Alienware Nightmare

Hey I'm looking for some advice, and just an overview of what others think or have dealt with.

So Alienware is supposed to be the best gaming machines available. I purchased an M15X July 2009 with Core 2 Extreme, 4gb RAM, Nvidia 9800M GT graphics. I thought it would be awesome. Wrong. Since the first month the computer has been a nightmare. First off, I went to college and trying to use a laptop lock for it doesn't work. Well no one told me that they all had a manufacture defect until last week. Back in October 2009 I sent it in, they said they could find the error and sent it back a 3 weeks later (1 month without computer). I called them as soon as I found that it wasn't fixed to send it back again. This time they fixed it (computer has been gone for 2.5 months now, I still haven't used it in college.) Christmas break I installed Windows 7. Should be no problem right? Well then I started having heating problems. I melted my graphics card. I was out of the computer again for a month. But replacing the graphics card and thermal module didn't fix it. So I send it back to them for a full motherboard replacement and system refresh. They put in a new motherboard and a new copy of Vista, but did not put on any drivers. I called them and they told me to send it back again. I did the drivers myself and then the system started having video card problems and could not choose between the integrated graphics and the gpu so it was constantly changing resolution and you could not use the computer. Then the computer was upgraded to Critical Issues team at Dell. It took them 1 month before they finally contacted me for the first time. Then I fought with them for two weeks and wrote a letter to the CEO before the manager of Critical Issues called me and told me what he could do. So I had a full system rebuild. Well I got it back in like a week, and the Stealth mode button didn't work, the Windows screensaver crashed everytime it went into screensaver, and of course the lock didn't work. Well I contacted Mr. Ortiz who is the manager and he told me that first off it was a manufacture defect of thousands that the lock was not correct, then he told me that they could either build me a new M15X of my same generation again, or give me an M17 (not an M17X). I chose the M17 because I'm tired of dealing with the M15x problems. The M17 comes with the Core 2 Extreme, Dual ATi 3870 in Xfire, 4gb DDR3. That should be here shortly hopefully.

So for the last 7 months of the 9 months I have owned this Alienware, I have been using a netbook (HP 110), and its been fantastic with no problems at all. My question is, I'm assuming this M17 isn't going to work out just because I have read a good amount of problems of the AC plug in buring out, and just the fact that it is another Alienware, what would anyone suggest to do after this matter if it arises? I can't get my money back unless I take them to court, but I don't have time for that because I'm a full time student. Does anyone know how far Alienware is willing to go to please their customers?

Any help or suggestions would be great.
Thank you in advance.

 

Personally, I would threaten Dell with the BBB; they don't have the best rating now and would probably work with you. I generally don't like throwing manufacturers under the bus but the way Dellienware has been acting they kind of need it to get their crap straightened out.

 

Looks like the most of the issues with your current system could be resolved with just a video driver update + BIOS re-flash.

 

Im sure you will love your M17 just as most of us M17 owners do. Its a great notebook and really well built. I dont know bench scores compared to what you had(sure someone could help me here with this one.....cough, cough Don)
but the 2 x3870s are really good reliable cards that dont run hot at all.
I would definitely be pushing Alienware right now for the X9100 dual core and not the T9800 dual-core as I suspect they might try and give you. I noticed a surprising performance boost in games going from my T9800 to the X9100.
And definitely try pester them for a SSD also.
Im sure you will be happy in the end. Its just a pity that the M17 did not have the silver option also and is a little less portable than the M15x.
All in all the M17 is a fantastic notebook with thousands of proud owners.

 

Try the T9900 although i dont think dell sells them. But thats the best non core i7 processor there is for everyday use and gaming. Benchmarks its QX9300 but not by that much actually.

 

The first generation M15x was plagued with problems as anybody who frequents these forums can see.
I suspect from your GPUs Nvidia 9800M GT that this is the old generation M15x and not the new one so comparing this to a new M15X or M17X is pointless.
I thought Alienware were providing support for these notebooks and not Dell? as with most of these legacy style Alienware notebooks.

 

Yes I definitely thought about suggesting the T9900 as its the best dual-core available for this notebook but I dont think they were even given as an option with the M17.

 

You let them stick you with 3870s, when the latest machines were coming with the far superior 4850s? I would've found that unacceptable.

 

wow you went through a lot. I would threaten too the bbb with them. They need to get theor act together and stop acting like a bunch of demons for money. I still like to own a m17 for it seems like its my fav area-51 notebook still. So i trade with my friend my m17x and then he feelsits too heavy which dell needs to do with this deisgn and bring something like that back i really dont like the huge design like this its quite heavy great cooling though. you should pressure them for the best performance notebooks you can get. i know how it feels not to have a notebook like that. So my friend has bad luck and messes up the screen another reason why i hate edge to edge time for some good old ag screens and well the palm rest gets messed up and then finally he cracks one of the headphone jacks so i call up dell to get the warranty transfered and not to have a tech come to my friends house and what happens?

 

But that would be swapping one unreliable machine for potentially another. The 4850s suffer from serious heat problems in the M17 with its less than fantastic cooling.....I have to have the bottom cover removed to keep the notebook at decent temps with the 4850s.
The 3870s are decent cards and very reliable. I dont know anyone in my time on this forum who had to send theirs back for one reason or another.....they may have been somebody but I never saw it. Only a small percentage of people managed to get the 4850s most of which were sent back or needed some sort of cooling mod to work properly.
Asides....are the 3870s an upgrage from the Nvidia 9800 GT?? just curious.

 

Haha ive had my fair share as well.

First they sent me the wrong confirguration for my M15x then they sent me a brand new build. The Newly built system had a malfunctioning keyboard so they had me working on it for hours over the phone with the Alienware support team in Costa Rica. The keyboard on the new M15x build still didn't work correctly so they sent someone out to replace the motherboard thinking that was the issue. After the motherboard was replaced the issue still existed and they couldn't resolve it. One suggestion they had was to pop off the touch panel to see if the ribbons were connected I said what if I break the panel they said you won't and I would be covered if I do so I took off the panel and broke it. Now I had a malfunctioning keyboard and broken touch panel. So they sent someone to replace both parts and to my suprise they gave the dell technician replacement parts for an M17x instead of an m15x. I was so pissed I yelled my way to the top of the branch managers office who gave me a new system build, free backpack and free upgrades. That is my story.

 

Wow wow lol, my god how incompetent they are sometimes, well i just had a good experience with Costa Rican tech support, he told me that they are changing things including now you can order through tech support instead of sales, also why have you decided too get a g73JH? Also cool camo cover should of been in green though.

 

Thanks for all the advice guys. It helps a lot. I am still waiting for my M17 so we will see how it turns out. Hopefully I will get an Alienware that lives up to the Alienware expectations.

Can anyone get my a ball-park original price on an M17 with the following specs:
M17 17" WUXGA W/CAM
WINDOWS VISTA ULTIMATE X64 SP1
M17 ILLUMINATED KEYBOARD
INTEL 3.06GHZ X9100 6M
4GB ELPIDA DDR3 (2 x 2gb)
DUAL ATI RADEON MOBILITY 3870 IN CROSSFIRE
TV TUNER
SEAGATE 500GB HDD
8X DVD-RW

Thanks in advance.

 

Hello,

If i were you i would NOT pick the M17 as a replacement system.

The M17 is a nice and fun system but it is also extremely limited and tends to run hot if you dont make some cooling modifications. The 3870 cards are okay, but outdated and even if everyone says they will play all games maxed just fine, they simply won't (yeah maybe at 640x480).

The M17 has stuttering issues if you ever decide to go from a Core2Duo to a Quad Core and next to that if you tend to use it for college also, it can be quite bulky.

If you had a M15x and your warranty is not expired, a new M15x is what i would demand from Dell, not the M17 which they just wanna dump on you to get rid of their stock.

You paid for it, you have your rights, so fight them.

I would settle with:

Alienware M15x Gaming Laptop
Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 620M(2.66GHz,4MB cache)
Windows 7
3 years Next Business Day Service
15.6-inch Wide Full HD Display (1920x1080)
4.096 MB 1.333 MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2 x 2.048]
320GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
1GB NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX260M graphics card

Atleast this system is upgradeable with the new type of CPU's and also with a 5870 videocard.

Good luck, hope you manage to solve your problems and get a nice system in return !

 

The M17 is a great system and it's virtually issue-free. Mine's run brilliantly from day one without a single issue. The graphics cards are very reliable and while the machine's cooling isn't brilliant, it's sufficient to keep the cards running cool enough to stay functional (around 80C, 85C max in mine, well within limits unlike the m15x that you had)

However, you should be getting better than that. They can argue that you're getting what you're paying for, however nearly all of that time, your m15x hasn't worked. You should ask them for a fully spec'd up (new model) M15x or M17x.

I suppose Alienware's argument is he's getting what he paid for. The dual 3870s are better than a 9800M.

And I probably wouldn't risk the 4850s. Without superior thermal paste, they will run VERY hot.

 

I tried to get an M17x actually and the dropped down to an M15x, but he would not budge on me. The comment was made, "You bought an Alienware. The new Alienware are built off a Dell chassis. I can only give you an Alienware for exchange."

I would be perfectly fine with an M17 assuming it works right. I am to the point where I just want a computer that works great for games like COD, Far Cry 2, and Need For Speed. I don't know the complete capabilities of the M17 but my M15x did fine for those games so I think the M17 will do fine.

If this computer doesn't work though, then yes, we will see how far I can go. I am stuck with these people for the next two years because I bought the three year extended warranty.

 

Just remember, I only got to use my M15x for maybe 3 months tops out of the 9 I have paid for one. I'll take what I can get.

 

FYI: it doesn't matter you bought an Alienware and they have been taken over by Dell...that's just the rep trying to get rid of you easily and seems like he succeeded.

There are people that had broken M9750's and got it replaced by the newest M17x-R2 so why shouldn't you?

Really, giving in to them and accepting the M17 is just plain silly, because it's just like your old m15x End of Life and is not being built anymore...i would never accept that.

Keep pushing and escalating till you get what you want. If you want the M17 then so be it, but it would be a shame since you can get even more from them...eventhough the M17 will play the game you listed just fine.

Oh well..good luck .

 

I already accepted the M17. I have not received it yet. But I do not have my M15x either. They are currently waiting to credit my account again to then ship me my new system. So I guess I could technically call Mr. Ortiz and talk to him about it some more.

 

People who own M17s:

Is there anything I should immediately check for an error or a problem with as soon as I receive my system?

 

The twin 3850's are quite potent,but I would want more,refuse to receive it.

 

This thread is pretty good;

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=426562

although it has not been updated for a while so some of the drivers are out of date like the ATI CCC driver and the Realtek driver but the rest are fine.
I would definitely purchase a notebook cooler. This is the one I have;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-NOTEB...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1272325797&sr=8-1

oh and make sure the latest BIOS are installed as mentioned in that driver thread.....as well as the keyboard BIOS. It should ship with the latest version but its still good to check as the notebook is end of life.

I dont really get what all the fuss is over in this thread......he is still getting a more modern, powerful and reliable system.
I dunno maybe he could hold out for better but I think their offer is fare.....perhaps not generous but fair.

Did you manage to get the model of your CPU that you will be getting? If its poor you can get a good engineering sample of a T9900 or X9100 on Ebay for a decent price.

Remember to choose the mobility drivers for the new CCC using this little utility;

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/mobile/catalyst_mobility_32-bit_util.exe for x32bit

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/mobile/catalyst_mobility_64-bit_util.exe for x64bit

Good luck, Im sure you wont have any issues setting it up.

 

It is the X9100 CPU. Which as far as I know is a pretty powerful processor and great for the games I'm into.

Also, how loud is that Antec cooler? I had a Belkin one for my M15x and it was loud.

 

And how did you purchase your 4850s?

 

the m17 is a fine replacement, make sure you update the bios to the zfactor .29 bios and all the issues that cause the quad stuttering will be gone. i havent had one issue with my m17, the dual 3870s are far superior the the9800gt, so i think its a fair trade. BUT beacuse they have screwed you sop much you should get a better replacement, ie the M15x with the i7 proc. but it wont happen, i think you will be happy with your m17. its near impossible to get 4850s but if you have paitentce they will appear. how ever they arent worth the price IMO. some people want near $400 per card which is almost double what dell charges for them when they have them. if you are willing to spend tat much more to upgrade you can afford to get a refund and get an M17x with the 4870s.

 

Yeah the X9100 is a good processor and yours will be OEM. The Antec 200 is very quiet......in fact I dont think I could live with a noisy notebook cooler, you can only just about hear it in a quiet room and just a little more when you turn it to full.
Yeah what cleverpseudonym says about the 4850s is true......they very rarely appear for sale and when they do people try to make a fortune with them and usually do. Mine cost £600($1000) with import tax and shipping.
Ive only ever seen 2 pairs for sale and I bought one of them. Some singles have been sold also.
My 3870s ran fine at around 50c and 75c max whilst gaming. They run COD and need for speed easily at med-high settings but Farcry 2 is a little more demanding.
When are you expecting your M17?

 

I don't know yet. Hopefully within this next week. They were supposed to have sent it out last week but according to the manager of critical issues team they are waiting to receive the credit back in my account. They have had my machine back in there hands for a week now. So hopefully soon. I just really want a great gaming computer, its simple, but for some reason has been so hard.

 

Can anybody answer the question I asked before of what this machine I am receiving retailed for?

Again, it has:
X9100 Processor
4gb DDR3
500gb HDD
Dual 3870s
WUXGA
Backlit keyboard

 

900$ ?

 

Can I get the name and address of the CEO you contacted and the contact information for Mr. Ortez.

My Alienware nightmare has been 8 weeks with no computer, Tech on site 6 times in 2 weeks then Dell asked me to take a refurb and exchange my 6 month old system (The refurb/exchange was to take 3 weeks - its been 5 so far) No one at the tech support hot line can even tell me when it will be shipped!!!

Ben Cranmore
REMOVED BY MOD

 

The M17 is a amazing machine.

It is supeior to the m15x you previously had in both gaming and general computing. I loved mine every day i had it and WILL run any game you want.

Trust me you will love the machine and I have been here going on 2 years and the M17 is THE MOST PROBLEM FREE Alienware laptop I have seen on this forum.

1200-1400.......

 

Well then perhaps I should have bought one of these. I mean over and over again I have seen people including myself having issues with this m17x machine and well I am now waiting for Dell to call me for my replacement tomorrow(Dells last chance before this becomes a case for the Danish BBB). Well just a humble disappointed persons point of view...

 

$1200-$1400 was the price of the system when it first came out??? I find that hard to believe considering mine was $3,700 brand new with all the options I got.

To Mr. Cranmore, call up Alienware and request to speak to Miguel(Michael is what he goes by) Ortiz. He is head of critical issues team. Don't talk to tech support. Only talk to managers, and make sure to get a hold of your Critical Issues Representative.

 

Thats testament from one of the forums most popular users who knows his stuff!
I think that price Moo mentioned was the last known price of the M17.
Mine was £2300(the same price as an M17X) with a lesser processor(T9600) than yours and a smaller HD.
They were the best value notebook Alienware ever produced and really dropped down in price in those last few months, giving people without much cash the chance to own a powerful Alienware notebook. I think they also dropped in price dramatically due to bad....or good timing depending which way you want to look at it,because the M17X came out within months of the M17 being a fairly new system. I dont think we will see a notebook of this calibre for this price again.

 

That was the starting price of the m17 i believe. It was on UK terms for those specs i think it was a £700 upgrade for the x9100, £195 for the Dual GPU's, £100 for 4gb ram. So your looking at around $3000 using the UK-US conversion rate

 

Yes thats correct now I remember. The starting price for base config was low but soon as you start beefing up the specs then the price rockets. I do remember the x9100 upgrade being around the £700 mark which is over $1000.

As Moo says the M17 is far superior in every aspect to the original M15x especially in gaming which is what these babies were built for.

 

Can anyone tell me where I could purchase 4850s? I look around online, but I can't find anywhere. And I talked to Alienware and they won't sell me them because of "thermal issues." I am watching ebay, but I didn't know if there is a direct seller I can get them from.