I have bought a maxxed out Alienware M17x, nearly £4000.00 paid three weeks into the system and this is the result, it has major problems and flaws, and Alienware/Dell have confirmed this machine is not all powerfull as it is advertised or made to be or at least at this moment in time it is not, not sure why they are selling it as I am on the verge of wanting to return it for either a proper working replacement or a full refund.
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Hello, I too bought an area 51 m17x. Mine was with dual 9800 gtx cards in Feb 09 and sadly they have since overheated and ceased to exist. Luckily it was under warranty, however the cards can no longer be replaced.
When I purchased the laptop it took them over a month to send it to me and when I finally got to the bottom of what was taking it so long to ship or notify me of a backorder; I was told by the supervisor that the laptop was failing to pass benchmark, overheating. He proceeded to tell me that they had to upgrade the motherboard to the newest model (mxm 3 slot) and I finally received the beast. It always had a bit of a heat issue and this became worse with time until they commited gpu-i-cide.
Now I'm told I have no options for an upgrade of the two 9800's, no longer made. I have to accept a quadro 3600 or nothing.
That supervisor had lied to me saying I had gotten the newer mobo and it's actually a mxm 2. So i can't even fork out cash to upgrade the video cards to the 260m or 280m.
Drivers for the 3600 are for 3D apps not games. I do both. My games will not run and I have no repercussions.
Most will say I wasted all 4500+ dollars on a bloated machine, yes I agree. But I did my homework before I bought it and thought I had something that would last me at least 3yrs. It's an oversized paperweight, word processor, internet surfin, maya dabbling, pretty case, peice of crap.
The ONLY thing I will miss is the lighted keyboard. I loved that when typing late at night or playing combat in dim light.
Sager offers a better product, better warranty, better price. One day I'll save up enough to buy their product instead.
Anyway, I hope you still check this board because i would like to know if you got your issues resolved. Your machine was better than mine and I was curious if they could fix the issues you mentioned. Maybe they were a bit more accomodating to you. 🙁