my first order came with not screw on the botton cover and three death pixel. but in your case, make sure the machine work properly if not, call then and demand a replacement. dell support is exellent!
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Wow dusty! So long as the machine is safe, then it's ok in my books. As for the screws, check the bottom, under the service panel for missing screws, they tend to be missing there in my experience. For the flickering, we need to know your config. so we can better direct you to fixes or driver updates etc. Admittedly not the best experience so far, but the M18x is a beast of a machine and hopefully you'll get to enjoy the power soon.
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I'd guess the dust is from the shipping... I don't imagine there's a whole ton Dell/AW could have done about that. I had some issues w/ drivers and the like at first, but I have dual 7970Ms in mine.
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I have the radeon i7-3720qm
16gb ram
windows ultimate
Crossfire 7970
2 ssd drives raid 0
Flickering mainly was in gw2 but i did see in cs global. I am still getting awesome performance with all settings high in both games. -
I absolutely hate the new crappy boxes they use. They are complete trash. Mine arrived with the tape seal broken and one corner bent. This led to the box looking like it was always open. I thought someone already opened it... Luckily it was all fine inside.
I know they're trying to cut down on materials but they went way too far. -
Was any dust inside the velvet/silk cover ? -
I can confirm that there is some flickering in GW2 with 7970Ms even with the latest cap file (12.8 cap 2) which did some improvement on that regard.
I'm sure its going to get fixed eventually by either another cap or drivers. -
Also someone who has the custom plate on bottom is that how yours looks? Looks like machine that put screw in burnt the medal when it missed? i dont know just looks weird -
GW2 runs mostly fine for me, but I get occasional weird-ness with menus and the pop-up text elements. Like, everything will be running great, but when I get near an NPC the bubble with "[F] Greet" pops up and that bubble will flicker between a normal render and a solid color. Same thing happens with tool-tips when mousing over a piece of gear or item, although sometimes I see the text that should be in the tool-tip appear in some strange spot and rendered at some odd angle. Performance is otherwise great, and the occasional graphical glitch hasn't interfered with my gameplay. Running 12.8 and (I think) CAP3 12.7.
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Did you buy direct from Dell? My reason is that Dell usually ships the box within another box. At least that's how I got mine. So, it is very strange that yours was shipped without an outer box.
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Seems after i sent them the pictures, and they saw the picture of the bottom plate. Also since i said something about the flicker they are going to send out a new system.
Pretty impressive customer service.
If everything works out alright -
The dust unfortunately could be carrier like others said with the cut down on boxing. The missing screw is ... UGH! Especially if it wasn't outlet!!!
Glad to hear your being taken care of. There customer service is certainly one of the best. -
Grats on getting the replacement... I have to agree, dell has some of the best if not the best warranty/customer service. Im thinking about getting another 2 years on my warranty just cant decide if I should get full accidental or just the regular warranty since the cost difference is HUGE.
Goodluck OP. -
I don't have an M18x but I did just get a brand new M17x R4 in via Fedex today. It came double boxed so the actual box was inside another box. The situation may depend on the warehouse it is leaving however. I also wasn't missing any screws anywhere from what I could see even during dis-assembly (didn't get very far).
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does anyone know any other fans would work in m18x model? ive read on techinferno forums that there seems to be a 4000-5600 rpm fan for m14x which is quite noisy but i just want it for my own reason. i wouldnt mind having my fan go to 5k for another 5-10C cooling capability
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I received my m18x last Saturday.... Everything is fine except for a crack I found in the outer shell on the lower right side. Its below the area where the "Intel" and "Windows 7" stickers are located, in the mesh area where one of the FX lights resides. Its just a small cosmetic thing and I'm not going to make a big deal out of it unless I find other cracks.
So far I'm pretty impressed with the performance. -
Moved the "$4000 Dollar computer comes like this?" into the Owner's Lounge.
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Probably not, first post before coffee at 6:30am is my excuse. :SLEEP:
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I am a HAPPY and sad m18x owner ... I got a good deal on the r1 from tigerdirect but got 3 defective units in a row!!! First was bad pixels and MB issues ... second was more bad pixels and the screen was not put together well I could see metal clips through the black bezel. The third had a c shaped scratch right in the MIDDLE of the screen.
Done with than and in a hurry to get computing I went down to my local fry's and got an r2 ... but the body is not put together well and the edge of the palmrest where it comes next to the edge of the metal chassis has about 1mm gap on the right side and there are some other small areas of bent metal on the rear 4 metal surfices near the heat vents.
After spending 2 months going through 4 m18x's I am on the edge of just keeping this one as I am TIRED of these issues and the screen and other important bits seem ok as well as REALLY wanting a perfect one after 2 months of headaches, it would be as simple as driving 40min round trip and extchanging this one at fry's, but with SO MANY bad screens and other real issues I am really scared of doing that and getting more bad pixels... makes this alienware experience less than stellar regardless of the power underneath the hood (and I have a 680m ready and waiting to install along with a 2920xm)
at least my m14xr2 has been mostly without issues.
1. I am venting
2.Open to advice on whether I should exchange this one or just accept these flaws (both this laptop and alienware as a whole) -
Return it, spend the little extra to get a new one with exactly what you want from Dell / Alienware and know that even if you find something wrong with it, Dell will DEFINITELY make it right.
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I was a first time m18x R2 owner and was also worried customizing one online after reading the many horrible post from people here in the forums ( such as your experienced). I did pull the trigger and order my $4,500 m18x R2 anyway with finger cross. My m18x R2 came perfect free of any marks or inferction internally and externally the first time around.
Sorry for your bad experience regarding the m18x. Most likely this is just pure BAD LUCK in your part. I would definitely try again and hope next time around you get that perfect one you wanted. Nothing beats an alienware m18x (assuming its in perfect condition lol ) -
if you only had build/plastic issues, but with a fully functioning machine without any problem then keep it and down the road when parts get old you can simply replace the exterior. exterior tends to be cheaper especially with alienware laptop product. they uses the same exterior for most generation so you dont have to worry about not able to get them for a long period of time. -
This most recent m18x seems to only have issues with the metal chassis . I could live with the small dents in the back as I REALLY need to look to see them but the space between the metal chassis and palm rest is much more eye catching ... the front corners of the palm rest also seem to be slightly elevated and not flush with the metal chassis (it is flush towards the screen but you look along the sides towards the front they elevate about .5mm ... the m14x I am typing on has ALL edges flush and the other m18x's I went through did not have this issue either (theirs were worse) . I am tempted to take it ALL apart and see if I can fit it better ...
I want to just exchange it for a new one ... thankfully I can probably do it and be home with a new one within 1.5 hours time tomorrow. I am just so scared of opening the box and seeing some stuck pixels or other issues that are even worse than this one... I in short do not trust getting a "perfect one" ...
I guess I will see how I feel about it in the morning ... either way I need to get the upgrade parts in there ... spent $2000 or more on them 2 months ago and they have been sitting there waiting to be used ... funny and sad...
I welcome any and all insight and will update with my choice and perhaps the report of a perfect replacement if I go that route ...
btw when this is done it will have 2 or 3 512gb m4's in raid 0 and if 2 then a 750gb hdd and perhaps an msata for os (maybe) ... a clevo 4gb 680 (have now) and a second once it is all running well ... and a 2920xm (maybe change to a 3920xm depending on OC ability) and 32gb 1600mhz ram ... also will upgrade optical drive to bluray within a few monthsso I am wanting to get to it !!!!!!!
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I got my hands on a Windows 8 Pro version which is from DreamSpark(thanks to my school). I was trying to upgrade my OS but the installation wasn't successful. This Windows 8 Pro is the release version but I get to use it early since I have an account. I'm just wondering if it's worth it to continue with upgrading Windows 8. Will I have a lot of driver problems?
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alienware is known to have quality control check issues, well who doesnt right? anyway i have a very good advice for you and this should hold true for any laptop owners. if you understand your machine, its best to learn how disassembling and reassembling work, it'll save you much more time than waiting for a crappy tech to rough up your system. of course not most tech are rough but some are, and i dont want them to touch my laptop =/
it goes the same even if you bought warranty. imo if you find guides on how to repair it, you only need to wait for parts to arrive at your door step.
another thing you might want to know, all of the laptop currently on market right now will ONLY have two sata6gbps port (until haswell chipset next year). that means if you're going for triple raid0 for a top of line SSD, you're losing performance and only gaining storage. losing performance isnt the exact way to put it because you're probably still getting lower latency with more SSD but crucials m4 is old, 1.5-2 years old, there are way better SSDs out there for just 15-30 dollars more.
one last thing, all 480/512gb SSD are slower than it's 240/256gb version, its jsut the way SSD works, very different from hard drive. the only drives to defy that rule is vertex 512gb or samsung 512gb, so you might want to get those instead if you're going for 512gb version. otherwise, go for two 240gb version in raid 0, while a 3rd SSD of any kind running at Sata3gbps.
edit:
-3940xm 3.0ghz 4c/8t is coming out end of this month, should be out by mid or end of october, might want to get it over 3920xm because its probably a better chip.
-msata in R2 will run at 3gbps simply because both 6gbps port are already used up in 2 of the 3 HDD bay, theres no way to increase amount of 6gbps ports because its limited by chipset.
-680m with 4gb probably isnt worth the risk because warranty isnt covered by dell. if anything goes wrong, say your card dies on you in a year, you gotta spend so much money on just the card alone, not worth it imo. i mean if you can wait till 2013 or 2014.. chances are graphics card will be 4-6gb by then =), long wait tho. -
steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate
Totally agree, Brother Unityole .... +rep
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Thank you for the great reply ...
I already can disassemble the m18x in my seep ... just not sure if it is an assembly issue or part manufacturing issue ... I know the dents are not user fixable nor were the past issues I had lol. Great general advice though, which I completely agree with.
I do know about the sata3 and 2 connectors on the m18x but for some strange reason in the late night post I forgot that ... I was actually only planning 2 drives in raid 0 at most lol ...though possibly 3 ssd's total 2 in raid. I know the m4 is not tye fastest but it is serviceable and getting 512gb for about $400 was great!!! If you have a recomendation that is only a few bucks more pleased let me know, I was thinking samsung but it seems to be more than $100 more.
Also yes 512gb might be slower but being able to put all my games and programs etc.is priceless. Not the fastest but I want as much fast storage as I can get on a workstation replacement.
Yeah I know the clevo 689m does not have a warranty but I already own it and for video editning with premiere pro the extra vram could he quite useful. In general I very much agree and would buy it direct from dell 9 times out of 10.
Big thanks and I will plus one rep!!! -
heres some 512gb/480gb drives, these are in canadian prices so you can probably find them cheaper in the US.
Vertex 4 512gb Newegg.ca - OCZ Vertex 4 VTX4-25SAT3-512G.M 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Crucial M4 512gb Crucial Technology 512GB m4 SSD 2.5" Solid State
Sandisk extreme 480gb SanDisk Extreme 480GB 2.5IN SSD SATA3 SDSSDX-480G-G25 Solid State Drive - SANDISK - SDSSDX-480G-G25
sandisk extreme is sandforced currently going through trim issues but a new firmware should be out end of this month hopefully next month. everything else crucial samsung vertex do compressible/incompressible file the same and do not have speed difference.
if you do find any of them onsales, should be around 340-360 dollars so no need to rush and get them at 380-390. -
Hi Unityole, Hi all I am new to the forums, just thought I would chime in regarding
the Intel 3940xm processor. It is available now for the M18x R2 on Dell Australia website, link below.
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System.
Probably why they are offering free upgrade to the 3920xm. :thumbsup: -
im tempted to grab R2 with 3940 but i think i'll wait till haswell comes along. rumored to be another 5-10% better than ivybridge. -
and stick the m4 in my desktop for steam games !!! I just need to make sure I get 7mm ssd's
Well I went to fry's today to exchange the things and they were all out other than the floor modal. (they forgot to tell me that part when I called ahead) ... in short it will take em about 10 business days to get on in for me ...
I took a look at the floor modals of the r1 and r2 as they still have both out there and their build quality was WORSE than the one I have ... I am really thinking I might get one with worse build quality for my troubles of waiting 10 days (a good chance of that from the gaps and uneven screen bezels I saw today!!!)
When I came home I took mine apart to the mb and could see it must be either a slightly small palmrest or what is more likely a little extra room built into the chassis where the two aluminum structure's are connected near the back right side.
In short it does not look like I can fix it without replacing parts... and I have NO trust that the next one won't be the same or worse (perhaps "real defects like screen issues as well")
As such I am leaning toward canceling the exchange and just keeping this one LOL (maybe I could buy a new chassis and stuff on my own and fix it and perhaps custom paint it while I am at it)
still open to thoughts of course especially from unityole ... it might come down to keeping the "lesser and known issue" LOL sad sad and funny ... it is not like I paid lots of money and gone through 4 seperate m18x's for this ... oh wait I DID. LOL
and unityole thanks again for the great info ... I am wondering which of those drives will work best in raid ??? time to google!!! -
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System
At the moment we are having a Senate enquiry into price gouging in Australia involving pricing rip offs from Microsoft, Apple, many other software firms & Dell. Gee I wonder why..lol -
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I think the results with the Vertex 4 have been a mixed bag... absolutely excellent for some and not so much for others here in our community.
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3940xm: Introduction date September 2, 2012
maybe someone should get this and try it out in the R2.. see if you can break 5ghz =) and compare it's cooling capability to 3920xm and 2960xm. -
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Gents, given the awful performance of the Killer 1103 in the 5GHz band, I'm looking to change it out for my 5300N.
Are any of those full height slots pcie? Or just mstata?
Cheers. -
I ordered my m18 with Max specs 7 days ago and the wait is just God awful
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I have the 1640 model and pulled the bottom cover off it last week. Very little dust inside. Oh well, that's what brings me here anyways, upgrading! -
U wanna know what true pain is - to get the info, that a huge, heavy package arrived at home and you are on a business trip returning on friday night....
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steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate
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Hey im a little curious about something. I know on my old M17x I could change the color of the alien head on the lid, and with the 18x R1 there is no "stock" way of changing it. But Is it possible to change the color around through a software fix/program?
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Ahhh bummer. I figured as much. Oh well.
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something to look forward to =D
ocz new SSD should be out soon, hopefully its 7mm so i'd be able to fit 3 into the m18x 3 HDD caddy.
OCZ Vector Spotted, Barefoot 3 Lives :: TweakTown USA Edition -
I need help I have called dell multiple times about a replacement(they have already tried to repair it 4 times) and they said they would send me a email In the next couple days but it has been 3 weeks and I need my laptop for uni and it was 3.5k
Btw I'm Australian any tips would be greatly appreciated
*OFFICIAL* M18x R1/R2 Owner's Lounge Thread
Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by katalin_2003, May 1, 2012.