Alienware M17 *OFFICIAL* Owner's Lounge

SSDs... what a prices nightmare....

Anyway, since I keep my M17 plugged in most of the time, does everyone think it is perfectly fine to remove the battery to extend its life and use it at least once a week?

I started running my M17 without the battery since last night and haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary, just wanna know what everyone else thinks.

 

I've read that this practice does in fact preserve some of the battery's lifespan but never saw any hard evidence to prove it. I'm no electrician but it seems to make sense. I leave it in all the time anyways so I don't lose my work from accidental unpluggings and frequent power outages.

 

I agree. But I have one of those things, don't remember what you call them, that keeps power and gives you about 15 minutes of additional power for your stuff. My M17 is plugged to that. Anyway, I rarely leave it unattended for extra long periods, and if I did, I would put the battery back before leaving. It's sitting close by.

More thoughts?


Edit: Dude, you have an M17 and an EeePC set up similar to mine... Use Logmein.com and then you can use your M17 from the Asus, including ALL programs. How? The programs will run on the M17, using its resources. The EeePC doesn't break a sweat. I have ran AutoCAD 2009 remotely from my Asus! woohoo!



Edit 2: Ok here is official word from Alienware CS:

 

A battery backup or UPS. Thanks for the official update from Alienware. Might look into doing that myself once i get a UPS to plug it into in case of accidental unplugging or power surges.

How Li-Ion Batteries work: http://www.novacell.com.tw/English Version/Li Ion reference.htm

Key point in that link is "No Memory Effect". That is, unlike NiMH batteries, you can charge/discharge as often as you want and the range is the same. In NiMH batteries if you charge before fully discharged your range becomes limited over time.

Care and Feeding for your Li-Ion Battery:

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/helpdesk/?p=124

Discharge your battery once a month, not because of the memory effect (because there isn't one) but to recalibrate the batteries circuitry to measure and report the charge of the battery effectively.

 

Yup. I am always annoyed about that because from past experience I know that if you just leave your laptop plugged in most of the time and leave the battery, it will slowly die.

Anyway, I hate having to unplug and "exercise" the battery by draining it. Not to mention deal with the screen dimming. And then always have that "remember to plug it back in" thought running around your head while you work.

 

Hehe, I snuck in some updates to my post above.

 

Hey everyone. I've been lurking the forum for a couple of weeks now, and after reading through nearly 170 pages, I've finally decided to go with the M17! I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but I couldn't really find anything for sure... Could someone recommend some RAM for me, preferably from newegg? I'm still fairly inexperienced with all this, so I just want to make sure I don't order something wrong or whatever. I'm looking to fit 4GB into it. Thanks, looking forward to it!

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226019
if price is an issue.
i am going to buy this though because of the heatsinks
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104103

what is going to be your settings.

welcome to the forums.

 

Good call on the m17 "the cake is a spy". Portal was the best game..ever. But you might want to delay your decision if you have the time. Alienware will be releasing new products in about 20 days.
Allpowerful.com
the m17 is a fantastic computer, just in case you had time to wait. I was about to buy a m17/m17x but now i am waiting. Just wanted to throw in that just so you knew a bit more if you didn't already.

 

Better to wait till July so u can get Free upgrade to Windows 7
which will be out in Dec 09

 

Depending if i like Vista, and i need a computer before college begins, so this is perfect timing.

 

Then you might as well wait 'til August for Calpella, lol.

 

Eh, I had already ordered it before the allpowerful thing came up, and I feel like I've waited long enough already... I'm sure the Allpowerful will be a bit more than I'd like to spend, too. ;P

Here's what I went with:
Dual 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3870
Intel® Core™2 T9600 2.8GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
500GB 7,200RPM (16MB Cache)
Internal Intel® Ultimate N 5300 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card with MIMO Technology
8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW) w/ LightScribe Technology
17-Inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD (1200p) with Clearview Technology
Illuminated Keyboard with Numeric Pad
Vista 64 Bit
Skullcap Design, of course.

Thanks again for the RAM recommendations, going to order one of them right now!

And yeah Clauss, Portal was an instant classic, and TF2 is great too.

 

allpowerful is gonna start at 2000

 

Moo is that somehow confirmed via gophn? or just a reasonable educated guess?

 

lol its confirmed by people, multiple

 

Ok jeez...crazy cows..

 

cool to run without a battery but if you have a power failure...you run the risk of crashing your OS ...

 

Yup. I have one of those things, (someone already told me what they are called, but again I forgot...) that saves power for like 15 minutes until you can safely turn your stuff off. And when I am not home, or know I won't be, I leave it in Hibernate.

However, if it does burn for some unfortunate streak of bad luck, then I am just gonna have to take it like a man.... and get the new AW

 

yeaaaa good luck ...wish i had the money

if i would have waited i would have enough

 

then your good to go!
i have 3 of them..battery backup's or ups

no, your computer wont burn up..you information just gets corrupted is all..usually can be fixed by running a chkdsk on the boot up drive.

 

How do we set up the laptop to go on Hibernate
10 mins before Battery dies so can save stuff ?
thxs

 

Thats a good idea! Ive been searching google, but cannot find anything!

 

That's done by clicking on batt icon, and going into Windows' power management. Then pick at the bottom where it says change advanced settings. Then look around the list, there is one entry on battery, just select action when battery is critical. Obviously pick hibernate. There are extra settings on that same list, so just look around and change as you see fit.

Anyway, like I said, I am running without a batt, and have a battery backup for unexpected power shortages.

 

Great thanks!

 

Im still Not able to do it

Plz tell me how u did it ?

Step by Step
Clicking on start go to Control Panel
then .........

 

OK.

Click once on the battery Icon. From the drop down menu click on "More Power Options." Then on the window that pops up, pick "Change Plan Settings" below the plan that you are using. Then click on "Change Advanced Power Settings."

Follow my previous post on that list that comes up.

 

Gentlemen, bare with me and I will get my info posted soon. I am going to purchase the M17 tomorrow! I am a graphic designer and I use Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Flash heavily. So this is the system I am considering and want to get some last minute input from guys who have the system:

Single ATI 3870
Q9000 Quad processor
4GB Ram
Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Raid 0 config

I have NEVER lost a hard drive, and I have been in the industry since 1983. But (I'm knocking on wood now!) I want the performance of raid 0 - don't care about the redundancy of raid 1 because I keep backups.

What do you guys think?

 

OK but...

Why are you not buying just 2GB and upgrade yourself? Also, you didn't mention what resolution you are getting. 1920 x 1200 would be better if you are a graphic designer. And why not dual ATIs? Also, is Ultimate really necessary? I would shuffle my money in a different way.

By picking the low res screen and the single GPU, you are leaving the hardest things to upgrade yourself. Or so I would think.

Edit: Actually, if it were me I would wait 17 days, just to see what the big fuss is about with the new Alienware system coming up

 

I suppose I am spoiled with some of the extra's that come with Ultimate but don't really need it. As for screen, I am going with the 1440x900 because I am going to be using two external 22" monitors - both have HDMI, vga, and DVI inputs. The cost of memory isn't a big enough difference for me to worry about upgrading myself. When it comes down, I'll upgrade to the max 8GB.

That said, I do hear ya on the GPU. Maybe I will go with Home 64-bit (I can always upgrade later if I want) and the dual graphics.

 

Good idea! I agree with you

Upgrading from Home Premium to Ultimate is may be the upgread with the lowest risk to distroy something^^ Ok may be datas xD

Greetings
Julian

 

julian. we haven't seen you are heard from you in a while. how you been?

 

Actually, I am so glad you guys brought up the Ultimate thing. I am moving my Toshiba to my wife and it came with Home Premium which I upgraded to Ultimate. I still have the license key saved! I should be able to restore the Toshiba back to factory default and use the upgrade license key on the M17!

 

yes. you can but you have to call microsoft and actvate it.

 

Thank sooooooooooooo much
that really Helped

You said in 17days a New laptop coming up WOW cant wait

I love my m17 its Nice Crashes sometimes tho
but still am Happy with it

Wondering if the Alienware will every come up
any close to Eurocom/Sager Laptops ?

they always have much higher configeration than Alienware

 

Where is the best place to look for memory if I go with 2gb and upgrade to 4gb (order and receive it before M17 arrives)?

 

Newegg.com.

 

mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Laptop Memory

Is this the correct item?

 

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066

Anyone hear about this Hyperx? Latency is 5, others are 7.

 

School, school, school ... It's just sad ... quite 1 month after buying my m17 I have no more the time to play games ...

The less free time I have is used to lay in the garden in the sun just to take some extra sleep^^

I hope you are doing fine

I am happy to hear someone care about me

Greetings
Julian (it's 5.40 o'clock local time so I am going to bed now^^)

 

Hey Rico,

I plan on getting the HyperX modules for mine.

However.......I read this customer review at Newegg:


"Pros: Nice heat spreaders. Passed memtest at rated SPD. Works great as 7-7-7-20 memory. Works fine in an OCZ Whitebook Xfire config.
Cons: Unfortunately adheres to JDEC SPD which is 7-7-7-20. Does not boot at rated XMP-1066 profile (5-5-5-15). As a result, your laptop needs to have a BIOS capable of manually adjusting BIOS memory times which is rarely the case with laptops.
Other Thoughts: BEWARE: Make sure to check your laptop BIOS to see if you can manually change your memory timings or you are potentially stuck with very expensive 7-7-7-20 memory which can be had for much cheaper. Intel's "Extreme Tuning Utility," is supposed to allow manual adjustments of memory profiles in Windows and is custom released by vendors, but there is no version available from Kingston (who sells this memory), and you are at the mercy of your laptop maker."

I can't say if this is true or not, but I still plan on getting it.

Kingston is a good brand and this memory has heat spreaders too.

 

hi mr moo;

i bought ocz vertex 120 gb ... but the boot time of windows 7 is more than 7 seconds. is there any tricks or optimization for this ? (it is like 15 seconds or so , starting from the loading logo)

any advice ?

ps : i bought this vertex because of you !
ps2 : vista x64 is starting in 55 seconds from the power on

 

He has his ssds in Raid I think, so that is prolly why his is a few secs quicker.

Edit: Actually I dont think he does have raid...Im hallucinating. Seriously I was reading somebody elses sig. my bad

 

Rob, I read that same thing so I went with Crucial. But let me know how it works for you because if all looks good, I will go the hyperx route. I wouldn't mind at all having 4gb that runs faster than the standard 4gb.

 

Ok guys, this is what I ordered yesterday!

M17
Dual Graphics
Quad 9000
1440x900 display - (have two 22" monitors for external setup)
Vista Ultimate 64-bit - (leaving Ultimate on Toshiba)
2gb ram - (ordered 4GB for $63 off Newegg, be here b4 the laptop)
Raid 0 500gb
Ultimate N 5300 WiFi

Ship date is 5/25

 

did you flash the drive to 1275 before you loaded all your stuff on it?
if not..your gonna need to image your drive, then flash it, then put it back and re image it back.then enable write cache settings.
your drive should be running like this....
me loading 8 modules in office 2007 and me loading up world of warcraft.

<object width='425' height='344'>


<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Pknq2CWwBKY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='425' height='344'></object>

<object width='425' height='344'>


<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lRjdraIPMPk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='425' height='344'></object>

 

It came with 1.10 (1370) firmware , latest firmware... Write cache and all the optimizations are done but not fast as 7 second

 

yeah, that's not the latest...1275 is...
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/flash_drives/ocz_vertex_series_sata_ii_2_5-ssd

 

at this link there is 1.10 firmware ... also in the forums 1370 (1.10) is the latest one.. am i missing something ?

and my windows boot time is not from logon screen .. from first windows loading logo..

 

was ust trying to help...
my boot times are like 22 seconds...with a full loaded os, not one after a fresh install...
fresh install was like 14 seconds for vista