Stay away from Alienware - Previous owner

Hey guys

I have owned 5 Alienware laptops between my wife and myself.

Only one or two gave me technical issues but the real issue i have found and continue to find is Dell's overwhelming lack of care and support given to customers. I have spent no less than 12k with them in the last 6 or so years and that doesnt seem to matter (not that it should if they treated us like they cared) But the final straw for me has been selling my previous M18x R2.

I just sold it and formatted the SDD on it for the new buyer. Being nice i installed windows 10 on it (i didnt want to give him 7 and have him need to look for a key) only to find that Dell/AW completely does not support windows 10 on any laptops that came from the factory with an older OS. So none of the drivers on their site are for windows 10. Their response? We cant help you, good luck!

So after crawling around the net looking for driver solutions i finally found some.

But after this, my new pascal laptop will be from MSI. I was waiting on AW's pascal lineup but now I am done with AW. If i can buy a machine and in 2 short years have all support completely cut off EVEN DRIVER SUPPORT i am finished.

There have been many other incidents with them too, this was just the latest. As a word of advice, AW is no longer the pinnacle of gaming laptops (im not sure that anyone is right now) but you can save a bundle of money and get machines that are just as good if not better from companies that would love to have your business and treat you that way.

Just a word of warning for anyone thinking of an AW.

Sorry for the rant.

 

I used to own a m18x r2, I loved that thing with the 3 hard drives, I was able to install 3 2tb HDs and put all of my movies on it, OS on the msata SSD. After it failed for the last time I went back to Sager with the p370sm3 model. I am happier that with one.

 

You should have installed windows 7 and have upgraded it to free windows 10 while you had the chance. AW will not help with OS not associated other than what came with the laptop. Any other OS would be the end user to upgrade themselves and locate drivers.

 

I dont think you read the entire post... I upgraded to windows 10 for my buyer (who bought the laptop) and any computer company refusing to update hardware drivers or even help owners locate drivers for a new OS after only 3 years doesnt deserve my business or yours. They arent even offering community based forum support for it, meaning they havent even taken the time of day to write a blog post with how to handle it. Its quite simply, your on your own.

 

Yes , simply is because they cannot be under any obligation to be tech support for an os that the laptop does not support, even though it can run windows 10. They don't want to be tied to it.

 

Want a story that's even worse? Alienware reintroduced the AW18 this time last year, and sold them up until January 2016. I received my unit in December 2015, supposedly new from the factory. 8 months into ownership and it has an issue...guess what. They're out of parts. For a machine that is not even a year old, to be out of parts? What a joke. They can't even service their own computers properly anymore, not the mention the removal of next day service. I've been waiting on my Alienware 18 to come back for a month.

 

Every other manufacture does this, and they choose not to, their new comps come with win10 and all of the hardware in the m18x supports win10 but dell doesnt want to bother with it.... Lenovo even rewrote some of their drivers themselves for win10... You can believe what you want but i work to hard for my money to give it to them.

Also, no one is asking for tech support for windows, only updated drivers for computers we spent thousands on.

Not surprised man, sorry for your issues. I bought my first AW in 2008 and it is night and day difference from today. They are a poor shadow of what they used to be.

 

I wish AW would be dispossessed (sorry had to use that word after watching the Rio 2016 Soccer matches) by another company or smart investor who knows what AW use to stand for and why they were in the business a long time. From what I have heard I lucked out by buying the AW M17x R4 when I did. It sounds like the designs sort of went south and not just for the winter.

As I mentioned, Dell needs to come here and research, How should customer service be done, the correct way!

Also they need to clearly define, what is the purpose behind publishing tech help documents if they don't want you to use them (or publishing useful ones). I have said my peace about AW and Dell many times in this forum and others regarding their tech support in relation to my laptop. Thank goodness NBR provides out-of-warranty service .

What is ironic about no Win 10 support is that when you look at many of the models, I would think drivers wouldn't be that burdensome. Sure those that came Win 7 are older now. However you want to impress customers, you try to find a way to get updated drivers. It isn't like they use off brand no-name parts. Of course the testing is the issue. They derive no value from supporting a laptop from more than maybe a year ago. Once again they should decide what would be best for their image and to convince customers to remain loyal or be return/repeat customers with their service and support policies.

The first problem for any tech support with Dell and many companies is the fact that it is simply too expensive to have a domestic customer service (In this I am referring to the US, no selfish nature intended, just easy to reference). They had a show on PBS or some channel where they showed just how these overseas tech support companies work. Everything from teaching them to pick a non-foreign sounding name, to actually reading scripts and how they might have 1 or 2 supervisors who were brought over to oversee it. Huge campuses and buildings. The pay, lets just say, is no where near the Federal Min. Wage in the US.

Another great example, Comcast/Xfinity. What I sure wish is that our government had not granted special monopolies (remembering my Econ classes in College, I think Natural Monopolies is the proper term) to the cable companies. Of course the problem is that it isn't practical, feasible or safe to have 20 different companies and 20 different set of cable lines strung up on poles or underground (of course in the US we wait till things break for 60, 70, 80 plus years ago to fix, instead of being pro-active. After all I thought the price we pay to Utilities is suppose to maintain and keep the network, pipes, sewers, cables, gas lines, etc serviced and replaced ahead of failure. However every time, they say we want to help provide better and safer service (meaning we haven't serviced anything until it breaks - so will you believe that we will do it this time) they then add, oh we need to increase your cost of services (yet in many of these Util Companies they have actually laid off) but I digress. Xfinity I have learned now to "ask" which call center I am talking to. If it is outside the US, I just hang up. I have notice anything outside the US for Xfinity they give them very little or no wiggle room to actual work with a customer, sort of like a Dell Script but for Broadband/Cable TV/VOIP. Heck the other day trying to get the new forced upon X-1 service, I had a person who didn't know you run HDMI through 5.1/7.1 Receivers to get the high quality sound that is suppose to come from HD programming, she never heard of that ever being done (oh well so much for solving the tech problem that night).

So this is a problem that I wish some company in various industries would step up and set an example. Except now companies are so worried about trying to get into new markets, they forget the markets that made them and allowed them to be in a position to expand.

I read an article in PCGamer about indie companies and an issue with EU regulations where companies (I think even if sold outside the EU) get hit with such high VAT that they instead give their games away for free and ask for donations (aka pay for product with another term to avoid the taxes and/or paperwork).

I am ashamed to say this, but with Dell initially being a US based company (meaning it got its start here) it doesn't provide nearly-good quality service to other markets. I am sure many markets have very talented people, who can provide the kind of tech support that is lacking already in local and foreign markets.

I recently talked to someone from France who can't get Dell to provide hardly any support even with a warranty. Hearing about what was said above about how they re-released a model and not even a year in, they are out of parts. Perhaps they should take a clue from the military and create Dell Boneyards where whatever wasn't used at least isn't written off on the books and tossed to some recycler but sorted and stored in a large warehouse in the middle of no where so the land is cheap (promise jobs to get a tax break from the local city). Or if they won't do it themselves, legislate a requirement to have ample parts on hand for repair/replacement for the expected duration of the longest service/warranty contract.

Okay my eyes are popping out of my head as I should have called it a night long ago, but I had to add my 50 cents (long post and probably babbling) about how sad things are. Especially comparing notebooks/laptops to desktops. There is a website that I visit just to see how difficult it is to repair other electronics/tech gear (think it is Ifixit.com - they post a tear down repairability score of a product each month in Maximum PC) and it really is interesting. They actually tore apart a Dell 13" tablet/laptop a year ago and they said that it was actually easier to repair than a like product from Apple. So why they don't pursue the same course with all their products, they wouldn't have these issues. Apple should as well, but then it wouldn't be Apple. However I have to say I have an Apple IIe I once in a blue moon pull out of the closet to play some ancient game for nostalgia and it still works.

Anyhow, I am sorry to hear about the problems. Now only if we can get someone from Dell and Alienware to actually come and represent the company here on these forums again (sure they are going to catch not just a great amount of heat but sun scorching heat, yet that would be a first step to once again earn our brand loyalty and not shift it all to alienware arena).

 

How hard could it be to just download the latest drivers from the manufacturers itself instead to rely on the Dell website.

All video drivers, mainboard drivers, soundcard drivers are readily available for example. I didnt experience any problem while going from Windows 8 to 10 on my previous Alienware laptop for exaple.

Also I havent had any issues with customer support apart from crappy technicians (which in return was fixed by offering me a new laptop because of a btoched repair job) in the Netherlands as well.

People here seem to think that for buying a product, they deserve 4 years of perfect support as well.

 

Drivers are not always readily available and if it's so easy why wouldn't dell provide them?

As I said. If some people are fans of AW more power to you but if you are trying to convince us they are an example of a good company it won't happen.

I was a huge AW fan boy 4 years ago and since then it's been a steady stream of disappointment.

 

There hasnt been 1 company till now that constantly updates the drivers on their driver pages especially not for 4 years.

Dell validates all the drivers and repackages them though on their website. That does cost time and manpower. But if you buy a machine like this I think it can be expected that you can find the drivers needed after 4 years. I jsut bought 2 Alienwares, used them, if I had a hardware problem they fixed it for me and thats all I care about. Never have to send a laptop to a depot and I can find the drivers myself just as I could with all my other dozen laptops. Only Sony sucked in that regard with their proprietary graphic switching stuff which needed hacked drivers.

 

@rinneh
Downloading the drivers, if they actually were kept up to date. Of course this is not strictly done only by Dell, others do it as well. Yes you can try to use the Windows 7 but you have no way to know if the drivers/software/games/os will work properly or you get random crashes or lockups that you can't pinpoint the casue easily.

I don't know when you were last at their drivers site, but here are some examples:
*AMD 7970m Driver v9.003 released 16 July 2013 (last update Oct 2013, what they added a word to it, the driver is the same 9.003 from October. I bought my laptop in mid May 2012. The original driver released 8.973 13 Jul 2012. End result, 1 driver when sold and one final driver a year after they released the first driver. You call that "Easily Available" Of course to get current drivers you have to go to third parties. I am sure if 3rd parties can adapt new drivers without funding, then why can't Dell??????

AW Command Center and OSD, those are Dell products, can't they change the code, since I assume they are using it for their newer models, so these have no excuse.

Lenovo apparently has a Windows 10 driver for the Realtek 5209, so that part is still being made and sold
http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/pro...laptops/ThinkPad-Edge-E330/downloads/DS103572

I think you might be missing the point on support. If these are the $399, prebuilt for sale at Walmart, I can see your point of not having support for a long duration. However AW is suppose to be a Boutique Gaming Laptop/Desktop maker which infers you should get much better support than that $399 laptop. Since most users with the right skills have been able to get most aspects working, then Dell should spend some testing.as it shows the laptop work. Once again it is how much Dell is willing to go the extra mile for customers, a thing called Goodwill.

In response to the 4 year of support. If someone buys a contract, then yes you do get 4 years of service (or what they called service and support) and you really can't even get so-so quality service and support anyways.

 

First off you are wrong, there have been other companies that have kept drivers updated for years.

No one is asking dell to repackage anything, in fact i would rather them leave their crap off of the software and just provide me links to the proper drivers. The reason being some of these hardware companies' websites are absolutely atrocious and very difficult to understand what you need/get. I spent 3k on this computer 3 years ago and chose win 7 over win 8 at the time, now win10 comes out and they want to remove all obligation to me because i upgraded the OS? That is stupid no matter how you slice it. If smaller computer companies can provide driver support for win10 on win7 machines then so can a massive company like Dell. Not everyone is computer savy enough to go looking at third party sites for drivers.I am only here to warn others about them and if you look back through this thread you will see other people upset with them too.

AW used to be great but they arent anymore. If you are a newer AW owner you only know the new company and not what it used to be and thats fine but from some of us who bought old AWs back before Dell came along we are telling you that Dell has gutted that company and is providing sub-par products and support.

I expect when i go to a specialty company like AW that i get a specialty product, one that is built with expertise and care and from a company that will stand behind it. You dont have to look far for people that have had nothing but lemons and horrible support. My Wife's last laptop from last year was an AW 15 and we have had to RMA it twice already.

If you choose to continue buying AW products thats fine, but hear it from me who now has owned AW, Asus, and MSI that AW is not putting out a great product anymore and their support isnt near up to standard.

Spot on. Lenovo even re-wrote some win7 drivers for win10 when they needed to.

 

Third party for drivers? AMD itself is the first party and Dell is the third party in this case. How hard could it be to type in www.amd.com and download the drivers?

Go to the realtek site for the realtek drivers etc. AlienFX software is indeed a Dell only thing. To be honest I dont know if you can use the AlienFX suite from the other Alienware laptops.

But apart from that I have yet to see a manufacturer that constantly keeps the drivers up to date. I owned more than 5 brands the past 8 years and they never updated the drivers on their product pages to the latest versions constantly.

 

Again no one is asking for constant updates, but when a new OS comes out you cant just say "well you bought your comp with a previous OS so you are SOL buddeh" It SHOULDNT work that way.

 

you mean dec 2015??

 

D'oh thanks for the correction. yes december 2015

 

You do realize that the drivers provided on dells website are not from dell right? They literally just download it from the hardware manufacturers website, slap their logo onto the extractor and upload it.

There's nothing special about them. And really the only drivers you need to install from Dell are the command center ones (if you have a laptop that uses that). There's literally no reason to use any other driver that Dell provides. Intel drivers get from intels website, nvidia/amd from their respective website, and everything else just use the drivers that comes with Windows 10. Especially the killer networking ones, the ones available from dell and the killer website are absolute trash.

You may have to get the touchpad drivers too depending on which laptop you have, my older alienware is fine with the windows one, the new one is stupid without the synaptics driver but then again you can just get that from synaptics website too and it works.

 

Not a big surprise after it was found that Alienware's screens can be damaged by software and it's bigger chance if you use Windows 10.
So they quickly removed "Win10 supported" text out of their support page.

 

Not trying to be rude, but it seems that you have not been reading the entire thread. Yes i realize they are not made by Dell. You are missing the point which is, at every corner in which dell CAN get out of helping people, dell TRIES to get out of helping people. If they can save a buck even if its at the customers expense, they will do it. I have seen it play out over and over since Dell bought AW. As i stated before, i have owned many AW systems both before and after Dell bought them and it has steadily gotten worse.

I didnt hear about this but that explains a lot. Just not a fan of them anymore. I have joined team MSI.

 

No I did read it. It just seems you want to complain about the most ridiculous thing ever. It takes very ****ing little time to download drivers from the hardware manufacturers website and both Intel and Nvidia now have auto updaters if you prefer to use those.

Apart from the command center (which you really only need to download and install once), sound drivers and the synaptics drivers (which once again you also need to just download once unless you have some sort of odd problem), everything else comes from Windows update or intel/NVidia auto updaters.

So you're literally complaining about 3 drivers, hope you understand that lol. 3 drivers that take less than 10mins to download and install.

There are plenty of things to complain about Alienware. The drivers they provide on their website isn't one of them.

 

You only heard part of the story. Some machines with MXM boards including CLevo's and a certain screen type could get a bricked screen from updating to WIndows 10 with the first batch of Nvidia drivers.

This was not a dell problem, not a clevo problem, not an MSI problem but an Nvidia problem which was quite limited or else they would have a major backlash now.

 

And you have proof for this? From what I can remember... EVGA Precision X still brick screens on previous AW/Clevo models regardless of what Nvidia driver you use. New or old. Maybe @Mr. Fox know more about this than me.

 

Mr Fox his own thread? http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...illing-alienware-and-clevo-lcd-panels.779449/

You probably participated in that topic as well.

But yeah in the later posts he link sto the EVGA topic? Havent followed that one yet.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-bricking-systems.781467/page-6#post-10148904

 

Yeah I participated in that topic. But that was long ago now, and I don't remember everything.
But remember also MSI and other brand that used mmx card has not been so involved. AW and Clevo were most affected. They were almost alone on this issue. Aw most.

So you shouldn't be so cocksure on everything, as you wrote in your reply to @James D

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...bricking-systems.781467/page-50#post-10314038

 

Well MR Fox states there he isnt fully sure himself. So in the end we are stuck with incomplete data just that Win Windows 10, nvidia equipped systems with LVDS and EVGA (but MR Fox isnt sure about this) can be a problem.

So where is this an AW issue itself? ince Clevo models are documented to have the problems too on some models.

Dont do it yourself as well then.....

 

I specified that the Aw and Clevo were most affected. Isn't this enough? Most were previous Aw models. I can't say more about it.

 

I have to totally disagree with the comments saying (the inverse of what you say) we are too lazy to go to amd/nvidia/intel or whoever to download the drivers as they are right there and so easy to get.

Wrong! I think you might be thinking of desktop support/drivers. Remember laptops are a totally different business. Most of the parts usually are not actual desktop models, meaning what they put in a laptop there is no easy way to put it into a desktop. Remember the thing called a Bios? If Dell, MSI, Asus or whoever puts limitations in their bios that prevents you from using a certain driver that they approve, then you have to make changes to the bios. If they put things in the code or even somewhere on the board itself that detects a non-standard Dell bios (now I have no proof, but it isn't that difficult to have it done) it can cause the system not to work. After all a laptop mobo is just like a desktop mobo but stingier. MSI bios won't work on an exact same mobo with the exact same parts as they layout/integrate/etc. things slightly different than lets say ASUS.

If it was that easy to just go to Nvidia/AMD and download the drivers and have them work then you wouldn't see sites like Techpowerup, Techinferno, NBR, etc having to answer questions about driver problems where they can't download them straight from Realtek, Nvidia, AMD or whoever because Dell\AW does things to their own tune, companies prefer to stay out of making drivers for "all laptop users" that have Chip ABCD from Company 10. Company 10 knows that how their product is used could be different and they put themselves in a liability situtation if the drivers fail or don't work or worse.

Also remember that not all panels are made by just one company. Okay I would need to do some fact checking to be able to stamp this into concrete, however it takes just one slight difference to cause issues.

In the past most companies will try to provide support beyond the original OS they sold, if it is FEASIBLE. Since MS says if it works in Win 7, it would work in Win 8 and if it worked in Win 7 and 8 it should work in Win 10, then a part made for Win 7 should not be a huge climb to be win 10 compat (maybe not certified but compat - I think that was done when Vista and 7 each were released, they provided a list of what was compliant/certified for Win Vista/7 and what was just compat - meaning there could be minor issues).

Now I am not a programmer. However if a part still retains forward compat with a new OS, then a company like in this case Dell, should at least make an effort to provide support. If I buy as I said a cheap $400 laptop from Wal-Mart, I know I should not expect whoever made the laptop to give me the same support someone who custom orders a $3000 laptop from the company, it is simple common sense. If there wasn't something special if you buy an item from AW, Origin, or whoever, then you are only buying for looks. No I would assume anyone who buys a boutique quality product is expecting support that goes beyond the "generic" or standard support they provide to a mass market produced item.

Since for example, the 680m is still Nvidia and still is a Kepler, just with speeds clocked down for obvious reason, then naturally it should work in Win 10 if they say a 500, 600, 700 or whatever will work. The problem is that companies like Dell simply are unwilling to put out the expense to adjust the driver to work on older machines. The problem is that I don't know for example how long they sold the AW M17x R4 for example and if someone bought a warranty that was 4 years, there are still people then they have an obligation to support, not just goodwill either.

Now companies who make desktop parts, in most cases they work with Realtek, Intel, Killer, Nviidia, AMD etc. to keep there part as complaint with the original specs from that company as possible. Then they save themselves the expense of having to deal with new driver updates from the tech departments. That is why you almost never see a Driver CD with a video card anymore, as they say go to Nvidia/AMD website. Why you see some motherboards that if they do include a disc, they will say go to the asus or company website as the disk is probably outdated. Once again if this was a cheapy laptop from Dell, I could understand them not providing driver updates to allow their machines to work with a new OS, however I don't think AW is a cheapy machine. I don't think they sell or market it as such. They market and sell it is a high-end, quality built, designed and supported product. They are not living up to that and are giving sub-par support to a product that they market as deserving better, otherwise might as well just go buy an XPS and you get the same service someone who was foolish enough to buy and pay extra for the AW name/logo and design expecting it to be better.

Look at Apple as a great example of how to keep products up to date and also not how to. Some customers can still use older models, even though "they didn't have to support it". Why do you think people love an apple product.

Just like Samsung Galaxy line, I have a S5, and I will still get the 6.0 OS (don't know about 7) even though Samsung could do things like Dell, and have said sorry the OS that came with the S5 is the best you are going to have (beyond security patches). If they stiffed people, you would see people look elsewhere then for someone who does sell a phone with features and the support one is looking for.

So don't say Dell provides the support by telling you to go to Nvidia and AMD as the drivers are there. They aren't and that is where a 3rd Party (I won't get into a debate over 1st, 2nd or 3rd party, but it is understood that Dell/AW is usually the 1st Party or original seller. Anyone who is not official with Dell/AW is essentially a 3rd party as they are not supported nor endorsed or backed by Dell/AW.).like those on sites like NBR come in as they are being expected (obviously unofficially) more and more to do what companies are suppose to do. Pass the buck for the lack of a better word. Let people go search out NBR and those who provide that support, easier for them. Heck in most cases they won't even help you with that (of course it is a liability issue but if they really cared they could work on the legalise to say hey check out these sites at your own risk, we are not liable, but we know there are some groups that have taken our products and done things that we don't do or won't do because of the testing required).

 

Seriously......this posts just irks me. First of all look at my signature those are the 5 out of the 8 laptops I have used past 5 years alone! A wide variety from ultrabook style laptops to gaming laptops all with discrete graphics. I know pretty well what involves laptop drivers. The only laptops that ever game me driver issues where the first ones that had graphic switching and used proprietary technology (Vaio Z series for example). They released like 4 drivers updates and after that it was the community on this very forum that created the rest after that. Now that is what I call bad support. Since it was proprietary.

Alienware on the other hand have used standard technology based on reference designs for ages now. Some MXM board upgrades did require bios hacking or drivers hacks though. But that is after you updated the machine with an unofficially supported graphic card for example. Apart form that all drivers that have been released after DO work. The amount of times I have reinstalled Windows on my friends machines (few Alienwares M15X's) is something I cannot even count anymore. Never had I a zero problem with getting updated drivers.

Laptops are not phones by the way, Dell isnt the developer of Windows nor is it the developers of the drivers in use. Look further than your nose is long (an old dutch saying). Dont have expectations that are fairly out of place. An Apple product offers pretty much the same hardware with a premium price compared to their competitors. That extra money might be your software updates (on their laptops it is nothing like their phones though, You are lucky if they dont even drop functionality even). With Alienware you paid extra for an exquisite chassis with in those days top of the line hardware. They provided you with full support until windows 8.1. You can update to Windows 10 based on your own decisions. The drivers are easy to find you just make this into a principle matter instead of an actual matter. Take your money elsewhere and come back in 4 years and tell us if you received new driver updates by the manufacturer on their own website for your old laptop.

People became truly too lazy...........

 

Whoever's fault it is I think it was a wise move to remove win10 support. In fact I believe that there are many more validated Alienware's flaws in ex-gaming choice notebook like worse tech/warranty support, integrated components, slimmer size etc.

 

None of what you said is even remotely true and I've been using laptops exclusively since 2005.

Dell/AW does not and has not tuned drivers since NVidia started to release their own laptop drivers. And people have driver issues? So what? There are people with desktops that have driver issues too. It's not unheard of and very very very rarely causes any serious issue.

The drivers you get from support.dell.com and NVidia/intel/amd/realtek/synaptics/killer are virtually identical. There's no difference in the driver or the hardware, with the exception of synaptics where dell disables the one finger scrolling.

Apple is different because guess what? Only apple makes computers that use macOS and they are custom built to a large extent. So obviously I would expect that Apple release their own drivers and update them accordingly. But with companies like Dell, Clevo, Asus, MSI, AW etc etc etc all the hardware is pretty much bog standard. The only proprietary things are **** like the command center for the lightning, and the on screen display module.

I have an alienware 17 R1 (the 780M MXM model) and its been using windows 10 since day 1 with NVidia drivers updated to latest everytime a new one comes out. Works perfectly fine for me and I've had no issues. It was a clean install with my drives all formatted though, not an upgrade.

 

I have also AW17 R1 but with 120HZ 3D. Used Win X 2 months before I switched back to Win 7 Pro. No problems, but you can't deny that previous AW models had their share of screen problems. Although 120Hz screens wasn't affected. Maybe 1 or 2 was bricked.

 

Well of course cell phones aren't like laptops. Was I stating that, no. I just brought that up to show in a different market how companies act, geesh.

Uh, paying for an exquisite case design wasn't my motivation and letting Dell/AW off the hook with that is what they want you to think. Look at how beautiful it is, that is why you should pay more and get no better support than our uglier options. If laptop drivers are so easy to use/update from reference, then why do we need to have modded drivers and bios/vbios. If they truly were standard, then upgrade options should or would look like a desktop (of course cpu is limited based on chipset for example Haswell won't work in an Ivy Bridge mobo obviously). However the MXM slot if they further develop and improve on it, why is it so difficult to allow the bios to see the card and allow a user to follow the same upgrade path as we do on desktop. Yes desktops aren't laptops, so don't need that response.

If they had provided an actual usable not half-baked system bios, maybe we would have these discussions. Sure they are stuffing the power into smaller and smaller cases/forms for laptops and so things might be more difficult. However if these parts are suppose to be so reference in their design that it is so easy to grab drivers, then why do we have a mod community. To say the bios can't handle an upgrade to a new graphics card show short sidedness on the laptop maker. MIght as well just go all BGA for the rest of the future then.

If they see a problem with a Win10 upgrade, then come out and say why? Don't just say we haven't tested it. That is lazy. As I mentioned vista-7-8-10 was suppose to allow more hardware and software to move to a new OS (within limits obviously - like utils and security software might need changes, or if there is no cpu support as MS says will happen in the future). My 770 in my desktop works even with XP (yes I know desktops aren't the same thing and EVGA didn't write the drivers).

So we are just letting companies like Dell get off easy with, oh thank you for selling my this fancy case and providing one-two driver updates and then telling me either buy a new laptop or find someone who knows more about our products than we do at times to find support. They obviously know about the large community out there, perhaps ask if any want to help in testing an newer drivers to allow Win10 support. Whether they will get volunteers or support to do it, I don't know, sadly I wouldn't want to use my laptop as a beta testing machine. Now if the part they use, like Realtek, Intel or whatever doesn't provide any Win 10 reference drivers, then obviously they can't provide or say your system will work in Win 10 nor are they responsible for picking up the task to adjust the driver for the new OS. However I have not seen Dell/AW make any attempt to really say that this part is 100% not going to work in Win 10 and will not allow the system to work. We have seen people with Win 10, however they have had to do some nifty changes on their own to work. Unless I am wrong, they have some say in the system bios. If there is something there that could be changed to make it more Win 10 friendly then they should. I don't have #'s of companies who have provided Win 7 to Win 10 bios fixes, however there are some and in other cases they don't need to as they wrote a solid bios to start with and didn't hobble it.

I don't think I said Dell made Windows, if I did then that was a proofing error (typed it late at night). Of course Dell/AW doesn't right the drivers for Nvidia/AMD, duh! However because of the differences they still need to test new drivers on their gear before they tell a customer, here try this. Now Nvidia I know for example probably never saw mixing and matching of parts like MSI in AW or vice versa. However they had a hand in the MXM design, so why should a 680m with 2 or 4gb, with oc settings or reference then be that difficult? Yes they can't provide all the possible mixes of Vendor ID's, and so on. So to me I see it all as being lazy by Dell/AW not to make the effort on the part of their customers to make these so called easy changes and make it easy for their users. That isn't being lazy, that is just expecting a company to make it easy to use their product, not lazyyyyy!

Also don't like being told about a long nose. I am not a know it all and realize I might have different views/understandings/insight than you or anyone else and the same for you in comparison to others. That doesn't mean to start saying someone is so way off they are liars. Instead just provide your view and correction and allow that users/poster to decide what they will agree or disagree with.

So back to the original topic, yes Dell is Lazy, we aren't. If we were all so smart and didn't need communities like this to help with support that we can't get or Dell won't provide, and we all knew how to mod/adjust then yes we are lazy. However that isn't the case. It also isn't the case when you have to search out solutions to just install or run your laptop or for Dell or any company to sell a product for a short period and then wipe their hands of it. That is lazy. That is an example of a company that doesn't view customers as important but instead how much more money they can't get you to spend on the next fancy case/

 

Just like you say yourself it is so hard because you want improvements. One improvement breaks anothers compatibility. SInce they work in such confined spaces it is very hard to keep everything backwards compatible. There is no space for legacy safeguards.

Ask Papusan about this laptop that he bought last year and cannot use all new MXM boards that are just released this month. MXM standards are a mess and some users could mod their bios to still use newer boards. the MXM standards are a bit hit or miss. That isnt a Dell issue perse that is an industry problem. So to use that argument is just not correct here.

Graphic cards are compatible yet, newer CPU architectures however are not.

Dell never made the driver updates nor should they be your source, why keep hammering on that while you could just type www.nvidia.com and download the latest and greatest drivers easily. Why does it matter so much for you that you could download the same drivers repackaged from the dell site? Realtek, Intel DO provide reference drivers. There is no need to make a bios fix or whatever since they just already work out of the box. Again you blame Dell for it while this is pretty much the policy for every gaming laptop manufacturer out there. It is impossible to keep testing the drivers and give endless support. Your machine is 4 or 5 years old. Asking for continued support on those old machines is unreasonable.

 

I thought most laptops use (now I can't find where it was stated, so this is based off your comments above only and if what I remember reading just in this post/thread) standard designs and parts include off the shelf tech that can be used in either laptop or desktop (just not easy to move parts between laptop and desktop of course) the drivers for reference parts then should be fine across laptop/desktop unless Dell or other company makes changes. Sure they push more things into a smaller space however is there that great of a difference between a bluetooth/wifi on one card and the same chip on a desktop mobo? Hard Drives are about the only thing you could truly take out of a laptop and put in a desktop but then why would you unless you are using a compact or the small NUC's/Brix type chasis. While the mobo is not like a desktop, the parts in most situations are. Dell I was very disappointed in how they have acted in the whole business. So breaking backwards compat has been around as long as desktops. However when the System Bios is limited, after all the AW M17x R4 can't recognize cards they didn't initially build the bios around (now is that a limitation of the bios ability or a Dell designed into problem.

Newer CPU's, as far as I am aware, Win 10 will support back before Sandy Bridge (how far back I don't know since we then go into 1st Gen Core I series, then the Core 2 Duo, Core Duo and others just quickly thinking of some names off of the top of my head). The decision not to support future CPU's is Microsoft, not Intel doing. However the motivation is obvious, if you see how business works, after all remember Halo 2 and Vista, it took a mod to make it work in Win XP and the title didn't use the DX10 set. So I don't think the CPU issue as I stated is related to AW.

From what little I read about MXM standards, supposedly Nvidia was one of the major players initially and then something forced them to step away and let the market forces move it forward (it was a quick blurb I remember reading when investigating my GPU issue). Dell as a major player could help move the industry forward. If they decide to jump on the lets make things complicated, then I do blame Dell. Didn't they help develop the Display Port Standard? Rejected at first by those with HDMI, but instead became accepted and forced HDMI to move forward with a new version to challenge DP. So why doesn't Dell help further refine MXM, as a market leader? The question is just what version/standard are companies willing to follow or do they strive for the uniqueness or a special change that makes their mxm slot not like a mxm slot from another competitor.

In regards to updates, I grabbed this from Nvidia,
this is a reference driver that can be installed on supported NVIDIA notebook GPUs. However, please note that your notebook original equipment manufacturer (OEM) provides certified drivers for your specific notebook on their website. NVIDIA recommends that you check with your notebook OEM about recommended software updates for your notebook. OEMs may not provide technical support for issues that arise from the use of this driver.

That is where the go to Dell first comes from. Nvidia doesn't say it will support your laptop/notebook and always refers you back to who built the laptop.

To show you I understand when I am wrong, I tried the auto-detect from Nvidia and it says it sees my 680m and recommends a download. However since I don't have the time to see if the driver would install properly I can't test just how accurate it is. Also you have to delete many folders to ensure the thing works, if it isn't a Dell part (something you don't see on a desktop). However it couldn't see the first 680m I had however that was an issue with the card possibly as I never got a driver on it working (defect in GPU so it adds complication) so it appears you can auto-detect but not sure if it will work without some adjustments, so I do stand by my comments until I try it, that you do need some adjustments that Nvidia doesn't provide.

You say Dell shouldn't continue support for 4 or 5 years. Then why are they selling service and support contracts with a 1-2 year extension, or 3 years extension if they got you going on the sale at first (and then say or they just say that to make a sale), or 1 year if they state they only offer that extension (Yes at sale told buy 4 year would get a 3 year extension, then first offer at end of 4 was 1 year as that was supposedly the only offer, then I get an offer in my e-mail of 1-3 years, then I ask for clarification on 3 year and the person then said oh, sorry 2 years - yet 1 was supposedly all they offer). Dell slips and slides in and out of just what extension they offer. If they can't support a laptop after a year, is that acceptable to you? It isn't to me. That irks me. Win 10 is it a significant change over 7 MS doesn't make it sound like your hardware is junk if it ran on Win7 (yes marketing and a free upgrade-which can't hurt) however with any OS as we have found statements like that aren't always true.

However they are quick to drop support or not provide many updates beyond maybe six months, that isn't 4-5 years at the time. I remember on my Sony Vaio that used an old 5600 go series Nvidia, they only provided 2 versions, only about 3 months in total for the versions, had to then go to Laptop2go/laptopvideo2go - can't remember as of this typing but I am sure you know which site I am talking about, to get a mod inf so I could use more current drivers (their driver broke with a newer version of QT and only a newer nvidia fixed it). The bios updates might last longer, but as you can see they are usually to fix things that are broken (A10/11/12 don't remember which one, fixed an issue with msata/optical drive on the specific model I have). Why not open the bios up to allow for easier working. If they are afraid of people changing things they don't know, don't most companies say here is basic, advance only use if you know what you are doing.

Has Dell made any effort to see what would be needed to make certain models Win 10 compat? To use the well no one else does on Dells part is a cop out (sp?) for Dell. Are you a leader or a follower? Do you want to keep customer loyalty or does that end at the POS? I think that is what I am getting at and maybe others as well. It appears many older AW models are still very capable laptops, sure they might only be a i7-2000/3000 series but that doesn't mean they are junk and Dell shouldn't look at some arbitrary cutoff for supporting without at least giving some effort. If they know of a specific reason for it not working, say what it is (as I mentioned before) don't just say it could have issues or we haven't tested it or whatever the official wording is on the Dell site.

While people use sigs, it just isn't my style. I will list my stuff when it is requested or required. Sure the sigs help to qualify anything you say or know. As I said just not my style.

Picking on Dell, perhaps. However this is about Dell/Alienware. If I was to pick on Asus, MSI or whatever I would go to the forum for them. I went with AW for it having been recognized as a leader and not just a rebadged Dell XPS with a fancy case. To be truthful I did look at an XPS as well when I looked for a new gaming laptop back then. I had expected AW>XPS in all areas. They didn't deliver.

In the long run, we both have views that differ. That is good that we can differ yet agree on other things. As long as we don't hold it against another for disagreement or having a different view/belief.

 

You could always just do a backup, download say... the chipset driver from Intel and download and install. Since as you say alienware just repackages drivers.

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

 

lol STAY AWAY FROM ALIENWARE ! such great advice, why didn't I read this 4-5 years ago... before all the heartaches...well I would be out of my current profession if it wasn't for all the support needed to help people with thier laptops like those from Alienware, haha.
Essentially I should be like " yeah go ahead be stupid and buy an Alienware, and when you want to fix it, come to me, since my support is clearly better thier DELL's."

 

I didnt realize this post was still alive

We can argue all day about drivers but the main point i keep seeing is people saying "how hard is it to go to nvidia and download drivers"

The answer to your ridiculously condescending question is, its not hard at all. But it is hard to know exactly what intel drivers or sound drivers or touch pad drivers etc etc that you need.

So nvidia isnt the issue, its all the other parts.

Lastly, not everyone is a 14 year old wiz kid that trolls forums and knows every nut and bolt of a laptop. I for one know my stuff about that laptop that i sold, but the person i sold it to most likely doesnt. It was a gift for a kid (14 years old) and its his first laptop.

Now all you boy geniuses, you tell me how likely it is that this kid knows where to find drivers for his new gaming laptop? My money says he calls dell and they give him the middle finger because he has win10 on it and he calls Microsoft and they give him the finger because they dont want to sell 7/8 anymore.

So now do you understand why a company that sells 2,3-4, even 5 thousand dollar computers needs to provide better support than "2 years then you can go F yourself"?

You can spend your money wherever you want, but my post was about warning others to stay away from a company that i spent over 10k with over the course of 8 years and i have regretted the last 3 machines i bought from them.

If you are telling people AW is a good company, you are either naive or a liar.

^^ This over and over again. When dell bought AW they turned it into a money grab, its nothing like it use to be. May as well light your money on fire.

I had 2 m18x laptops, an m15x, an alienware 15 and an alienware 17 and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM has had to go into RMA multiple times.

Thats not a joke or BS. Both m18s got RMA'd twice as did the m15x. The alienware 15 got 3 RMA's and they sent us a new system (that still runs like hot garbage) and the 17 is actually at dell right now for its 2nd RMA.

My advice to everyone is to steer clear. You dont have to look far on these forums to find similar posts. People who have owned AW machines are far more likely to complain than praise.

 

Jist of it... if you loved AW in its prime you loved Clevos with the aw paintjob so just go Clevo with Sager/Evoc/Battalion etc now and be happy. Since dell took over? sure there have been some neat designs and such but the "slab" design just became less and less relevant and since companies like MSI & ASUS became more and more competitive especially with Gigabyte of all things entering market its hurt, so one day they'll get it hopefully before its too late just like how HP had to rethink things.

 

Intel has a tool and it searches all drivers for you for example. It is not hard, it really isnt. But most drivers are included with windows, check the names and google it for drivers and you are 9 out of 10 times done.

I am not a 14 year old kid but a 31 year old. Still know every nut and bolt of my hardware. I like to educate myself and know as much as I can.

RMA's are unfortunately a thing now with various products. I am already saying for years that quality control isnt what it should be for many brands. I owned a **** ton of laptops past decade and had my fair share of experiences. Certainly I am not naive or lying. When I had an issue with my Alienware 15 R1 technicians came to fix it, broke the laptop. Do you know what Dell/Alienware did. Shipped an R2 version with upgrades to me. Had another problem and I said due to past experiences with bad technicians that I rather fixed it myself, they shipped me the parts free of charge and I fixed it.

Do you know what would happen if I had to ship my previous Gigabyte P34Wv3 back? It would go to a depot where most brands handle their off site repairs aka laptop purgatory where stuff gets trashed instead or properly repaired. The Gigabyte I had was so fickle it would bend in my laptop back, the battery had after 2 months of use 5% wear etc.

Someone can have bad luck ofcourse, but in my experience if you contact Alienware directly they are very forthcoming and have nothing more than respect for Mr Azor and his crew how they even is involved with his customers. But those are my experiences.

 

You know what, Forget Alienware until they address certain things, in the meantime go to http://www.Eurocom.com if you want the best priced Clevo's and support will be very general, because they're clevo's.

 

If i implied you were 14 years old im sorry, that was meant as a general statement. Aside from that, my point wasnt that this forum is full of 14 year olds but rather it IS full of people who know every nut and bolt of their computer (like you) but not everyone does and some people wouldnt know to go to intel's website or how to begin that search. Its much easier to go to dell and ask for help.

Yes RMAs happen, but after owning many different systems, in my experience and in the experience of my family (a total of 12 AW systems - they unfortunately took my advice to buy AW 6 years ago) AWs have had to be RMA'd a lot more than some of the MSI and Asus products ive owned (not a fan of asus btw just an observation) So the point here is that in my experience, and many others both in my personal life and on these forums, AW systems need a lot of TLC to get them to run correctly.

Ive never owned a Gigabyte so i cant speak on their support, i can only say that if it was poor (and it sounds like it was) take your money elsewhere (sounds like you did) which is what i have done with AW. I have had poor experience after poor experience and i am choosing to take my business elsewhere. While im heading out, i decided to try to save others the hassle i have gone through.

As far as Dell sending you a newer laptop with upgrades, that was nice of them. My experience was nothing like that, through 10+ separate RMA experiences. I even bought AMD GPUs on an m18x a few years back, the GPUs were nothing but problems and died over and over (had to have a tech keep coming to my house) Finally they offered to RMA it and i asked them if i could upgrade the AMD 7970 cards to the Nvidia 580m and i offered to pay the difference from the price of when i bought it to the new cards and they flat refused to do that. After 2 tech trips and and 2 RMA's i upgraded the cards to 680s myself and then sold it.

For every good story about AW ive heard a dozen bad.

I mean no illwill to any employees of Dell or AW, they are here to rep their company and products and im sure they stand by them (i couldnt work somewhere where i didnt) but Dell as a company is not one i would advise anyone do business with.

 

Well you should know two key facts about ANY computer manufacturer.
The warranty and tech support is always a HARDWARE warranty. Technically they shouldnt be helping with anything Windows based and should refer you to MS.
However Dell often will help me with minor Windows things
Next, 99.99% of computer manufacturers do not update their drivers for old systems from 2 - 6+ ago. That is just the way the industry works.
Why would a manufacturer spend money on R & D for a system that has been out of production for years? However with that said 99% of the hardware has drivers that can be obtained via other means and your issues could have been resolved if you had taken the time to research. I am by no means a fanboi but I fail to see how your complaints have anything to do directly with Dellienware.
I wish you luck as MSI will do exactly what Dell has done if you wanted to install an OS that had no drivers for. Get a new MSI and try and install Windows 7.
Also hope you don't have a failure. The warranty with MSI is sub prime. These are just facts. Dell and Lenovo have the best warranty response in the industry.

 

This thread is a revolving circle of guys coming in and saying the same thing as you and others coming in and complaining about AW.

Your first point is dead wrong. I have never, by any computer manufacturer, been referred to Microsoft for help so Dell is hardly doing me a favor there.

2nd point. This is the main argument here. Some companies DO help people in this situation (we have evidence of it) and Dell chooses not to.

3rd point. Why would they spend money? Because its what a company that cares would do... I spend 3k on a machine and in 2 years you give me the middle finger because i upgrade the operating system? That may be fine with you but to me that is BS. And by the way, we have been down the "finding drivers is easy" road and i provided compelling reasons why that isnt always the case (read previous posts) so please dont make me go through that dumb argument again.

4th point. My complaints have everything to do with AW because that is where my worst experiences over the last 5 years have come from (read my previous posts)

5th point. Thanks for the well wishes but it is not a fact that Dell has the best warranty response lol, after 10+ RMAs in 6 years i have plenty of experience with their warranty to confidently say that.


Like i said many times in this thread. If you like AW, then more power to you... But i have owed many AW systems and my family owns many systems and i wouldnt recommend them to anyone anymore. I used to be a fanboi for them, i loved AW systems, but Dell has steadily made them worse.

 

1st is 100% correct. I have been a VAR for Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. They are hardware warranties plain and simple. For example you get a Lenovo, an HP, a whatever and want to install Windows 7 on one that came with Windows 10 They will not support that. You end up at tech support and they determine your issue is not a hardware failure but something wrong with windows they will not help you but refer you to MS.

2. The companies that do help have reps that are just being nice again they are under no obligation to help.

3. Name a company that will do your requests and help? Just one? HP? Lenovo? Certainly not ASUS or MSI. Maybe some Clevo resellers as they do have some guys that just like helping people but its certainly that individual and if the drivers are not there they will be just doing my other suggestion which was to go find the drivers yourself. So really thats not the company thats doing it thats some tech support rep doing something for you that you could do yourself. t

4. Dunno what to say about that man. I have had Alienwares for 10 years. Only two I had gripes with and that was because they had throttling problems that were caused by design flaws.
However in both situations they resolved it beyond my expectations. Once they gave me a M17xR3 when I had a M15x. The next time they gave me a full refund 13 months after I had the system.ke
Through out my systems anytime I encountered a hardware failure or issue either the onsite tech fixed it in a couple of days or I was sent the parts only service fast. Other systems that I have had that were not Dell too much longer to resolve.

5. I guess my main question to you is where is the company that handles things better? Have you even ever dealt with another company? Tons of other popular companies really suck at warranty and build quality etc. Not to mention keeping official drivers and BIOS(s) updated. As we all know about Clevo had Prema not been around their official BIOS(s) would be very lackluster.
I guess to each his own but in my 15+ years of experience I have not seen this magical company that is always on top of drivers to the point they have all old OS drivers up to date for their current systems and also update their drivers to the last OS for their out of production system. I have also not seen one that is 100% on point when it comes to warranty and support. Search online for experiences from other laptop manufacturers and their warranty. Lastly same goes for build quality look around buy some laptops you will see what I say is not opinion but real life. I understand people get upset and emotional about their tech babies but we still need be rational and realistic about whats going on.

Anyways I wish you luck on your quest for the perfect system.

P.S. Im not a fan boi my any means. I buy all systems. If they suck I sell them and carry on.
Im like that with phones and tablets too. You wont catch me bashing apple and cheering Android or bashing PS4 and cheering Xbox. I buy them all at least once.

 

I wont keep going back and forth with you man. I have never once been referred to Microsoft and i have owned dozens of computers from just about every company out there. I have installed and upgraded OS and still received support.

2. I dont see how you can make that assessment. I dont claim to know every company's policy but i have def received far better support from other companies.

3. Name a company that would assist someone in locating drivers for a new OS? Lenovo did that recently. I guess i can search up proof if i need to?

4. Alienware hasnt been owned by Dell for 10 years. 10 years ago Alienware was a great company and made great systems. Even 6 years ago right after Dell took them over they did. My posts have been about their steady decline and my experiences in that time period. It wasnt an over night deal by any means but each system i bought was a little worse than the last. Dell giving you brand new laptops and upgrading your systems so significantly is very interesting because even after RMA'ing a machine 2-3 times its been like pulling teeth to get them to replace a system for me... And im talking about 2 full motherboard replacements and they still want to RMA it.

5. There are loads of information out there of companies (not just laptop companies) that go above and beyond in terms of support. For example EVGA is known to have one of the best warranties around for hardware. I just bought a Drone to shoot video with and my Wife crashed it... Totally our fault but the company under no warranty obligation replaced a $400 camera that came with the drone. It doesnt take much effort for Dell to provide links to updated drivers for systems that have OS upgraded. As many of you that have popped into this thread to say how easy driver hunting was, i cant imagine you would then turn around and say that is just unreasonable to expect Dell to do for you... Again let me point out, i dont have any problems finding drivers on my own but some people may and when spending 3k on a system it is absolutely unreasonable to provide literally zero help to someone. Not even a forum post or a blog post... just zero help. That alone wouldnt make me switch from Alienware but that coupled with the horrible quality i have seen in the last 2-3 years im completely done with them. Even this new lineup is a joke imo.

Im not here because i couldnt find drivers, im here warning people that Alienware will provide minimal support in these circumstances. People can still choose to buy AW if they want, im only here to share my experiences with AW and my stance that i wont be doing business with them anymore.

I dont expect to find a magical amazing company. But i run a small business and i routinely go above and beyond for customers. Bottom line is, you and I expect different levels of customer support for our money and thats fine but dont pretend like im not being realistic. If i can spend 20 min searching for drivers then so can Dell and they can save some of the more illiterate customers HOURS of time but they choose not to.

 

@asims33 Just on your last sentence - it is wholly normal that, small businesses routinely go above and beyond for customers. With larger companies, customer service apparently goes down the pan, just issues with scaling - happens with all companies except perhaps Apple - but that is probably they invest a ton into customer service (and that extra premium is added to the product price).

 

Just had to chime in with my opinion because we're all entitled to one of those!

Anyway, I believe you should evaluate all options when spending more than $1500 on a gaming laptop, including desktop alternatives. That said, I do believe Alienware leads the 13" gaming laptop segment. They do have amazing screens and decent hardware, and are built fairly well. This is sadly the only area Alienware stands out, in my opinion.

I'd urge anyone searching for a 15" laptop or greater to consider Sager/Clevo.

 

Clevo is normally a great choice. However it should be noted that out of the box some of the latest models have been hitting 100c under normal loads.
Only after undervolting can the laptops maintain low 80s / high 70s. Now of course this is referring to the 1080 cards. Im sure if you got the 1070 cards this might be differenet.

Another thing to note is that the latest machines are coming with warped heatsink plates. People are having to use copper shims to get a good solid connection for proper thermal transfer.

It also should be noted that they are playing games with certain configs. For example say you want the P775DM3 (the thinner non sli machine), you cannot choose the 120hz panel.
I contacted several resellers to ask if they could do a custom order for a 120hz panel on one of these machines and they said the main US distributor simply would not put the panels in that model.
They said they assume it was to encourage people to buy the top, most expensive model.

Lastly, one of the main reasons people bought Clevo was because of socketed procs and MXM (removable) GPU(s).
This is not the case any more. New 1080 cards will not work in the older Clevo systems.

 

Ironically the Intel driver search is haphazard at best. It could not identify the chipset on either my Z68 Desktop or AW 17mx R4, and said there was no IRST for either. However if you know the part you need you can simply bypass these auto-detect tools. Of course if you don't know then you need some of these auto detect tools.

My suggestion on the intel side is try out Intels XTU or Belarc Advisor to help ID equip as other alternatives.