Mine works fine.

Out of the thousands of machines they sell each month (to English speaking countries world-wide), do you really think it's a lot?

Flotown said it good here:

Re: New Alienware on its way.

Is it because AW owners tend to be a bit more hardcore and so 1) notice more stuff and 2) push their machines harder leading to more issues?

I think it's a valid question. The M11x hinge is a case in point (and previously I've heard M15x also had same issue). I guess if one knew exactly how many AW units were out there with no significant issues and exactly how many have big issues and compare the ratio of the two with other brands we can provide a sensible answer.

Yes my M11x hinge was completely split in half , and it was only purchased in May 2010. Luckily it was on warranty ..

I pruchased a aurora alx last month, and was going to purchase the m17x this month. after what i went through with it in the past month, I am highly doubt i will purchase AW ever again.

I suspect it's easy to look at the forums and mistakenly suggest that AlienWare has a lot issues.

Delve into the depth of the forums though and I think one would tend to notice that alot of the "issues" relate to things the average joe who buys a stock computer off the shelf is not likely to even consider.  Talking about what temps your cores, graphics and the various fan speeds aren't the usual topics of a mass market computer tech support line.  Most people would probably just ring their warranty people too if something occurred and I doubt they'd be bothered to check any forums.

I think it's fair to say it has a lot to do with the type of customer that is attracted to these machine.  People who want high performance and an ability to tinker to their hearts content.

I follow this forum daily . Many issues are minor with some being operator error, granted some issues are major. I purchased an Aurora ALX last Oct/09. I'm 1 year into my system with NO hardware issues and many hours of hardcore gaming.

I just got my new m17x yesterday and after less than 4 hours I noticed it randomly bluescreening when I moved. I just noticed a hour ago that it has a senstive spot on the bottom and if I tap it just right it blue screens everytime. so looks like I'm another one for the factory defect list

Shut down, turn off, remove battery ...

... then re-seat your RAM modules.

AW or dell should really take these issues seriously... we've paid them good money, the least that we expect from them is to have a problem free machine out of their factories. I also have to send back my aurora unit back in Jul coz the machine just wont stay up and running.. people may say, ok, just open it up and re-insert all cards, but why would i do that, its a brand new expensive machine and its not working..  the upsetting part is that the machine comes with a black booklet and in its intro (page 5) it  says that  "they've built the machine to perform to its fullest potential, tested it thoroughly, etc.."  which is just and plain simple and a big lie...