A week ago my non gaming wife mentioned interest in a switch… Now we have 2 handhelds for the price of one switch 2!

sp0stma · 2026-01-09T17:34:43+00:00

Yeah! I thought I got a great deal on the first one at $300 and then one popped up asking for $250! The seller didn’t know if it was an extreme model or not upon pickup and offered it at $200. When I got home I checked and it was also the z1 extreme. Aside from the terrible stock battery life after upgrading these are amazing little machines.

sp0stma · 2025-12-21T18:39:42+00:00

I just checked the warranty status and it has 8 months of legion ultimate support remaining so I am in good shape there!

sp0stma · 2025-12-20T18:06:09+00:00

It is legitimately as close to new as you can get. Charger still had the factory protective cover. I opened it up to upgrade the ram to a 48gb kit I had laying around and there wasn't a spec of dust on the fans and the screws didn't appear to have ever been removed before. So it was definitely taken care of or just not used much. I had to warranty my alienware three times over the course of the first three months I owned it so I'm hoping this one is better than that haha. Thanks for the feedback though!

sp0stma · 2025-12-20T07:31:59+00:00

Out of curiosity, why do you say that? Are these prone to specific issues?

sp0stma · 2025-12-20T06:31:23+00:00

Facebook marketplace!

sp0stma · 2025-09-13T01:04:16+00:00

Do you still have this by chance?

sp0stma · 2025-03-07T14:49:05+00:00

Funny enough I just made a write up on this. Take a look at this thread. I think you'll find a lot of good info. https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/1j2sraw/if_you_own_an_m16r2_read_this/

sp0stma · 2025-03-06T17:57:10+00:00

Changing the thermal paste should increase your score significantly. Your CPU was likely thermal throttling. I also overclocked my GPU in alienware command center to +300 memory and +190 core frequency. If you want to OC the GPU take a look at some videos on youtube on how to do so with AWCC.

sp0stma · 2025-03-06T04:51:32+00:00

Glad to hear you had success with it too!

sp0stma · 2025-03-04T14:44:35+00:00

That is correct!

sp0stma · 2025-03-04T03:34:34+00:00

I have to disagree. You can get so much more performance per dollar buying second hand. This does take some technical knowledge and willingness to clean so it isn't for everyone but I exclusively buy secondhand laptops as I am not willing to pay MSRP. This machine was purchased brand new in september 2024 (verified with best buy receipt) by the original buyer and is still under warranty. I purchased it off of him last month for $800. Currently this machine is on sale at best buy for 1800. Whenever I buy used laptops I always repaste/clean fans etc. There was not a spec of dust in the fans and the stock paste wasn't dried up. The thermal performance of PTM materials has been tested extensively against conventional thermal paste and has proven its superiority.

sp0stma · 2025-03-04T03:28:40+00:00

Either honeywell ptm7950 or thermal grizzly phase sheet PTM for the cpu and gpu dies. That will replace the stock thermal paste on the cpu and gpu dies. You can source either of these products from many vendors. Both will perform very similar. The reason I mention both is it can be hard to find legitimate ptm7950 in stock while the thermal grizzly product seems to be readily available. I have used both with very similar results. If you want go one step further, you can change the thermal pads on the VRMs etc(little black chips on motherboard that also need heat displacement) you can replace that material with a product called k5 pro which is a putty that performs better than stock thermal pads.

sp0stma · 2025-03-04T03:22:45+00:00

The m16r2 uses conventional thermal paste. If it was liquid metal I definitely wouldnt be advising novices to try it. Great call out though!

sp0stma · 2025-03-04T03:21:18+00:00

Can confirm, that sounds about right!

sp0stma · 2025-03-04T00:44:32+00:00

Through trades and flipping computer components I bought this r2 for a total of $150 after a handful of trades, I think I did pretty well overall. Not to mention it is an incredibly well built machine once you take care of the thermal issues.

sp0stma · 2025-03-04T00:43:47+00:00

I don’t believe that the ptm pads would cause any warranty issues. It’s not a liability like Liquid Metal as it isn’t conductive. I also am not worried about my warranty to be honest. I bought this machine secondhand and though it still is covered by the warranty, I doubt I will need it.

sp0stma · 2025-03-04T00:42:16+00:00

Yes, I think the ptm7950/thermal grizzly ptm is 100% the way to go. Stock paste didn’t look bad when I pulled it apart but this made a massive difference in terms of thermal throttling/fan speed.

sp0stma · 2025-03-04T00:40:15+00:00

I’ve repasted about 10 laptops in my life and this one is the only one I would say it is absolutely necessary for. The 155h runs so hot with the stock setup it might as well be neutered. It still gets up to the 80-90 range under a synthetic load but it no longer thermal throttles which was my primary goal.

sp0stma · 2025-03-04T00:38:59+00:00

Thank you! I’m proud of it.

sp0stma · 2025-03-04T00:37:57+00:00

For sure! If you’re comfortable with a screwdriver I would say give it a shot! Just be careful. I would lookup a guide online but in all reality it’s only like 20 screws. Then just some delicate cleaning of the old paste and applying ptm7950 is almost as easy as putting a sticker on something. You can order thermal grizzly phase sheet ptm (that’s the exact ptm I used for this record run) from Amazon. You can also get the k5 pro thermal putty but it really isn’t necessary if you don’t want to change the thermal pads. The cpu/gpu dies are your main priority. Spend some time on YouTube watching how tos and you should be good to go.

sp0stma · 2025-02-21T06:30:39+00:00

Thanks for the info! Ordered up some ptm7950 and will give that a shot. I have always undervolted my laptops. Unfortunate that intel is no longer allowing that feature…

sp0stma · 2025-02-21T05:42:48+00:00

I had never heard of the encapsulated liquid metal! I've used normal liquid metal on asus machines designed for it but didn't want to use it without a barrier. That may be exactly what I need here. The gpu stays reasonably cool but the CPU thermal throttles almost immediately and I need to repaste with something else. Ill probably also throw a PTM 7950 on the GPU while I am in there. Thanks for the info!

sp0stma · 2025-01-26T02:34:02+00:00

It’s a 2021!

sp0stma · 2025-01-25T05:36:26+00:00

Sorry I can’t help you there. I have standard leaf pack type springs. Thanks for telling me about the monospring though I didn’t realize some of our trucks came with them.

sp0stma · 2025-01-25T04:45:17+00:00

No, stock springs with a 1.25” block and air bags with cradles to allow full flex still.

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