*OFFICIAL* Alienware X Series Owners Lounge and Discussion

This reminds me much about when Dell's tech support team shoot down the questions from their customers about why Dell skipped ssd raid option in the first Alienware BGA-Books in 2015. They just said it was not needed in any gaming-books. I'm quite sure they always ask their targeted customers what they want, LOOL

And I wonder who'm of their customers said they could just add less I/O port on their new High end. Nope.... They don't bother with asking people what they want.

 

My Last one was à 17 r5 i9+1080 screen UHD with 4 years support, 3 year later Dell refund me full "3090 euros" because too many interventions and still overheating.

If this one x17 is a bad boy like my old 17r5, the premium support will Help me to save my money and refund me if the problem can't be resolved

 

Good price you got, with a discount ?

 

No i mean you have to use a driver approve by 3dmark (so a a drvier from Nvidia download page that is not an Hotfix) . Dell's nvidia driver are not approved so the scores are invalid.

Edit: i have to admit my previous post was confusing.

 

I keep placing an order and then cancelling - but 15% military coupon today, plus 100 dollars if you use financing, plus of course another bit of DPA cash back…I’m back on the X15 gravy train. I was thinking about using it on the R5/6 either with AMD or 11th gen intel, but the wait for that is saying mid August versus mid July for the X series!

I get most here want the chonky gaming laptops of old with lots of upgradeable parts, but I have to say the X15 being thinner than the XPS15 9500 I had earlier in 2020 while packing in a 90W-110W 3070 is pretty dramatically cool. I get the whole hate fest here for thinner and thinner machines, but if that little gameplay video of the X15 holding temps in 70s in a gaming session are true, and fan noise ain’t a monster, then it may be a pretty amazing laptop. I hate the keyboard with the shifted key markings underneath the key, but maybe I’ll get used to it?

I also have a Zephyrus G15 I can pick up Wed this week - hmmm. I thought about getting a bigger machine, but I’m a sucker for futuristic looking super thin machines. Otherwise, why not just stick with a desktop system??

 

Don't think most people here want a machine that is specifically chunky, however, we don't want the thinness to come at the expense of performance or basic upgradeability. It would hardly be fair to call the m15/m17 (which quite a few people here would favour) chunky. Surely you must understand the difference between a laptop such as m17 or even Area 51M and a desktop?
By the same token, someone could ask: why not just get yourself a Macbook instead?

 

Yes. Called the sales man and he sent me an offer.

 

Dell Alienware know their customer base. They would never design and create this X series models if their customer base was different. Here is their launch event for the ne X series. Thinnes is today's word. This sentence is constantly repeated in this AW event. @Spartan@HIDevolution your friend Eddy Goyanes is on the event podium talking about their thinnest Alienware ever Yep, Apple have finally got some real competition in thin and light. But I'm sure Apple will hit back and steal back the thinness crown with their next models

Alienware X-Series Gaming Laptops Launch Event - x15 and x17 R1 | Thermal Tech Deep Dive

 

That makes us the rejected elite I guess... We don't get laptops worth buying anymore, but it feels good!

 

It always feels good to wash your hands of a mess. That fresh and clean feeling is nice.

 

True. It was actually amusing to see someone boast ordering the butchered thin laptop x15, only to post about $400 docking bricks a few days later, because the shiny product has no I/O ports to speak of

On a more serious note I would not mind being offered a laptop worth buying! Looks it won't be happening though, if the majority of consumers are so easily swayed by marketing. To be fair, choosing a great laptop is not easy, and many people just get lost and buy whatever looks nice. Hopefully, enough will eventually learn from the experience of using overheating, throttling and otherwise limited products.

 

I gave up on laptops a few years ago. The writing on the wall was clear back then, and we haven't reached the bottom yet. I think we've only scratched off the outer layer of filth so far.

 

I don't understand the Area 51M as it's not lappable nor very portable - outside of the niche use-cases it hits on. I would love access to sales data for products like that. The largest and most fundamental point of a laptop is portability (granted it's not the only circle in the Venn digram).

I thought it was good of Alienware to provide that kind of machine (51M) though for the niche market that wants a "laptop" that is not really caring about the portability circle at all. It's good we live in times where you can have so many choices. Same moving forward right...for this crew who wants more upgradability, you can still grab a M15/M17 or other manufacturer choices.

Certainly a lot of Venn diagrams at play in building laptops as well with a whole bunch of circles being drawn. But portability is a chief circle of that diagram that usually drives all other considerations. Is there truly a "thin enough" cross over point?

I understand some of the dislike the X17 is getting as I don't understand how it improves on the M17 being heavier, less expansion, less ports, not any thinner (maybe by a mm?) - what really differentiates it from the M17 (other than 11th gen processors which is artificial differentiate)? The M15 and X15 are obviously very different as one goes for the moon being as thin as a MacBook Air while packing in a 90W GPU.

I'm not an Alienware/Dell fanboy by any stretch, I have not kept any laptop from the manufacturer for a long time (last one I had over a year was the Alienware 13r3 OLED) - and may not even keep the X15 I ordered as I also really like the Zephyrus G14/G15 as I think those two machines will beat out the X15 in battery life by a mile, but I do really think a sub 16mm gaming machine sounds pretty damn nice for some reason - but I won't pay that price if fans and thermals are terrible.

 

What is the filth? Thinner machines that compromise in other areas?

The Zephyrus models this year are finally machines I've liked and felt like I could live with long term that are making me considering selling off my desktop PC. Fans aren't awful, no thermal throttling, consistent performance with no frame spikes, really portable, great battery life, great keyboard, awesome screens. I think the progress is positive, not negative. Gaming laptops are getting pretty nice IMO. I can't say much about the M15/M17 progression, I'm speaking on the whole market...and say what you will about the desktop 3XXX vs laptop 3XXX GPUs, but the 3060 in the Zephyrus G14 I owned was wildly impressive for a 3.6lb machine!

 

I don't think this is purely being swayed by marketing hype alone - people like thin and portable machines that look good. I find it nice to feel attracted to grab a thin and high quality machine as it encourages you to bring it with you more places. When you buy a machine that is supposed to be portable, you value portability. It's also clear the largest market segment wants this, and more likely this forum is the fringe. No reason to belittle the "masses" as purely being swayed by marketing and not actual rationale thinking. The X15 is certainly compromised in many ways, but I haven't found I need many ports anymore as long as there are two m.2 slots inside...2-3 USB-A ports would have been useful though - and I still may stick with the Zephyrus G15 once I get it...but one thing I know, the X15 will be a lot better build quality, and I was able to get it with 32GB of RAM for only 150 bucks over the Zephyrus G15 (taxes included).

 

X15 looks amazing sorry elites here lol

What would you say in the thermal engineer's presentation was pure BS? I like the sound of this as they are also trying to emphasize lowering skin temps. I love the G14, but it is untouchably hot in gaming sessions in certain places - the overall symmetry of this thermal design looks promising on the X series - I doubt it means you can game with it on your lap (lol), but the amount of air intake seems impressive compared to prior designs (it's not just up from the bottom and out the back).

 

Yep, we have many choices. All is about thin and slim. None offer laptops as DTR anymore outside Clevo. Aka, one single machine in the flood of thin and slim. Depends on how you look at it. I can't see it the way you do.

Every new gen they said the temps would be fine with the new cooling. And everytime they all reach 100C

 

I don't know where to start on @smugpanda's postings lol. Will try to constrain myself...

Niche cases... like having a laptop which replaces a desktop? Like having the most powerful laptop on the market? Like having an upgradable laptop? Who wouldn't want that (ok, the upgradability claim was effectively a scam but still the dream was beautiful)? This is only niche in terms of the price, however, such niches can be quite lucrative.
In absence of sales data, take a look at the popularity of the laptop on this forum measured by user lounge activity.

Different users have different portability requirements. For me, a 4kg laptop like the Alienware 15 or Area 15M is portable enough, I've seen 10 year olds handling those fine.
I think portability is actually more about the form factor (footprint to be precise), hence I prefer 15 inch as this is easier to use on public transport, airplanes, in cars, easier to fit in hotel safes. Weight around 4kg/9lbs is fine.
Actually, the first questions people have about a laptop are regarding the CPU/GPU and display, rather than weight.

Of course, if you can have two laptops with identical capabilities, you'd pick the lighter one, however, there is no free lunch. Here is how Alienware have been dumbing their laptops down in pursuit of thin and light:

Alienware 15 -> Alienware m15 R1:- smaller battery, no internal 2.5 inch drive, worse thermals (they kept the RAM slots, and actually improved I/O)
Alienware m15 R1 -> Alienware m15 R2+ - even smaller battery, slow soldered value RAM, soldered WiFi, weird inverted motherboards (improved thermals, and better VRMs but who cares)
Alienware m15 R4 -> Alienware X15 - still no RAM slots, no AGA port, no miniDP (great for VR), reduced number of USB ports (possibly VR incompatible?), reduced GPU options (actually heavier than the m15 R1 which fine, but still amusing), not sure about the battery - bet it's not great

Hope the sad race to the bottom in the 15 inch department is clear. At the beginning of the chain you had a laptop which would appear to a fairly broad audience in need of a powerful PC, including all sorts of gamers - in the end you end up something a casual uninformed gamer might perhaps use.

Well, you are attracted until you notice it gets scorching hot, starts throttling etc. People who don't need much power will certainly remain attracted, but most of them don't require a high-end gaming/enthusiast laptop in the first place.

Again, the largest market segment doesn't need a gaming laptop so this is moot. I am not sure belittling forum members here as fringe is sensible in absence of any data to support this.
What's less controversial though, is that most people are not technical and thus necessarily swayed by marketing. They can't reason rationally, because they don't have the required knowledge. OEMs are free to abuse the situation.

Additional display ports are great for VR and multiple monitors (again, the manufacturer probably goes off an insulting assumption that a gamer doesn't know what multiple monitors are). Additional USB ports are also required for VR. not to mention a host of other uses. It's just handy to have these built in instead of fiddling with hubs, or having another brick on the desk in the form of a Thunderbolt "dock".

At the end of the day, it's fine if an uninformed consumer purchases one of those machines after a glowing sponsored review on a major website - they never stood a chance. However, it's not great if people who are aware of the situation still support the offending manufacturers by purchasing the constrained and flawed products.

 

Is the 51M not up your alley? What does DTR stand for? I think the answer to your own desire for this type of "laptop" is that there is not a significant enough market to make it a profitable endeavor for the majority of companies -which you've admitted earlier.

Is 100C outside spec for Intel/AMD max Tj for the CPU die?

My Zephyrus G14 ran parked at 90-95C, but offered a universally excellent gaming experience and never indicated thermal throttling - no frame time spikes as I experienced with laptops a couple years ago that couldn't manage temps and PL very well. So I think things are improving here.

Intel says max Tj of 100C and AMD 105C - as an engineer would you approach a thermal design that leaves TDP performance by default, on the table? Why would you design that way? I think Alienware has admitted that they will now allow you to go into the BIOS and simply pick a CPU temp you "are comfortable with" - but this isn't spec based decision, it's simply because they know tons of ill-informed reviewers will panic if you have 100C temps.

 

It's wild how we aren't simply getting an Alienware Area 51m R3 with a desktop cpu and a 180-200w 3080. This thin crap ain't it chief. The 51m's do actually a surprisingly good job with cooling.

 

Let me start off with this: my following comments are not meant to crap on your position or what you like. They're purely to express the positions the majority of us on these forums hold.

The Alienware Area 51M and laptops like it are perfectly portable and lappable. 10 lb laptops will not crush your legs. This is an exaggeration. Anything 10 lbs and under is an ultraportable. I've used 17 inch laptops on flights before and it's perfectly comfortable. Anyone who thinks a 10 lb laptop is heavy really needs to go hit the gym, and I say this as someone who is pretty skinny.

The main grievance we have here on these forums is that all the good options are being taken away from us. I don't care if people want crappy thin and lights as long as I can still have my badass tanky laptops. Unfortunately the number of badass laptops has been declining over the years, and that's something we're not ok with. There's only one choice left for people who want a good laptop, and that's the Clevo X170. If Clevo stops making good DTRs, I will just build my own laptop out of desktop parts as that'll be the only way for me to get what I want.

To answer your questions, DTR stands for Desktop Replacement. This is the only category of laptops worth buying from both a subjective and objective standpoint. They are technically superior to all other kinds of laptops, excluding workstation class machines.

Laptops are indeed improving in some ways, but also devolving in others. It is in fact amazing to see how much performance we can squeeze out of a thin and light craptop nowadays, but the thinness of these machines also means they generally have quite poor build quality compared to the laptops of old. There are exceptions of course. Some newer laptops are built pretty solidly, but most of them have garbage build quality. The fact that thin and lights have become so performant means it should be even easier than ever to build a super badass tanky laptop that runs circles around them.

100°C is within spec for TjMax on the CPU dies for both AMD and Intel CPUs. As robust as silicon is, you don't want to run processors at this temperature 24/7 because they'll wear out faster. A laptop's cooling system should always be designed for the worst case scenario. That is, the cooling system should be able to effectively cool the CPU and GPU when they are both running at full throttle, not just one or the other. This isn't a common use case, but it does happen, even in some games (usually open world titles). Designing for a power budget that is lower than the combined TDP of the CPU and GPU is a horrible idea since you won't be getting the full performance you paid for, and it's crappy design.

I hope this gives you some perspective. We're here to help people understand technology, not ridicule you. We strive to be helpful on these forums, so please don't feel like we're attacking you.

 

Yes. Performance, cooling, serviceability, etc. Compromises in those areas make them filth.

 

Determining sales from this forum is probably not true either, any more than using twitter to determine "what the world thinks" - the internet coalesces the long tail in markets into one place that grant the appearance of a majority where none such exists (look at any medical forum). Just like most subreddits for manufacturers coalesce people with complaints into one virtual location - these are likely the <10% of defect (whatever the industry standard is nowadays I don't know) rate aggregated together.

Your opinion is that you are ok with buying an 8+ lb machine that is upgradeable - I have no desire for that myself - I just want two m.2 slots, primary, and a 2TB game drive...no desire to put a SATA 2.5 in a machine anymore - it's ancient tech at this point. The X15 is already on the edge for being 5lbs. I want to feel attracted to picking it up and using it everywhere, not loathe the idea of carting something north of 8lbs around. That's not purely technical reason, but it doesn't diminish the value of thinner and more attractive machines to an average user. I get what you want, anymore than you have to admit that it isn't purely artificial that people want thinner/lighter (but still rigid and decently powerful machines) - we aren't just bamboozled rubes (in many cases yes, aesthetics, brands, perception drive the majority of tech adoption as it becomes more and more widespread and proliferated).

I just don't view going thinner as being a race to some sort of unilaterally declared BOTTOM that you get to set. It may not be what you want, but it clearly is what a lot of people want. Again, if the X15 proves to be a worse performer than the G15 then I'm not going to stick with it; if there is a crossover point to 4mm of extra thinness that crushes performance and thermal capacity than I will be the first here to say it's not a good machine...if it exceeds or beats competition in key metrics, than it has the potential to be incredible.

 

As I said. There is only one option for DTR. The Clevo X170. 4 ssd slots, 4 ram slots and everything you can desire of I/O ports. + it is with latest gen hardware. The Area-51m is EOL. Stopped at Turing graphics and 10th gen Intel. And the firmware is fully locked. You can’t mod it as you can for the Clevo, Msi or even the Razer.

Would you prefer your machine run 100C all time? Within specs but what with the power delivery? Dying components and MB ain’t so much better to replace than the Cpu. Often more expensive and more difficult to find. Dell don’t sell parts. And what with temp headroom for the advertised overclocking?

If you have read about the 4 fan cooling. Half of the fans is for the components inside the chassis. Not for the Cpu and Gpu with its power phases.

 

Thanks for a fair response, I'm no wilting flower and don't really care if you want to get aggressive with my opinions - as long as we aren't ridiculing each other personally.

My problem with this forum over the years is that it tends to be very heavy with several users who adore DTRs (now that I know the nomenclature) dominating discussion on laptops. This is the "notebook review" forum, not just a DTR forum. I read too much salt that anyone who likes these thinner machines are just buying junk, and I wildly disagree - as my own experience bears out - gaming laptops are finally getting good after years of being...bad, while maintaining and improving portability.

Of course I disagree with your assertion that DTR is the only "laptop" worth buying - objectively a huge laptop with a massive PSU is not attractive to the majority of the market. That said, perhaps I judge too harshly 17" options as maybe that would be useful to try out one of these days and is a category I've largely avoided due to footprint. I'm also typically biased towards ultrabook in general as I value thin and light as something that is truly easy on the mobility front. I've always wanted ONE machine to rule them all - instead I've compromised owning both a desktop for GPU power and games and ultrabook for battery and mobility (and a good keyboard).

That said, I would be more than fine with increased options in the DTR space so I get the frustration of many here in these forums that they are a dying breed. I would never bemoan that people want that, I just don't want to be belittled by folks who have different values are purely being bamboozled by marketing hype. How I choose to use a machine is going to be VERY different than what the DTR fans here want. I hope the X15 is one step towards that goal (the Zephyrus G15 is fine as well, but the X15 I bought has twice the RAM since Dell is way more configurable than Asus, along with likely better build quality and hopefully an even more next-gen cooling) - we will see.

 

There is a bottom in terms of technical capability of the device... Surprised that's still not clear- just look how limited the x15 is. I get that thinness is the top quality for you, but you must understand the tradeoffs.

I actually don't have a requirement for a DTR, since I have a desktop.
I need a powerful portable and upgradable laptop with good battery life. I am actually a fairly happy user of an m15 R1 which, ridiculously enough, is lighter than the x15. It's a sleek machine, with (the usual alien lid aside) a pro understated design. I am more than happy to pick it up and use it everywhere (I couldn't say the same of all AW models). It has plenty of I/O and 2 SODIMM slots. It required the usual tweaking to get thermals in check, but once that was trivially done thanks to the accessible internal design, it's been good enough. Could do with a vapour chamber which would allow it to support higher TGP graphics. The 99Wh battery AW 15 had is sorely missed on a daily basis. My point about the 2.5inch SATA had more to do with how much space there was. Could have 3x M.2 and 4 SODIMMs in lieu of that - many enthusiast/modding/design/creative/science and even higher end gaming applications require a lot of high quality RAM. Unfortunately, AW embarked on a long design journey resulting in a heavier dumbed down almost console-like laptop What a shame.

Of course, I wouldn't mind a step back towards the roots with a thicker 15 inch model, but to be fair it's clear I'm much more of a power user than yourself, and ultimately would just be happy enough with something like the m15 R1+. This thin cut-down disposable x15 nonsense is unacceptable, and neither are the latest m15s for that matter, due to the soldered RAM, WiFi and the limited TGP graphics.

 

I don't know what the industry calculation is for duty cycle at max Tj. I assume the majority of users will never be at 100% duty cycle on their chips, nor would any other consumer chip probably calculate that. There was a server company in Seattle a few years back that did a temp analysis to test this assertion by the community about the overall lifecycle impacts if you run at or close to Tj max for extended periods, and saw no real impact to expected lifecycle of a given chip (3-5 years industry average).

So if it's not the CPU and GPU we really need to worry about - and it's the VRMs, or Northbridge, or other chips then the X15 increasing cooling dedicated to the M.2 drives and overall skin temp reduction, that should be a good thing. What manufacturer out there is building a quad fan design that dedicates two fans to positive pressure in the the rest of the main board to reduce overall thermal stress? I'm not taking their word on it - but that's what the engineer said - sounds like a good thing?

If you need to run an engineering operation 24/7 at 100% CPU and Gpu duty cycle then you are needing some sort of engineering specific solution - but it would be interesting to see if one of these machines could handle that and for how long...not just anecdotal stories - but most are not going to put the money in to do this kind of analysis.

 

The new Ryzen R5 has two M.2 slots, replaceable SODIMM from what I saw in reviews - does that not extend to the Intel version of the same machine?

I had the M15 R2 with OLED...ended up not really liking the OLED, nor the sharp edges on the keyboard palmrest or the shiny plastic bezel...looks like they addressed this with the R5/6. I would have considered saving the $$ on the M15 R5 as I agree is that we are getting to a good point in terms of a balance of thickness and performance. I also would have appreciate the extra 15-25W on the GPU the M15 seems to bring to the table, but I don't think it's going to break the bank for what I play. The 80W Zephyrus G15 already does a solid job driving games on my UWQHD display better than I thought it would - especially thanks to DLSS. I expect the X15, combining both a slightly higher base watt GPU and advanced Optimus (which I had mixed impressions on the Razer Blade 15 Advanced I had for two weeks a few months back), to be pretty decent.

I say this having a desktop 3070 as well - which I know is in a completely different class here but it puts 220W to get that performance.

 

Yep, both have two ram slots. This was possible due the thicker design for the m15. The chassis thickess was also the reason they still could offer higher graphics TGP as previous Ampere models. Not as high as for the older R4 but still trump the thinner x15.

Edit.
Alienware m15 R6 Service Manual
View PDF

I added in one extra gen m17 in the the comparison. And both m15 and m17 is in the same threads.

You know todays 17 inch laptops have around same size as previous gen 15,6 inch due the narrow border/frame on the panel. And you talk about the total footprint... Aw made their models thinner and instead increased the total footprint to fit the grills on the rare side so the laptops become more square. As well to be able to fit in thinner batteries who will have bigger footprint due the thinner chassis (the good old good thicker batteries had longer lifespan due more room into the chassis - batteries in the new thinner models will work as a airbag). Not so sure thinner means the laptop will get lesser footprint. And todays 15 inch laptops with the narrow panel frame is more equal older 14 inch laptops in the width size. As well in the total footprint.

Can't compare this with laptops. Have seen too many dead laptops after 2-3 years usage.

Inside Intel's Secret Overclocking Lab: The Tools and Team Pushing CPUs to New Limits. Intel's engineers explain oc'ing, voltage etc...

PAGE 7: 'Safe' Overclocking Voltages and Techniques.

The power delivery as power phases, VRM's etc is below the heatsink. PCH chips have been without cooling the last years. Northbridge is implemented into the Cpu. The two extra smaller fans is meant to offset the lack of airflow in the chassis due the thinnes. Not to provide much better cooling.

Just look at all gamers with the Cpu running 100C while gaming. People also put more load on Cpu for streaming nowadays. People do more while gaming. One of the reason we see more cores.

 

Are you trying to tell me that DTR rules notebook review, and especially Alienware as one of the few companies that builds a DTR type machine (or at least they used to?) - if that's the case I wish to represent the minority of savvy THIN nerds who wants to talk technical without taking a dump on thin and lights. lol

Yeah, I should probably consider looking at 17", but I'm more trying to embrace 15.6" coming from 13.3 and 14" ultrabooks which I've grown accustomed to. Baby steps to full DTR acceptance? Then I can join the elites here?

What is the primary culprit of laptop failures at the 2 and 3 year point that you are seeing? Is there any industry papers on the topic of leading cause of failure in notebook/laptop design? I would guess fans and batteries, both should always be replaceable (cough, apple, cough).

I guess I've never owned a high-end gaming laptop long enough to have any anectdotal contribution to the story, but in the server realm - they ran things at max Tjunction - so the same principle applies...either the chip can handle that at 100% duty cycle and reach 3 years or Intel and AMD need to adjust warranties as I'm sure Dell/others would be sending a lot of bad chips in for reimbursement?

 

Nope. Just showed you the statistic the last 2 years.

I expect it is more MB failure.

17 R4, open issues?


Fans not so much. Batteries is 1 years warranty.

Alienware 17 R3 motherboard fried from heat. Design error? Ultimate Performance power plan may have caused it?


Alienware 17 R4 - 6820HK/1070M - Dead Motherboard

The customers will pay the failure via the Premium extended warranty. U.S etc have normally 1 years obligatory warranty for laptops. At least for Dell. EU offer 2 years warranty.

 

Err... thanks, looks like I missed this lol - was under the impression they are binning the m-series too!
Good to see the soldered RAM & WiFi are finally gone!!! Bro @Papusan got it wrong for once Only took 2 years of intense moaning!

A few points:
+ The 125W TGP graphics is an improvement over 90W in R1, but still dumbed down compared to m15 R4
- Why only 8GB of VRAM? Does 16GB take up more board space? Is it about cooling, power requirements?
- miniDP and AGA ports will be missed - couldn't they add a second TB4 port?
- I rather like the full keyboard on the R1, but that's not a complete deal breaker.
- Wonder why they couldn't include the vapour chamber....

Will the 240W power supply suffice?

Overall looks like a potentially acceptable upgrade at long last....

 

This is exactly what I was saying earlier, people on this forum criticize laptop manufacturers like they make up the majority of the market segment.

This is false. There’s only one DOO fan (Dual opposite outlet) positioned on the side of the ssds (any by extension, the ram). The other three fans are for cooling the cpu/gpu. It was a little confusing for me too, seeing as you hear “Dual” in “Dual opposite outlet” and automatically think two. What it actually means is that the fan has longer blades and to outlets opposed to each other.

 

The fans on the back the so called exhaust fans are primarily to cool the Cpu and Gpu. The small wimpy fan won't do magic. But I know what you mean. I have seen the video before with Dell's thermal engineer Travis North. From 16:35


A new benchmark from yesterday with x17 R1 https://www.3dmark.com/spy/21011454

 

That gpu score is wack but at least its running super cool. That cpu score is the lowest we’ve seen so far too

 

Wow, they really gimped the x15. Max 110W with boost, as opposed to presumably 140W w/boost (they state 125W) in m15 R6. The world's slowest 15 inch Ampere laptop?

Edit: nope, it's 125W with boost on the m15 R5/R6 vs 140W in the R4 - presumably because they cut out the VC... Fail.

A review of R5 on YT suggests AW kind of dumbed down some aspects of m15/m17 R5/R6 to make the wretched thin nightmare X look better in comparison. Disgusting. Why do they always have to take those weird steps back? The vapour chamber was great, probbably the best thing about the newer m-series laptops - keep it!
No wonder people are packing up and going over to Lenovo land.

 

Forgot to post this one. 3DM Firestrike https://www.3dmark.com/fs/25773067

 

Are we thinning out the competition yet?

 

A lot of people on here ripping Dell about a lot of different issues. Aren't threads supposed to be about information and support? Not gripe sessions or your machine sucks because what I have is better. Guess what millennial and Gen Z's. Your reputation's is bad because you act entitled, lack grammar skills, have no work ethics, and complain ABOUT everything. So, if you are mad at Dell because you think they slighted you and released a product you don't like then buy something else you like better and go to that thread. Over the years I have learned a ton of valuable info from other people’s build logs and product experience. Lutro0 taught me how to make amazing power cables for example. I spent most of my forum time at overclockers.com, because when I did spend crazy amounts of money on a build, I kept my last desktop CPU, Core i7 6950X, constantly overclocked by 44% for over 3 years while it rarely went over 35C except during heavy usage or benchmarking. And properly overclocking a system to it's limits while maintaining stability requires skill. The point of a PC is to buy according to your needs. The grownups don't typically buy for bragging rights. But my experience with Dell laptops as well as Asus, Lucent, HP, and Panasonic Toughbook’s have spanned from terrible to good. I'll never buy an HP laptop ever again but they make great printers. I've never had any issues with the 3 or 4 Dell's or Lucent laptops I've owned. I've found Dells to be very hackable with their BIOS. As long as you have some skill with coding and flashing firmware. In terms of having the fastest and the best for bragging rights, I've been down that road, and it's not very long. PC's and laptops are like cars. The second you drive them off the lot something newer and faster comes around. That 3080ti GPU is coming but why bother waiting if you can have something now capable of doing what you want. Typically, I buy the best I can find and work it for 6-7 years before I upgrade. Unless some revolutionary change comes along that justifies a faster upgrade. From my experience people who fry or burn their systems are either using it 24/7, operate in austere environments like Iraq in the 3 ½ years I spent over there, operate their systems beyond recommended specs, or don’t properly handle and maintain. Usually, it’s the latter. I still have an AMD Athlon and Pentium 2 PC in a closet upstairs which would boot right up if I turned them on. Just my 2 cents for what it’s worth.

 

Maybe I should have considered the 17…but temps looking pretty solid - just wonder what fans are - probably maximum speed and not how the average user would really want to use it.

 

One last thing. This is how you overclock a system.

 

OK boomer

 

Don't hate just because I live in a big house and drive a nice car and retired at age 43. And FYI, I'm Gen X.

 

Golf claps

 

Good for you. No one cares.

Glass houses, stones, etc.

 

One of the best reviewed laptops of the year is the Zephyrus G15, which is base 80W to 100W. Most of the Razer laptops are in this range as well. This is the defector “thin and light” tax this gen so far. The G14 starts at about 60W and boosts up to 80 (most of the time I saw it in the 65-75w range). So a 90-110W device, which could easily be mostly capped at 110W since AW is supporting some toggle in the BIOS to prefer the GPU (not sure why it must be a BIOS toggle as per-game would be nicer) - along with no optimus tax 10-20% frame improvement) should be a solid RTX enabled game experience for many.

So far the max-p variances in the 125-140 inch range are either 1 inch or greater designs.

 

Bruh.

 

Zephyrus? Best laptop according to which reviewers exactly? Soldered RAM and limited TGP. Thanks, but no thanks.

 

I’m just refuting your statement the X15 would be the lowest power laptop…not even close. Clearly 3 tiers - thin and light/ultrabook gaming laptops, 1” and greater, and then your honking DTR type machines which no one really buys.

 

Not so sure you know it but Dell Alienware lock their firmaware completely with bootguard and signed keys. They fuse also their sign in code into the PCH chips. This means it won't be easy as you think just with an mod firmware or even with an hardware flasher. And you need soldering skills, access to the hardware as the PCH chips and some free time.

Intel Boot Guard
As defined by Wikipedia: “Intel Boot Guard is a processor feature that prevents the computer from running firmware images not released by the system manufacturer. When turned on, the processors verifies a signature contained in the firmware image before executing it, using the hash of the public half of the signing key, which is fused into the system’s Platform Controller Hub (PCH) by the system manufacturer (not by Intel). Intel Boot Guard is an optional processor feature, meaning that it does not need to be activated during the system manufacturing. As a result, Intel Boot Guard, when activated, makes it impossible for end users to install replacement firmware such as Coreboot.”
https://firmwaresecurity.com/2015/08/12/intel-boot-guard/


As you can see, Dell go the whole line out to secure their firmware from tampering from enthusiasts.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/page-1232#post-11054610

And regarding HP. The AW user is damn happy he have the $200 HP laptop as a working replacement for his problematic $2000 laptop Area-51m R1, keyboard crashes