*OFFICIAL* M11xR1 Owners Lounge - Part 4

Here's the GPU switching upgrade for Linux.

http://airlied.livejournal.com/71434.html

Did someone tried it with M11X ?

 

Someone tried it and it didn't work. I'm planning on installing Gentoo this weekend and using the latest rc kernel. Hopefully I can get enough reliable data to send to airlied and he can get it working.

 

As far as I can say.... there are users out there who use a laptop @home and office. So for me it is nice to have a Powercord on both places and only carrying the Laptop. I'm not sure if its important by the M11x because of the 6h use - and its only for my private use.... but I think loosing the powercord is a bad reason ;-)

Andy

 

Damn when are the problems with this laptop going to stop? I'm going to be ordering it soon but with all these complaints about various issues (hardware, software, bios, etc etc..) I'm starting to have second thoughts.. : (

 

Received my M11x today and was enjoying it until I opened it up. Weird scratches around the hinge/bezel, a trackpad that looks like it was used (shiny spots), and a round grease stain on the left-hand palmrest.

Looks suspiciously like a refurb...anyway, called Dell and they are shipping a new replacement.

I called a few hours later to see why I hadn't received a replacement order confirmation and my complaining earned me a $100 credit back to my card (and a likely-false promise to expedite the replacement).

Other than all that, it's an amazing little machine!

 

@jabij5 = The problems are mainly due to teething problems. Its a new machine and they are working out some kinks. So far only a handful have gotten faulty units and they are getting theirs fixed/replaced anyway so don't fret.

 

Actually I think these forums are quiet compared to the number of units sold. Why? Even with a few issues the M11x is a fun game machine and the owners are doing just that, playin games.

 

I just hope I get a solid build and it is not a refurb.

 

Gotta say i am jealous of all the people who phoned Alienware and managed to get a replacement or even a credit!! I have just spent two hours o nthe phone trying to get through to ONE SINGLE person that can help me. I get BSOD when i overclock and i want either a replacement or a return. Phoned a week ago and they told me to wait a week then phone back and they could help me with a replacement but now the issue is under investigation with the technician as to what causes the BSODso they won't replace it until the techs come to a conclusion. In the meantime my 21 day return window is running out in a week and i am stuck with either returning it and paying the 10% restocking fee or keeping it and hoping they resolve the issue. I think its ludicrous that i get a product that is BROKEN right out of the box and they will not replace it. After 2 hours of transfers, disconnects, wrong department, right department wrong country, right country wrong department, 6 different 1-800 numbers, 3 different 1-866 numbers. 15 people who's sole job is to speak english on a phone all day that cannot for the life of them speak english, a ton of apologies and all i get is a curt "you have two options, wait for it to be fixed, for which we have no ETA, or return it". Well i have filed a return request with a customer service rep who cannot actually do anything but forward the request because in the two hours i was on the phone guess what? THE RETURN DEPARTMENT CLOSED!!! And happens to close two hours earlier than the tech support and customer service guys. So to even talk to these guys i have to find a place to hide at work and try to get through to them with out spending another two hours on the phone. Dell and AlienWare CS is less then worthless. Not a single one of them has a clue what their phones do or who handles what. All they want to do is pass the buck to the next guy in line.
TL;DR: DELL AND ALIENWARE CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS
ps- i do actually like the m11x and would keep it if they didnt jerk me around and it was functioning as it should

 

^ sorry to hear that. Yeah I had to speak with tech support first before I called up CS and told them I need a replacement. I did sort of lie and say tech support recommend I get a replacement and the lady did do that. Anyway, they messed up my first replacement order and it got canceled but my new order should be arriving with the week.. awesome. And my machine doesn't sound as bad as yours. I just complained about my fan being on all the time and some gaps around the bezel..

 

Well i really do like the machine my only problem is that the OC doesn't work. I paid for a fully functioning machine and i want one. I didnt spend a $1000 to have something that is almost fully functioning.

 

Send an email to Michael Dell or Team Blackhawk (google it if you don't know).

 

so here is my letter to mr dell. any suggestions? do i come off as a jerk help me plz people, you are my only hop

"Hello Mr Dell,

My name is the (markjohn). I am the proud owner of a Dell XPS 710 and have been 100% satisfied with my XPS. I have had it serviced under warranty and the service was great and the technicians very helpful.
I am writing today to say that i have recently purchased an Alienware m11x and i am far from satisfiied with my laptop and the customer service i have received for it thus far. I have taken my dissatisfaction to the forums of www.notebookreview.com and the members there have suggested i write you. Taking my issue to a higher power i guess this would be.

my post to the forums is below:
Gotta say i am jealous of all the people who phoned Alienware and managed to get a replacement or even a credit!! I have just spent two hours o nthe phone trying to get through to ONE SINGLE person that can help me. I get BSOD when i overclock and i want either a replacement or a return. Phoned a week ago and they told me to wait a week then phone back and they could help me with a replacement but now the issue is under investigation with the technician as to what causes the BSODso they won't replace it until the techs come to a conclusion. In the meantime my 21 day return window is running out in a week and i am stuck with either returning it and paying the 10% restocking fee or keeping it and hoping they resolve the issue. I think its ludicrous that i get a product that is BROKEN right out of the box and they will not replace it. After 2 hours of transfers, disconnects, wrong department, right department wrong country, right country wrong department, 6 different 1-800 numbers, 3 different 1-866 numbers. 15 people who's sole job is to speak english on a phone all day that cannot for the life of them speak english, a ton of apologies and all i get is a curt "you have two options, wait for it to be fixed, for which we have no ETA, or return it". Well i have filed a return request with a customer service rep who cannot actually do anything but forward the request because in the two hours i was on the phone guess what? THE RETURN DEPARTMENT CLOSED!!! And happens to close two hours earlier than the tech support and customer service guys. So to even talk to these guys i have to find a place to hide at work and try to get through to them with out spending another two hours on the phone. Dell and AlienWare CS is less then worthless. Not a single one of them has a clue what their phones do or who handles what. All they want to do is pass the buck to the next guy in line.
TL;DR: DELL AND ALIENWARE CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS
ps- i do actually like the m11x and would keep it if they didnt jerk me around and it was functioning as it should

As you may be able to tell i wrote this right after i got off the phone with customer service. While the wording is admittedly rather rude, the fact remains that i did spend two hours on the phone trying in a desperate attempt to get somebody who could actually help me. It was not two hours on hold either, which i could almost forgive, but two hours of transfers, disconnects, wrong department, right department wrong country, right country wrong department, 6 different 1-800 numbers, 3 different 1-866 numbers. 15 different people and basically all i got out of it was too bad(in so many words).

I really do enjoy the m11x, it is a great little machine, exactly what i want. But my particular m11x does not work as advertised, as intended, or exactly as i want and i feel that a replacement is a viable option, especially as it is a brand new laptop i received on the 22 of march 2010, so it is less than two weeks old. I don't know if this is actually your email or if you can help me out at all but anything at all you can do to aid my situation would be greatly appreciated. Hell, even just a response would let me know that there is somebody out there who is actually listening to what i am saying. Otherwise i am afraid that as much as i do love my Dell products, i will not be able to be a return customer if customer service is content with letting paying customers make do with their broken products.

 

This laptop is so money...
Im gonna have to say I will wait for the ulv icore5/7 update. Hopefully they add esata/usb3.0

 

Does anyone know how much the battery cost to replace, if we need too and if so where can we get it from since it is not on Dell's site?

 

If you search on eBay "M11x Battery", a seller has it for $129.99 new. Hopefully that isnt the price thru dell but I guess it gives us a rough idea.

 

Hello guys, I would like to know if the 2GB RAM plus 1GB from the video card is enough to play all the new games or if it is necessary to upgrade to 4GB. Thanks in advance. Hopefully not, because it's not cheap to upgrade... I would like only to upgrade to core 2 duo

 

the c2d upgrade isn't as value for $$$ as the ram upgrade. Unless you really need the virtualisation take the 4gb ram. Go over to the benchmark thread, its proven that the difference isn't existent.

 

Agreed with nuke. The only thing the SU7300 will get you is the ability to run virtual systems. If you don't know what that is or don't do it, then stick with the SU4100 and save $100.

If I had the SU4100 or got my hands on a system with one, I would prove it with 3DMark06 and Vantage.

Both CPU's run at the same freq so your not going to lose anything as far as processing speed.

 

Off topic: what's with the red names now?

Anyway, don't get an HDD upgrade form Dell. Its overpriced,since you can get a 500GB 7200 RPM HDD from Newegg for $75 easily.

 

Red names are typically reserved for Banned members. It's an April Fools joke played by the admins. Just make your way to the " Private Admin Forum" (Off Topic - another april fools by the admins.)

 

If the battery is fully charged I unplug it, but if it isn't I leave the power plugged in. I'm not doing it for battery life per-se,it's just that I don't like the idea of leaving batteries plugged in for excessively long amounts of time.

 

I usually forget to unplug the laptop once it's fully charged. However, the battery should stop charging once full since overcharged batteries do tend to explode...at least the Lithium Ion battery do anyway. I think the M11x uses a Polymer battery but in any case, it shouldn't prove to be a bad move to forget to unplug the battery once in a while.

 

I'm sorry, maybe I understood it wrong, but for me you guys said the opposite thing. DR650 said the c2d is for the virtualization, while nuke said "Unless you really need the virtualisation take the 4gb ram", so it's the ram needed for virtualization. Which one is correct? Is the 4GB RAM upgrade worth and needed for gaming or not?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=464975

The number of people happy with their purchase far outweighs those having problems, you'll probably be fine.

 

For gaming, get the 4gb ram. the SU7300 is NOT necessary

 

would there be a great performance boost if i change the 4gb 1066mhz RAM installed into 1333mhz ddr3 4gb ram?

also how bout i max out the RAM at 8gb 1066mhz?

 

nope and nope. 1333mhz could be useful if we figure out how to overclock though

 

RAM runs at 800MHz in both standard and overclock mode (thanks to AW's memory divider configuration). So even getting the stock RAM to run at 1066MHz is impossible as we can't configure the memory divider (FSB: DRAM ratio) in the BIOS...

So, yes, just to clarify, the 1066MHz RAM in this laptop is useless. They should have shipped it with 800MHz RAM and made the base price cheaper. Another reason why I'm waiting for the refresh.

 

I wouldn't bother with the letter (especially one of that length). By the time anyone got around to reading it (unlikey), you'd be an old man.

However, I've had a lot of good luck with the "Unresolved Issue" option on Dell's website. Provided you have an existing reference number, you should get some satisfaction using this route. I've used it 3 times (two for a projector replacement and once when a refund credit wasn't appearing) and got a call back from a supervisor/escalation team member within 24 hours.

Furthermore, you'll have a lot more luck getting a fast replacement if your issue is cosmetic (e.g., warping, broken/chipped plastic, scratches, etc.). as these don't require a technician to approve a replacement (they can't troubleshoot these issues).

 

hi
4 Gb is more than enough for gaming.
Don't forget you have 233 Gflop of graphic processing power inside of this baby dragon with 1GO of dedicated high speed RAM, for this size, no other laptop can beat it, and it will make cry all the guys who bought netbook.

But of course the more you have the more windows is taking advantage of it...
I have 8 GIG and i can multitask, running many OS at the same time on Vmware, and things that requires a lot of RAM.

Difference between ram @1333 and ram@1000 mhz is not noticeable ... IMO I prefer to have MORE RAM and BE ABLE TO DO MORE with my computer than LESS RAM @ higher speed !

Anyway this baby rocks, it is robust and i love it.
So far, I had no problem at all with it.

 

I agree with this. I sent a complaint e-mail to the michael dell e-mail that everyone talks about when i was having issues with both of my (then) brand new SXPS systems and i got a reply from some lady in india saying she was an executive resolutions specialist. She was completely worthless and the only thing she wanted to do was apologize and ask me stupid questions.

I got my way by filing a BBB complaint.

 

One more reason I was asking this question because older Dell Inspiron models had an issue with power plug that plugs into the laptop. After long time use they got so loose that they didnt stay plugged into the laptop. Hence my concern for constantly plugging and unplugging. Hopefully it doesnt happen here.

 

Not true, i've had major success with a mailed letter. (Physical mail, USPS)
Got a free laptop out of it, and sold it for $1000 to buy my m11x.

 

I ran a windows index rating before and after overclocking, and the memory (ram) got like a 0.5 increase. Same as the CPU right...

I can't run the overclock stable, other than that the M11x is 11/10 awesome so far. I don't really care about the over clock at the moment as it runs everything I've wanted beautifully.

 

If you can't - I'd get it replaced ASAP. I've got no problems running OC'd.

 

It's a bios issue of sorts, the thing doesn't get hot it just restarts. New bios soon so I read - the thing is absolutely perfect apart from this, The M11x really blows people away playing games all on high and for example on Tomb Raider Anniversary, 16XaaQ and 16x AF... Looks super nice, absolutely solid frame rates too.

 

It's not a bios issue because not everyone has the problem.

 

I am loving my m11x now that I've had it close to a month but my keymat seems to be not laid completely flat near the "[" key. It functions beautifully but it is cosmetically noticeable so I would like to get it fixed. I called about this a week into ownership and they did want to send a tech out but I said I would just wait to decide because I was afraid to have a tech rip apart my otherwise great m11x.

Do you guys/gals think it would be wise to still have a tech come out and roll the dice on damaging other pieces of the laptop? What has to be removed to get to the keyboard? Thanks for any advice.

Mike

 

Whats to lose? If a tech messes it up they send you a new system. I say go for it. You paid for a warranty, may as well use it.

 

I got some weird results when I upgraded to 4GB of Memory can someone help me figure it out...

 

I didn't actually pay for any extra warranty but I thought I get the 1st year of in-home repair included?

 

Well, WEI isn't exactly a reliable way of testing your system, but this is still very strange. Even your RAM went down. Besides primary hard disk I would expect all scores to be (a lot) higher). Your system overpowers mine in almost every way and my WEI scores are all between 7 and 7.2. Your system should easily beat mine.

OK, I just checked my scores and it turns out I lied. My prim. HDD is actually 5.9, but the rest is processor 7.1, Memory (RAM) 7.3, Graphics 6.9, Gaming graphics 6.9. You should still beat me in all of them.

 

Is your system a M11x as well? If not, it doesn't make any sense comparing numbers - different CPU, RAM, motherboard, etc.

 

I've read in the review that this notebook starts at $800... but I only see it for $1,188. Did they raise the price or am I missing something?

 

My suggestion, is to have a look at the disassembly pictures and/or videos yourself. If you're confident enough, request they send you the keyboard (it's a single piece only), and do it yourself.

It's fairly idiot proof if you're even slightly technically inclined hardware-wise, and you can be sure you will be doing your best since it's YOUR machine.

The 2 jokers (their job title is "Engineer", but I won't do a disservice to engineers out there by labelling them that) who came to fix mine were either clueless (fixing it ad-hoc as if they haven't gotten training for it) or rushed/couldn't care less. The first one just rammed it in till the keyboard wasn't flat and bulging up in the middle. The second one looked like he was more careful, but didn't even notice there is a hinge on the upper left and right (roughly below the TAB and page-up keys) By luck he got it in the right hinge but didn't fit in the left one properly. He was not even aware of there being a hinge there till I told him what I suspected.

Of course, the techs at your place might be better trained and/or paid more, so it's up to you. I certainly wouldn't bother anymore. My warranty is now only officially for getting parts replaced, I'm voluntarily forsaking the "service" part, barring something which is beyond my ken.

Good luck!

 

I don't like WEI at all. 1.0 to 7,9 ? I didn't know this for a long time so I thought my desktop was bad (well, I was wondering what could possibly be 10/10).

 

Thats because it is built to expand according to windows, as technology expands so to will the number so there is no 10 yet

 

All i can say is



WOW

I do not know why i even second guessed the processor, i am able to run 3 different accounts of world of warcraft, multibox - linking their actions so they all do the same things, three shaman =D, and am sitting at 60% cpu usage all while using firefox and itunes. neat

Did i mention i am running 50 frames on high?

 

Welcome aboard Spalding!

Still in love with my system after 6 wondrous days of ownership. The only downside is I seem to have developed the fan bug as mine seems to never shut off now and its eating my battery life like crazy. Its only done that the last couple days after a windows update reboot. Hmmmm