My m17x has arrived!

It arrived about 2 hours ago. I woke up early and waited for it hehe. I'm still taking pictures of it, and still getting everything I want set up, so for now I'll be talking mainly about its physical aspects. I'll either edit or put another post once I have all the pictures taken.

First thing, this thing is HUGE! I knew it was going to be big, but good grief. The only other laptop I have ever used is my brothers 3 year old powerbook g4. (that was his graduation gift, the m17 is mine). The m17x dwarfs that thing. Its weight also is pretty massive, I would only recommend using on your lap if you are also a big, strong, person. Even the powerbrick is rather large.

When I took it out of the cloth sleeve it comes with, the first thing I noticed was the matte black finish. The only area that is glossy is the area around the screen. It has no blemishes on it, no scratches, or other such imperfections that I could see.

When I opened the case, I could not hear any creaking, and the screen is solid. It does not move while I am typing this. And on that note, there is no keyboard flex, save for the same area as the m15x, around the arrow keys. And even there it is very slight.

I went into command center. The only color area I have changed so far is the keyboard. I went through all the colors and noticed no color bleeding. So far thats all I've done with the CC.

As far as the screen itself, I love it. It does has a glossy finish and not matte. There is plenty of space to work with at the 1920x1200 resolution, which is precisely what I need as I am going to go into a graphic artist program in college. I dont have any blu ray movies, but I do intend on buying some. Thats why I go the blu ray drive. Right now, I am watching a standard DVD though. It looks better when not full screened. At full screen there is a lot of fuzz going on. But thats to be expected from trying to play any less then hi def media on a hi def screen.

The speakers are actually pretty good. The movie, although a standard dvd, sounds much like it would on a tv with a good sound system hooked up.

I havent run any benchmarking software yet, though I have checked the file on the desktop top:
3DMark Score: 7,936.00 3DMarks
SM2.0 Score: 3,586.00
HDR/SM3.0 Score: 3,709.00
CPU Score: 1,829.00
Game Score: 0.00 Points
SM2.0 Graphics Tests
GT1 - Return To Proxycon: 28.20 FPS
GT2 - Firefly Forest: 31.57 FPS
CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley: 0.59 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley: 0.90 FPS
HDR/SM3.0 Graphics Tests
HDR1 - Canyon Flight: 31.49 FPS
HDR2 - Deep Freeze: 42.69 FPS

I hope that is helpful, I dont know what half of those programs are. I will get 3dmark 2006 soon to run again for confirming the score alienware has given me. As far as what the configuration was that got those scores, my system is the base line for the m17x, I just added the keyboard lighting and the blu ray drive (I have posted that before, just re-iterating)

The final thing I'll note, the touch buttons are cool, though it feels as if you have to press them almost as hard as a standard button to get any response from them.

As I stated earlier, once I get everything set up (I'm taking it one step at a time, I have plenty to set up) I'll get more of the benchmarking up

Hope this information has been helpful to those reading, this is actually the first review I've ever done.

Cheers!

 

Is that 3DMark vantage?

And that's awesome! You're amongst the first ones to get it .

 

What 3dmark is that????

 

Great can't wait to see some pics and a review

 

That seems pretty low for 3DMark06.

Pics please (especially the underside with the panels open).

Another thing that this confirms.... M17x will not have Montevina if they are shipping already.

 

Actually it might be 3D Mark06 but with that huge resolution?

 

don't AW run 3dmark as low as possible to get higher scores? that score is rather strange though.

 

Did he mention he has 8800M GTX ?

 

No, I dont have the 8800m gtx. Its just the baseline graphics cards. 8600's in sli. Its also only the 2.1 ghz core 2 duo, and only 1 gb of RAM. I plan on self upgrading the RAM soon to 4gb. As I said I havent run any benchmarking software yet. Give me some time to enjoy my grad present before I get really down and dirty with it ^_^''

I'm not sure how accurate the 3dmark score is, I've never used it before. As I said in the OP this is going to be the first review I've done. :\

 

And just how much did you spend on that ?

 

I was about to say: If you have the "base-line" with 8600s that would explain the low score. Still not a bad configuration, but rather a shame for an m17x

 

Nothing. Grad present Though the end price was 2.7k after shipping and tax. I'm quite pleased with it though. I imagine it will fit my needs far more then the 7 year old desktop (that was -upgraded- to a geforce 4000 series video card) that I have been using for a while. Its not top end, but for me it works.

 

It's still better than pretty much any "standard" laptop, most 17" (Dell Inspiron or Macbook Pro come to mind) only have one. Enjoy it! I hope those of use in the UK will be lucky enough to have them released soon.

 

WE WANT PICTURES ! WE WANT PICTURES!! AND MORE PICTURES

 

Congrats on your purchase. Hopefully you don't have any problems.

 

thats a good score for the 8600s hope you enjoy your sistem... and ignore to what any one says about 8800... way way expensive .. + u will have way better batterylife than the m9750 im sure!!

enjoy your m17x buddy cant wait to see some pics.. as this will surly be the finish the m15x black gets soon.


gratz on the first m17x in the world... lol NBR what ever ^_-

 

Nice system! I've been waiting since this thing was announced to see some first-hand pictures. I think now the whole forum is expecting some nice pictures . Enjoy your new gaming beast!

 

battery life on the m17x... i'd say two hours tops. more like 1.5 hours.

 

Congratulation on being the first guy to own the m17x. Glad to hear you didn't have any problems with it. I should be recieving mine next week, hopefully with no more delays

 

bebarhood, I hope when you get your system its as flawless as mine is, hopefully better I know you ordered yours first and have waited longer >_<

Time to get the software cd for my digital camera...

 

congratulations on your new beast. i would be chuffed to bits to be one of the first customers to receive it.
as you can tell by the excitement on here there are quite a few people looking forward to your pictures.

now go and enjoy your new m17 and we all look forward to your pictures








within the next 15 minutes

 

the pictures I'm working on right now. I have most everything set up, just need to take the pics, install the digital camera software (its also not a high end camera, so it doesnt do the laptop any justice), and move over all my files from the other computer.

And o boy. When I saw this morning on the fedex site that it was on the vehicle for delivery, I was pysched. Hours later it finally arrived. I was jumping up and down like I was a 10 year old add kid on a sugar high 0_o

 

One thing you can do and it something I will do. Is upgrade the dual gpu to a single 8800gtx. At least I know the basic speed of my laptop when I get mine.

 

My M15x is faster than your M17x! Congrats. Post pictures please...

 

LoL i am so happy for you i could feel your excitement I want teh 17" with SLI.

Think I might order 1 from Alienware Direct but i am going to wait for a few months before i get one.

 

Pictures will be on the way. I have to down size them in order to put them up though, due to resolution limits.

At least, once photoshop copies over

 

Congratulations, Mennenth! You're the first one.

 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah maaaaaaan, ROFL.
And I thought it`s the 8800M GTX SLI

 

You can use imageshack.us to upload your pictures and resize them (800x600) and post the direct link here. Black must be cool... Both the big and small Mxx brothers are quite beautiful.

ps: why was tyronne banned again? I miss him already!

 

why do you need to install the digital camera software? doesn't the m17x have a card reader? can't wait to see the pics!! congrats!

 

@altoSameek you cant from my understanding put a single card in this computer as it isnt set up to run out of SLi i could be wrong though

 

Wow milcs.. could you be more of an ass?

By the way. where are those pictures you promised!!?!?!?

 

Pictures please!!!

 

You're right... I'm a bastard.
Ok here it goes... Mine is faster, but yours is bigger!

Just kidding... One good thing with these laptops its their upgradability.

 

At least he HAS his... I know I know..low blow...but you deserved it..

 

I could go and make some jokes with broken laptops... But that's far too low.

Honestly, I do hope the M17x turn out to be a success and you guys love the experience with it.
Also... I hope you get yours fixed Jay. (and receiving mine back wouldn't be a bad thing either).

So... WHERE ARE THOSE PICTURES?

 

Before I order my laptop. I ask alot of questions about the grapics card. Like price and if I could buy one at a time. The tech told me it can run on a single 8800gtx. The price of the grapics card was about the same as buying it with the Laptop. Plus shipping.

Most desktops that have SLI can run on Single and dual gpu.

 

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/mennenth/images/detail/#111/dsc00435of8.jpg

I'm extremely sorry for the retarded wait. my mother insisted that I run some errands for her. Sometimes moms just have to come first... >_<

Yes, I did put the sticker over the touch pad, I didn't like the normal surface. so far there are 6 pictures. I have 8 more to upload. Just wanted to have some up before posting the link

Again, very sorry.

 

The black... it is sexy..

 

lol, poor mennenth, catering to us like a pack of rabid wolves.
thanks for finally uploading them in any case!
the m17x looks positively delicious in black. alienfx looks pretty fetching as well.
also, thanks for including a few of the accessories as well! lol, now i know i wouldn't be caught dead in that cap xD

 

side angle please !! i wanna see how thick it is ...

P.S. congrats ! hope you enjoy it

 

The power brick looks exactly the same as the m1730's

 

Haha! touche touche! I hope we both become happy with our outcomes ASAP~!

And that matte finish is pure sexysexy!

 

You mean the futuristic cinderblock? Holy Giant Powerblock Batman...

 

thanks for the pics! That thing is huge I wonder how much it weighs including that monster sized brick. (kinda reminds me of the 1730) Although looks like it can handle heat better than the m15x

 

Cool pictures. The black is, indeed, amazing. The gray as well, but the black makes it go better with all the colours of the AlienFX (something the Gray can't really do).
One other thing is sure... that thing is HUGE!

 

@Miho. Its quite alright. I had intentions of uploading pics anyway. I just didnt expect to be interupted by my dear mother. 0_o

 

All 14 of my pictures have been uploaded now. Here is a re-link. If anyone else wants any specific pics, just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/mennenth/images/detail/#511/dsc00455us5.jpg

 

once again, incredibly sexy system. hooray for you

i hope it lasts and works well.

 

Great pictures Menneth. I can't wait to get my system. Now I am getting excited.