Replacement ?

Hey

I got my M11x R1 (C2D 1.3Ghz U7300) a little over a week ago (16th), and as soon as I took it out of the box, I noticed a couple of things. When closed, the right side is not completely closed, there is a pretty decent gap between the screen and the base. When opened, there is a pretty decent gap between the screen and the base too (about twice as much as on the left side - hinge issue?). The touchpad buttons are super loose, the right one is pressed inside on the right side of it (when you click on that right side of it, it won't work, have to click on the left side, or in middle, but have to put some pressure to get it to work). On top of that, the upper right corner of the screen itself is sticking out a little out of the base (I tried pushing it in, but won't go back in). These things didn't bother me at first, but they started to bother me now.

Also, whenever I enable the overclock in BIOS to 1.7Ghz, after about 10 minutes of use, I get the BSOD error, and my system restarts, and that keeps happening all the time unless I disable the overclock back to 1.3Ghz, which runs without any issues. I noticed some people run the overclock without any issues, and some have same BSOD issue as well. Is there something wrong with any of the hardware inside? or is it something else? Because I heard different stories with that.

With all that said, do you guys think I can tackle Dell/Alienware to get a new replacement ? Anyone had any similar issues?


amero

 

I dont know if you will get a replacement, but you should confront dell/alienware with these problems you have stated. It will most probably be a long phone call since they will do an online diagnostics with your hardware, also take some pics of the gaps and other problems with the build quality.

 

1) Call Alienware (not Dell) about the problems with the screen. The condition of the screen is absolutely unacceptable for a new product that you bought. As instantcold mentioned, be ready to take pictures of the problem and send them to the Alienware rep.

2) Overclocks are never guaranteed. Your machine / CPU simply may not be able to maintain a 1.7Ghz overclock. Try slowly lowering your overclock a bit (down to 162Mhz, 160Mhz, 158Mhz, etc) until you find a setting where your machine is stable. There is nothing "wrong" or "broken" about your laptop if it is unable to maintain a 166Mhz overclock.

 

How do you slowly lower the overclock on the m11x R1? In the BIOS the setting is a simple ENABLE or DISABLE for the overclock. In addition, since part of the sales pitch for this product is that it can be overclocked to 1.73Ghz - it would seem that in order to avoid being guilty of false advertisement they would need to be providing end users with a product that was capable of maintaining a stable overclock of 1.73Ghz, right?

 

kent1146 is referring to the R2 which has incremental settings for overclock. The R1, as you've noted, does not.

 

Yeah, no way to control the level of OC. It's either enabled or disabled


And Dell's advertising is smarter than we think. It never guarentees a 1.73GHz OC (whether it's even 1.73 GHz is debateable - some believe it's only 1.6GHz), it only states the laptop is capable of such a feat. Now if Dell shipped the m11x with a 1.73GHz OC as a standard, default, enabled option, then you would have a case. But in this world, Dell's lawyers are more technical than we think

 

My mistake. I own an M11x R2, which allows incremental overclocks. I had assumed the M11x R1 had the same capability. I assumed incorrectly.

As for the overclockability... it is what it is. I'm sure that there is disclaimer language somewhere that states that overclocking to 1.73Ghz is not guaranteed to be stable. But regardless, it is what it is. Your only real option is to call Alienware and use that as grounds for issuing a refund or sending you another unit, though I doubt it would work.

 

does anyone here run the R1 overclocked without any issues? is there a HUGE difference in performance (games, etc.) ?

 

i run my m11x overclocked for the last month, no no problems it runs none stop 24 hours a day most of the time! i would ring up dell after 3 call ours they will send u a new unit ask for i5 version they will probably be happy to send it, ive owned a m17x from day one it had problems after 6 call outs and 3 brand new ones sent to my house i got a full refund