d mark score was 5616 i think

 

i have 2 pm830 installed.no raid setup and i get a transfer rate of around 425kb. how much do you get, just want to compare. also my boot time is 17 sec but if i install a fresh win7 not the alienware one then i get around 10 (didnt exactly time it but was alot quicker).. ure getting 6 sec on fresh install?

 

i hope you meant to say 425MB, but thats your transfer rate between the two SSD no? what files are you copying between your two drives, large files or bunch of small files?

for fast window boot, do you know any tweaks for windows and SSDs? you have to change things in registry and msconfig for faster boot time. your 17 sec probably included your alienware head at the startup and the raid config screen if you have raid turned on, those two arent part of the window, they are bios time/ raid menu time etc.

as for your BSOD problem. im not sure if its because of XMP profile but i do know any computers or hardware not getting enough voltage/ power will malfunction. hard drive without enough power will be slow as hell. when I overclock CPU without enough voltage it shuts down or blue screen.

if its not power issue, then its probably driver problems.
what is the order for your drivers installation from fresh window?
do you use windows update? cause i dont, i turn it off right away.
my windows is fresh installed window, never once i installed update.


edit: i dont own a R2 but R1 shouldnt be much different than R2 other than chipset. intel's driver are pretty good and i havent heard much issues with R2 so far other than 7970m failing.

 

Thanks for the reply.. nd yeah my mistake its 425mb..yeah ur rite its between 2 ssds so its fast... Copying movies 1gb each...

With fresh install it boots quicker 10 sec without the raid menu nd head, but i then restored to factory installed.. factory install loads in 17sec..doesnt really matter to me if its not more than 20..

have not tested it on fresh install so cant coment if bsods appear on fresh install... Once i get back ill test nd will post wat happens..i own r1 too without any issues.. all the hardware including xmp are configured by alienware.. i only installed the 2nd ssd, giving that dell also configure the system with 3 ssds, i doubt its a voltage problem... If it is then maybe have to update the bios or some hardware faulty cuz havnt overclocked anything..it could be ur rite about the voltage and something rong with hardware but then all stress tests have been passed... What a mystery.lol

Again thnx for the reply.. btw i need to purchase another ssd, which one wud u prefer reliability wise (intel, ocz, samsung)

 

Hey could some one pm to me a post that shows the performance of a 2960xm cpu in an M18x-r2 please.. I know some one has done it.. im just confused as to who..

 

if youre looking for another SSD at the moment i would suggest you to wait. OCZ is having another new controller out due in a month, and intel is releasing 525 series in msata and 2.5 factor in a month or so as well, Q3/4 of 2012. other than that if you absolutely need it right this moment i would go for cheaper drive unless you have money to burn.

you can get a OCZ 3 240gb for 150 dollars if you catch it onsales which isnt much slower than samsung/intel etc (less than 5-10% in speed difference), easily save 50 dollars + tax

SSDs cost are dropping so if you wait for a few month probably will see 240gb for 150 very soon.

 

So im joining the club The 18 im sending back with the 7970s arrives tomorrow the rep said not to sign for it and tell dhl to return to sender. My new one with the 680s is estimated for the 18th Sept. Whoohoo!

 

Good choice. Sent mine back after 2 weeks of complete problems. Much happier with the 680m sli system.

 

Hello all,

I'm considering the purchase of m18x r2 in the next couple days, replacing my old studio xps. That thing would get seriously hot while just watching YouTube videos. Now I know the AW being a gaming laptop will definitely have cooling upgrades, but just how good is it? More than the CPU an GPU temps, how hot does the exterior shell of the laptop get under heavy gaming? I have been following this thread for a bit an just hope to hear from the owners themselves!

Thanks in advance!

 

It may have been juliant... I cannot remember now who it was.

Edit: Yes, it was...

 

Greetings,

I currently still own a Dell Studio 1537 and it does not even get warm from watching youtube as long as you clean the intakes a lot.

With that being said, nothing can touch Alienware when it comes to performance.

 

I was compeltly shocked today when i recieved my brand new mx18 r2. The box was scuffed up and really dirty. Not to mention i was missing a screw in my name plate. The dust was so bad that i had to wipe off the computer even though it was in a sleeve. People are probally like omg this guy is over reacting.







That is alot of dust inside the box and judging by the scuff marks they weren't very nice with it. Is there some damage that i wouldn't notice right away that could have happened? I have noticed a little bit of flickering when i play games. Could this be a result of poor treatement in transet or more of me maybe needing better video drivers.

I just can't believe a company can believe that its ok for $4,000 piece of equipment to be recieved like this.

 

what R2 did you get? what are the specs?
that is alot of dust.. it the computer damaged? any thing other than the screw noticeable?

 

I was goin to say grats but after seeing those photos ewwww.... You should return it and order a NEW one.

Did you get this from the Outlet?

 

^outlet machines won't come in the original packaging^

I am not surprised DELL has little to none Quality control it could be missing internal screws too but the dust maybe something the carrier did

just call them and demand a replacement

 

if only alienware would use desktop processor in a laptop LOL.