Packer's Area-51 m15x Review

boooooooooooooooooooooo

 

wow. No love. I was really happy to be able to do this

 

I'm really happy in your place but I don't see what's the good news for everybody else on this?

Gratz anyway

 

I created a thread mentioned the 1499 config. I bet that news was better huh guys?

relax I am happy for u packer u shudnt make us all hype up tho.

 

I quote myself from your first announcement. This is more for you than us. I was right. You wanted to see how many pages this was going before you said anything.

 

Lame. That annoucement is of zero benefit to all but yourself. Shame on you for dropping comments that made us think it would improve our m15x experiences.

 

LOL everyone had all their hopes up I told ya to stop asking him.

 

I knew it was a bluff...

But on the bright side, it also means that Packer can act like a messenger to Alienware when there are problems, like

he can act on behalf of people as he probably knows some people there now.

 

I have their phone numbers now too! And also I said it didn't have anything to do with the m15x. But I also apologize for making it out to be bigger than it was.

 

You got PM's.

 

i gotcha dhoang. Also, if anyone else needs help with anything or has any problems let me know and ill see what i can do

 

Question for you Packer

Are they going to let you do a review on the m17x?

 

Ahh. I knew someone would ask that. And the answer is Yes!!!

 

Wooooooooooooow that's great!!!
Congratz!!!

And now a question I am 99% certain you can't answer: when will it be?

 

haha no idea man

 

Good look anyway

 

And now we know that it's gonna come out.. for sure
Gratz on being "Collected evidence" and to getting a hands-on appointment with the m17x !!

You really did drag us along for a while there.. Remember those looney posts of mine ??
Never again ! Hehe

 

Does any one have the battery life for the m15x with the 6 cell in stealth mode for internet use (with 9300 or 9500 and 7,200 rpm HD)?

For running games at 1440x900 do you need the 8800GTX?

How much of a battery life diffrence is there between the two (the one lower GPU and the GTX)?

Will the slower GPU run cooler because it is less powerful or will the GTX run cool becauce it does not have to work so hard on the same quality settings?

Lots of questions.

 

battery on the m15x 6cell on integrated surfing the web will probably last u around 3 to 4 hours as long as everything is off. U don't really need the 8800 to run games at 1440x900 but it is highly suggested. The integrated card has better battery life and run a lot cooler.

 

I'm surprised to hear that they would let you review their M17x. Good luck on your M17x review though. Also, you say that you only got around 1 hour of battery life with your M9750, I'm actually surprised to hear that considering I get around 1h35m on mine.

Addition: "When it comes to specific games, Doug has a few favorites. His passion is World of Warcraft, but when Doug’s not managing his re-tooled interface or raiding SSC and Tempest Keep, he enjoys the intense graphics of Lord of the Rings and Crysis. The DirectX®10 capabilities of the Area-51® m15x make Middle Earth come alive. And there’s no telling how long Doug might be online, so the m15x’s Dual Hard Drives with Smart Bay Technology and Smart Bay battery have his storage space and power covered."

Umm is it just me or does that sentence just sound incredibly dumb. If I'm playing LOTR Online or anything I'm not going to be swapping out my hard drives (which are presumably in use) or adding a smart bay battery. That last sentence just sounds dumb. Feel free to argue, but just read that part in bold a few times...

 

And undoubtedly Chaz and others will indeed get to review the m17x (remember AW sent him a demo m15x to review?), I think it's just that AW also wants to have the true "Alienware gamer" to review it as well.

 

Well considering there weren't any negative opinions present in the review I can see why

 

ya well its not like i was paid. I just had a good experience overall with it. no mishaps

 

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9932214-1.html?tag=cnetfd.mt

Its hear the 17 inch monster
woot
I found it first lol

It is on Alienware.com

 

So, how's ur m15x going Mr. Packer?

 

I just wanna know if your laptop lock works with the m15x? mine doesnt and AW support is not helpful at all!

 

dhoang417 my m15x is doing great. Only problem ive had so far is the screen wouldnt come on for some reason. I called up roswell and had no trouble fixing it.

xlack I dont use a laptop lock

 

I got a kensington lock and it wont work with my m15x lol.. and the manual specifically says it's compatible.. bunch of lies =\

 

i got the targus lock and it also wont work with my m15x :/. i think its the same one as if you were going to order it with the m15x.

 

Don't get me wrong, but isn't a laptop lock a bit useless? The one I seen has a little bitty metal thing that swivels behind that plastic hole to lock it. If I really wanted the laptop, wouldnt all I need to do is jank it hard enough to break the plastic? granted, it wont look nice.. but well you get my thought.

 

most notebooks actually have a metal bar under the plastic where the laptop lock is so that it would require enough force to pull it out as it would to get that metal bar to come through the chassis of the notebook. But people can cut those locks with a small pair of bolt cutters. However, it stops the average person from being able to just walk off with the laptop. It still wont stop the hardcore thieves, but its enough for most of the stuff you would see around a university campus or city.

 

Hi Everyone..

I am new here and am glad i found this forum. I recently got my Area mx51
I got it loaded this was Vista Ultimate T9300 2.5GHz cpu 4gig ram 8800M GTX video. I have had it about 2 weeks now and the only problems i had upon unpacking and starting the system were few one was a problem registering the darn McAfee antivirus registration. Then after going thru some of the systems functions i noticed the ram was reading only 3070gig? So i gave them a call they went over the system via auto remote and the tech noticed that my Bios was out of date? Well i guess this is norm considering the Bios was just released a few days before the system arrived here but he dl the new Bios to desktop and ran the upgrade for me, things were better then much better.

But still the system was only reading 3070gig ram he dl tyhe Vista sp1 to my desktop and told me what to do i am used to installing my own os so this was no prob he said later i thanked him for all his help and proceded with the SP1 install.

After the installation was complete and system rebooted all was GREAT! everything was as said and looking good. I have been running it thru paces here and noticed a bit of prob with heating during massive online game play, i now see here that there may be another issue i may have to deal with a bit of overheating hmmmm not sure if i may needs this or not but now that i am aware of this situation i am gonna pay more atetion to it and see how things go if i have to run update on Bios (i hate testin betas) then so be it but i'll be checking back here before i do anything.

Oh and by the way yes it cost a bit but i soooooooo tired of dealing with HP i have 3 of thier notebooks here also a apple and i have built many systems in my own time but let me say this right now. I am completly satisified with this power notebook so much in such a little package (heavy little) and the tech support guys stick with you not like a few others out there that i not gonna mention here.

Anyways thats my 2cents worth on this system i'll be happy for the next couple years now.

PEACE
TronsMonkey

 

vists can only use about 3-3.5 i thought anyway

how much does your computer read now?
*note i said read, not utalize *

 

sp1 of vista fixes the display of ram when you have more than 3gb installed but not the usage! It now shows you that 4GB are insalled but still can only use some 3,+ GB due to technical reasons!

 

Hey Packer, would you mind giving us another update? It's almost been forum months since you've gotten your m15x. A lot of users have been having a lot of problems, you've been one of the really lucky ones.

 

Well I have recently upgraded my bios to the x32 version and havent really seen any performance differences. I never really had any problems with downclocking like many other people. The only real problem i have had is that my screen went out and would not come back on. However i called the roswell team and they took me through about a 25 step process that involved taking off the keyboard and a few fans out to reset the screen and it worked after the first try. I have pretty pleased with it as of now, however i would like to include it more in my daily use at home( I usually use my desktop). All in all I do feel that it was a good purchase. There have been rough times but i feel everything is slowly turning around and shaping up. If anyone has any specific questions just let me know.

 

Sorry been away for as bit.

But now my computer reads 4gigs no prob in response - DemonOfRazgriz vists can only use about 3-3.5 i thought anyway

how much does your computer read now?
*note i said read, not utalize *
As far as Vista 32 not being able to utilize all 4gigs well thats another problem ima hope they can fix down the road but it now reads 4gigs wich takes a little panic off of me, and i have had no other problems since with the system at all.

I play video games WOW and just installed CRYSIS and still i have most textures and such set to max and the system is doin just fine. I see now that they got a 17" with dual 8800M set-up hmmm dang i bet that one is hot.
But i am pleased with my purchase and am sure it will be around for at least a few more years lol.

PEACE

 

The inability to fully use 4GB is a permanent reality for 32bit OSes, they just can't address that amount of RAM.

 

Hey Packer, congratulations on your "interview" it reads great.

I bet you are really pleased to be an official m17x reviewer too, i'd love to do it but... ho hum... lol

I'm looking forward to your review of the m17x...

OB

 

With all due respect to Packer, here's just a small thought.

If someone states that no upgrade on performance is seen when updating to Bios X32RC1 then you have two possibilities. 1- The computer is not used for anything more than Spectrum Emulators; 2- The person using the computer is not knowlegeable enough to see.
There is yet, another possibility... Packer review is positive from top to bottom. No problem, no con, no nothing... It's like the M15x is the best laptop ever made by man. While this would probably be a true statement in the Stone age, now it's a complete, obvious lie. Packer was offered to review the M17x but that is only possible because of the most biased review of the M15x out there. And that's the ground he will stand at... as I'm sure he wants to play around with the M17x and keep on AW's good grace.

No mean to offend Packer, but certainly stating things like, "These are the best laptop speakers ever", only highlights what I'm trying to say. People should trust reviews of instructed people, people that know and can see behyond the flashy lights. Superficial reviews do good to no one, appart from the people that are only looking for the... superficial. ("Ohhhh loooookkk... so many lights!")

Just my 2p. No offense meant to anyone.

 

Very few games would show visible signs before X32 that they were downclocking. I only first noticed it in Crysis, until I then discovered it was actually happening in all other games. That's because for most of those other games the FPS is so high as it is that you don't notice the difference. For example, with counter strike source, normal play is 120FPS and downclocked performance is ~60FPS. Without the FPS counter it's impossible to tell the difference because both are above the refresh rate of the screen, so there would be no visible difference. If Packer didn't play Crysis, or any of those other few games which stress the computer enough, then it is very reasonable that he wouldn't have seen it.

Also, to criticize Packer's review after the fact is flawed for two reasons. One, this was done months ago. But mainly, the second is that his machine may truly have been flawless. Owning such a machine myself (well, nearly flawless, I'm lucky on a comparative basis) makes me aware that that is entirely possible. As well, he can't pretend to know what your experience is, or MrDJ's, or newfie's, and then write that in his review. He can only write what he sees. It's like blaming Chaz for his review -- yes he did mention a few more of the little faults that Packer didn't, but he missed the CPU/GPU downclocking issues as well. He missed Jayon/fez's cracked screen. Can we blame him? Of course not. He did his review months ago, plus his machine just didn't have those cracking issues. He can't pretend to review on something he can't see/doesn't have. What a smart person would do is read these reviews and then also check this forum and see there are other issues. That's the reasonable way to do it.

 

Here Here...

It's all down to interpretation at the end of the day. What's good for goose isn't always good for the gander... or something like that (",)

I'm with you GRB, read all the reviews you want, then make your own choice based on your own conclusions.

You can't blame someone for reviewing there machine and saying it's great, doesn't go wrong and looks cool, if that's the truth for that reviewer. Just because someone elses then goes wrong doesn't mean the original review is wrong for not saying it.....does it? I'd say lucky them for having no apparent problems...

OB

 

yeah, plus, the review isn't the be-all and end-all. You read a review and then do further research by coming to forums like these. That way you get a balance of the good and the bad, and then you make your decision. That's why I've said before milcs that you're helping the community by being very diligent in outlining potential issues/flaws one may have with their system. You're helping that process. Just don't expect every review to be rewritten after the fact.

 

By no means I mean to blame anyone for anything... Much less, Packer for his initial review. People should be honest and that's all.
The review is good for people that are not very into technology. This is... the common user. AW saw in Packer a good oportunity to seize the "general users" market. Can we blame them? No... I'm just trying to stress that fact. Not blaming anyone for anything (sorry if that was the message I gave away). It's obvious that Packer will always stand by AW's side. They are giving them the M17x to review just because he was so happy about the M15x. That's the point I want to make.

Now, let's brainstorm a little bit more. If you read in between the lines:

"Well I have recently upgraded my bios to the x32 version and havent really seen any performance differences. I never really had any problems with downclocking like many other people. (...) however i would like to include it more in my daily use at home (I usually use my desktop)."

And you stop to inteligently (does this word even exists?) think about it...
Well, if I don't use the M15x at all, it's perfect and I can't see any problems. If Packer doesn't uses it at home, I doubt it's going to be used for gaming. If it's not... it's obvious no GPU downclocking problem will be noticed. And that's where I'm trying to get...

I'm just trying to ask people to look a bit more ahead of what you read. To see underneath the surface. Even if Packer will have a problem, since he has developed a good relationship with AW, he will not press hard on highlighting these problems. The same thing is true for most other reviewers. No one is completely impartial when reviewing an unit. No one wants to get on the bad side of a company.

That's all... not blaming anyone, just asking everyone to read bellow the big letters.

 

well that's the fault of other people reading it to take one person's word for it as opposed to reading the entire forum, so yeah.

 

Ordered my M15x at the beginning of June. Just last week I noticed they came out with the new M15x Skullcap design, and I also noticed it sped up the order. So I called and changed my order (about a week ago), now it is one phase away from being shipped! I'm so excited!!

After researching alienware and finding that people have commented about how bad their customer service was, I took the survey after purchasing the laptop, and I got an email from the roswell crew, has anyone ever received an email from them? Here it is:

Greetings from Alienware’s Roswell Crew!



It’s clear that “support” and “service” have lost much if not all of the luster that these words carried 30, 40 or 50 years ago. In so many industries, including our own, we seem to have pushed toward achieving efficiency so much that the concepts of really good support and service have been lost.

Ronny Infante (senior tech), Yeenvi Campos (customer service ace), Randall Gamez (customer satisfaction genius), Jose Guzman (billing specialist).



Top row, from left:

Thank you for choosing Alienware and we hope to hear from you,



Tommy O’Brian

Coordinator

Roswell Support Group

Phone: 1.866.Roswell x6184

 

im still waiting for my m15x! ordered on september 1st. waiting for my HDD to get off backorder

 

why ppl paying 3k for an alienware while sager has great 15" at 2k only?

 

It's a choice... It's okay!

 

I have to hand it to you milcs, regardless of whether this was sarcastic or not, I totally have to agree with this statement.