Got it! (m17x); 3 questions, the battery, and the GeForce 9400 "mode" (does it require reboot?) and ....

Got it, played around, tweaked it a little, uninstalled the McAfee virus.

Then I played around with the graphics settings.

I also have a battery question.

I will 99% of the time be plugged in, after my battery is fully charged, shall I remove my battery? On my old Dell, I had it plugged in all the time (literally all the time unless I'm with it working but rarely) with the battery attached, and 2 years down the line, if I unplug the mains, the battery lasts 5 mins before the laptop moans and turns itself off.

I worry that this will happen later on with my Alienware. What's the recommended action?



Also, I tried to switch to onboard graphics. It works fine and all, but before I got it, everyone says i need to reboot. However, I noticed on the laptop that it doesn't seem like I need to reboot. My GTX260 (single) just disappears off the device manager. And then I can renable it and it'll reappear. Is a reboot still required? I haven't installed/runned anything intensive yet. Unfortunately I am really tired right now

Last question, if I update the drivers for my GTX260, would it apply to the 9400 onboard as well, or do I need seperate drivers?

Thanks all. Will toy with it later on, but I've got some other stuff to take care of first with my dell ...

 

Concerning the battery, I had my XPS M1730 for close to 16 months and never removed the battery while plugged into AC. Battery time was still ok @ close to an hour (normal for the M1730). With LI-ION batteries, its more of a complete charge cycle factor. Meaning, as you completely deplete the battery and then recharge fully it will shorten the life of the battery. LI-ION batteries only have so many charge cycles. I would just leave the battery in the bay. Be aware you may receive conflicting responses on this subject. I suggest researching LI-ION batteries and then make your own determination.

From what I have encountered, the only time you are presented with the reboot message is when using Stealth Mode. I have yet to see this message from using the NVIDIA Chevron/HybridSLI tasktray icon or the FN+F7 command. I could be incorrect on this and suggest seeing what others reply with. Not that you asked, but might be helpful - with driver 186.82 HybridSLI is completely functional. That being said, I have chosen to leave HybridSLI enabled in the BIOS and while on AC Power my system runs in discrete+9400 mode (Boost Performance). There is no reason I have found to disable the discretes while in AC mode since temps are so chilled with this system.

For driver installs, just be sure your discrete is enabled when updating the driver. It will install for both GPUs.

Enjoy the system!

 

With FN+F2 , you can disable your battery without having to pull it out.

 

Interesting point - thanks for posting. I didn't even notice that one... Rep+1

Having the battery in the bay and enabled can also act as a poor man's UPS (backup power supply).

 

unhip: oh thanks! I wondered what that icon meant...

batboy: Understandable, I'll dig around for research but after what unhip replied with I think it's not required hehe.

I'm an eco-person (not up to the point of hugging trees and such, but I like to save where possible). When I'm at home I like the idea of conserving power. So if possible I would like to overall help my bills (and environment) where possible, as little difference as it will make.

But yeh, I'll hook it up to the world's largest network later on after I cover it with a huge johnny, but anyway, I will update the driver with the 260 enabled of course.

I need to read the manual and check if stealth is enabled. I always thought stealth just meant disabling the big card, but apparently it also underclocks things and lowers brightness, etc.

 

If I'm not mistaken, once the battery reaches 100% capacity it goes into a trickle type charge mode to maintain the 100% level. In essence, its basically shut off to prevent overload. At least this has been my understanding on previous LI-ION batts. Really no reason (from a conservation view) to remove or disable it. Then again, with the M17x and this battery I could be totally incorrect. Look forward to seeing some input on this one.

 

Yeh it's not tooooooo bad, i'm sure a replacement can easily be ordered. Just wondered anyway.

My antec cooler 200 is on the way, so I'll be looking for tools to test the cooling capacity/efficiency as well. I know it's cool enough, but more coolness can't hurt hehe