*Official* Alienware Launch Discussion Thread

Delivery is Tomorrow. Not counting the Gift cards i paid $1350 USD for mine with the specs in my sig. I should get at least $200 in GC's though between the $150 one and my 5% DPA.

 

That's a good deal. Did you get any warranty, though? Hopefully you got at least 2 years full coverage.

 

Speaking of warranties, I already got my M17 but should I call Dell and sign up for one or is there any good third party warranty plans available?

 

With the Gift cards i will?

 

I tried to do that once and the salesman wouldn't let me. Might be different now, but that was this past winter.

I definitely recommend you do so. Tell them you forgot to extend the warranty, and hopefully they'll help you out. It's always a good idea to have coverage. It may cost $200 for another year, but think of it this way: if your GPU fails, you're entitled to a new one.

Edit: You may also want accidental damage coverage. I've read horror stories about people dropping their computers...that's not a situation you want to be left hanging with.

 

Well that would be an interesting conversation with the salesmen telling him that i took these as compensation for my laptop believing i could use them to purchase the warranty and if i couldn't that i'd want to return it.

If not i plan on buying the backpack, i need a mouse for the laptop, and i could always use a new keyboard for my desktop. It isn't a biggie. I'll take some free peripherals.

 

Mine shipped! Due to get it tomorrow, 7/10.



I ordered 6/18 for those interested in knowing.

 

I received mine I ordered on 6/11

 

Arrghh. FedEx changed my delivery date to tomorrow. Was supposed to be overnight today, and that's what tracking said up until this morning. So close.

And FWIW, Dell tried to charge me twice for my laptop. I'd check your statements and make sure they didn't do the same for you. Got a call at 9am this morning as I was pulling out of my driveway from BofA saying they'd blocked the second charge.

 

Call FedEx maybe u can picked it up

 

I have yet to receive an email response from Dell about my EDD, they didn't provide one originally. Hoping to have an idea when they are going to ship mine as I am getting tired of not having a laptop to work from home with. I don't get anything done in the office -- too many drivebys.

Edit: Now see shipped; this order was submitted on the 24th and it was an expedited replacement shipment.

 

Evening all, new to the forum, would just like to thank you all for the 200 odd pages of info, that has helped me out with my purchasing decisions.

A couple of question I would like to ask, if i may:

A rep i spoke to today would not upgrade my order from a 4700 to 4800, i pushed him and he says he will have to go and ask his manager for pricing. Is there are massive difference between the two and thus warranting the price hike i will have to pay?

I guess by all of your specs on your recent purchases, 32gb of RAM is pointless? My current laptop has 4gb they all seem like huge numbers to me

I know thede laptops have the ability to take out the DVD/BR drive and replace it will a HD, can i swap them around at any time?

Thanks for the help chaps

 

My 17" finally shipped and should be here tomorrow as well

I also spoke with them about installing an SSD on my own since they don't include the traditional Windows Disc anymore. They said I can download the OS from the Dell Support Site when I input my system data or I can request a physical disc be sent out. I'm assuming I can download the software onto a thumb drive or CD, install the new SSD and install it from the CD/Thumb drive and I should be set...anything I'm missing?

 

With the thumb drive option, just make sure you boot from drive if you want to factory reset in the future or reinstall the OS.
Otherwise yeah, you're fine.

 

I aleays do a complete driver sweep with my new notebooks when I recieve them.
I have a USB plug here with Windows 7 which I created using Windows 7 ISO and microsoft own CD tool. Basically it creates a bootup USB drive with Windows 7. You just plug it in, go to BIOS and select USB drive as #1 in the bootup priority, go to advanced during installation and delete all partitions, and then install windows you are done.

Just remember to use software to fetch the Windows 8/7 CD key from your windows before formating and reinstalling. I heard there are no stickers with cd key on the newest machines.

If you dont have driver CD available, download the drivers from dell before formatng. Not sure if it is the same across all brands but with my MSI because I had no cd with drivers, the only way to connect to internet was through wifi because you need a lan driver which i didnt have, to connect internet thorugh cable

 

Not really a good place to ask. There are designated sub-forums for each system.

The 4700MQ is a decent quad core mobile processor. However, if you ordered dual graphics, depending on which model, you will want more CPU power than what the 4700 offers. In my opinion, it is worth upgrading either way.

 

The 4700 to 4800 is a decent performance boost, but I expect artificially inflated price differences. I doubt there is more than $50 in price difference on the Dell side. 32GB is more memory than you are likely to use. I have 32 in my M18XR2, and it hasn't even been above about 18gb used, and I can tell you when I use it for work I multi-task like a mad man, and I usually have two VMs up on the laptop (XP and Ubuntu 13.04). On the hard drive, you can certainly swap it later. To do so you would need to purchase the housing required to hold the drive and any other parts/cables. I haven't looked at the owners manual yet or taken one apart (as mine shouldn't be here til tomorrow) but I would expect it should be fairly easy for someone with good experience working on these systems.

 

My 18 has JUST moved into 'In-Production' from 'Pre-Production' !

 

Here are my benchmark results. (specs in sig)





Note that the only things I did was change the windows power plan to high performance and change some things in the Nvidia Control panel to high performance. Since this is the first time I am owning a high performance computer, I need some help getting the maximum performance. So what can I do?

 

Use "Fn + F5" to turn off the Intel GPU. That's the most important thing.

Can you post temperatures with HWmonitor?

 

I tried doing that and it seems to turn of the discrete GPU. I'll try again and post temps in a little bit

 

Here you go. Temps are at idle. Again I really don't know too much on what to do.

 

The message that pops up is badly worded - it turns off the intel gpu. Your score indicates you're running in discrete mode (which is the fastest mode). Easiest way to tell which mode you're in is to right click on desktop. If you're in discrete mode, you'll only see nvidia control panel. If you're in optimus mode, you'll see intel and nvidia menus.

N

 

The picture is so small. What did you score in "Graphic score"?

 

Sorry about that. I'll update the picture. The graphics scores are 137110, 30042, 4147.

 

To compare:

3DMark11: 6609
What you should score: 7600ish
-13%

Cloudgate: 30 042
What you should score: 36 000
-17%

Fire strike: 4042
What you should score: 5239
-20%

Yep you as well have big performance issues with the new system.

 

6609. I just turned did FN + F5 and turned off the intel GPU. Going to rerun the tests and update my original posts.

Score went up about 200 points on 3Dmark11 to 6942 with a graphics score of 6861.

 

Can't wait for notebookcheck to review the AW17. Anyone know when it'll likely be? Also, anyone know whether notebookcheck get to keep the unit after review or would they have to send it back?

 

Everyone complaining about "underperformance" should wait a month or two. This happened last year too, if not to the same extent. It is not a concern unless you already have one of these systems.

Thank you, but I meant the benchmarking temperatures. It's fine if you can't measure them now.

Notebookcheck will get the new Alienwares in a few weeks. I don't know whether they will send them back. The reviewers benchmark with Clevos more than with anything else.

 

No problem here's the temps with 3Dmark11. Sorry i'm such a noob at this

 

Regarding Alienware 14, what port is it? NGFF? Looks abit too short,

source

 

Thank you for the temperatures.

For future reference: use bottlecaps or similar objects to raise the back of the chassis up an inch so that the fans can take in more air.

 

From what I can tell, mine has 4 small legs on the bottom. I'm on a glass surface and it raises the chassis up about 1/4 of an inch. Seems to be taking air in pretty well.

 

That's odd. Maybe the fan profile needs adjustment. Those temperatures are quite a bit higher than I had expected. The 14 and 18 seem to run much cooler.

 

Funny comparison by laptopmag on New Alienware 14 vs Razer 14 video

Razer Blade 14 vs Alienware 14 - YouTube


You can tell both systems look premium and unique in their own way but the guy messed up when he said that the Razer 14 has a slightly faster and better cpu which isn' t true because the razer uses a 4702mq at 2.2-3.2ghz while aw14 uses 4700mq at 2.4-3.4ghz

They also forgot that Alienware warranty is superior with onsite repair and free 2-way UPS ground shipping if needed to be sent away for warranty repair or exchange.

Oh they also forgot to mention that not only the FHD panel that's missing on the razer, it also doesn't have the 72% color gamut and IPS of the aw14

 

Looks like Razer paid them off, LOL.

 

Hey guys, I had mentioned in this thread that my Alienware 18 had been shipped and was suppose to arrive June 17th, but it was just a mix up, I looked closer and it was the stupid 5% rebate card -__-, no freaking idea why they need to put that kind of information for a rebate card, lol. Anyway, My 18 shipped yesterday on the 9th and will be here today at 3pm eastern time zone. Can't wait !!!

 

That's got me scared now. I got two packages inbound. Both 18lbs though.

 

So... When I game I usually play on the couch.. So this is for those of you who own 18's, where do you guys game? I don't exactly have a designated area, though I really should for how much I game.

 

In bed with a mini desk that goes over my lap. They sell them at bed bath and beyond for like $20. It works great and it's really comfortable to use.

 

How's a about some benchmarks for us Saint Satan??

 

Well, if you get two and are billed for one, inspect both of them carefully and decide which is the best of the two, then get a shipping label to return the other one. Otherwise, you will end up being billed for both. If they don't have the same specs, be sure to keep the one you paid for.

On my lap... using a G700 mouse and...

...one of these lap desks from BB&B. It is large enough for a U3 and my mouse if I move the system off to the left side of the lapdesk.

 

When I get it I will benchmark a bunch of games and 3D Mark. To anyone that wants game benchmarks feel free to look through my games (link in sig) and let me know what you'd like benched.

 

Also do a wPrime 32M test with CPU-Z open to watch the multipliers and see how that CPU performs under load.

 

This + your Max temps keen to see how that machine cools.

HDMI'ed out to my TV in the living room with a wireless M/K and 360 pad like a permanent fixture on the coffee table

 

I don't know yet the 3D mark gpu score of the razer blade but it seems aw messed up their gpu subsystem (again). You have to decide what is more important in a gaming notebook a slightly slower cpu clock or a not working as it should be gpu....

Gesendet von meinem HTC One mit Tapatalk 2

 

Can anyone give me the dimensions and weight of the AW 17 and AW 18 along with their screen sizes i.e. width and height of the screen. I'm thinking of cancelling my current AW 17 order and possibly going for an AW 18.

All answers will be much appreciated!

 

Just had a wild thought for people with low 3DMark11 p scores on their AW17 + GTX 780m.
Have you done a GPU-Z ASIC Test yet? I'd like to know your GPU silicone quality. This link will show you how it's done http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...your-gpu-silicon-quality-gpu-z-asic-test.html
Please post screenshot of results here.

P.S. Has anyone with AW17 + 770m or 780m found out how many copper headpipes are on top of the GPU?

Thx

 

Its 3 on the GPU 2 on the CPU.

The heatpipes are also painted black so that you don't recognize them through the mesh.

The AW 14 has 2 pipes on the GPU that Go to the CPU then another one that starts on the cpu. So its 2 on the GPU 3 on the CPU for a total of 3.

 

Does the base 4700mq up to the 4930mx share the exact same 2 pipe Heatsink ?