New Alienware m15

StryderxX

StryderxX

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Messages
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Alienware is shifting away from their normal tank like laptop offerings and are about to release a somewhat thin and light 15" gaming laptop. The New Alienware m15.

laptop-alienware-m15-pdp-7.jpg




I actually had one on order but cancelled. I'm still going to buy one but I'm going to wait until the Nvidia 20xx series graphic options are available. What do you guys think of this? Lets discuss...
 
I used to be a big Alienware fan - had an 11, 14 (twice), 17 (twice) and the last one was the 18 (with dual 980s in SLI) but then everyone went thin and light and Alienware just kept on keeping on with the huge form factors. I finally decided to go back to just doing desktops and keeping an ultralight (Mac Air 2013 and most recently a XPS 13" 2017) instead. While the change in direction is admirable, the newer gaming laptops from Asus, MSI and others deliver equal or better performance and sometimes for less $$$. The only upside I can see is the expandability (if it's your sole machine) and maybe better thermals.

Downside though, even now, I'm not sure I can get over those thick ass bezels ...
 
I've been seriously looking at one of these. I almost pulled the trigger on Sunday but as what I need rings up at $2.5k I decided to wait a week.

Besides, after speaking with DELL and DELL Business they aren't even shipping until the third week of November. I'm not sure if this is for my particular setup, or if it's for every M15.

I really need a new work laptop. I don't want to wait weeks for one though. That's just stupid.
 
Looks to be an awesome machine! With so many crumby thin and light makeshift gaming laptops out there, it is nice to see a decent quality one.
 
I ordered one on the release day. EDD is November 14th for mine. I used a 17% off coupon I had, I have a 15% off one if anyone wants to use it. I had a Razer 15, I really liked it alot but the fact that for what I wanted and the cost it only had 1 m.2 drive. At least with this guy I went with the larger 90WHr battery and have 2x m.2 slots for storage. Also Alienwares support is better then most in the same price range, I usually either get a replacement or quick turnaround time on support as well. If needed I will post pictures and feedback on my unit once I get it.
 
AthlonXP said:
I ordered one on the release day. EDD is November 14th for mine. I used a 17% off coupon I had, I have a 15% off one if anyone wants to use it. I had a Razer 15, I really liked it alot but the fact that for what I wanted and the cost it only had 1 m.2 drive. At least with this guy I went with the larger 90WHr battery and have 2x m.2 slots for storage. Also Alienwares support is better then most in the same price range, I usually either get a replacement or quick turnaround time on support as well. If needed I will post pictures and feedback on my unit once I get it.
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That would be awesome!

I've already decided this is definitely the way to go over an Aero 15x. It seems to be worth the price increase to me for better service should anything go wrong.

I've been mulling over getting an Aero 15x for about a year and a half now, and I think the Alienware m15 is the answer to my concerns about the Aero 15x.

It's long past time to kick this DELL Inspiron 7577 to the curb I really shouldn't have bought it in the first place, but I suppose it's primary purpose was to work until I found something better suited for work. Now that I have, I think it's time for this 7577 to go.
 
New
WOW!

Nice Work Dell, my EDD is on the 14th and I just got this email today from my sales rep:


We regret to inform you that your order for the laptop “Alienware M15”, went on hold due to some internal sku issue regarding the SSD hard drive. Hence we need to cancel and reprocess this order for the same laptop which has been updated.

Kindly provide your best contact number so that I can call you back at the earliest and reprocess your order.


I have been waiting already 2 weeks (Ordered on the 25th of October) I am beyond pissed now, I am thinking of just canceling the order and ordering something else.
 
Not to rub it in - but I ordered a Gigabyte Aero 15x last night from Newegg. Should be here next Tuesday. <knock on wood>

But seriously, yeah, I've had orders with Dell just disappearing and having to play phone tag. IIRC I think it was my early gen Alienware m18 and it was GPU shortages or something causing the delay. It happens especially when you are ordering something brand new (new model like the m15) and not one that's been out for awhile.
 
While its not to bad, the MaxQ has temperature issues, and does NOT put out the same level of performance as its none MaxQ line.

I'll stick to my 15 R3 "Tank" as it has no issues with heat as I game as is pretty portable... I used to carry a 10lb 17R3 with me everywheres.. till UPS killed it shipping it back to bestbuy for repairs it didnt need...
 
AthlonXP said:
New
WOW!

Nice Work Dell, my EDD is on the 14th and I just got this email today from my sales rep:


We regret to inform you that your order for the laptop “Alienware M15”, went on hold due to some internal sku issue regarding the SSD hard drive. Hence we need to cancel and reprocess this order for the same laptop which has been updated.

Kindly provide your best contact number so that I can call you back at the earliest and reprocess your order.


I have been waiting already 2 weeks (Ordered on the 25th of October) I am beyond pissed now, I am thinking of just canceling the order and ordering something else.
Click to expand...
There's something going on here because I ordered and got the same message. I got an email from customer sales stating that my order needs to be reprocessed. I'm on the phone now trying to find out what this is about.
 
Last edited:
StryderxX said:
There's something going on here because I ordered and got the same message. I got an email from customer sales stating that my order needs to be reprocessed. I'm on the phone now trying to find out what this is about.
Click to expand...
So here is what I was told. The issue is the 512GB SSD. If that option was selected the order needed to be reprocessed. The original SKU is no longer available. My order was cancelled then resubmitted with the new SKU. The new delivery date was pushed out to the end of November now.
 
AthlonXP said:
I ordered one on the release day. EDD is November 14th for mine. I used a 17% off coupon I had, I have a 15% off one if anyone wants to use it. I had a Razer 15, I really liked it alot but the fact that for what I wanted and the cost it only had 1 m.2 drive. At least with this guy I went with the larger 90WHr battery and have 2x m.2 slots for storage. Also Alienwares support is better then most in the same price range, I usually either get a replacement or quick turnaround time on support as well. If needed I will post pictures and feedback on my unit once I get it.
Click to expand...

Hey, AthlonXP! Any chance that 15% coupon is still unclaimed and not expired? If Kwaz hasn't claimed it, then I'd greatly appreciate it. I narrowly missed the 15% promotion window, and have been scrounging around trying to find one. Thanks!
 
Finally got my laptop this past week and love it! If the bezels were a little thinner this would be a 9/10 laptop. I give it an 8/10 for that, also if you have an nvme SSD make sure to get a heat spreader for it or see if Dell will sell you one.
 
AthlonXP said:
Finally got my laptop this past week and love it! If the bezels were a little thinner this would be a 9/10 laptop. I give it an 8/10 for that, also if you have an nvme SSD make sure to get a heat spreader for it or see if Dell will sell you one.
Click to expand...
Hey, I also got mine but I've been travelling so I didn't get a chance to use it much. Are you planning on tweaking the voltage and re-pasting?
 
AthlonXP said:
Finally got my laptop this past week and love it! If the bezels were a little thinner this would be a 9/10 laptop. I give it an 8/10 for that, also if you have an nvme SSD make sure to get a heat spreader for it or see if Dell will sell you one.
Click to expand...

I got mine also and like it a lot outside of some issues with wifi out of the box.

I think I'm going to do a fresh install and repaste thw CPU + GPU and get some better thermal pads.

What specs did you get?

I think I am going to upgrade the drive in mine tonight and repaste the CPU and GPU.
 
StryderxX said:
Hey, I also got mine but I've been travelling so I didn't get a chance to use it much. Are you planning on tweaking the voltage and re-pasting?
Click to expand...

What are you planning to do with yours once you get some time with it?
 
Kwaz said:
What are you planning to do with yours once you get some time with it?
Click to expand...
I ran Cinebench and used hwmon to check the temps and I found it's not good. Even with the performance fan curve the CPU throttles hard. In balanced mode the CPU idles at over 50c. I'm going to try to re-paste and under-volt with XTU. I might let AthlonXP do it first to see if he runs into any issues.
 
StryderxX said:
I ran Cinebench and used hwmon to check the temps and I found it's not good. Even with the performance fan curve the CPU throttles hard. In balanced mode the CPU idles at over 50c. I'm going to try to re-paste and under-volt with XTU. I might let AthlonXP do it first to see if he runs into any issues.
Click to expand...

I'm at least re-pasting tonight, I'll likely under-volt as well.

I have a feeling it's just a normal shit paste job, but I'm going to re-paste with Noctua NT-H1, then Liquid Metal and compare.
 
I love how David Lee says "There's no flex in the chassis" as he presses the area by the power button above the keyboard and I can see the material flex under his finger... :D

It looks like a great piece of hardware overall but I would have preferred no keypad on a ~15" model of laptop, just can't tolerate that off-center keyboard 'cause of the keypad. Been using laptops exclusively for a long long time now and I avoid full keyboards + numpads as much as possible which means basically all the time. Personal preference, of course, but I just can't stand that practice at all.
 
Tiberian said:
I love how David Lee says "There's no flex in the chassis" as he presses the area by the power button above the keyboard and I can see the material flex under his finger... :D

It looks like a great piece of hardware overall but I would have preferred no keypad on a ~15" model of laptop, just can't tolerate that off-center keyboard 'cause of the keypad. Been using laptops exclusively for a long long time now and I avoid full keyboards + numpads as much as possible which means basically all the time. Personal preference, of course, but I just can't stand that practice at all.
Click to expand...

The numpad is the reason I chose this laptop. A feature rich high end laptop has been sorely missing from the scene. There's the Aero 15X, but it has a number of drawbacks.

What I love about this laptop is that it doesn't compromise. It has everything that I need and some things I've wanted that will make it much more viable for a number of use cases. It pretty much comes down to it being a portable and well built powerhouse with good battery life when well configured.

There's the Aero 15X, but this is a better fit for me and the work that I do.

I just started using mine yesterday (got it Thursday) and so far it's amazing. I'm glad that I put a lot of time into figuring out what I needed and wanted, and waiting for this instead of getting an Aero 15X or the many other high end laptops I looked at. With this laptop, there are no compromises that I had to make.
 
Kwaz said:
I got mine also and like it a lot outside of some issues with wifi out of the box.

I think I'm going to do a fresh install and repaste thw CPU + GPU and get some better thermal pads.

What specs did you get?

I think I am going to upgrade the drive in mine tonight and repaste the CPU and GPU.
Click to expand...


I got the Base setup with 16GB RAM, 256gb SSD, 1070, 144hz screen. I put in a 1TB NVME SSD I got on black Friday. (Samsung EVO 970)
 
Tiberian said:
I love how David Lee says "There's no flex in the chassis" as he presses the area by the power button above the keyboard and I can see the material flex under his finger... :D
Click to expand...

It flexes with a tremendous amount of force. It is by no means flimsy whatsoever.

More importantly, they didn't make the portion that you're referring to matte. It's semi-gloss. They also made the screen surround gloss which wasn't the best idea IMO.

I'm going to get a wrap when one is available and do the top shell as well as the two aforementioned areas.
 
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