Alienware M11x Hinge Issue Fix In Sight Discussion

Dell made a post on its company blog today telling Alienware M11x gaming notebook customers that a fix for the broken hinges issue is slated for this spring.

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Related Articles:

• Alienware M11x Owners Report Hinge Issues, Dell Says It's Working On It
• Alienware M11x R2 Review

 

It's a good thing Dell has decided to acknowledge the problem and come up with a solution for it.

I have the old area 51 m15x, and had to resort to DIY measures to get the hinge issue fixed.

 

This is screwed up. I have an m11x (bought about a year ago) and had to get the hinges replaced on it two month ago because of this issue. Besides being a major PITA to get it resolved (they sent a tech over with the wrong parts), I wound up extending my warranty (based on Dell's suggestion) last week for $300. Now I am seeing that I can get the hinges replaced out of warranty. More and more I am getting a bad taste for Alienware and Dell.

 

Eh yeah that sucks. Hence why I didn't want to waste $300 on extending the warranty - it's a huge waste of your time every time you need to call and schedule your on-site tech, not to mention being at home etc etc. I just grabbed another (good, for a change) laptop for $650. On the positive side, your warranty will cover any other problems you may encounter.

 

What a disaster. Was nothing learned from the Area 51 M15X? The hinge is such an integral part of the notebook design, it's hard to imagine that its reliability didn't receive a significant amount of dedicated QA.

 

Trust me. After waiting 5 weeks for an MSI keyboard replacement and 4 weeks for an Asus hard drive/touchpad/keys replacement I WELCOME an on-site tech to show up in a day or two

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But yeah, I'm glad they found a solution. It's not like Asus where missing keyboard strokes and dead touchpads are still an issue (even in some newer G73 versions).

 

Let's say I had the hinge issue. I then opened it up and superglued it back into place. Could I still get Dell to fix it? Or will they basically tell me to fly a kite?

 

I am not sure how well that is going to bode for you, usually 3rd party repairs are not included. Since it is a blanket fix for a problem that is universal they may still do it. Let us know!

 

If your hinge fails at any time over the life of your unit, dell will repair it for free. This is massive. I can't think of an a single insance in which a comp manufacturer has gone to this length to make good with it's customers outside of a class action lawsuit.

As to your diy fix, you still have a broken hinge. As such, Dell has promised to fix it for free. I think it's very likely the hinge fix entails an entirely newly designed hinge assembly.

The dell rep Chris-M made it clear on the dell boards prior to this announcement, that they had resolved the hinge issue for the r3, but not for the r1-2. Thus it seems reasonnable to assume a new hinge design is in place moving forward rather then simply replacing a broken hinge with another and hoping for the best, ie the previous "solution".

 

Remains to be seen how well the hinge-repair-program will work outside of the U.S. I've been waiting to buy a R2 forever because of these hinge issues, knowing that I buy a defect product if I buy it today. I only hope the R3 will be released very soon.

 

I don't see a reason why warranty service for the new hinge fix would be any different from any other service issue in your region. If you need an m11x now there shold be no reason to stop you.

However, if you want rather then need, then I might be inclined to wait. Despite the numerous posts enuciating why we shouldn't expect an r3 soon, I suspect it's likely that an r3 will be unveiled in the next six months, perhaps much sooner.

The core i ulv's won't make a very attractive compromise at the m11x's current price much past late February.

 

It really bothers me that all the reviewers have continued to rate this machine their "Editors Choice" when the hinge defect was widely known, as was the fact that Dell, per usual, stonewalled even admitting the problem until November of last year, much less devising a workable fix for 3 months longer. One has to assume they've been well aware of the problem for nearly a year.. Also wonder why a computer with a typically poor quality mirror for a screen is at the top of anyone's list. But that's just me - I'm not a gamer, and with the unparalleled gaming and otherwise good feature set for the price, especially with the enormous discounts Dell has offered to sell them, buying one with confidence that the company will eventually fix the problem may have made sense to some. Still not an Editors Choice caliber machine if you have to depend on massive price cutting and the "hope" of getting not only the hinges, but also the damaged screen repaired to make it a reliable piece of gear.

 

We (DELL) are thinking about replacing the hinges somehow....One year LATER !

Seriously ???? What a joke !

Dell no more, thanks

 

good ole NBR, the company is willing to fix any hinge issue NO MATTER WHEN IT FAILS EVEN OUT OF WARRANTY and they still find a way to complain about it. Man sometimes i feel like you guys are being brats. They will fix your hinge for free if it ever fails for as long as u own the laptop no warranty needed totally free quit complaining how many companies step up and do things like that.

 

Had the hinge on my M11x_R1 replaced last year. My wife was home when the tech came to work on the laptop. He specifically told my wife to tell me that it was my fault the screen hinge broke. He concluded that, by overextending the screen, I broke the hinges. I didn't appreciate that and it definitely wasn't true but whatever... it was "fixed". At least now Dell acknowledges that the hinges were faulty.

I'm sitting here less than a year later with the exact same problem again. Wobbly screen, uneven gap/spacing, screen does not close flush, creaking and crackling... you're familiar. I just got off the phone with tech support and was informed that I had already received the new hinges in the last replacement. I was told that it "should not have broken again". The tech reluctantly placed the order for the second replacement only after he made it clear that if I will have to pay for any future hinge repairs. Apparently my 537 remaining days of warranty coverage won't make a difference.

Here is one very unhappy owner of the m11x and m17x. I was smart enough to get rid of my m15x early on. No more Dell/AW for me.

 

Wow that's horrible. I would try posting this info in the Alienware m11x subforum to warn potential buyers.