Are you satisfied with your M17x and A03 ?

as the title says, how many of you would now consider returning?

Also, is it true that ATI users dont have any problems ?

*EDIT* to those who are satisfied, would you please post your specs ?

Thanks

 

I voted NO!

A03 is definitely better. I don't argue about that. But it's still far from being a perfect solution for audio issues.

 

I said "Yes"

Specs are in my sig. No audio problems and no video problems; games play great and I can finally encode 14 channel audio without stuttering in the output without killing ACPI.sys.

[EDIT] No RAID, no SSD. Running two different WD drives, unfort both 5400rpm so that's my new bottleneck.

 

You had to go into the registry to get your computer working properly and you are OK with that?

I have a broken black and decker toaster I'd like to sell you for $4,000 you'll love it!.

 

I voted Yes, I have no spikes at all after A03, although I had some reds before I still didnt notice any issues....

 

Vista 64. No DPC issues, no stuttering so far (haven't done xtreme gaming yet)

 

Vote no! Have low dpc latency but still get massive spikes once in awhile that cause stutter

 

A03 has started interfering with my gaming experience so I have to go back to A02.

 

Works fine for me, specs in sig.

 

Can you be more specified? Because I somehow feel the same thing

 

NO, NO,NO,NOOOO. this its the last time i go with an stupid decision of spending $3k on a laptop (i only bought it cause i thought that the latency problem was going to be fixed on the A03), screw rippoffware (they are still selling defective systems) Im buying a ASUS G73JH-A1

 

No stuttering at all ? we pretty much have the same specs, thats why im asking

 

Say what? I did not go into my registry to be satisfied after the A03 update; don't believe I posted that anywhere (quick check of my own posts; nope). Only thing I did that others may not of was to reinstall my nVidia drivers because I did not realize I had updated them with the integrated GPU off. Uninstalled the drivers (which killed the Power Miser registry key that was in there before, just checked to see if that was there and it is not), ran Driver Cleaner .NET (best money I ever spent), ran CCleaner, and reinstalled the nVidia drivers. Not that much hocus pocus as that's pretty much what one has to do every time nVidia updates, but that's another story.

[EDIT] For the record, I can fix toasters. I actually have a $2000 microwave someone didn't want because it didn't heat at all; 50 cents worth of fuses later .

 

NO. There's a certain stuttering and occasional huge DPC spikes.
Better than before but far from acceptable.
I think most of the people who claim to be stutter free, do not really know what it is or just pay no attention to the sound/video quality when it occurs.
When I asked my wife if she can hear/see a problem, she couldn't find any till I pointed it out. She thought it was just a mild sound/video quality imperfection and not something related to the system itself. So I guess there are some people out there who care less for those minor imperfections.
But well, I can't stand it when booting into windows after linux. It's just ugly and unbearable to have to accept that quality change.
I'll vote against Dell on that one, even if it's not affecting me much. I want this system to be worthy of its money, otherwise Dellienware will lose MANY potential customers.

 

Would love to say I could ignore small video/audio imperfections, however, with anything on my computer; from games to video to encoding video/audio, I am very picky. I was tearing my hair out before because the stutter was translating into stutters in my show data before (very embarrassing, to say the least).

Ask my wife; she'll tell you I'm anal retental about quality as she has watched me literally tear apart the entire living room and network closet to try and fix a small, insignificant lag that was happening with video streaming to both TVs.

 

Anyone who thinks he's satisfied needs to do some more testing!!!. This is just unacceptable!!

 

I can say yes, I'm just glad its not as bad as before. Thats better then nothing right? its not a complete fix though...

 

Aikimox, I think you pointed out the key point here. I believe people who state that there is no audio issue with A03 are either not do enough test/can't tell the different/don't know what it is/or simply don't care.

Am I fine with A03? I'm fine with it! Why? Because I'm also fine with A02 since I have zero audio issue in gaming, for music I use integrated card and also have zero audio stutter.

Is A03 an improvement for audio issue? Yes, base on DPC Latency graph and lower frequency of sound popping occurs.

But does it completely kill audio stutter? HELL NO!

 

maybe you should not overclock and keep it stock then try.....

 

Those occasional huge DPC spikes were crashing Crysis Wars on me continually freezing the game then it would close with an error. I had to revert back to A02 to fix this issue.

As far as I'm concerned A03 made the overall latency a bit better at the expense of quality gaming experience which is what I bought the laptop for in the first place.

 

Everyone is mad at Dell/AW for not fixing the problem, but isn't it pretty much common knowledge that this is an nVidia issue (Powermizer)? Do I have red spikes? Yes... about every 15 seconds. Are they big enough to affect audio? Hell yes. However, I only have audio issues for about the first minute (time enough for the video cards to downclock), and it's not affecting my gaming.

I think that Dell/AW lived up to its promise with A03. My spikes went from 4k every other bar, to all green (other than the aforementioned powermizer spikes). IMO, we should be beating down nVidia's door, rather than blaming Dell/AW for something they really can't control.

In case it wasn't obvious... I voted yes.

 

When you pay 3000 or 4000+ for a laptop, you don't expect to have problems that even a netbook of 250 dollars doesn't have. Yes powermizer for sure causes stuttering (even though I believe it is not only that) but why Dell continued selling Nvidia GPUs when it is confirmed that they cause trouble? Just because people stopped seeing red spikes doesn't mean that Dell did their job, they just treated the symptoms. Dell's job is to test for compatibility between OS, drivers and hardware before start selling. They didn't give us a laptop for free so we have to accept any flaws, we payed for it and payed a lot, so no excuses. A03 - NO

 

I'm SO picky dude. I am bummed about the milky blacks of the LCD screen at times, I can spot stutter and microsecond issues on my pcs. I've been through 9 iphones and 2 M17x's under warranty. Wont get into previous purchases and my history with that.

Guys Don't tell me that I am not noticing something that isn't there. Maybe there is some truth to the fact that ATI users are unaffected. As a previous M1730 user with 8800mgtx graphics causing me to pull my hair out I stayed well clear of NVidia GPU's and I'm glad I did because I've got no issues.

Don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about when I say A03 has fixed 1. Stability issues (my computer stays on through the night serving torrents and my other stuff without a windows lockup -> reboot) are fixed. 2. Compatibility with the latest ATI drivers are fixed (before Xfire didnt work with catalyst 9.12 now it does) 3. DPC latency is fixed (I haven't had a single red spike at all - I do get more spikes than the base green bars at times but they don't exceed 3k and they don't cause any stutter.)

I'm very happy with A03. I'm an ATI User..

Kept DPC Lat open and opened a BDRAY Movie, then proceeded to just start opening programs like mad. No spikes. Not one, single, skip on my movie while I was watching it.

 

^^ Oops! I forgot to add ATI users to the list

 

as long as I stay away from 190+ nvidia drivers I am very satisfied.

 

It's nvidias chipset not dells fault

o and the horrible nvidia driver support ...

I don't blame Dell they are trying and help you, and you people want to blame Dell?

There are issues buts nvidias fault for the dlp... Least Dell is trying

I for one have never had 1 single sound stutter, lag, or any other symptom

So who am I to judge I'm happy

 

Day of chipset reckoning arrives for NVIDIA

http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/10/day-of-nvidia-chipset-reckoning-arrives.ars

 

i 100 percent agree ...perfectly said i have never had one issue...i have had alot of these and have never had a issue........BUT ONE THING I NOTICED...alot of people who complain are also overclocking there systems also when they test..hmmm....

 

Good article but sorta old...oct of last year......i truly believe that speculations are just that ...when its out and in the system ..its in the system....

 

Oh yes, Dell is not to blame for picking the wrong chipset.
However, when you go through R&D before releasing the final product, should you address the problem or let it be, hoping that the MOB will obliviously swallow it?
We all know the strategy.
The question is: Should we try to get more for the money we paid? Is it (a sound/video stutter free gaming laptop) too much to ask for 3-4k$ ?

 

Maybe everyone should request ATI GPU's as a swap. When they can't give that to you... you'll get upgraded to an i7 M17x

 

Yes, Crylo, I had the same in Crysis, the game would freeze/slow-down every time the was a huge spike. So I gave up and switched to other games that were less heavy for the machine.
That's pathetic: with all the highest benchmarks the system can't even handle the games it was built to...

 

This! People want to absolve Dell for putting defective parts in their machines? Just read that sentence and tell me with good conscience and reason just how that can make sense. They made the choice to put something that you deem 'flawed' into the system. Seriously, who do you blame first? The flawed part or the 'mastermind' who decided to shove that flawed part into their market-product? Common sense, people.

As for the poll, I am with NickBarbs. He did make the right choice with GPU, and this poll is not clear enough. It should differentiate between Nvidia and ATi users as it is becoming clearly obvious that Nvidia users are having more issues. I'd still prefer my 280s, but with a BIOS that deals with the 'Nvidia problems'. Or I don't know, maybe Dell should work with Nvidia on fixing the problem, since they made the 'choice' to have Nvidia with this machine.

 

Dell listened to microsoft too much - send out a defective product and fix it later with patches lol

 

I voted yes but I'm going to switch it to no. I have never played music on the laptop and I'm getting stuttering. Videos I get a stutter right at the beginning but that's it. Games work perfect.

 

I am still on A02. I have not noticed any stuttering in video, audio or gaming. And yes, I would know if I did.

 

im running A03 on an ATI and its running great

 

Didn't you see the irony in my previous post?
I blame myself for falling for a company that sells faulty systems.
But since I also paid for a complete care warranty, I think it gives me the right to ask Dell for solutions.
I don't overclock/bench my system and have a weaker P8700 CPU that can't contribute to those huge spikes.
However, if the stock machine can't play music/videos flawlessly, I say it's flawed and should be fixed/replaced.

 

I voted. 10char

 

Indeed I did. If anything, my post was riding that wave of your pre-established irony.

I could not agree more, dude. I just don't understand how some of these people pop-in, and actually tell us not to blame Dell, but instead, blame Nvidia.

Come to think about it, I think it is our fault. We are blind to reason. It can't be Dell's fault because Nvidia used some form of abusive mind-control to manipulate Dell into doing something that would bring flaw to their product.

 

I voted yes since I never experienced the DPC latency.

 

so, if dell change my cards to ATI it should all be fixed?

 

Dell changing parts...lol have fun...

 

can u explain that statement

 

loads of ppl got a tech to come to their house to change parts and a couple of them ended up with systems with broken parts or scratches

 

Going back to 186.82 helps a lot. As I'm typing this I have Winamp lossless audio file and YouTube HD video both playing at the same time, no stutter at all. Changing tabs in FireFox makes the bar reach yellow and ejecting disc makes it reach 5,200 maximum but they are not high enough for a stutter to occur.

So I'm kinda satisfied now. I believe I can safely disable 9400M and still feel happy with media playback from now on.

I vote YES now

 

what about performance enhancements for new games in the newer drivers ?

 

Guys just try the Dell Nvidia driver.. if it works, whatever just keep it and don't look back. Nvidias are annoying like that with 10,000 versions of the driver

Bottom line is this is a notebook and the technology has come a long way but it will never be a PC. You have to keep in mind what works best overall and just go with it. Hopefully Dell releases newer versions of both the Nvidia and ATI drivers.

 

Vote: YES

I had DPC latency spikes to 4000 w/A02, but no tangible impact from it. Installing A03 dropped everything well into the green. Only spikes (to 50,000) I get is hitting the DVD eject button, but it still doesn't cause a noticeable problem.

I'm running the ATIs.

 

Honestly I don't see any improvement in newer drivers for newer games so far. 186.82 is a very stable one and it's still recommended on Dell website.

The only concern is getting new games to work with SLI and we have SLI Profiles Update for that.