Worldwide Survey Comments

Please only leave comments here if you have filled out the m15x worldwide survey.
thank you.

you can find the survey here: m15x worldwide survey
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M15X SURVEY GRAPHS & STATS

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You are amazing. Cheers neigbhour.

 

hope this is tagged so it can be kept for a while- start to get something like 50+ then one can send the results to a tech review site and get some real publicity that will hit home like heads will roll

 

now why didnt i think of that oh yeh, i did
fingers crossed we will get quite a lot of people responding, hint hint

 

you might want to ping some emails around as well, bound to be a journalist that's say independent that look into this as well or someone like cnet as they do some reviews... get some more ppl to the forum..

 

I think you have a very positive idea. But to be honest with you I think most people do not want to spend to much time writing there whole story (too much time and effort).

What about if you choose 5 key questions only (keep it simple)??

From my personal experience I prefer to have less writing and more multiple choice questions.

 

So MrDJ, did my homework and answered, sadly right the second answer in the other thread is misplaced... If only people would learn to read...

 

yeah, fantastic idea MrDJ, will definitely be filling in the form a while after I get it.

 

I will be filling soon as well. It's really a good idea.

 

2 days and 6 replys. thanks to everyone that has replied so far.
a few more replys to the questionaire would be appreciated so come on people, it will only take about 5 minutes.

worldwide questionaire

 

I think one of the NBR Admin should sticky this to the main page. So the Alienware Staff and People who are buying Alienware 51 M15x have Real Reviews from real people that what we need. I also think you should score it good and Bad.

I also think you should edit your Survey comments or Setup one for M17X.

 

Great survey, Mr. DJ just filled it in.

I actually received my M15X less than 2 hours ago and I've already arranged for another collection.

 

whats wrong with yours?

 

i know what you mean odessa. i tried to keep it short and sweet but was asked to add a few questions and all of a sudden it got quite big.

oh no, sos sorry to hear that crystak.
is it still the same problem. did they replace the chassis and if so did you have your own nameplate on it.
i wonder if it goes through the 200 point joke every time it is returned.

still no refund for me yet even though they said it was sent to my card early last week.

 

Hay I am getting a M17X

So this would not work for me.

But the questions MrDJ has added where good and valid.

Thumbs up to you.

 

Media Card reader not working is my biggest problem.

They didn't change the chasis - they said they changed the keyboard again, for the second time to fix the missing characters problem. I don't have time to test it again before sending it off so I don't know if that fixed it but if it hasn't then nothing will.

So now I'm sending it in again to replace the media card reader. The first time I sent it in they just took a look at it and said it's working but it won't read any of my Sony MS and SD.

They didn't take a look at the screen to fix the wobbliness or screaky noise either.

 

it would be pointless adding a section for the m17x untill it has been out for a couple of months. maybe if their are a lot of problems with it as well i could add a seperate section just for the 17x

 

Oh man... it just gets better.

 

I'll be looking over this thread and the main questionnaire thread to make sure that we are on top of all these issues for you guys.

Thanks!

 

Thanks James.

 

Just filled out the survey.

 

i'm shocked there is more positive than negative experiences.. as the poll reaches its second page

not that i think the rate of issues is high i dont..just strange to see happy m15x users popping up on NBR.. most must just come on here to look for driver updates n such with little need to post i guess?.


mmm it is a good day blackm15x by the end of the month

this forums unfortunate vibe has held me off getting one long enough!

 

Thanks James and the rest of the AW team that visit us on here.
its really nice to have someone from AW checking the forum for problems to help us poor stressed out customers out instead of us phoning the CS & Tech Deptment all the time.

that was the main reason i posted the scoring section. even though i have had a bad experience it was only fair to give the happy customers their say as well. hopefully this may put a little faith back in AW for all the new first time customers.

 

I am glad it was put up as a sticky. I got tired of seeing a few people with alot of laptop trouble. Post over and over and overshadow the people who had systems that work great and had no trouble.

The people who have major trouble should post there issue on the survey and talk to the Tech support of alienware. If it was a basic problem Notebookreview will help you.

 

what would be funny is if the scores would somewhat be on the + side as many ppl here have argued that ppl come here if a problem....

I am not saying we'll see 9.3 as the final score.. just fun to see all the comments made/ presumption that only negative comments tend to be posted.

happy tell one, angry tell 5

or as some professional reviews say never review your own product as most ppl will never admit to have mad a mad mistake thus giving it a higer score...

take your pick

 

8/16 rated a bad score........

 

I suppose it's the whole "primacy / recency" bias at play here getting our hopes up.

Only time will tell, as more people receive their m15x's, as to whether or not this is truly an upwards trend or if the quality of the m15x's is simply random.

 

These are quite wise words. Me, like anyone else (at least normally sane people), want the M15x to be giving a turn in the right direction, but let's not get completely carried away. Let's wait and see. Several people are posting without even having played around with them for 1 week. Let's give them time and judge afterwards. As with everything... only time will tell.

Let's hope... and see.

On a positive side (quite rare for me, hein!? )... if most of the recent users will report an improvement, then I think we should give that a proper credit. Me, Cryzzler and MrDJ all received our laptops at the same time and the three of us had problems with it. Hope is the last thing to die...

 

Ya I've only had mine for 3 days now, but so far all the testing has made me optimistic. But i guess if i really want to think about, there is still plenty of time for things to go wrong

 

What I am notice is one or more people who had problems are trying to make there own survey comments. Like chassie build and such. The Worldwide Survey comments. Has it all.

What we will see is this one will have the best idea of info vs 2 or more on others that are just one or two issues.

 

Hey guys and gals

I've been looking through all the replies and what not in the survey for sometime now (most of today morning ) And since I've got so much free time on my hands, I've decided to make a few graphs on the info people have posted.
Right now I've taken down all the information for the 17 (completed) surveys and based the graphs on that. I will keep a watch on it and update them as & when it is necessary

EDIT: Updated graphs are posted below

I only have two graphs as of now for the months of Jan till May:

1) Avg Ratings on the m15x & Alienware



2) Opinions on the m15x & Alienware (Recommendations/Buying again)



Any ideas to better represent the data are welcome
(I've got 2 months off till college !! )

L8rs all

 

I will have to say Wraithers Good job. I think that what the people want to see.

 

Thanks for the help there Wraithers,much appreciated.
i had started playing about with graphs using xl but they didnt come out as well as yours so well done.
i now suggest Wraithers is our official graph maker
cheers

 

I think you two will work great together. If MrDJ post the stats on the main sticky it would help people.

 

Thanx for tht MrDJ & AtolSammeek
It's been a while since I've been on the forum and it's good to be contributing again..
Here's to many more completed surveys !! *So I can make more graphs *

L8rs all..

Ps. Any requests for graphs on specific areas the survey covers are welcome

 

17 completed surveys so far. thanks to everyone that has taken the time to fill it out.

WHO'S NEXT

 

Maybe you can do some graphs for averages temperatures when playing certain games for certain periods of time? But then... there are too many different specs to take into consideration, and some people put their own Ram and other components in, which may affect results a great deal.

I liked your graphs. They were very easy to understand and put everything on a plate for us clearly. Your efforts were very much appreciated.

 

Ahh.. I would do those graphs but the info is not covered in the survey
Thanx for the kind words

Here are the updated graphs everyone:

1) Avg Ratings on the m15x & Alienware
Got a little more info for May so that saw a small rise for the m15x and dip for AW


2) Opinions on the m15x & Alienware (Recommendations/Buying again)
May seems to have surpassed March now - m15x pleasing customers


My 'net is going to be cut in 15ish minutes (for servicing) so will post some new ones tomorrow
L8rs all

 

thats awesome! thanks for making this! its much easier to visually see who likes their systems and who doesnt

 

Idd thanks looking more hopeful

 

No need for a survey:

The Alienware m15x is a piece of rejected Hyundai not worth the money and certainly not worth mentioning in the same light as cow dung.

Cheap quality build

Poor engineering

Looks outdated if AlienFX lights are not on.

Air flow and heat problem

Crappy mother board for gaming

Max memory speed for ram is only 667Mhz

Unresponsive Keys

The hinges are poorly engineered and cheaply made out of plastic.

Cant tweak mother board manually.

Bios upgrade and Video drivers hard to find you'll need to be a US buyers to get anywhere.

Lack of updated drivers.

Having life cycle of a blow fly.

If yours aint broke the probability of it will is extremely high and near.

Have to purchase warranty to protect yourself financially

The biggest inconvenient having to ship it back and forth to get fixed.

Worse of all the m15x is destined to live most of its life out at the Alienware repair Centre

IF i have to rate this laptop from 1 to 10? and 1 being the worse? This laptop scores a measly point of -10. Not meant to be sold at any place any time.

Summary this Alienware m15x is a consumer's worse nightmare.

Alienware new slogan for the m15x is Portability is immobility.

 

Um, wow that was so unnecessary and not even completely true. Tyronne's new slogan is ignorance. This thread isn't asking for your opinion and nightmare m15x sob story.

 

First of all, his experience does not even count. He purchased it from a retailer called Austin Computers and Alienware was willing to give him a refund because of the situation he was in. (Austin Computers apparently used his laptop and put it on display for customers to use.)

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=248893

Trying to prove a point rather than just merely cross-threading. He was given the choice of a refund but he chose an m17x upgrade instead. Please do not base your experience off the experience you got from Austin Computers.

Most of the issues you have listed have been addressed and resolved. If you have not tried the m15x from a clean slate, meaning that the box was issued directly to you, nothing was wrong with it open-box, and if there was no signs of tampering when you first used the m15x, then frankly, I don't think your post should count in the forum survey.

The survey is a benchmark of both the m15x and Alienware's customer service. It's not for uncalled comments or ignorance, for the matter.

Anyway, since it's here, let us break your comments down, shall we?

Cheap quality build: This is more of a comment than it is a fact. The "cheap-plastic" used is the same material as all of the other laptops I've owned. The material itself feels sturdy but of course, I will admit that the screen feels flimsy. The build itself is nominal, meaning that it's not the best nor is it the worst. Changes have been made to fix issues of the past: Keyboards do not flex like they used to, BIOS update has decreased the possibility of overheating, screen cracking does not exist anymore, the list goes on. The build quality is in my opinion pretty great since parts are easily exchangeable. To my knowledge, upgrading is a lot easier compared to other (non-AW) laptops.

Poor engineering: Different wording, same idea as the first.

Looks outdated if AlienFX lights are not on: Here's another opinion. Of course if you're not going to get the lighting, then it does seem somewhat dull, but isn't it the same way for the m17x you're getting?

Air flow and heat problem: These are problems with various solutions. Airflow can be improved if you rose the laptop up (either with a notebook cooler or with a homemade notebook cooler: see Lego notebook cooler.) As for the heat problem, if you're doing something that gets your GPU 100+ degrees, then there are various ways you can come about it. At this point, it is almost a must to get a notebook cooler, but if for some reason it gets any hotter, then you could try undervolting. (See Groove's Undervolting Guide) There have been BIOs updates to change how soon the fan kicks in and some increases of the fan speed so there should not be extreme heat problems with the m15x at this point.

Crappy mother board for gaming: Another unsupported opinion.

Max memory speed for ram is only 667Mhz: Wait a minute. Very few laptops support RAM speeds faster than 667Mhz, including the m17x you're getting. If you're going to complain about this, shall we assume you will complain about the same thing with your m17x?

Unresponsive Keys: BIOs updates have improved the responsiveness of the touch keys. From my experience, the touch keys are as responsive as they should get meaning they work right as you touch them. Don't get me wrong though, certain events or fiddling with your computer (software-wise) may cause your touch keys to be unresponsive, but in my case, I was able to restore the touch key's responsiveness as fast as I have caused them to be unresponsive in the first place.

The hinges are poorly engineered and cheaply made out of plastic. These are based off the 11(?) cases of hinge breaking. There may be more, but this does not mean that it will happen to everyone. Most of these issues were caused on the older batches of m15x'es and some were able to get their computer repaired or refunded completely (this does not include the 15% restocking fee that everyone is subject to.)

Cant tweak mother board manually: Uh. Why would you want to? If you wanted to change your CPU or something, you could try asking Alienware to do it for you. Otherwise, most of the other components are placed so it would be easily interchangeable. This includes the RAM, the Video Card, the HDD, and not to mention Smart bay.

Bios upgrade and Video drivers hard to find you'll need to be a US buyers to get anywhere: What are you talking about? Just because some people does not know where to find certain BIOs updates does not mean everyone else is having trouble. Finding drivers is a matter of going to the Alienware website, scrolling over the support tab, then clicking on "Drivers and Downloads." It's the same for the UK website. Also, if you're talking about trying to find the v41 Multimedia update, it's included in the X34 BIOS update since that confused everyone. This is confirmed by AW-Warner on the official Alienware forums.

Lack of updated drivers: Also not entirely true. Sure some drivers seem like it's been left alone for a long time, but why would you constantly want them to come out with new drivers when there is no need to release new ones?

Having life cycle of a blow fly: Oh you have to be kidding me. It's been out for only how many months? And if you're talking about the battery life then you must be insane. I'm getting 3.5 hours on full functionality with a Smart bay battery. 1.5 without. If you want more battery life, then you can just turn on stealth mode or use BinaryGFX. Some people have claimed to have reached up to 4-5 hours on these two settings.

If yours aint broke the probability of it will is extremely high and near: It is true that a bulk of the "old" m15x's had something wrong with them, but since mid-May or early-June, we've been seeing a lot of m15x's that have reported a lot fewer problems. Most of the recent purchased m15x's have been considered "new batches" because there are almost very few to no major problems reported about the recent m15x's. The only reason tyronne's m15x was all messed up was because he had purchased his from a retailer (Austin Computers) which had tampered with his system prior to giving it to him.

Have to purchase warranty to protect yourself financially: The m15x comes standard with a 1 year warranty and if you're extra cautious, then you could add in a couple more years if you would like. The warranty can be extended (for a price, of course) during your 1 year warranty period if you feel that you must have longer coverage.

The biggest inconvenient having to ship it back and forth to get fixed: This is obvious, but with fewer problems comes fewer needs to ship it back and forth. The point of shipping it there in the first place is to get it fixed and I think everyone would rather have some place that could fix/replace a defective component than no where at all.

Worse of all the m15x is destined to live most of its life out at the Alienware repair Centre: Not true. If you're being reckless with your m15x, then maybe, but unless you're one of the older batches, then you should not have problems that would consistently cause you to send your m15x in.

Shall we give merit to tyronne's comments? Maybe, maybe not; it's up to you to decide whether he is credible.

Also a note, I'm sorry tyronne if this entire post seems like a direct attack on you, but I couldn't help myself but explain why your points might be incorrect. I'm sorry about your situation at Austin Computers and I would have no clue why a retailer would do that to you, but you should not base your Alienware experience off of that alone.

Anyway, good luck with your m17x and I hope your experience with it isn't as dull as your experience with the m15x.

 

thanks for your comments above.
the above 3 posts have been kindly moved by Chaz so as to keep them all in one place.


thanks.

 

this is getting annoying. get on with life, man.

what's with the Hyundai fixation? seriously, we've all read it to exhaustion now.

the only flaw in the design is the hinge cracking issue.

i'd like to see you put the most powerful mobile GPU of the time in a 15.4" notebook.

personal opinion, i think the notebook looks simply stunning even when it's just sitting on my desk with the lid down.

care to elaborate? there is no "heat problem", all overheating issues were fixed with BIOS updates.

this motherboard was used in every gaming laptop at the time the notebook was designed, and de facto the industry standard.

you knew this when buying, and this is on every laptop with SR chipsets.

fixed with BIOS updates.

the hinges are made of metal, they're just anchored with plastic. which is a design flaw, yes.

do your research. markus.kainer OC'ed the FSB without much hassle, if i remember correctly.

not true. this forum is a treasure trove, you can visit laptopvideo2go.com, and BIOS updates are available in MyHive as well. other drivers can be downloaded from the free-access support section on the AW site.

only GPU drivers, which can be downloaded with no trouble at all from laptopvideo2go.com.

who says this? you? we can't say how you treated your m15x. me personally, i look out for my laptop and it's working perfectly.

totally unsubstantiated, this is just random trash-talking.

no one forced you to buy a warranty.

so tell me, will Sager send someone to your house to get your laptop fixed?

more unsubstantiated sh*t. just because your laptop didn't work perfectly, doesn't mean all others won't either. as stated before, mine's working perfectly still.

 

any more updated comments?

 

Oup's sorry!
Survey moved

Cy@

 

no problem, thanks CrooP