Have a few questions from m15x owners

So been shopping for a new laptop for a few months now, have it narrowed down to 2 choices, either an m1530 or an m15x.

Pretty sure I managed to con myself in justifying the purchase of an m15x over the m1530 and the price is really not that different when you factor in the student discount.

I need the laptop for school mostly but also have a replacement for my primary gaming rig at home until I upgrade it, considered getting a desktop replacement 17 inch notebook but they just seem too big to carry around all the time.

Ok like the title says I have a few questions:

This is a real deal breaker for me, I know the computer is shipped from the US and I will be paying normal Canadian taxes directly to Alienware when I purchase this on the website but there’s a part of me that expects to get nailed with customs charges when it crosses the border, both the Alienware CSR guys I talked to assured me there would be NO extra charges from them or customs for the computer. Anyone from Canada that got one of these recently that could give me some feedback on this? The system is already a lot more expensive then an m1530, add 500+ from customs and I am simply not interested anymore.

The m15x has been out for 6 months right? Whats the release cycle for AW usualy? Once a year? I can wait 3 months before buying this no problem, any chance there's a new 15 inch AW about to come out? Noticed some 17 inch laptops with quad core and 800mhz ram out there. Normaly i don't worry about this stuff when i upgrade my desktop PC but if i am going to be putting down 3 grand for this thing i would like to make sure its not replaced by a new model 2 months later.

Is it possible to upgrade to a 9 cell battery for the m15x or just another 6 cell battery for the smart bay? How does one order the smart bay battery anyways? Can’t seem to find it on the website.

Really considering getting a blue ray drive and upgrading to 1920x1200 screen for it, notice none of you (going by your sigs anyways) seem to have gotten those upgrades, any reason why not? Have a PS3 so started switching my DVD collection over to blue ray might be cool to be able to watch movies on my PC plus as opposed to every other upgrade on the m15x the blue ray drive option is actually pretty cheap compared to most other PC makers.

Not sure i understand the TV tuner option on the website, i can either have no tuner or get a remote, don't see the option for the tuner, just a remote, am i missing something?

Speaking of other upgrades how easy is it to buy the ram I need for the m15x and install it myself? Really not something I am familiar with but the prices for RAM on the m15x are ridiculous. Anyone in Canada/Montréal recommend a good brand/place I could get the ram I need at?

Is the extended warranty a must? I want the thing to last me for 2 years but really not that crazy about the idea of paying 200+ for an extra year and 300+ for 2.

What about hybrid drives? Seems like a pretty good alternative to a SSD, saves power and in general is faster then a standard HD but don’t see anyone on this forum with one, are they worth it? From the description looks like it would mostly help with running vista and less with games?

Was thinking of getting the Orion messenger bag, anyone has one? Worth it?

Will be taking advantage of the student discount for this purchase, notice they have an employee purchase plan, anyone use that? Is it another 5% discount? Can you combine them? 

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, been wanting an Alienware laptop for years (so beautifuuuuuuuul!!!!, totally sleeping with it the first night it gets here!) and for the first time not only can I afford it but I actually need a notebook.

 

1)Sorry dont know

2)I think they usually come with a new one every 1 - 1.5 years

3)I dont think there is a 9 cell battery for the m15x. if the smart bay battery isnt on the site you can buy it from a customer service representative. you can save 15% buying the battery after you recieve the laptop.

4)You will not notice a difference watching blu ray on a 15 inch screen with higher resolution. If you watch a 720p video and a 1080p video on the 15 inch screen you will not notice a difference. The 1440 x 900 screen has alot more positives over the 1920 x 1200 screen. The 1440 x 900 screen has better contrast ratio, better viewing angles, it is lighter, brighter. The 1440 x 900 also has better colors since it is a glossy screen. the 1920 x 1200 screen is matte and the only positive is the extra amount of room for if you want to photoshop. You will also get more frames in games using the 1440 x 900 screen when you are on native resolution.

5)There is no built in tv tuner for the m15x

6)ram for the m15x is really easy to come by. you can change the ram in 5 min. you can save yourself around 150 by buying 1 gig of ram and then upgrading to 4 by yourself.

7)Since you are paying so much for the laptop i would get the extended warranty. i plan to upgrade my warranty to 3 years sometime later.

8)Hybrid drives i think has something like intel turbo memory built into it. It should help you with access times.

9)the bag is really your choice. in my opinion its just a steal me tag when you wear it around.

10)if you are a student i doubt you will be working for AW

 

2) They will update to montevina quite soon I think, if you can wait, I suggest you wait since mid July, most other laptops will update to the montevina line and you will be able to choose the Quad cpu, ddr3 and maybe even 9800M GTX

 

if the clevo cant handle the heat from the 9800m gtx i doubt the m15x will...

montefina is a different chipset. they will need a new mobo for montevina. AW will most likely put out a different notebook for montevina.

 

I dont think so, I think they will just update the chipset for the M15X and M17X since the competitors will be doing so as well.

On the other hand, your point about the 9800GTX is a good point, probably it wont be included i guess

 

The only thing I can advise you (being a responsible M15x owner, is to read the following thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=254627

Read the 1st post and the last post ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3552968&postcount=304). See how 3 M15x owners got their M15x's case breaking (exactly in the same way)...
Exposed to all the possible ammount of problems that choosing the M15x will bring you... I would be really careful when making my choice.

Read and decide wisely... My opinion is to avoid the M15x.

 

wise words milcs, wise words

 

Yeah the # of unsatisfied customers does worry me a bit, but the m15x seems to be the only 15 inch that uses the 8800gtx wich is a big deal for me as i want to use the laptop for games.

 

depending on how long you can wait, clevo is having a 15.4 inch with a 8800 coming out soon. the clevo wont look as nice tho and the battery life will be much shorter.

 

Even if you will risk it breaking on you after 6 months?
In 15 days a new laptop will be out with the 8800GTX (the Clevo M860TU). I would advise you to wait until anything comes out regarding that new laptop.
I am sure, it can't be worst than the M15x... That's simply impossible.

 

i wont even what milcs will do if the clevo ends up having more problems than the m15x

 

Man i was almost ready to order and you done changed my mind up... not sure if i should send you a thank you note or fly to London to kick your ass

 

I'd do the latter lol mine will be here Thursday, i'm psyched!!!

 

Hi blueguy51,
I think mine has the potential of making it on Thursday too. If not, I'll be expecting it the following monday.

Gabe

 

Ya, when i got the e-mail from fedex they said the 5th, but on their tracking page its saying the 3rd, i'm hoping i will be able to have a fantastic Fourth of July with my m15x

GabeZ,
Did you go for the ripley or skullcap?

 

remeber to make the lights flash red white and blue if you do recieve it on 4th of july

 

I went for the skullcap. I couldn't resist making it look alien lol.

 

I think you'll enjoy it gabez... I had thought it might be a bit too crazy but it's actually not as deep a relief in the lid as I thought. The shadows from side light sources make it seem to stand out from the lid more than it actually does if light is shining directly on it. It's a very cool effect though.

 

Same here, the ripley wasn't alien enough lol one of the main reasons i went alienware was for the looks. I was holding out for black skullcap at first, but the more pics i see of the silver i like it better plus who knows when the black will finally show up lol

Blue and red will definitely be the colors on the 4th!!!

 

Also, even though they may have shown it in black, it may never make it out. What they show during the conferences in only in speculation. Do you remember seeing the early skullcap designs??? The eyes were hardly visible. When it finally came out, i was relieve to see that they defined it more.

Gabe

 

just for the record -- in case I'm late -- there are no customs fees on the machine when it arrives to canada.