M11x Hinge/Screen touching Keyboard Discussion (R1 & R2)

I had my monitor replaced yesterday. I have a R1 units from early march with the screen coming out but I was on a long business trip so I kept it like that. After a few week the left hinge broke. I was a bit shocked to see how the hinge are designed actually. The center part is very strong and made of metal but each side are only hold by the 2 side of the plastic cover on the monitor case. I didn't see any screw holding both part together so I guess the plastic clip holding both cover side just broke after a while from the pressure given when you close the monitor. In my case, the hinge was pushing out of the casing each time I was closing it. I dont know if its a common design for laptop but I hope I wont have to replace it again. To be fare I had awesome 5 star service from Alienware. Called on wednesday and had the tech at my door with the new part friday morning.

 

Which warranty did you have?

 

Doesnt everyone get 1yr to start? Not sure. Im definitely going to keep a close eye.

The KB cover comes as part of a cheap "set" common right now in Kuala Lumpur. You can buy them seperate and suspect they are available elsewhere also. There are many sizes and this one I had to only trim width. I use it mostly to keep gunk out of the keys (or spills). Works VERY well for keeping small bits out.

 

I had the normal cheapest 1 year warranty plan

 

Does anyone have a small click when the they open the screen? It is gonna break? :<

 

A very good and clear observation. I think it is apparent that the current hinge design isn't the most robust. Depending on hinge alignment and user pattern (closing and opening the hinge daily), chance is it's gonna go kaput one day.

 

It all started with a small click and at the end it was big. Check the hinges from the back when you close and open it. If you can see a gap at the seam of one of the hinge then its broken. I had a 5mm gap and could see the inside clearly on mine. It obviously push and put lots of stress on the top part when you close the lid.

Attachement is a pic of my new monitor hinge

 

Yeah have the same problem. Seems like it's gonna get replaced. Weren't you afraid that then had to take ur laptop apart to change the screen? I dunno if i can live thru that ;p

Some pics of my failness screen

Imageshack - dscf1103w.jpg
Imageshack - dscf1104d.jpg
Imageshack - dscf1105o.jpg

 

it's not the gaps in the hinges that bother me it is the contact between the keyboard and the screen, it seems like it makes pressure on the hinges and the screen. hopefully normal use breaks it in or something, if not i have a one year warranty that is plenty of time to call dell if i need to.

 

Okay, that puts me at ease.

I'll wait it out and see what happens once mine actually breaks since I have the warranty. And seeing how the hinges are poorly built, I'll make sure to extend it once the 1 year is running out. I take such good care of my laptops and have never ever had one of them break on me, and once this one does it will most definitely be AW's poor build design.

 

If keys are holding screen up its actually EASIER on the hinges. Not that you would want it that way.

 

Why do you say that? Right before it closes, you can feel the design makes it snap shut. If the keyboard is holding it above where the design makes the lcd want to be, wouldn't that be worse on the hinge?

 

Hey, I am new here, and I was wondering, how serious of an issue can this be? Cause I ordered my M11x R2 3 days ago and I am kinda paranoid. Say my M11x were to have a hinge issue, would it be worth it to send it back for a replacement?

 

The issues range from keyboard imprint on the screen (mild) to scratches on the screen (medium) to hinges completely falling apart requiring a full replacement (severe).

If you get a defective unit I would recommend returning it and re-ordering instead of asking for a replacement so your warranty period start with the new unit.

 

17 pages already? wow.

 

I see where you are going but there would have to be a lot of tension from the keys and also a forced closed lid. If its actually being held open the tension on the hinges is less.

If you have keys that are above the case line when pressed then that is a problem in my view no matter what.

 

Well, this is what has happened to my hinge. I'm getting the screen replaced tomorrow, but am I going to have to keep replacing it every two months? I really like the machine, but I don't want to have to sell it for something that won't break.

 

Did you have any cracking or popping in the hinge?

 

My hinges gaps are not even. I guess it's only matter of time until it breaks.

 

It may or may not break. If it doesn't break and your 1yr is about to end, I would suggest getting the additional warranty (I swear I'm not a Dell employee ). This laptop is very good, it just seems like the hinge quality is sub-par.

 

I always get 3yr minimum warranty when I buy Dell.

That's how I got M11x for my M1330 replacement .

It is time to extend it again though. Only 6x days left on this one.

This hinge is some crappy design though.

 

Adding option to poll - "I'm satisfied with my system" to provide coverage for all owners.

 

There should be an other option on the poll.

Not even hinge gaps, but I'll live with it.

 

Done - added. The reason for the change is to provide owners who dont feel this is an issue an option in the poll.

 

x) Thanks!!

 

Hmn I think I said it wrong on my last comment.

What I meant to say was uneven hinge gaps lol. My bad.

 

The intent of the poll was to assess the proportion of M11x that have their screen touch the keyboard.

The poll has nothing to do with satisfaction, in fact there's already a poll on satisfaction. Adding a one sided question is detrimental as people who are not satisfied don't have a vote.

Same with the hinge question, no choice for people to report uneven hinges.

I would appreciated it if the poll could be restored to it's original intent which is to quantify keyboard-screen contact. Any addition to this poll only serves to dilute the results. If you want another poll on whatever please feel free to start your own.

 

Well, it did pop out for about a week or two before it finally decided to crap out on me. It would be a little uneven, and when I closed the lid, it would be about half an inch higher than it should have been, yet I could pop it back into place easily enough. But every time I closed the lid, it would happen once more. Ugh.

 

I had the exact same failure and on the same side.

 

Did you get yours repaired/replaced? And how is it holding up now if you did?

 

your saying i can get a better m11x replacement in the future..if my m11x happens to break o.o? with the accidental warranty lol

i meant that, so i will get a better version in the future and they stop making the m11x r2? hehe

 

I think the assumption that key contact = hinge failure is flawed. It might have something to do with hinge failure but we cant say that. I think the issues occur before the lid closes far enough to have keys be the issue.

Exception: if keys are above case when pressed. That would be bad!

 

Mine had no key contact. Yet my hinge broke. Before the hinge crapped out, the screen was perfectly fine - no contact or anything.

 

For those of you who are lazy to read 19 pages of hinges, here is a direct statement from our resident AW M11x regarding hinge issue. You draw your own conclusion

 

So. the hinge issue is primarily about, like, getting smudges on the screen from the keyboard due to misalignment, correct? Just trying to understand. I mean, I've seen three things so far...

1.) Keyboard smudging issue.
2.) Hinge dislocating.
3.) Hinge cracking/snapping/becoming damaged.

I've had two and three, but NOT one. Does this make me an unusual enigma, or what? And is the outlook so far that I may experience the same in the future?

 

The smudging issue is moreso dirt and oil residue from your fingers being pressed on the screen due to contact from the keyboard. I haven't heard of anyone getting legitimate scratches that won't come off.

The hinge thing is an entirely different phenomenon and related to a quality control issue at AW (however minor it may be).

 

It seems like their Alienware US tech support # is down.
EDIT: Nevermind, instead of 1-866-287-6726 it's 1-866-287-6727 for Alienware.

EDIT2: After some fumbling around with pictures and a video, a tech is going to call me within 24 hours to place an appointment. If you're going to call AW for tech support, I recommend getting a video or some pictures before you call them to make the process much faster. You also need your service tag.

Here's my video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fXylUSrg7k

 

Rename your video to something like M11x hinge issue so you can get more views than 17

 

Fixed P: -

 

I payed top dollar for this machine. The keys rubbing against the screen/faulty hinge is unacceptable.

 

@ Chicken Chaser. I feel same as you regarding the screen issue. However, see below for Brian (AW rep) response. Apparently, AW purposely designed the laptop so that keyboard touches the screen and leaves imprints, leaving your to wipe your screen every time you open the lid. However, I didn't buy my laptop to wipe my screen off every time I open the lid.

 

He's lying through his teeth due to having to succumb to his higher-ups. If they did design it to do that then they're idiots.

 

The KB touches the screen because there isn't an LCD bezel. Not bothered by smudges... if it really bothers you then use a plastic KB cover, hinge integrity issues are my only concern.

 

Mind you-My R2 also had hinge issue--left hinge had more gap than my right hinge

 

did it break?

 

Yeah we all know what Brian from Dell said. We're still waiting for him to explain why ~30% of the units according to this poll don't have the screen touching the keyboard and confirm which is the correct build. Screen touching the keyboard or not...

 

Just had to call the AW tech support on some other issue, but I did mention about the hinges not being even, and told him I wasn't sure if it's something I should be worried about. The tech insisted I get the LCD replacement. I mean I was like I really don't need it at the moment, but he was like you definately should get it fixed.. and the tech is coming tomo or a day after...

My fear of field techs are they sometimes to make the system worst than it is now....

 

lol. So if he insisted, then they must have a service bulletin out there to provide a mandatory LCD replacement if a customer brings up hinge issue.

This means:
1)AW is fully aware of the hinge issue, because sending out a field tech costs $ to dell, and dell has no reason to spend the money when the customer insists it's not an issue for him/her

This does not mean
1) AW changed its white paper to correct the design error(s) related to hinges

 

I could just mean that I had awful nice tech support dude too.

My so called problem is that when the LCD lid is open, the gap on the right side is slightly bigger than the left, so when you close the lid, the LCD lid and the bottom housing isn't exactly flush. That's what I said to the tech and he said that it's better to fix it now than letting it become a problem down the road.

I did tell him it really doesn't bother me that much, and can wait until something breaks.

 

The poll is flawed... you can have keys touching but not have identified any problem or noticed any issue. "Paper test" allows for touching.

The problem is that you can have hinges that work ok but still have contact YET others that didnt have contact until the hinge started to fail. How to determine that?

If the main criteria to having a defect is imprints from keys you will have even less luck using this poll as a "gotcha" moment with support. Brian responded clearly if you read into what he is saying... if the hinge hasnt failed they do not see a problem. If hinge has failed you have options with support. Due to design, your keys WILL TOUCH if they stick up high enough from case.

Note: I think the design is flawed which allows for higher fail rates. It is pretty much up to me though to do what I can to prevent hinge failure. A preemptive screen replacement doesnt change the design flaw.