Alienware m15x General Information - Post m15x questions here!

wait why are people saying that the smartbay battery is not available?

When you customize the $2699 laptop, it appears under the accessories section where you can buy extra AC adapters, batteries, etc...

It was like that from the day it launched..(ugh that was only 2 days ago! which means we're still like 12 days minimum til the other config. options come out...assuming "best case scenario..." ahaha....but it's Alienware
-_____-)

Also, does Alienware have an accidental damage warranty?

I just realized that the extra 300 bucks to get their 3-year warranty is simply an extended warranty...which I think is not worth it at all....what I may consider is an accidental damage warranty...does Alienware offer that?

 

Yes Intel just released Penryn CPUs (T8xxx and T9xxx) and you can find a review of them here at http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3195 which also compares them to the now 'old' Merom processors (T5xxx and T7xxx) which are currently in the M15x.

Overall, if you can wait till Alienware to implement Penryn CPUs then great, but the difference will be minimal (maybe 5% increase in performance and less than 10% more battery life) unless you do a lot of video/music encoding where you could see up to 40% increase in performance. Also the Penryn are priced similar to Merom and thus a T9500 2.6GHz *should* cost the same as a T7800 2.6GHz... but knowing Alienware they'll still jack up the price.

 

Other companies either have already, or are in the process of implementing Penryn CPUs in their products, so what's Alienware's problem?

For a new high end product this is ridiculous!

 

A modular hard drive goes into a caddy, and then you slide it into the modular bay in the notebook. I am unsure whether the m15x's smart bay takes an IDE or SATA hard drive; I would guess it's the latter. If you have the caddy, you can use any 2.5" SATA hard drive in it, yes.

No, it's not worth the money. I have a 3.6GHz overclocked quad-core in my desktop, and right now I'm typing on my Sager laptop with a 1.86GHz Pentium M single-core processor. I hardly notice a difference for most non-CPU-intensive tasks . . . the Core 2 Duo is such a blazing fast processor, just get one that has a decent amount of cache (4MB) and you'll be more than fine.

I'm not, Alienware is probably cleaning out some stock of Core 2 Duo processors.

For the record, Penryn offers about 5-10% more performance and battery life on average. It's not going to be a noticeable difference but it is a preferable one since it is the same price.

 

I really can't see paying top dollar for old stock. If anything they should do as other's are doing and offer both CPUs as an option, and charge accordingly, but to FORCE old stock on us is unacceptable.

 

The Peryn processors have very little real-world effect in regards to performance, at best they'll provide a 2fps increase in games, and normal usage and even professional programs will barely benefit from it, so it's really not a big deal performance-wise. Notebooks with Penryn processors will run cooler and get better battery life, though, notebooks with proper cooling systems should run cool to start with.

 

Bottom line, when your paying big bucks for the latest and the greatest, that's what you should be getting, and that means Penryn, no excuses, period.

 

Gotta disagree. Alienware tests the components before releasing the notebook. I'd rather have the existing CPU than have them wait another month or two... but, that's just my preference. The CPU isn't going to be the bottleneck in this computer, even with the 8800M GTX video card...

 

Right underneath the Smartbay battery in the accessories portion of the config sheet, it says 'In a hurry? Select another option for faster delivery.'

If you click on 'More info', it tells you that the Smartbay battery will cost you a delay of two days.

I called and asked the salesperson about the delay, and he told me that the Smartbay batteries weren't available yet. I asked him about the two days, and he wasn't aware they were advertising two days. He said that since it's an accessory, they will still ship your system when it's ready, and the accessory will come later. He was very vague about the 'later,' and didn't seem to have too much confidence in the '2 days.'

I didn't badger him about it because a battery delay isn't a deal breaker for me. I'll pick one up later.

1-800-745-1639

They're very pleasant people, and not aggressive at all.

Still struggling with the Merom vs Penryn decision though...if Penryn was going to cost $100 more clock cycle for clock cycle, then I would take the plunge with Merom...

And how exhaustive does Alienware's Penryn testing have to be? You're dropping a refresh into the Santa Rosa platform...I would think that Intel has done the bulk of the testing prior to releasing the Penryns to OEMs...

 

shazzoz, you are mistaken. Penryn CPUs have been available for testing for quite some time. No excuses!

 

Alienware needs extra time to test them. Imagine not testing the notebook enough, then they ship out $600,000 worth of notebooks with some some kind of glitch or limitation, Alienware would need to replace all of those and would lose a ton of money doing so.

 

You are ASSUMINIG it's for lack of testing, for which there is no excuse BTW.

Others have already completed their testing and have made Penryn an available option, and in the next few weeks many more will. No excuses!

 

*laugh* After years of upgrading to the latest and greatest from Microsoft, I'm afraid I can't imagine releasing something to the computer using public that has glitches or limitations.

I don't disagree with you, but I think you'll find most class action law suits against the OEMs are due to faulty peripherals (eg, I/O devices or in Dell's case, batteries) and poor thermal design...(I say that without having done any type of reliable survey...just watched a couple class actions against Toshiba and Dell...)

I would think very little testing would need to be done when dropping an Intel chip with the same socket (Penryn) into the specified Intel chipset (PM965)...but I'm definitely not a hardware vendor and it's been almost a decade since I built my own desktop...

 

FINE ... You have your opinion, we have ours. Since you think there are no excuses, the answer is quite easy for you ... don't buy one

And, by the way, who else has the 15 inch available with the 8800M GTX (not saying there aren't any, just don't recall seeing any).

 

Another thing I would really liked to have seen on this unit is a fingerprint reader. They make logging into windows sooooo much easier and nicer for those of us that use strong passwords!

 

Personally, I'm not a big fan of fingerprint-readers. Besides, it would ruin the m15x's sleek look.

 

Ruin the sleek look! lmao!

If anything a reader would increase the tech effect, not detract from it.

I'm sure Alienware would have no problems integrating a small reader with cool light effects, etc...

 

I'm for a thumb reader. It worked on the Sony I had, should work fine here too. As far as sleek looks, I think the newest Dells look better than this Ripley version. Although I would rather have the Ripley than the ribbed look. I can see a problem of that not fitting nice in a bag.

Pricing with the old chips seems reasonable except for the "X" version which is high but then aain,maybe Intels pricing is that much.

I am so close in buying this. I like the idea for a 15in with a super fast vid card and high resolution screen. Only things I'm not sure is:
1) How fast this laptop really is.
2) If I want to wait for the new Intel chips(yes, its "only a few 10% faster/battery life, but then if people are willing to pay to go from a 2.4 to a 2.6 for $200+ for less than a 10% improvement, then the new Intel chips make sense)
3) Case design still seems a bit bland.
4) I want to see how long of a battery life I could get with the builtin gfx card. I want a gaming laptop, but want one that can play a 2hr dvd or Blu-ray(if I ordered that option).

And it still seems that people aren't sure what the builtin gfx card really is. It sounds like a Intel card but some think its software to the Nvidia to downclock it.

 

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39029450,49294959,00.htm

Still look bland?

You should get amazing performance with the 8800M GTX.

 

Straight from the 'Tech Specs' tab...

"BinaryGFX – Switch between high-performance graphics and integrated graphics"

Although that's not confirmation, integrated usually means a chip within the motherboard chipset...for the PM965, that's the GMA X3100...

I thought I saw that somewhere on the Alienware site, too, but can't find it now...

 

@IWantMyMTV,

Click on the link on the post just above your previous post. They explained about the BinaryGFX. And it's not X3100 at all. m15x has only one GPU, not 2.

 

Where do they say it isn't X3100 at all; they say that it switches to a separate non-gaming integrated graphics solution, so I don't get where you say it only has one GPU.

If it isn't an X3100, what integrated graphics could it possibly be then? I think it is pretty clearly X3100 as the integrated graphics portion (especially since he says it will add an extra 30-45 minutes of battery life, which seems pretty in line with the extra battery life seen between dedicated and integrated graphics).

 

I fail to see where youre getting the 1 gpu from...

 

You maybe right, or wrong. Whatever it is, m15x is one of the best 15.4inch laptops to be offered in the market since it came out.

 

30-45min more? I'll take that with a grain of salt. Did Alienware state how much battery life it has to begin with? Are we talking about 1:30min while not gaming but using the Nvidia card? So using the integrated I'm gonna get at least 2:15? Then I guess thats not too bad. Although I think it would've been nicer to give a 9cell and make that puppy closer to 3:00hrs with the integrated. At least that way you can watch a movie on the plane on one battery.

Yes, I know this is a gaming computer. But I believe Alienware wants it more than that, and it should behave as such. They are including a dvd player (yes, you need that for gaming) and also a BluRay(name me one game on bluray?) player. I know BlueRay is cpu hungry. I can guess battery drain will be alot higher.

On a side note, why does it give you an option for color choices for the lighting when configuring the laptop? I thought it displays all the colors?

 

@ derred, absolutely. This thing is gonna be winning awards left and right.
@ star, I dont think they could have fit a 9 in there without rearranging some major stuff. Like the cooling system for that monstrous 8800. And I think as a gaming/all around hybrid notebook this thing is going to be amazing. Possibly paving the way for some new hybridish notebooks.

 

Omg thanks for the link...the M15x is beautiful.

 

Guys this is just a casual question, but I wonder if I can trust anyone to do me a major favor.

I was wondering if anyone of you guys living in the US can help me order a M15x and sending it to me here in Singapore. Of course I will pay for the laptop as well a total shipping cost.

Like I said this is just a casual question and I don't know if I can trust anyone on the internet.

However, if one of you is serious about helping out a guy who desperately want a M15x, do reply back, maybe we can work something out.

Thank you.

 

nice video. i did notice that the Alienware Head at the top of the keyboard is the HDD LED pretty neat.

 

I am in ur situation, i dont live in the US but i got a P.O. box in miami and im sending mine there and they will forward the m15x to my country. Maybe you can do the same

 

How that exactly works? I assume the extra charges (shipping, handling, taxes etc) will need to be included from P.O box to whatever country one's in.

 

Why do u need anyone in USA ask Dell & they should shipp u direct to anywhere in the World as long as ur paying the shipping

& as u said how is one to trust U online asking someone to Help
wht if he gets it & doesnt ship to U

 

cant wait till the uk alienware site has this up

 

@lordvader:

that sound interesting... could u explain me how dell would ship the AW M15X to my country (Dominican Republic, @ the Caribbean). Now im interested in that option since it looks a better choice than a PO BOX

Thx in advance

 

Sorry if this has already been discussed - can someone elaborate on the Smart Bay for me? From the graphic on the Alienware site, it appears that you can eject the optical drive and put in whatever Smart Bay item you have. So you'd then be running the laptop without an optical drive?

 

weird. When configuring the laptop, I tried to order the smart bay spare battery. the part that is weird is it says thats the battery that comes with the unit already. So am I buying a spare battery that goes into the smart bay, or am I buying another main battery that plugs into the back of the laptop?

 

wc2810

Yes, that is correct.

 

yes, which although smart bay is a nice idea, i think this is one of the drawbacks, if i had the money id take the m15x with the 64gb SSD (as i think many people with the cash to burn would) then get a 200Gb smart bay hd to make up for the space, but the problem starts when games requiring discs come into play, since you would most likely fill up the SSD with OS, major programs and games would probably take a backseat so you couldn't play any games that require a disc tha you've installed on any smart bay hd. same with the battery, the most likely time id start running out of power is on an airplane or in an airport or on a train, somewhere where i can't plug it in and then id be watching a movie or something and if the base battery gives about 1 hour to 2 hours of battery id need the extra 6 cell to keep it going, but if i want to watch a movie i can't. A nice idea, but needs some working out or having a seperate optical drive

 

Ordered mine yesterday, I'm so excited after having to wait almost a year for the 8800 card

Here's what I put in mine:

I picked up two extra batteries (one smart bay + one standard) mainly because I'm looking for maximum mobility (even if that means carrying around a battery). However, I see you guys are saying that the smart bay battery isn't available and that it would take longer than the 3-day delay the site mentioned. Can someone confirm if they'll ship the smart bay battery separately and ship the rest of the computer at the regular time? (if the smart bay battery is going to delay the entire thing for a long time then I'll just get rid of it)

 

I have a RAM question - if I get 4GB, will it then use Vista 64-bit? That would create all kinds of compatibility issues that I don't want to deal with.

 

it doesn't HAVE to use vista 64bit, but if you don't use vista 64bit then you won't utilize all of your ram. So, if you don't want compatibility issues I'd suggest you just stick with 2g of RAM then when the 64bit issues are all fixed up you can go buy more RAM since it's probably cheaper to buy them from like newegg or something anyways. Also, by the time the issues are fixed the RAM will probably be cheaper.

 

How easy is it to upgrade RAM in a laptop? I've done it in a desktop, but this will be my first notebook.

Is there anything else that requires 64-bit? Intel Turbo Memory, for example?

 

Very easy to upgrade RAM ... just a matter of buying it from a 3rd party and popping it in ... then making sure everything works. It doesn't void your warranty (unless you break something during the install ... but that is extremely unlikely).

I don't believe the Turbo Memory requires 64-bit, but someone else will correct me if I'm wrong. I've been running 32-b it Vista on my gaming desktop, and have had no reason to consider moving to 64-bit yet.

 

Yeah, Turbo Memory doesn't need 64-bit. Intel's Turbo Memory drivers mention Vista 32 and Vista 64 as compatible systems.

 

Turbo memory is essentially useless, don't even bother with it.

 

It's only $40.. But it's not even worth that?

 

No it is not.

 

I went with it anyway. $40 is like a couple cents when you're dealing in thousands.

 

How much RAM did you get?

 

Hey LAXISLIFE, How exactly are you planning to upgrade your m15x later?... I mean, how difficult it would be to upgrade both To Penryn Precessor and to 4 gb Ram.. dont you need to take it to a physical-alien-support service station?....

And a general wondering... since most of the people is getting light configuration settings in order to uppgrade processor and memory later... what do you think about wasting some bucks on the blu ray disc?.... I was told that just few movies/music/software have been configure in this format so you can take full advantage of the blu ray (and i dont even know if some games like satarcraft 2 or crysis can be played on a blu ray disc).....

And finally, I've been seen a lot of comments in here about if the 1920x1200 resolution worth the price but i havent seen a direct opinion/answer to that... so, what do you think about a 1920x1200 resolution in a 15.4'' screen?...

thanks for all the posts it really helps deciding what to take