For All UK OWNERS Thread

5 days after mine

 

Been "in production" for about 10 days or so now... half expecting it to go to "order cancelled" any moment just to teach me a lesson for contacting Dell Support

 

hmm that does sound suspect. Of the dell machines i've had its normally in WIP for a while then in production for a day some times two at the most then shipped.

 

Maybe it is like watching a kettle and if I just ignore all the nonsense then it will turn up soon.

 

yanks are talking of part shortages maybe that's why yours is stuck. mine went into production yesterday. I have a friendly Dell rep that if you want i could email her need yourprder no.

 

Went the whole weekend without reading this site... progress!
Sent you a PM Neil, would appreciate if you could get any info out of your rep.

 

Hi, does anyone know if it is possible to get the R1 with 4Gb of memory in the UK? I can only find the option of 2Gb on the dell website.

Also, does anyone know when the i3 processor will be availible in the UK?

 

Alienware R1 w/ 4GB
http://www.johnlewis.com/230882208/Product.aspx

http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/alienware-m11x-04906533-pdt.html#tab-tech-specs

Most trusted 2 online sources I know of, I am sure there are others.

Bizarre that you cannot upgrade beyond 2GB, have you contacted Dell? Might be a web error or they might just be using cheap tactics to get people to get the R2.

You could always purchase with 2GB from Dell and upgrade yourself. I do not know whether the i3 will be available in the UK or not.

 

@ Richo83, thanks. I guess it would be a good idea to ring Dell to check.

 

For what Dell charge for the RAM upgrade to 4GB you can buy 4GB cheaper & fit yourself. I got mine with 2GB then bought 4GB of 2nd hand crucial RAM for much less (2x2GB sticks, 4GB sticks are silly prices!).

 

I have never fiddled with computers (as it were). Does extra ram fitted perform the same as ram that comes with the laptop?

 

as long as you buy decent ram.

 

You can ignore the PM Neil, Dell updated status today to Order Shipped

 

yes - it was my email to my contact you owe me beer

 

mine shipped too!

 

That was my return favour with my contact Race you as I'm now thinking mine will arrive on Monday and not by the end of this week.

 

If I do get the R1, could somebody please tell me the difference between the SU4100 and the SU7300? Does it have any impact on performance?

 

The difference is minimal or critical depending on what you require of your system.

The SU7300 has 3MB L2 cache which can give a small edge on the SU4100 on some processing tasks, but they're both clocked at 1.3Ghz and the difference may be minimal.

The main difference is the SU7300 has Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) for winXP mode.

Compare SU7300 and SU4100 Compare Intel® Products

I bought the M11xR1 SU7300 cause it cost more and thus must be better... yer?.

 

Well I've checked my order and that is showing up as shipped as well (as of yesterday morning) so it sounds like hardware bottleneck or not, the i7 m11x is being shipped/built/processed/left in a warehouse in bulk.
Still, my ETA was 22/7 so this is well ahead of schedule based on my original order date, and I don't think my phone calls to try to find out what the hold up is/was made any difference to it being expedited.
Anyhow, it's being shipped from China which I have received in 3 days before, however as someone else has stated, probably it will be here early next week.

For those of you planning any hardware upgrades, and didn't order the system disk here's the link for the Dell Drivers and software;
Drivers & Downloads

Neil McRae> In reference to the heatsink and a potential issue - The reason I'm concerned about the potential bearing problem you had before is because trawling through plenty of sites regarding the m11x R1, I've not come across anyone mentioning issues regarding fan noise or heatsink problems.
You returned your R2 because of the bearing noise and I believe Ninja2000 returned his because of heat (as well as Optimus) issues:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/496179-byebye-r2-oh-r1-why-did-i-doubt-you.html

There is also mention of heat issues in some reviews:
Alienware M11x (Optimus Graphics) Review - A Review of the Alienware M11x (Optimus Graphics)

It's early days and yet there are more heat issues being reported on the R2 now than seem to have been since the R1's launch in April.
The fan/heatsink are new components for this version and it looks like it will be running at full cooling more often, purely from a wear and tear perspective, statistically speaking, it's more likely the fan will fail in the R2.
Anyhow, whether it's true or not, I'm sure it will be possible to replace the fan myself should it fail outside the warranty period. Might even be able to lathe a better heatsink if it's easy enough to remove.
Only time will tell!

 

If you're reading this thread, then you'll probably already have found most of the links below... nevertheless, while some of you are waiting, or trying to make a decision, or too lazy to search for them; here are some recent reviews for the m11x R2:

Alienware M11x Review -Netbook Reviews
Alienware M11x (Core i7)
Alienware M11x R2 Review
Alienware M11x (Optimus Graphics) Review - A Review of the Alienware M11x (Optimus Graphics)
Dell Alienware M11x R2 Review
Marker01’s M11x R2 – i7 Review ... Fantastic Marker! I was curious as to how it would perform.

And R1 vs R2 Benchmarks:
Alienware M11x R2: A Legend Reborn - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/492232-m11x-r2-benchmarks.html

Granted, I haven't received my m11x yet but here are my conclusions from what I've read; There doesn't seem to be a huge benefit for the R2 revision over the R1 for the benchmarks tested but I'm pretty sure that the extra overhead will make a significant difference for the games I want to play. It will also be handy for some pretty intensive database programs that my friend's R1 bottlenecks on and for my encoding work.
I'm also holding out for future multicore games which will better take advantage of the i7's potential.

A good point (I'd neglected to think about) made in a number of the reviews is that because of the inclusion of Optimus, you won't be limited to waiting for/downloading GPU drivers from Dell's site only, as you are with the R1. You can directly update from NVidea. The current game loading failures because of Optimus conflicts seems quite narrow but these will be fixed in updates eventually. I've ceased to use a huge swathe of my previous notebooks because proprietry drivers ceased to be supported by the manufacturers. It's a shame when you invest good money for good hardware which end's up outlasting it's software or programs after a couple of years. Ideally, I like to use my laptop till it breaks, not because they fired the contractor who compiled my drivers. The contractor whose sole purpose in life was to create drivers specifically for my laptop. Kevin... you F****W!
It's like some time in the future all the car manufacturers telling everyone they can't use their perfectly good cars because there's no more petrol. That just never would happen!

As for the heat, as long as it is within normal parameters, I'll be forgiving. If things begin to catch fire, I'll begin asking questions. I expect this to be hotter, and a little more power hungry because of the i7 anyway and as for fan noise; if only there was some technology to direct sound into your ears while blocking out external sounds. Some sort of phones for your head... that would solve the problem for me.
Which takes me to the battery; it does seem to take a hit, despite Optimus. It's expected considering the i7's power draw. I don't have the cahoonas to use this outside so I'll be near a plug socket anyway.

I found my 7 year old USB Antec notebook cooler over the weekend. It was always too small for my other notebooks, being a 13" platter but it will be perfect for the m11x. It's pretty much discontinued now.
I've noticed my shopping bills getting more expensive, but holy mother I've just looked at the prices I was paying back in 2003... I paid £7.99 for it from Ebuyer. It's completely silent as I imagine Antec's current range is.
If you're looking for something portable perhaps this:
[TWEAKNEWS] - ANTEC NOTEBOOK COOLER S REVIEW - PAGE 1

All in all, I'd always go for the i7 and Optimus, updates, less hassle with GPU management and there are certain key benefits to the i7 which I will use. I also hate the fingerprint magnet finish my friend's R1 is. The I-can't-believe-it's-not-rubber finish appeals a lot more to me.
If I could afford/justify it to my girlfriend I'd collect all the Alienwares; "well why didn't you buy me another puppy as well?!". "Because laptops don't stain carpets and sexually assault the furniture!?"
But if I had the R1, I probably wouldn't be looking to upgrade. Extra 2hrs battery life and it's more ballbag friendly than the R2.

 

stickinsect> What DrGoodvibes states is correct; it depends what you intend on using your m11x for.
The links he provided detail the architectural differences between the su7300 and the su4100. To address these;

The su7300 has 2Mb L2 cache vs. Su4100 with 3Mb Intel® Smart Cache; processors are optimized for 1Mb L2 cache so though there are benefits to the additional 1Mb ramp up, it'll be minimal. Both chips are overclockable and the core speeds are the same.

The 'Instruction Set Extensions' SSE4 are extensions for CPU architecture, and are included in the su7300 but you won't find make a lot of differences with games at the moment if you look up some details about it.

Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) means there is optimization in the su7300 for running virtual machine on your laptop, however the su4100 will be more than capable of running VM software anyway.

In terms of gaming, this thread offers a good range of gaming benchmarks for both chips (red asterix SU4100 CPU - green asterix SU7300 CPU);
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/459834-official-m11x-benchmark-thread.html
You'll see that while all the top benchmarks are held by the su7300, the su4100 is only a shade behind in terms of performance.

In short, if you're gaming with the majority of games out there, either configuration will be fine with the su7300 just having the edge, if you're running any Virtual Machine stuff though (you'd know it if you were) then the su7300 would be the preference.
That said, if you're looking at forking out the extra cash for the su7300, you may want to seriously consider the i7 configuration detailed on page 3 of this thread for £880.10

 

Mine had the problem on arrival suspect just badly made bearing (I race model cars and its quite common), nothing to do with heat. Mine was also an i5 and the fan really only came on during game playing. The i7 is a busy CPU though, I Have one on my kobalt 860 and it does get hot.

Regards,
Neil.

 

God knows what's happened here, but if this doesn't get cancelled I will be one happy mother f*cker! (P.S. Sorry for the lack of formatting - it's a quick copy and paste job from the confirmation email).


Alienware M11x
Alienware M11x Soft Touch – Stealth Black, Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
£ 322.55
1
£ 322.55

Item
Description

Base
Alienware M11x Soft Touch – Stealth Black

Memory
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]

Keyboard
Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard

Video Card
1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M

Hard Drive
500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive

Microsoft Operating System
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English

Wireless Networking
Dell Wireless 1520 Half Mini Card (802.11n)

Cables
UK 250V Power Cord

Shipping Documents
English Documentation

Gedis Bundle Reference
N07W1X04

Standard Warranty
1 year Next Business Day Hardware Support included with your PC

Services and Support
1 year of coverage included with your PC

Bluetooth
Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Module - European

Order Information
Alienware M11x Order - UK

Primary Battery
8-cell 63Whr Lithium Ion battery

Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 640UM (4M Cache, 1.20 GHz)

Gaming Essentials
Steam® Gaming forum and download application

Color Choice
Alienware M11x Soft Touch – Stealth Black

Avatar
Alienware Logo

AutoMatic Updates
AutoMatic updates - On

Accidental Damage Support
No Accidental Damage Support

LCD
11.6-inch WideHD 1366x768 (720p) LCD

Hidden NamePlate Engraving
Generic Name Plate Engraving

Protect your new PC
No Antivirus Software

Power Supply
90W AC Adaptor



Total excl. VAT VAT Rate VAT Total incl. VAT
Sub-total(s): £ 322.55 17.50% £ 56.45 £ 379.00
Total Price: £ 322.55 £ 56.45 £ 379.00

 

how the hell did you manage that?!

 

You jammy ********* did you use coupons or just a checkout error?

 

I didn't use any coupons, no, so I guess it must be a checkout error. To be honest I'm not gonna get my hopes up just yet cos I'm sure a cancellation email is on it's way!

 

Thought I'd try to replicate in config page but gives £1200+ into the basket. Bizarre error but fingers crossed for you as that would be a sweet deal.

 

Cheers mate. I'm a firm believer in the old saying "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is". But then there's always an outside chance...

EDIT: I couldn't replicate it either. Even if I could, I wouldn't want to risk drawing attention to it by ordering more!

 

With regard to my earlier question about 4gb ram on an R1, I spoke to dell and it seams that this is possible. I don't know why its not an option on the UK site.

 

Hi
I have been waiting in the wings for ages and it feels like ive read every page in every thread over the last few weeks!. I have ordered and got my Edd of 0208/10 I am glad to join the ranks.
I weighed up all the pros and cons and feel that most of the cons will iron themselves out, apart from the screen but I will be using external at home anyway and considering I have never had a decent laptop I am probaly going to be none the wiser.
I have them same spec as cia02agm for £880 same gedis number using the 10% code and quidco. Strange thing is its tracking at 20% and is validated!! fingers crossed it comes through. £730 and I will be over the moon
Seems there are some really helpful people here and I hope I can contribute some benchmarks as and when it arrives and also provide useful information.
Now for the wait.............

 

Well fingers crossed for you guys with the £380 and the £730 and i was happy with £880 really hope you get them at that price. I keep checking everyday mine is due 28/07/10 and i ordered on the 08/07/10 its still saying work in progress

 

Well my order despatched on the 13th July, website states no more than 4 working days till delivery and to check back within 24 hours for an eta.... well 3 days later and still saying the same thing. Despite best efforts to get a real answer out of Dell or the courier then my gut instinct says I'll have this by mid next week.
Meant to be exciting waiting for this new product but the overall experience has been nothing but a sheer frustration.

Any update on the ludicrous £380 order?

 

Rich - mine too, suspect we are on the same plane from China to the UK. On both my last two M11X orders after two days more detail came through so something not going as it normally does for sure.

Neil.

 

Almost same as me, mine is due 29th.

Paid £970 (or so) and Quidco is tracking £88 cash back.

That's for i7, 4Gb, 500Gb, BT... so quite happy as it's > £1200 full price.

 

Rich,
Any update on yours? Mine is still stuck at the same info which is definately not normal compared to my last 3 Dell orders. I felt for sure it would come Monday but looks unlikely now.

Neil.

 

Can anyone tell me how long it normally takes for an order to be confirmed?

I got an email immediately (15/07/10), stating:

"This e-mail is an acknowledgement of receipt of your Dell Order.
You will receive an order confirmation by e-mail after your payment is authorised, so please check your e-mail regularly."

I have not had any other correspondance since then. If I try to track the order status using the IR no, I get this message:

"We are unable to give you an update at the moment for this order.
Tracking your order is not always possible using the IR Number, please wait until you receive an Order Confirmation e-mail and track your order using the information provided."

I suspect this means that my order is waiting to be checked (and probably cancelled due to a pricing glitch - see my previous posts).

Do normal (i.e. non-glitch!) orders get confirmed straight away?

 

Hi

I ordered mine on 13/07/10 got the same order email as you have now received. I then got the confirmation of order email on the 15/07/10. It went to "work in progress for 24 hours" and now its in production.
So I wouldn't worry too much.

 

my order will be delivered tomorrow!

 

cia02agm> I placed my original order on 23/06. That's also when I received my order acknowledgment.
My bank initially declined the payment due to fraud checks and I received an email from Dell in the evening to state the payment had been declined and they would try again after the next working day. I called up my bank the next evening to talk it through. On 25/06 I received confirmation that the payment had gone through and my ETA.
It may be with the m11x bottleneck there's a delay with the confirmation for yourself, but 15/07 was a while ago to be frank and I suspect the emails are automated.
I understand if you don’t want to flag how much you paid for the order, with Dell, however if it gets to +10 days and you still haven’t heard anything, I’d seriously consider calling Dell otherwise holding out for the bargain price may mean your order never materialises. Unless you found some very odd route on Dell’s site to place your order, it should be dealt with in exactly the same timescales as a normal or discounted order.

 

Checked last night and while my tracking was still showing up as ‘no further information’ via Dell/China Courier’s site, I’ve had a phone call from Dell to confirm that my m11x will be with me tomorrow, which is slightly ahead of schedule.

All in all this is my first personal Dell order (had to deal with them for corporate reasons a lot) and the level of service seems different between business and home. The business service I still find expensive, even in bulk, but the service is pretty good.
Overall for home, the order process itself did exactly what it said on the tin and the technical department have been great as well as the order completing before it’s original timescale however the communications process is very poor and misleading.
It’s not quite right when I phone up for an update and I’m the one ending up logging on, online to update the staff member as to what is happening with my order. “So there you go Sheila, now I’ve provided you with the update on my order so if I call up again you’ll be able to now update me with the correct information… what do you mean is there anything ELSE you can help with?!!”

 

apologies...didnt realise you were price glitch man! maybe worry a little!!

 

Cheers for the replies guys.

I guess it's not looking good for me getting it at the 'glitch' price, but I never expected it to go through to be honest. I'll give them a ring in a couple of days if I still havn't heard anything, but they'll probably laugh at me for even trying!

 

just checked and my order is showing shipped today 19/07/10 from china do you think there is a chance of me getting it for thursday

 

If you want to get an idea of how long it will take, here's my tracking summary:

Date Time Location Activity
19/07/10 17:16 WWI - HINCKLEY ORDER DISPATCHED FROM HUB.
19/07/10 17:16 WWI - HINCKLEY FIRST BOX SCANNED OUT OF HUB.
19/07/10 17:16 WWI - HINCKLEY ORDER COMPLETE IN HUB.
19/07/10 17:16 WWI - HINCKLEY FIRST BOX SCANNED INTO HUB.
19/07/10 15:05 PLAN COMMITTED NOTE.
19/07/10 12:55 IVR-OUTBOUND 20/07/10 PM DEL. SCHEDULED DELIVERY DATE.
19/07/10 12:55 IVR-OUTBOUND PM DELIVERY.
19/07/10 10:40 IVR-OUTBOUND PRE CALL - NO ANSWER.
19/07/10 10:24 CALL LOCK OUT.
13/07/10 11:15 CHINA DEPARTED MANU.FACILITY

Where WW1 is Walsh Western's hub in Hinckley... not a wormhole to The Somme.

If you google Walsh Western Dell Tracking you should find a bunch of other people's order tracking details (good to see Data Protection being applied so well) some people have received goods pretty quickly but given this has to be routed from Hinckly once it hits the UK your order would need to come from China to the UK for Wednesday morning to be retagged and scanned. That's means China to the UK in 2 days.

Sorry to say but I feel that's ambitious and you might even find you won't receive it before early next week.

 

Sorry Neil was away yesterday, arrived back this morning to my waiting Alienware
Very pleased so far other than 2 random freezes whilst installing / updating software. Might have to do a fresh install later tonight but I really can't be bothered as I just want to play on the thing.

 

Gutted. Just got an email from Dell saying that my mis-priced £379 M11x R2 order has been cancelled.

Hardly surprising, but I couldn't help thinking there might have been a slim chance.

 

Yeah i was getting a little over excited its my day off thursday wishfull thinking on my part

 

Damn i had my fingers crossed for you mate it would have been amazing. I think the 880 i paid is good price to be honest. I dont think they will go much cheaper than that

 

Just to update you guys Dell just called my Machine is arriving tomorrow. Now need to think of a good excuse to be late for work while it gets delivered.

 

Mine too