Good Bye Alienware :(

Hi guys,

Today i cancelled my order. I couldnt bear to hand down $4000 for a laptop that people were labelling as poor quality, squeeky, cracking and on top not working out of the box.

I know its not everyone but it just de-motivated me too much. I was in phase 5...

But the whole reason for this post is that I just wanna thank the people on this forum who provided me with a lot of information and I got everything I needed. So far I am considering a sager 5793 but lets see. I might spring for the M17X when that comes out and hopefully will be of better quality although since it seems to be made of the same material as the M15X, might suffer similar things...

But again, I wish to thank the people on this forum.

 

same here dude....i am so disillusioned about the m15x i dont even want it now. Alienware would have to make some HUGE improvements in the next few weeks for me even consider them again. So so sad..

 

you're making me consider my order as well.

 

i own a m15x and personally i love it, i think that people here are simply exagerating and moaning about this too much and you also have to to take into account that if people are enjoying their laptop, they will be gaming with it and such and not be here , wheras people who have problems will be here.
yes there is a keyboard flex*so minor that you have to be anal retentive about it to care* sure you can argue that "THIS IS NOT THE KIND OF QUALITY I EXPECT FOR A 3k\4k\5k laptop", but even so, this laptop is really good in my opinion. Sure the webcam and built in mic aint so great, so what, get an external one, thats what ive always been using as even in a dell laptop that i previously owned, the built in mic wasnt of a good quality either.
if you can get past the minor points that people stress out excessively about hte quarks of this laptop, i think this is a great buy
P.S. No downclocking at all on my end via x32 bios.

 

come on guys, you're starting to make me have second thoughts too

 

I'm thrilled with my m15x - Use it all day long - no complaints here. Best keyboard and screen and performance on any laptop I've ever used.

N

 

well their loss, im sticking with my order.

 

nah, i've just reconsidered. seeing that i live in europe, AW can't charge me restocking fee. so i'll just wait for mine to get here. if it's good, i keep it. if it's a lemon, i send it back and look for something else. simple as that. i don't really need it right now for work or something, so i guess i have the freedom to decided after getting it.

 

im thinking of getting it here in EU too as i dont want to pay return fee if it comes to that. the only thing is it will turn out to be about 3-400euro more expensive here than if i bought in north america.

 

Truly dedicated is the man who looks towards the sunrise instead of the sunset.

When plunking down the cash for your laptop you need to make the best decision for you. Keep in mind there are unsatisfied and disgruntled owners of every laptop so you're not going to escape all problems by jumping ship. You just have to make the best decision you can with the information you can gather. Sure the m15x has teething problems but the look is rather unique and the whole design is very modular and easy to go from gaming beast to long-distance runner with the modular bay batteries. Again though, look into your purchase and just make what you think suits you the best. Best of luck to all of you.

 

Well, that's unfortunate to hear, KP. It's really understandable.
Wish you luck on the new lappy.

 

You won't get all the shipping costs back. They have to pay for the shipping back to them but they don't have to give you back the shipping costs you paid when you bought it.

 

really. ah well. i guess i could even live with that.

 

Yeah just get it and see how it goes. Im not advocating here to persuade people to abandon ship or anything, Im sure many people will recieve completely fine systems.

For me I just cant risk it with the time frame with a tournament coming up so i need a solid laptop, worse comes to worse I will take my desktop.

 

wow, you really seem competetive. do you play for money?

 

Yeah the prize money is 10,000 Euros for CSS

 

ever won a big one like that?

 

Never LOL Cant even get in the top 20.

I go to improve my skills and its great fun too...One day....

 

Well, I don't regret buying it, infact it's one of the best purchases I've ever made.

Here are some of the problems my unit has:

• down right corner keyboard flex - quite a bit!
• the <- arrow key came off earlier today and it seems pretty loose at the moment
• Speakers are terrible; I was playing Crysis earlier and I had to turn the volume down to the point I could barely hear what they were saying otherwise the sound would distort. It might only be a certain type of frequency as when I play music it's better
• Touch controls don't always respond - sometimes they have to be pressed several times until you get lucky; but it might be just a matter of practice
• Very wobbly and screaky screen! - I didn't expect it but it's true. Even as I type on the keyboard (touch typing) the screen wobbles a little

Well, those are some points I can remember right now and I've had it for just over a day .

 

You have a large tolerance level crystak, as for me, that list you put down immediately would make me unhappy

 

wow talk about over-reacting...

 

actually that list doesnt really make me unhappy since everyone has those problems. Well except for the arrow key coming off. thats a strange problem.

The m15x isnt really as bad as people make it seem :/

 

I own an m15x and have owned one since Mar 08. That makes it nearly 2 months with the machine and I cant say that I am happy with my buy.

Episode 1: Paper jammed in the GPU Fan. Not my doing as this was out of the box.

Episode 2: Downclocking that completely ruined all gaming experience. (Fixed later of course but a pain nonetheless)

Episode 3: HDD dead.

Apart frm that, I have all the usual problems - Screen wobbles way too much for my comfort. I had the XPS M1530 which I returned for this thing and I will vouch my dollar on it that that was better built machine than this can ever hope to be. The quality and finish on the 1530 is impeccable except for the LCD problem. This one seems to move from one headache to another. Its the price I am paying for wanting the 8800mGTX.

 

Can people start making lists of the good things about the m15x?

 

it sounds like the built quality of m15x is even worse than some $500 dell lappys

 

I think this is all just about one's perspective of things. How you judge the value of your money being invested, whether its worth it or not.

I have been following this release M15x since the beginning of this year, and my opinion on this matter is, why would you want to buy a car with a really powerful solid engine (GPU) but has poor or low quality steering wheel, Body Frame, Doors, seats. While some people might be willing to sacrifice all of that just for pure power, others might not.

The plus points on the m15x i have to say, are the back lit keyboard which even today i don't understand why other companies are ignoreing this feature to have in their laptops. Extra Bay for batteries, HD or drive, again being able to run on 2 batteries is a very attractive feature. And finally having so much horse power in a 15.4 inch frame is just amazing.

The conclusion of my opinion is that, many of us who may want to spend 3-5k on a laptop, sees this as an investment, and expects it to be in full working condition (without any hics) for at least 2 years. But seeing so many quality issues within a 1 to 2 month time frame, has just put so many of us off.

 

So why not get a car that has a "really powerful solid engine" and is well built?

 

i can't think of any car "with a really powerful solid engine (GPU) but has poor or low quality steering wheel, Body Frame, Doors, seats."

 

I can. A supercharged Mustang GT or civc or supra. Compared to BMW,porsche etc, they are low quality.

 

OK. I'll try and bring this thread back on track.

I ordered my M15X at the end of March '08, thinking that most teething problems had been resolved. Given the number of bad reports that followed in the weeks after my order, I was a little worried; I dont' want to have to update a BIOS straight out of the box, I want to play with my new toy.
There were also alot of reports of supply problems at Alienware for the most popular components, resulting in huge delays.

Well, I have now recevied my M15X and it is truly awesome. I could not post at the time, because I haven't sorted out the internet connection yet (I at work right now and I am supposed to be working). As it is a weekday and I do work for a living (occassionally), I haven't had as much time as I would like to really run it through it's paces yet, but so far everything seems fine: No cracks, no gaps, not even a scratch; plus the touch buttons work just fine. On top of this the whole process took 23 days from the time I ordered until the time I received it, which is within the quoted 28 days for despatch. I had been expecting much longer from some of the reports on this forum.

I will do some proper testing over the coming weekend and will try to post a review of how things go.

Anyone out there who is getting anxious waiting for thier new Alienware, I can understand that, I felt the same way. But do take some time to consider before cancelling, or deciding not to order: you might regret the compromise. Stick with it and you could be playing on an M15X in a couple more weeks.

I have to go, the boss is coming.

 

sweet let us know what you think.

 

@Captain - Yea let us know how the testing goes. It seems that Alienware has fixed a lot of issues with the M15x the largest one being the downclocking which was affecting almost everyone.

Also: You may want to shrink your sig size down before you get yelled at. Apparently it can only be 8 lines long

 

Thankyou Stone825; have done so now. (If no-one tells you, how can you possibly know?)


I will certainly be back on this forum at some point over the next few days.
It seems there has been quite a large batch of M15X's going out across the UK and Europe over this last week, so I will want to compare notes with any other new owners. Looking forward to seeing more positive reviews.

Here's a picture of my M15X which I uploaded to Flickr last night:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/captainrawley/2438940911/
I took a few pictures of the opening ceremony which have been uploaded to my photostream, but compared to some of the other photos posted on this forum, the quality of mine are not very good. (Taken using Nokia N95 8GB)

Back to work....

 

And you know this how? Have you sat with one and tested it like Chaz? If you read his review there is nothing really putting down the quality of the AW. If you read Steve@NBF's review he states its one of the best laptops he has ever tested and definitely the most eye catching.

I see you have a sager that is really powerful. Is it fair then for me to say, "I have never read of a car powerful like a ferarri but looks like a taurus." I mean that is the complaint about Sager right? You pay a lot of money to have a laptop that looks like any other 300 dollar machine. But that isn't fair of me to say because I have never owned a Sager.

Bottom line people is buy what "does it for you."

I LOVE my m15x. It is the best looking laptop out there. I get compliments all the time. It really is much more striking in person and you know what.....there is a price to pay for the looks alone for me. Also it is very powerful in a 15 inch form factor. It is very mobile for all intents and purposes. The downclocking issue has been addressed.

Here are some bullet points for the ADHD challenged:
1. Bad CS? How many companies do you know that address laptop issues in a public forum in a TIMELY manner?
2. 15 inch with an 8800GTX
3. No worries of SLI compatibility issues (read the dell forums).
4. Best looking powerful laptop out there (hardly subjective)
5. ALien FX
6. Great community of people in the AW forums that can help with any troubleshooting.
7. Read Chaz Review
8. Read Steve@NBF review.
9. STFU

 

Talking about impartiality...

 

ah now, play nice kids. I agree though, the m15x is a first: 15.4", 8800M-GTX, SmartBay, _and_ good looks. that's an awesome package, and i'm willing to endure things like "creaky cases" or whatever.

 

@Capitan - I was told to change the size of my sig because it exceeded 11 lines. My sig used to have spaces between all of my computers but I had to change it. Not a huge deal for me though.

@Everyone - Well the point I think people are trying to make here is that they don't want to plop over 3K for a laptop that has some flaws. Perhaps if it was a 1K - 1.5K laptop they wouldn't mind as much. Honestly, I'm sure the M15x is a great machine, it is the first laptop to incorporate a 8800GTX into its chassis (even though it was a bumpy start). However, I have heard about build quality issues among other things which really should not be present in a laptop of this caliber. Maybe if the M15x was 2K we wouldn't be complaining as much. Just my thoughts on the issue from what I have heard from you guys.