Tag Archives: alienware

Alienware m18x – we should part…

Ok, well, long story short – I am returning the Alienware m18x. I am not returning it cause of performance, nor am I returning it over looks (although it did have a nice little paint chip on the top lid).

The reason, in short, was the warranty. Normally when you buy things you can buy a warranty for it within a certain time. In this case, until your other warranty expires. Even then you can buy another one. However its not the fact I couldn’t buy it – it was the price of it.

To max out the warranty on Dell’s point of sale price it would have been around $500. I said to myself, I don’t have the money right now so I will upgrade later. When I received the laptop, I priced it out and boy was I shocked… To max out the warranty on the Alienware m18x would have been $1500 for the same protection.

I called up customer care and tried to ask them to lower the price, but they couldn’t give me the POS (point of sale) price. So they recommended I send the laptop back and order another one. Not only do I find this dumb (IMHO), but its a good way to loose a customer since you have to wait nearly 30 days to get your money back and then you can reorder.

*Update* My new baby – computer wise anyway… Alienware M18x

Current Production Status:
SHIPPED!!

EDD: 6/01/2011

Current Status:
5/9/2011 – Ordered/In Production

5/20/2011 – In Production – Build Stage

5/21/2011 – In Production – Boxing Stage

5/24/2011 – Shipped!!!!

Dell Order Time:
12 days (used to be 15 days)

Forums I Follow:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/

Quick update(s):

5/18/2011…
Emailed Rep and he stated everything is a-ok so far – no concerns.

5/19/2011…
Emailed Corp Rep and he stated its likely to ship in a few days +/-. However nothing is certain…

5/21/2011…
Emailed reps, but no reply. Guess they could be busy so no worries. Called and found out that its in the boxing stage right now and it should hopefully ship soon!

5/21/2011…
It shipped!!!

The Alienware is finally here!!

Well, after waiting, and waiting – its here!

So far, so good. Since then I upgraded swapped the video card out to the GTX 280 from the GTX 260, and I had no choice, but to upgrade the sound card as well. The sound card that was included was really bad. After looking at all the reviews, it turns out the the card that was included was a rebranded Audigy 2 card. You can read some of the reviews: http://us.store.creative.com/Sound-Blaster-XFi-Xtreme-Audio-PCI/M/B000W7PNZI.htm

As others have stated, it does awhile to boot, but I don’t mind that. On HL2 based games (source), I usually get around 250 FPS on 1680×1050 22in screen with AA on 4x. However that can vary based on what I am looking at.

Also, the system itself responds very well to the prime95 stress test. The cpu never gets above 72C, and it remains “cool” at idle at around 45C or so. Keep in mind that these numbers can vary. Right now, its close to 65F in the room where the system is at.

Vantage:
Graphics Score 10825
CPU Score 48305
3DMark Score P13431 3DMarks

Quick Specs:
Alienware Aurora Desktop
Cosmic Black, Alienware Aurora Chassis, 875W PSU
Dual Drives: Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (BD-ROM; DVD/CD Burner) and DVD-ROM
Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional (Updated)
Overclocked Intel Core i7 975 Extreme (3.6GHz, 8MB Cache)
6GB Triple Channel 1067MHz DDR3
Alienware High-Performance Liquid Cooling
Single 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 (Updated)
2x 300GB – SATA-II, 3Gb/s, 10k RPM, 16MB Cache HDD (Updated)
Western Digital Black 1TB HD , 7200 RPM (Added)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English (Now Ultimate)

I took some pictures. Hope you all enjoy! Any questions, just ask! (Click on a picture once to get it by itself, then once again to get it bigger.)

Dell Exchange *Update 1*

Well, it hasn’t been that long since my last post, however apparently the delay is not my imagination.

There have been posts of the AW delays on Dell’s AW forum. However some have reported to receive theres. Which lets one to believe there is a shortage of parts. However no one knows which parts are having supply issues… You call support and they say “we have no shortage of parts”, but if that is the case – why are people waiting months for their AW?

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/3746.aspx

On another note, I spoke to Dell corp and I have someone assigned to my case now. The agent will work with me closely till this issue is resolved. I just hope it gets resolved before Christmas.