Thats it i Give up with AW -- 4850's CANCELLED

Hey Guys,

Depressing news, just had a call from the head of technical devolpment at AW.

They have cancelled the proposed upgrade with the M17 due to incompatibilty of MXM, Bios issues as well as overheating and problems with power consumption

They have finished testing and decided they will not be offering it as an upgrade.

They cancelled my order, have refunded my money and removed the stock codes from the Dell Systems.

Game over

Next Machine will not be an Alienware

 

What? Its not even entirely their fault, I believe you would also not want to pay your hard earned money for card that will overheat right?

 

Can't say im surprised.

 

Wow, you're a whiner.

 

It seems to me you should be grateful that they just did not take your money and leave you with overheating issues and / or a dead laptop.

Alienware does not design the hardware components, and it sounds like they tried an upgrade path and could not get the configuartion to work.

I understand being disappointed, but what would be your expectations from another vendor??

 

I think there are lot of ppl who bought M17 with the idea of upgrading to 4870 in future. This must be a little blow for them. But still, I guess 3870X2 is not that bad in performance - ask Rob41

Anyway, Alienware atleast did not try to sell overheated systems like HP. We should appreciate them being honest. But it is time Alienware should finally make an official word on the possibility of GPU upgrade in M17 and hence put an end to the speculations.

Pmanuk, this is hard to say, but time to update your sig

 

Although i do agree with most comments, its silly that AW had to wait so long to say "oops cards dont support that MXM"... I mean that was around the forums for like 2-3 months now.

 

What a tease from alienware.....this laptop had not even one upgrade....that's the point of these things....o well bad model to buy my mistake

 

They attempted to give you that upgrade path, and tested it thoroughly. Other companies would have 1. not even tried to get you an upgrade path, and 2. just give you the upgrade without testing it first.

Alienware tried. You can't say you've 'had' it with them. Yes, it's disappointing, but they TRIED. When they said that they were available they probably thought that they would work fine. Would you have preffered that they never tried, or just gave you the cards which then would overheat?

 

Just sell your system for a good price and move on....

 

I would take the overheating cards at mod the cooling myself......but mxm issues are beyond fixable

 

Looking at the way Alienware works, next month there will probably be an email on these forums saying that we're getting the 4860s or something like that.

And then the month after they'll get cancelled.

 

Can't say I'm entirely surprised by this. I've said it before and I'll say it again, lack of efficient and timely communication among personnel doomed Alienware as a company. We'll see if Dell falls in the same trap or not.

 

Well, as pleased as I was when they said it was coming, I kinda expected this seeing as the M17 and the M15x are still not included in Dell's version of the Alienware website. They want to kill off the old models to promote their M17x (heh, you should check out the number of M17x All Powerful ads I've seen on tech sites lately).

Notice they said MXM compatibility issues and overheating; if the MXM modules aren't compatible, how could they possibly test heat?

 

What struck me as odd was the seemingly independent actions of the A.W. branch where Pmanuk placed his order. One would think all of Alienware would be in sync.

Sorry you won't be getting those cards Pmanuk. I guess in hindsight, it looked too good to be true since the crads weren't offered anywhere else in the Alienware infrastructure.

 

I've noticed the ads a lot at ebay on the "Alienware for sale" pages too.

Looks like they are trying to divert buyers to the M17X there too!

 

The only company out there with a history of any reliable GPU upgrade path is Clevo. Inflexibility in making upgrades to an existing system is one of the major drawbacks to buying a notebook computer. The current industry standard for upgrading components is to buy a whole new system every 6 to 12 months.

Notebooks already are 50% more expensive, more or less, to purchase than a higher performing desktop (I'm aware of the mobility factor). Notebook Component manufactures, ODMs and resellers really should make it easier to upgrade existing systems by making more compatible, interchangeable and higher quality component parts by utilizing standardization methods. I know I can't afford to spend another $2k+ every half year or so to make an upgrade or take a loss and deal with the hassle of having to sell an non-upgradeable system. The performance oriented consumer gets burned every time by this scenario. The Flex/Arima 840 DI/OCZ Whitebook/M17 is a prime example.

 

Anyone buying a high-end gaming notebook should def assume it isn't going to be upgradeable.

Stings less later on

 

Its just extremely frustrating with AW, the problem being is when i ordered my M17

" no immediate plans to replace m17"

"yes upgrade is being offered in the future"

i mean argh...

if i knew then what i know now, i would have an Asus

end of really

 

Though the upgrade path for the GPU's in the Flex/Arima 840 DI/OCZ Whitebook/M17 has not come to pass, it has been and still is an exceptionally well built gaming rig. It is capable of playing all my games maxed out except Crysis which plays very well at high settings.

You may not see it as a success in terms of GPU upgradability, but I have found it to be the best notebook I have ever owned in terms of quality and performance.

BTW, GPU upgradability is not the norm.

 

Companies are always going to have something to replace their "latest and greatest".

Otherwise we would all still be using an Inspiron 8200 w/ a 16MB Geforce4 440 GO

 

no i agree that it is not the norm, but why so much back and forth argh, i mean something like MXM problems they would have know from the start they cant really overcome that.

oh bleh, by the time i replace this thing (2 years i bet) it will need upgrading to play top end games etc, and hopefully the m17x replacement will be out and it will be affordable in the UK, i could take a holiday in the us, wait for delivery and bring it back and it would STILL be cheaper then ordering here!

 

You shouldn't have had the back and fourth about ordering those cards. IMO, although well intentioned, the folks you ordered from were not conducting themselves the way A.W. headquarters would have liked.

I mean. they were only offered there? Why? IMO, they were acting independently and should have contacted headquarters first to avoid yanking people like you around.

 

A French customer called Dell Casablanca a few minutes ago to verify if the 4850s he'd already ordered and paid for, were going to be cancelled, and was told that everything temperatures / MXM wise was ok between the 4850s and his M17...

There may still be hope or the bad news haven't trickled down completely yet... lol

 

what a joke i only got 1 3870 as i only got this at xmas..... it was meant to have upgrade options what a flippin processor? that it as hdd i wouldnt class as upgrade option, flippin sick i am.

 

Lesson: Never buy a notebook based on promises of future upgradeability. If it doesn't have what you want now, don't buy it now.

In hindsight, this notebook's upgrade path was doomed when they designed it when asymmetrical MXM slots.

I'm surprised that they don't offer a single 4850 upgrade on the website and to existing owners. All of the R&D money is basically pissed away at this point, and sound business sense says that selling the cards to recoup the funds is more intelligent than burying them in the desert somewhere. The MXM IV slot can handle a single card setup easily.

Oh dear....

Previously on 24.....

 

my contact said he has not been informed of this yet he is looking into it today to see what the heck is going on. he said alienware is a mess pre-dell and they are trying to "clean it up" now

 

According too one thread, the m15x can be upgraded too a 280mGTX, so thats a good thing for m15x owners ! Im glad I waited for the all powerful M17x notebook, it will last me quite a while, I was thinking about buying an m17, but I am glad I did not buy one without waiting to see if there really was an upgrade coming for it or not, and I ended up with a great new notebook with lots of nice features and hardware !

 

http://twitter.com/alienwarepower - Alienware's second Twitter account is shilling all the old, used eBay AW auctions. Although, I find it funny, one of the Alienware systems was obviously selling pirated material, too. An "home built" Alienware desktop with Adobe CS3 Master Collection for $300? Yeah, veddy suspicious.

 

It might not be good for someone trying to sell their used A.W. but hey, my hat's off to A.W. for tapping into every venue they can to increase sales.

 

I think I saw Moo's green-capped M17 Alienware pimped on their Twitter, too. =D

 

The market just isn't there for a used M17. There is no way I'm gonna "give away" my M17 at a massive discount.

It's still a very impressive rig capable of playing the most demanding of games.

I will be content until the M17X replacement is on the horizon.

 

I agree, I am very bummed about the lack of an upgrade path for the GPUs and will definitely keep this in mind when buying in the future, but I am overall happy with my m17 and do not regret the purchase at all.

The two new ugprades I did for it have definitely seen a jump in performance, and I also don't play the latest and most demanding games, so it will last me awhile I'm sure.

 

Rob is one of the few M17 owners with any sense

It really isn't a bad rig. If the crossfire issue with Crysis were fixed, then it'd run it very well. Any other game seems to run gracefully at WUXGA... what else do you need?

 

3-zoned keyboard lighting!!

A lot of it is people are just wanting the latest toy. Wait until some of it's issues are exposed.

 

i am very very happy with the laptop itself, cant fault it.

My problem is with the crappy customer communication that is going on

Alienware -- IF YOU ARE WATCHING -- if you want people to splash cash as what is normally overpriced equipment esp in europe THEN GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER

 

Man, sorry to hear that. Must be a bummer. Miscommunications I understand, but this seems to have been downright misleading. Pretty screwed up.

 

a. cant say i am surprised.
b. with dell just taking over AW, one should know that there will be changes made as they transistion over to dell and lose the AW customer base.
c. during the initail take over, AW prob had all intentions of completing the validation for upgrades. it is more then likely that dell scrapped the upgrade validation in place of more repeat sales. that has been dells montra from day one. build a pc that one needs to replace in two years. offer limited availability of upgrades.
d. this is a sign for any future products after the new M17x. limited upgradability, limited life span.
e. now you know how hard it is to be a CS agent. all you know is what your told to tell other customers.

 

Sigh... a few more years and im gonna build myself a nice desktop to avoid this hassle

 

Disappointed but not surprised. Waiting for the M17X replacement are moving on to Clevo or Asus.

 

Im confused, what hassel?? What are you not able to do with your M17 that you would have been able to do with the 4850s?

 

lengthen the eepeen....

 

+1000000000

 

that's why i went to them. i was considering the w90 though because it's a great manchine but i hopped on this.

welll yes. i understand what you mean but it's not like the hype was from someone pulling it apart then say "hey look guys it's usergradable" that's a different story. when the arima w840di was released, there was the hype from the company how it was going to be user upgradable, that's were the problem lies. and if the company says so you want to beleive them.

that's like going to the dealer ship and they are showing you a car that the rims(6 star so it's not universal and my point makes sense) can upgraded to some thing bigger and lighter and for better traction on the road. and you say "oh yeah this is for me." then all of a sudden nothing.

well the m17 mxm is (correct me if i am wrong about the mxm type) a 4 and a 3. of course it is backwards comp. and the 3870's were 3 so you can put two in it. and nvidia cards are a 4 so only one can fit it in. so yoy can put a single nvidia gpu if you want. but it won't be equal to the 3870 CF. (unless the 280m is heavily overclocked it will be equal to the 3870 stocked. i ran with anothergeek and he scores were very close to mines with his OC'd and me stocked.)

i did. i'm very happy with the cooling of my rig and the upgradabily even though it eol'd. i just need that second gpu and i' set. (of cousre the quad and hdd's will be upgraded to)

 

Play games with exactly the same settings but with AA on Since at the moment AA pretty much kills the game performance.

As for what hassle. The painful experience of being told from AW staff that M17 users will be able to upgrade their systems later on and after X months they are telling them "no sorry cant do because of bla bla reasons".

The least they could do is tell people that "Sorry we dont know if it will be possible to upgrade your GPU's later on" instead of giving unclear answers to people when they kept asking for half a year now. And the whole taking orders and then cancelling them situation which is just silly IMO.

 

well i could go for a refund ... but i doubt it

 

Do you not understand how much of an upgrade it would've been?

 

hey kevin what MXM is the MSI laptop with the 4850's?

 

The GT725 has one MXM-IV slot, of the 2.1 standard.

 

soooo you think it will work?

i doubt it has a Xfire connector on it though