One week later, and I have problems

One thing you have to keep in mind is that a box doesn't have to appear to be damaged for the computer to be damaged. Just the physical jolt will harm it and put enough pressure on it to crack plastics. Boxes will flex quite a bit before appearing to be damaged. I don't imagine normal transport will ever harm a laptop. But if you were to zip it up in a padded case and drop kick it a couple of times, there would be issues. To be honest, I could toss a laptop a pretty good distance (inside a case), and it would appear to be fine at a glance. You would then spot the failure in hard drive, loose plastics, and possibly hair line cracking. I'm sure Alienware is aware of carrier abuse, as they have made reference to it in their last public statement. However, you can't watch a carrier 24/7, and it's often left to making an informed decision and hoping for the best.

Gabe

P.S. - I've watched delivery carriers toss boxes down from planes without much care. Occasionally, they miss and the boxes still look fine. Believe me, everytime they see any large amount of computers, they're inclined to get rid of them as soon as possible.

This is a true statement from a carrier.

 

While I do agree with some of the above, most modern laptop packing frames use a floating brace design to hold the laptop secure while deflecting shock away from the main unit. Yes, some damage can still happen, but not enough to leave the box perfectly pristine while causing visible laptop structural failure. Perhaps I'm spoiled by the very solid build quality of the 17" gaming laptops I now have, but there are just too many m15x chasis-failure posts to only blame the shipping companies. I have yet to see the same thing said about either the XPS M1710 or M1730, but these are not light either.

I wouldn't mind if AW adds another 1 lbs of chasis material just so that the m15x can withstand more wear and tear. I'm still interested in purchasing one when these issues are resolved.

 

Ok, so I have it back. The keyboard lights are still not working, and the touchpad is doing this weird thing where it flashes like it's a rave on start up, then goes to two colours melding together. Occasionally it goes to the colour it is supposed to be. The touchpad also seems a bit slow to react.

Edit: I'm still with XP, and I'm really thinking I should give in and just switch to Vista.

 

Actually AlienFX isn't working at all, I can't change any of the colours.

 

;__;

I'm so sad that things are already messy for you, Livre.
I'd probably return it at this point.

 

Thanks Miho, but let's not rush into anything yet. I'll try switching back to Vista tomorrow and see if that fixes the lighting/touchpad issues. Maybe then I'll actually get a chance to game!

 

Lol, sorry! Not suggesting anything, just my personal opinion.
Bad first impressions leave an awful lingering feeling with me, and unless I 100% knew that it could be overcome with no particularly major problems in the future, I wouldn't find it worth the hassle.

 

Your M15X had Vista originally installed from Alienware? If this is so I would not tell them you installed XP instead, I "think" that may void your warranty? I am not sure of this though.

Sorry for your issues thus far, hope it gets better, FAST

 

Reinstalling/replacing the O/S doesnt void the warranty they just wont cover it, or support it.

 

I checked with them and I'm allowed to switch to any OS I want. If I send it in for repairs however, I have to switch back to the original OS before I send it in.

 

OK sorry I just did not know, that is why I mentioned it.

 

No worries. So I'm about to go back to Vista, but when I put in the CD it doesn't seem to do anything ;_;.

 

Livre my dear,

You might want to reset your laptop to how it was shipped from AW. For this, you will have to press F12 (or something like that), when the Alienware Respawn message appears when you are booting your laptop.

This is... if you haven't removed the partition in which the AW respawn is.

Good luck