Tag Archives: dell

Alienware, Computers, dell

Alienware m18x – we should part…

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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.

Alienware, Computers, dell

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

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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!!!

Computers, dell

XPS 17…sad good bye

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Well, I had the XPS 17 for a few weeks, however I must say good bye to a very nice performing laptop.

Why am I returning it? Well here are few reasons:

1) Being a gamer, I wanted something nice, fast, but cheap. The XPS 17 fit the bill nicely, so I tried it. It played well, but when it came to FPS, I felt it was lacking. Granted there are ways to overclock it, but stock wise IMHO it didn’t do well.

2) I didn’t like the screen too much. Granted you will have different opinions all over, but to me I felt like it was a bit washed out. I possibly could of corrected it via a ICC profile, but I didn’t have experience making them nor could I find any for the 3D screen at the time.

So there are my reasons. The main reason, for gaming, was the biggest overall reason.

Other than that, it was solid built laptop and it would work well for many people. However, sadly, it wasn’t for me.

Computers, dell

Dell XPS 17 Mini Video

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Well, I finally got it – and here is a short video 🙂

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIfZ2L_rlrM]YouTube – XPS 17 Box Opening[/url]

All and all, I am pretty happy with this laptop. I made a few mistakes in the video though. IMHO, the top and the palm rest seem to be made of a metal of some sort. Not sure if its aluminum, but its something like it.

The keyboard is interesting to type on. The keys are nice, kind of reminds me of the MBP. However the space bar is kind of hard, like a older style KB. Guess since the KB takes the most abuse, so its probably better that way.

The mouse pad is decently responsive. It has two finger scrolling and etc which I kind of miss when I gave my older MBP a few weeks back to my one of my family members.

The fan is not bad. It is loud when at full blast (prime95, picture at the bottom), but if you have a pair of headphones or maybe watching a movie, you shouldn’t be able to hear it that much, if any.

The sound I find to be pretty darn nice coming from a laptop. I’m no audio expert, but it sounds more than decent enough for pretty much anything 🙂

The LCD is nice, and more than enough area. However I have a slight issue… it seems the LCD is a bit washed out. Maybe it could be me, or my lighting (CFL 500K daylight), but I don’t see why a color profile or some adjusting won’t fix it. The LCD model for me is LGD02C5 – I think thats the same one they used in the M17XR3 as well.

The design is nice, easy on the eyes and is pretty solid. However we have one slight exception, the LCD lid. Its solid, don’t get me wrong, but its feel a bit if’y especially when you grab both sides at the top (while open) and try to push one side and pull the other. I know people will say, well its a 17 – and yes I know – but it feels a bit too easy in my opinion.

Any questions – let me know!