Maybe its time to dump my old m15x

Heya people,

I really need your advice for this cause I'm abit out of date and was quite confused while reading the forums to update myself.

So basically I've had my old m15x for 2 years now, and I have to say it's been a pain. The first year was without big issues, and then it just started. Broken hinge, dead video card, alienware shipping me my system back without fixing it and so on. They replaced my 8800gtx card not a long time ago and its bust again + my hinge will probably brake in about 2 months, I can already see a crack. I have to say I'm getting quite angry. I tried to push for a free extension on my warranty today just to find out that I can't extend it even if I pay for it since the old m15x is no longer being build so they have no parts and therefore no future support.

So I think it might be time to actually get myself a new laptop. I'll call AW tomorrow and will ask whether they can just take my m15x and sell my a new system for a lower price (and I will push for a good discount, considering how many problems I've had, they should be happy I'm even considering buying from them again). Has anyone tried that before? Or do you think it just might be better to try and sell the system to another person?

The big question is, are the new m15x/m17x better and more realible than the old ones? Will I be able to use them without problems for atleast 3 years? I am quite afraid to buy from AW now, and this forum is still full of issues people had with the new models, but I suppose people only write when they have problems so it might not be that bad.

And finally, how does m15x compare to the m17x? Which is more reliable and stable?

I am sorry for all these questions, I know you're gonna say do your research, but all these new refreshes are quite confusing.

Thank you in advance,

-Impressive

 

Man that sucks, I'm feeling you though my m15x isn't fairing well either lol. Aside from my recent endeavor to upgrade the video card, I am also having a huge hinge problem with it along with a couple other quirks. If your looking to sell I'd be glad to take it off your hands, just PM me with a price if you decide to sell it lol. As for answering your questions the M15x and M17x I hear a lot better in terms of build quality. Just search youtube for reviews. Now M15x vs M17x you can go striaght to alienwares website and look at the specs, depending on what configuration you want.

 

I came from an older m15x myself, although didn't have any gpu issues, i just had the hinge problem. i didn't have warranty so i did the fix myself. after the fix i sold it and got the new M15x. The build quality of these new ones are awesome. yeah if you still have warranty with them maybe you can get a refund or a newer replacement unit. but if you do not have warranty i doubt that they will do anything for you.

Both M15x and M17x seems to be reliable, pretty much the same system, but its up to you if you want 2 gpu's or just one.

i recommend reading the threads for both of these unit to get a better know what to expect.

 

The old m15x was a rebadged clevo wasn't it? The current designs (M15x/M17x) were made inhouse by Alienware/Dell and are built much better. I've owned an M15x (new one) and now the new M17x-R2 and both are superb. You might be better off parting your system and selling the components on eBay. Use that money and get yourself a new laptop.

 

Perhaps off topic, but how would one go about doing this?

 

No, the area 51 m15x is not a rebadged Clevo. Most laptops prior to this model were though.

The hinge is definitely an issue with the area 51 m15x. Having it replaced by Alienware will not solve the problem as the mechanism itself is flawed. Here is a thread with the fix I did for mine, and various members' DIY fixes

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=423760

I must be one of the lucky owners. Haven't had problems with this laptop for 2 years now, besides the hinge issue.

As most of the members in the forum have already informed you, the new Dell Alienware machines have great build quality. I highly doubt Alienware would accept your 2 year old machine in exchange for a price cut though.

 

Thanks a lot for your answers guys, I'll call them and will inform you of what they said.

 

Yea they won't let you trade or anything mainly because they claim that the Policy has changed once dell took over etc.

 

I dumped my m15x after 11 months after loads of issues. I must admit I was wary of the M15x but decided to give it a go and so far its light years ahead of the m15x in terms of performance, reliability, stability etc.

A

 

Just got off the phone with AW tech support. Basically what I discovered is that my cooling system is failing big time. Graphics card reaches 140 degrees + and shuts down.

I already arranged to send my lappy away for a full investigation and fixing.

When I started talking about some refunding and ordering a new system, the tech guy instantly told me to write an e-mail to [email protected], which I believe is just a standart mail for everyone and told me a name of a guy who I should be addresing in that e-mail. I am supposed to write my whole story with this computer and the guy will contact me by phone in a few days. This sounds quite dodgy to be honest, the tech guy refused to just give me a phone number and said the only way is to write the e-mail first.

On the other hand, when asked for his oppinion he said that considering the ammount of problems I've had with this laptop it is likely that they will offer me something, but maybe he just wanted to get me off his back.

 

Well good luck! Hopefully you'll be able to get some money off a new unit, if not my offer still stands lol :-D

 

Thanks I'll keep that in mind. Where do you live though for shipping?

 

Im in the USA lol

 

ha well that's not gonna be easy as I'm based in europe

 

Well it finally died! A new graphics card fixed my issues and the laptop was also running at quite low temperatures, so I was almost ready to forgive it for being a piece of plastic, but today it just died suddenly.

I was playing wow and the laptop just turned off. Now it doesn't respond to me pressing the ON button both on battery and on AC. Also, when the AC is plugged in, the the adaptor emits a strange quiet sound and the little green indicator on it starts to blink. I have no idea what happened to it, maybe something fried inside. I'll call AW tomorrow and send it for a full repair, Gallardos, I will probably send you a pm in a few days as well.

Now I need some help guys. I'm a bit lost in all the new video cards/processors business. What powerfull laptops are out there these days?

So far I came across the new M15x and clevo W860cu in the 15 inch category. I understand that clevo currently holds the best video card? (280m). My question is, how long will this card remain on the top of the list, and does anyone know if the M15x is getting a refresh?

On the 17 inch front, I understand that M17x is a clear winner? The thing I'm not sure about is the R2 release, why is everyone so happy about it and what's new there. And also is this model expected to get new graphics cards in the near future?

These are my questions. I know there's a lot, and I am reading around the internet, but hearing from you guys would really help me make up my mind. I need my new gaming laptop pretty badly

 

M15x will get the ati 5870's pretty soon.those card are the best as of right now.

 

Thanks for that info. Already m15x looks a lot more attractive You probably don't know, but by "soon" do they mean sometime in about a month or sometime in the "near future" which might extend to 4 months?

 

they already release a new bios for the M15x that support the new card already, so it should be very very close to coming out. i guess like a month or so.

 

I would rep you but they don't let me since I need to spread my reps

How come m17x only has dual 4870s? Or are they more powerfull than the 5870s?

 

a single 5870 is more powerful then a single 4870, like 10-15% better performance.

 

I just found the thread with discussions about the 5870s comming out for m15x and m17x. I'm quite excited Guess a couple more weeks and I will be placing my order.

 

i also recommend waiting a untill the first unit to arrive to see if there is any issues, like the release of the M17x r2 was a complete mess with alot of bugs and glitches, it wasn't untill a month later all the issues were solved.

 

You 2 dudes are confusing 2 systems that are completely different. One of you is talking about the area-51 m15x and the other is talking about the M15x with the i7.

LoL, just thought you should know. And just about NOTHING Is in common between these two except the size of the screen and a SATA HDD.

 

Impressive is talking about the area-51 m15x, I know that much, he has to, he has a 9800m GTX, that died, think about it.... And he's out of warrant, has the M15x, even been out for a year?

 

he is talking about getting a new laptop since his old one just died. read from middle of page 2.

anyways thanks for looking out bro

 

Hey impressive if it comes down to it, let me buy that broken m15x off of you, I love these alienwares.

 

Yea darkloki you misunderstood us a bit, we were indeed talking about the new M15x .

I could not contact AW today (damn those public holidays), but will do so tomorrow. Then I will be able to confirm if I'm selling my current old m15x.

 

I have one more question - why don't they put an RGB LED into the M15x? I understand that those are the monitors that macs have? Since the M17x recieved one, I can't see why they didn't put it into the M15x

 

the screen on the M15x is already really great, but we don't really know when M15x will have rgb maybe soon maybe never. from what i read from the M17x rgb threads is the colors are sometime alittle off, and the rgb screen that dell uses isn't that great.

 

You never really buy dells for the highest quality in products, you buy them for the highest value. Alienwares use to be about the highest quality but they're becoming more and more like dell, which at the same time has it's good points and it's low points. I'd say that overall the alienwares are more affordable and that they have probably the largest number of users then they've ever had in past years.

I own both the area-51 m15x and the m17x-r2. And I will be the first to tell you that I would NEVER buy the M15x. They about doubled the size of the previous m15x, and all you get is an i7 chip and a mxm 3.0 card based system. The size difference between a m15x and a m17x is pretty reatrded, yeah it weigh's 4lbs less, but why would I want to settle for a single GPU when I can have 2 if I'm going to take something of that form/size factor?

Area-51 m15x, m17x-r2, and soon a m11x for me.

Don't believe me about the size? here look at this video showing the 2 on top of each other. Crazyiness....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8jlL5MvZ_g

 

darkloki you have a very good point about the size difference. Because I pretty much decided to either wait for the new radeons in the M15x or to buy an M17x.

But I can't decide between those two because of the size . I don't carry my laptop around that much it pretty much stays on the desk all the time and every two months or so I fly in between UK and Lithuania and again put in on a desk. So I guess M17x looks attractive but still its HUGE. You have one, do you find carrying it around to be a pain?

 

Well when you have it in your backpack it's not that bad. The weight is hardly noticeable for me because I use to have a m1730 and hey, it's alot lighter lol then that one. However, the Area-51 m15x is the best to use for on the go IMO, or the m11x, which I haven't gotten around to yet.