*OFFICIAL* "All Powerful" M15x Owner's Lounge

There has to be at least one transient on the boards... I guess I fill that void.

 

anyone else want to throw us some pics? I'm bored here and still have another couple days before mine arrives.

 

nope, "semi-starving" student. Had to keep it under 2k. My old laptop it about to eat it (typing this on said PoS) and I need a powerful laptop that will last me several years (hopefully).....and I wanted an Alienware admittedly.

 

Just went through the BS of re-ordering my M15x today, as they messed up my old order, and now im thinking maybe i should have gotten the M17x. i guess i wait untill it comes, and see what i think and i could always send it back.

my debate comes down to what is better?

M17x
Intel® Core™2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz (3MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
Single NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M
17-inch WideXGA+ 1440x900 (900p)
250GB 7,200RPM w/ Free Fall Protection

OR

M15x
i7 720QM 1.6GHz (2.8GHZ Turbo Mode)
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 @ 1066MHz
GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
15.6-inch WideHD+ 1600x900 (900p) WLED
250GB, SATAII 7,200RPM

The m17x Comes out to be a tad bit cheaper lol, But i love the i7, and now knowing that i can upgrade to the 280m or drop in a 4870 later is nice.. But not being able to go more then 2 hours on Battery only does suck as i plan on bringing this laptop to class.

 

Wow.

The M15x is practically unusable on battery. It is taking me about 2 minutes to type this post. STUTTER HELL!!

 

It is most probably because you didn't fight with old m15x and it's all-plastic case (I did).
Reasumming, when comparing to new M17x you can be little dissapointed indeed. But you forgot you comparing M15x with his higher-class brother.
If you compare with old m15x it is HUGE improvement, regarding case and build quality ! BTW magnesium alloy is more sturdy and resistive than aluminium, and believe me, anodised aluminium isn't so scratch-resistive than you expecting. With sharp edge you can easily show light metal from under anodized color (I know what I'm writing - my Adamo is true-anodised aluminium an I was able to scratch bottom cover opening it with no-so-sharp tool, luckily for me in the invisible place). I had two Dell E4300 with painted LCD covers (it is anodised-like paint) and it is VERY resistive for rough threatment (I would say more than anodised Adamo !). Anyway I don't know what kind of paint was used on M15x - I can only suppose "good, resistive". We'll see.

My thoughts:
It's not quite true Dell is hiding that case is magnesium alloy. It is visible at pictures inside service manual (it is pdf document, but pic's are quite big, and you can magnify them - you can see all bottom is ONE-PIECE and painted). And, this document is available for us from the start. You can find link to them at FIRST POST of that thread. (service manual at dell website)
Moreover, chapter 18 has title "magnesium cover" - so we know what is used.
Moreover2, in fact M17x has the same material as inner frame, only outsides are aluminium.
Anybody could confirm material of LCD cover of M17x vs. M15x ?
I would like to advise all people waiting for delivery to calm down. Of course issues with software are distressing, but still I believe M15x is good piece of work. Best thing is judge yourself, of course listening warnings, but looking youself.

cheers

K.

 

damn stop posting your gonna make everyone call tomorrow and cancel there 15 orders for 17s lol

 

Alright.

Battery is now working fine on balanced, jut not power saver.

 

after all of Sleey0's post today, Dell stock will drop tomorrow even more lol.

 

I can guarantee that the foks who havn't touched or seen an M17x will really like the M15x.

That is all I'm going to say

 

i haven't touched either but just reading this it sounds like when ever a m15x is unplugged for more then 2hours its gonna be dead... and it sounds like a M17x is more worth the $$$

 

Yeah I love mine cant wait to get the studder issues resolved though, I have gotten the DCP test where I want it and most of the studdering is gone. May try some other drivers later but everything but the stealthmode thing is fixed for now. So does anyones stealth mode work or do you all get the dreaded:

Notify!
STEALTH MODE NOT SUPPORT ON BATTERY!

I'm really suprised your power saving mode is that studdery just typing. Mine is admittidly bad while running a game or watching a video which I tried both but typing isn't locking up at all and I have a MMO running in the bacround. I wonder if the steathmode and powersaving mode bugs are related.

 

I assumed the chassis was aluminum as well, but the magnesium chassis isn't a deal breaker for me. The only real benefit that aluminum has over magnesium is that when it's anodized it's fairly scratch resistant, but the anodized finish I've seen on the MBP's and other Dell's isn't that scratch resistant. I bought a refurb M6400 a few weeks ago and it arrived with several scratches on the aluminum chassis and a bent corner. Every one of the MBP's I've owned over the years has been scratched and/or dented in use (which for me is usually only a couple of months and I take very good care of my equipment). Magnesium is actually a very good material to build notebooks. Mg is lighter than aluminum and more rigid. Due to its rigidity it doesn't dent or bend, but if you stress it too much it will crack or break. FYI, Formula One wheels are machined magnesium. As far as paint durability is concerned it shouldn't be a problem. Dell has been selling painted magnesium computers for years. I've owned several Latitudes and other painted Mg machines that held up without a scratch.

 

So.... this is a tad confusing. The case is Magnesium, right? Not plastic? If so, it's not that much of a deal breaker, though I'd definitely think twice now. Still, m17x doesn't seem like a good option due to it's non future-proof nature (still uses older processor architecture).

 

I'm going to type something below without correcting it (stuttering on battery is driving me nuts). Here goes:


The tutterng is diving me abolutely nut!

 

Hahaha

I can't type on battery. lol

This thing is getting boxed up tonight

 

i really can't believe its that bad..

 

The magnesium was not an entire deal breaker for me but the fact that the battery life is terrible is, I guess my funds will be directed somewhere else this time around, I was so excited for this too

 

Also for those who are disappointed with the magnesium chasis, HP decided to use magnesium in their new envy notebooks too

 

What are you boxing up tonight sleey0? Your new toy?

 

Sleey0 just box it up and send it to my house

 

Sure.

Just deposit $2400 in my paypal account and it is yours

 

Actually the new Envy's are magnesium wrapped with aluminum, just like the M17x.

 

Was Vista indexing the hard drive by chance?

 

LoL thats almost $500 more then mine cost me, so im good..

 

No, actually they are magnesium coated with aluminum. Most likely HP uses chemical vapor deposition to sputter aluminum onto the magnesium. It's probably only a few angstroms (like really, really, thin) thick. That way they get the look of aluminum, but with the weight savings of magnesium.

 

Ok, I am also sending this puppy back tomorrow. This laptop is definitely unusable on battery with power saver...it is a stuttering mess. Even on balanced it is better but still a bit slow for me. Now, when plugged in on high performance, look out. I need mobility and thought this would offer me both. (mobility and power) I am still going to play around with some settings tonight.

Ok, so I ran on battery doing things for school and going through the internet on battery for exactly 2:15 mins before warnings came up, and that is on a 9 cell battery. I have been waiting so long for this, and I can honestly say that I am quite disappointed. I guess I will be returning it and getting the M17x. I am sorry for those who are waiting and want to hear good things about it, at this point though it is only a few things. <---been using alot more of these sad face emoticons lately.

 

Im sure they will release bios updates to fix the stuttering issues for those concerned . This machine was a tad rushed since they wanted to be first to the market with the mobile i7s and its going to have some growing pains from the looks of it ..

 

Oh well my mistake on the new envy bodies haven't checked that thread in a while since my interested came here, maybe will look back into the envy 15 who knows

2:15 is pretty disappointing when you consider you have to pay $99 extra for the 9 cell, can you imagine the life on a 6 cell? I am sad. I wanted to get a new AW.

 

Im scared to see how long my 6cell will last

 

Until I see one opened up I am not commenting anymore on speculation

 

i got the 6 cell knowing the $99 9 cell wasn't going to grant me exceptional battery life anyway. not planning on using this thing unplugged, except maybe putting it in standby mode, carrying it to a friend's house and plugging it in again.

 

the envy 15 has some appeal, but not having an internal dvd drive is crazy to me for a 15" notebook... plus worried about the trackpad being crap, like with the envy 13 (maybe driver update will resolve it).

 

same price, but lesser insides... hmm... I think I'd stick with the 15. Is the 3 hours on the M17x on a 9-cell battery?

 

Actually, if you check the M15x refresh specualtion thread, I thought AW would forgo an ODD in the M15x refresh. I was hoping they would.

My thinking was a slimmer system with the possibility of dual gpu's.

HP got the memo, but AW rushed it and we have the M15x as it is now.

 

Then you will have no problems with it and probably will be very happy with the machine! If I planned on using it like you, I would have definitely kept the laptop! I hope you enjoy it!

 

I'm surprised in all who thought this was going to be a 3 hour battery life. After reading up on the i7, I knew this thing would need to be plugged in. Thats what the i5 will be for -- for those looking for more mobility over power.

 

i think i'll get lucky and in all my classes, i sit by a power outlet

 

Well the things is that one of the pluses of having a smaller laptop normally correlates to a better battery life which Dell kind of shot themselves in the foot making the m15x have less battery life than the m17x

Which then makes you wonder why didn't they just make the option for gtx 280 or 4870 if they were going to make such funny choices for the m15x? :/

 

No need to speculate. Magnesium it is.

https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/oet/forms/blobs/retrieve.cgi?attachment_id=1175448&native_or_pdf=pdf

 

Well the M17x hasn't been refreshed yet. Who's to say that it will get better/worse battery life?

 

Good thing it doesn't have an RGB LED display. I was lucky to get 2 hours on my XPS16 and that's with everything turned down. The short battery life of the M15x vs. the M17x just shows you how much power discrete video cards use. At this point though there is no discrete solution for the i7.

If the M17x refresh has an i7 the battery life will go down. That is unless the refresh doesn't happen until Intel releases integrated video for the i7.

 

Will a 4870 work in the M15x, might be something to buy once the holiday sales come

 

Lack of an IGP really hurt when it came to battery life but intel did not have one to offer yet ..

If the M17x gets the i7 refresh it may not have one either depending how fast it comes , not to mention all the problems the 9400m has caused the machine with the whole hybrid thing .

 

uh, how could the m17x get better battery life if it receives the same i7 cpu? some smart throttling? i'm confident the m15x stuttering problems will be resolved by the way. and i definitely plan on putting a 4870 in my m15x

 

Only thing that may hold it back from working is Bios support . Or it may work but have some issues etc.

 

The 9400m is what gives the M17x such awesome battery life just like the Macbook pros .

 

Maybe I am assuming too much but I expect refreshes to improve not go back, so as it is now the m17x has more battery life

but then again the m15x has much less battery life then the previous so maybe my assumptions and hopes mean zilch

 

forgot about the 9400m. heck, why not put in a the new ion gpu for running in low power? its supposed to sip power and run like a 9400.

 

The stuttering is what is bothering me the most. Also, when the profile is set to balanced, my battery life drops quite a bit. Granted, I am aware that the I7 was not going to improve battery life in the least, but I thought at least having the 9 cell would have given me more than 2:15 mins of battery life.