Oceanus' m15x review. (with pictures)

First and foremost, I would like to say that the m15x is indeed impressive, as expected. The customer service that I've had so far has been a dull experience but I have to admit that it's starting to get a lot better (or at least, ever since I've started contacting Roswell for all of my problems, instead of going through the normal customer service.)

I've had the Alienware m15x for just about a week and a half already and have tested it out to see whether it would meet my standards and my needs. Though I've ran through some issues (software/hardware conflictions mainly), I have been able to troubleshoot them myself without having to call in Alienware. Anywho, let's get down to business.

Table of Contents
I. Ordering.
II. The wait.
III. The arrival.
IV. The packaging.
V. Touchpad.
VI. Touch Controls.
VII. Keyboard.
VIII. Wireless Adapter / Wifi.
VIV. Webcam.
X. Speakers.
XI. Built-in Microphone.
XII. Fan.
XIII. Weight and Size.
XIV. Temperatures.
XV. Battery Life.
XVI. Semi-conclusion.

Ordering. [back]
Ordering has been a breeze. Though I did not contact the sales representative to make my order, I have been able to go through the ordering process online (at http://www.alienware.com) in a matter of 10-15 minutes. Applying for the Alienware Titanium Account to finance the computer has also been easy and I was lucky enough to qualify for the 0% interest promotion.

My order went in on June 17th, 2008. The specs are as follows:

Design & Display: Silver Ripley Design
Display: 15.4" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD (720p) with Clearview Technology
System Lighting: Alienware® AlienFX® System Lighting - Blue
Video/Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® Series - 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800M GTX
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Professional

Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 512MB (Upgraded to 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz 2 x 2048MB)

System Drive: 200GB 7,200RPM (16MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection

Optical Drives: 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW) w/ LightScribe Technology
Wireless: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card
Sound Card: Internal High-Definition Audio with Surround Sound
Keyboard Options: AlienFX® Illuminated Keyboard – Exclusive Design
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
Other: Additional Smartbay Battery. (Upgraded after purchase)

The wait. [back]
I'm pretty sure a handful of you have already read my experience with the wait I had to go through. I had to go through a series of delays and it was disappointing to find out that the parts they use (or order) for the computer they build is not in a first-come-first-served basis. If there is another computer that is near completion (regardless of whether it was ordered before or after yours), they will use the part they originally ordered for you to finish that computer.

If you would like to read more about my experience, please refer to this. Long story short, I was upset that my m15x was being delayed for almost a month and a half so I wrote a rant. This rant also includes detailed suggestions for Alienware that I think would drastically improve their customer service. Just note that it's a bit long so read it at your own discretion.

The arrival. [back]
My m15x was shipped on August 1st (which just coincidentally happened to be my birthday) and arrived on August 5th. By this time, all of my excitement had drained out from waiting so long for the m15x to arrive and I was still half-asleep when the FedEx truck arrived. I wearily signed the little signature form, grabbed the box, took it inside the house, and then slid back to sleep.

Now if Alienware hadn't been so slow with my order, I would have jumped out of my bed, flew downstairs, tackle the FedEx man, grab the box(es), and then fiddle around with the m15x until dawn, but that didn't happen. I lost all of my excitement to do that and I was just tired.

Anyway, since then, I have been constantly in contact with Roswell (Roswell has been kind enough to keep in touch with me via email to see how I have been faring with my m15x, if I've run into any issues, and so on.) I guess I can say this is an improvement to the other customer service I have been getting.

The packaging. [back]
The first thing I've noticed about the package was that the Alien logo on the box was gray (instead of white). The only reason why I noticed this was because the other boxes I've seen had a white logo on it. I guess this was a sign that they made an effort to make their packaging more attractive (even if was a really small change.) Every other aspect of the packaging was the same.

The design. [back]
The chassis is a lot more well-built than I thought. A lot of people on these forums have claimed the m15x to be built with a "cheap plastic" material. Though these claims have made me become a bit skeptical of the m15x, I was relieved to find out that this "cheap plastic" was the same material as all of the other laptops I've owned. If this to you is cheap plastic, then I guess I was already used to it. No problem there.

The only drawback to this material is the fact that it's prone to fingerprints. I guess in an optimistic sense, it could be used to figure out who used your computer but if it annoys you as it annoys me, the problem could be easily fixed by cleaning it with a piece of microfiber fabric.

The screen feels a bit flimsy when opened and up to this day, I try to be extra cautious when it comes to opening the screen. It feels as if I'm crushing the light pipes every time I open the m15x.

Like every other m15x, the screen still squeaks a little when it is moved back and forth but it's not noticeable enough to consider that as a problem. This problem has been highly exaggerated on these forums and I really see no problem with it. For those thinking about purchasing the m15x, do not consider this as a weighing factor to your purchase. It's not a problem at all.

The Ripley design is simplistic and beautiful. I can see myself using this laptop on an everyday basis (or at a business) with this design. Maybe so much not so with the Skullcap design but with the Ripley, it's absolutely perfect.

Touchpad. [back]
Okay, so we've been hearing a lot about the responsiveness of the touchpad by numerous people. The new multimedia board BIOS released have addressed that problem and has improved the touchpad responsiveness to the point where you do not even need the touchpad sticker anymore. When my m15x came, it already came installed with the new bios and I found no need of the touchpad sticker (I feel completely fine without one.)

Touch Controls. [back]
The touch controls at first were unresponsive, but I soon found out that the reason behind it was because I was using a defragmentation program like JKDefrag. Using the standard windows defragmentation problem does not cause this problem, but for some reason JKDefrag does. Also, if you happen to use TuneXP Final, clicking on the Ultra-fast Booting option also causes this problem.

When the problem arises, not only does the Alienware Command Center tries to open itself numerous times (constantly), the touch controls stop functioning completely and the AlienFX lighting does not start up properly.

When this happens, just uninstall the Alienware Command Center and reinstall it with the one they provide you with in MyHive. This should solve the touch control problem as well as any AlienFX lighting issues. It's as simple as that.

The volume slider on the other hand, does not work like it's supposed to. When you try to adjust the volume with a finger, it jumps to the lowest volume or does not adjust at all. I found out that to get around this problem, you have to use two or three fingers to adjust the volume. Then and only then will this adjust the volume properly.

Keyboard. [back]
As amazing as it looks, the keyboard still has one major flaw to it (which I was told will soon be fixed). When typing, the keyboard lags to repeated letters (when typing "google," the second "o" will not show unless you go back and add it in.) This also goes for the backspace button. If you hit backspace multiple times repetitively, it will sometimes lag.

Here's what I got from Roswell:

@edit: Received another email regarding the keyboard issue.

I'm very pleased that they're giving me these updates rather than leaving me in the dark about what's happening. In any case, I'll look forward to these updates.

Wireless Adapter / Wifi: [back]
Draft-N is amazing. This is the first time I've experienced draft-N on any computer and all I have to say is WOW. Other than that, with any other connections, I've been able to pick up networks I haven't even come across before around this neighborhood.

Webcam. [back]
The webcam is pretty clear. I don't normally use a webcam for anything but I've tested it out and I can see myself pretty clearly. No problem there.

Speakers. [back]
The speakers pop a little when the volume is set at the highest. I also noted that these speakers are not very loud either (as is with most other notebooks I have in my possession). It's not much of a problem for me since I normally plug in external speakers anyway.

Built-in Microphone. [back]
Well! I'm actually very impressed with this part of my m15x. I'm a casual user of Ventrilo and I'm glad to find out that people were able to hear me fairly clearly. They say it's a bit muffled, but they can hear me clearly. This is a huge plus because most of the other laptops I own have built-in microphones that either don't work at all or are of very bad quality.

Fan. [back]
The computer fan for me does not kick in until I boot up a game or run some kind of scan on my computer. When it does kick in, it's hardly noticeable (it's not loud at all.) At the moment, it's completely silent (it does not seem like its even running at all) and I have just about WMP, Ventrilo, Firefox, Photoshop CS3, MSN, and a bunch of other programs running in the background.

Weight and Size. [back]
The size of the m15x is perfect. It's not too big and it's not too small. It's just right. I was kind of skeptical about the m17x because it's simply too big, but the m15x is small enough to just about carry anywhere. It's not too heavy either. I guess carrying this around is comparable to carrying a textbook around. Not bad.

Temperatures. [back]
Current CPU temperatures: 48C
Current GPU temperatures: 55C
Average idle CPU temperatures: Varies between 40-45C
Average idle GPU temperatures: Varies between 47-53C
On load CPU temperatures:

On load GPU temperatures: Varies between 65-70C. Haven't seen it jump higher than 70C yet.

Battery Life. [back]
Battery life is amazing when you have a Smartbay Battery. Without it, the battery life can last up to 1 hour and 45 minutes (more if you dim down the LCD brightness, enable GFXBinary graphics, and/or enable stealth mode.) Battery life with a Smartbay Battery can last up to 3 hours and 15 minutes (again, more if you dim down the LCD brightness, enable GFXBinary graphics and/or enable stealth mode.)

Semi-conclusion. [back]
I still have plenty of things to test on the m15x. The future updates on this review will include:
- Benchmarks.
- More detailed/accurate temperature readings.
- Lock testing.
- Stressing the laptop.

So far, I love my m15x and I do not regret buying it at all. Because I spent almost 5 hours writing this review, I'll make my conclusion more elaborate whenever I have the time.

Best regards,
Oceanus

 

good review, hope you get the keyboard lag problem fixed soon and also hope that your m15x will last years

 

Very organized and good review. The use of colors, bold and quote made it look rather clean. Pretty easy on the eyes.

I agree with a lot of it. I feel almost the exact same way about the chassis/design. It may not be the best material but I've used a bunch of laptops that feel roughly the same. I'm not that disappointed, really.

Thanks for the update on the keyboard lag. It's a pretty big issue for me, as I type extremely fast. I feel very limited now so if you have anymore updates I would love to be kept in the loop.

Overall, as another recent m15x owner, I almost totally agree with this review. I just pray that our generation of m15x's won't experience the major or minor issues that early m15x users have had.

 

nice review. now wait a week and then talk to me.

 

despite my support for those who seem to be stuck with a bad machine... i find your comments a bit too... pessimistic and uncalled for...

hey, if he got a good machine, great... wish him the best and done...


OP, best of luck bro... and happy gaming...

 

Wow, great review. It's reviews like this that make me want to order one ! What do you think of the screen on the m15x? BTW, the silver color looks amazing in your pictures.

 

You act as though I'm unaware of the issues reported about the m15x. I've been on these forums for about a month and a half and I understand the risk that accompanies this specific machine.

Sure there have been a lot of bad things said about the m15x but I think most of these issues have been addressed by now. Sure the customer service has been bad, but I firmly believe that the m15x is still a great product.

In any case, I'll keep this updated until the end of this year. If any problem arises, I'll be sure to report it like the other issues I've come across. (See Keyboard and Touch Controls)

The screen feels flimsy but the actual LCD itself is amazing. The clarity of the screen is beyond what I've seen and the lighted "Alienware" complements fairly well with the screen.

 

the screen is very nice. i got a lemon and i needed it gone. if you get a good one then gfy. but if not then i guess you will join out club.

 

Ah, a lemon club eh? That's a rather depressing club.

 

Nice review "O", I like the fact that you're honest, give your opinion but, don't go over the top with any problems.

BTW, I hope you don't mind but, i've been taking a few pointers for my review. I've already started writing it lol

Oh, and i've also not used most of the features on my m17x yet, seems to be taking ages to install all of the software i need/want... quite surprising how much i use (",)

Anyway, good one

OB

P.S. Rep coming your way (",)

 

What a thrill to have someone writing an objective review. Do we hold to much expectations that AW never can achieve (and other manufactures)?

 

+1 Ocean....(and i could see the pics in this one... )

 

With the numbers of bad feedback on these subforums, yes. I think many users are expecting those with an m15x end up with some kind of bad experience. Unless Alienware steps it up, the consumer confidence will remain pretty low.

 

Well, you have to remember that people come here for problems usually. If someone's m15x were in perfect condition then there's not much reason to be here unless you're a forum monkey . That's primarily why it seems like there's mostly bad feedback.

It is refreshing though, to see a positive review.

 

I think that's a very good point.

 

The problem is that mostly no one here just came here to complain about their problems, they had reviews and started threads about waiting for their m15x to come before they complained.

 

A little update regarding the keyboard issue. I've already added it into the original post but I'll also post it here so it'll be easier on the eyes. It was another email sent to me to update me on their progress.

 

excellent review!
I love finding positive reviews about the m15x because i'm still waiting on mine to arrive. But, I am still in the dreaded phase 4 because my HDD is on back order.

 

Awesome job O! Thanks for sharing!!!

I got my baby on May 1st. I still love it. Once I'm done training for race I'm going to run in the end of Sept, I plan on updating my review. My 5 month review should be ready for mid-October....

Stop by and visit: Review here If you like, give a +rep.

+rep for you Oceanus! The m15x is just plain awesome!