*OFFICIAL* M14x R2 Owner's Lounge Thread - READ BEFORE POSTING

Absolutely loving my m14x. I have it for two months now. I changed the original 750gb hdd with intel 330 180gb ssd. I changed the DVD-drive with the 750gb hdd. In heavy gaming the temperatures didn’t go above 65C on the GPU and 78C on the CPU.
I’m actually surprised how much noise can this laptop make.
Battery life is amazing. Even with maximum backlight and backlighted keyboard.

 

Day 2 of having my M14x, and I really like it...The screen is nice, I think the smaller screen makes everything look sharper, whether gaming or watching a bluray. Having an SSD does make a big difference, I thought the 7200 rpm HDD on the M17x was pretty fast, but this is sick.

The build quality is superb as well, and the battery life is amazing, 5+ hours at full brightness and alienFX on.

Really happy with it, and looks like a keeper to me.

PS, I was worried about the gaming performance of the 650m, and this GPU is great...Plays BF3 at high settings on the 1600x900 resolution very smoothly...Diablo 3 runs great, as does MaxPayne3. Really happy with the gaming performance...Fans are a little loud, especially when compared to the M17x, but nothing crazy.

 

Hello digitalmo

I shipped the laptop to the Dell repair depot.

They had no idea why it would not bootup so they first replaced the motherboard then they replaced the HDD then they replaced both RAM modules and that did the trick.

I received the laptop and it does bootup but the drivers were incorrectly installed and I was getting error messages on everything from the media player, image player, and could not even run the Window Experience Index so I formated the HDD and installed all the drivers and it worked fine.

 

Anyone playing gw2 by any chance? If so how does this laptop cope with WvW (you know hundreds of players), because this would be my ideal laptop.

If not too well I'll probably have to hope for a m15x refresh =/

 

Hi there,

When you use your hdmi output, does it use Intel graphic card? Mine only shows intel, does it supposed to have an option to use nvidia 650m when you use the hdmi output as well?

Also I stumbled accross Zalman NC3000 when I had my 17inch laptop and the review is awesome. Do you think it will be alright if I use it for my m14x? Or there are better options for the cooler?

Thanks!

*Love my new M14x R2...^^

 

Just an update, I'm getting about 3.5-4 hours of battery life on full brightness with AlienFX on, while doing web browsing, and watching Youtube, listening to Spotify...Was hoping for more battery life, but at least the power brick isn't that bad.

Not sure about the HDMI out, haven't tried it...But it should switch automatically...I'm also curious to see if 3DVision works via HDMI on a 3DTV, I'll post back later after I try it out.

I wouldn't even bother with a laptop cooler, this thing cools itself like a champ...Maybe if you are doing some overclocking, and gaming on it for long stretches, but so far, I have been very impressed with the temps...It stays cooler than the M17xR4, and a lot cooler than the M17xR2 did, although that was an SLI setup...But still, the cooling on this laptop is very impressive.

 

exactly, I wouldn't waste money on cooler, you'll get from 5c to 10c lover temps, and this can be achieved by simply lifting computer abit, I use some old 4x2 lego bricks for it, works great, cpu never went above 68c and gpu never went above 58c.

 

Whatever tilts it a bit will do, I've used everything from small notepads to a shoe haha.. Just makes sure you're not blocking the vents.

HDMI does switch automatically, on some TVs you may need to set the scale though, otherwise it won't fit the screen(this can be done through intel's graphic properties)

 

When I connect the hdmi to the monitor then I go to nvidia properties and select multiple display, I can only see intel HD 4000. Is it supposed to be the case?

 

WOW lot of good information here.

I just ordered my M14x R2 yesterday. After reading this entire thread, (Good Info) I couldn't find the answer to my question.

I configured it with a stock 256 SSD only.

Question is, do you think it will be a 2.5 SSD or the mSATA version.

Currently deployed overseas, so I wont be able to look at it for a month, and wanted to order a second drive for it.... Dont know if I need a SATA or mSATA.


TIA

 

You will get a 2.5 SSD with that option, which means you would need to get an mSATA to use it as a secondary drive.

 

Many thanks Sir !

 

Hey everyone! Is there a way that I can tell if Optimus is switching my graphics over to integrated graphics properly? I am trying to improve my battery life as much as possible.

Thanks

 

There is notification area icon that light up if you have geforce gpu running. If you want to turn it on, just go to the: Nvidia control panel > desktop > display GPU activity Icon

 

Hi everyone!

Soon-to-owner of a new 14x R2! Ordered it last night... Wasn't cheap, but it's by far the best fit to what I was looking for in regards to a smaller laptop and I'm happy
I spent hours reviewing, configuring, and basically mulling over my options.. Falcon, Maingear, Digital Storm, Origin, Malibal.. All fair options in their own regard, but I've always liked the Alienware laptops. Besides, this will be my second AW system.. First was a Hive Mind back in 2003 with a Radeon 9800 Pro .

That being said, I really don't like the panel that Dell provides for the R2 and I've seen a few threads about switching the 17x R3 panel with an offering from AUO.. Is such a thing possible with the m14x r2? If so, is it also possible to cover up the edges with a bezel or would I have to keep it exposed?

 

are you implying that a 17 inch screen would fit on the M14x R2 ? If so theres no way thats gonna happen. The stock 1600x900 screen is just fine.

 

No, im asking if there is an AUO or similar IPS panel that will fit the 14x

Edit: IPS 1920x1080 as well

 

Try this

Nvidia Optimus Test Tool

 

Today I got to thinking about installing a msata drive into my m14xr2 and a memory came to me. It was a memory from when I was installing a ssd into my dell mini 9.

There was a special ssd that you could get for the dell mini 9, it was double the width of the normal ssd and extended over into the pci slot next to it. Any one know of something like this in the msata form? The dell mini 9 ssd wasnt a msata, it was some strange format in a pci slot.

Now, my thought is that there should be some space next to the ssd slot from where the extra half of the widi card sits. This would give a little more space.

 

Not sure if I got the question right, if you're concerned about the storage size of an mSATA it's pretty similar to the current SSDs, though I think they go up to 256gb tops. With the mSATA port in the M14x R2 it should be a easy installation.

 

No, just looking to see if they make a msata drive in the form factor I pictured. Since we have a little extra space next to the msata slot, would be nice to use it.

 

I don't think it would even fit. Just look...

 

A double wide wouldnt, but the thoughts of a widi chip sized msata would be nice

 

That brings up a question, will any brand mSATA...ie mushkin, crucial, adata, OCZ ect..... work in this?

 

We use samsung and micron mSATA's, but none of those should give you any trouble.

 

I just ordered an M14x R2

Specs:
3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
6GB (1 X 2GB, 1 X 4GB) Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
1 GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M with Optimus
14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight
Nebula Red
Rest are Default

I was able to haggle it to $1075 total, including taxes and next day shipping.
What do you guys think? Be honest

Oh yeah I also ordered http://www.booqbags.com/us/backpacks/mamba-shift/MSHL-BLR to carry my m14x around

 

I have an ADATA SX300 256GB in my m14x R2, works great.

 

I'm going to order the m14x R2 with the Killer WiFi card. I'm not sure if I should get one with Windows 7 or one with Windows 8.

 

I'd personally stick with Windows 7 assuming your already accustomed to it. I choose windows 7 on the m14x i just purchased

 

I got the one with Windows 8, I don't really have a choice because I have to develop Windows Phone 8 applications. It's nice enough, not really that different from 7. So, if you have a good reason 8 is good on the m14x R2.

 

Has anyone installed Ubuntu or any other linux platform on their R2? I want to try it out.

 

I finally ordered the M14x R2 yesterday after trying out several laptops. I tried out these laptops:
1. HP Pavilion DV6Z (AMD APU)
- Returned because the WiFi Wireless N card only could go as 72 Mbps. It made my Samsung 256 GB SSD have lower performance.
2. Lenovo Y580
- Returned it because it had an unstable WiFi card. Build quality was not good. Overheated.
3. Dell Inspiron 15R SE
- Returned it because it an awful 1080p screen. Unstable WiFi card. Did not like the honeycomb design on the laptop.

The specs on the M14x R2 are:
1. i7-3630QM
2. 8 GB Memory
3. 2 GB Nvidia Geforce GT 650M
4. 14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) Screen
5. 1TB 5400 RPM HDD (replacing it my Samsung 830 Series 256 GB SSD)
6. Killer Wireless-N 1202

The M14x R2 will be replacing my early 2011 13" base model Apple MacBook Pro.

 

Gratz Kage, how much money did you spent? I just recently ordered mine here are my specs:

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
6GB (1 X 2GB, 1 X 4GB) Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
1 GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M with Optimus
14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight
Nebula Red
Rest are Default

I was able to haggle it to $1075 total, including taxes and next day shipping.
What do you guys think? Be honest

Oh yeah I also ordered http://www.booqbags.com/us/backpacks...shift/MSHL-BLR to carry my m14x around

 

Hey guys!

My m14x R2 got here today! First thing I could possibly say about it is WOW. The screen is actually very awesome and has excellent colors.. but then again, I'm slightly color deficient Looks good to me, at least!

It's quiet and nowhere near as loud as my other laptop, even after playing a few games. It did have some things installed on it that I wasn't a fan of, like the Creative webcam stuff, but that isn't an issue. The storage controller was setup as RAID vice AHCI.. no why idea, but that is again not an issue - fixed ezpz.

It's Nebula red, and I have the AlienFX set to Polar. Loving it so much =D

I kind of wish I opted for the 512GB SSD vice 256, but it's not a huge problem. My games list isn't vast by any means.

In any case, this thing is solid, looks great, feels great, and runs great. I'm very pleased.

 

Gratz Dienz!

I should be getting mine next week, how are the idle temps? Did your laptop come with the latest version of command center?

 

Don't know exact numbers, it I can tell you that it's cool to the touch. I have it sitting on a Coolermaster U2 with the stock fans. The pad is a perfect fit for the laptop, or vice verse Also, I have 2.8.8 of the command center, so yeah, I think that is the latest.

All in all, this is an awesome machine.

Edit: fired up HWmonitor and load temps (during D3 after about an hour) are at 60C. Lower than my desktop

 

my corsair 8 gb 1866 mhz c10 sticks aren't working

 

Hi I just got my m14x r2 and i love it! I do have a couple questions: 1 a window keeps popping up on boot-up that says something like "scane main window" with an ok and cancel button. Neither button does anything, anybody know what this is? 2 I'm not crazy about the creative labs audio software, anybody using anything dikfferent?
Thanks!

 

is the alienware same as the asus republic of gamer in terms of feel and material?

 

Hi neveron, no the m14x feels slightly different than the asus g models. the body of the notebook is stiffer and since the battery is tucked inside its not loose like on a lot of the asus mobels. Hope this helps!

 

Windows 7 or 8?

Did it start doing it from day one or after installing some programs?

 

Hi Alienware-Luis_Pardo, i have win7 64 and yes it has done it since the day i received the notebook! Thanks!

 

Are you sure about this? Someone said they ordered with 256MB SSD and it was a Samsung 830 mSATA SSD

 

You should try a Clean Windows 7 installation, it will erase all your files so back up any important documents you have before doing it.

After the clean installation, follow this guide to download and install the drivers for your M14x R2 in the correct order.

Alienware M14x R2: Initial Drivers Installation

 

Absolutely, it should be as advertised

 

Someone else said its a Samsung mSATA not Standard 2.5 SSD?

 

Yeah, check this thread...

I think this is kinda funny, they probably should clear that out in the configuration process.

 

Hi everyone,
two days ago I made the huge mistake of "upgrading" the BIOS of my M14xR2 from A04 to A08.
Since then, I got numerous hard shutdown ( can't power on without being on AC ) while gaming on battery, which never happened before.
I also got my very first BSOD since I got the machine.

I read somewhere that it is possible to go back from A08 to A04 using a methode called "Blind flashing" or something like that; involving extracting the firmware onto a USB Key and booting with a certain key pressed. However, I can't seem to find a proper step by step tutorial on how to do this.

I would appreciate it if someone could explain the procedure to me !

I already started a thread about this but I was told this would be the place to ask

 

Ohh that would be nice 2 x 256 GB SSD in my machine.

 

Hi, I got my M14XR2 just this week and so far it has been great with just some minor hiccups that I or Alienware tech support has been able to fix quickly. I just have a question about battery/ac-power in general: usually, I have the laptop hooked up to multiple displays as a desktop-replacement - should I always have the ac-power plugged in or should I constantly unplug the ac-power when the battery is fully charged and then let it slowly discharge to low battery before plugging in the ac-power again? Which method will help the battery last longer for this particular laptop? TIA.