Alienware M15x

E

enieves137

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 4, 2009
Messages
126
Alienware M15x not what I expected, :(. Decide to purchase a refurb, since a new one was way out my price range. Even the refurb was a bit out of my budget but went with it. Performance index not that great 4.6. Laptop has a i7 quad core and dedicated ATI video card, and 6Gb of RAM.

I ordered per there specs a 1920x1080 LCD FHD, got a 1600x900 LCD HD+ resolution. Well ok I'll roll with it so been playing for a few days and decide I do want that higher resolution option, which I thought I bought. Called Dell on the phone, stayed on for almost 2 hours, they could not help me so decided to send this laptop back. Bad customer service!

So what do I think:
1) Gets to hot, exhaust in the rear hits my leg.
2) Bottom side gets to hot, using lap pad.
3) Video hesitation while online, (video card?).
4) Colorfull LED show around the laptop including the backlite keyboard is real cool.
5) Performance is fair.
6) Laptop is to heavy.
7) Dell taking over Alienware was a big mistake for this product.
8) Slot load DVD is also nice option.
9) AlienFX is standard not impressive.
10) Alienware head on the cover and above the keyboard is different, I like it.

I own a Everex XT5300T laptop which has the AMD Turion Dual Core it out performs the Alienware M15x. So why buy another laptop, always wanted a Alienware laptop, had the money so again I went with it. Bad Choice!
 
I had the same problem going with an m17x with dual 5870s. It was so buggy, and crossfire didn't work well at all. I sent it back to amazon and got an HP 8740w and it plays much better.
 
Amazon had this ASUSG73JH-X5 for $1324 so decided to get it. Same price as the Alienware but ASUS laptop sports a 17 inch LCD at 1080p. Wow so far this ASUS design trumps the Alienware design, I'm floored by this ASUS laptop. So far no video hesitation and speed is great, some bloat ware but removable.

I ended up doing a BBB complaint about their aweful customer service. I did get several emails and phone calls after I did my online complaint, to bad it took that complaint to get attention. They wanted me to keep the Alienware laptop but after a week of playing around I could spend that much money, well on credit. I could not resolve my wants with price. Now I have to see if Dell does hold to up their agreement to credit my account.
 
I have a studio 1558 and I have a good experience with it overall. Dell replaced defective parts promptly ( I was unlucky and got one with the first batch of mainboards that had issues) tech came out and 30 mins later machine was good to go. pretty basic i5 with a 4570 and half a gig of video ram. plays back HD content and most of my games fluently even at 1080p.

I don't put the machine in my lap cause like most of them it will get warm. I place it on a plastic board instead....only down side is that 90W adapter gets hot enough to cook an egg.....
 
It took some time but they actually did credit/refund the full price of the laptop. They did redeemed themselves some what. Just to bad I had to go to the BBB organization to make my voice heard.

:cool:
 
you guys need to check out Sager. They are like the alienware that was never bought by Dell.
 
That's unfortunate. I have an M15x and I love it. It does have a few quirks though. The processor seems to throttle and really kill performance unexpectedly after doing something for a while (e.g. playing a game, 30 minutes in, it slows down for no reason). I usually just toggle Stealth Mode on then off again and it clears. I do however, hate stealth mode and I hate the way when it's unplugged it instantly slows down (shit I don't care, drain that battery post haste, just don't lag my game to shit while I fumble for the power cord).

Anyways, too bad you didn't like it. They aren't for everybody. I can live with mine and some of the minor issues, the hardware has all held up exceptionally well. I sorta feel like the i7s were a mistake since the throttling and Turboboost (or whatever the feature is) doesn't seem to be a performance enhancement in gaming. And let's face it, if it's not good for gaming, why would they put it in an Alienware?
 
I have an M17x R1 and have had no issues with it.
Running a QX9300, 8gb DDR3, dual 500gb hdd's and dual GTX280m's
Love it. Weighs a ton, but its a monster of a gaming laptop, so wouldn't want it on my lap anyway
 
I owned 2 M15x units, they are not laptops they are desktop replacements. Yes they are heavy but they are well made and super easy to work on and upgrade. I have had zero issues with my sons refurb his has an Ati 5850 in it. Mine is older with the gtx 260 and it has throttle issues like all the other ones with this card. Sold that one a while back, my sons is trouble free and much better than the one i had, again thanks Nvidia! If you had issues with their customer service ask for a different rep. I’ve never had issues with them they have bent over backwards for me. I was patient zero in the bios brick fiasco a while back and they gave me a brand new unit for the trouble.
 
The M17xR3 is the replacement to the M15x, IMHO. Reason? The m15x is *just* 2 inches less wide than the m17xR2. The R3 is much slimmer, lighter, and has a 4 hour (if using switchable GPU) battery life :cool:
 
jeremyshaw said:
The M17xR3 is the replacement to the M15x, IMHO. Reason? The m15x is *just* 2 inches less wide than the m17xR2. The R3 is much slimmer, lighter, and has a 4 hour (if using switchable GPU) battery life :cool:
Click to expand...

not the replacement actually. and totally worth it once they have the ATI Gpu option listed again the GTX 460 isnt even better than the 5850, the guys at laptop review that put them in there M15x's proved that.
 
Would you guys reckon the GTX 460 is better then the gtx280m?
My R1 has dual GTX280's, but was thinking of upgrading to the R3
 
well, the GTX280m is 128SP vs the 144 of the GTX460m, so... I don't think it would be much faster than one, much less two :( Maybe the HD6970m will be closer to on par performance with twin GTX280m, but only if you are really annoyed at the drivers for the R1, would I consider switching.
 
^what you said.
Had to go back to the standard dell ones, which are fairly old,.
My screen kept going wierd, either going dead or changing to primary colours with any other drivers.
Crap support
 
enieves137 said:
7) Dell taking over Alienware was a big mistake for this product.
Click to expand...

The advantage of Dell taking over is that Alienware laptops are actually unique designs now. Before they were just Sagers with cheap bling attachments. Not that Sagers are bad, just that you were really just paying extra for a Sager with an Alienware logo.

Now they are unique designs and Dell often has good discounts and employee programs.
 
Clevos with cheap bling. Sager is another Clevo rebrander, like Eurocom (who have no real support to speak of).
 
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