The Official M9750 Owners Lounge

Today was a National Holiday (Labor Day) here in the U.S. so hardly anything was open. Your laptop was probably built on Friday but didn't make it in time to be shipped, so they shipped it out the next day the carrier was shipping.

 

cause he's in Ireland and they only take off drinking holidays....which is most days over there I believe

 

drinking holidays?? nice nice

 

Your thinking of St.Paddys day, and every weekend.

Dont generalise.


(and for the record, we have one of the best work ethics in Europe, lowest sick days, holidays, highest retirement age etc. Start drinking lads, maybe you'll catch up in productivity)

 

i wholeheartedly agree and hope you took it as good-natured. “Slainte!”

"It was a woman who drove me to drink, and I never had the courtesy to thank her for it. "-- W. C. Fields

 

Aye i was playing along, relax mó comráide.

(but also i felt like i had a civic duty to inform the benefits of institutionalised alcoholism)

 

Phoned AW today and they said that they are having lots of new parts in this week (including chasis) so mine should be getting built soon and arrival in 1.5 - 2 weeks!!! YEY!!!!!

 

How long did it take Fed Ex to get you your M9750's. My order hasn't changed status since the 29th of Aug, just curious if anyone else had this problem.

 

Hi!

I almost placed my order today for an m9750, but to my surprise the blu-ray drive was no longer an option in the configurator. It was still yesterday, albeit with a note that it would delay the order by extra 23 days. D'oh - I guess I'll wait until it becomes available again - hopefully it does...

By the way - the Alienware support pages have a question "Why am I unable to see high definition content on my mobile system's external display"; the answer ID is 5505 if you want to check the complete answer, but the bit that caught my eye is "This happens due to a physical limitation of the DVI ports used on our mobile systems. While both the mobile system's integrated LCD display and the video card are fully compatible with High Definition content playback, you may not be able to play such content on any external display device." This answer was created in March this year, so I presume it does not apply to m9750? Shouldn't I be able to pipe blu-ray movies to the HDMI input of a projector from the DVI output of m9750 (using a suitable adapter, of course)?

Another interesting thing was that the AlienRespawn recovery kit apparently isn't compatible with blu-ray - I'd check the exact message from the configurator, except that the blu-ray drive is no longer an option.

I think someone mentioned earlier that the extra battery was also a cause of delay - well, it isn't offered either in the configurator...

Any comments on the blu-ray playback capability are appreciated!

 

I checked my status yesterday, and was still on phase 5, which didn't surprise me. However, when I checked to day, I found out my laptop had been shipped! WOOHOO! I'm guessing that either they were past phase 5 yesterday but the site wasn't up to date, or they flew through the rest of the phases today. Either way, I'm happy. I heard delivery times to UK are about 3 days, so I should have it by the end of the week! Mind you, I'm from Scotland, which is pretty close to Ireland, so... maybe even two days? I can't wait!

 

Well my latop was sent this morning, i havn't recieved it yet. I only live about 3 hours from the distribution centre in Ireland, So whenever i get it should be a good indication for you in Scotland.

I'll be sure to post when i get it.

 

The HD playback issue could be related to the Microsoft Vista limitation on HD output. The jerks require an HDCP compliant GPU and Screen in many cases

 

Hi guys. I need your help. I have an m9750 (obviously) and I had never really messed around with the webcam or the bisoncam software, but recently I tried to use it and it didn't work. SO, I reinstalled the software off the disk and it still has the same message when I try to open the app.:"Sorry you have no video capture hardware." WHAT?? It's built in LOL. My mic is working fine which is kool for skype and MSN but why can't I use my webcam? Thanks for any and all help you can give.

 

Make sure your cam is turned on - Fn + F4.

 

Wow...it was as simple as that LOL. It was always turned on before I must have accidentally hit it one time when trying to turn off the trackpad. heh Thanks for the help.

 

I sent an email to Alienware asking about the missing blu-ray drive, as well as a clarification to the blu-ray / DVI / external display thing, and got a replay today. As I suspected, blu-ray drives are currently out of stock, so they were removed from the configurator. As soon as Alienware has more in stock, the blu-ray option will be back. And yes, blu-ray movie discs can be played back via DVI & adapter to a projector HDMI input, so no worries there.

Now I'll just wait until blu-ray appears again, and then it's order time.

 

For the record, it is my prediction that Blue Ray wont win the HD DVD war (despite that it holds more). Major companies are starting to move away from Blue Ray. I think its a waste of money. HD DVD will likely prevail.

 

The optical drive is upgradeable in most notebooks. It would make the most sense to wait to see which format wins and then buy that type of drive.
Also, the prices are sky high for both the players and the movies compared to DVD.

 

There are several major companies that are starting to release DVDs in one format only. Its rediculous. The industry should have never let this get ths far.
Im assuming you all saw this story recently?
http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_232140113.html

I wouldnt buy one or the other as of yet like Chaz says. Save your money.
Are regular DVDs that bad? (thats a rhetorical question).

 

My Alien has finally landed. And I have to say, thanks for recommending the WUXGA rez. It was definitely worth it. It did arrive DoA, though, I plugged it in, the power button lit, and when I pushed it, it went. I cussed Alienware for about 5 mins, flipped it, reseated the battery, and she fired right up. Everything is good so far. Time to put it through the paces.

 

Oh man I just read this and thought "OH NO! - not another".
Well you got off good. Hopefully it isnt a continuing problem.
I got mine here at work today (got it back that is). But Ive hardly been able to deal with it - though I did make sure it powered. Very busy at work all week so I cant do much with it, but have a 2nd HD and RAM to install.

I will still post a separate thread with my little story. No pics cause I just dont have time (and I did already make that video). Besides, there are plenty of good pics on this board.
All I can say right now is this is a beautyful machine (and I already played with it extensively at Comic Con and I still feel like Im seeing it for the first time.

 

I agree Sequoia, you but a bum deal on your first. I'm glad they came through for you on your repair. I'm truly amazed at the quality thus far. Ill spend most of the night testing and retesting everything. My 5.1 system is coming in a few days, so I'll check that then. So far so good though. I'm definitely a happy camper now

 

That's weird. They sent me Vista respawn DVD and Im running XP Pro. Time to give em a call. /sigh

That, and the DVD drive doesn't eject well. It hangs off the button and ejects after 4-8 seconds through the software. As soon as I get to the store and buy some jewelers, im going to reseat it in hopes of "aligning" it. Little things, but I'm still satisfied so far.

 

got my m9750 today. =)

 

Congrats mate !

 

Moved to Phase 6

any time now...

 

I got mine yesterday, still getting used to it.

A whole new world for me! Considering my last computer was 6 years old... integrated gfx.. 128mb ram!

Still getting used to the keyboard too, pretty different layout. mistyping every now and again.

Only problems i've had so far is in a few games the mouse has gone weird, started going up and down, up and down sporadically. Cant stop it, though when i "jump" sometimes it goes away. Its not the mouse though, brand new one here and retested on my old one which i never had problems with. The problem came up in two steam games, Red Orchestra and CS: Condition Zero.

The other problem i've had is Rundl32 errors, about 30 of them popping up at a time when i try to run two programs at the same time. Happens randomly and not very often to make a big deal about so im not worried. Hasn't happened today so far.


Other than that its been a complete dream. Runs fantasticly in games, all the settings to max, first time in my life doing that and its just unreal.

Also, i bought the creative speaker set with it, only cost me about 35 euros, and trust me lads its amazingly worth it. The sound quality is fantastic! The bass is just *too* good at times, have to keep turning it down lol!

 

Congrats! Mine just moved to phase 6!

Anyone know how long from phase 6 till ship?

 

It took me 5 days to get mine ordered paid and shiped

 

Congrats all you new owners

 

I'll have my new God of a notebook tommorow its in portland right now just about 150miles south it's driving me nuts i was debating on driving to pick it up but i figure i guess i can wait a few more hours

 

I live in Portland, I can go get it for you?

 

I just got the lappy and I was trying to install the creative x-fi; however after installing I am still unable to use it. Something about the audio device may not be supported. Do I need to uninstall the other audio drivers? Or something entirely different?

 

Ha nevermind. I just had to pull it out and put it back in

 

Hey I know we already went over the whole ram issue, with windows xp. I am only seeing 2.5 gb, How can I get it to see more than that. I obviously won't be able to see 4gb.

 

mine is seeing 3071 and says 3GB in the computer window at the bottom.

I put in 4G of Corsair from New Egg last night.

 

Do you have the 64 bit version of XP? I know 4gb isn't supported with the 32 bit.

 

Got mine yesterday! And I love it! SOO powerful, maxing games like FEAR no sweat. I was playing bioshock on high as well, but it eventually crashed. I think it must have overheated. I'm just waiting on the right patches/drivers to come out, and I think I'll buy a cooling pad as well to help with the heat. But so far, I'm loving my new system.

 

Nice enjoy =] i don't know if this helps lol but i got mini fan and i put it on and it seems to cool down my m9750. remember though coolin pad is not really something you need on this thing unless playin games like bioshock all other games don't give me any problems and stays 70-72 temp (normal)

 

I don't know for sure the reason that BioShock crashes on your system, but I had the same problem with BioShock on my 9750 until I downloaded the latest nVidia driver and INF file from the TweakForce site. It solved the stutturing and crash problems. Haven't had any problems with the game since (running with everything maxed).

 

lol well after bioshock crashed, the laptop itself was mighty hot so i figured overheating was the reason lol. I was searching for fixes and such for bioshock - I was wondering if you could tell me exactly what you downloaded and what you did with it, etc. I'm not too up on this kinda thing yet lol any help would be appreciated thanks.

 

Go to the TweakForce website and download Xtreme-G 163.44 driver and the modified INF file for your OS (both Vista and XP versions available). The driver is easy to install but you must copy the modified INF file into the unzipped driver folder (replacing the original INF) before you run the driver's setup.exe.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the advice, loggie! I'll give that a go and post if it works. It should do. I'd like to think with the hardware I've got that the only thing causing performance issues at this point would be compatibility issues lol. I'll give it a go next time I can get online with the m9750 (I'm on the PC just now because my modem doesn't support vista so I have to find a wireless spot to use the m9750 lol)

 

Yeah I know it's not supported, but am I really only using 2.5 gb or is that just what the computer sees?

 

What does it say in My Computer Properties? The M9750 can't see 4GB.

 

It says 2.5 gb

 

[1] Area-51® m9750

Display: 17" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD - Stealth Black
Operating System: Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium - English
TV Tuner: None
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7400 2.16GHz 4MB Cache 667MHz FSB
Graphics Processor : Dual 512MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7950 GTX - SLI Enabled
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 1024MB
System Drive: High Performance with Data Security - RAID 1 - 200GB (200GB x 2) 7200 RPM SATA
Optical Drive: 8x Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24x CD-RW Combo with Nero Software
Sound Hardware: Intel® High-Definition Audio (24-bit, 192Khz) with surround sound
Keypad: Mobile Keypad - English
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Additional Power: Additional Battery - Alienware® Area-51 m9750 12-cell Lithium-Ion Battery
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth® Device
Warranty: AlienCare 1-Year Free Phone 24/7 and Collect & Return
Security Software: Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal Professional - 12 month subscription Included!
Alienware Extras: Alienware® T-Shirt - FREE!
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - £50 Value - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Custom Alienware® fUnc Mousepad - FREE!

I took the plunge and went for one of these bad boys!
Ordered on the 28/8 and still on phase 4, They told they are waiting on GFX card stocks (UK)

I have read almost this entire thread. From other places ive visited I was expecting AlienWare to be slagged off, was a really welcome change.

Hope its as good as you are all posting!

 

OOh, WXGA+ with SLi, me wantee screenshots with max AF and AA

 

awww man, I will be busting to post pictures of it!!
I work in Japan for 2 months during October and November, and im sick of Hotel rooms where I dont understand the TV, and I feel like gaming.

Im just getting alittle nervous with the wait times...

 

I think you're the first one who ordered an m9750 with the smaller res screen