*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Owner's Lounge

So if we undervolt the 1060 OC wouldn't it be similar to the 1070mq? I don't feel like it is worth the 250 price bump. I also spoke to a representative and they said that we won't be able to upgrade the battery if we choose the 60wh battery. I doubt that's the truth but I have never had an Alienware so I am not sure if aftermarket parts are available to purchase and upgrade.

 

When I had my m3800 I was able to order the 91 Wh battery directly from Dell and install it no problem. That was a clone of the XPS 15 though, so maybe that helped?

 

That's untrue most of the time.

 

Whelp. It took 2 hours with support today, but was finally able to sort out the misorder from last week. They, of course, had to redo the order. They did knock off another $50 for the trouble. So, on order #4 and EDD is 11/28 now. There won't be an order #5 if they screw this up. While on hold, I calculated on much time I've invested into this - 7 hours on the phone between day 1 and now. Had original order gone through, I would have had my laptop by this Thursday. I don't blame anyone from jumping ship. All of this for a laptop we haven't seen a consumer version of, yet.

 

[QUOTE=" All of this for a laptop we haven't seen a consumer version of, yet.[/QUOTE]

Welcome to working for Dell as a new product Engineer for Pilot builds ;-)

 

Do you think the 1070 Max-Q is worth the $250 upgrade? Going to pull the trigger on one here in the next week or so and can't make up my mind.

 

Well it's about +30% faster GPU. So take that for what it is. IMHO it's worth having in relation to the total overall system cost including everything else. However what would be even more reasonable is to wait until the GPU part get updated. Since both 1060 and 1070 are about 2 years old GPUs now. Which is like... really pretty old in terms of GPU years / dog years.

 

Yeah I will wait. I wonder when they will end up updating

 

The better chip is always the better choice imho - will really change how you feel about the laptop a couple years down the road as it ages (remember the GPU cannot be upgraded)

 

CES in January should give us some information.

 

I thought today would be the day I would check the order status of my new M15 and I would see that it has shipped and would arrive at the original estimated delivery date of November 16. Alas, the status updated and the new estimated delivery date is November 26th. I called dell, I got through to a polite customer service agent relatively quickly, she was able to tell me that the order was delayed due to a “system processing error,” she didn’t know what caused the error, but she got me over to another agent who was able to tell me that the reason for the delay is because the graphics card is “backlogged.”

I’m thinking about canceling the order and waiting for the M15 with the GTX 1080. Does anyone know if there is any other “thin gaming laptops” out there with a GTX 1080 in them beside the ROG Zephyrus? I’m open to other laptop, but it seems Alienware’s external graphics amplifier is the best option out there for an external GPU and that’s a big selling point for me.

 

Another one with the 1080 max q is the Triton 700, there are many deal breakers for most people though, 7th generation i7, thick bezels, g-sync, unusual position for track pad and price, however it has been on sale a few times on Amazon, right now it retails at 2699, the lowest I saw it go was 2200, this is the link

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-PT715-5...dpPl=1&dpID=41LNtlIo53L&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1

 

Whoop whoop mine has just arrived! Just setting it up now then I will start with the testing.

 

Hi. According to the photos made by bloggers and journalists, Alienware has glossy bezels on each of the sides. On the official website of Dell the photos are confusing: the bezels look matte.
The Dell Support tells that the laptop has a glossy lower bezel. Upper and side bezels are matte.
Could you please share your photo and tell which bezels are in fact glossy?

 

The complete bezel is glossy. I will take photos this evening as I have a lot on at work at the moment and running tests in the background.

First impressions:

The laptop looks much better in real life and has a great feel. I chose the nebula red and it looks amazing. The glossy bezels look ok but not sure how long it would stay that way.

The 144hz screen is an AUO screen not the lg in the Razer Blade, it looks pretty good but is less bright and has a worse anti glare coating.

Out of the box the laptop is running very loud and cpu temps sit at 100c in cinebench but the good news is the cpu sits at 3.8ghz (unlike the blade) and scores between 1110-1120. I ran the test 5 times and it didn’t throttle.

The new command centre is a bit laggy but it’s new so hopefully they will improve it.

Now I am going to run some 3d bench’s and play around with undervolting.

I will be posting an initial review with screenshots tonight

 

Ah. But when you say 'worse anti glare', does that mean it's more matte finish (duller, less nits), or more glossy and reflective finish (brighter, more nits, like apple products) ?

Also that cinebench score is encouraging. So please do take the time to stop, and record / fully write down everything you are configuring. In terms of BIOS setting changes, throttlestop, etc. That is important for other people to understand what the numbers actually mean in the context of other laptops being benchmarked.

Also if you updated to latest firmware, then to disclose things like the BIOS and EC firmware version(s). And the win10 build version. Which nvidia GPU driver version, and so on. Which patch version of a game, etc.

Here are some other useful benchmarks: firestrike, uningine heaven, aida-64, prime95 (multiple versions).

BTW some videos about stress testing laptops:





However playing actual games for more than 30 minutes is also really good way to heat up the machine and check if its throttling. The youtuber BobOfAllTrades has some guidance for that. He seems to like the game Overwatch. But one of the EA / DICE Battlefield games are also a good choice.

So here is Bob's Throttlestop configuration video + Overwatch stress testing:



I'm sure there are also other useful resources to help. The SAL Discord server also has some more tips / stickies posted over there. They are rather skeptical of Alienware products though. Perhaps we can prove them wrong! / right / ?

SuggestALaptop Discord Server. Public invite link: https://discord.gg/Emd3Wf

 

Congrats ninja2000!
It’ll be interesting to see what this laptop can do.

 

Dreamcat - thanks, I have been building/fixing and tinkering with laptops/pc for years so no problem on that front. I am just pushed for time this afternoon but I will get more info up this evening.

And the anti glare is just a bit more coarse compared to the Razer and omen LG 144hz screen

 

Bloody hell ninja! You might be only the 2nd person in the world to receive this in the wild! Congrats on thevnew toy! I'm going to keep an eye on what you think about the laptop as I'm days away from pulling the trigger! Payday is on black Friday and I'm hoping dell UK are nice and do the 20% voucher they did last black Friday! Tho I suspect they'll just discount the 15x.

It's this on the razer blade 15 for me. £2009 for the m15 and £2149 for the blade. Both with i7, 1070, 16gb ram, 256gb SSD, 144hz screen, killer WiFi, biggest battery.

 

Yeah, very curious on the m15 screen quality, temps and build quality when compared against the Blade 15.

 

How is they keyboard? Does it feel like it has good feedback and better travel than a Razer blade? How loud are the fans? Can you use a sound meter app and give us an idea? Thanks for the info so far

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

Yeah I guess I got lucky with my chosen config as most people were delayed.

I had the blade but returned it due to quality issues, it was a lovely laptop but I hated the lack of lit secondary functions on keyboard and only having one ssd slot was really limiting.

I managed to haggle with a rep and get my m15 for £1800 with:
I7 8750/gtx1070/16gb/256gb ssd/90whr batt/ win10pro and a vindicator bag, a lot better value than the Razer

 

Eoghan and eddi - I will cover all your questions in the review

 

Sounds good

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

Can you also test the speakers if they are good to play in a small/medium room and the overall sound quality. Also if the audio jack has any white noise when used.

 

I hope m15 thermal gif at AW site showing smoke screens isn't true on your unit w/ i7 and 1070.

 

Sharpman- yes will do

Vasudev - haha well if I wasn’t used to using macs the 100c might scare me but fortunately with an undervolt temps seem more in check. Haven’t look at the 1070 temps yet

 

How much more in check? What does the turbo boost looks like on all cores? Are gpu temps good? Sorry for prying lol

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

Dell XPS 15 9570.

From same OEM manufacturer but thinner and with smaller footprint. Same cpu but perform a lot better in Cinebench R15 (12115-1251cb). Undervolted or stock voltage doesn't matter.


Frank Azor the Co-founder of the Alienware... As well known as General manager for the cheaper Dell XPS line laptops. Where is the love for the brand he started up with? Power it with worse Cpu performance than the cheaper brother

 

wow that must be running a solid 3.9ghz to get over 1200! Once I have mucked around and tweaked it a bit I will run it again.

The new command centre software is really cr*p so far. Keeps hanging, I can get in about 1 in 10 times Just trying to get an updated version.

The keyboard is pretty average, very similar to an XPS keyboard. It is not a patch on the traditional Alienware keyboards.

Speakers are pretty good. I am sat here listening to music and my ears aren't bleeding. It is no MacBook 15 but I would say on par better than most premium windows laptops

 

If Alienware command center is as bad as you say, I should send in a job application to help with QA testing lol I'd love the chance to work at Alienware creating software. X)

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

Too bad I cannot compare to a MacBook to have some reference, I only could check the XPS 9560 and Alienware 15R3. It's using Nvidia Optimus, right? Just want to be sure since the 15R3 had the option with no G-Sync or Optimus either.

 

Thanks ninja for keeping the rest of us waiting in the loop. Sadly if I didn't choose the 512gb ssd I would have my laptop as well. I just picked up a RB15 but will return it to the Microsoft store if my unit also runs better then the Razer. Overall with the keyboard and the build, how does it fully stack up to the Razer? The reason I would choose it is because I can get a sweet price and better warranty. Also having 2x m.2 slots is a good thing as well.

 

Sharpman - I would put the sound between the xps9560 and the 15r3.

It does have Optimus and i have spent the last hour using it on battery and I would say with the 90whr battery 7 hours light use seems reaslistic.

CSHawkeye - comparing it to the Razer, it is a little larger but that doesn’t bother me. Build quality seems on par but I haven’t taken the Alienware apart yet.
Things I disliked about the Razer were:
Keyboard layout (the arrow keys)
No backlit secondary modifiers
That annoying square plug on psu
Price
Razer support
Synapse 3 beta bugs

So far really enjoying the m15, it turbos higher, feels great, was much cheaper, I have 2 m.2 1tb ready to pop in

Only dislikes so far is the new command centre is currently buggy

Edit - Oh and I love the nebula red soft touch lid!

 

I have an order placed for one, but my work requires me to have at least TPM version 1.2 in order to use it. My understanding is that TPM 2.0 is now a requirement for all new windows laptops/devices, but would you be able to check device manager and see if it’s listed there? Or if you have windows 10 pro, are you able to enable bitlocker without having to enter the key at every boot?

 

It does have a tpm2 module listed in device manager. I also have pro so will enable bit locker later (I am still testing it at the moment so don’t want to have to wait ages for bit locker to encrypt the drive)

 

Thanks Ninja for the updates. My biggest 2 gripes with the Razer is the keyboard layout of the arrows and only one m.2 slot. Glad everything else with the laptop sounds good.

 

I hate the keyboard on the razerblade 15, just that alone is enough for me to warrant this laptop plus the extra m. 2

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

I would like to know how the m15's chicklet keyboard compares to the one on the Dell G5 / G7. Because I think I would like that.... Just happen to like your typical kind of laptop chicklet keyboards. In photos the m15 keyboard looks like one of those.

 

I'd like to first apologize for us all asking you so many questions ninja then thank you for answering them!

Good to see I'm not the only person stuck in the razer Vs Alienware debate!

 

How is the fan noise under gaming compared to the Razer?

 

Dave2d seems to show the razer at 51 dB at full load on gaming mode (the mode Linus said is the rubbish one that you shouldn't use!), And the m15 at 45db. So in theory that extra 4cm it has in depth is helping it cool down better!

But it'd be great to see if anyone has real world experience!

 

Grats, ninja! Hope you enjoy it. Thanks for posting all of this so far.

 

Dreamcat - sorry I haven't tried any of the Dell G series so cannot compare. I would imagine its almost the same keyboard though.

Mario - Unfortunately I returned the razer so cannot directly compare. I am also having problems with the command centre so cannot use the different profiles which affect the fan profile. I am stuck on quiet mode at the moment, using that and -0.150v undervolt I am seeing about 44-48db on my iPhone sound meter app. I think there is a lot we can tweak though as I notice it is very flat to the table and if I lift the rear up the fans seem to stick at 44db

TheCloudX - thanks mate, hope your nightmare ends and yours arrives soon too

 

So I have been using the keyboard for a while now and I can conclude it is pretty average. I can type quite well on it but I do get the odd missing letter. It is no where near as good as the keyboard on my surface book 2. I am quite fussy with keyboards though so for most people I am sure it will be more than good enough.

The 256gb SSD I received was a Samsung PM981 and is blazingly fast, it seems a shame I am going to be ripping it out.

Running a few benchmarks side by side with the omen 15 2018 and although the omen has amazing cooling it benches lower than the m15. I get about 10% higher performance out of the 1070.

3dmark11 gfx score is between 20500-20700 (the omen is 18700) the full scores on a stock run with no undervolt:
P17090 - Gfx 20699 - Physics 11366 - Combined 11077

 

Nothing is real without pics and screenshots.

 

Haha ok, what’s the best image hosting site these days? Haven’t done this for ages

 

Do you think the keyboard is like the XPS 15 series?

One more question, an you check the keyboard for N-Key Rollover and Ghosting? I usually do it by writing the following sentence while holding both the left and right shift keys down:

the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

If any letters are missed then the keyboard does not support it. 15R3 passed that test.

 

you can insert images witin a post. underneath where you write a post, or message there is a button for uploading a file named "Upload a File".

 

First of all, thanks for sharing all this information! Thernals and fan noise are deal breakets for me. How is performance using these settings? Any idea about thermals?

Im considering the configuration with an overclocked 1060 (these can be undervolted too, right?). Im not very good with computers, so I’d much appreciate your (or anyone else well-informed) thought on how these configurations might differ regarding heat and fan noise