*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Owner's Lounge

Have you seen the driver codes ? Cause i can assure you they do not just change the driverid.

AW uses something proprietary called: Graphics Amplifier, and due to the GA, the way AW hooked up the GPU to the screen is different. Last year R4 could use the graphics amplifier with the internal screen, the new R5 series cannot do that ! Making the drivers between the 17 R4 and R5 different.

Most people on reddit have problems with the GA cause the use the Nvidia drivers. Making it not possible to use the extra PCIE lanes the Amplifier uses. Switching to dell drivers eliminates that problem. You also forget that every manufacturer tunes the GPU for said chassis. You can use Nvidia drivers fine, but you're not gonna extract the full power it has to offer. Even in the mobile drivers, there are desktop options present (or turned on like maximum GPU performance mode) the settings are fine, but not for the silicon you use in the said chassis.

You cannot use the R4 drivers for the R5 and vice versa. Also the mx17 series did not use anything proprietary but the newer series does.

The driver thingy for games is also not true. I can play the newest games on drivers from may without problem. What they include in the jew drivers are the settings to automatically detect the best settings for the said game. If you don't download those drivers Geforce Experience cannot automatically set the best settings. There was a forum post on the Geforce forums where an engineer went in to detail to explain what happens.

You can do whatever you want offcoarse but if you just think about, Nvidia cannot know for every manufacturer how they a OEM build the motherboard of a said OEM. So nvidia drivers cannot account for the things it does not know they exist.

Edit: A disclaimer found on the Nvidia website; Release Highlights
As part of the NVIDIA Notebook Driver Program, this is a reference driver that can be installed on supported NVIDIA notebook GPUs. However, please note that your notebook original equipment manufacturer (OEM) provides certified drivers for your specific notebook on their website. NVIDIA recommends that you check with your notebook OEM about recommended software updates for your notebook. OEMs may not provide technical support for issues that arise from the use of this driver.

 

If you guys have problems just return the f#℃ke®. Don't waste your time on dells horrible quality control. Make dell fix the problem. They will only get up off there ass if there losing money. If a bunch a people return $2000 laptops they will do something. Remember, if dell can spend nothing on a problem they will choose that route everytime!

 

I wonder if this is a problem with the Killer software again. I had a similar issue in the middle of this year when I got my 13R3 where it would not connect to any site that required any sort of login

 

Hmmyou sure of this? Because when I reported an AGA bug they stated that they only repackage drivers after testing but aren't altering them.

BF5 for example cant be played with outdated drivers, and Black Ops 4 performed much better with the newer drivers than the older, there was a memory leak bug somehwere in older drivers which causes severe stutters on some maps. With the 2 years of AGA daily use I never encoutnered an issue that Nvidia drivers caused the PCI express lanes not working. With or withotu Dell drivers its always PCI express 3.0 4X and the performance reflected that (until I connected the cable halfway by accident and was stuck in 1X,).

 

I have just noticed that crucial has a listing for compatible ram for the m15 http://www.crucial.com/ScanListView...patible-upgrade-for&langId=-1&catalogId=10151

How does one go about what ram will work?
I was interested in g skill but I can go with crucial again.
Are there drivers for the m15 for the graphics amplifier? I can't seem to find any after doing a clean install of windows. Also I don't see touchpad drivers.

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I was able to fix it with killer software suite

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Figures, killer cards usually needs killer software suite to work properly

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i told you the same, i need the Dell drivers to make the AGA work propertly

 

hey i'm still waiting for my screenshots!

anyway on a serious note, I am currently checking @Rei Fukai hsi information regarding that MS/Dell are blocking out certain drivers. But as I said before Alienware themselves said to me (im actually thinking of pasting the whole email conversation here) they dont change the drivers they do validate and repackage them. They do need to re-sign them because of that.

But this error to which Dell refers https://www.dell.com/support/articl...s-graphics-drivers-past-version-38541?lang=en

Is a windows update issue and happens when you used the Dell and or Windows update drivers.

 

There are certain optimized drivers for the AGA that the Nvidia drivers don't have. Those are aftermarket changes dell does sometimes to theor drivers. I know for example that if you use a certain older driver my card would boost higher and longer. I don't own the AGA but job has some around and I've had multiple problems that only could be resolved by switching drivers in between reboots (to get the internal card up and running after a session with the AGA)

Sorry bro I have an 17 R5, but it has to do with this problem: https://www.google.nl/amp/s/amp.red...idia_driver_39811_bricked_my_alienware_17_r5/

Edit: not really documentary but this forum post explains pretty much what i explained already a few times: https://forums.geforce.com/default/...-compatible-hardware-in-new-dell-xps-15-9570/

 

This is somewhat putting me off buying an m15 on Friday!

But razer worries me and we can't get a straight answer on warranties!

Looking at the MSI gs65 now too as that's just dropped to £1799 for the 1070 model. So same specs as the £2009 m15...

This is very confusing! Cant believe there's so many gaming laptops out there that are thin and light!

 

@evilras
Just take a look at my Reddit post comparing all the different thin and light gaming laptops.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/9li4pq/alienware_m15_analysis_please_read_alienware/

I compiled the information based on notebook check reviews with a little speculation from early review units. Might update it soon to incorporate new info from users just getting their machines.

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If I had to choose between the two laptops M15 and razor 15, hands down the razor. Any thin form factor will have heat issues and running it constantly playing games these laptops will eventually have thermal failures IMO. GPU temps constantly at 85c or higher is never a good thing.

The Alienware 13r3 with Oled is still IMO better than the two.

 

Previous founder edition cards where all around the 82~85c range and didnt seem. To suffer from it. Just sucks that if you want better, you need to repaste.

 

I don't regret getting an m15 at all I think it's a sweet spot for thin and lights. I just wish they had the software readily available for when there's an issue. They need to add the killer software that works. And Alienware Control center. I couldn't get acc to work without installing Nvidia experience. Dell's Nvidia drivers are messed they had my GPU listed as a regular 1070 and didn't fix till I installed newest drivers.

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Question for everyone who has received theirs, how is your touchpad? I received mine today and it feel different from any other trackpad I used, almost feels like its loose (kinda hard to explain) and has a little play to it not sure if that's how its designed.

 

I don't think it feels loose but I think with no mouse buttons and you press the track pad does change the feel totally. My son's Dell with a 960m 7559 or something like that has the same style and it feels about the same. As far as usability it feels lacking.

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thanks to the info about the killer control centre.. i just reinstalled that and the killer wifi driver restarted and internet works fine... the strange thing was that i prior to that, i was able to surf but not certain websites , so how a glitchy control centre / driver doesn't globally affect all wifi internet is weird.

the alienware control centre (ACC)... i only got the fx part of it working only after i signed into the microsoft account and it went to the store and it subsequently downloaded a whole lot of other stuff and functionality into the ACC and works fine now

no issues with the trackpad here. No regrets on the m15 purchase so far as i had others under consideration : msi65, aero15x (purchased but had major issues and had to return), razer15, hp omen, asus zephyrus s, asus gl504gs

 

At least with this model a repaste is easy, bottom cover is only thing blocking you from the heat sink.

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Can anyone help me to find ram for this? I'm not sure how to or what I need to know to match what is needed. I bought ballistix for my 17r3 and searched the part number on Amazon. I heard that g skill are better but any help is appreciated.

http://www.crucial.com/ScanListView...patible-upgrade-for&langId=-1&catalogId=10151


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I ordered the M15 on Nov 8th finally got my tracking number tonight, should receive it Wed night cant wait!

 

Fyi guys Amazon UK is doing the 1tb 970 Evo SSD for £175 down from £233 as part of black Friday for today only. Absolute bargain!

Also I've made the decision to go with razer. Figured let's roll the dice! All these thin and lights seem to get the same issues! And the m15 is just a tad too big.

Thanks for all your help! I'll still be watching you guys enjoy that awesome nebula red laptop! If I my it was 1cm smaller!

 

Has anybody tested SATA m.2 in both of the slots? Because the user manual seems to suggest that only one of them is capable of accepting a SATA m.2 drive. Which would mean it's not possible to use a pair of cheaper SATA drives if you indended to do a m.2 RAID configuration.

 

On the board the second slot states nvme only. It probably only goes through a pci express lane. But I could be mistaken I'm no expert.

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Does anyone know of any battery drain problems and differences besides capacity and the possibility to add a 2,5" drive with the smaller version? I assume it should not impace any performance, but for example the 1070 in the 15R4 could only be paired with the bigger battery. Any reasons for that? I've read that there was some battery drain, but it was some time ago and I may be mistaken.

 

I can tell you from years of experience and two razer laptops later that razer is the worst when it comes to standing behind their products. If you get a good unit it's great. But they are slow to repair their products and normally fix something that isn't even the issue to begin with and will ship the unit back to you in the same condition as you sent it in. If you're out of warranty then forgot it. They don't have real technicians and will just swap the motherboard and charge you $900. This happened to me so I'd say stay away from them.

 

Is anyone able to advise how is this m15 doing in terms of performance, thermals, cooling and fan noise for a noob like myself ?

In short, if you take the best laptop of the same kind (not sure which one that'd be, maybe Zephyrus?): how far is this m15?

Sorry about this noob question, I feel that I'm not the only one who can't say whether the posted results are bad, good or exceptional. Thanks !

 

Has anybody tried the graphics amplifier on their m15? I am having so many issues, Geforce Experience detects it and installs the driver but it freezes after driver install or if it does install it crashes a bit after logging into windows. Ive tried reinstalling dell geforce driver and latest driver and nothing seem to work. Going to try and do a clean install to see if that helps. I have a 2080 ti in the amplifier and it works fine on my 17r4.

 

Anyone know if you got the 512 PCIe SSD upgrade if it's sata or nvme? I bought a 1tb m.2 sata to throw into the second slot, but can return it and get a nvme one if needed. 1 week away until my unit comes...

 

Sorry I can't help, but please keep us informed. I'm sure quite a few others beside myself are curious how well the AGA works on this machine.

 

This is the impression I'm starting to get! If you get a good blade it works and you'll love it, get a lemon and it can be a whole lot of pain! I saw a guy on YouTube complaining about his and the time it takes razer to fix them. On the razer forum they say to buy from Amazon or currys\pc world. As you can get a 3 year warranty through them. And if they can't fix in 7 days you get a refund. Which seems nice!

Pretty much at this stage I hear that all thin and lights are amazing, they're all terrible, you should pick a different one from whichever one you're talking about at that moment, and they'll all die a horrible death!

At this point I could literally put my money in a box and any thin and light laptop could be in there and I'd be happy!

So drivers aside, how are those m15s coming along gents? Are the noise emissions decent? I see 3-5 shipping on the website for them now.... And my bag does stretch a little..

 

The second slot should take a SATA m.2 according to the specs :

https://www.dell.com/support/manual...c1db57-ee24-4137-84bf-aece066a8ae9&lang=en-us


One 2.5-inch hard drive SATA AHCI 6 Gbps Up to 1 TB
One M.2 2230/2280 solid-state drive SATA AHCI 6 Gbps/PCIex4 NVMe Up to 1 TB
One M.2 2280 solid-state drive PCIex4 NVMe up to 32 Gbps Up to 118 GB


Just got mine today and they did not include a screw for the second nvme/sata slot. Luckily I had a screw laying aroundanyway, but just a heads up for anyone else expecting to add a second drive, you may need to have them send out a screw.

I have not had a gaming laptop for a while but the overall quality on this is fantastic. Nice and solid. Compared to my xps 15 9550 it is only slightly thicker and a little deeper. And to me the weight is close too.

 

On the motherboard slot 1 says nvme / sata slot 2 says nvme only

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The 1070 max q is running around 70 to 75c under load. The CPU is hot 92c when I was running GTA v and kingdom come it hit 91c. I did an undervolt of 0.100 and when I ran the stress test it was around 74c max of 80c. I didn't get to go further but will run some more tonight. These curves don't look right at all at stock settings big Spike.

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Wow, just got an email from Alienware with the US discounts (even tho I'm a Brit in the UK) and no black Friday love for the m15. Just the usual m15x and m17x discounts.

Meanwhile razer are doing £180 off the 1070, 256gb, 144hz model bringing it under £2k and cheaper than the Alienware! Which is surprising!

 

Yeah, the m15 will not have any discounts, just too new and the demand is high. Have not seen any Razer discounts in the US yet, still the same pricing on their website. They did add the new 3 year RazerCare warranty option though for their laptops.

 

Ah razercare is US only for now.. shame that seems like the ticket! Tho currently £398 for 3 year warranty plus with dell.

 

$249 for 3 years is not bad for a gaming laptop, paid more for coverage on my Alienware products. Razer does not give a accidental handling option though.

 

Well I am glad you are steering clear of Razer. Literally, anything else is better. Hell I'd tell you to buy a macbook before I'd tell you to buy a Razer. They look great, but if the company doesn't stand behind the product then they don't deserve your money.

Just a side note I did get an Alienware 15 r4 just over a week ago. I didn't get the m15 because of no 1080 Max q version. 1070 Max wasn't enough for me. lol. And I'm getting roughly 4 hours of batter life with it off the charge just doing web browsing and watching youtube. If I turn the lights off and turn on power saver I can squeeze out about 5 hours. Not to shabby if you can handle the weight. Just my two cents.

 

Should I wait for the 11xx cards or get the 1070 max-q? I am in the need of a laptop fairly soon but doesn't look these 11xx GPU's will hit anytime soon.

 

Will probably be post CES before we actually see the next gen GPUs in the laptops. Would get the 1070, we have no idea what the specs will be for the upcoming mobile gpu's.

 

20 series gpu will be too expensive for features that aren't even widely available.

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That’s what I’m thinking, the ray tracing features on the

 

Honestly I think the 1070 Max q is the best even if there is a 1080 Max q. The 1080 Max q will have more heat issues and costs $400 more. 1070 max q for esports titles and then Nvidia gamestream, Nvidia grid or graphic amp for anything higher. M15 SHOULDNT be a " lightweight replacement desktop" but rather one that let's you play esports on the go and let's you play AAA titles @60 fps OR stream it from Nvidia cloud or your home desktop to get those sweet frames despite the latency.

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Thank you, you helped ease my remorse about not waiting for the 1080 Max Q version. I got my M15 yesterday. I really like the way it looks and the build quality of the chassis is impressive. I got it loaded with the 1070 Max Q, 32 GB of RAM, dual 512 GB SSD and the 144 Hz display. I played the Witcher 3 for about 3 hours last night, the game ran great and looked beautiful, the center of the keyboard and the area right above the keyboard ran pretty hot after gaming that long, but that's to be expected.

I don't understand why Dell wouldn't have a 1080 Max Q version ready for the product launch of the M15. I plan to get the Alienware Graphics Amplifier with a RTX 2080 eventualy, so I'm not too concerned about not getting the 1080 Max Q. It has crossed my mind to return mine next month so I can get one with a 1080 Max Q, but for my purpose of use, I don't think I need it.


Would you or anyone else care to speculate if the 1080 Max Q M15 will have the same processor as the 1070 Max Q version? Or will the battery life be reduced greatly with a larger graphics card? Or how noticeable would the performance gain be?

 

Good deal. Thanks!

 

The 1080 Max q will perform about 10% higher than regular 1070 for laptops and about 20% more than 1070 Max q supposedly. Honestly I don't think it will be worth it, during the ama the alienware team mentioned the heatsink was designed for a 1080 Max q so I assume they would use the same heatsink and it would start getting to 80C on gpu rather than get a 1070 Max q with the thermal headroom of a 1080 Max q (which leads to lower temps, less throttling and better longevity). The battery life on the integrated Intel should be about the same on both and while gaming, the 1070 Max q will last longer on battery than 1080 Max q. There are rumors the next gen Intel will have no hyper threading but higher clocks and 6 cores. Honestly though, the 6 cores on this machine are OVERKILL and requires undervolting to get good temps (but no users have reported throttling which is a good sign) and paired with a graphic amp you would be hard pressed to get a desktop (unless you want to stream from it when away from home and get better frames at the cost of some latency).

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Shared heatsink/pipes design means it will affect the Cpu temp as well. And 100C is still Intels max Cpu temp for 8th gen chips.

 

Any chance you could list what model the screen is since it is 144hz?

Device Manager -> Monitors -> Right click Generic PnP Monitor and hit properties -> Details tab -> change dropdown to Hardware IDs... what is listed under Value?

Would be useful if anyone else with 144hz display did the same please! Thanks!