*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R2/R3 Owner's Lounge

It is louder than the virtually silent Asus ROG laptops, but compared to my M17x R3, its very quiet. I dont usually notice when I'm gaming. The one thing that I have noticed (as others have) is that the speaker quality has gone downhill - it sounds muffled. But - I don't expect much from a laptop in that regard anyway. I'll try to do some stress tests tonight to get temps, but so far it seems to run cooler than my R3 as well.

I have the matte standard non-touch screen and it is IPS I believe. The viewing angles are great and the picture quality is awesome. I thought I'd miss the glossy screen from my R3, but I suprisingly don't (even though it is used in a dark enviornment most of the time).

I'll need to spend more time with it (been using the desktop for gaming still) but I'll try to do my review of it compared with the R3 and my wife's razer blade 14 (burn your skin hot!!)

 

Hi,
I've just received my AW17 R2 yesterday. Overall it's a good gming laptop, but I've noticed some very disappointing things:

1. The ESC-Key and some following keys below are feeling weird (like they rub on the base)
2. the left mouspad-button squeaks when i press it
3. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: FAN NOISE, just in the moment when the fans are going to start they make an awful noise (loud clicking for 1-2 seconds, like an an old defect harddisk)

Have you experienced similar things, especially the thing with the fans (point 3) ?

 

I haven't had any of those issues. Must be your build.

 

Already heard about the fan noise issue, this needs a call, maybe a return too.

 

haven't had any of those issues either. One thing I have had issues with is random Driver Power State Failure BSOD's. Anyone know which driver is causing this? Games for hours stable but Ill be doing nothing or browsing the internet and boom, bsod.

 

Maybe is a Dell related driver crash? Users advise to not install Dell drivers about recovery and support assist as they can cause crashes.

 

I did re-install windows to an SSD and I did not install the support or recovery drivers. I know its software related too because the system is stable under full load. It never happens while gaming. It could be the intel HD graphics drivers, only happens when I'm on the hd4600.

 

Sent Dell that support request e-mail with the pre-filled out template to request the 240 watt adapter even though the laptop has not shipped yet. Hopefully I won't have to wait for it.

 

I'm not giving up until I get that damn adapter

 

Just chiming in the thread after going AWOL since I received my 17r2 (glossy touch screen with 970GTX).

Absolutely no issues so far. Been thoroughly enjoying Skyrim/COD-AW (online) and it's a wonderful feeling coming home and using the laptop. The Wifi card continues to impress me as I get solid 4-5 bars during COD multiplayer, 15 feet away from my router. And no drops to this day even under heavy load.

Got my 256GB SSD m2 drive from Amazon a week ago but just haven't gotten around to installing it. OS has been rock solid so don't wanna jinx it.

Still waiting for the 5% Dell giftcard that they haven't emailed me yet though.

 

DELL keep lying to me please take a look http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...rder-status-thread.771207/page-5#post-9940971

 

For what it's worth, I've spoken with a lot of people at Dell, the most recent one actually refused to let me speak to her manager. She said "I'm the only point of contact for you, so you will be only discussing your case with me". Heh, LOVE IT.

 

another major issue is during intensive games my processor wont boost, it goes from 3.4ghz to 2.5 and stays there...went i alt tab out of the game and let the GPU calm down the cpu goes right back up to 3.4 to 3.7ghz. Is this because the 180watt im still using doesnt have enough juice and so the cpu throttles to base clock 2.5? All temps are perfect, im on high performance, no clue why its doing this.

 

Another word of advice to everyone , disable Intel thermal framework in the bios and also uninstall the driver for it, it throttles the cpu like hell

 

These Mothf66666kers they had told me that previously that they would Overnight Ship the 240 PSU.. Now they are telling me is in backorder and I have to wait 1-2 weeks until I get mine.

 

seems like the new Alienware Notebooks have many different problems....I've decided to send my AW17R2 back to Dell. Maybe in the future Dell realises these disappointmenting problems and fix those...but for now I'll just wait.

 

Where in the BIOS? I found the driver, uninstalled it, but could not find it in bios.

 

Hey, just a quick request, anyone who returned their machine or had any issues with the company/computer could you please send me a private message. I have questions for you.

Thank you!

 

They should overnight it from Texas. I've received both a usb drive and ac adapter, both with that expedited service.

 

I own a 15, but maybe this will be applicable.
1. not an issue for me
2. It did this initially, almost as it was rubbing on the left button or frame. It stopped after a week.
3. I get that same noise. It sounds like the fan is accepting current, and makes that little electrical noise. My 14 made a truly obnoxious DVD drive sound, upon each startup, so I can live with that occasional sparking sound.

 

Anyone found a good color calibration profile for the 17 R2 touch LCD? At stock, the colors have lots on contrast between them, but its not very bright overall. Bumping up the brightness only washes out the colors. I haven't been able to find a happy medium, not a calibrated profile for this LCD.

Model is: LG Phillips LGD0459

 

Anyone know the model number and make of the matte 1080p panel?

 

It's the LG Philips LP173WF4 ( http://www.panelook.com/LP173WF4-SPF1_LG Display_17.3_LCM_overview_21056.html)

 

is it usefull to replace the 1TB 5400rpm HD with an 850evo 1TB SSD ?

 

Get Msata/m2 ssd and keep your 1TB hdd.

 

Honestly I'm planning to replace the 1TB 5400 with a 750gb WD Black 7200rpm.

 

Just got my new 17 in. I had to post this first before anything else... but the speakers are god awful. This was a warranty exchange for my current 17 (with the 880m) and the difference is night and day. We are talking terrible. I am so surprised that a 3000 dollar machine would be downgraded in speaker quality as much as this was. 20% thinner than last years model? I already see one area they threw to the side. Ok rant over

 

Having also owned both the R1 & R2, I can say that in my opinion, the only part that was upgraded in the R2 is the screen. It is a nice LG IPS panel. Well, I guess being thinner and lighter could be considered an upgrade.

Everything else is a downgrade. Keyboard is cheaper, not quite as sturdy, more plastic/less metal, no optical drive, louder, chassis/keyboard gets warmer/hotter, BGA CPU/GPU, max 16GB of RAM.

Still a good laptop compared to others currently offered by competitors, but definitely a downgrade in almost every way compared to the R1.

 

Thinner and lighter could be considered an upgrade. No. Thinner = weaker cooling, soldered hardware and no odd

 

dont really need an optical drive anymore, dvd's are dead, most sofware and games are now downloadable,

 

It is not everyone who has a good internet speed and there are still many who have to use the odd to music and installation of previously purchased games. Main problem with a thin laptop is still worse cooling of hardware inside the laptop. This means less opportunity for serious overclocking the processor and graphics card. Dell also removed the ability to have more than 1 standard ssd when the laptop has thinner design. You are forced to use expensive M.2 ssd.

 

My opinion ssd's are also coming to an end m.2 are smaller and thinner, and the prices are getting better, by next year start seeing manufacturers start using PCIe drives.

 

As an FYI, I received my 240w PSU.

Since I had already sold the R2, I'm just using the PSU with my "new" used R1. Works flawlessly.

Once I get the 970M installed, I'll see how far I can push the card.

 

Hey everyone, will this M.2 SSD drive work in my 17 R2?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9177572&CatId=5300

 

Yes, that should fit fine. Just so you know, this is what I installed and its working great!

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-MTS...+80+mm+M.2+SSD+Solid+State+Drive+TS512GMTS800

When you click the link, it also has the smaller capacity sizes.

 

Finally got mine today and yes, I'm one of the "lucky" ones with the speakers issue but finally I've identified the problem for who's whining about bad audio quality: on a faulty AW17 like mine the audio is bad just because it doesn't come from speakers + sub, you hear muffled audio because only the sub is working, maybe some assembly mistake.

Tried every kind of driver unistall/install plus Ubuntu Live and now I'm 100% sure is hardware based.

Listen to me, do not complain about bad audio quality, call the tech service.

 

We should get AW to investigate - as I mentioned in another thread, ASUS had the same problem with their G751 laptops, and it turns out it was software, not hardware, related. Realtek issued a new driver that fixed it.

Maybe @AW Khan can look into this?

 

How did you test this? My volume seems so low you can barely hear anything until you get to almost 15-20 and I can't really listen to anything below 30 which is pretty quiet. I seem to hear audio from the sub and both sides up front but I don't know if i'm missing something.

 

If you want to test the issue just boot the laptop while pressing Fn+Alien logo, there is a quick 8-bit audio check. Just listen from where the audio come from, only from the subwooker under the laptop in my case. I hear the right channel coming from sub directed to display, left channel coming from sub but directed to me, that's totally wrong.

@Ramzay my driver tests + Ubuntu Live + Alienware diagnostics boot tool (Fn+Power button) shows that's definitely an hardware issue.
Yeah, this is funny because of the similarities between the laptops, still prefer the AW, the TrueLife display is truly amazing.

They forced me to update my BIOS from A01 to A02 before giving me the possibility to call a tech and also denied me a 240w PSU when another italian user helped by me received yours last week.
I have contacted @AW Khan for help. I'm not returning this but now I absolutely pretend a proper PSU. It's terrible to experience a complete teardown of the system after only 3 days guys.

 

The last time I talked to Khan (yesterday) he told me he was going to be on a flight to somewhere. So I'm going to be guessing he won't be speaking as much as he otherwise would.

 

My proverbial luck

 

Figured it's better if I post this in here instead of the other slow performance thread.

Yesterday I received my 17 with the 980m and the 4710CPU. I play DayZ and am getting horrible FPS. I understand that game isn't optimized yet but my Alienware X51 desktop has a GTX 555 in it and runs pretty dang good when using "Optimal Settings" on the NVidia Experience app. It has it running 1920x1080 and medium settings or so which runs well and looks great. Clicking on "Optimal Settings" on the Alienware 17 with the 980 and it's telling me I should run 1600x900 and most things on LOW or OFF. I'm incredibly confused as this 980 should be running this stuff on high for the most part I thought. I received this laptop yesterday and it came with the 180w PS but I immediately called and complained an the 240w PS came in the mail today so that's what I'm running.

I have a strange feeling it's trying to run on the integrated 4600, when running dxdiag it only shows the integrated graphics but the control panel I have it setup with DayZ.exe to run the high performance NVidia processor. Also initially when I installed the NVidia Experience program it found NO NVidia graphics cards, not until I installed a BETA version of that program did it see a 980.

What am I doing wrong here?

 

Try Using MSI Afterburner OSD to show the GPU % of both GPU1 and GPU2. Also if you have GPU-z active while you start the game up, it should show max speeds for the 980m, if the max goes up to the 1100 range or more then it is being activated, as well as the OSD showing GPU activity etc. It could be related to the psu, as I had a similar experience when playing Far Cry 4 before I had the 240 watt.

 

I've the same noise of point 3. when fan starts it makes this vibrating noise for a few second. I've the 15 version.
Have you returned your laptop or not? Mine except this issue has no other problems..

 

to enusre its not running on the intel card, right click on the shortcut, and select open with Nvidia

 

I've returned my AW 17 R2 because of the three problems. Especially the point 3 (FAN noise just before they start to spin) was a big disappointment an not acceptable for the price of the notebook.

 

I've uploaded a video with the fan noise sound when it starts.
Is it the same noise of your laptop?

 

Mine made a sound like that on start up, though not as loud. Honestly it doesn't even sound that bad? I don't understand why this is such a huge issue? It's a sound that it makes once for 1 second at start up? Every laptop I've owned made a similar sound at start up.

 

Yes you are right, in fact this is the sound when the fan starts..the problem is that fan seems to start quite often and not only when i power on the laptop, maybe because in idle fan is completely off..