Does anyone here own an alienware m14x? how's the heat?

Heard from reviews that some overheats

Another thing is, do alienware laptops heat up at the palmrest area (below AWSD Keys most important, as i use a mouse for the right side )

Help is much appreciated , looking for an alienware for my future laptop .

Yea... I feel the same way too bro 
I just hope that there's so many reports of issues merely because of the popularity of these laptops 

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Added on May 17, 2011, 10:48 am

It doesn't have overheat issues. Its just hot 
And the fan noise is very, very loud. There's a Youtube video just to show how loud it is 
The right palm rest will get hot after some time but I guess its okay since we seldom use the arrow keys and use mouse instead 

urs also the same case? the tech will go to ur hse tmr?

Cool! thanks for ur swift reply!

Fan noise? That'll not be a problem
I believe that i read somewhere, the fan noise issue will be resolved in the upcoming driver updates?

Another thing is the Graphic card ,

Does the Nvidia Optimus work well?

I've heard it has some issues sometimes ,

I'm on an ATI switchable graphics notebook now , serves me very well , as i can switch whenever i want

Comparing Nvidia with ATI alienware notebooks, which is better in your opinion guys?

My hunting mission is a failure for today. Went to Sham Shui Po's computer district, found 1 Dell shop which sells it (!!), but it's only upon order for 2 weeks. Another retailer there sold m11x, but only the R2 version. Also went to Mongkok's Dell shop, unfortunately, 3 weeks for the order to come..

it's all the same bro....Dell doesn't really keep ex-stocks for their alienware brand, unlike the XPS systems where it should be slightly more acceptable for most consumers, as the price between AW and XPS differs quite a bit i think....

It's quite disappointing, they'd have more buyers if they keep stock of a few units at least    I was actually not relying on the Dell shops, but more of hoping that other retailers would have it, like the one I found which carried the R2. Unfortunately, out of all the shops I went through, it's only that 1 non-Dell retailer that even carried Alienware.

hmm, i dunno...i think selling it online works for them as well...i think it's the only drawback for a system that custom makes your items.

i worked in a custom fabricator for decorative items before, so i understand your frustration, as does with most of my customers, but some customers don't mind the wait, as long as they manage to get something they want, provided with the right price of course

Yes bro. You guys have been so active Im happy to see lotsa feedback here nowadays. I told the good Doc. these days I will be busy with exams and work.

Yeah of course if I sell will see cheaper. But i wanna know the price our good bro from Canada is thinking of letting go. Price for the ATI 6970 is pretty steep if bought from EU or US still at the moment. Prices are all above USD$ 800. But you get a 2GB card.

From the test conducted and used by our crazy daring ALIENWARE Brothers from the States, yes the ATI 6970 2GB DDR5 card is compatible with the Alienware M15x. So those with this discontinued model like me still have a hope of updating our systems albeit by taking a bit of a risk by operating our precious monsters and spending a lil. The rationale is that the 75-100 Watt ATI 6970 is still within power consuming limits of the 150 watt put on the M15x model. Pair that with a non XM Proc will be best but some in the US are using it with the 920XM and the 940XM even. Their benchmarks for VANTAGE are like 14k or even more last I heard but temps got to be controlled. Yes we will have to use speedfan or other software to either MAX the fans while using or lower it. Also I think the mouting will have to be modified somewhat so will be a bit trickier compared to when I Mod the 260M to the 5870. At the moment I still haven't the time to go thru the whole steps laid out but prolly end of this month I will have more time. TIll then will drop by to see you guys here.

p;S Thanks Doc for tirelessly making and udpating the threads!  

u guys might need m17x adaptor for that, 6970 100W + 940Xm 55W, already over ur original adaptor W(150W), need to tweak on bios and other stuff, it iwll be complicated.

!WAN TO THROW AWAY MY M14x, shit.....

u guys might need m17x adaptor for that, 6970 100W + 940Xm 55W, already over ur original adaptor W(150W), need to tweak on bios and other stuff, it iwll be complicated.

!WAN TO THROW AWAY MY M14x, shit.....

Cool! thanks for ur swift reply!

Fan noise? That'll not be a problem
I believe that i read somewhere, the fan noise issue will be resolved in the upcoming driver updates?

Another thing is the Graphic card ,

Does the Nvidia Optimus work well?

I've heard it has some issues sometimes ,

I'm on an ATI switchable graphics notebook now , serves me very well , as i can switch whenever i want

Comparing Nvidia with ATI alienware notebooks, which is better in your opinion guys?

u guys might need m17x adaptor for that, 6970 100W + 940Xm 55W, already over ur original adaptor W(150W), need to tweak on bios and other stuff, it iwll be complicated.

!WAN TO THROW AWAY MY M14x, shit.....

I've always been an NVidia fan, but like Rowan23 said if you want raw power you have to go for ATI for the moment. I like NVidia for the ability to game on 3D even though I've not done it yet. But its an option I would like to have coupled with Physx .... Im looking at the 6970 for the moment unless its possible to get hold of a GTX 470 or 485 for the M15x.
Yeah I don't know how they do it, but I wont' have that issue as I am running on the 820QM proc .... Even if stressed at the max, the 6970 should only use 100W. I want to wait and see how things develope actually cos a friend of mine from the forums mentioned experiments with the 485 GTX. See how that goes.....

I've always been an NVidia fan, but like Rowan23 said if you want raw power you have to go for ATI for the moment. I like NVidia for the ability to game on 3D even though I've not done it yet. But its an option I would like to have coupled with Physx .... Im looking at the 6970 for the moment unless its possible to get hold of a GTX 470 or 485 for the M15x.
Yeah I don't know how they do it, but I wont' have that issue as I am running on the 820QM proc .... Even if stressed at the max, the 6970 should only use 100W. I want to wait and see how things develope actually cos a friend of mine from the forums mentioned experiments with the 485 GTX. See how that goes.....

well, my M17x has a very loud fan, and so sometimes i can hear it, but it never annoys me anyway...and the right palm rest did not get hot when i'm playing games on it, unlike my previous laptops where it gets REALLY hot at that spot, and my palms sweat easily (hell, i sweat easily overall), so kinda left a mark there on my old laptop..xD

but overall, i have no complains on my laptop, other than the speaker issue, which the engineer would come tomorrow and fix it for me!

@jedi_dc

Yeah, the 1st review on the M14x by laptopmag did mentioned that Dell was aware of the fan noise 
But if they're going to resort to lowering the fan rpm to reduce the noise.... I don't think its a good idea since that will mean poorer cooling as well 

Nvidia Optimus will decide to go on a rampage from time to time, but nothing too much to handle 
Newer notebooks with AMD GPUs have Hybrid GPU switching nowadays, which is also auto  But its good to see some manufacturers still providing manual switches for GPU- switching despite already having the automatic GPU-switching features 

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Added on May 17, 2011, 11:17 pm

Well, the thing about the fan is that its quiet when one is not doing any intensive stuff, so its acceptable...
As for it being very audible during gaming, for me I think its acceptable.... you can't have the best of both worlds...
Cool temperatures + Small chassis (relative to desktops) + Quiet fan don't come together   
Understand what you meant bro> My old Toshiba M100 had 2 "palms" on the palm rest due to my "corrosive" sweat haha 

Welcome back, brother. Just read your posts on previous page, you been to kind lah. But truly, I am happy you are starting to be active back. Looks like I am the one that starting to less online due to study

btw I fed up with 270.61 Nvidia Driver. Its the culprit of my low rates in BFBC2 and always freakin' stop responding, causing my system to crash.

Hell, reverted back to 206.99 now.

820Qm onyl 45 W, not a big deal