Ahhh, nice to see a new thread!

My 7980M has been problematic the past few months, they've changed the card 5 times now and I'm still getting massive artifacts on the screen while doing normal things (surfing, work, etc)

I guess I'll have to call them back again for support.

This post has been edited by refnulf: Nov 26 2013, 02:04 AM

To be honest, I'm not out for an upgraded gpu. I just want it fixed but they don't seem to know what to do. Gpu changed 5 times, 3 of those were doa. The guy on the phone once offered me the 670, told him to go fly a kite.

My next planned upgrade for this laptop is only in 2015, was hoping it wouldnt give me so much trouble already and it's only one year old so far. Really disappointment as this wasn't a cheap laptop.

It's a problem indeed. They've already changed so far the gpu 5 times, the heat sinks, the LCD,the touch pad base. I travel alot so I'm never just there to wait for them. I think I'm going to call again even though I'm only back in Pj next week.

This post has been edited by refnulf: Nov 26 2013, 09:00 AM

Yeah, they asked me to go update my mobo bios to test but I told them to go research this problem carefully. I have no time to experiment. If I do that, then I might as well reinstall the OS and have everything refreshed.

I'll call them later and sort it out, let's see what else they can do. M17x is only 1 year and 3 months. Sigh.

Yeah, the system is up to date mostly but I don't like messing with things unless they're broken. Will see what Dell says.

I'm getting a Samsung EVO 1TB for the PS4 but I was thinking if I should instead put it into the AW and use the Crucial M4 512GB in the PS4 instead. To be honest, I have 245GB free in the AW now because I only use it for programs and games.

Movies, music, etc I keep in the other 1TB HDD. I think I'll just keep the Crucial in the AW, it's still fast as ever. 5 seconds to shut down, less than 19 seconds to login screen. I'll just upgrade the SDD when I upgrade this machine in 2015

The pro would be a suitable drive for the laptop but probably not for the PS4. Doubt there's going to be massive writes on it. Also, pro doesn't have the capacity like the Evo.

Depends really,I prefer the older designs and build of the M17x laptops. Specs though,the newer ones are always going to be faster, better, etc.

But to be honest, anything a year or two back will be a good purchase. Especially if its a highly specced machine. Important thing is warranty. I make sure I always max out the warranty for such cases.

Wow, you guys are very advanced.I'm still clinging on to my Windows 7 UE as long as I can.

Also, if I considered a change of GPU to nvidia?Would anything else need to be changed? I'm currently using the 7970m.

This post has been edited by refnulf: Dec 9 2013, 09:36 AM

Not sure man, current 7970 seems to be problematic.

The artifacts on the screen that happens pretty often. Also after I recover from sleep mode, the screen looks funny. Moving lines across the screen that doesn't go away till I restart. It's getting to be pretty frustrating.

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EDIT: Contacted Dell today and spoke to another rep and explained the issue. So far GPU changed 5 times and LCD changed once. Touch pad was changed once but that was another issue. The keyboard is beginning to not respond that well on certain keys but that's a different matter. Rep said that she was going to submit a request for a new unit. Of course, I'm not very happy with that. I like what I have now, I just want the problem fixed. And if it's approved, I get one of the new ugly designs So we'll see how that goes. The ram I'm using on this machine might not work on the new one as well. DDR3 vs DDR3L. So another issue. Not prepared to see 32GB of ram go to waste.

I've had this machine for about 1.5 years now and it's been pretty problematic this whole year.

Also, if you're talking about the drivers it's not a great subject either. I think I'm on 13.8 and that's pretty much the most stable one so far. The latest ones suck and I've been through most of them till this point. Nvidia would have been a lot easier when it comes to drivers, but the expense would have taken my notebook over my budget.

This post has been edited by refnulf: Dec 10 2013, 01:08 PM

Latest update, Dell has approved a new unit. Now wait for the email with the quote.

Thanks for the advice, I'll update once I have the quote. Should be in a day or two.

Only reason I was able to hang on so long was because I was away long stretches of the time so I wasn't really using the machine that much. But whenever I wanted to, horrible issues that Dell couldn't fix.

Few months earlier they were replacing my GPUs week after week. 3 arrived DOA, lol.

And I was away for weeks in between the replacements so it took some time to get done. Never went through a replacement before, so let's see what happens. They might have another R4 around hopefully!

This post has been edited by refnulf: Dec 10 2013, 04:20 PM

Looks like I'll have to do that if I get a new model. If not, then I can keep em.

Refnulf likes his R4 design more than the newer ones

Indeed man, it's a real beauty!

The latest one? r5?

This post has been edited by refnulf: Dec 10 2013, 11:01 PM

You can't detach the battery?

How hard is it to remove the back plate?

Only thing that pissed me off about the R4 was the ram slots under the keyboard. But everything else was fine. My R4 came with some of the screws with the groves worn. So I had trouble getting my ram in. Had Dell site fellas come and replace the screws after a while.