To current owners of the m17x

We all have read the horror stories on this forum in regards to the m15x.

Is there anyone who has purchased and received the m17x found issues
similar or worse than those of the m15x?

 

I received my m17x on saturday and although I haven't had too much time to play with it (with the holiday weekend and all). I can say I have had none of the issues discussed in these forums over the past few months. The machine had no physical flaws/issues. Even after running for hours, the fans are quiet. The 3Dmark06 scores they provided in the information file (12,834) were exactly what I got when I ran the test. I briefly hooked it up to my 42" plasma and it looked great. The only issue I seem to be having is with the power button. I just can't seem to get the knack of turning it on the first time. (yeah I know PBCAK). The alien head button doesn't have any real "feedback" that you have pressed it, but once booted, this thing is sweet.

I will have to say this thing is definitely a beast of a machine, not something I would try and drag around with me. At 11 lbs (13.8 lbs with the power brick) it is heavy. Something I would put into the luggable category (but I knew this going in so not a big surprise)

 

You seem to have a very similar configuration as the one I am somewhat patiently waiting for.
When you shuck out mega bucks for a laptop you begin to second guess yourself after reading so many negative comments.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Looking forward to hearing replies from even more m17x owners

 

I too was concerned given all the horror stories. I held on to hope that AW would have learned a lesson from the m15x release. And so far anyone who has gotten one seems to be happy. So keep the faith (in AW) and good luck with your beast.

 

Thanks, BTW Have you posted a review or pics yet?

 

I started taking pics today and should have something soon.

 

Just a note about my recent experience after having my m17x for 2 days

With the 5 touch buttons, I had the following:

Power Button - no rhyme or reason to when it would power the laptop up (2 or 20 attempts). I tried every technique (rolling finger, tapping finger, prolonged press of full-flesh-of-finger for 3-5 seconds). Infuriating.

Bluetooth Button - Seemed to work 100% of the time.

WLAN Button - Never got this button to work at all (WLAN came on of it's own accord and I dared not turn it off! LOL)

Alien Command Button - worked 60% of the time

Stealth Mode Button - worked 80% of the time

Dunno if I'm mad, incompetent or just too picky, but a couple of support calls later, a return to Alienware for "repair" was arranged.

My £3k dream in tatters. LOL.

 

Crow28277,
As stated on previous post, no problems with my M17X. Have had it for more than a month. No physical defects, great screen, all touch controls work fine, camera is better, no downclocking or overheating even when playing games. As a previous owner of one of the first M15X machines, Alienware has done their homework on the M17X. i prefer the matte black finish but that is a matter of taste. The only negative for me is the size of the power brick. It is large amd heavy. FYI my rig has the X9000CPU and 8800m GTX gpu's. ElSayed posted some good pics on another post.

 

^I agree with everything mentioned in the above post!

I've had my m17x for about 3 weeks now with zero problems at all! The 3D benchmark scores consistently come back around 11,700. The laptop is solid and every function performs flawlessly. I very happy!

 

Just got mine a few days ago. I did have some trouble figuring out the touch controls in the beginning but it was more user error. They require firm finger tip coverage for one sec and they perform flawslessly. The only thing I think I'm having an issue with is from what I've read there is suppose to be a battery level indicator on the bottom of the battery. When you press the button it is suppose to illuminate and indicate your batter level. Well I press what I believe is the button and nothing happens. So I don't know if I'm using it incorrectly or if something is up. It doesn't even fill like a button at all to be honest with you. I have emailed customer support. We'll see what happens.

 

i hope you are all going to fill out the m17x Forum Surveyafter youve all fully tested your beasts.
hopefully AW might win back some browny points after the **** ups with the m15x

 

This thread brings me hope! The day after I placed my order for the m17x I stumbled on sites such as badsoftware.com and alienwaresucks; saw all the m15x horror stories on this site and thought, "oh sh** what did I just get myself into".

What setups do you guys have? It would be beneficial to know what has been running smoothly or causing problems. I'll document my success/failure when I receive mine this coming week.

Sadly, I feel compelled to take an in depth video documentation of myself unboxing it and setting it up to avoid problems with customer service.

What does that say about a company when a customer feels the needs to videotape themselves using a product to avoid being cheated?

 

Only had 2 issues with mine. Frist keyboard One key pop off. It was a easy fix call alienware and they send you a new keyboard.

When reinstalling Vista the Keyboard Lighting stop working. This is a known software issues. Alienware looking into it.

 

Still loving my m17x, I've finally gotten around to taking it out of the house and while heavy, it definately gets people looking at it.
everything is still working flawlessly.

 

Well mine is working fine and if you read my review, which i've just posted i have very few issues.

I have updated my graphic drivers and my 3dmark score is lower than the original but, i'm not worried it works great and new drivers are being tested all the time.

I'd say go for it but that's on ly my opinion (",)

OB

I'm using it now... (",)

 

Hey Grey, have you updated your graphics drivers or using the stock ones?

OB

 

Meh, found out I wasn't pressing the button on the bottom of the battery hard enough for it to work. Even though it feels like I'm having to press it harder than I should. If anyone could check theirs out and confirm its suppose to be hard to press I would appreciate that. Other than that the only other problem I have is the latest driver from laptopvideo2go.com causes the computer to go into hibernation mode after its been asleep for a while. It will wake itself out of sleep and then put it into hibernate. Unistall the drivers and revert back to the old ones and it doesn't have this issue. WEIRD!

 

Mine worked when pressed, Dell batteries do the same so...

You might find that when you install new drivers it resets the power profile...
When in installed 177.73, my profile went to balanced... it's back on high performance now but, i'm going to install the Nvidia forceware for the 880GTX because i can't get power DVD to work... need it for blu-ray (",)

OB

 

Yeah, I'll double check the profile settings when I get home but I'm pretty sure it was on high performance because I ran 3dmark06 after driver installation. Which brings me to another point. With the latest drivers I get a lower 3dmark06 score however while its running the various test I'm seeing higher FPS than before.

 

Yup i had the same but, if you read anyone's posts they all read loqwer than what AW appear to get, maybe it's a lower res or something?
That's partly why i'm instlling the official Nvidia forceware 175.32 i think it is. If it works i'll wait and see what nvidia do in a couple of months time.

Does your version of powere DVD work ok? I can't play a normal DVD...

OB

 

I'll check it for you as soon as I get to the home.

 

well had my m17x for a month and.... I LOVE IT i love playing games on it love doing everything on it. I have recently taken it on a 4 hour road trip and had it plugged in to the car and it ran perfectly (didnt have the one from AW my range rover has an outlet in it) I have taken it to the office everyday adn the Orion bag is AMAZING fits it just right and nice and snug and i love it!!! i cant say it enough and the first time i took it to the office soo many ppl came over and were like WHATS THAT loved it (yes i am an attention whore ) anyways i just could not be happier with my laptop the only problem is that its big and my macbook died so ive had to take that around and a 10lb laptop is not too easy to carry around (thats why i got the Compal). I am also impressed with the battery life i can get about 2 hours of oblivion without it being plugged in it does great just perfect... 2 hours is ALOT for a desktop replacment. you should be EXTREMLY happy with your purchase its a GREAT system and i think it was worth EVERY dollar

 

Glad to hear Omar! I'm enjoying mine too. Not to go too far off topic but you say the Orion bag fits it nice. Does it also have room for your power supply headphones and a few other things? I bought a really nice Swiss bag for mine but it doesn't quite fit in the laptop pocket. Just in the regualar pocket. It's suppose to be for a 17" widescreen. Might change it out.

 

\thought you should know i've made a new thread but, basically do not update your graphics drivers as it will cause problems. My 3dMark score is only 500 points lower than AW's and full Sli runs great

Glad to hear that another m17x is working well, here's hoping that Alienware continue to improve there notebooks for future generations of gamers.

OB

 

yeah...
now only if an updated and re-worked version of the m15x would surface....

 

yup everything fis in it the laptop fits in the laptop sack the power adapter right next to that and my mouse and mousepad and everything else goes in the front pocket and to side pockets its a GREAT bag

P.S. this is a little bigger than a regular 17" notebook so i went with something that AW approved for the system

 

I'm personally interested in the backpack, but it's great that the messenger bag is working well for you.

 

i initially had alot of problems with the videocards until AW sent me 2 new ones (8800m gtx). now everything seems to be ok. but my only problem remains that i can not use any of the 175, 177 series of drivers from laptopvideo2go.com because then i wont be able to read blu-ray from powerdvd 7. even the official 175.32 didnt work.

i even bought a brandnew powerdvd 8 deluxe, and it still didnt work. its always asking for 174.xx or newer.. now im wondering if windvd will work, will try it out sometime and see.

 

i was going with the backpack at first but the messenger bag is a bit more office appropriate.

 

I talked with Oodle about this via PM, but I'd like to hear from as many m17x owners as possible - I'd love to know about the heat this things generates, as its my biggest worry by far. If anyone can post up their processor and temperatures at rest and during gaming, I would love to see them.

 

Curious, couple of questions :-

When you were using the mrewer drivers did you try using VLC media player (it worked fine when everything else wouldn't) or Windows Mediaplayer? (i got a picture made up of coloured boxes but, also got sound...)

Thanks

OB