Why was the m15x R1 such a poorly designed laptop?

I convinced my girlfriend's father to buy an alienware after I was so happy with my original m5750. He ended up buying an m15x-R1 a few years ago. Since he has got the unit he has had problems that many others have also reported.

To start, the poor design of the hinges in these things causes the plastic to break on the lid so eventually they will no longer stay attached. I have tried to fix it with industrial strength glue and loosen the hinges a bit which helps but is still is not perfect.

The next problem happens when the unit is mostly on battery power but also when on AC sometimes. The volume up/down touch control will randomly blink and adjust itself. I was directed by alienware to try a bios update that was supposed to "help" the issue but didn't notice much of a difference.

Lastly, I was cleaning this unit out for him the other day and re-applying thermal paste since it has been a few years and noticed that the entire time he has had it, a green sticker has been left separating the heatsink from the gpu! After google-ing this also seems very common.

This kind of stuff should never happen with a laptop, especially an expensive one! What was going on at Alienware before dell took over that these computers were even released with obvious design and quality control issues?!

Long story short, DO NOT buy one of these! EVER!

I still love my m5750 which has been a tank and given me NO issues since 2006! My girlfriend just got an m11x in 2011 and her laptop has been great too with no issues.

Has anyone with an m17x-r1 experienced anything similar?

 

Expensive =/= good...