Why is alienware ignoring its customers? Where are the driver updates?

I'm not that picky when it comes to drivers, I've had laptops all my life, but seeing as I bought an enthusiast laptop for quite the price, I should be getting the best experience I could.

I dont get when they dont have updates every 2 or 3 months atleast... Its now 4 months and still no driver upgrade, and with massive amount of games coming out now I regret grabbing the m11x r1 just for that reason.

The least they could do is give us a program to create our own drivers or atleast let us manually upgrade just the NV drivers.

Absolutely terrible. Here is what got me pissed:

New in Release 260.99

Increases performance vs. v260.89 drivers in the following PC games: Civilization V (SLI), Fallout 3, Final Fantasy XIV, and Formula 1 Racing (DX11).
Adds SLI profiles for the following PC games:
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
Fallout: New Vegas
Improves compatibility for Fallout 3: New Vegas with antialiasing enabled.
Improves Alt-Tab compatibility for several PC games.
Added the following 3D Vision game profiles: Call of Duty: Black Ops and Tom Clancy's HawX 2.
With Release 260 drivers, the installation process for 3D Vision has changed. Please view this knowledgebase article for more information on the changes.

I'm sorry but with our laptops 1-10% increase means alot. (just an example)

3 of the games I plan to play are up there, Civ (granted sli, but still has minor improvements), fallout, and F1 Racing (which is barely playable on low.

 

I have to agree liquid. The R1 is overdue for updated drivers. Hopefully Chris and/or Brian's replacement will see this and pass this on to their team. The challenge will be to incorporate the NV and Intel drivers into the same installer - this will continue to be a hurdle for driver updates on the R1.

Great post though - +1.

 

Drivers from OEM's like Dell always lag behind actual driver releases. Remember, the priority of a company like Dell is to get STABLE drivers. Every call someone makes to their support help desk costs them money. And nobody is going to call support, because their copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleased II runs 5% slower than their friend's PC. STABLE drivers save them money.

On top of that, they cannot simply take drivers and post them to their support website. They need to test and validate the drivers so that they know of any potential problems or conflicts. They also need to train their support help desk on those problems, so that they know how to respond to problems when customers when they call.

All in all, I'd say that it is in Dell's best interest **NOT** to release driver updates. Good for their bottom line, bad for performance enthusiasts like us. Our best bet is to go around on forums like this, and soak in the expertise of other performance enthusiasts.

 

Regardless of how it usually works for most notebook OEMs, Brian stated a couple of months ago that a new driver was in the works and was tentatively slated for release last month for the R1. It just hasn't materialized and no update on its status has been given.

And I agree with the point that when you're buying and "Alienware" that you expect a little bit more regarding driver support than you would from your business class lines.

 

Almost sounds like you work for Dell kent. Graphics drivers are not rocket science. It should take no more than a month at most for them to test/validate a new release. Granted, the R1's hybrid driver complicates the process of creating the driver set but make no mistake. If they really wanted to provide updates they certainly could. As for being good for their bottom line, that's arguable. Since they will lose customers who expect and demand service after the sale, I'd say they're shooting themselves in the foot.

Having said that, if we were speaking about Dell proper I'd say lack of ongoing driver support was par for the course. My hope when I bought my R1 was that Alienware had not yet been assimilated by the Dell borg and was still interested in supporting the enthusiast community like they did pre-Dell. Unfortunately that isn't the case...

 

The point isn't 5% only its also to ensure we get the best experience with their product. Seeing as drivers are CRITICAL for games I would say as a gaming company they need to suck it up and understand what market they are in.

They could make upgrading drivers like overclocking video cards, at our own risk (obviously not voiding warranty wise), it doesn't have to be so political. And seeing as how little customer service already knows, they can afford not to know the new drivers as well.

My point is that they can afford to release drivers atleast quarterly, and considering this is a gaming rig (luxury gaming rig), it should be alot more often. I can understand if I dont see driver updates for my Gf's Asus EEE, frankly I dont care, but for me being able to play my games with more stability and fluidity. I'm sorry I draw the line.

I didn't buy a 1000$ paper weight, thank You, and I didn't get a 2 year warranty plan to be phased out in 6 months.

 

Or even have "unofficial" driver leaks from a blog page on Dell.com, or something...

 

I agree. Alienware, calling themselves a gaming company, is really overdue for some R1 drivers, especially with the huge onslaught of games recently.

I'm starting to consider disabling the integrated Intel drivers and putting on some hacked drivers for yummy optimizations. Don't know if there are any downsides though...

If anything, after Brian left, they should have had someone come on here or on the Dell website and at least keep us updated, as it is pretty frustrating to be in the dark about whether an update is coming or not, whether the hinges will be addressed, or even considered or not.

 

PM Chris to see if he can give R1 owners and update on the status.

 

uninstall both drivers, goto the BIOS, and enable "Discrete Mode"

It will disable the GPU from the BIOS level, and just install plain old nVidia notebook drivers.

Of course, battery life suffers...

 

There is something I am probably missing here; are you saying that you CAN'T use the reference drivers that nVidia releases on the m11x? I do not own this laptop yet. I am used to desktops but not laptops, where you can use whatever drivers you like.

Is this because of a particular signature in the BIOS of the card that keeps you from using the reference drivers?

Thanks

JF

 

R1 cannot use drivers directly from nVidia.com
R2 can use drivers directly from nVidia.com

 

Really? I've seen no need to update anything beyond Windows Update and some software. My games run pretty good and the only issue I've had is Windows Explorer needing to be restarted every one in awhile.

 

Jeremy - r1 can use drivers direct from nvidia assuming you have the gpu set to dedicated in the bios and (2) the INF is updated to include the 335mGT.

Some releases from nvidia have it included, other releases require manual update of the inf file.

FINE PRINT*** Yes, by changing the gpu you will no longer be able to switch to intel graphics***

 

I've mentioned this multiple times across multiple threads.
I already mentioned it on the previous page

 

Why should M11xR1 owners have to reduce their expectations such that they are enabling discrete nVidia GPU only as an option to any future upgrade.

I for one do not support this argument and believe there should be a path that supports all the GPU functionality of both the integrated and discrete GPU on the M11xR1.

Why should I settle for second best. Is that what Alienware has now reduced me to.

On the up side I may become a little more knowledgeable on constructing M11xR1 hybrid GPU drivers if nothing is forthcoming soon.

It's times like this that one wonders what happened to Nautis.

Brain is also sadly missed too.

It's all going to hell in a handcart.

Now listen to me, I'm sounding like an unhinged M11x owner.

 

Sorry for making a lame joke, but DrGoodVibes, did you say your becoming unhinged? Lol...

 

I've tried experimenting with hybrid drivers and trying to compile my own, but I get bluescreen alot. It doesn't seem like a hard concept, I might be missing something but I'll post my source files and my test up as soon as I get the time. I've dropped plans that used the old driver, and moved on to the new Nvidia drivers. I'm going to grab the r1 compatible drivers and try to replace the source code (possibly trick it) into thinking its installing older drivers, but using the new optimizations of the new drivers. Problem is split into 4 possible outcomes.

1) The drivers are unstable and crash.
2) Loss of hotkeys and visual display.
3) Intel drivers aren't compatible.
4) The drivers will work.

This off course is the situation if it could be done period. Possibly looking into the R2 new drivers straight from Nvidia could also benefit but I'll do it the easy way first.

 

Each time the topic comes up I fail to see what "new" thing I would get with newer drivers. In fact several times the point by others is that unless you are trying to fix or resolve an issue there is little to be gained. IOW, performance enhancements are little with newer drivers for most games.

I also read here that other similar brands are even slower to update drivers for their systems (Sony?).

So unless your system is having trouble with frame rates or is BSOD etc... what's the hurry?

 

/sigh

This will answer your questions: http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/260.99/260.99_Win7_WinVista_Desktop_Release_Notes.pdf. Here's an excerpt:

New in Release 260.99

•Increases performance vs. v260.89 drivers in the following PC games: Civilization V (SLI), Fallout 3, Final Fantasy XIV, and Formula 1 Racing (DX11).
•Adds SLI profiles for the following PC games:
◦Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
◦Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
◦Fallout: New Vegas
•Improves compatibility for Fallout 3: New Vegas with antialiasing enabled.
•Improves Alt-Tab compatibility for several PC games.
•Added the following 3D Vision game profiles: Call of Duty: Black Ops and Tom Clancy's HawX 2.
•With Release 260 drivers, the installation process for 3D Vision has changed. Please view this knowledgebase article for more information on the changes.

You should also checkout the "Fixed Issues" sections for even more answers to "what's the hurry?" Keep in mind the currently released R1 drivers are WAY behind these and are therfore missing even more fixes and enhancements.

 

Some one needs sli profile on single gpu laptop?

 

/sigh again

I think you missed a few bullet points...
•Increases performance vs. v260.89 drivers in the following PC games: Fallout 3, Final Fantasy XIV
•Improves compatibility for Fallout 3: New Vegas with antialiasing enabled.
•Improves Alt-Tab compatibility for several PC games.

And this doesn't include bug fixes nor does it take into account fixes and enhancements in the interim driver releases.

 

Yes

And HDMI support for 3DHDTV

But that's not going to happen with a GT335M.. ever! (Unless the Borg get my notebook and clone another GPU onto it)

People have alluded to proposed upgrades of the Dell nVidia hybrid driver set some time soon. (Hope I'm being vague enough)

It'd be nice to have a driver set that encompasses the latest 'stable' nVidia drivers and the latest Intel GPU. Sort of like a last farewell, a so long and that's for the fish. The big stroll into the sunset shall we say.

I've already resigned myself to the 'fact' that the M11xR1 will NEVER have official support for upgraded GPU hybrid driver sets in the future and that one should be happy with what one bought and not be continually looking for greener shiny things.

The M11xR1 only has HDMI 1.3a so there's limited future in that. DisplayPort is probability only 1.1a at best. The GT335M is only DirectX 10.1 so again limited.

The only real bonus to new driver sets is the odd improvement to a game or two. And if you happen to be that gamer, it's everything. And maybe some GPU accelerator improvements.

And at the end of the day, if one nVidia update means everything to you, you can enable discrete GPU only and kiss goodbye to Intel GPU.

I'd like to think it'd never come to that. I like being in control of my GPU and when it sucks battery power and when it doesn't. I like coding in silence (music exempt) without a fan whizzing away in the background(foreground)

Where's Nautis when you need him?

 

Like I said, if it fixes a particular issue then go for it... but in the gaming world and general use these fixes are pretty narrow. As mentioned by others though if a function, fix, or feature is important you WILL want the newer driver. I agree with that.

But I think that for the majority getting newer drivers is a habit. "Back in the day" newer drivers really did a lot for gaming performance IMO - usually across the board. The listed changes I dont see impacting the majority... but if you need them you CAN install them if important enough.

Thanks for the list though, now people can decide if they need to make changes or not rather than by blanket statements.

 

I don't see any bugs, all games runs fine except vegas which lags on npc, but i think its not gpu problem.

 

Did you guys know that it took over a year for certain games to get the 280 GTX to run at full capacity and improved AA with certain games?

Considering 10-15% is the difference between between 25 fps and 30 fps, I think driver optimization is part of the product sold, especially when u sell it as a gaming device.

In all Honesty how long would it take to sandwich some drivers together? Right them off as Beta and then put them out?

BETA is the saving word, you can put it infront of any piece of software and have an excuse to the instability.

Why not do it? They did it before. Anyways I'm finishing up a couple of assignments for C for school and I'll do a quick compile of some drivers. Hopefully manage to get some drivers that atleast does the switch but I doubt I'll be able to do on screen support.

Take care.

 

Your standards of Fine might differ, Some ppl think 25 fps is fine, some think 30, but for Desktops we all know we need 40-60, though we do also know that for the m11x we do have to settle for 30-40 most of the time. For example Starcraft 2 runs fine, and I also consider fine when there are swarms of attacks and my frames dip to 15 fps. Because thats the situation but in reality thats not fine.

All I'm saying is think about it June - Nov 16 2010, tell me how many PC games came out and will come out? Do you know some games are optimized from within the drivers? For example some games will have Forced triple buffer off, etc. I could do it manually, and add the game, but it doesn't always work, a good example is UT 3, it took for ever to finally get the AA to work with that game, and I think some ppl still have trouble.

 

Yes yes... but little of the latest has any large impact on the M11x for the masses - thus no big rush. You also need to be careful when drivers claim a boost in performance... sometimes its over the PRIOR driver but not better than say the 3rd version back.

If you recall it was sometimes the OLDER drivers that performed certain games better.

The point from me is NOT that you shouldn't want the best performing driver. Sometimes though the newest is not the best. Very difficult now to claim "best" driver anyway.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-r1-owners-forgotten-about-2.html#post6634909

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/471057-m11x-graphics-drivers-36.html#post6736262

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/514262-nvidia-driver-259-47-m11x-r1-only.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...driver-259-47-m11x-r1-only-2.html#post6731385

And what about that Intel vs Nvidia nonsense? Cant blame Dell for everything.

 

I don't feel that they are ingoring the need to update drivers and bios. The after all I'm still enjoying the gpu driver update and have'nt updated to the latest bios have not seen a need to.

Now if you want to feel neglected ask Dell about better hinges.

 

That doesn't mean they should stop releasing drivers because the new ones are worse or better. Did you know most ppl up until the recent years didn't care at all about the min frame rate? It was all about Avgs. Now we realize that a lower Avg and higher min provides the best experience.

You guys know exactly the road i'm bearing on, We could say the same thing about the hinge, we might get an even worse one. But you still want the new hinge just so you can have that piece of mind.