M17X Initial Review

You can put it into stealth mode for normal browsing and movies. I'm guessing it will stay reasonably cool in that aspect (I'll have to test it). The video cards don't really disable, but it's really good at keeping low tempartures as it is. If I play a game of crysis, it never exceeds 70 degrees.

Gabe

 

A lot! And getting better all the time. Besides, the competition in laptops is getting tougher and manufacturers are looking for any advantage they can get to help them take the lead over their competition.

Nowadays, internal speakers are important; and Dell/AW are going to have to do likewise if they want to stay competitive.

Remember when replacing auto factory speakers with aftermarket ones used to be the norm? Then GM (and a few others) switched to selling audiophile quality speakers in their cars and raised the bar? Once they did that, anyone still offering those generic audio components got left in the dust.

 

OMG no subwoofer??????????? it sucks @ its job which is gaming and being work power house ...

but God forbid they left a 1 inch speaker off your laptop.

you have a choice you keep talking about AW needing to stay competitive and stuff and you say were are trying to cover them. We arn't you are trying to find fault. They decided to go with out a subwoofer so they wouldn't sacrifice andthing else and honestly 95% of gamers never use the laptops speakers to game and if they did im sure they wouldn't care for the little 1 inch speakers base

 

Wrong! "Fault," would be to say the new cover looks ugly! Instead I gave a legitimate area that Dell had neglected. Then substantiated my claim by citing the new industry standard. I even gave an related example from another industry and showed how it effected--and improved--what we have today.

At the school I went to, that covered all the basis, and supports a reasonable argument.

Has it ever occurred to you that they don't use them because they're tinny and insufficient? It's a legitimate claim.

In addition, I don't think you're keeping an objective mind. In the future, may I suggest you read my posts objectively and without undue emotion. If you do that, they should make perfect sense.

 

o i agree it is something elite computers have. But when chooseing a laptop i don't use that to decide. Nor do i expect them to make room for it .....i think from a technological standpoint.....

they are ultimately useless .... i had one and i have found non subwoofer laptops that had better sound ........ they are useless and thats what i back my claim on

They are nice to have and say you have.....Just like new CPU's and chipsets.... those little features is how the computer world progresses just like the hybrid SLI.....

 

Oh My lord Moo you get so protective when you are attacked.... but are the first one to jump when someone does or says something wrong... please calm down, threads like this are getting too heated!

 

The current speaker setup on the M17X is very good for what it is. The volume you can get out of them is impressive next to older models like the m9750. I remember having to strain to hear my m15x in a loud environment. However, I can hear the M17X lound and clear.

Gabe

 

Never under estimate the power of a cow holding a chain saw lol.

Gabe

 

I suppose that's why we tend to disagree. You view the M17x solely as a gaming laptop, whereas I see it as a computer with many applications--including superior gaming capabilities.

My primary interest in the M17x is as a multimedia platform. That's why I'm so particular about sound. The better the primary components, the less ancillary equipment I'll need to buy--and carry.

Still, I wouldn't disqualify the laptop because it didn't have a Altec Lansing speakers or a subwoofer.

 

that my friend I can under stand

it is not the most powerful speaker setup but it is the allpowerful gaming laptop.
usually desinated multimedia laptops are better for media stuff....

While it may not have a superior speaker system they used the room to make a superior cooling system unlike the m17 which put a subwoofer instaed of another fan.....

 

But the lake os a subwoofer wold make not so good in therms ,for example, mobile multimedia... the qosmio x305 sound is other level, tuns os bass and good quality mids and high's...(much better for example that a acer 8930g, i doubt that even one asus w90 ore the future m980(that by tradition of clevo the subwoofer is only there to make show off, you dont really hear noting from them) wold have better sound that the qosmio; the alienware m17x should sound better that the clevo m980 (even not having a subwoofer)... don believe it sound better that the w90....

 

Ah, an excellent point--there is a lot of gimmickry in laptops these day; and as you alluded to, the quality of sound is subjective. With 5.1 and up to four speakers becoming common in laptops these days, AW needs to at least acknowledge what they do to circumvent the necessity in this area. If they're going to position themselves excluded from the speaker race, then the at least should have the best two speakers they can find.

 

I think that the M17x's speakers are excellent - especially for not having the sub.

I would say it is near or as good as the M1710 I had (to me those were the best).

 

Has moo added your wallpaper link to his M17X info page? That link is a life saver for those that forgot to save the wallpaper before blanking their machine.

Gabe

 

I don't think he has but chaz did put the link somewhere..lol

I posted the wallpapers for the reason you stated

 

Yeah also when you do a clean install you lose your avatars also. Unless you guys can find them. Let me know. My personal opinion the sound is very impressive. No complaints whatsoever. Clear and crisp.

 

Hi Clauss,
If you pretend like you're ordering a computer from the Alienware website, the last section of the order process will be "Personalize." It's as simple as copying the Avatars right off the site.

Gabe

 

No i know, but when i reinstalled vista+drivers+everything after wiping hard drive. I couldn't find the same avatars before i did.

OHHHH..i feel reallly dumb...forget i said that.

 

Pictures have been added.

Gabe

 

thanks gabe

 

i've had two DVDs not read on the my DVD drive. one was the alienware respawn dvd! - which boots the system to the alienware logo and after that just make scratching sounds (like the dvd is rubbing against something) for 10 minutes. the other was Half-Life Orange Box. the initial screen for 'install' does not come up, it just keeps trying to read the dvd. it works fine on other computers (reading/seeing the autoplay splash) but not on this drive. tech id: VW5213X MGM732B SCSI CdRom Device. for both DVDs, i ejected right after the bios screen. windows wouldn't let me eject.

fanspeed control should have come in-built imho. it's a noticeable sound at 70 C and gets 'loud' at 80 C. i'd rather have it go to high speed before 80 C. i'm happy with the cooling design coz cooling it's a concern for me. running GTA IV and not changing any physical setup, the GPUs go to 95 C, CPU to 85 C (not air conditioned area). in OCCT, i cancelled the test when the GPUs hit 103 C. right now, i'm using a stand that lefts the lcd/back-end of the laptop about an inch off the ground giving it more space to suck in air - 12-15 C avg decrease in all temps. and don't keep anything near the exhaust ends coz it gets hot and warms up the air around it. i had one GPU running at 83 C and the other at 91 C, removed the obstruction and the 91 max dropped to 85 max.

 

Giving potentially thousands of unqualified users the ability to control the fans that keep the system cool and running efficiently is not a risk I would expect Alienware nor Dell to offer, and more importantly, with an included warranty, unless its like the Sager "ALWAYS ON FULL BLAST" button.

 

Not necessarily. You could allow control for the fans and still have set parameters for thermal protection.

You could enable/allow user fan control but if it gets too hot a limit can be set to where the fans would get taken over by the BIOS.

I wish someone would update the I8kfangui app... lol

I loved that with XPS Gen2

 

Fangui FTW, boy those were good times .

 

Marvie, agreed with what u said, but what about wanting the fans to run faster than the spec? and much cooler than thermal protection requirements. As sleey0 said, if the option is given to increase and decrease the speeds, i'd expect them to have base parameters set in the BIOS which control temp vs. minimum fanspeed.

 

i do believe you can flash your Vbios with them ... at least the 3870's had that option

most peoples temps don't break into the 80's let alone 90's....

 

but since mine do, i want to be able to speed up the fans to cool them to low 80s or less.

 

Yeah the VGA card fans or fans in general are all handled via the BIOS in the bulk of every notebook, though there have been exceptions . It may take a few months before anyone takes a crack at the bios if there digging for say more Voltage for the CPU or something else like fan speeds, but for now youll have to deal with what ever Dellienware decides.

They could also release a bios themselves to ramp up the fans earlier but people have not been complaining about temps yet so ill have to say i doubt they will, but ya never know.