unreal25

Yeah they replace it with newer gen different systems mostly IF your system has errors after many repairs and you complain a lot, and also the chance is increased if that particular line is discontinued (so they have nothing to give you). You would probably be getting some M18x after a lot of complaining, were those things to happen. I don't find them lenient, except for providing replacement parts while the computer is under warranty. Also, maybe it's worth waiting for the new 7990 cards or whatever they'll be, depending on how much faster they work. It was mentioned somewhere that they might work on MXM3.0.

They started with 32 companies initially.

The Voters Have Spoken: EA Is Your Worst Company In America For 2012! - The Consumerist It's funny how a video game company managed to piss off more folks than Bank of America. Now that's something.

Well I'll be selling this one soon, I just wanted to call Dell first and see how much would it cost to buy 1 or 2 years warranty, as the previous warranty just expired (I imagine it would sell much easier with warranty.)

Added some benches. Was hoping for some higher overclock but nope. Still, I am glad that temperatures are very nice and that the laptop due to its small size and relatively low resolution (1366x768) runs games at quite high settings.

LOL @ Jimbo.

You can cut our wings, but we'll always remember how to fly!!!

LOL'd in real life on this.

You asked for it.

I have A04 Command Center from the DVD that came with the computer. I uploaded it on Google Documents if you need it: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bx0SzKVtVOPuR01udDhka2xUNjZzZnRscTc1cHlyUQ

"This route includes a ferry." LMAO... ferry... across the pacific.

Thanks I'll try these. I originally wanted to do benchmarks first, but as I had both R1 and R3 for a day or two, I decided to rather take some photos. 3DMark06 is probably not the best bench for DX11 cards, so I'll probably be running some game benchmarks and will try to repeat some older one I did on R1 (Crysis 1) to give some comparison of how much better FPS actually is in games. Unfortunately I won't have time before Saturday, too much work these days.

Hi! As someone already mentioned seems like there isn't that much love here for the little man, M11x. Since I just received M11x-R3 as a replacement for my old cursed R1, I thought I can give some short info about the differences and similarities between the two releases. (Even if its what, 9 months after its original release.) Comparing to the old M11x-R1, this one has: - significantly better screen - Klipsch audio (the on-board speakers sound fantastic), - nicer matte exterior - gigabit lan instead of 100mbit - USB 3.0 - lacks VGA port - faster CPU - better battery life - most importantly faster GPU; it's now nVidia GT540M instead of GT335M Specs. Intel Core i7 2637m 1.7GHz (2.8GHz Turboboost) nVidia GT540M 2GB GPU 8GB RAM 1333 MHz 750GB HD 7200RPM Looks. New matte surface looks really nice and does not have old gloss. Screen. Significant improvement from R1 in terms of both viewing angles and color reproduction (even though R1 I had had kind of blueish tone; but we're assuming here an average M11x does not own a professional screen calibrator) and I didn't manage to do much better using a Windows Calibrator. Its a bit brighter too. The brightness levels match when R3 is set to about 75% of its max brightness. It's difficult to give a good impression of the screen quality through photos but I'll give it a shot. Here we see, from left to right: M17x-R2 RGB LED, Thinkpad X200T Samsung PVA SuperBright screen, M11x-R1 screen, M11x-R3 screen: This is how far screen can be pushed on each laptop and how the picture looks like then: The two things about the screen that I don't like is that it is still glossy and that black colors are poor (like on any "standard" screen). Performance. Stock Settings. GPU clock: 672 MHz, Memory 900 MHz, Shader 1344 MHz. 3DMark06: ~8500 3dMark11: 984 Fan is roughly the same level as on R1, it has a deeper hair-dryer tone when its working and I didn't find it distracting (it's a bit less loud then M17x). (Updated data will come during next couple of days; lost the screenshots when I restored the hard drive.) EDIT: I tried overclocking the CPU in BIOS, but for some reason it won't let me change the settings. Any ideas? Also, which software do you guys use for overclocking the nvidia cards? EDIT2 (04/03/2012): Overclocked. GPU clock: 815 MHz, Memory 1050 MHz, Shader: 1631 MHz. 3DMark11: 1169 (about 19% increase) Crysis 2: DX11, high resolution textures, all settings maxxed out on Ultra, around 15-20FPS outdoors with action going on. (no screenshot provided) Battlefield 3: Ultra settings with Shadows on High (see screenshot for settings; close to maxxing it out), getting around 25-40FPS outdoors with lots of action going on. Tested single player only however. Overall temperatures look pretty good. With this overclock (if I try going higher, the card automatically downclocks on stock), I am getting around 70-75 C max on full (100%) GPU load and no artifacts whatsoever. With stock setting its only few degrees less. Also, this is with CPU on stock settings, haven't played around with CPU overclocking, which is possible using the standard Alienware BIOS so no modding required. I'll try to get some more games on this computer just to see what we can expect. So far, it definitely looks like a beast with a nice overclock potential without requiring anything special -- I simply used MSI Afterburner and worked like a charm. EDIT 3: Added the screenshot of the M11x-R3 screen information if anyone is interested in the exact model.

Yes, you send it back in the same box in which the new replacement laptop came in. First they send you the replacement and after you receive it, you send the old one back. I did not pay for anything (it was still under warranty).

I got the call back from Dell next business day after I filed a BBB complaint from someone in their "executive customer service" I believe.

It was exactly the same they told me initially; that they will "escalate" my case but the phone rep was very negative and kept convincing me it (the request for replacement) would be denied. At that point I contacted the Better Business Bureau. I never waited for that whole week since my warranty was about to expire. Nameplate can be unscrewed and screwed onto another laptop. The way it works is when they send you a replacement you ship the old laptop back in the same box. So momentarily you have both of them at the same time and you can move the nameplate if you have a screwdriver and 2 minutes of time. My replacement seems just fine,thanks! I am at the moment talking to people about selling it since I don't need a third laptop.

I never managed to get anywhere with the tech support on the phone. They kept offering replacement parts and/or sending the laptop to Dell depot (I had 4 repairs, 1 time screen hinge other 3 times cosmetic defects as a result of bad service on that hinge replacement), and I got lousier service at the depot than from on-site techs. The phone support guy took some convincing even to escalate the case, but he kept being negative and saying to me it won't work. Only after I filed a BBB complaint did I get someone from their "Executive" support whose job wasn't to waste customers time but instead he gave the replacement. At that point, I dealt only with this same guy. It was the same laptop as originally -- C2D M11x, but now with 8GB RAM (vs old 4) and 500GB HD (vs old 250GB). It was however, previously ordered new, so it was in mint physical condition and the battery was new. Only after I complained that that one didn't work, after another phone call, were they willing to give another replacement. The other replacement was also refurb but it had much better specs: core i7 2637m vs c2d su4300/su7300, 8gb ram 1333mhz vs 4gb ram 1066 mhz, and 750GB HD vs 250GB HD + it was high end m11x-r3 vs original which was r1 so it has plenty of other extra improvements like slightly better screen, better audio, better looking surface and other minor things. Also, it didn't seem they were willing to give out new systems (the situation might be different if you have high end M18x, however), but only refurbished.

lol ye sometimes it is ok, it depends on the tech. I had a tech coming twice who had to connect to my home wifi so he can follow the disassembly manual for M11x. He basically never saw the system. The next guy new some more but also never worked on M11x. It's basically the on-site techs who repair many laptops, not only Dell but also HP, Lenovo, etc. The good thing is that at least you always get replacement parts, even though they may often be refurbs. The mobo that came was probably a refurb part too so I think it was a wise idea to just swap the battery. On the other hand, I had equally bad, if not worse experience when sending the laptop to Dell depot, so I think the on-site techs aren't doing "bad", relative to the service you would get at the Dell depot.

Thanks. Good luck with the mobo. Hint: from what I remember talking to them on the phone if the mobo gets replaced > 1 time, you can start asking for replacement. Ofc doesn't mean you'd get it, but its definitely becoming a more realistic option. So I think its a win-win situation. You have nice specs on that R2 anyway.

Thanks a bunch to you as well. Can't believe I got this fully loaded machine. I thought I'll need to argue more for i3 but no. Go the best specced (excpet for an SSD) M11x-R3 they have atm. I think we need more M11x scores and they will be coming right tonight. Installing stuff now.

After more hours and arguing with dell tech support here's what I got: M11x-R3 black refurb Intel Core i7 2637M 1.7GHz (2.8GHz Turboboost) 8 GB RAM 1333 MHz 750 GB HD (7.2K rpm?) nVidia Geforce GT540M Gonna be some benching tonight fellas.

You think the quality of non-foreign fox news is any better?

Well I really love the idea, if it can be made to work with the battery. I am more interested in how quiet will laptop run at these clocks. Also, as svl7 there was no mention of how it affects the battery life (if the battery is still there).

My favorite retailer, and btw by an infinite margin, is Newegg.

I think it's a reality show of a small claims court, where you don't pay any lawyer fees and can represent yourself. It is "real", I believe.