*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Owner's Lounge

I also really reaaallly wanted to like the G7, but like you said the screen was incredibly bad. When I would open any of the 3 I tested it would give off this cheap plastic bending sound. Basically the vessels on the bottom was separating from the bottom of the screen. Sounded like crinkling tape. Terrible. And the 230 nits was atrocious. The 2nd replacement I had had a ticking fan. Third replacement I had had a warped bottom panels where the tabs were already all broke. I was almost laughing out loud by the 3rd return. I’m glad I got the Alienware m15 for basically $1100 after discounts and rewards. Makes me feel really comfy.

I’d say my second fav of all tested was the Razer Blade. But I couldn’t justify $1700-$2000 for a gutted model when much cheaper and better supported laptops existed. And all the nightmare stories of Razer customer service scared me. I called them just to see if I could fake the funk and gauge their service - it was laughably bad. Say why you want about Dells outsourcing but at least they try and make you happy and fix the issue. The Alienware 15r4 was great but seemed super dated and got incredibly hot.

 

I have a Razer Blade Stealth that I love, super well built and runs great. Got it on amazon a little over a year and a half ago for 899.00 on sale. I just couldn't bring my self to pay the Razer price for what I got in the Alienware M15. It would be 2799.00 for a comparable system to what my Alienware M15 has in it and I paid 1800.00. Just makes no sense. And now that I have this system in my hands I think there is no difference in build quality either. Just gave the Razer Blade Stealth to my daughter since I wont need it any more and it works great for her to use at school.

 

So after my first gaming weekend with my wife I've really enjoyed the m15, 1070 mq with red screen and 8GB ram (I know not enough I have some in the mail) added 970 Evo 1tb. So far I love the screen the GPU runs great for a max q. My only other use of a 1070 is with my 17r3 and AGA on the laptop screen. GTA V most of the weekend and few hrs of Forza Horizon 4. Few slow downs but looking at stats memory is always around 95-98% I'll rereun everything after my ram comes on December 3rd.
This CPU runs hot it's hit 100c before undervolt. It'll still hit mid 80s I would really like to get this temps down. Should I look toward a repaste and pads? I've never done it on any of my pcs. My 17r3 is 3 years and going strong.

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I too got a shipping notification today.

 

I just ordered mine with a nice $200 discount.

I chose the GTX 1060 and the 144hz screen. All else the same and I will upgrade the 1tb hard drive to an SSD M.2 NVMe.

All for under $1400 out the door with expedited delivery. Should be shipped on Dec. 4th. I couldn't justify a 1070 max-Q for 200 more. I would rather throw that towards better Memory or Storage.

Anyone know the exact make of the standard 8gb memory that comes with the m15?

 

This is indeed interesting, I've already seen the last video and that's why I was convinced to take the 1070max-q as I plan to play the games which benefit from it the most and keep it for at least 4 years.
What was the performance difference between the 1060 and 1070 in the 15R4? I think those models had different heatsinks, I wonder if it's the same for the m15.

Does anyone know if the only difference between the FHD screens is the refresh rate? It seems like that from the description.

 

Which one had the best build quality?

 

Sorry guys, been away for a few days. I had a nightmare with the m15 windows installation to the point where it would no longer even boot. Between that and the high temps I decided to return it. I had a phone call from Dell today and they offered me a further 10% cash back to keep it! So with the cost now dropping to £1600 for an i7/1070/144hz/16gb/256gb/nebula red with a vindicator bag I have decided to keep it, give it a repaste and fresh wndows install.

 

(note to self, no matter what I will be having a hard time installing windows)

lol

 

Haha I did enjoy the completing the fresh install this afternoon knowing that Dell were paying me £100 an hour to do it

 

That sounds awesome, I hope I don't get a bad unit. Sold my aorus x7 DT v7 for this...

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Dang! They really need to get that under control. Did they at least help you get it settled?

 

Well the fresh install has done wonders. Command centre works perfectly now. The only issue I have left is the 10c temp difference between cores but I was going to repaste it with kryonaught anyway when I add another SSD

 

I usually install windows fresh anyways right out of the box. Just cleaner that way.

 

I didn't even ask for help as I have been fixing/upgrading laptops for years. I just wasn't prepared to pay £1800 for a laptop with windows issues and high temps even though I know I could sort it myself. When they dangled the £200 cash to keep it I was more than happy to resolve the issued

 

I always test a machine thoroughly for issues then do a clean install ( I actually planned on changing the SSD anyway) but the high temps and issues put a sour taste in my mouth and I thought sod it, have it back and I will get one later from the outlet and save a few quid. But the £200 made me change my mind and keep it.

 

I've been trying to get my hands on one of these to review. Getting review units it's easy as a Bob. So, what discounts can be applied to get the cost of this down some?

 

Thanks for sharing that! Is this with stock thermals or have you done a repaste?

 

Can someone post pics? And some comparisons vs other thin laptops for reference if possible ( Razer Blade, Macbook, XPS, etc).

Thank you.

 

BATTERY LIFE TESTS NEEDED

Can new owners of the m15 (90wh battery) post real and serious battery life (wifi/streaming) test with the combination they have of :
1060/1070 and fhd/4k screen.
That would be very helpful for future buyers.

Thank you

 

How did u do the fresh install? Just reset option or did u boot from a USB drive?

 

I used a USB the ones installed to my drive all failed.

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How is the new keyboard, Guys? Solid/flimsy? Can any of the fast typers comment on the accuracy?

 

Right before the launch of the M15 alienwarearena.com was giving out 15% discount codes, but they seem to be gone now

 

I also completed a fresh install from a USB drive as my windows reset failed.

 

Mine is set to arrive tomorrow... I will give some impressions

Although I only got the standard 1tb drive because I have a 512 950pro spare sitting around, I still plan on initially using it with the 1tb it comes with to test it before I waste any time swapping hardware around.

 

So I have never done this before...

My m15 is expected in a week. How do I make the bootable USB drive. Won't I require the activation key. I noticed on the dell website that they don't include the recovery disc with the purchase..

 

Bob, Love your channel, had to say it.

Secondly, I know this is a rather superficial issue, but has anyone skinned or matted their bezels or their laptop shell on this? I'm getting mine next week and I've looked into vynal black matte but wasn't sure how clean I could get it to look.

 

-- So, easiest thing to do is go here [ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 ] and download the tool.
-- Put in a 16gb or so flash drive, and go through the prompts. Once it's done - and you're ready to install windows on the Alienware - insert it, power it on, press F12 (If it's anything like other Alienwares) and choose your USB. Go through the setup, format your drives and once Windows installs, it should activate without issue due to the key being imbedded in BIOS.

 

I'll try and message you later with a 10% discount.

 

Update to my issue with the AGA and the m15, Alienware Premium Support couldn't figure it out, they pretty much did everything I had already done to try and fix it. Alienware is now replacing my machine hopefully it was just a bad machine or could be that Alienware needs to release a new bios or drivers for it to work. Still looking for anyone else with an AGA to test.

AGA + 2080 ti and m15 bsods everytime graphic intensive app loads, clean windows install done, drivers updated and still continues to BSOD. AGA + 2080 TI works fine in my 17r4.

 

Just received mine.

As expected, Windows would not activate during setup. I created a local account and can confirm that killing all Killer related services via Task Manager works. I have uninstalled the Killer suite and rebooted. So far, everything seems ok. I've only had it about 30 minutes, so lots more to do but at least it activated ok. Turning on my Microsoft account afterwards was painless.

Keyboard feels ok, not like the XPS as I was expecting. About like the G7. Trackpad is smooth, not as good as the Razer Blade but still good.

As mentioned, they do NOT include a screw for the second m.2 slot and my WD 1tb did not come with one. Luckily, I had one around the house but both Dell and WD should include one.

 

Thanks will let you know how it goes

 

So what do you think of it so far?

At first I wasn’t keen on the keyboard as I mentioned in my initial thoughts but it has been growing on me as I have continued to use it (although I would still prefer an xps keyboard and layout)

 

So far so good! Keyboard is easy to type on with little adjustment needed from my normal keyboard on my work computer to the m15. My Blade needed adjustment on my part to go back and forth from. Keys don't feel as crisp as a XPS or Thinkpad, but like it.

So far I've:
- Updated Windows from Home to Pro using a key, not a fresh install.
- Updated all drivers
- Removed Killer software. Windows Store tried to download it again, so I deleted it from there as well.

Only issues so far:
- As mentioned, couldn't activate Windows. Created a local account and killed running Killer software. RESOLVED
- No screw for the second m.2 slot. Had one around the house. RESOLVED.
- Tiles kept coming back after a reboot. Had to delete a registry key to get it to resolve. This also removed an empty group called Alienware+ that was annoying. RESOLVED

Machine is very snappy and definitely feels good. Glossy bezels doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. Temps during updates and installs so far has been in the high to mid 50's. Already better than the Blade which was in the 70s. I'll do more testing tonight as wife, work, and schoolwork allow. So far, pretty happy with the purchase.

 

Can anyone post an Amazon link to m.2 screw in US? I'm not sure which size is the correct one, I get my m15 tomorrow

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Believe the size is: CM2x3-3.3

I'd buy the cheapest you can.

 

Checked HWiNFO

Stock OS drive (I upgraded to the 512 at purchase): KXG50ZNV512G NVMe TOSHIBA 512GB
Stock ram (default at purchase): SK Hynix HMA81GS6CJR8N-VK
Screen (upgraded to the 144hz at purchase): AU Optronics [Unknown Model: AUO80ED] B156HAN

 

So after contacting Dell for a heatsink for m.2 I was ready to have to purchase as I didn't order either m15 with any HDD upgrade they sent out the first to a repair shop. Then today they decided they would just send me the next one. They stated.

"We recently received an update information from our engineering team, the heatsinks does not come with the unit if the unit is not ordered with and SSD from sales department adding that 128GB/256GB SDDs do not need the heatsink, please let me know how big is your SSD going to be in the computer so I can check with my manager if we can do an exception on this request"



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Quick thermal update:

Playing FFXIV (the MMO) for about 30 minutes, GPU max temp was 72. CPU did hit 90 and throttled down to the 70s. This is on balanced mode. Fans got loud once it hit 90 and then tampered down in the 70s. I did download some other games and will check those out soon. FFXV and the Blade didn't get along, so I'll check that out. FFXIV is not an intense game and was more hopping on to check for a medium house for the wife (she's jealous of mine )

Screen is great and definitely an improvement over my previous laptops. This is my first 144hz screen and I'm impressed.

 

Not sure of the NVMe ssd size and brand you got (see post above). But could you run ATTO Disk Benchmark 4 times in a row (Just click start again right after each finish). Then post pict of results and ssd temps. Then do the same with Crystal DiskMark. Thanks

 

I’ve got a couple questions for everyone:

I’m wanting to put a heatsink on my 512 SSD I ordered as apparently it’s blazing fast and hot. What have you guys done for this? I was thinking about ordering an m.2 nvme SSD heatsink and some thermal adhesive tape.


Also, I’m a little weary about the glossy bezels, what’s everyone’s experience? I already see scratches on some of the review units online

 

Ran it on the stock drive 4 times back to back as requested, which I'm assuming you wanted. KXG50ZNV512G NVMe TOSHIBA 512GB



Crystal DiskMark is not picking up the drive for some reason. It sees the one I added, though.

 

I upgraded to the 512gb and it came with the heatsink. So far, I think temps are ok on it. Check out my test above.

 

Never seen 100C on Pascal graphics before. Cpu and Gpu run eqal around same awful high temp (thanks to shared heatsink/pipes).
Brand new Alienware m15 temperature 100C! thermal throttling www.dell.com/Alienware

The write speed doesn't look correct.

Edit. The XG5 when running an OS, it's bypassing the drive's SLC cache when writing sequential data A bad choice as OS Disk. What a flawed idea use it for OS. But ssd temp seems good.

Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8284/toshiba-xg5-1tb-oem-2-nvme-pcie-ssd-review/index4.html

 

Outside of just clicking start, not much else do right?

 

Correct. As well see my edit.

 

I have a 512 at home so I ordered without a 512

 

Would this work? Or should I try and have them send me an official one? I called tech support and they were massive ass’ about it

EKWB EK-M.2 NVMe Heatsink- Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073RHHYCM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_85H.BbV853PCZ

 

This is what I have, might not even need it
WD Black 500GB High-Performance NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD - Gen3, 8 Gb/s - WDS500G2X0C https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BR9FV1C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_0.H.BbG3CFQGF