Fuck yea! Free copy of Portal!

[Cortexian]

With purchase of one or more Alienware PC's :ohdear:

http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/69525624372650241571.jpg

[Cojafoji]

that is a retarded expensive computer. damn you.

[InnerGoat]

Whoa it comes with an avatar :o

[EX12693]

Why are you wasting your money?

[Cortexian]

Why are you wasting your money?
Alienware makes some of the best user-configurable laptops around, I need a laptop for school, so I bought one. Unfortunately I couldn't configure the laptop on the U.S site and then order it here, because I could of configured a better laptop for around $2,540... Damn you Dell, damn you to hell.

Everyone please note, I bought this, that means I payed my parents back for my two side monitors and had enough income to purchase this as well.

I'll do an unboxing video for you guys, do you want it live?

[Cojafoji]

Wait... Did you try ordering it from the alienware homepage?

Nevermind, I am retarded.

[CN3089]

Good job wasting your money I guess?

[Warsaw]

Alienware makes some of the best user-configurable laptops around, I need a laptop for school, so I bought one. Unfortunately I couldn't configure the laptop on the U.S site and then order it here, because I could of configured a better laptop for around $2,540... Damn you Dell, damn you to hell.

Everyone please note, I bought this, that means I payed my parents back for my two side monitors and had enough income to purchase this as well.

I'll do an unboxing video for you guys, do you want it live?

And yet you got the shittier of the two upper end ones while not only skimping on the i7 CPU, but also getting the GTX260 over the HD5850. Is the inflation of price due to CAD vs. USD that bad or is there some special item in your laptop that is causing it to skyrocket to over $2700 that I'm missing? That same laptop configured like that costs $2100 here. I don't know about you, but a $600 premium seems like a load of horse shit to me especially for Canadian currency. $2700 gets you an M17x with an HD5870/HD4870 X2 and an i7 quad core CPU. I'd be pretty mad if I were you.

Still, it's a pretty nice laptop. I just wouldn't be able to justify spending almost three grand on a laptop half as good as what a three grand laptop actually is.

[Sel]

Good job wasting your money I guess?

I agree with you so much wanna yiff

[Cortexian]

It all has to do with the Canadian site, I configured what you did on the U.S. site and was pretty pissed... Had a not-so-nicely worded discussion with a sales rep supervisor on the phone about it. The HD 5850 version in the M15X is the GDDR3 version and not the GDDR5 version so the GTX 260M is basically just as good, plus I'm an Nvidia drivers > ATI drivers fanboy. That and CUDA is great shit.

[t3h m00kz]

I agree with you so much wanna yiff

I call front of the train

[Sel]

I am very glad to hear that muki :]

[Timo]

How long would the battery last on that thing if you were utilising all that ram/cpu/gpu power?

[Cortexian]

How long would the battery last on that thing if you were utilising all that ram/cpu/gpu power?
I'll tell you when I get it >.>

[Rook]

Why are you wasting your money?

lol freelancer you must be literally stupid you could have put this in a savings account or got some prostitutes to lose your virginity or anything!

[EX12693]

I agree with you so much wanna yiff
Wanna what?

E: Wtf man...

[Amit]

Expensive, but good shit none the less. Quality too, probably.

[Cortexian]

lol freelancer you must be literally stupid you could have put this in a savings account or got some prostitutes to lose your virginity or anything!
Savings account is stocked back up to a good point, didn't need prostitutes to loose my virginity, needed a laptop for school that's going to last for a few years with some upgrade potential. Seems pretty sound to me, next PC purchase isn't going to be for awhile but it'll be huge...

Seriously annoyed at Alienware Dell though, no reason all the options available in the U.S. shouldn't be available in Canada... I couldn't even get a personalized nameplate ffs, I don't understand why since all the Alienwares are built in the U.S. and shipped out regardless.

[EX12693]

Freelancer, you cant get it because Canada. The U.S. hates it.

[Cortexian]

Stop posting EX, you're horrible at it.

[Cagerrin]

freelancer telling someone to stop posting....

emote.gif

[BobtheGreatII]

I'm really hoping to get the M11x before I head off to college in the fall.

[Cojafoji]

It's a nice laptop, and if he wasn't using that quadcore for workstation type power, it wouldn't be much use to him. That cpu can still do a fair amount in something like Premiere. Plus, he said he'd only be using it for small things, which it's fine with. Not to mention that increased clock speed will help with gaming, as most games don't even utilize a third or even fourth core, let alone the second. I mean, unless it's Sup Com FA or something.

[Warsaw]

Really? They used GDDR3? Fuckin' Dell, they would. Man. I dunno, I'd have bought one of those very nice ASUS computers instead. But hey, at least you got your fancy keyboard lighting and metal chassis.

[Cortexian]

Really? They used GDDR3? Fuckin' Dell, they would. Man. I dunno, I'd have bought one of those very nice ASUS computers instead. But hey, at least you got your fancy keyboard lighting and metal chassis.
That metal chassis comes in handy when you need to beat off would-be thieves! I've heard of a few GDDR5 GTX 260M cards floating around out there but I'm not to sure of the validity of it. It's possible that the Mobility HD 5850 is still slightly better than the GTX 260M with GDDR3, but it would be marginal and Nvidia has CUDA. I heard Adobe will be supporting more Nvidia GPU's later in the year so I went with this guy.

Also, processor problem solved:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/INTEL-quad-mobile-i7-620M-3-33GHZ-4M-1066Mhz-/140401916885?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item20b09b3bd5

Looks like the M15x processors are plug-and-play for the most part, I'll probably pickup a Core i7 620m in a few months for around $250 CAD once my second job is established and I quit my first.

[MastaCheefa]

Is that a 30 day free-trial of McAfee Anti-virus I see??!! Well done, sir.

[Warsaw]

Protip: Core i7-620M is a dual core chip. That eBay listing is misleading you. Sure, it has four threads due to Hyper Threading, but that's not the same thing as having four physical cores.

Unless someone comes out with something better, I'll probably be getting the latest iteration of the M17x next summer. Hopefully by then we'll have Crossfire Mobility HD5870s with GDDR5 or SLI Fermi-based GPUs inside. I don't really have a video card brand preference, I just want the most power possible, since it's a desktop replacement.

[Cortexian]

Is that a 30 day free-trial of McAfee Anti-virus I see??!! Well done, sir.
There was no option to remove it, the U.S. site on the other hand does have an option to ship with no Antivirus what-so-ever. I'll be ripping it out by it's teeth as soon as I get it, that's the first thing to go after I do the unboxing video.


Protip: Core i7-620M is a dual core chip. That eBay listing is misleading you. Sure, it has four threads due to Hyper Threading, but that's not the same thing as having four physical cores.

Unless someone comes out with something better, I'll probably be getting the latest iteration of the M17x next summer. Hopefully by then we'll have Crossfire Mobility HD5870s with GDDR5 or SLI Fermi-based GPUs inside. I don't really have a video card brand preference, I just want the most power possible, since it's a desktop replacement.
It's misleading, but not to me. I already know that the i7-620M is a dual core chip, and that's exactly what I want since I don't need a quad core i7 in a laptop (the seller also states the correct information under "Specification" farther down the page). I would much rather have faster dual cores than have four slower cores, plus the two extra threads on the dual cores will keep up with most multi-threaded applications whereas the extra threads on the quad core would most likely be wasted.

This is the reason I went with the i5-540M instead of the i7-720QM, the 720QM is a quad and I don't want it. However if I can get the i7-620M it'll be the fastest dual core I can get for a laptop, the i5 was a good compromise though since it's -$100 for -100MHz and -1MB cache.

I talked to a Dell rep today and they said that I can go ahead and install the i7-620M myself if I can get one from where ever, they won't void the warranty on the laptop unless installing the processor causes a problem. That said, he told me that I'll have to put the original processor back in if I ever have to send it in for ANY reason.

[Warsaw]

Well, I'd rather have the true quad, since I'd end up hacking the system to overclock it anyways. I also heavily multitask, and coming from this single core system I'd want to make sure I can do it all without hiccup.

Still, I do see your point. Save on what little battery life you can, right?

[Cortexian]

Exactly, even though I've got the optional 9cell Lithium Ion battery the battery life is still only around 2hrs. Plus I've got my desktop and school workstations available when I need to bring out the big guns!

I know how I'm setting up my keyboard lighting when I get it...
tOEG30N4zug

The guy who set that up made a video on how to do it, I grabbed some screen caps and made a little layout so I know what order things need to go in:
http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/62745514734064465129.gif



On another slightly related note, my backpack shipped out of Vancouver today so I'm expecting it on Monday. I will do an unboxing video of my bag, hopefully it comes in a box now so I don't look like a fool. Unbagging my bag just wouldn't be as awesome.

[PenGuin1362]

I got an alienware when i went off to college too didn't want the hassle of a desktop while moving around all the time. it still runs great, but for the money i've come to realize i really should have gotten either a thinkpad or something from asus....worked with both in the past and they just performed so much better with better specs and lower price.

[Warsaw]

Well...not even the highest end ThinkPad has graphics muscle for games. They do have the most amazing laptop keyboards ever though, and that alone is worth a lot. ASUS has all the features you want and the horsepower to back it up, but their exteriors are almost always tacky as a rule. I'm not saying Alienware exteriors aren't tacky, because they are, but at least you get it constructed of a sturdier material nowadays than you do with ASUS and they don't underclock their GPUs like ASUS does.

[PenGuin1362]

protip: get a fucking cooling fan to put under your laptop. Alienwares are notorious for over heating. 3 kids in my dorm had theirs shit the bed this past year because of overheating. My GPU gets up to 210 degrees sometimes if i forget to turn the fan on.

[Cortexian]

protip: get a fucking cooling fan to put under your laptop. Alienwares are notorious for over heating. 3 kids in my dorm had theirs shit the bed this past year because of overheating. My GPU gets up to 210 degrees sometimes if i forget to turn the fan on.

From the "Building a computer?" thread:

Oh and I should probably add what I wanted to really ask in this post. Lots of reviews and such state that Alienware recommends using the laptop without a "laptop cooler", however I often find myself working with the laptop on my lap or on a non-ideal surface (such as a bed/couch/padded chair arm). We all know this isn't great for laptops since if they're sitting on such a surface there's no where for the hot air and radiant heat from the bottom of the laptop to go, so I'm looking for a low-profile cooler (that's large enough to sit under the M15x at: Width: 370mm and Height: 260mm) that doesn't angle the laptop very much. Mainly just looking for something that I can throw into the backpack beside the laptop and take out when I need it between the laptop and the surface it's going to be on. I don't need to have my legs fried while quickly browsing something online haha!

I'm looking at this Zalman cooler:
http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=394

It's not quite big enough but it should work, however I'd like something that's slightly larger than the stated dimensions. I would prefer coolers that run off the laptop USB ports, and provide a replacement USB port(s) for the one being used.

Alienware, and most reviews I've read, state that the new M15x design cools A LOT better than the older design as long as you're working a flat surface and the bottom of the laptop can radiate heat. I'm looking to get a cooler for those instances when I'm not working on an ideal flat surface.

Edit:
---------
Just writing this down for organizational sake mostly so I do everything in the correct order. The videos I'll be creating for this laptop will be in order as follows:
1. Orion backpack unboxing/initial review.
2. Alienware M15x unboxing/initial boot.
3. Alienware M15x initial review.
4. Alienware M15x AlienFX lighting demonstration, including Winamp AlienFX plugin demonstration using the X-Files theme song. :allears:
Some time down the road...
5. Alienware M15x performance and general usage review.

[Cortexian]

Yesh!

http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/84003634438718631760.jpg

http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/01268637396234714753.jpg

http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/09847252214454031124.jpg

http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/97119424626532896250.jpg

http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/90612268637123593070.jpg

http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/84313703240119858629.jpg

http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/70503453216251607274.jpg


http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/10877877256570826986.jpg

http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/19419674148848300403.jpg

http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/90513913719737729894.jpg

http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/34027349765566823952.jpg

http://leimg.lancersedge.com/images/37482108931905443286.jpg

[Pooky]

That looks like it would be really uncomfortable to use the keyboard for gaming :S

[Cagerrin]

Could the lighting be configured to highlight various sets of keys so as to make key/function recognition while gaming easier?

[Cortexian]

Could the lighting be configured to highlight various sets of keys so as to make key/function recognition while gaming easier?
At the moment you can't set each key individually, however there are four sections to the keyboard that can be configured. Alienware says that per-key lighting is possible and may be included in a future AlienFX update.