Alienware M17 *OFFICIAL* Owner's Lounge

granted you can pick them up real cheap now the upgrades have been cancelled and they released the replacement

 

No Upgrade to 4870 Sucks

I will be selling mine soon
anyone Interested pm Me

I spend $4800 on mine

 

I find it odd that so many are upset and now dissatisfied with their M17's because they may or may not be able to upgrade the GPU's.

How many laptops have you guys owned that you could easily upgrade the graphics cards?

I take what some rep says on the phone with a grain of salt. Unless there is something in writing from the company that says I'll be able to upgrade my GPU's then I've got to assume a GPU upgrade is unlikely.

Either way it ends up going, I still have one of the most powerful gaming laptops ever made.

 

im with you Rob

 

I don't think not being able to upgrade the gpu is a big deal I am happy with my dual ati cards (wish I had and hopefully can upgrade to quad core cpu though..??) its a damn fine machine and great buy for the money

 

thats just it rob, i had it in writing they even took my money!

i like the m17 and i do think that it is a good machine however if i knew that i wouldnt get a gpu upgrade then i would have brought the asus simple as that really

 

you can upgrade its easy, qx9300 for £250 from eBay then just slap it in, job done


incidentially i have issues with sub only sound but i dont think there is going to be a long term solution to that

 

Are you going into driver sweeper in safe mode and deleting realtek drivers after uninstall?

Then install realtek 2.22 audio driver

 

Listen to Rob, he speaks words of wisdom.

What does the new M17x REALLY have over the M17? I can think of 3 points:
1. Dual 260M/280Ms
2. The looks.
3. 9400M for longer battery life when you need it, but this is cancelled out by the fact that it's a 9 cell compared to a 12 cell battery in the M17.

I'm happy with my 3870s. I can play Crysis Warhead reasonably well at 1440x900 at Gamer setting. I can play EVERY OTHER GAME THAT I PLAY, fully maxed out at above 60fps most of the time, and they look incredible.

Personally if I upgraded to an m17x it'd be purely for the 280Ms, so I could play Crysis Warhead on Enthusiast. Which is only a small difference anyway, it still looks incredible on Gamer.

The GPU upgrade is just extra icing on the lovely cheesecake which is the M17. Yes, it doesn't have as much icing now that the GPU upgrade is gone, but it's still lovely cheesecake, and if you like it, then there's no need to go for an m17x.

 

yup been doing that and it is driving me up the wall, i replied to someone elses post who is suffering the same stuff, its driving me up the wall most of the time

 

All im saying is Wish AW did not say it will
get an Upgrade
& latter ask if we had given in writing
thats not nice

 

Sorry if this has already been posted but there were 200 plus pages and i didnt wanna look for the exact system im about to post. I purchased this a week ago and the expected ship date is this friday but ive heard it will probally take longer. This is the system setup i have ordered:
[1] M17

Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3870 - CrossFireX™ Enabled!
Processor: Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9000 2.00GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Design & Display: Black Skullcap Design
Chassis: 17-Inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD (1200p) with Clearview Technology
Keyboard Options: Illuminated Keyboard – Alienware Exclusive Design - Astral Blue
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1
Notebook Tuners and Remotes: Internal Digital / Analog (ATSC) TV Tuner with Adapter and ExpressCard Media Remote Control
Memory: 4GB« Dual Channel DDR3 SO-DIMM at 1066MHz – 2 x 2048MB

System Drive: Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 1TB (500GB x 2) 7,200RPM (16MB Cache) w/Free Fall Protection
Optical Drives : 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW)
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® Ultimate N 5300 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card with MIMO Technology
The World's First 450 Mbps Wi-Fi Adapter!
Sound Card : Internal High-Definition Audio with Surround Sound
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Onsite Service and 24/7 Toll-Free Phone Support
AlienRespawn: AlienRespawn v2.0 Recovery DVD – Windows Vista® Edition
Power: Additional Battery – 12-cell Lithium-Ion Battery



Im just curious what everyone thinks of laptop as a whole and the features they use the most. I run a car stereo shop and will use it for a lot of tech downloads but im also into cod4 and 5. thanks for any advice. Ive also ordered the bluray drive seperately with the bracket also so ican swap drives to burn dvd's or watch blu ray movies.

 

you could save 150 by only getting 2 gigs of ram and buying them from newegg

 

With the exception of the screen and the skullcap design, I have the same system. I love it. Have it pretty maxed out graphics-wise, running two 22" monitors at 1680x1050. Mine was delayed due to a backorder of the quad processor. Got mixed feedback on the shipping date, but it got here earlier than expected (but after the original date).

I ordered it with 2GB ram, like Moo said, and ordered 4GB ram from newegg for $67. Installed it myself as soon as I unpacked it.

 

So your happy with the speed of the Q9000? I was thinking of just getting a dual core to speed things up but if your using it and having good results i would hate to shoot myslef in the foot. Im excited because this is the first strong computer ive had in the graphics department. Im hoping their ship date turns out right and not like some of the horror stories of 2 or 3 months ive read about.

 

or you can order the bottom end dual core and buy a Qx9300 for same cash on ebay and pop it in urself.

As long as you dont damage anything it doesnt void your warrenty either

 

I've got the Q9000 and I've had no problems so far with the 'slow' 2GHz clock. I can play Crysis Warhead on it with no troubles, as well as Lord of the Rings Online.

 

Can you pleas run the Crysis Benchmarktool

I am realy interested how it looks maxed out, I don't trust this cpu at the moment (It's the lowest CPU avalible in germany for the m17x so I am interested in it )

Greetings
Julian

 

If you tell me where to find the Crysis benchmark tool, then I will. I've no idea where to find it

I'd run 3dMark06 for your benchmark page too, but it doesn't open on my M17. It just gets to the 'Scanning your system' picture and stops, never opens up.

I'll try redownloading 3DMark06 to run it for your CPU comparison. (My system is only running 2GB of RAM though so that may lower it slightly?)

 

As far as I know 3DMark06 likes GHz ...
But new scores would be perfect!

And do you have Crysis as well? Than here you find the DL
Greetings
Julian

 

Well order support told me there werent any backorders even though it has sit in stage 4 for 5 business days now. Now it has moved back to stage 3 payment processed so im worried how long its gonna take to actually get it.

 

Don't worry, mine did the same thing. Though they sent me an email about the back order so I knew why it was sitting there. And yes, it bumped back to stage 3 - I even got another email saying my payment had been processed. Obviously something automatically sent at that stage. I just started calling every day to get a verbal update. It moved along pretty quickly after that.

As for the quad cores, I've had no issues at all. System runs fine.

I did run into what I am guessing was a bad download of the new graphics driver - actually got a blue screen for the very first time ever in Vista. Said to hell with it and rolled back my driver. All is right again in the world. Not sure exactly what happened and didn't want to spend the time to find out. I only know that after rolling back the driver, the issue hasn't appeared again. It happened twice, once during the uninstall of the ATI software. Used the AW driver disk to reinstall and all was fine. Maybe I am just pushing these puppies too hard with two monitors running at 1650 each. Right now, if it isn't broke, I'm not touching it.

 

Wise words Rico.

 

how long did it take them to ship it to you rico?

 

It ended up getting shipped a week beyond the estimated date. Got it in two days.

 

How to update Ati Drivers ?
Or which one to get ?

When I chk on ATi update
there are a List -

Option 1
Package Includes File Size Version Date Posted Download Link
Display Driver
ATI WDM Integrated Driver
Catalyst Control Center (English Language Only)
57.9MB 9.6 6/15/2009
Catalyst Software Suite (64 bit) English Only

Option 2
Package Includes File Size Version Date Posted Download Link
Display Driver Only
37.3MB 9.6 6/15/2009
Display Driver
1 of 2
Catalyst Control Center for English,

47.0MB 9.6 6/15/2009
Catalyst Control Center (English)
2 of 2

Also available in other languages. Please select your preferred language:
English French German Portuguese Spanish Chinese Simplified Chinese Traditional Czech Danish Dutch Finnish Greek Hungarian Italian Japanese Korean Norwegian Polish Russian Swedish Thai Turkish

Additional Downloads
Package Includes File Size Version Date Posted Download Link
Avivo Video Converter*
*Avivo Video Converter will only work
with HD 2000, HD 3000, and HD4000 series products
20.5MB 9.6 6/15/2009
Avivo™ Package

HydraVision for Windows Vista. Requires that ATI Catalyst Control Center (listed above) be installed. Please restart your system after installing HydraVision
22.8MB 9.6 6/15/2009
HydraVision Package






--------------------------------








How to chk which one i have installed on my Laptop ?
I think i have - M17_Vista_x86_x64_ATI_driver_8.57

Still getting lag while playing online Swat game

i play in 800 X
want to play in Full 1600 x

I have Dual 3870 & 0 Raid

Also how to over clock
some say that might help

Please Help

 

I have a great thread for you

Driver Comparison
This thread will show you that you get better performance with newer desktopdrivers.

If you have W7, just download W7 9.6 here.

If you have Vista, just download Vista 9.6 here and follow this thread
How to Mobility Modder

GL&HF

Greetings
Julian

 

Hey, thanks for the links Julian.

 

no problem

Why do I think you are joking? Did I missunderstood something?

Greetings
Julian

 

Nope, not joking. I followed your links to the rest of the info and it's very helpful. Thanks.

 

Thank you

julian-nold

 

Well didnt take long at all. I got both my tracking numbers to day showing they had been picked up a day early. Cant wait to get my hands on it.

 

Guys do u think i shouldd
Sell my m17 & go fo the New m17x

Is it a wise choice ?

 

that's the question on everyone's mind.
what's your specs and do you really need it.

 

Let's face it; the only thing available on the "x" that is not available on the M17 is the graphics cards and 6gb RAM option. If you're the type of person who HAS to have the latest and greatest, then there will be no stopping you from jumping to that ship. But if I want, I can upgrade my M17 to anything else that is on the "x" version. Okay, so maybe it has some nifty lighting but none of that is worth me selling my M17, which I will NOT get everything I paid for it, and jumping to AW's new love child. And who the heck feels like re-installing their entire system just for those few things? Not me.

 

god job Rico.......i think its more wise to wait for the next generation mobile corei7 laptops later this year...and even then....we can still max all games....heck i have mine hooked up to a 42" 1080p hdtv and it still maxes all games....

 

The difference is nowhere near large enough for me to take a bath on my M17.

The M17, even after the release of the M17x and M980nu, is still one of the most potent gaming laptops ever made.

I can think of no good reason to throw away half of what I paid for my M17.

Like Halo stated above, when the next platform with i7 and better GPU's is released, that's when I'll buy my next rig.

Besides, how long do you think the M17x will remain top dog? Four months, five, six? And we are talking months here guys.

I've already started putting away money in my "piggy bank" for the next generation and I figure I'm about a quarter of the way there.

 

really no need to upgrade to a new machine..unless you we're running a single gpu rig...the dual gpu rigs are with in 5 fps of each other in most cases...so in the end..big whooptiwow....now if that we're in the 100's of fps...then the need would be greater to upgrade....

 

That's true.

And really, my m9750 still plays games very well.

 

Not happy with my Laptop
Lags when playing Old Swat game

but thxs you guys
I will wait for i7 platform with Windows 7

Thanks alot again



My Specs on AW m17

Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3870 - CrossFireX™ Enabled!
Processor: Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)

Chassis: 17-Inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD (1200p) with Clearview Technology
Keyboard Options: Illuminated Keyboard Alienware Exclusive Design - Astral Blue
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1
Notebook Tuners and Remotes: Internal Digital / Analog (ATSC) TV Tuner with Adapter and ExpressCard Media Remote Control
Memory: 4GB« Dual Channel DDR3 SO-DIMM at 1066MHz 2 x 2048MB

System Drive: Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 500GB (250GB x 2) 7,200RPM (8MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection
Optical Drives : Dual Layer Blu-ray Disc Reader (BD-ROM, DVD±RW, CD-RW )
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® Ultimate N 5300 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card with MIMO Technology
The World's First 450 Mbps Wi-Fi Adapter!
Sound Card : Internal High-Definition Audio with Surround Sound

 

You might want to give W7 (RC or retail whan it comes out) a try.

I've found Vista 64 very easy to break without even knowing it.

Just a thought.

 

i broke win beta a few times already...lol

 

I prefer Vista to XP and prefer W7 even more but I have had more issues with gaming on Vista than I ever did with XP. I always somehow managed to get things working even if I didn't know why.

Vista just seems a bit on the finicky side to me.

 

Guys, if I end up upgrading to the QX9300, do I have to bump my ram to 1333, or will my existing run just fine?

 

Use your 1066 ram for sure. The 1333 ram has more latency.

Besides, all ram has extra headroom built in and can handle a FSM overclock just fine.

 

Hey guys, i am new to this forum and just recieved my m17 yesterday, however i was ckecking catalyst and i was unable to see if my crossfirex was enabled. any solutions? thank you for your time!

 

Run GPU z and post a screen Shot

 

Thanks for helping me out!

 

yea Xfire is working

look at the bottom it says 2 GPU's


Also you can have a logo show up in Xfire compatible games

right click CCC in your task bar

go to

ATI 3870 the irst one then options i think then show Xfire compatibility or something like that ....i just sold my m17

 

Thank you for your help, however i do not see the crossfire ability or to enable or disable in the ccc. Sorry to hear that you gave up your m17 but i am guessing you went and bought the new M17x.