Base Bottom Assembly replacement

Hi, I want to ask for some help. I had an accident today, I fell of my bike with my M15x in the bagpack. Luckly I didn't have any substantial damage.
My M15x in the bagpack seems to miraculously survided it. The thing is that thanks to the sturdy magnesium only the magnesium bottom base assembly took a hit on the right frontside corner, other then that, it's a wonder nothing happened to it.
So this is damage by accident for wich I am not covered by Dell, I only have a ongoing 1 year standard warranty. I gues am out of replacement/repair options from Alienware's side.

Is it manageable to replace the bottom assembly myself. I found the part in a shop for a really nice price and Alienware kindly provides the teardown instructions for it on Youtube. I am skilled in repares and upgrades of desktops and did some minor things like like a cpu/memory/hardrive upgrade on laptops. I just ask for an opinion and advice before i go down this route an end damaging more then it has now.

Link to the part for reference:


I never posted before on this forum, my excuses for such a urging first post, but I am a loyal reader of this subforum for months and its a great place for discussion.

Thank you,

ModularMix

 

I'm sorry to hear that, at least neither you nor the laptop seem to injured too badly in your mishap.
Well to replace that you'll obviously have to remove every component from the old case and install it in the new one. If you're confident in your ability to do this then I don't see how you could cause any further damage. Replacing that isn't anything that forum members haven't done when installing custom painted cases, in fact this would be a great time for you to paint yours, if you even want to.

Can we see a picture of the damage?

 

if u cant bare to see your baby damaged? than i would say go for it. the only problem i would see (from Dell) would be that if u ever need any kind of repair on your laptop they might void your warranty for switching out the casing. but u can always switch the cases back.

by the way the bottom is also anodize aluminum. the magnesium component is an inside layer

 

M15x is a dream to work with, doing it yourself won't be too hard with all the guides and videos. i've personally taken the M15x in and out the casing atleast a dozen times hahah. its a good learning experience. just be careful of static electricity.

 

Hi Ldmoose, Mexicools and Inap, thank you all for your kind advice. Inap, thank you especially for your advice, I know you do these awesome case mods and your input I highly appreciate and it helps me to get the courage to do such a repair.

I bought the M15x for many reasons of one mostly important it's cool design, so I threat it with great care, and I really get upset when I gets damaged. But it is for shure build like a tank, and that has saved it for any functional damage. This is one of the reasons I am now more than before happy I paid the extra premium for the Alienware brand and i favoured the M15x chassis over the M14x.

So I will take the step to replace it and I ordered the replacement part today, and I hope it will arrive within one week from the U.S. in the Netherlands. As you all said, it’s a really good learning experience and when all is done, I can be proud of what I achieved. For now these parts are still being available as brand new, I do not know if can hold of them in say 1 or 2 years . At least my M15x will then be fixed if I decide to put it for sale in a few years ( if I ever do that ).

I think of recording the whole disassemble with my HD-Webcam as an extra precaution, so that I can review/reproduce precisely what I have done. I will buy a good set of screwdrivers for this type of repairs and an anti-static mat with a wrist strap.

I will update my post, when the part has arrived and I am going to repair it, maybe I post link to my disassembly video in case anyone would like to view it.

ModularMix

Update: Within 1,5 hour since my order, the order status is allready changed to shipped (via fedEx)
Update 1-11-2011: I recieved the new part today, it is in mint condition, so im happy my order shiped without damage. Now I need to order a toolkit including screwdrivers for computer repairs and the anti-static mat.

 

wow nice!!! looking forward to this.