Alienware m15x General Information - Post m15x questions here!

My m15x ($2099 configuration) has hit PHASE 6 (as per the website).

I will be caling in an hour to see if it's really in phase 6, or if it's a mistake. I'm sure it's in phase 6 for real, but I can hope that it's a mistake and it's really in phase 7 or higher, since it should ship today as per the estimate.

I wonder if the delay on the $2699 model was for the alien fx keyboard, or if it was for the 8800. Hmmmm

Edit: Turns out my order went from 6 to 5 again, I called the order status and the woman says that they need to replace a part. She said tomorrow it should go into quality control testing and it should ship by the middle of next week.

Sounds like bull**** to me.

 

@mrwater

Be happy that there is a quality-testing! Just think about what would happen, if they sent you the NB and you open the box and with the first boot you realize your lcd dosen`t turn on! That would be a nice surprise! You would come back to that forum and ramble on about how bad AW is and that you will never buy a product from them again.... That said, be happy that they test the product you order before they ship it to you! Anyway, a day or two longer to wait won`t kill you.

Paendrag

P.S. We in Europe have to wait another MONTH!:cry:

 

Nah, I'm not upset at quality test. I'm upset that my order keeps going up phases to go down a phase shortly after. It happened to me 3 times already (4 to 3, 5 to 4 and 6 to 5).

Plus I dislike the fact that the website, phone and email people all give you different information.


That said- if they really do an extensive test on each computer, why would anyone EVER get their computers out of the box with problems? I could see if I was pretty much sure to get a perfect pc out of the box, but with some of the horror stories, I'm not even sure my computer will come to me perfect.

And it's not a day or two longer, it's a week longer. And no, it wont kill me, but I'm riding out this Thinkpad that can't be unplugged because of some weird issues, so a new PC is pretty high on my priorities list. I know it sucks that the Europe peeps have to wait, but there's nothing you can do about that.

Anyway, I knew what I was getting into before I ordered because I read the horror stories of the customer service. I just didnt expect to have to deal with the problems myself since I was ordering a preconfigured unit.

 

honestly would waiting for the penryns 2.6ghz be faster/better than the core2 extremes?! or would it be slower but more energy/heat efficient

 

Penryn will be faster by a fraction, so not such a huge update... :wink:

 

A Penryn T9500 outperforms a C2D X7900 Extreme, plus it runs cooler

 

when do penryns become compaible with the m15x? or are they already compatible? Could we just get a 2.4 T7700 on the m15x and then buy a penryn separately and install it?

 

They should be swappable by the mother board. But wether or not the BIOS supports the chip is another story. I whent with the X7900 in hopes of overclocking it.
Most people would be more then happy with the 2.6 I would guess.

 

Some news from guru3d.com

According a message purportedly sent from a Lenovo rep to resellers today, Intel's T9500, T9300, T8300 and T8100 Penryn chips are going to be delayed, affecting the laptop industry worldwide -- and obviously Lenovo's latest in particular. The word is that a thermal sensor issue is to blame, and supply on the chips will be tight through February.

Nothing official from Intel yet on the matter, so we're going to keep this in the rumor category for the moment -- but don't be surprised when that shiny new Penryn laptop of yours ends up taking a few extra weeks. Be strong, we can make it through this together."

Looks like thos eguys waiting for Penryn might as well wait for the M17x. I guess now we know why AW haven't offered Penryn just yet.

 

Hey

Can somebody tell me if the m15x has built-in bluetooth?
nowhere I have seen mention of it..

thx

 

http://www.alienware.com/product_de...Code=PC-LT-AREA51M15X-AI1&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT

there on the tech spec.

 

I contacted Alienware about my order (customized version currently in phase 4) and was told the reason why mine is taking longer as opposed to the stock config ones is because the two additional batteries I ordered are on backorder (so not the AlienFX keyboard). That doesn't make sense to me, since not every order will have those two batteries, but that's what I was told.

I asked if maybe they could decouple the batteries from the computer and have them ship later; we'll see if they allow this (I did offer to pay any extra shipping costs)

 

GRB- they'll tell you anything just to get you off the phone.

My unit went into production 2 nights ago, but I got an email last night saying it was just going into production. The worst thing is the damn website, which jumps up and down phases.

I wouldn't feel as "bleh" if I had gotten the configured system since that had a longer estimated time, mine should have shipped out yesterday!

In either case, good luck with your laptop. Hopefully you can get it sent out earlier then estimated.

 

I think Alienware has done a much better job at keeping us up to date with our orders than most manufacturers. I think the problem is that they have this website showing what phase our order is in and as explained to me, it often lags or is not up to date with the real status of the order. Most manufacturers do not give this information, they just give you a target shipping date. You wait until then and if you haven't gotten it then you call.
I know we're all excited to get our new toys but some patience will help. I have been very impressed with Alienware customer support so far, especially when you compare it to Lenevo, Gateway or Dell.

Now back to the screen resolution debate! Gawd its a tough one but in the end I'm going with the 1440 x 900. I currently have a 15" gateway runing at 1280 x 800 and was already happy with the screen real estate and picture resolution, so this will already be a slight step up, secondly I want to make sure I can run the demanding games at the best speed possible so I dont want to wear my graphics card down runing at the higher resolution, and I doubt I will really notice the diff on the DVD's. I only watch em on airplanes anyways which is not the best environment.

Looking forward to reviews and first comments when all you guys get your units.

 

My system is still in Phase 4. Still away and uanbel to call in and get the real story. Getting a little nervous about the delivery date.

 

Mmm, Westcoastgeek, I agree with you. After much debate and whatnot, I even checked out my Dad's 15" which is a 1650 x 1050 resolution (I may not be accurate up to the last digits? dont remember what the standard resolution is). I love that resolution on the 15" but realized anything smaller will probably have my eyes glued to the laptop.

Which I probably don't mind, but more importantly I realized that having it in 1440 x 900 is not a huge difference. I scaled the laptop's resolution down and it didn't seem to make much of a difference. (Since the laptop's native res was 1650, scaling it to 1440 made the outer part of the screen black, so my only way for comparison was to stack desktop icons from left to right and top to bottom to see how many more icons I could put in 1650 as opposted to 1440. Turns out 1650 only allowed for 2 more icons horizontally and 2 more vertically - no big deal for me especially when the performance is going to be noticeably better on a 1440 anyway)

(lol I just realized that half of my post was in parenthesis!)

 

but the other reso that was offer is 1920x1200, which means you could add up to 5-6 more icons both vertically or horizontally. Still, Icon isn't the important factor one considering 1920x1200.

I have made few threads just for this hot topic, and I have come to conclusion: wait till notebookreview/forums to review this beast @1920x1200 on any current games. I have made some unofficial request for that matter and hope to see impressive result. If the result isn't what I expected, then I got no choice to go for 1440x900. Hope this helps.

 

Derred, My laptop was on the verge of failing.. the screen starting to flicker and the battery practically useless at this point - 3 years old now, so I had to get something quick and I've been putting the purchase off - always waiting for the next thing around the corner. Luckily for you, you have the luxury of waiting to see some real life benchmarks vs screen resolution. I'll behappy to post some when I get mine, but my shipping date is not until the 5th of FEB so I'm sure others will have posted by then. Good Luck!

 

my laptop shipped today! estimated arrival 1/23! HOLY ****

sooo excited!

 

Congrats, man! I can't wait to order the m17x when it comes out. You wouldn't mind posting some videos of your new notebook? What'd you configure your m15x with?

 

I got the preconfigured one for $2099 with the 8700. Couldn't afford the extra $600 and didn't want to wait for the 8800 model.

It has the 2.2ghz core 2 duo, 8700m gt 512mb, 120gb 7200 rpm hdd, 2gb ram and some other crap they throw in.

I can take pics, lots of pics, videos are harder but I will try.

 

Pictures are fine! Nice notebook, you can always upgrade the video card later on when you want better gaming performance because the notebook uses MXM IV which lets you (or the company) upgrade the video card to something better like the 8800M GTX or the next generation 9xxx. An unboxing video would be really sweet !

 

Congrats mrwater. And yes please post some pics and a short review if you could. I woud love to see some real hands on pics.

I hope you enjoy the hell out of it.

Also would it be possible to look through the bios and see if there are any overclocking options for the processor, that may grayed out to you. It would be nice to see if the X7900 is overclockable. I am hoping it will be viewable in the bios just that you cannot manipulate it.

 

Thx

Now what is the clearview technology and the "Touch Activated Battery Meter"?

 

Oh nvm first part of the question :

"With the added benefit of Clearview technology, users will enjoy further enhancements to images, videos and games. Clearview technology provides an extra color kick to each WXGA +LCD granting users further color depth and vibrancy for an additional enhancement to graphics realism.

In addition to these great visual benefits, the WXGA+ LCD with Clearview affords the user with full support for high-definition 720p viewing. Enjoy your favorite movies at full resolution and see every detail.

 

The "touch activated battery meter" is a bottom on the bottom of the m15x that lights up bars to show you how much battery you have left without turning it on, which is convenient for finding out if you need to charge it and things like that.

 

That's pretty cool. I had never noticed the battery meter before.

 

Kind of stupid question. I don't have extensive experience with laptops (we have a ~6 year old Dell laptop, and I've used IBM ThinkPads at school on occassion) - when they say the keyboard is full size, does that mean the keys are the same size as a normal desktop keyboard? Obviously it's rearranged and some keys are clearly re-sized, but I can't tell from the pictures whether the "important" keys are regular size (important keys meaning letters).

 

Yeah, full size keyboard means that the keys are same or very close to the keys you use from a desktop keyboard.

By the way... m15x is totally s3xy!!!! I wish I could afford one!

 

Would have been Better if they had a Small LCD on the bottom of the Mouse Pad, like the dell BUT below the mouse bad easy to See & get info

its odd to see it on bottom

 

It's really not that odd at all. A battery meter like you mentioned is only useful when the laptop is on.

The reason it's on the bottom is because the battery meter is a function of the battery itself; it allows you to see the battery status even when the laptop is off. More importantly, it even allows you to see the status of the battery while it is out of the laptop (very useful when you carry a spare battery around as well).

You don't really need a battery meter on the top as much, when the laptop is on, because you can always check the battery life status in the taskbar/etc.

 

Man that looks like one good cooling system on the bottom.

 

Yes true
But thats what im talking about
a small indication without oning the laptop to see the Battery
so we dont need to pull the HEAVY machine from bag & can just peek in at times
& all this just a suggestion thats all

 

Oh, you mean like a battery meter on the front? I don't know, wouldn't this still require the laptop to be on though (does the Dell you're referring to actually show the battery status on the front while it is off?).

Again, the main thing really is that it's a function of the battery itself, not part of the laptop's ability to monitor the battery power.

 

I agree
But now days, we have funtions in laptop & even in carry case of laptop
where if ur in teh area of Wifi it has a indicator & we dont need to on teh laptop
so we know if we need to open it & thats real nice
do we have that in Alienware I wish they do

 

UH OHH!! I just got a pit in my stomach looking at this picture and seeing that the fans are on the bottom of the laptop !!! I owned an Alienware M9700 when they were out and they had the fans on the bottom. The machine was so freakin' hot on your lap that I wouldn't have been suprised if my pants burst into flames occasionally. It also doubled as a heater in my room at night . PLEASE TELL ME I HAVE MADE A FALSE CONCLUSION OF THIS PICTURE!!!

 

You aren't wrong. Looks like it also has cooling on the back as well:



If the heat on the m15x and m17x are bad enough I might get one of these to elevate it and channel the air:

 

The look like they will suck from the bottom like the Dells and force the air out the back. I can also use a Notbook cooler to force cooler air underneath.
Worked great on my XPS 1710.

 

This is from an Anandtech review of a WidowPC laptop...similarly equipped to the $2699+ m15x (T7500 2.2 GHz, 8800m GTX, nVidia 167.43 drivers, and 4 GB RAM) so if Alienware really knows how to put together a laptop...hardware, OS, drivers, then you should get comparable scores...number in parentheses is m9750 7950 GTX SLI fps...

BF2 1920x1200 0xAA 91.95 (95.54)
BF2 1920x1200 4xAA 92.02 (95.34)

CoH 1920x1200 0xAA 73.8 (68.5)

F.E.A.R. 1920x1200 0xAA 97 (108)

Far Cry 1920x1200 0xAA 79.18 (78.62)
Far Cry 1920x1200 4xAA 79.52 (78.16)

HL2LC 1920x1200 0xAA 92.19 (100.34)
HL2LC 1920x1200 4xAA 95.47 (82.8)

Quake 4 1920x1200 0xAA 94.49 (134)
Quake 4 1920x1200 4xAA 81.04 (103.0)

Oblivion 1920x1200 0xAA 33.87 (32.3)

Supreme Commander 1920x1200 0xAA 27.42 (16.6)

STALKER 1920x1200 0xAA 31.85 (31.8)

World in Conflict 1920x1200 HIGH 25
UT3 1920x1200 HIGH 64
Crysis 1920x1200 HIGH 15.62
Crysis 1920x1200 MED 46.89

As you can see, the 8800m GTX is only unacceptable (<30 fps) with Supreme Commander, World in Conflict and Crysis with High detail settings.

Anandtech then set the resolution to 1680x1050 on the WidowPC...

Supreme Commander went from 27.42 to 29.75...World in Conflict went from 25 to 28...and Crysis (High) went from 15.62 to 20.25...

With a 24% reduction in pixels (1920x1200=2304000...1680x1050=1764000), you got from 3-5 extra fps...and I realize fps vs resolution is not a linear function, but guesstimating, I would say going to 1440x900 would buy you maybe another 5 fps...

Hope that helps sort out the 1920x1200 vs 1440x900 debate...Crysis on High settings may only be playable on a high end desktop...or on SLI'd 8800m GTXs if nVidia/Alienware can get the SLI to work...

Here's the link to the review...

http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3196&p=4

 

Well that is kind of a drag. World in conflict is one of the major games I want to pick up and 25fps is a major let down. I wonder what the results would be with SLi on the m17x.

 

On vista most people only see a gain of 10-15% with SLI(Desktops).

So unless Nvidia fix teh driver issue your not going to be blown away with it under vista.

I have a SLI setup with 8800 gtx's overclocked and Sli to non SLi is only a slight increase. Hence why I whent with the M15x and not the M17x. My desktop Res is 1920-1200.

 

i think im getting 1440 x 900

any new news on skullcap+black case release date?

 

And which res did you pick your your m15x?

 

I chose the 1440 x 900 res. High enough detail for me.

 

Does any company/will any company sell a slot-load DVD-RW drive (w/ lightscribe technology?) that is has comparable speeds to Alieware's regular tray DVD-RW lightscribe drive?

And will it work with the smartbay on the m15x?

 

I think if this laptop becomes extremely popular you might see a bunch of different smart bay products.

 

been reading along bout the m15x for a while thought I'd throw in another pic I ran into...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22516808@N08/2176065332/
more of an in home view rather than professional shot, tho good quality pic

 

Ohh.. slot load would be nice. I wish more laptops had that.

Thanks for that pic! It finally kills the question of whether the m15x has side lighting or not. Apparently it does not have it

 

Looks pretty awesome.

 

Maybe that is the 2099 base price system. Although it did have the lighted keyboard.