m15x: A journal of my journey

First of all I would like to say that this is not just a review. This thread is about the m15x laptop, from how I chose it all the way to ordering, receiving and using it. I hope you all find this information comprehensive and useful. I have put a lot of effort to bring together all the links I have visited and videos I have seen.
So here goes...

What I need a notebook for
I am an undergraduate, and I will be going to college in fall of this year. So ya, I need a notebook for college. The one i am typing this on is an outdated T42 IBM, so I felt I needed something more powerful. I am also a golfer and I always use my video camera to capture my golf swings and play them back using a software called V1 Golf which is very resource intensive. I am an avid user of Photoshop, Autodesk, Virtual DJ, Adobe Premiere, Blender etc.. I play Halo, FSX, AOE, Counter Strike etc. I am also into JAVA programming. Well, to cut things short, I need a notebook for:
1)Gaming
2)Audio and Video Creating
3)Photo Editing and manipulation
4)Developing programs
5)3D rendering
6)Surfing and some other casual work

Notebooks I shortlisted

I was looking for a 15.4 inch notebook as I have to carry it around in college for my classes. By means of extensive research on the web, I came across a few laptops that I thought were worth looking into.

Dell XPS M1530

I visited the following web pages, which contain good reviews for this notebook:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4135

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-XPS-M1530-Notebook.7295.0.html

http://www.electronista.com/reviews/dell-xps-m1530-review.html

and ofcourse http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=263009

I found this notebook to be quite nice..but I felt that I needed the 8800 GTX..(or was it lust?). So I went on to see some other notebooks in the 15.4 inch category. I feel that this particular laptop is ideal for someone who is into casual gaming and needs a solid machine for work/college.

PCMW Edge

This notebook really caught my attention. When I looked at the specifications it was offering I was quite surprised.

http://www.pcmicroworks.com/edge.htm

I could not find any quality reviews of this product anywhere. I feel that it may not be as popular yet. But anyway I did not choose this notebook because of the battery life. Only 2 hours! Well considering the components packed into this thing I would not expect much anyway but since I need it for college use, I felt that the low battery life may not last me through my classes. So this is an excellent choice for avid gamers who really really want the montevina quad core power this has to offer.

Alienware m15x

My friends in high school have always been crazy about Alienware. Once, we installed all the Alienware GUI themes on almost all the machines in school (ya we got ****ed later on)

www.alienware.com/intro_pages/invader.aspx


So I saw the m15x in April of this month on Alienware's website (US). I was in love with the AlienFX lighting and the sleek looks of this machine.

http://www.alienware.com/products/a...Code=PC-LT-AREA51M15X-AI1&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT


I also read many reviews about the m15x, links to these are as follows:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=216505 kudos to Packer

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=248541 a nice review by iElSayed

Spartan's review http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?p=2905149&tab=reviews_tab

I also read quite a few negative stories on the internet and decided to investigate these.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/12/alienware-area-51-m15x-owners-outraged-by-overheating-cracking/

Issues included:

1)Heating ( http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/12/alienware-area-51-m15x-owners-outraged-by-overheating-cracking/)
2)cracking of the chassis ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=228254)
3) downclocking ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=231459)
4) AlienFX not working sometimes ( http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4243)
5) Notebook not coming out of sleep mode ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=250940)
6)Cheap components used inside
7)bad customer service
8)creaking noise on the lid
9)wobliness

During my investigation I realized that some of these issues were fixed over time, and some were due to other factors (nothing to do with alienware)

http://blog.laptopmag.com/alienware-m15x-crack-explained

for the sleep mode thing:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=265797

I also chatted with a customer service representative regarding these problems. She said that the cracking issue had been fixed along with the downclocking, where a BIOS patch was issued. Along with that the heating issue was also fixed (supposedly)

Regarding bad customer service...I feel that I just have to take my chances with this company..well the people I chatted with seemed really helpful so I hope this will remain the same even after I purchase the system.

Videos I watched:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlo9yGo7ckY

CES 2008 ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Xg96Uc-TM

unboxing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TeTbO1FbIo

So I zeroed in on the alienware m15x. I realized the the pros of this system included:

(Thanks to Chaz for his impressive review )
quoted from : http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4328


Pros

* Fabulous gaming performance - packs power typically only found in large 17-inch desktop replacements into a slim 15.4-inch form factor
* Ability to transform from a high-performance gaming machine to a practical on-the-go companion
* Great battery life for a gaming notebook: two graphics cards give the best of both worlds - integrated for battery life, and dedicated for performance. Standard battery life is about 2.5 hours and with the Smart Bay battery, 4 to 5 hours are possible
* Stealth mode keeps the m15x silent
* Sleek, striking design and AlienFX customizable lighting - this machine turns heads everywhere
* Smart Bay functionality - use it for an optical drive, extra battery, or another hard drive
* Beautiful display - high-resolution WUXGA screen is a gem
* Nice keyboard - it is backlit, plus it feels great
* Wide variety of ports - the usual plus HDMI and a 9-pin powered Firewire
* Available with Blu-ray and Windows XP

Cons

* The price - adding options brings up the price quickly
* The keyboard flexes on the bottom right side around the arrow keys
* The touchpad is not the best - too slippery and scroll zones are visually undefined
* The screen wobbles - it should have stiffer hinges
* The speakers are unimpressive - more volume and bass would be nice
* Fans at full load are louder than expected
* Touch controls are subpar - volume slider is not responsive and others require too much pressure

Now the only thing I have to do is order the laptop this week or next!

Keep your eye on this thread as I guide you all through my journey (in real time!)

PS: sorry my laptops battery is gonna die any second...I will keep you all updated by posting anything useful I find everyday

 

Thank you, this is a great compilation of pros and cons for us who still havent decided if we should get the m15x or not ;-) Good luck with ur journey!

 

wait 3 weeks and the PCMW Edge will be out, then give it another though, look in the sager/clevo forum what they have to say about the vendor, a LOT less nagging there...

and Frank Azor is no longer with AW ( the link with the overheathing and crack.. a reason he's not? I don't know...

 

Hi maceto,
Thanks a lot for your advice! Normally I would love to wait for the best of the best to come out and then choose accordingly but there are certain factors which prevent me from going with the PCMW Edge. These are:

1) You said this notebook will be out in 3 weeks right..my college starts early August. I do not live in the USA either. So I need to place an order right now as I am short of time.
2) The battery life of the Edge is just 2 hours. This may be a really good figure as far as the performance - battery life trade off is concerned, but I need a laptop for college use and I will be carrying it around to my classes. I feel that 2 hours is a bit too less for such use. Atleast in the m15x I can use a smart bay battery if I want and extend this battery life
3) Is the price that you pay for montevina really worth the extra benefits it delivers over penryn? Most users may not even realize the difference. Additionally, one of the main reason why people go for montevina is the 8 gigs of RAM. Well 8 Gb RAM is great but really expensive. It will increase the price of this machine by a lot.
4) Well this point is rather subjective but I have to admit that the m15x does look better with the skullcap/ripley design

However I am not closing my mind to other options. I have also considered the Macbook Pro and notebooks from Clevo and Sager, lets see if anything new pops up soon enough so that I can order it now..

 

I love sharing my experience with others and I hope that the material I post here will help others I will post a walkthrough for the specifications/available options on the m15x (for their website)

 

All these still exist:

1)Heating ( http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/12/a...ting-cracking/)
Should I add that 3 GPUs were reported to be broken just last week? And of these, two owners have just received the laptop?

2)cracking of the chassis ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=228254) Too early to make any judgment on this. Let's wait for new users to give it a bit more of usage.
3) downclocking ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=231459) GPU downclock has been fixed. CPU downclocing has not (specially on the extreme processors)
4) AlienFX not working sometimes ( http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4243)
This was never a generalized issue
5) Notebook not coming out of sleep mode ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=250940)
Vista issue
6)Cheap components used inside Cheap components used all over
7)bad customer service I do not agree at all with this. They are normal. Not fantastic, not bad. Only thing, after 2 weeks I sent the laptop back and they repaired it. With Dell they just gave me a new one when I sent it back for repairs... Straight away
8)creaking noise on the lid This is not really a problem
9)wobliness It's still there. Whether it's more or less noticeable, that's another issue.

Just to add some more unsolved "problems"

Bad webcam quality
Security lock does not fit most of the security chains (actually, I'm not even 100% sure it can fit any lock at all perfectly)

And I can't remember anything else.
I think that AW lives exactly of what you mentioned... People at colleges (and not only) are crazy about Alienware. It's like my little niece, she is crazy about iPods. Why??? She doesn't know... but everyone says that they are sooooo cool!

By the way... all your posts about problems are completely out dated. They are mostly from the time when the M15x came out.

If you want more updated information:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=254627 Why you shouldn't buy an M15x thread. List of problems that are common on the M15x (not that everyone has them... they are just quite common).
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=257737 GPU overheating problems
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=248848 CPU overheating and downclocking thread
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=262373 Are the new M15xs improved? Did AW change anything drastic regarding the 1st M15xs coming out?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=263138 How valid and legit is the "upgradability" that AW sells with their costumized laptops? Can you actually upgrade your laptop yourself and keep AW's technical support?

There you go... I hope this information will help you on your journey.
I can only think of this music "We're on a road to nowhere...".

Good luck (and sorry for my negative comment... I wish I could be more positive, really).
M.

 

Dear milcs,

I have read these threads and more by you. Im sorry to hear about all your problems with Alienware. You know..on average I have found that most of the problems that you are referring to seem to occur in the UK. Once again I am not stating that Alienware UK is bad and USA is good I am just saying that this is what I have observed. I have seen the thread regarding the worldwide m15x survey as well.

I look at your thread (below) almost everyday..lol...good job on focusing on all the problems you and other users are facing, I hope they are resolved in the long run
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=262373

However, I still need concrete evidence that the problems still exist in the systems sold in the USA...I feel that we can only wait for new users to receive their machines and review them soon...I really appreciate your efforts to advise prospective buyers and spreading awareness. Hopefully Alienware will try and do something about these issues..lets wait n watch

Thanks a lot again for your suggestion, I will definitely take it into account

Yemo

 

Great review,some pics would be great.

 

i think the screen wobble does not have anything to do with the hinges. if you push the screen a bit to make it wobble, you will notice that after the wobble the hinge is still in its original position. If it is due to weak hinges i think the hinge would have to move from its original position to a new position.

 

Yemo, I didn't have ALL those problems...
My main problems were the overheating and wobbliness (and some other minors). Thats a collection of problems from users from both UK and USA.
For instance, the three cases of GPU failures are from people in the USA (from last week. Syth, Crrischa and someone else who I can't remember).
Also, someone in the USofA reported the GPU reaching 102ºC while playing (I forgot the name of the user... but it's there on the forum, if you look for it).

What the new users in the USA are reporting is pretty much the same as what previous users reported.
Some flex, some wobbliness (some more than other), some GPUs still overheat, some still get fried after one week of use, etc etc etc...

So basically, things are still like in the beggining. Buying an M15x is like buying a lottery ticket.

 

Thanks..i like to look at it more like a walkthrough/guide... I will def post pics once i get the laptop

 

Hi exiled! I am not bothered much about the wobliness..I just read about it in some forums and heard users such as milcs complain so i thought i should include it.. thanks for ur feedback!

 

thank you milcs for your prompt reply..i aprreciate it...i never go for overclocking my GPU..Iv already fried the one on my PC so I will not be doing anything at all to mess this one up..however it is interesting to note that these problems still do exist in a laptop for which people pay over 4K(USD)..not fair for new owners and definetely deters potential buyers..perhaps the BIOS update isnt the only thing needed to address this issue..keep me updated regarding this please ...

thanks ya milcs..really sweet of you to put so much time into replying to my thread

Yemo

 

You are more than welcome Yemo.
I'm confident you will probably be able to look away from some minor problems the M15x might come up with, but people should be aware they won't get the perfect machine they think they are going to get. The M15x is not about the details that make for the big experience. Appart from the lights, the little details haven't really been looked at (like speakers, camera, plastic quality, wobbliness, flexes, etc etc).

Now, just to finish... I am not talking about overclocking. I don't recommend it at all (and I doubt you will need it on the M15x unless you are one of those "The bigger the better!" afficionados). When I'm mentioning overheating and GPUs failing... it's all under normal usage. Appart from markus, there are not many people OCing the M15x (that I know of).

My impression has always been that the Bios was a patch they applied on top of a big hole. And like all the "patches"... they will end up breaking and exposing the hole again.
The cooling system is bad and the CPU downclocking (on extreme processors) is the best example of what I'm trying to convey to people.

 

The Sager/ Clevo is the same as the Edge one.. new out in 3 weeks. There are some new from Sony right around the corner. All advices on laptops are, get it when you need it, you can wait a week or 3. I have the money, I need a laptop but am I getting the AW, only if they get a new case out as the heat is somewhat fixed, by AW and users... this is like getting an Italian car, you get it because it has passion, it looks good etc, but the build quality is not like a German car...

You seem like a smart guy, done research but you read it like you want to read it, this is like some ppl do customer surveys they make the questions in a way so there can only be an answer. Use your brain and not your hearth on this one please!!

 

This must be the most inteligent advise ever... given by so many people, but no one ever really seems to be able to follow it.
Why do people think with their guts most of the time (me included)? Oh well... a conversation for a Psychology forum.

 

Well I am hoping ppl will stop getting them, because this seems to be the only way ppl listen today, so by less sales they might fire someone, clean up, look at the issues and improve.

I am living in a bobble, but I think I will have more luck with this than AW fixing the wobble

 

Thank you maceto.. regarding the Sager/Clevo/Edge..Im sorry but I really dont have 3 weeks to spare..I need to make a decision now and it need not be AW..If you have any other suggestions I would be glad to take them into account.. and I think you have misunderstood me..I have never owned an AW nor am I a small kid to be fascinated by shiny lights on a laptop..its just that at this point in time I dont think I have much of a choice..let me assure you that I am not inclined towards this company in any way I just feel that it will provide me with the best/latest notebook thats all..Since I have to buy one urgently, I cannot include any laptop which will take a long time to come into the market ..

Thanks once again for your advice!,
Yemo

 

Have a look at this please:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3543465#post3543465

What do you feel?

 

I already posted what I feel about that on that same thread.
I think it's misleading and I challenge anyone to show clear proof that anything at all has been made to fix any of the many problems that have haunted the M15x.

 

If you have worked in research, all would have told you this: if you review something you have purchased for your self, you are more likely to not be as negative about the product as an independent reviewer. You would be mad when things go to hell as the rage surpasses the feeling of stupidity..

This could be written a different way, not so direct but it sums it up- you can ask any large independent reviewer cnet, pcworld etc and they will tell you this.

You have to understand one things as wall, there will be differences between configs, who assembled the laptops etc, so some will be happy, some will not due to some work out of the box others do not, but the issues here can be summed up with, AW has a very high failure rate on very grave failures.

You go to dell forum etc, they have issues to, but WAY WAY more ppl get them, alot of the faults are user faults and not cracked laptop or melted cpu etc.

If I had to go for a laptop now, I would go for the Dell XPS, with LED 1400x900, full warranty ( drop it if you don't like it type of warranty) and ssd disk etc etc, you don't get the 8800 gfx, but I did see you consider the MAc, so I assume this is not a must, you can probably get this for the same price as the AW.

 

I would not trade in my m15x for anything else in the world!

As for the screen wobbliness that people keep mentioning, I don't have this issue. I bought mine soon after it was released. I sent it in to get the crack over the ethernet port repaired and they replaced the whole chassis. Everything is solid now. I am not sure it was even wobbly before....

Anyway I believe the m15x to be an excellent choice.

 

Thank you SO much for your positive comment..I am glad to hear from you ....I will keep everyone updated as to what I am doing right from the ordering stage..at the end I will write a review..a long long one ..hehe..

Thanks dawnkeeper
Yemo

 

My friend when I have done my A Levels in Economics and somewhere down the line I am partial towards numbers and figures...there does seem to be some truth hidden in those percentages and it is our job to review these figures and come to a decision.. now its my time to make a decision so let me go over the EVIDENCE from a mathematician's point of view:

Average ratings for the m15x have INCREASED from 6.5 in January to 8.5 in May

4 out of 7 people who bought their machines in March would recommend the m15x to friends while 5 out of 6 who bought it in May would recommend it to friends.. that is an INCREASE from 57.143 % to 83.33%

the rating of the m15x is different in different countries as well..looking at these numbers the US is 35.15625% better than the UK as far as AW is concerned

The last graph.. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3543465#post3543465
just says it all..

Friends, I feel it is time to come out and say yes AW has actually done something about it. I am substantiating my claims with evidence thus there is no reason to think that anyone is being partial towards AW here just because of the brand loyalty/ bandwagon effect.

Yes, there are users that have had negative experiences.

I listened to milcs advice on this one:
"This must be the most inteligent advise ever... given by so many people, but no one ever really seems to be able to follow it.
Why do people think with their guts most of the time (me included)? Oh well... a conversation for a Psychology forum."

I DID go to a psychology forum and found that people who have a negative experience of something are more likely to pick up an online survey or a forum and try and bloat up the issue.

http://psychology.about.com/sitesea...iences&SUName=psychology&TopNode=11801&type=1

Thus I feel that we should look at a glass with 50% water as half full rather than half empty. I will stick with my figures..AW m15x it is. Given more time I would have loved to weigh my options but as of now I dont have too many..

Yemo

 

sorry i forgot to quote ur name in my last post

 

Yemo, I hope you don't think I was trying to convince you away from the M15x.
By no means... I love the M15x and I just hope mine will come back in perfect working conditions so that I can love it even more.

Now... I know you did Economics and all, but obviously comparing a sample of 2 with 8 (or whatever that is) is somehow... not significative. What's the p value? Where is the statistical significance of all those graphs? Well... you that did A level Economics should know... Those graphs mean absolutely NOTHING.

And your "announcement" to the world just made me laugh:
Friends, I feel it is time to come out and say yes AW has actually done something about it. I am substantiating my claims with evidence thus there is no reason to think that anyone is being partial towards AW here just because of the brand loyalty/ bandwagon effect.

Oh well... Think as you want to think. Just please, do not convey WRONG information. NOTHING was done. It's exactly the same as in the beggining. Well, read Groove's post (and wait for me to receive a new M15x refund) and you will see... it's the same as before. It doesn't mean everyone is going to react negatively to it (Groove likes it, I liked it... appart from the wobbliness and the overheating).
But no, it's not time to step up and claim to the world "My friends... today we fight for freeeeeeeeeeeeeedoooooooooom!". No... it's really the wrong line.

 

No harm in being polite mate... I was just trying to make sense of the graphs n all and what i deciphered i wrote down. If AW did nothing then shouldnt the numbers say otherwise..umm atleast the graph would dip downwards at some point in time or just stay towards the lower side..the Worldwide m15x survey was conducted for a reason..although the company is not "publicly" announcing that it has done anything, the SURVEY on this forum is giving hard evidence that the graph is going UPWARDS.

"Just please, do not convey WRONG information."

I am sorry my friend but all my information has come from the owners of m15x systems at large..now it is UNFAIR to say that what they are saying in the survey is WRONG..

unless God intervened and forced people to submit positive surveys I do not think there is any other reason to this upward trend. Just because ur not 100% satisfied does not mean that you think that noone can be happy with the m15x..

"Oh well... Think as you want to think. Just please, do not convey WRONG information. NOTHING was done. It's exactly the same as in the beggining."

now my turn to laugh

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3543465#post3543465

you see these graphs?? I think anyone with respectable mathematical skills can come to the conclusion that its NOT the same as before, but rather its BETTER. If it was the same..ALL the bar graphs would be at the same level.

"It's exactly the same as in the beggining."

...No... it's really the wrong line.

Yemo

 

My dear Yemo... I am always polite.

Now... in what comes to gathering information, I have to say, I've done quite a bit of it. I've read through thousands of posts and threads. I basically read everything going on in the AW forum. I doubt you have had.

I would suggest you having a read at this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=266056

Then, cross match the people there with the people on the "World survey". You will be completely surprised by finding people that say that they find the M15x amazing (on the world survey and those graphs) talking about the same problems that since the beggining have been reported on the M15x.

What I can say is, I've been around for much more time than you. I know everything that has ever happened with the M15x. I've had one M15x already and I'm in the process of receiving a new one. I've came across hundreds of people and experiences... I'm sure you still lack a bit of the knowledge I gained by visiting this forum since January (on a daily basis).

More... I'm finishing my PhD in Biology and I can assure you that those graphs say absolutely NOTHING. I don't know what you were taught in your economy A levels, but those graphs are, as they stand now, completely irrelevant.

And that's it... I don't want to start a long discussion.
I will just finish by saying... There is absolutely no evidence that anything was done by AW to improve the M15x's quality. And I am certainly not going to debate this further with you.

Appart from that... I hope you will love your M15x. I'm sure that all of us are here for the same cause really... we just all want to love the M15x.

 

its just about the taste. some people are willing to spend that amount of Money to get an Alienware with its look and performance, and others dont care about the looks and by that minimize the payments. nothing wrong with both

 

Brainer, I absolutely agree with you...
I paid for an M15x... I was willing to spend that ammount of money.
For the brand, the looks but, most importantly, because I thought I was going to receive the "king of laptops". Well... I did get a handful of problems (not as many compared to most of the M15x users that reported true horror stories).
I could have returned it... why didn't I? Because I still want a perfectly functional M15x. That's all I want. That's the minimum I'm entitled to (or any costumer, really), given the price we paid for it.

 

this is true, but it does not take into the effect that more power users would be here as well and would post info.. as e.g the two sisters getting their AW's from their dad ( see youtube and a couple of discussions here) are probably not here. If I got one for my Mom, think she be here?

The stats, I can rip to shreds ( http://www.tnsglobal.com) worked there once back in the day.. don't want to say where I work today

the only thing I look at is the proof, I don't care if it's one or two users- the issues AW have are so fundamental, see heating and down clocking, when the f.. did their testing not see this- it was reported within days of the first users go theirs, the laptop creaks and is somewhat "plasticly".

Don't get me wrong:

I would pull the trigger ASAP if the fix the case ( I LOVE the look and would go max on everything but not the screen) well probably not the max on cpu as that ALSO have issues as the heat is still an issue.

I might get a voodoopc, if it turns out to be an AW without issues- I might get on a cheap flight to the US just to get it...

I am not getting an AW now as:

1: issue with heat
2: issue with case, screen wobble
3: general concern about the quality due to the fact they seem to miss out on some of the basic..as indicated over.

Trust me I have been down the road before and I let ppl like you get f.. so I don't have to- please get the AW and hopefully you and others who get problems complain to AW and they might fix it, I can then get the revised version and be happy

 

This thread is in need of moderation...I cannot entertain comments/posts that have absolutely no relevance whatsoever to the topic..Furthermore this thread has nothing to do with complaining regarding any company or discouraging potential buyers. Having said that I refuse to reply to any comment/post regarding personal matters such as education, personal problems etc..I have started this thread because I found it hard to make certain decisions at certain points in time. Thus I felt that this thread would make the same decisions easier for a lot of people.

Yemo

 

Guys,

Please stay on Topic. Some posts have been deleted. If you want to share your story, make a new thread or post it in the M15x owners lounge(make sure that your post complies with the forum rules).

Thanks.

-Kdawgca
NBR Mod

 

thank you Kdawgca

 

Hi everyone..here is a walkthrough for the order page...this is my specification as well..also, please ignore the price that it shows..its different at different stages..



Check out the PDF..its higher quality

 

Yemo, I just wanted to let you know that there's 90% chance you will experience downclocking with the CPU if you opt for the extreme processor.
I think you really don't need it, so I would give it a more deep thought regarding your CPU. 2.5GHz is enough. The ammount of money you pay for the .3GHZ are not justified.

 

thanks milcs for this info..umm what if AW launches another BIOS update that fixes this..i mean wont it be better to just have that processor rather than try and change it later on...what do u say doc?

 

-changing the ram is extremely quick. for the amount of money you are paying AW is not worth it. you can change the ram in 5 min max.

-the extreme processors have a high chance for downclocking. The chances of the extreme downclocking is a lot higher than the T9300. Since theres only a .3 Ghz difference i would go with ther T9300. You wont really notice the .3Ghz gain

-the 1440 x 900 actually has better picture quality because it is glossy. You will also not notice the difference in resolution when watching a movie because the screen is so small. If you were to watch a 720p movie and a 1080p movie you would not see any difference. You will only see a difference on a bigger screen. The 1440 x 900 screen is also brighter, has a better contrast ratio, has better viewing angles, faster response time, and weighs less

-Ultimate is a waste imo unless you need all those encryption options. But you do get animated wallpapers which is pretty cool i guess.

-The AlienFX software already has the keyboard in it. If you are talking about syncing music to the keyboard, there isnt a patch out for that. There is one for Macs though.

 

Hi Yemo, do you work for AW or know someone there?

the extreme cpu downclocks, new bios= fans on all the time at full rpm?

don't get it, the bios does not allow you to overclock it, get the ssd disk instead..

 

the new bios just makes the fans go on full rpm at a earlier temperature. it think its around 88.

 

Unfortunately, the cooling is at its limit. The only way they can go around solving it is by playing around with CPU voltage (which might even decrease CPU's performance by a bit). So... I don't think you will see any Bios that will improve the cooling (I mean... it's running at full blast at all time and simply is not enough to prevent the temperatures to rise above 92ºC and downclock).

 

Sorry can i ask what the alien fx keyboard actually gets u? Does it lightup whether you go for this option or not? Does the option only give u the ability to sync with music etc?

 

You only have lights on your keyboard if you order the lighted keyboard specifically. As for syncing with music, I don't know.

 

I am glad you said something. It is interesting to see the persistence, but it was starting to get old. I too would just ignore them and reply to relevant posts.

I wish there was a way for thread creators to remove the 'fluff' from their own threads. However that would not really be fair I guess. puh.

I am genuinely interested in your buying experience. I really love my m15x!

Edit: Btw, it's nice a moderator stepped in. Yay for moderators.

 

thank you dawnkeeper...im happy to have u on my side..ya i wanted to ask you something...what do you feel.. should I go for the X9000 2.8GHZ?

 

you mean you have lights everywhere else AND the keyboard..if you dont choose this option you have no lights on keyboard but lights everywhere else

 

The 2.8 still downclocks. As Milcs said, the cooling is pretty much at its limit. You have to understand the limitations of putting all these major components within such a small chassis. Alienware simply overestimated it.

I strongly advise to order with your reason & sound judgment at the forefront of your decisions. Then again, it is your money.

As to the lights thing, I don't know. I don't own an m15x yet.

 

I think you and I are the last ones holding out, Miho. I don't know about you, but I was waiting on the approval of one of the most critical board dwellers... Milcs.

@ Yemo... I would personally go with the 2.5ghz instead of the X9000. Like Miho said, the 2.8 Extreme processor apparently downclocks, so probably wouldn't be worth the extra you pay for it. The reason a lot of people go with the 2.5 instead of 2.6 is simply because you wouldn't notice the 100mhz difference enough to justify the price you pay for it. The 2.5 processor would probably be the wisest choice when it comes to this machine. It is still a powerful and fast processor, and would run games very well. It is entirely up to you though.

 

hi Gunsmith Cat ..so ur telling me that the X9000 will actually be SLOWER than the 2.6 ??

 

No, it wouldn't be slower. It just wouldn't always live up to it's full potential in the M15x it seems. I think you would be taking a big risk if you wanted to overclock it to about 3.2, as some have done. I think you should look out for the member who has the cartoon avatar of an alien with a glowstick thing (their name escapes me)... as I think they have had some success with their M15x, and have possibly overclocked it. I think they may have the X9000. I could be wrong though.