*Official* Alienware Launch Discussion Thread

True, Kev. Still odd that the UK 18 has MX but not the 17 - not good news for those wanting one, really.

 

So I started pricing our and haggling with dell. And I actually got one rep who priced me out an 18 nd the price was 200$ higher for some reason. I had made the same computer, same specs, same everything but some how she managed to make it 200$ more. Haha.

 

It's been it raining in New Jersery/New York for the entire week and it's supposed to rain again for this entire upcoming week.



I'm still in production, reordered for the 3rd time (due to cancellations by Dell) 6/18. I really hope there isn't going to be a 4th time.

 

I had the same thing. I built it after they messed up the order. I called them and the lady said she'd build it and call me back. Long story short, she called me back an hour later with a quote that was $700 more. :facepalm:

 

TBH, I think the 4930MX is a bit of a waste unless you've got the 780 SLI set up in the 18. Especially if you're just a gamer. Granted, it is a bit of a bummer for anyone using CPU intensive programs, though I assume the UK will have the option eventually.

Man these posts keep scaring me into checking my order status. Though I think if mine ever gets cancelled, I'll probably reorder an 18 instead of a 17.

 

Hi guys, I'm a newbie on here.

I've ordered an Alienware 18 (in the UK) and was wondering after looking at some peoples posts about not having an Alienware mouse mat, what is part number 340-ADGB on my order? It says placemat English, is that a mousemat? And if so, is it only available within the UK.

Finally ..... MURRAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

Sorry about that.

Thanks Guys. :thumbsup:

 

Good to know I'm not the only one. Needless to say though, I stopped talking to her and found another rep.

 

$700 MORE HOLY, someone is blatently trying to rip someone off there,that rep needs to do some homework

 

Same here. My first attempt at ordering over the phone, the rep told me $2500 for a $2200 configuration and that was even without tax! I immediately hung up the phone and tried again.

 

A placemat is where you set your plate and silverware.

Welcome to the community. On a more serious note, maybe one of the people that are waiting for their order can help answer this as soon as theirs arrives. I doubt it is the mouse pad, but it would be nice if they would start sending them again. That are really nice mouse pads. I have several of them and they are great.

I am going to take a wild guess that this is a poster for a quick setup guide or something like that.

 

It's similar (read: worse) is Australia. No xm processor at all, not even in aw18. Same goes for 780sli. Didn't check if aw17 has 780 but max specs for aw18 is 770sli and 4900m.

 

I'm having a hard time understand how 2 770's is better than a single 780. After reading and researching and everything else I'm starting to come to the conclusion I should just buy an older m18 r2 or new 17 maxed out.

 

If your budget is limited, an R2 probably isn't a bad choice. Two 680s is definitely better than two 770s. Two 770s is better than a single 780, not by huge margins, but in that you can upgrade to two 780s in the long run. I went with a 17 just because I almost never keep laptops longer than a year, which means I don't have to worry about future proofing, and it's lighter than the 18. Would never want to lug an 18 and its charger around campus; a 17 is already pushing it at 9.5lbs plus charger since I've got a bad lower back.

EDIT: And FWIW, either a maxed out 17 or a similarly priced 18 will destroy your M14xR1. My little bro has one, and while it's a nice enough computer, it's really lagging behind current tech.

 

Oh I know it will, that's why I'm upgrading but I want a animal of a machine. I wish I could dish out 3,300 for 780's. maybe I'll somehow be able to do so, but being in college, and just buying a car, kind of hard to do so. I don't mind buying the 680's for better performance, if two 680's out perform 2 770's, than their definitely going to out perform a single 780. Arg, I'm just torn for what I want to buy and what the best deal would be for me.

 

That is a good video review, a cool laptop, and a bad*** knife! I was so sure that I'm about to get the new 14 since I needed a replacement for my old M15x. But then again I remembered that I'm not a big fan of the new design. And during the last minute of your video that I'm sure as hell don't like the new silver lid and the fact that the down part of the laptop is swooping down, kind of reminding me of a plastic bag of a takeaway noodle box.

No disrespect, though, I'm still glad they did not end up abandoning the Alien FX (as they were rumored to be). As a matter of fact they put more in it (2 stripes on the lid, 2 long stripes downside, touchpad, etc.), but I wish they didn't get rid of the border on the keyboard. I mean, seriously, who wouldn't miss them?


Then I rise to see my old mate wandering in the dark , and now I'm not so sure anymore..

 

Why can't we order a regular 256GB/512GB SSD with any of the systems, except the most expensive configurations? Could Alienware be in the middle of a brand change?

I'm assuming (and hoping) this is only temporary.

 

I gotta say I was like you Ang. I thought that the new designs were lacking in comparison to the r2, I was even skeptical with the long wait time to give in an cancel, but I have to say that I am glad that I stuck it out. I am very pleased with the performance and the look really grows on you. Best noodle box I ever owned !

 

My status now says partially shipped. Woohoo!!!

 

I think the Dell Order Status website is trying to toy with me. My 17" still shows as "in production"(as it has been since June 19-21) even though it was ordered on 6/12. But the comical part is this...I ordered an SSD (I got 15% off on a Samsung 840 Pro) through Dell on June 25/26 with an EDD of July 1. It shipped around the 27th/28th and I got it before the 1st. BUT it still shows as "shipped" vs. "delivered." I would hope it means that their system is really behind and I should be getting my 17" soon...or they are toying with me in hoping I get surprised with their system delay. In any event, I sent an email to my case rep and hopefully they can give me some good news.

 

I don't need the hybrid HDD or any other extra bits as I will take my SSD's out of my current M18x R2.

 

Should have my new Alienware within the next hour or so.

 

Did you order the AW17, if so please post some good video and pics. :thumbsup:

 

And gaming and benchmarking temperatures with HWmonitor.

 

Its being delivered to my office so I will try and take some.

 

Hey Guys i'm sure this topic has been covered already. But can you guys tell me if there is ANY discounts at all on their computers can I call dell for some of these discounts? I know dell's Alienware division is transitioning into these new laptops. So it is possible that they may not have anything related up yet.

 

I'll have mine about 6pm Eastern - need to pick it up from the local FedEx depot after work, it's been there since Wednesday! (was on vacation)

 

Here are some unboxing pics:

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

 

If anyone cares i just asked a Dell Rep what final stages of production means. And they stated that i was correct in meaning that it means that it is in international shipping on its way to dells warehouse from compal.

It took them 30 minutes to verify that the information is correct. So i am guessing they did the proper research. It was also over chat.

 

I order my AW14 on the 22nd last month and it shipped today will have it on wednesday now

 

FYI my machine was tagged as July 2nd being the creation date.

 

what i did was just google "alienware 14 coupon" you will get a code to apply at checkout. Go create the comp you want on their website and try the codes until one works. Youll find a $50 off easy, possibly a $100. Also mention your a student for an immediate 2% off also.

then when u call they can pull up whats in your cart and see the discounts, you may have to tell them the coupon code number though

 

My 14 shipped as well. I got the email on Saturday, but Fedex still doesn't have the tracking info up. Hopefully sometime later today I can figure out when it will show up.

 

My 17 finally shipped today. Should have it tomorrow. Got a bunch of parts to screw around with on my desktop coming as well. Should be a fun week.

 

Hey guy just got my AW 17 woohoo. Here is an unboxing video. Will post some benchmarks soon.

Alienware 17 unboxing video!! - YouTube

 

Please host the images on the website and not on image shack. Some people at work can't view those sites

 

Congrats dude. You should have turned on more lights in that room. A bit dark. But thanks for sharing

 

Anyone know how to enable double finger scroll on this thing?

 

I believe you go to control panel > hardware and sound > mouse and then you can change it there.

 

Hello! First time Alienware owner. I had my laptop arrive in the mail a few nights ago and I realized it did not come with a windows 8 dvd or product key. This may be a dumb question but if I were to want to upgrade to a SSD, wouldn't I need to have the windows 8 dvd/key to do so? Thanks in advanced for the help! Loving the laptop so far

 

You should have an applet in the system tray for the touchpad. You can configure all of all of the touchpad options launching it from there. It is easier and faster to access it that way than going through Control Panel.

 

This is normal for Windows 8 systems. You will need to get USB installation media from Alienware. Microsoft does not want customers to be able to do a clean install on pre-installed Windows 8, so OEMs are following the new model Microsoft has asked them to.

 

I believe i've read that Windows 8's key is attached to the motherboard. As for the DVD i don't know where you can find that.

 

It is embedded in a BIOS SLIC certificate (not on a decal that you can see with your eyes). Once Windows 8 is installed, you can use Advanced Tokens Manager to back up the Windows 8 (and MS Office) activation and the product keys will be saved in a text file. You can reinstall Windows 8 using that product key later on, and you can reactivate the new Windows 8 installation using the backup.

An OEM Windows 8 DVD is not available. You can buy Windows 8 from Microsoft and pay extra to have it on DVD, but that's no longer an OEM option from what I hear. You will need to create AlienRespawn media for disaster recovery. If you need to do a clean install you will need to obtain USB installation media from Alienware or go buy a new copy of Windows 8 from Micro$oft. The new default Microsoft business model for Windows 8 does not include giving customers the ability to reinstall their OS from scratch whenever they feel like it.

 

The recovery DVD (or USB drive) can be created from the AlienAutopsy software. My unit came with Windows 7, but still has this option within the Alien Autopsy software. If I recall from previous discussions on the forum, Windows 8 units ship with no discs, but Windows 7 units do.

 

I believe the key is under the battery -- as to restoring, there may be a way to make a restore disc from Windows (never payed attention). Some SSD's also come with cloning software so you can copy your exact Windows install to the SSD (assuming it will fit). I've never been a fan of the default OS install from Alienware or anyone for that matter (I never had an Alienware before Dell bought them, but I was told they used to do a bang up job of tweaking the OS on their PCs prior to the Dell purchase). I always blow it away and install my own copy of Windows fresh, this makes sure you have all the latest versions of the drivers and applications installed on the first go around and that they are clean.

 

That is probably because you can "reset" Windows 8 to out of the box status as a repair option on boot. I have seen the Unattend.XML that Alienware used on the M18XR2s and as a Senior System Admin who builds Windows images for servers and desktops, I was not impressed. It was about 100 times the size of our unattend file and it has tons of deprecated options that no longer function. That's why I always re-install from my own disc and rebuild from there with fresh drivers.

 

Respawn media and Windows 8 reset is not a normal Windows installation process. If you upgrade to SSD or install a larger HDD later on, you're probably going to want actual installation media. The Windows 8 reset feature and Alienware Respawn are designed with maintenance in mind and they will not substitute for a clean installation if you are running Windows 8. For maintenance those utilities work perfectly fine (dealing with virus infection, corrupted files, etc.).

You can also create a drive image and use that to restore your previous installation. That is a backup copy of what you had on your HDD or SSD before. For most purposes that is great and drive imaging is fantastic. But, it's not a clean Windows installation.

There is no COA/product key decal for Windows 8 systems.

 

hi i was wondering when Xotic PC will have the new models on the website i tried emailing their sales people but i never got any kind of a response anyone know?

 

hey guys! thanks for the quick replies. let me make sure i understand here, so i should use the alienware respawn to make a back up and save it to a thumb drive, and if I ever upgrade my hdd i can use the thumb drive to restore windows 8 and anything else that was backed up?

 

I stand corrected Mr.Fox.