The m15x will now ship with a new higher quality chassis...

that's what I'm thinking. they wouldn't hold back everyone for a month for cases, then start building them again a week before they're gonna get a whole set of new, higher-quality cases

 

that's exactly that i'm thinking. I'm in phase 4 as well. I've read of people being moved to phase 5 and up in the past couple days, so that must mean they don't have the new chassis if it isn't arriving until next week?

If i were one of those people who recently moved up in phase, i'd call alienware asap and clarify if you have the new chassis. the only thing i'm just thinking now is I could tell the guy i spoke to today, english definitely wasn't his primary language. I'm just hoping by "new chassis" he meant a new design, and now new as in "we ran out, we are getting new ones in soon". but rethinking the conversation i'm certain when i asked the question, i specified "a newly designed chassis"

 

well, think of it this way, it would be unlikely that these new cases coming in a week and a half would be black skullcap simply because the next aliennetwork episode is june 24th. One would assume they would wait until then to unveil any black skullcap cases, in a very steve jobs-like fashion

 

"Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXX,

Thank you for contacting Alienware's Electronic Support Department.

I have fully investigated this matter with the departments in charge. There is no word up until now concerning the release of a modified chassis for the M15X mobile computer system.

Should you need fast answers, drivers, personal support, or further help, make sure to visit our Alienware Support Area at the following URL link: http://support.alienware.com/."

I think Alienware needs to make sure all of their CS is on the same page... This is getting tiring...

 

Ah-hah! This is EXACTLY what happened to me, I've got a thread open at:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=251765

Glad to see I'm not alone.

 

That's exactly what I was going to say... I saw fex post some time ago, and immediately remembered of it.

This is not an isolated event. Now, this takes bad design and construction to a completely brand new level. There is no doubt what's causing this... Overheating close to the right hinge. I honestly think AW should just get a serious, big and completely destructive law suit up their bottoms. It's unbelieavable that this can happen to one computer... more... two. How many proof do people need until they realize this is all screwed up?

I'm completely mad at fex and jaynhavok's "accidents". It's completely unnaceptable. And if the exact same thing happen... believe me, this was no accident or malfunction with those units. THere's something seriously wrong at the root of the M15x.

More... Jaynhavok was one of the happy M15x owners. I guess that's it now. One less happy owner.

This is a wake up call to all of you. Just because you can play happily and you don't care about temperatures and monitoring... doesn't mean that everything is fine. It's like the titanic... What lies beneath is always bigger than what's at the surface.

I'm really dissapointed and revolted right now...

 

Yeah, that is exactly what happened to mine... I'm NOT happy about this...especially now that I know it might just be a matter of time before it happens to me again... if this is a defect that only comes out after constant use.

Milcs, you're right... Up til now I have been trying to be very optimistic about these problems. I now feel like I'm being duped...

 

Sorry for you guys, really... but better to have this now, than later.

THis is what I was always trying to stress... People saying "It works great now, they put fans faster and all. Lets not be freaks and not worry anymore.", while I was always thinking this was just a way to trigger this time bomb. There it is... do people need more proof? It's a matter of time... but sooner or later the exact same is going to happen to all of us. And no, you didn't get a lemon... We were all sold cherrys but given bitter mouldy lemons.
I'm terrible depressed now... I don't want this piece of crap, this technological cancer anymore. It's sick, its decaying, its dieing...

 

Hey Fex,

I'm sorry I never saw your thread about this, or I would have posted in it.

I just took a look that the pics you posted in that thread, and honestly, it looks EXACTLY like my problem...

 

I hope some cyborg from AW comments on this. THis is shocking...
Sorry for being so hyped, but I never felt so deceived like today. If I had any hope... it just died. No more of this joke for me...
You guys should write to Engadget. Laptops melting are highlight news.

 

Wow this is getting really out of hand. What is Alienware thinking? (if anything)

 

be careful with that, it doesn't necessary refer to new design of chassis, he could possibly meant that there is a new shipment of chassis coming in.

 

upgrading a new design is well... normal

 

I would think it would be normal if we were talking about a CPU, GPU, or HDD upgrade...but a chassis upgrade? The only reason I can come up with for a Chassis upgrade is because of faulty design...If anyone can think of another, please enlighten me...

In my opinion, upgrading a laptops CPU for better performance is one thing, and upgrading a chassis for heat problems(or any problems) with the original one is something completely different.

I'm getting more pissed the more I think about it...

I've PMed Alienware-Armando about this...twice... I hope to have an answer soon... especially since I'm getting different responses from different CS reps... There's nothing more frustrating than that...

 

Well, to be fair, it's not quite the same as a CPU upgrade. The first line of M15Xs didn't have Penryn CPUs, and now they do... but of course no one who bought with the old CPU is going to be able to send their rig back for a free upgrade. But if something is flawed and breaking or causing damage to the system in general, then they'd have a right to want it fixed to operate as advertised and expected.

 

Jay, can you please take some pictures and post them? (this is... if you still can) That would help all of us into trying and put pressure on AW's side.
Cheers.

 

I think he already shipped it back for repairs.

 

Yes, I know... Maybe he did take some pics.
Anyway... I just want all this sorted out. I'm tired of having headaches because of a laptop.

 

From the PMs I received from Alienware-Armando, this new chassis is for new customers or customers currently in a phase waiting for their laptop. Considering the fact that I believe this problem to be due to heat and a poor quality screen hinge, I believe Fex and I are about to get really really pissed...because I feel the hinge will be fixed, but the problems that lead to the break will happen again after use.

I believe the constant heat caused the plastic to become brittle... just a theory though...

And to Heathkidd, if you read this, no hard feelings bro... I guess we agree to disagree.

 

Jay, I really don't think that's heat related. That stuff looks like glue. Given the fact that you found a loose nut at the bottom of the casing it's probably a good guess to say that the attachment snapped or screw got stripped for whatever reason and tension forces caused the plastic to separate. If there was glue or some other adhesive in the housing unit, it would have snapped and broken up also. If that were literal melted plastic, you'd have much more severe warping and probably scorch marks. You've got no other warping in any of the plastic around there and there's no way to transfer that amount of heat to that specific location without causing any other damage. It looks like a simple manufacturing anomaly.

 

Thanks Jayonhavok for those pics.
I agree with you... It's not about what you see at a particular moment. It's what's underneath that's the most dangerous.

Hopefully we will be able to come up with a way of solving these issues. If everyone gives a hand we have the power we need.

@grove- whatever the cause might be, there's something wrong. The two accidents are identical. Now, let's think for a second. Why both accidents happened on the exact same hinge? You do realize that there's a GPU working at around 100C close to that hinge. Also... where is the exhaust of the GPU situated? Right underneath that hinge. Now... Does heating damage only manifests itself by melting stuff? No it doesn't... Expanding and contraction and etc etc can lead to plastic components to become weak and break.
Just a theory... as valid as any other around.
Bottom line... There's a serious problem. This is unacceptable.

 

does that mean there's confirmation there's a new chassis?

 

@groove75

I agree. It's bad, for sure - and the fact that's it's happened twice makes it all the worse. But it doesn't seem heat-related to me. It is damage, though. Something caused the screw to pull out of the brass nut. Some kind of tension or pressure seems to have cracked the plastic. If so - that is a design flaw, perhaps more than just a manufacturing anomaly.

 

Haha, there I go being optimistic again... sigh... +$4000.00 for worse drama than my wife's soaps...

 

I would bet my savings that this is due to the heat on the GPU. It's quite obvious really... any guy that knows about physics will know what's the effect of constant heat fluctuation on plastic material.
The lid obviously snapped due to tension applied when oppening... But why? Because the plastic and the other materials were weakened by the heat. It's quite simple really... no one needs to be a Nasa Engineer to see how simple and obvious this is.
But that's just me...

 

Milcs, it's because of physics that this makes it extremely improbable. For starters, the heat has no way of thermal transference to the lcd assembly. Think about it. The lid is open most of the time during gaming. There are no physical touch points between both surfaces other than a small hinge. The heat can't convect very well through air without literally melting plastic that would first start at the heat source. Either way, you're going to have severe warping of outer shell plastic if anything was reaching that level. That leaves the hinge. Disassemble it and look at it. There's no way the hinge is transferring the heat. It's connected to the metal chassis. If heat gets to the hinge, it's going to rapidly disseminate throughout the body of the chassis. There's simply no good conductive materials in the hinge to facilitate this. The screw snapped, plain and simple. If those white bits were truly plastic that was melted from a heat source, you're going to have other plastic that was also damaged and it's going to be damaged the most, closest to the heat source.

 

Fair points there. I'm not going into a debate about this because I don't either have time or knowledge for this. Enough is to say, I'm "fortunate" enough to own an M15x myself. I am also quite well informed about heat, temperatures and where the heat is located and how does it dissipate. I'm also very aware of the boiling air that comes out of the exhaust just underneath the hinge and how that warms up that region of the laptop significantly.

Let's not talk about melting hinge... That's too drastic. Let's just say that the hinge DOES get hot. And this is a fact, not my "theory", not what I think it is... this is what it is. Let's just say that the right hinge particularly, is subjected to significative temperature fluctuations. Now let us think about what happens to bodies that are subjected to temperature fluctuations... They expand and compress. And what does that do if the material is badly engineered? Rupture...
And that's that... Lot's of facts put together to support my theory (not factual, of course... Just another idea, valid as any other else.).

 

I have a question, because I'm not too familiar with US laws.

So if you buy a computer from AW (the best, high quality blah blah on their website, etc) and turns out to be a lemon. CAN'T YOU SUE THEIR ASSES OFF?

I mean, for the 14 pages of discussion you guys had here, and the other 100000000+ pages of users getting lemons, I'd figure at least 100 lawsuits towards AW just from this forum!

So?

 

If I was leaving in the US I would file a lawsuit for deceiving me, stealing me and making me go insane!
Oh... and endagering my life for giving me a laptop that goes up to 107C.

 

To finish off this little brainstorming of ideas...
I think that the high temperatures I suspect all the 8800GTX can go up to during gameplay, are the cause for this. If we tackle that problem, we solve the rest.
Does anyone really thinks that a GPU running at 100C is not going to have consequences on a laptop like this?

 

Hi

I'd like to say that Alienware's service is top notch.
I'd purchased my laptop Feb 9th and received it on the 28th.
There were problems like the light piping wasn't properly installed on the monitor (There was parts that didn't light due to poor install) and missing screws, amongst other things. Also the lower part of the chassis by the keyboard had the seam between the plastic pieces increase and thus a weird creaking amongst the left speaker.
I sent it to AW in Houston since their Canada dept poorly serviced it.
When I got it back from AW in Houston it still wasn't done right. Alot was but it still was unacceptable.
What did I do?

I called Roswill service, I was civil and told them my concern. They then authorized a complete return and replacement. Meaning I could get a credit for full purchase price after a return and get it towards a new Laptop. I was quite excited until I thought about Montevina. So I called them back and then she (the roswell lady) wasn't sure if she could credit me or "hold" the credit like I had asked them to. Nonetheless I got a call the next day saying it's approved and they will FULLY REFUND me the purchase price due to all the problems the laptop has caused me and it was OUTSIDE the 90 day period.

My overall experience? A PLUS.

If you guys want the lady who helped me in the Roswell division I'd be happy to but please keep in mind I'm not giving you her name if you think screaming wolf after you receive your laptop and haven't even tried to send it in repairs once (Or twice in my case) then I can't do that.

I hope this helps.

 

Well, you are allowed to go straight to Roswell customer service, so in all honesty people don't really need the specific name of your Roswell agent. However, it's good to hear they did finally straighten it out in the end.

At the end of the day though such stories really shouldn't be happening. While we can praise AW support, the machine should have been working at the start, or at least fixed.

 

Glad to hear that the Roswell Crew helped you out a lot. I really love the RC and will never go back to regular tech support.

 

How do I get ahold of the Roswell Crew if need be?

 

In his sig: Need help? | Try The Roswell Crew @ 1-866-ROSWELL | Weekdays 9am-6pm Eastern Time | or E-mail : [email protected]

My question (newbie!) - what exactly is the Roswell Crew? I don't see this referenced on the AW webpage.

 

well you won't cause AW wants you to use normal CS. Roswell Crew is a group of a few people that work customer service they are their own department and try to help people any way they can. You can speak to one person and continue to talk to that one person or e-mail that person directly. I guess their going for a more personal approach to CS. I can tell you thats who I use and I'll never go back to regular CS

 

its a AW's best form of customer service. they are currently just testing this out so thats why its not on the site. if you have a problem call them exclusively

 

So the best sollution to the m15x's problems is RC's refund?
Seriousely, wth is AW doing?

 

Kristian V.: Hi, my name is Kristian V.. How may I help you?
XXX: I was wondering if you could give me any information regarding a new chassis design for the m15x.
Kristian V.: We are expecting to offer it soon. Please check the website daily.
XXX: I have an order in for an m15x right now. It is in phase 4. If the chassis comes out before my ship date, can I request for it to be used for my order?
Kristian V.: You may
XXX: Can you give me any more information regarding the new design? It is going to manage heat better in the laptop?
Kristian V.: There is no information available at this time.

 

I think they're waiting for the Alien shipments to arrive

 

the reply, "please check the website daily", makes me think Kristian was referring to the skullcap in this case

 

yep i agree with that... We will see early next week as that is when all the newly shipped m15x's get to their new owners...

 

This is what I got from them right now:
Skullcap design, hope it's better chassis than the ones they do now!

Kristian V.: Hi, my name is Kristian V.. How may I help you?
Me: Hi, I'm looking to buy a m15x. But I have a question about the chassis
Me: For all the reviews I've read, it seems there are some flaws with the chassis
Kristian V.: ok
Me: and also, you guys are going to update (upgrade, whatever) the chassis
Me: so the question is: If I place an order right now, will I get the new chassis?
Kristian V.: We will be releasing a new chassis real soon
Kristian V.: Please keep checking out site daily
Me: So I should wait until the new chassis is offered on the website, because with these chassis' I'm just going to get the regular one, like before?
Kristian V.: Correct
Me: that's great!
Me: Anything else you can tell me about the chassis, is it a new design, or just the current one, revamped?
Kristian V.: It is our skullcap design
Me: that's the new one, with the rubber padding, right?
Kristian V.: Right
Kristian V.: Looks like the m9750
Me: oh that's great, I've been waiting for that for a while.
Me: Also, a quick other question: Cooling system revised, because everybody is complaining about downlclocking and stuff, mainly because of the cooling system?
Kristian V.: This issue has been resolved. For a more specific answer to your question, you may contact our Sales Department and speak with a sales agent. They can be reached directly at 1-800-745-1639. They are available Monday thru Friday 9am to 11:30pm EST and Saturdays from 10am to 6pm EST.
Me: alright, thanks a lot!

 

So they have released the new chassis or not? This question isn't directed towards you but everyone's shipments and phases seem to be progressing now. Most importantly, I get a estimated shipping date of July 15th on Alienware without ant upgrades, is this normal or do they usually overestimate? Thanks
edit: just went up to july 25th.

 

Sounds pretty "automated" to me...

 

so with it being the skullcap design, i'm assuming they won't use that for any of our laptops without notifying us prior? With a newly designed chassis, they would just assume we want it, but with the new design all together, they can't make that assumption.

this might be a stupid question, but being newer, do you think the skullcap would be the better option? i'm not familiar with the m9750. did it have any hinde/cracking problems?

 

and also, for the people who have been moved up to phase 9 in the past few days- think they will get this skullcap design?

 

that's right. presumably if they have developed a new higher-quality silver ripley case, they will automatically upgrade everyone currently in production (i.e. everyone who was held up for a month by that case delay). they would not, however, change everyone to the skullcap design since that's entirely different. you would have to order that new on the website.

also to your other point about quality, you really can't draw an analogy between the m9750 and a skullcap m15x just because they have an alienhead. the m9750 is an entirely different computer made by an entirely different manufacturer. I would estimate that the skullcap design will be no better than, or worse than, the contemporary ripley design at that time (i.e. a ripley laptop bought when skullcap is available will have the same quality level as the skullcap)

 

again... while you may have been asking about a redesign of the current chassis, she thought you were talking about the skullcap...

 

yup... if they sent their customer who ordered a silver ripley something completely different than they ordered they would have more upset customers than happy... Think what would happen if you ordered a black car, and they give you a green one...