Getting full refund on m14x

Hey guys
Just coming into this forum for probably the last time. After about two weeks of getting my computer back from repair, my 3rd motherboard failed (today). I can't deal with a laptop this unreliable. Sure, it was great except the gpu (grr), but this thing keeps dying so often. Called dell today, am getting a full refund after having talked to a nice rep (got it on the first try!). Have had it for about 8 months. Honestly, I would have expected more from you dell, for having spent over 1700 dollars on a machine. Farewell all, farewell forever alienware.

 

Is the m14x really this bad? I plan on buying one this weekend, but I keep seeing threads like this pop up. I plan on going with an i5 to cut back on heat and I will never overclock it. Should I just stay away?

 

You know, it was great for about 6 months. Last two months I've went through broken usb ports, headphone ports, and motherboards. I was just fed up with sending this thing in every two weeks. Lucky I got a refund. Waiting for ivy bridge and keplar. Buy with care, especially buy the extended warranty (i got 3 year).

 

It's isolated incidents. Owners who have negative experiences tend to post more about their experiences than those (like me) who have had positive experiences with Alienware. This happens with every company mind you. I feel the same way about Asus since my laptop broke non stop for months, however plently of Asus owners have had no issues.

Best of luck OP. Hopefully your next laptop will be much more reliable Personally, that's one of the most frustrating experiences to deal with. Just keep in mind that if your next laptop were to break down (Asus/MSI/Sager/HP/Acer/Toshiba), you'll have to send it away to the repair facility for weeks at a time and if it comes back broken again (like Asus did to me), it'll be even more weeks of waiting Although you may dislike AW/Dell now, I still believe that their warranty service is unmatched (next-day tech) versus the ridiculous "up to 6 weeks" that Asus quoted me and "up to 5 weeks" for my keyboard replacement by MSI.

 

I know that voodooi. Thats why I'm thinking of just building a desktop lol. I didnt post on the first incident, or the second, but the third time dell? Anyway, good luck with your system if you still plan on getting it.

 

Keep in mind, as with all products, more people are going to post about their individual problems than those who never have an issue (like myself).

I've had my m14x since last year and haven't had any issues beyond the occasional overheating. If you don't have the technical competence to deal with the everyday minor problems that pop up with the m14x, you shouldn't be buying an Alienware in the first place.

Do your research on the thing, and try and find a balance between the good/bad reviews that show up across the internet, the truth is often somewhere in the middle of the two.

-Cheers

 

Sorry for your loss, it happens with technology. But if you need or want another gaming laptop, I'd go with the asus g53 or this, the best value I've ever seen.
MSI GT683DXR-603 - XOTIC PC - MSI Ultimate Gaming Laptop

gtx 570, 2670qm, and everything is customizable, even the thermal paste, there's a model that starts at 950ish, but it looks bland.

Though building a desktop would be beast, especially with the new 7000 amd series and upcoming gtx 600 series.

 

Im fully prepared to fix minor problems on the M14x, but motherboard failure is far from minor. As far as researching goes... when did the M14x launch, yea, been researching since then.

My only question now, is the M14x a stable at this point in its life?

 

I would say no, based upon my own experiences.

Like you, I was fully prepared to deal with minor problems. I went with the i7 and wasn't really worried about heat problems, because I knew I wanted a laptop cooling stand for it and I knew that there were solutions (such as turning off the turbo boost, using lower settings in gaming). I generally play older games, although I did recently start playing SWTOR, and at native resolution and high settings, it can definitely run hotter than normal. And my primary use of my computer is audio production, which wouldn't tax the GPU at all. So I figured I was in good shape.

But the motherboard failures that I and many other users have been experiencing don't seem to be related to heat, usage or anything other than crappy parts. In my 31 years of computer related experience, motherboards don't fail very often. In fact, the m14x is the only one I've ever had fail (three times now). I've bought off the shelf machines, refurbished machines, and I've built machines from scratch... zero motherboard failures. And within the first two months of ownership I've gone through three motherboards on the m14x. The first failure happened immediately after the return period was up. It lasted just long enough to ensure I wasn't able to return it for a full refund.

Sure, people will tell you these are isolated incidents, but if they're so isolated, why are they failing multiple times for people? Why are there so many horror stories of people saying "this is my second/third/fourth motherboard related repair".

Yes, forums are the place that you expect to see people who are having trouble, and you should take that information with a grain of salt. There is a chance that these problems will not happen to you, but there is also a chance that these problems -will- happen to you. If you don't mind shelling out $1500-2000 for a computer that may fail catastrophically every 30 days, don't mind paying extra for a warranty just to make sure they will fix it when it does fail and won't cost you money out of your own pocket when it does, and can handle waiting anywhere from a week to a couple of months for repairs, then by all means roll the dice and take your chances. But if you can't afford the downtime (like me), then the m14x might not be the best choice for you. I can't afford the downtime, I have clients waiting for projects to be mixed and I can't afford to wait three weeks for my computer to be returned to me, only to have it fail again with the same problem within a couple days. But this is something I have to deal with now. And I only took the single year warranty, so I'm going to have to shell out a few hundred more or be saddled with a $1300 paperweight.

I love my m14x, when it's working. But caveat emptor... buyer beware.

 

Off topic, but rubbercrow, Im in knoxvile!

 

Nice! If you see an m14x fly past your window, it's mine. Just pick it up and throw it towards Nashville.

 

I had a similar issue with my M17x, MB replaced twice. I believe it was a chassis short, so no matter how many parts they replaced, same result. I finally got a new system after jumping through hoops. It has been fine with no problems ever since. (knocks on wood)

 

The m14x has a plastic chassis, so I can't see how that could be shorting anything out. There could be an issue with another component, but so far all of my research has pointed towards bad Nvidia video cards as being the primary component involved in these failed motherboards.