Want to order but scared :(

Hi guys

You have always been a great help to me.

I have bought the M17x in 2009-May be the first one who got it in the UK or at least the they said so. It was not a pleasant experience at all. Full of flaws. I spent more than a month changing parts and finally they issued me a refund after tons of mails, complaints and phone calls, I sent to Michael Dell himself. To pick it up, that is another story . I stayed home for like a week and each day they say the next day the guys will come and pick it up. To cut it short I have a trauma.

Now, I am puzzled because I want A good quality+portable size+best specs. I thought that AW has the best quality but that was slashed apart with my experience. So I am thinking about macbook pro but changing the operating system makes me a but uncomfortable. I was really motivated about the M14x thinking that they might have refined the quality but read about some bad quality faults and everyone say the display is inferior to M15x. I have three VAIOS actually all Business series one and my main is a VAIO Z..So thought a bit about a thinkpad (X1 may be..!!).

Sorry guys for going on and on but please I will be most appreciative if you can help me out. If someone has a mac and an AW or someone can advise me about this whole issue it will be great.

I need an i5-i7, min 6 GB RAM, a good graphics card also a min of 1GB.. that sort of thing. Unless you guys thinking with going to apple with less graphics and as some people claim 'better performance'.

Sorry again if this is not a 100% AW thread but as I say, deep inside of me I wish to get an AW
Many thanks and take care

 

Looking into a sager

 

Thanks, but if I may ask how is your AW M14x quality, Display.. have you compared it to other high end computers..??

 

Sager's quality is just as good as alienware. The M14x display is inferior to Sagers, it might be a problem for you since you are used to high end displays. M14x is very soild and well built compared to others.

 

Frenzy, tell me if i am wrong .. sager DOESNT have a 14 inch laptop....... if you are comparing the display from a m14x to a 15.6" sager then that wasnt very fair...

then i can say.. the portability of sager is inferior to the m14x same with battery life.

 

Since he was talking about mac pros and m15x etc I thought he didn't mind a 15. If that's how you feel about sagers then great for you.

 

well he did post on an m14x forum is he not ? i must be blind sorry then if this is not m14x forum.

Yes that is how i feel about the sager and yes ofc its great for me who else is it great for?

 

I'm sorry when have you applied to be the moderator? So all we can talk about is m14x and 14" laptops right? I'm sorry I broke the rules forum police. Lol

 

Exactly the problem I am having.

 

Most people have stated that the M14x is about the same size, weight, heft and has the same dimensions as a normal 15-incher.

Mr. Mysterious

 

From your point of view we can talk about any laptop any size on any "brand" forum ? if that so then sure my bad LMAO

 

Thank you very much guys for your help..

 

no problem

 

That's what he asked wasn't he? Any thing that's compareble to the m14x? I know someone who have a sager and have compared them, and I feel they are compareble. If you don't think so that's fine, prvoide a real answer to his question. If you want to be a troll and start a flame war then I suggest find someone else.

 

@Frenzy, Thank you so much for your help and for suggesting a laptop. Actually, XATLX I initially apologized for asking a not 100% pure AW question. But since I am trying to compare an AW M14x to other laptops then it was either to post it here or post it at several other forums to get a more in depth answers. So please guys the last thing I wanted is for you to have an argument or 'mild fight' over this. Really thank you both for your interest and replies to my questions. I do appreciate the both your effort and time.

 

It really doesnt matter according to Frenzy's rep "he's an unknown quantity at this point" so his opinion doesnt matter lol. Nah jk hahaha im an unknown quantity as well.. hahaa

 

Since your in UK, I would dump SAGER (USA only) and look into CLEVO rebrands in UK (Kobalt, etc..) [It's the SAME computer as a SAGER].
Kobalt Systems - Performance Notebook & Desktop Computers


What is the purpose of the laptop? Gaming? Business/work? Casual? Just want flashy lights?

May also want to consider: Dell XPS, HP Envy, ASUS G-Series, etc....


Good luck

 

@alexmuw, thank you very much. Actually I want something for everything. I am a computer engineer finishing my PhD. So it will be for computer programming, research, fun also, gaming and watching movies. You know everything and I wish it to last for about two years not to think about changing. My experience was with Compaq presario (3 laptops), Toshiba (3), Fujitsu (1), Dell mobile workstation (1), Sony VAIO business laptops (6), Apple Macbook Pro (3), Alienware M17x (1)..This is as far as I remember since I started buying laptops and tablets.

 

i think i would go with the alienware m14x
sager to me is still unknown and i dont know a lot about their products
also the alienware looks cooler

 

True but it is 2 times slower than the sager np8130 which has a nvidia gtx 560m and is the same price.

 

but you can mess around with the dell rep , i dont know about canada here tho.
also if u ask me it sure looks chunky
and just saw the lg p3330 - best of em all

 

Spoken like a true noob that doesn't know anything.

 

Before anyone hangs an albatross around my neck, I'm going to go and advice the OP to avoid the M14x if they intend on running CPU intensive tasks; the quad core in the m14x can reach up to 95c and the video card goes up to 85c.

Just sayin

*Braces for the M14x defense force*

 

well not to jump on the m14x band wagon but do u personally own one? Because lets talk about how INTENSE these computer tasks ur thinking of are. Cuz in my mind INTENSE would heat up like that just about on any laptop and it would be wise while doing these tasks, to not be on battery, to be plugged in AND possibly even a laptop cooler. Laptops get hot its a fact, do soem more than others? Sure, but if ur running these INTENSIVE tasks any laptop besides like maybe a 22" that weighs 30 lbs and is as thick as an xbox 360, but are there even any of those? My point here is that from what you say about the specific temperatures running those tasks, you better own an m14x to be attest to that, or have seen valid proof. Not just ppl saying "OMG dont get m14x i was gaming and it got to like 98 degrees and i had to shut it down." Meanwhile they were running the most intense game out there on half a battery and outside in the middle of the summer when its hot as balls. A lot of people online say or exaggerate to grasp people's attention and you cant take anything you hear for granted. Now having said that if u are indeed an m14x owner and you have accounted for these high temps, then i must ask what are these INTENSIVE tasks that you have run to cause it to go that high.

 

hey, i know about the specs and all
and yes i am aware that sager is better with their graphics and all
it just my opinion of what i am going to get

 

High m14x temps are not 'gossip'. Every in depth review that I have read with temperature readings has shown them to be consistently high. I take it these reviews were not done at the beach.

As far as intense tasks are concerned, my 13" laptop runs Prime 95 with an i5 480m clocked @ 3.33ghz, along Furmark with a Radeon 6550m, @ 78c and 75c respectively.

Those are the kinds of temps manufacturers should be shooting for. Granted my laptop is a 3820TG and has two cooling fans set to 100%.

 

Can u linke me such reviews because yeah i do realize it can get pretty high but im also talking laptops in general just get hot its a fact, not to mention reviews from other sources let alone cnet can tend to be innacurate not saying the reviews you viewed are but just saying. Im not in position to talk specifically about the m14x yet b.c its being shipped atm BUT i do know laptops and they get hot and this being a gaming laptop im sure it can handle anything u throw its way. I have yet o see such reviews that say it gets up to 95 degrees, because if thats common in like a review where im sure theyre not maxing out the comp, then every m14x owner here who is overclocking and gaming/ benchmarking maxing it out to the top would then hit 100 degrees easy if these such common reviews hit 95, and in which case at 100 im pretty sure the laptop shuts itself off. I think 100 is the safety limit. Regardless upon recieving my m14x i will run such tests and truthfully see.

 

Review Alienware M14x Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

[M14X] Should I be worried about my temps? Or should I call Dell Tech? - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community

Good luck with your new m14x

*edit* Funny thing how notebookcheck gives the m14x an 85% rating yet acknowledges throttling and heat issues. In truth, their review scores should be taken with a grain of salt. On the other hand the benchmark scores and temperature readings are very useful .

 

MBPs are decent machines if you don't mind paying the premium for em. Apple also has very good customer service if that is your concern. Example case: my friend's touch pad broke and she brought it to a Mac store. They took it, fixed it, and returned it. It was that simple. As long as you're under their warranty, they will fix your laptop or give you a new one without any hassle. Macs also have very nice, albeit crazy reflective, screens. A lot of my colleagues in the Computer Science department have purchased MBPs and can at test to the suitability of MBPs for that field.

HOWEVER, if you want an Alienware and you don't purchase an Alienware this time, you'll still want an Alienware. It's also good to note that there ARE Alienware owners who haven't had any problems. I honestly think dissatisfied customers are more compelled to write bad reviews than satisfied customers are to write good reviews.

 

this is so true.. can i quote that?

 

I ran wow for 6 hours straight yeseterday while plugged in and im on the advanced power nvidia graphics card mode, fan gets loud of course, but not once did i go over 72 degrees. Which in my opinion is rather cool. Also i have no laptop cooler or any of that paste, just sat my laptop on the table in room temp house, never went over 72.

 

the m14x is a great notebook, its build solidly, fairly portable, the battery life is 3-4 hours with the most power saving features enabled. But if you're looking for the best components for the price, alienware is not the way to go. Everyone also say's that you shouldn't compare the m14x to 15 inch laptops, i say why not, it's heavy like one. The macbook pro 15 is not really meant for gaming, and is way more overpriced than alienware, but i guess it can hold its own in older titles, even newer titles and low settings. Vaio's arent really for gaming either, even with their upgraded dedicated 6470 amd card, it's not good for any recent games. Maybe older games with the lowest settings. If you want to game moderately, get the m14x for portability, if you want to get the best gaming system for the price that's not so much portable, get the asus g53 or a sager. If you want mobility, battery life, and a business centered laptop, get a vaio s series or a macbook pro. Maybe the hp envy 14 might be a good compromise between gaming and portability. It can't play games nearly as well as the m14x, but it can play most games on medium settings, and it has great battery life. But for portability, id still take my m14x, with charger btw the beats audio version of the hp envy 14 looks sexy

 

That's a very good analysis indeed. I have vaio Z, TZ and FW currently and looking forward to an core-i device. I believe I will go for the 13" core i5 macbook pro as it is light and I will not really need a gaming rig. So will go the track of money saving after spending tons of money before on laptops. I have actually bought 18 laptops since I was in the university so I would like this nonending cycle to stop somewhere. I change a laptop every yeat or so. I am about to finish my PhD in computer engineering so basically I am going to be doing lots of research and will need more processing power than graphics power. It will help me with my student lecturing and so on.

 

To the OP,

If you want a portable laptop that have the power to play most game then the M14x is for you, if you want a bulky laptop with GREAT screen the M17x is for you, why buy a Sager when the m17x looks better, feels better. with the 15.6' Sager config = 1350$ and the m17x config = 1650$ that is 300$ more then Sager but you can call in to get discount just like most of us when we want to buy Alienware.

ex. my laptop cost 2400$ but i got it down to 1900$ with a free xbox.

 

Actually I had a dramatic terrible story with AW M17x. I was the first one to receive it in the UK or atleast they told me that. I spent a whole month fixing it and changing every single faulty part in it then they refunded my money after making me suffer alot. I even stayed home for one week waiting for them to come and pick it up. Each day they say the next day. That was 2009 so I posted here now to give them another chance based on your experience..assuming that their quality lines got better. The support from AW had no or low communication with DELL at the time. May be because Dell had just bought AW. But this did not concern me it was not my problem. I actually sent to Michael Dell himself that is when things got moved in the right direction. Even so they made me wait for them to come and collect the device day after day after day..........

 

Not sure why some of you are spreading misinformation about the 555 card.

I see far too many people just coming up with random numbers such as "the 560 is two times faster than the 555" and other nonsense. Not sure if someone started to spread the misinformation and then it spread like wildfire

According to proven user (stevenxowens792) tests (was reading some today), the 460 is 10% stronger than the 555 and the 560 is 25% stronger than the 460, therefore, the 560 is 35% stronger than the 555, but only 25% stronger if the 555 is overclocked (555 overclocked nearly matched a 460 non-overclocked).

I personally thought the gap between the 555 and 460 was a little bigger (15-20%), but test results proved that wrong, as it's only 10%. Steven did a comparison using the Sager NP8130 vs M14X

 

Yes .

If you really need processing power, I don't think the i3 would provide enough. Might as well get something with a 2nd gen i7. Dang, that is ALOT of laptops for a university career.

 

Sorry meant the i5. Actually there is no i3 in a macbook pro 13 "

 

Check your math: using those numbers the 560 is 37.5% faster.

But I expect the gap widens when increasing resolution. Still, the 555M is not given enough credit, especially considering how easy it is to overclock it to over 700Mhz core and ~1000Mhz memory with negligible increase in temps.

 

yeah the gt555m is a great card, but if someone's gonna spend more than 1400 or so on a laptop, i'd suggest that they should get a laptop better dedicated for gaming, and overclock that. The gt555m is great, but you can get an acer with the 2630qm and gt555m for like 850 , wont look sexy tho. IMO the gt555m is not worth paying over 1400 for. And realize that FPS isn't a best indicator of gaming performance, because it can still lag and show +30 fps.

 

Well yeah FPS and lag are two different components of the overal game performance. FPS is the amount of frames per second your computer/graphics card can handle, contributing to the smoothness of the game and how fast it takes to resolve changes, or new 3d structures with in the game. Lag is determined by your latency, meaning your connection to the network. Its possible to have over 100 fps and still lag in the game if ur connection is crap. Likewise you can have an amazing connection and not be lagging but if ur fps is 10, your frames will come in so choppy and slow that it will appear as if your lagging. Eitherway both must be in a balance to get the best performance, so if your latency at home or school is garbage, dont think getting this laptop or any laptop for that matter will make a huge improvement, unless you get the best wifi card to even out the latency.