Leaderboard

I got an email, as of January the 10th 2011, from a Dell's Senior Representative (not in sales) stating the M18X will indeed be given birth. I will not show it here (cause I told him I wouldn't), so you have to take my word on it. The M18X will truly be launched in April. So, NO, we aren't chasing Moby Dick nor any other phantomatic monster. As far as I know, but this might depend on your very own country, you usualy have kind of ± 7 to 10 days to return your spaceship without any restocking fees. Or, you could simply refuse the delivery straight at the door, you do not accept the box, so you don't unpack anything, you just refuse the good when delivered. This way, it's returned to Dell and you get your full credit back. eYe

So I received an e-mail from Dell for acknowledgment of parts shipped out for an XPS 1640 system in the amount of $498. Naturally I was distressed to see this, especially since it said the charge was billed to an Amex which I happen to have. To solve this little issue, I called Dell customer care and was on the phone with them for over an hour while having been transferred in the following order: customer care-->customer care-->dell tech support-->dell xps support-->dell customer care Essentially I completed a nice circle of Dell's service support to no avail. The reps kept asking me what my credit card number is (like I'll give them that) and at one point the xps support guy asked for my M17x-R2 service tag which I provided. He then wanted to associate this order issue with my Alienware service tag which I of course graciously declined. Finally I was transferred to another Dell customer care representative who assured me that I would not be charged since it was billed to someone else's Amex (why doesn't that make me feel assured?) and it likely was a human error since the person that placed the order shared the same surname as me. Then he asked me if I had received the parts AFTER I explained to him that they were shipped to an address I no longer resided at and had not for a year. At the end of the conversation, I was provided a reference number and told that they would wait on the original customer to call them back and then take care of the issue. So essentially, its still an unresolved problem because the genius's at Dell do not have the service tag of the phantom XPS 16 system they sent parts out for.

Alienware M11X R3 - tiny beast? - Dell News and more Text isnt working for me, but apparently some info there? -Ash

Just finished up my casing, so what do you guys think.

HP has released their newest Envy revision with SB and 3D support. Their starting price is pretty decent at $1649.99 and that includes the AMD 6850m graphics chip, 3D display and glasses as part of the starting package. Their competition includes the Alienware M17x-R3 that costs $1799 for the starting 3D bundle and Asus G73SW-3DE that costs $1999. If you break it down: Asus: nVidia 460M support for 3D and removable graphics card (though not MXM 3.0b compliant) Cooling that should be better than HP but not as good as Alienware Asus keyboard can be switched out for a colord lighting one at added cost from a custom reseller (not Amazon) Alienware M17x-R3: Soft touch rubber + magnesium construction Dell at home warranty service for 1 year Alien fx lighting MXM 3.0b compliant video card that can be swapped out HDMI Input Wireless HDMI (coming soon) Best cooling of the 3 notebooks Switchable graphics for long battery life Option for AMD 6970M graphics card which offers 50-100% performance increase vs GTX 460M found in Asus G73SW and HP Envy 17 3D but no 3D support. HP Envy 3D: Lower starting price than either of the other 2 Metal chasis which gives it a higher quality feel Thinner profile than AW or Asus Macbook Pro like design which a lot of people like Even with upgrades, its cheaper than Alienware The 6850M is integrated and not a separate MXM 3.0b compliant card.

Reference: M14x FAQ - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community by Chris-M@Dell: Processor type = Second Generation Intel Core i3 Processors Second Generation Intel Core i5 Processors Second Generation Intel Core i7 Processors Processor speeds = i3-2310M, 2.1GHz, Duo Core i5-2410M, 2.3GHz, Duo Core i5-2540M, 2.6GHz, Duo Core i7-2630QM, 2.0GHz, Quad Core i7-2720QM, 2.2GHz, 6MB i7-2820QM, 2.3GHz, 8MB System chipset = Mobile Intel HM67 Express Chipset Memory = 8GB 1333/ 1600MHz unbuffered non-ECC dual channel DDR3 Hard Drives = Up to 750 GB 7200RPM Up to 256 GB Solid State HDD RAID = None LCD types = 14.0 inch HD WLED with TrueLife 1366 x 768 14.0 inch HD+ WLED with TrueLife 1600 x 900 Video = Integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 Discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 555M Video Memory = Integrated 512 MB dedicated video memory (for total system memory greater than 4 GB) Discrete 1.5 GB TV Tuner = Optional Camera = 2.0 megapixel HD Camera Audio = Realtek ALC665 High-Definition surround sound audio controller USB = One USB 2.0-compliant connector with PowerShare Two USB 3.0-compliant connectors Media bay options = DVD+/-RW 8X,9.5,SATA SATA Wireless LAN = Intel Wireless 6250 Card Intel Wireless 6205 Card Bluetooth = Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth Mini-Card (Optional) NIC (LOM) = AR8151 Gigabit Fast Ethernet controller Modem = External USB modem (no internal option) I/O card slot = 9-in-1 card reader IR support = Consumer IR Connectors Left = VGA. HDMI output, Display Port, USB 2.0, Microphone, Headphone, 9-in-1 Media card reader, SIM card Connectors Right = Optical Disc Drive, USB 3.0, RJ-45 Kensington lock slot Operating system = Windows 7 (64-bit only) Docking support = No internal dock, USB APR AC adapter = 150 watt low profile AC adapter Battery = 8 cell smart lithium ion (63 Whr) Keyboard = Illuminated Keyboard AlienFX Lighting = Blue (Default), Red, Lime, White, Yellow, Fuchsia, Aqua, Indigo Physical Dimensions = Weight = Weight with 8-cell battery and optical drive (starting at): 2.88 kg (6.35 lb) Height : 37.80 mm (1.49 inches) Front and Back Width : 337.00 mm (13.27 inches) Depth : 258.34 mm (10.17 inches) I guess at least you can put 2 HDDs if you toss out the useless optical drive.

I've been testing some components for an upcoming game rig and noticed a particular combination giving very fast re-boots. I decided to give it some attention and see how far I could take it. I have it down to 14 seconds so far and was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction to lower it even more. I came across a YouTube video by "stamatisx" and left a comment. The reply was to visit this site and help might be provided. Current components are as follows: Biostar TH67+ mb Intel 2600K cpu OCZ Vertex 2 ssd Win 7 64 To get to this point I have: enabled quick boot in bios enabled noGUIboot disabled startup/services no sound/video driver - using onboard

And... done!

https://picasaweb.google.com/109631313223265896524/RGBLEDVsWLED#slideshow/5443905378279244610 This was done without calibrating either monitor. Thoughts? It's a shame Dell got rid of RGB LED so quickly for the Studio XPS 16.

You could but you get better heat transfer with a retention mod. With a copper shim you're adding an extra layer of metal to transfer heat through.

It can play games for the next few years quite easily. It's still more powerful than the R3 overall.

wow man. that's quite a price! Michael Dell himself should have delivered it to you

^^ wouldn't say the rgbled is accurate, pretty,bright, clear - hell yeah, accurate - not so much.

Hellya... Fortunately for me, my M17X speaks Morse Code, and I know siht about it...

HP loves using single fan designs for some reason. I had to fix my ex-gf dad's HP once and holy shit, taking those systems apart is a huge undertaking! The manual is nowhere near as detailed as the one's Dell makes available and it is so god damn cumbersome getting to the mainboard. I love the way Dell designs their systems and it's why I've stuck to Dell all these years. The simplicity of their designs coupled with above average to excellent cooling has me sold.

The 6970M still has issues in the r2. For one thing there's no real bios fan control, the 5870M heatsink isn't designed for the 6970M, there are some throttling issues I experienced and other problems. Basically if you want the 6970M, get an R3 or M18x.

the easiest way to check is to press the touch button on the upper right corner above the keyboard (looks like a speedometer).A message will pop up and ask you to reboot probably. After the reboot check the performance, if the laptop feels slow then you have the stealth mode on (you can try to run a benchmark, the numbers should be really low), in this case press it again to deactivate it. If it wasn't the stealth mode then check the other recommendation on my previous post.

Games currently playing are Medal Of Honor, Battlefield 2:Bad company 2, Atlantica Online(for the last 2 years) Combat Arms and waiting diligently for Battlefield 3. I have to say that for the first time I am able to enjoy my games, the A07 patch finally fix my m17x-R1 display, I had Scan Lines so bad I felt I was playing in a 1960's philco TV whenever I played a Game plus the fans would be just going berserk.

I have some preliminary specifications of the M11X R3 which I will substantiate with some pictures if I am able to. Note: this info is not confirmed and I am not claiming that they are accurate but they are coming directly from dell Alienware M11x-R3: Dimensions Height (front and back) 32.7 mm (1.29 inches) Width 285.7 mm (11.25 inches) Depth 233.3 mm (9.19 inches) Weight with 8-cell battery (starting at) 2.0 kg (4.4 lb) Processor Intel Core i5 ULV (2nd generation) Intel Core i7 ULV (2nd generation) L2 cache 256 KB L3 cache up to 4 MB Bus clock 100 Mhz System chipset Mobile Intel QS67 Express Chipset SDRAM bus width one or two 64-bit channels of DDR3 memory up to 1333 MHz Processor address bus width 32 bits Processor data width 64 bits BIOS EPROM 32 Mbit Graphics bus PCIe x16 Gen2 Memory Connectors two internally-accessible DDR3 SODIMM sockets Capacities 1 GB, 2 GB, and 4 GB Memory type up to 1333 MHz, unbuffered non-ECC, dual‑channel DDR3 configuration Memory configurations supported 2 GB, 3 GB, 4 GB, and 8 GB Controller JMicron JMB380 Interface compliant with standard IEEE 1394a-2000 specification Ports and Connectors Network adapter one RJ45 connector USB one 4-pin USB 2.0-compliant connector with ••PowerShare two 4-pin USB 3.0-compliant connectors•• HDMI one 19-pin connector DisplayPort one 20-pin connector Audio two audio output/headphone connectors and one audio input/microphone connector Media Card Reader one 8-in-1 slot SIM card one SIM card slot IEEE 1394 one 4-pin serial connector Network adapter 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet LAN on system board Wireless one half Mini-Card slot•• one full Mini-Card slot•• Bluetooth; Intel Wireless Display (optional); ••3G Wireless Internet (optional); 4G Wireless Internet (optional) Video Video controller Integrated Discrete Intel HD Graphics 3000 NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M Video memory Integrated Discrete 512 MB dedicated video memory (for total system memory greater than 4 GB) 1 GB 2 GB External display support HDMI 1.4, DisplayPort, and Intel Wireless Display (optional) Audio Controller Intel High Definition Audio Speaker single 8-ohms speakers in both the left and right speaker assembly Internal speaker amplifier up to 1 W per channel; up to 2 W total power Internal microphone support dual array digital microphone in camera assembly Volume controls program menus and keyboard media function keys Hard-Drive Storage Interface SATA Number of hard drives one Hard drive 2.5 inch SATA hard drive Type standard portable and solid-state hard-drives Media cards Secure Digital (SD) memory card•• MultiMedia Card (MMC)•• Memory Stick PRO•• MultiMedia Card plus (MMC+)•• Memory Stick•• xD-Picture Card (type - M and type - H)•• Video cards Intel HD Graphics 3000•• NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M (discrete)•• Display Type 11.6 inch HD TrueLife, WLED Maximum resolution 1366 x 768 Dimensions Height 144 mm (5.67 inches) Width 256.12 mm (10.08 inches) Diagonal 293.83 mm (11.57 inches) Display Refresh rate 60 Hz Operating angle 0° (closed) to 140° Pixel pitch 0.2550 mm Controls brightness can be controlled through keyboard shortcuts Keyboard (Backlit) Number of keys 82 (Korea, U.S., and Canada); 83 (Europe); 86 (Japan) Backlight color RGB; colors can be changed by invoking the AlienFX software in the Alienware Command Center. For information, see “Alienware Command Center” on page 38. Camera Camera resolution 2.0 megapixel Video resolution 1600 x 1200 Diagonal viewing angle 60 ° Battery 8-cell “smart” lithium ion (63 Whr) Height 11.2 mm (0.44 inches) Width 173 mm (6.81 inches) Depth 109.4 mm (4.31 inches) Weight 0.43 kg (0.94 lb) Voltage 14.8 V Operating time battery operating time varies depending on operating conditions and can be significantly reduced under certain power-intensive conditions. Life span (approximate) 300 discharge/charge cycles

I don't think you killed your cpu, these things are real beasts..if anything, I think you might have fried something in your motherboard like I did two weeks ago when setting TDP/TDC to 120W/110A and two voltage stepping of 150mV, also with 5% factory o'c and 27x multipliers..it was generating too much heat and it's really not practical for benching purposes so basically i fried it for nothing.. anyways, it was replaced and all is good now, and regarding your cpu, i think you should just decrease the bus speed to maybe 136MHz

Dell is amazing though, you have to admit... I know of no other company that will mess up so bad that you get a free laptop or monitor due to their dis-Organization.

the hoops we need to jump through to get to the advertised performance

OK, Im trying to do what Stama is doing. I have the reg tweak applied, and all the settings the same in my throttlestop. I am only getting a 9x multi on my 920x. WTF is going on? -Ash EDIT: NVM, I rebooted throttlestop and all good. That shit is weird... EDIT EDIT: Alrighty guys, thanks to Stama I have discovered something totally jawesome. Its not 100% what I want, but good enough for now. Take a look: I have a 9 multi at idle, automatically controlled via power saver - but its on a hair trigger. As soon as load reaches the level where hard disk access normally begins, throttlestop kicks it up to 24. So when Im idle at the desktop, or doing other non hd-intensive stuff, it runs cool and quiet at 1200mhzish. When the hard disk access ramps up throttlestop kicks in and gives me my full hard disk speed. All you need to do is use the power saving feature, and set it to the exact c0% that is used when hard disk access occurs - for me this was 13 (divisble by 8 threads). So there you have it, happy Ash with his sandforce HDD. -Ash

yeah RGB-LED IPS 120Hz

Crap, don't know why I didn't think of this, my wife just reminded me. You can call the CC company and have a temporary block on your card so Dell cant charge it. Little extra piece of mind. Don't block everyone, just Dell/AW. It's provided as part of being an Amex customer.

It's really amazing how they felt no compulsion to solve this issue. Most of the Dell employees I spoke to (save for the AW costa rica rep who tried his best) were apathetic and in a hurry to get me off the phone. Then when I'd explain something to the morons, it would go in one ear out the other and they'd repeat the same question--pretty frustrating and at one point I had to raise my voice to get their attention.

UUUHM, I would freak the hell out. Unless you have a Dell purchase (credit) account, after the payment confirmation number of a purchase is received from the card company, all but the last 4 digits of a credit card are purged. There should be no way they can bill something to your card without asking you for the number again. My company has to give them the CC number over the phone or online for every purchase. We buy so much we asked why they couldn't put our card number on file and was told that was not possible. We're going to PO with them now, but thats besides the point. I really think you're gonna be OK Brian, but it will be a pain when that poor soul calls in for support...

I totally agree we love our rbgled and I really refuse to have an dtr by alienware without it otherwise back to precisions where there offering rgbled for the 15 and 17 inch models coming up so there better be no damn bs or excuses for the high end consumer models.