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

I had trouble with the 1080 on the M15x. If I was re-ordering I'd go for the 900 screen.

Dell now lists a weird res screen for the 1640 at 1680 x 945. I'd try that if it was offered for the M15x, although it isn't much different from the 1600 x 900 screen.

 

well i just went from a 15.4 inch hp @ 1600x800 and i got the high rez. Unless you have vision issues its not a bother at all and games look really really good in high rez. I was able to adjust after about 15mins now I feel like I could never go back.

 

did you see at the TGS Phoenix showed off their bios software that lets you boot to Windows 7 in less than 10 seconds? they demoed it with a dell adamo. think that sort of thing could be done with the M15X? does dell just have to liscense it with Phoenix?

 

Ok guys I got an update for ya may be total bull but we will find out in a few days. AW says that I have a defective battery, dont ask me how they came to this conclusion we did some tests which didnt seem to relate to any of the problems I have but either way they are sending me a new battery and I am asked to call back and let them know if this fixes the issue. The whole deal with stealth mode not working never got fully addressed in this call so I dont know if I should wait for this battery to come before continuing to call and bug them. Everyone who has this issue and is not sending back their computer right away we should work together to see if we can get some more definitive info outta them.

 

I don't see why not as the M15x and M17x use a Phoenix BIOS.

 

Batteries either work or don't work so they are feeding you horse$hit I'm afraid.

 

I am awaiting delivery of my m15x mid october but i'm wondering just how much smaller and lighter the m15x is in relation to the m17x when physically compared side by side. In terms of portablility would you say it is significant or just a small difference??

 

r8 dat read some of the older posts its all here.

Is it possible the battery just isnt giving enough power to the cpu? I dont want to wait weeks for a battery if its not going to fix anything.

 

Uroboros ive read every page up to this one as well as following all of the pages in the thread that was in anticipation of landfall. I was wondering if one of the lucky few who have had the pleasure of owning a m17x and received the m15x, give me their views on my previous question about portability. Basically i'm torn between the m15x and m17x and was trying to find a good reason to keep the m15x over ordering an m17x. Portability or should i say, not a significant difference of portability, is my dealbreaker on the m15x.

 

can someone who hasn't bozed up their M15X open it up and tell me if you can squeeze a 12mm hd in there instead of a standard 9mm?

 

There is a video somewhere in here that has an M15x sitting on top of an M17x, just browse through this thread.

 

K well you obviously didnt lol cuz its all over the place but here you go: Sleey0 is the only one too have both and if you look at his older posts before he sent the m15x he ssaid it it was smaller... please look again.

 

Hrm...My M15x should be here by next week. But all this talk has me on edge a bit. However, I'm confident that a lot of the bugs will be worked out. I'll keep an eye on batteries, I imagine a solution should hopefully take place.

I'm glad to hear this thing has accepted a 280m, gives me hope they'll take the 4870's possibly. Thing that gets me the most is that a GPU generation hike is about to take hold in a couple months and I'm worried none of it will be compatible. If it ends up being like that, the M15x will go to the wife and most likely I'll hawk over the next gen AW's. I've developed a bad laptop addiction now.

 

With regards to the keyboard stuttering while on battery, Alienware engineers are working on a fix and an ETA for the new BIOS will be available soon.

 

ok i think i may have missed the pic and/or video of the m15x and m17x side by side but if somebody could kindly please point me in the right direction with a link i would be greatly thankful...

 

glad to hear it. now i just need to get zagg to provide an invisishield for the M15X to protect from scratches. Anyone else interested in ordering an invisishield for this notebook please go to zagg.com and fill out a request form for the M15X.

 

This is great news. Hopefully it gets resolved quickly

 

OMG these tech support people are sucking right now. I am arguing with a lady who is telling me its slowing down because I put it in stealth mode and its switching to the onboard graphics. I calmly tell her then m15x unlike the m17x doesnt have onboard gpu.... Then she tells me well stealthmode doesnt work on battery power then its no problem, the last tech support guy admitted that there is something wrong with my (our) stealthmode but he didnt know of a fix at this time... Unreal, I've been on the phone for 4 HOURS!!!

 

source nagshead??? What do they have to say about stealthmode not working.

 

Not worth the aggravation. Tell them you want to return it and buy the new Clevo and maybe they'll at least refund some of your money.

 

Stealth mode is a situational feature and it does not work on battery. Stealth mode limits your power consumption to under 65W. The situation where one might want to use stealth mode is if they are on a plane or in a car using an Auto/Air adapter. In this setup, the battery will not discharge, the GPU will throttle, and the system will not draw more than 65W of power. Switching to battery mode automatically throttles the system to maximize battery life.

 

Ok nagshead Dells M15x website says and I quote:

While in Stealth Mode, discrete graphics cards are turned off and the CPU and GPU are throttled back to achieve a 65W power limit and decrease noise. To engage Stealth Mode, simply use the Stealth Mode odometer, conveniently located above the keyboard with the touch-sensitive controls. If you are on the go and need to run on battery life alone, select Stealth Mode to reduce power consumption.

If thats true and stealth mode essentially does nothing like the M17x, why do they advertise that it increases battery life?

So what I finally came to with dell was that the studdering issue on battery life is a problem they are well aware of. After dropping the mr. nice guy attitude I got through to a tech that had an M15x there with them because they got so many calls today they were retesting a new unit. The lady Stephanie told me that It was an issue they were working on resolving and I would hear back from her within 3 days (we'll see).

If stealth mode wasn't a feature meant to save battery life then dell meant to decieve us on purpose into thinking that it has a stealthmode like the M17x. ON THE M17X the stealth mode is NOT just for conserving airplane and vehicle battery systems it actually saves battery life as advertised and works well from what users here have said.

4 1/2 hours on the phone.

 

das sum b00-sheet

 

to be honest after reading and following up this thread its not worth the hassel, i think im gonna return mine and in a month or two order the m17x.

 

Thats what i was thinking rome82. I only need a gaming laptop for the days when i cant be bothered to get out of bed until the afternoon, hence i may be better off with the m17x. I'm now thinking to keep the m15x until the m17x gets the i7 cpu and led lit screen.

 

Well if thats what you want to do then I suggest you dont even open the package, Your going to love the laptop like I do and the thought of switching to a bigger, heavier laptop with a worse screen and slower processor is going to bother you too much. For me to get the same or better processing power I have now I would have to buy an M17x with a qx9200 or 9300.
Additionally I now feel like I am not willing to get a bigger laptop then this no matter how big the screen is, so I am in a jam. Luckily a kind Dell rep is helping me through email so hopefully some issues will be sorted out. I've come to the conclusion if I can get this laptop to work well in battery saver mode with no studders and actually get to the point where I can type notes in class while on battery power I am keeping it either way.

 

That's good news though. I wonder what she has to say. It's mighty strange they didn't notice this while testing the notebook before selling it. From what I hear it's quite an apparent issue.

 

Have you tried going into the advanced power settings and adjusting them? Not just going from balanced to power saver, etc., but actually seeing what the settings have been preset to from Dell. It may be something as simple as adjusting the min and max processing speed settings. I wish I were home I would have slapped in my SSD and loaded Win7 by now to see if it was a bum software preload.

 

Money is not a big issue but i'm the type who likes to get a little bit of value for my money in which case I cant see the value in paying almost 60% more than my m15x costs just for a slower, larger, inferior screened m17x just to gain an extra graphics card via sli. For the cost of the m17x i can build a more powerful gaming rig with a large samsung lcd and still keep the m15x. Bring on the i7 and led backlit m17x and then i'll pay the extra premium.

 

tell work they need to change their docs

 

At the same time don't settle. You're spending a lot of money. There are equivalent spec'd systems you can buy.

 

Like what? Sager NP8690? I'm not as impressed with it as many other are. I build the exact same system on XOTICPC that I got from Alienware and its $16 dollars more... I'm willing to bet the sager has identical battery life and to get the same warrany I got through dell its $50 more then I spent. The only thing thats better about that model is the GPU which to me is at the cost of style, magnesium case, good resale of a flashy laptop, and last but not least $16 dollars.

*P.s. I got conformation from a Dell rep who actually did get back to me that there IS a fix in progress for the studdering issue in the form of a BIOS update. Should be ready soon and he will have an ETA for me tomarrow.*

 

I get my m15x tommorrow, and I have never had an Alienware before. Hell this is my first laptop. I was wondering does the m15x come with a bunch of unwanted software, because its Dell, or am I safe so I don't have to do a full clear, and re-install? Do they realize we don't want that crap I hope. I sayed no on any software options that were on the customization page. Any help? Thanks in advance.

 

Just keep an eye on that invoice date. You only have 21 days. If the ETA is a few weeks out then you can get stuck.

 

I unfortunately returned mine back this evening. If there is a bios fix in the works then that is great! If worse comes to worse, I will just reorder, pending a fix of course. The laptop will be really awesome once they can fix this battery issue.

 

nothing unfortunate

It is your money, this protects it best.

 

Wow, like everyone else here I'm really disapointed reading all this with the battery and the case .

Now I'm leaning towards the m17x but for my budget the m15x would be a lot better with the i7 and the better screen.

Hopefully there is a fix for this

 

well the battery was no surprise...people just placed a false hope in it despite our warnings

the case WAS a surprise though, we all assumed it would be a mini M17x

The screen IS an improvement - shame the M17x wont get it until a refresh at earliest

 

I'm not really worried about the battery 2 hours is ok I would have liked 3 but hey . I'm more worried about the stuttering that people are reporting to have while typing

 

My Free TacTx headset should be here tomorrow or Thurs
i'll have pics and my thoughts up as soon as i can

 

true that, hopefully it is something that can be fixed through software patches or updates

 

well i hope its something that can be fixed with a patch or ill be pissed... it love this comp... i would hate to have to box it up

 

just a note. i joined this place just b/c i bought the m15x on sept 28 ( honestly an impulse buy. ) i found this thread on Oct 2... and just finished reading all of the 175 pages. it was a good adventure and very informative. over all i cant wait, just one question... i did that 1800 number and it said that my order was shipped on Oct 19 1999? uhhhh that a bug? plus is there a chance that i could get one of those nice headsets, as mine just broke and am needing one. Oh and i live in Canada!

 

We should know within a day or two when the fix is coming but there is definatly one in the works.

 

Which is good if all gets fixed sign me up

Also has any one heard of stuttering like on qx9300 in the m17x seems to stutter after a few hours of gaming.

Has there been any reports of the new i7's doing the same thing?

 

the stuttering is not after a few hours, it can be right away and it is not just the qx9300, it is all the mobile quads

The i7 supposedly wont have this problem since it is a single die (monolithic quad core) and not 2 dies on one package (this is one theory as to the cause of the stuttering)

I think it is an issue with the power saving features built into the mobile quads, but the bottom line is, as of now there has been no conclusive fix/explanation as to the cause of the stuttering

 

by the way what do you guys mean by shuttering?? does the lappy make a noise??

 

No the machine will start to crawl to single or low double digit framerates when it stutters .. Thankfully and hopefully this is a non issue with the Mobile i7s..

 

Mmm let's hope so

Such a hard decision between the two each model has good bits and bad bits neither stands out more than the other.

I think if the m15x gets the stutter fixed I'm leaning towards that I don't want sli in it I have a really nice gaming rig at the moment so top performance for gaming isn't a huge thing but still want it to be good for games. I want it more for slr photo editing and flashy lights hehe

 

I haven't installed any super intensive games but I've had nothing but smooth gaming performance so far, the studdering doesnt cause any sounds or anything like that you just get missed key strokes when you type and this is only on battery power. With the ac adapter plugged in the M15x runs flawlessly.