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

The M14x R2 will automatically stop charging the battery once it reaches 100%, no need to unplug the AC adapter.

Alienware™ mobile computer Battery FAQ's

 

Hi Luis, thanks for the quick reply - but per your FAQ link, I don't see where it says what you stated; I read...

"When a mobile system battery is left connected to the computer while the system itself is using the AC Adapter to receive power, the battery will go through a constant charge/discharge cycle causing the batteries to constantly losing a small bit of their charge. This is why the Alienware™ Gaming Laptops feature the option to enable/disable battery charging. When you press [Fn] + [F2], the system toggles between the Battery Status Meter, Battery Charge Disable feature, and Battery Charge Enable feature. As a result, if you are in the Battery Charge Disable feature the Alienware™ laptop does not charge the battery when the battery is plugged into AC power. If you need to enable battery charging again, just press [Fn] + [F2] until the system indicates that battery charging is enabled.

Note: Enable/disable battery option is not available for the M14x R2, M17x R4 and M18x R2."

So from the FAQ, since the M14XR2 doesn't have that enable/disable battery charge feature, you SHOULDN'T leave it plugged in all the time since the battery will go through a constant charge/discharge cycle. Am I reading that correctly?

 

The M14x R2 doesn't have the feature on Fn+F2 because it does it automatically along with the M17x r4 and M18x R2 which work the same way.

 

That's great, thanks for the clarification. Is that automatic battery charge enable/disable feature documented anywhere so I can read more about it? So happy to hear that since for the past multi-generations of Dell laptops over 15+ years, I've been so used to that inconvenient plug-in/unplug cycle every few hours to maximize battery life

 

I can't find a statement or any documentation about it, but I've notified engineering and they're currently updating the article to avoid misunderstandings.

Should be done by the end of the day

 

Just got my M14x R2 Now I can join the club!

I've got a question though. I want to update my bios to A10, but I dont exactly know how. I've downloaded the bios version from Dell and I got an exe file. But I'm stumped from here. So what's the safest way to update my bios?

Thanks!

 

Hey, I plan to buy this netbook, but before buying, is this one can enable 3dtv play ?
Can I have a screen of physx and surround configuration in the nvidia panel driver in order that I can check if hdmi or DP is directly connected on dedicated cpu thanks ;-)

 

Well never mind, all I had to do was run the exe file haha. I thought it would be more complicated than that.

I have one more question. Whenever I jiggle my laptop, it sounds like there's something loose under the left palm rest ( It's somewhere near where the battery is). I can't figure out what it is, I don't really want to take apart my laptop but if I have to I will. My M14x runs great though, I haven't run into any problems yet, even with that loose thing jiggling under the palm rest.

 

miniDP is connected directly to GPU, VGA and HDMI go to Intel HD4000

 

Thhanks for the answer

 

Been putting my R2 through the paces for some time now and I must say, the one thing I was concerned about (not upgrading the screen) has been a complete non-issue. The standard offering is perfectly fine for me from simply watching movies to playing XCOM: EU, Far Cry 3 (on Ultra) and Skyrim. Is a bit glossier than I'd like, but overall I never regret the oversight of not upgrading during the customization process.

Continues to boot insanely fast, have never had a BSOD or crash of any sort. The i7-3720QM is a monster, so glad I put more money into the CPU.

All in all, couldn't be happier with my purchase.

 

Hello all, I'm the proud new owner of an m14x, here is a little about me and my computer history. I accidentally posted this already in the r1 forum but not the r2 forum.

Hello everyone, I have my first Alienware laptop, an M14x. I traded it for my 2 year old macbook air. Great computer, it has the i7 3610qm chip, gt650m 2gb, 16gb ram, 750gb hd, and the 768p screen. I think it's a great laptop overall however I am disappointed with the screen quality. Ive played around with colour settings a lot but ultimately it just doesn't seem like a super great screen.

I love Dell laptops overall, my main work laptop is a precision m6600 with 2860qm chip, 16gb ram, firepro m8900, 128gb system boot, 750gb data drive, 1080p matte screen, it's a real powerhouse. I still have an inspiron 9400 as well with the 7900gs, core 2 duo 2.16, and just upgraded it to a ssd drive. For a 6 year old laptop it can still do some decent low res gaming. I also previously had an ASUS w90 laptop with core 2 quad q9000, 6 gigs of ram, dual 4870 gpu, it was pretty fast at the time but I had all sorts of warranty issues with it.

 

Ok, for the record, you CAN upgrade the resolution of the M14x R2 by only replacing the LCD panel. I got my Alienware 14x, 3610 qm, gt 650m 2gb, 16 gb ram, but with the AWFUL 768p screen, as I bought it used. I looked all over the internet for a full dell display replacement but that was typically the whole top screen casing including the frame, etc, and was often over $300 CDN on ebay. I ordered a 900p screen from screencountry.com, $60 CDN, glossy version as they didn't have any matte finish ones in stock. Well, all I did was unplug the old lower res screen and plug in the new one and it immediately worked when I booted up. I was very careful to take off the plastic alienware screencover however I cracked it slightly on the black frame at the bottom as the bottom of the screen where the alienware symbol was had been glued with a stick tape material to the lcd panel. Luckily it's a tiny crack, I also broke a couple little tabs but the cover still stays on fine. I followed the video on youtube someone had posted for their repair and it sure helped. Overall the new screen quality difference is like night and day, the higher res screen is SO much better. The screen has 1 green stuck pixel but once you're using the laptop at a normal distance you don't notice it otherwise screen is perfect and I'm not going to try and get a better one. I also downloaded the notebookcheck icc profile and the colours look great. Anyone who is thinking about doing this, go for it!

Also, I installed my intel 330 180gb ssd drive. It's awesome, I love this computer, way more portable than my precision m6600 and close to as much power.

 

What exactly is the difference in the matte and glossy LCD's? I think I found the one you ordered, but just to be safe can you tell us which one or give us a link? What about the shipping?

Thanks!

 

Hi, I guess the main difference between the matte and glossy lcds is basically just the finish. The 768p panel I removed was a matte finish, I ordered the glossy one from screen country because the matte ones were out of stock. However I see they are just back in stock again as well. I don't notice any difference with reflections, etc, as the screen cover is glossy anyways. The 'item id' of the screen I ordered from screen country was 843855101. I asked who the manufacturer was before ordering it but they coudln't let me know, just said it was oem. I installed it and looked up the hardware ID and it looks like it's from AU Optronics. Hope this helps.

Update: it actually looks like the matte screens are out of stock again.

 

https://www.screencountry.com/index.php?section=products&model=M14X&brand=Alienware

 

HI, i want to ask can m14xr2 play sound simultaneously

- headphone and speaker ?
- HDMI and speaker ?

TY

 

Are there any good reviews by nbr members? And does anyone have a picture comparison of the m14x with a 15.6'' laptop?

 

Anyone please answer this

 

please help me on this question ,what should i do?
go for better processor or go for cheaper price.
and also confused with whether should i upgrade my screen from 1366x768 to 1600x900 or upgrade hard disc from 500gb to 1tb?
thanks in advance ...
pls reply soon

 

I moved your post from the main forum to the M14x Owner's Lounge so it will be seen by more M14x owners. My vote is to avoid cutting corners to save a few bucks and get with the best specs you can afford. Unless you just cannot swing it financially, go with the 3740QM or 3840QM CPU and 2GB GPU option. Going with higher specs will enhance the ownership experience and increase the longevity of your laptop. Definitely go for the higher resolution screen. 1366x768 resolution is very poor, even for a small screen. A 500GB HDD is too small. Games, music and video will gobble that up in no time at all.

Probably not. Most laptops will automatically switch between output and connecting an external speaker source will turn off the internal audio output.

 

Hello Forum-Members,
First of all I´m sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum section.

Im a Dutch Owner of a Alienware m14x R2
And I would like to know if my new Alienware requires the things for a ''Average gaming System''.
And if not, a 500gb external harddrive would be a solution?

My Alienware contains the following:
Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
12 288 MB (1x4GB + 1x8GB ) 1.600 MHz Dual Channel DDR3
2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M
500 GB (7.200 rpm) SATA-hard drive
Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software
Killer Wireless-N 1202 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 4.0
Primary 8-cell 63W/HR LI-ION
Integrated FullHD Camera with dual digital microphones (Win 8)
35.6 cm(14,0") HD LED Monitor (1.366 x 768) met TrueLife
Windows 8 pro 64bit.

Hope you guys could tell me if my current system is fine, or I need to add more things to it.

Sorry for my under-average English, hope you guys understand what i've mentioned haha.

- Pim

 

What programs are you looking to run in particular?

 

Hello there,
Let me thank you first for the fast respond haha.

Well I want to play games like WoW, blackops 2, diablo 3. (diablo 3 doesn't have to be in the highest resolution)
Maybe you could tell me if I need to add something?


*EDITED
My Alienware is still boxed so I can return it haha if needed. )


-Pim

 

Hello AWDutchie. Welcome to our Community. We are glad you joined us. And, yes, this thread was a perfect spot for your post.

Your English is much better than some Americans that only speak English, especially with respect your ability to spell words correctly, LOL.

Your system should do those things fine. I don't think you need to do anything other than open the box and start enjoying it.

 

Your laptop should handle all of those games medium-max settings with ease!

 

hehe thankyou :3!

Just installed everything and downloaded Diablo 3.
I can play it in Maxed settings.
Alienware got a new fan!

Thanks peeps for helping etc! + Fast responds hehe.

-Pim

 

Thankyou too idiotpilot

100% positive feedback

 

Hi all,

I recently received my M14x R2 2 weeks ago. I encountered lower fps (30? under max setting) on Tera online than the guy's m14x r2 (same specs) shown in the video below:

Alienware M14x R2 - Tera Online - YouTube
He is able to achieve 40-60 fps under max setting. The only difference between us is that he is using the stock windows 7 pro while I am using windows 8 stock. I had read from some forums which highlighting the fact that windows 8 will decrease fps for certain games.

I would like to either dual boot windows 7/8 or clean installation for windows 7. If I choose windows 7 clean installation, do i need to wipe out every partition in my c: (including recovery partition, etc) ? Will there be any implication? I had also created the win 8 alien respawn dvd, is that equivalent to the recovery partition?

Thanks a lot guys!

 

Hi guys, I've got a question about the creative recon 3d software. I think its pretty junky and have heard of people uninstalling it and substituting wave max audio 3 or 4 instead. Anybody had any experience doing this? Does wave max improve the sound/volume? Also, where do you download wave max from? Thanks!

 

Hi Matt,

Before thinking of dual booting options, make sure you've got your games whitelisted, your laptop might just be using the incorrect GPU to run certain applications.

If you want to dualboot Windows 7/8 I believe you can simply shrink 8's partition and format the remaining unallocated space to install Windows 7 later.

For a Clean Windows 7 installation you will need to delete every existing partition, but then if you'd like to roll back to Windows 8 you would need the recovery media.

At last, I'm fairly certain that the Win 8 AlienRespawn DVD you created is just regular data backup that needs to be accessed through an OS environment (after installing windows and alienrespawn), but I haven't used AlienRespawn that much.. maybe other members with more experience on this field can comment on this topic.

 

Hi Luis!

Thanks a lot for the reply. I had white-listed all the above mentioned game but the result is still the same (relatively low fps). I tried to perform dual-booting win 8 with win 7 but when I boot into UEFI mode (DVD drive), the windows 7 setup starting screen just hanged at the windows animation screen. In the end, I deleted all the partition and performed a clean windows 7 professional installation.

To my surprise, the fps do increase tremendously after the win 7 installation and I am pretty happy with it right now though my laptop did have some screen issue but it was handling by a case with dell technician support.

Just one question/doubt, I saw from the driver download page of dell and realised that the nvidia driver is not the latest version as of nvidia website, may I know when will the latest dell's driver being uploaded?


** ONE MORE DOUBT, the recovery DVDs that i burnt using alienrespawn, are they bootable? You mentioned that it need OS environment to run, does that mean I could run it in win 7 though the DVD (which is burnt using win 8 alienrespawn)?
Matt

 

I have got the same problem. using a HDMI cable. it looks like its uses the HD intel 4000, has anyone figured out a way to get this changed so it uses the 680m when connected via HDMI. also the stereoscopic 3d panel is missing from Nvidia Control Panel . anyone know why??

Someone suggested using the display port to Dual DVI, but will that use the 650m? and support 3D and 3D vision 2 glasses? , also why would the stereoscopic 3D be missing even when i install the latest driver for my 650m card?

System:
Alienware m14x R2
Nvidia 650m connecting to Asus VG278 (3D monitor with Vision 2 glasses)


if anyone know of a solution please advice?

 

I cannot download some driver from dell driver support website.
Alienware OSD application
IRST(storage)Intel Rapid Storage Technology

 

Has anyone tried playing games at 2560x1440 on this machine? I have the 1GB card and an i5-2610 processor but I really want to try.

 

They usually look for the most stable driver, tweak it and leave it be. I'm not sure when or if the driver will be updated on dell's support site but the latest driver from nvidia should work as well.

I don't think Win 7 will be able to restore from a backup created on Win 8, but to be honest I've never tried something like that. Give it a shot and let us know if it works

I've tried a couple, your FPS will drop quite a bit. Your laptop's native resolution is way lower than that, the 2gb version of the card would have a better shot at higher resolutions. I consider an external 1080p monitor to be a much better choice in this case, that will keep a nice performance and good res.

 

Darn. Yeah my older computer before this couldn't keep up with that resolution either when gaming and it had a HD4870, but when not gaming its a fantastic resolution. However I was thinking and at this time 2013, media formats don't even extend that high so when I'd be watching netflix, it would look blurry, even at HD, which limits at 1080p.

So yeah I guess my second question is, I should be able to connect 3 external monitors to this laptop at the same time right? 1 with vga, 1 with hdmi, and 1 with minidisplayport?
And if I only want gaming, even at 1080p output most games won't work very well with the gt650m.

 

Take a look at this thread

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/670898-m14x-r2-multiple-external-displays-2.html

 

Hi guys I've got a question I bought my m14x r2 with the 512gb ssd option. According to sys info its a samsung pm830. If I bought a 830 series from retail it would come with samsung magician software to optimize its performance. The only thing on my m14x is intel rst and half the time on boot-up it says it isn't running. So here's my question, should i uninstall intel rst and go get the samsung magician software? Thanks!

 

What exactly does it say? Does it boot?
I got my samsung 830 SSD after my notebook purchase and installed it myself, it is working perfectly since day one and performing well,
with intel RST, no samsung magician software needed / installed.

 

Hi Mastaa, yes it does boot. Everything seems to work normally except for that message that intel rst is not running. Maybe I'll just download the latest version of intel rst from dell's site and remove the old one and install the new one! Thanks!

 

Hi I've got another question. I've been having trouble with the creative recon 3d software. Somewhere I heard of a forum about removing it and installing wave max audio instead, but I can't seem to find that thread anymore. Anybody have any info on doing this? Thanks!

 

Open the Control Panel --> Programs and Features and uninstall the Intel RST software.

Download Intel RST and install it on your computer, restart and lets us know if that did it.

What kind of trouble are you having with the audio software?

 

Hi Alienware-Luis_Pardo, the problem I'm having with the creative recon 3d software is twofold. First if I click on the icon in the task bar to make an adjustment, the software comes up, freezes, and then I get the message that the software isn't running and windows will close the program. My second problem with it is that I'm blind and use a screen reader and creative's recon 3d isn't very accessible. A few months ago I saw a thread about replacing recon 3d with wave max audio, and the person who started that thread was very satisfied with the results. Thanks for any help you can give!

 

To be honest I don't know much about this as I haven't played around with the audio driver on the m14x r2 but here's a thread about it:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/666798-m14x-r2-waves-maxxaudio.html

What concerns me is that soundblaster recon 3d is the physical audio codec in the motherboard and as far as I know it would need it's proprietary software driver to run properly. Maybe other members with more experience on this field are be able to come up with some good alternatives.

 

Will it be any different connecting to second display using mini displayport or hdmi ?

 

Mini DisplayPort supports higher resolutions, if you're working with a 1080p external monitor an HDMI cable will do.

 

Luis Pardo, TY for reply

 

Has anyone found any stickers to put on their m14xr2?

 

Is this what you're looking for?

M14x skins