The "Why you shouldn't buy the M15x" thread [OUTDATED] [FIRST GEN MODEL]

@ heathkidd my webcam kinda sux and my mic works very well actually but I didn't buy my system to make videos of myself lol

 

@heathkidd... I have not prob with the micro. I actually didn't even tested it.
The camera is purely bad. I had a Dell recently and the difference is astronomic (even if both were 2MP cameras). It simply does not focus. As you said, this is not something to send the laptop back. The camera is fair... shouldn't expect anything fancy from it though.
I can try and post pics to back up every single FACT I stated, but that will take time (and I'm sending my laptop back for repairs).

@Legacy- drbiff, crystak and groove75 said it all.
Only two more things to add:
1- I like my M15x and I'm trying to work with AW to keep it. I think my position stands and, as I said, it's my personal advise. Whether you take it or not, its up to you. Enough is to say that, I do hope the M15x will end up being the laptop for my next years... but this will only be true if the problems it has are solved.
2- This is not a review thread stating pros and cons. This is a thread to inform people about the issues they will (almost) surely experience and might not be informed about.

 

Heath, this CPU downclocking issue is VERY serious. I cna reproduce downclocking WITHOUT using Prime95/Orthos just by playing WoW. I bought this laptop for portable gaming and to take notes in school (double whammy). THe fact that I have a hard time playing the game that I play 95% of the time is extremely upsetting to me, especially when I paid for the best (x7900 and 8800M). When I first got the laptop, I didn't play WoW on it that much, and when I did, it wasn't while raiding. The first day I go into a raid, my FPS is constantly dropping and making healing very difficult.

Perhaps certain have been blown out of proportion, but something hardware based like CPU/GPU downclocking issues is something that needs to be addressed immediately, not only so that the company doesn't lose customers, but also to protect the hardware. The cooling solution used in the m15x is terrible, and I hate it, but it generally does the job. I've had an idea of how to add liquid cooling to the laptop, but it wouldn't work, and would essentially add about the height of a laptop cooler to it... Permanently.

 

I agree with the lessaj7 I get downclocking when I try to convert videos. Everything is ok till after about 5 min. This is cause the program uses 100% of the cpu power when converting and yes this is a VERY serious issue.

 

Legacy: Just as groove75 said, there appears to be lots of people who have had been in this forum posting, (just like me. ), before they got their m15x's. So, I'd say it's more of a random sampling than just a complaining group. I've read through milcs comments and he was in love and didn't mind the "minor" issues when he first got his machine.

Heathkidd: Also like milcs I could care less about the webcam if the other issues were not present. I consider the problem with the chassis and the screen wobble would be the deal breaker for me. I've owned a number of laptops, and I've noticed that screen wobble lead to failure either in the chassis or the hinges.

That being said, I just canceled my order for an m15x this morning. Thanks for writing down your experiences guys. (You know who you are. ) "Supposedly" the reason the order was taking so long was because they ordered a completely new batch of chassis and screens. Hopefully they have indeed resolved their problems with the screen, hinges and chassis. IF they have I may indeed look at making another order when the black version comes out. But for now, I'm not looking to spend $3000 on a laptop only to have to send it back. When I get a laptop, (And I mean any laptop, be it $600 or $3000), I will not accept creaking or squeaking of any kind. (In the chassis or the hinges) That indicates friction or flex, and those result in material failure. So we'll see what new owners have to say in the coming months.

Thanks again guys - Dave

 

i'm getting pretty close to cancelling my order as well. this is getting ridiculous...ordered on the 1st and i'm still in phase 3! one of the reasons i went with the m15x because its estimated ship date at the time was may 15th. now with all these reports of downclocking, it's really making me reconsider...

 

If you're located in the states, then there was an inventory shortage of the case which has been on backorder and supposedly comes in tomorrow. All of us who ordered earlier (in my case, 2nd system) have been having to wait for this part. With the X9000 processor, you stand a good chance of having downclocking on your cpu if you stress test it. I would recommend going with the T9300 unless you strongly desire the X9000. However, you stand a very good chance of thermal issues with the 2.8ghz cpu. T9300 users have been far more lucky.

 

the more money something cost, the higher the expectation, plain and simple.

This is one of the reasons why ppl are so mad, if this was a $500 laptop AW would get away with this, if it was even a $2000 I think we would not have seen much complaining, some but not like this. So by aiming high, the higher the fall for AW.

Basic principle..

 

Just want to add a few words here, I totally stand behind what you wrote milcs! Its always surprising to me how precisely you state what I'm thinking about this whole situation!

And I want to say, this is not about some minor issues some here have run into, like not so good mic or blurry webcam! Everyone who has eyes and a working brain and had a m15x for an extended period of time in his hands will see that there is cleary some missconception and bad engineering with the whole design present! Otherwise, I might say, you are very VERY lucky or simply ignorat

Greetings,
crizzler

 

Same here...............I ordered about the same time.

Maybe this a sign..................To cancel.

I am having a hard time NOT PUSHING THE CANCEL BUTTON.

 

"YOU CAN DO ITTTTTTT"

Just kidding.

 

@Heath - Personally, I think your argument is very flawed. Basically, you are saying that it is okay for the CPU to downclock because it was being stressed.

I do a lot of photoshop + movie work as a hobby which means that I am converting movies all of the time. When I convert files that places a huge stress on my CPU.

In addition, I think people are also angry because of the amount of money that they paid for a system that was glorified by alienware so much. They have had overheating problems on their last 2 15" models and are now having problems on this model. I just think that they should test their systems a little more.

All I am saying is that you cannot just brush us off by saying "Oh it doesn't matter if the CPU downclocks, just don't stress it as much". (What a AW TS agent would say to me ).

 

same here stone when I work on my movies my cpu is 100% Hey didn't someone say somewhere that Sager stress their notebooks for 72hrs before they are even shipped out?

 

it is not acceptable for the CPU to downclock at alllllll.....since this is supposet to be a powerhouse....i mean if it doesnt perform the way it should...i dont see its so expansive.
+ dont even mention the long journey that user have to go through to get a full refund, and some of them didnt even get it..........

"Oh it doesn't matter if the CPU downclocks, just don't stress it as much"
this comment just showed how professional they are......

another point is all the backorder parts are just bunch of bull**** to me......
being a big company like this, and for so many years......how can they launch a laptop with so few parts.............

sometimes i think....maybe AW only hire 1 guy to build the laptops, thats why it takes so long, and they tell you that the parts are back order...


NOTE* I love AW laptops, i think they are the best out there in terms of the look, and Im willing to pay extra for it, however, the poor performance is really annoying, that my 2p

 

@EBE - That isn't what they said, but rather what I would imagine they would say

 

I don't think the light pipe bleeding from the plastic is a problem. I think it should be that way because if they doesn't bleed from the plastic you won't be able to see it anymore; like the one on my m15x which doesn't seem to be there (or standout) because it is over-painted in that area.

About the GPU there is no way for a GPU to work at around 70 degree C at full load. The m1730 which is know to have the best cooling system out there reaches 86 degree C. About the fans, aren't they supposed to be on the whole time?

I would like to note that I am not defending Alienware; it's their job to stand behind their products, but I just don't understand why people who are buying the m15x are wasting their time testing it rather than having a good time with it if they don't notice any performance problems. People who are buying the m1730 are unboxing it, installing games, and playing on it, but they don't know that if they overclock the Extreme Processor it's going to downclock to 2.8GHz at full load. My point here is, if one doesn't notice any lack of performance why waste time testing? I played COD4 on my previous m15x and it lagged every minute; I downloaded rivatuner and found out that my GPU is downclocking. Now it's running ultra smoothly; should I monitor the clocks of the graphic card?

About the Extreme CPU downclocking I agree it's an "extreme" problem. Not only we can't overclock it on the m15x, but now it is performing slower than other processors with slower clocks and we are paying extra for that? I personally did not notice any lack of performance yet with the Extreme Processor but I will test it as soon as my finals are over to share my experience.

I totally agree that the camera, speakers and touch controls simply suck! The 1.3 MP camera on my dv9000 is way much better than the one on the m15x which is very slow responsive and totally laggy. The 2 speakers on the m15x are like 2 iPhone speakers which is very bad for a laptop, and touch controls? More like no controls especially the volume “control” which seriously doesn't exist but others work if you hold it MORE than 2-3 seconds.

Also, Thanks milcs for taking your time to post this; just to let you know all I wanted to do is to clear things up .

 

I have had my m15x for almost 3mo now.

I am running into the same problems everyone else has.

My screen is tight but squeaky... keyflex near the arrows... crappy camera, crappy speakers...

Yes, the system looks awesome, but it's not really doing it for me performance wise. I have a hard time using Adobe Auditon 1.0... anything with video crashes...

Oh and the most anoying of my problems... the CD drive only wants to eject when it wants to.

Not to mention the lag... Vista? Maybe. Regardless, I am not happy thusfar... but I m giving the techs the opportunity to fix my problem(s).

 

wow mav haven't seen you around in a while. That stinks that your not liking your system.

 

Ya I was trying to stay away and make an opinion without outside influences ya know... I didn't want all the problems pointed out to me, I wanted to FIND them on my own... seems I have found all the same ones that everyone else has. It realy sucks... I really couldnt afford this PC and my ol'lady and I sacrificed alot because she knew how bad I wanted it. I sacrificed a down payment on a Harley... because I needed a laptop for work and I wanted one that would support my gaming habit as well. I'm afraid I bought a lemon... and she is sweet enough to not rub it in my face and say "I told you so".

Who knows... maybe we can get these issues worked out, but regardless it looks like Im stuck with it.

 

jeez mavericke your post made me tear lol, i hope things get worked out for you

to everyone, does the cpu downclock when using normal cpu intensive apps? i know 100% load with orthos is much more straining than 100% load with a normal app like adobe

 

it does for me when I convert my videos which pushes my cpu to 100% all the way until its done.

 

i still would like to see a webcam shot...
down clocking really dep on the climate your using your laptop in.. im sure alot of x9000 users are not experiencing it in well cooled ACed rooms.. (which is where u should be pushing a laptop to its limits any way..)

ive been here for months and i count about 30 max unhappy users... some thign must be up with your operation of the units. thoes numbers are way 2 small if its a actual hardware issue.

 

my webcam still shots are fine but the streaming stuff is horrible... it freezes when I hit record. I tech toldme that my ram may be bad. Not sure.

As for user Vs. hardware... maybe... I'm no mechanic, but I do know how to change the oil and and keep her tuned up. I can swap a carb and clean injectors, even changed a tranny or two in my life... And I baby my rides... catch my drift? No I don't know everything, but I know my way around... and this machine is not running the way it should.

The only other alternative would be the operating system... maybe Vista is just ruining everything for me. It looks cool and runs fine for the most part but maybe my lag is caused by it...

 

Yes... absolutely the users fault for not using the laptop is subzero temperatures. As everyone was experiencing downclocking issues in March, April, May... everyone knows that those are the hottest months of the year around the world... especially in tropical places like the British Isles.

Seriously man, while a AC cooled room is ideal, it should not be a requirement to run your lappy. Maybe in a place like the Bahamas in summer I could understand having issues... but come on.

Wow, nice attitude, are you sure you don't work for Alienware? How might you suggest that these guys have been using their units improperly? Using them to play games, do video and photo editing? Also, I'm certain there's a certain number of people that own the units that have had the same problems and 1) don't use this forum, 2) are not necessarily aware of the problem, or 3) won't post to complain. I remember a certain business adage... for every customer that complains... 10 wanted to but did not.

Besides which, you still don't mention the problems with the chassis, hinges and screen. I've seen two separate reviews and one YouTube video that show the screen wobbling and hinges or plastic "creaking". As I said before, squeaking or creaking is due to stress or friction. That's not normal and it's not alright for any laptop. Eventually, that will result in chassis cracks or hinges seizing up. That's just simple materials engineering.

I know I don't own one... so I can't say anything about my own experience, but from reading their comments (thanks again guys) and other independent reviews I'd say the m15x does sound like it has some issues that I would likely have found unacceptable. That being said, if AW resolves those issues I'll probably look to get one, (Maybe with a black chassis... oooo...), or maybe a m860tu if they don't fix them. But first I want to hear from some users, (not AW), that can confirm that yes, those issues that are important to me have been resolved.

Review Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auPJ5UgPYrM
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Alienware-Area-51-m15x-Notebook.8835.0.html

All that being said Heathkidd, just like milcs said, I'm not looking to start an argument or bash AW, but your comments do not seem to be too realistic or helpful to the conversation.

 

WOw, really!?!? Clevo really do care for their notebook and customer!!

We're on the same boat, been owning it for 3month and only been lurking to solve the issue by myself which was hard...VERY HARD.

There are some problems with mine however i dont have the squeaky sound, probably didnt notice it.

My HD busted when it first arrive and but i didnt send it back, (only have 120GB) and replace it with a new HD.

But my screen wobbble , no chassis cracking however my Extreme CPU is EXTREMELY problematic

I thought the HD busted was my big problem but the real big problem was the downclocking

BUT when you look back at all the games that it could be played at high setting as well as when you pass by a computer shop that showcase their notebook, and you thought to yourself; "My notebook is still the greatest and has the cool smartbay feature, the keyboard lighting and the 8800m GTX" the minor problem kinda go away but when i return back to this forum the worries come back to haunt me especially the CPU downclocking

At my place the ONLY gaming notebook are Asus G1 and G2 and also the Dell XPS. Thats IT! Heck some IT shops only have an 8600 GTS and the highest are 8800 GTS in their desktop when they showcase their rig, NO 9 series or 8800GTX or even 8800 ULTRA ever. That why im ordering my gaming rig internationally because at my country, their Computer supply arent that good.

So sometime the shopkeeper have an when i told them my notebook have an 8800m GTX when i was buying my crysis as they were curious when i told them that im playing it on my notebook.

 

@iElsayed- Next week I will try to post some photos of all the problems. The light bleeding is not normal... I have the pipe and then on the lateral side of the LCD case there are areas, which I assume have a thiner layer of paint, that let light through...
Appart from that... 100C on my GPU during gameplay is, in fact, something to worry about.

And to end up, another wise advise (not mine, as I'm not very wise)... always monitor temperatures of your laptop. It will save you unwanted headaches.
If you want to know why you should monitor temps and how, there you go:

From Gophn- http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=81852
From Eleron911- http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3402595#post3402595

 

Just listen to the wma in my signature .

 

I use mine in a server room that around 65F to 68F (yes I do have to wear a jacket) and i can still get it to downclock it takes only 2 min longer but it will do it just the same.

 

crystak: Dude, ouch! See, exactly... that just doesn't sound right.

 

No doubt he did; but it's something that others contemplating the purchase should take into account and, since it's a little unusual still to not have that port, milcs has done everyone thinking about this system a great big favor by bringing it to the general attention.

 

Bonzi buddy does NOT rule. lol. Almost all of my gaming/adobe/video editing buddies were looking at this laptop for the size and the power and multi-function ability. most have had the various precision and thinkpad workstations over the past 6 years. they ALL lurk these forums like me. most haven't registered... and All have decided NOT to pursue the m15x. Most will use this machine for both work and home purposes. Sure we all have NICE desktops, but its always nice to prop up the lappy somewhere to play when you dont want to head to the office, or down to the basement family room to play a few quick games for a couple of hours before bed.

And yes, most of us make pretty decent money and are in either a design or IT position of some sorts. And none of them really want to have a machine that downclocks while playing games or doing video editing, or working in maya or autocad. No one wants a laptop that gets THAT HOT. seriously. over 90degrees is a killer. killed my xps2. my 1710 idles (even with the fangui adjustment) at 34c cpu and 40 gpu, and never goes above 80 when playing games. TF2 takes it the highest (80c) but most are right around 72. having things that hot will just kill a laptop over time. and the other reason they wont get this laptop is because of the warranty, the lack of "TRUE" onsite service, lack of complete care, lack of extending the warranty an extra 2 years for a total of 5, and the lack of warranty transferability. These are ALL service/support things that we were ALL HOPING would be instituted with the advent of dell's purchase of AW. Alas...

 

It's somewhat wobbly, but not any more or less so than the majority of the laptops out there.

The camera is probably the same one used in most laptops. Most laptops don't have a moving lens (relative) on their camera either. Actually, I can't think of one that does. Mine isn't fuzzy our out of focus, however.

I don't know what you mean by hissing, but i don't notice any "bad" sound quality. They're not HIGH quality speakers though.

Not that I care much, because I'm either on headphones or external speakers... the only time neither are plugged in is when I want the laptop muted.

Haven't noticed this at all

You can always not get the AlienFX Keyboard.

My flex is by my right shift key, but mostly all laptops besides macbooks (due to strange design of the keyboard) has this.

True

That's not really a problem, it's just a feature it doesn't have. It also doesn't have an LED backlit LCD, SLI cards, a subwoofer, a finger print reader, and any number of other things. A lot of projectors I've seen are HDMI or DVI, btw.

That's true, although you can still use it... it's just like any expensive thing not tied down.

I don't get GPU and CPU overheating. IIRC, I don't go above 80 C on my processor.

It's just the extreme processors. I think there's one case of a T9300 overheating... maybe two.

I haven't seen that, but I can imagine it.

Why would you have your laptop on balanced?

 

some of those reasons i kind of agree are user's preference.

my hinges arent that wobbly. i only notice wobble if i shake my desk.

the quality is not as bad as some other speakers i heard before. they are decent imo. basically they kind of sound like those budget $10 2.0 speakers.

the webcam is kind of blurry and the frame rates are terrible so i agree with you on the cam.

I also did not notice the light pipe bleeding :/

There is a DIY keyboard fix. i think there are other laptops out there that has keyboard flex too.

I agree with you on the touch controls though. i dont get how they can make the power button so sensitive but not the others

a vga port is really not necessary for me since i know i will never use that. the vga port not being there can be either a postive or a negative depending on the person. for me its a positive.

 

hey has anyone ever tried a usb to vga? I don't know if it works but I have seen them on ebay. Also about the touch controls the only one I have problems with is the volume so I just made my page up the vol up and then the page down my volume down, much easier this way even though I shouldn't have to do this.

 

LMAO this one made me really laugh, this is not only the solution for the light bleeding but for every other issue and problem the m15x has:

"You can always not get the m15x!"

For me a vga port would have been very important, since I have to do presentations at uni and every beamer there only has VGA input availabe. And I always thought I can get from HDMI to VGA with some adaptors, but I guess I would have found out the contrary the hard way if it wasn't mentioned here!

 

as taco said, just get a usb-to-vga adapter

 

I used the other solution mentioned and got rid of my m15x but thanks...

 

oh yeah I know I wasn't speaking to you specifically crizzler

 

@Crizzler - LOL

 

Stay on-topic in here, and keep personal comments on the forums. If you have a problem with another member, then message myself or another moderator. Thank you.

 

Whatever has been said, sorry if my comments were a bit too sarcastic and went off-topic and caused some trouble in here! :/

 

I bought a m15x (2.1 Processor / 2 Gigs Ram / 8700M GT ) and is in Pre production phase 4, searching some info thru this forums i found out now that a gateway p-6860fx ( Centrino 1.8/ 4 Gigs Ram / 8800M GTS ) on best buy is in a very more affordable price!

The 2 are on 1440 x 900 LCD, the m15x is in a $1800 configuration and the other one is at $1350 but is a 17'' laptop. Also i cant afford puttin the 8800 on the m15x.

So im undecided at the moment, at first i wanted the m15x for its portability but now i want the gateway p6 for just the graphics, i think thats the most important overall feature for me, and seems that the purchase is very risky since im from southamerica and returning that computer will be expensive if it comes defective.

Any advice ?, after reading this post kind of made me regret buying, so if i cancel the order i hope i can get all my money back.

 

I would go with the gateway if you're more concerned about graphics

 

Well Guys I took my money and bought a 17" MacBook Pro. And I must say it's a bit different to get used to, but so far I am really enjoying something new. And besides all that it actually works. No DC'ing screen is firm, the case feels and looks amazing.

Anyways enough of that. I really hope everyone can things worked on those n15x's.

 

are you dual-booting it newfie?

 

VMWare Fusion IMO.

 

Well, all these opinions weighed, my sister has an m15x that's FULLY loaded. She loves the thing, and hasn't had any problems with her rig whatsoever. I'm taking the plunge, because I love the size, form-factor, design, and most importantly components. Hope it works out! Wish me well..

 

Hi,

My 0,02$.
I'm one of the "early adopters" of the m15x (I purchased in the US) I have it 5months.

I'm reading again and again this thread and now I'm thinking myself, IF I would cancel order after this or not...
First you should think how do you want to use m15x - as DTR or laptop. If the second one - you can experience more inconveniences as mentioned in the thread.

With DTR-using my experiences are similar as yours:
Regarding to downclocking - I have 2,4GHz processor, so never experienced that. With GPU after applying x32 BIOS downclocking dissapeared totally.
For this price speakers and camera shall be better. I owned few laptops (and still owning more than only m15x), and camera comparing to the others is worst I had.
Built-in speakers are rather low-mid range. No comparision with Asus for example.
Keyflex..I had that on the other laptops too. Nothing special - I fixed myself and posted somewhere around here. Most probably people speaking about DIY are thinking about that : http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3124376#post3124376
And how about mobility ?
When you're using m15x outside home, you can find totally other issues than above.
Usig it on the lap - I'm not thinking about gaming, but emailing or internet sessions. In this case you can REALLY notice woobble scren. Not the same as shaking table...
An creaky and wooble screen is total misunderstanding. That laptop was designed as elite of the machines - but I have no idea why AW was used rather cheap and poor plastic. Somebody could say because of the lights - touchpad and light pipe is realised as "not painted window" in the plastic cover. But it is possible to do it anoter way. Look how car-companies can do this.
Magesium-alluminium alloy is present only on the bottom, but why not on the top, or screen housing ? I wish myself in the future AW can make, let's say, m15x v.2 with all-metal casing. I don't think price would raise dramaticcaly. I wish... and I would buy it ! In the black. Even I have one plastic-covered.
Touch controls - yes, sound control is useless. Others touch controls are very responsive from the start, so I can't complain.
When you're taking your laptop outside home, most probably you'll want to use touchpad. It does have totally useless slipping properties. Your fingers will stick on it and you cant move. Of course with attached AW sticker is little better. But I was still not satisfied - comparing to my other laptops it was terrible to use it. Finally I found solution here : http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3227658#post3227658
And finally - most probably not all (I hope!), but at least some of you will be not to able to use full power of the battery. Some of the m15x - I don't want to say all of them, because I know only 4 cases - will discharge your battery when off or hibernate and unplugged from AC. Around 10% of the battery per 24h ! So after one week your battery will be on critical level if you leave your laptop without power charger attached. Mobility falling down dramatically if you're taking your laptop on the trip and have to remember recharge battery each few days because laptop is discharging it himself. Even total OFF mode. I wrote about this here : http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=253432

Hope this helps.

MarCo

 

i still think the plastic seems like its high quality. it definitley feels alot higher quality compared to the plastic on the inspiron 1525. yes i do understand the inspiron 1525 is a cheaper notebook.

screen wobble imo isnt as bad as people make it seem. i think the whole issue has just been blown up alot.

 

The plastic is cheap, pure and simple. The illusion of quality is from the glossy coating. Out of the many laptops I've owned, the m15x quality plastic is by far the most malleable and cheap feeling. Another good example of the plastic is if you have a spare smart bay HD. Dismantle the smart bay loader and take the hard drive out and just look and flex the loader plastic. It literally reminded me of the type of plastic used on toy model airplanes where you had to break off each part from a sheet of plastic before gluing it together.

The funny thing is that the build quality is much different than what I remember from the m9700 I owned last year. It's almost like night and day, so it's not like AW doesn't know how to make a good quality plastic and/or build.

I used to think my Dell's had relatively cheap plastic but my m1710 is built like a tank compared to the m15x. It's not a deal breaker for me but it's definitely a negative criticism on an otherwise nicely designed laptop.