Alienware M17x what to do after startup/unboxing.

[ReverseClassic]

I've heard lot's of stuff about flashing a bios, I know what a bios is but I'm not exactly sure what the term "Flashing a bios" means.
I'm assuming out of the box I should just update the drivers?

If you guys could help me out seeing as this laptop is expensive, and I want it to run great for more than a couple months.

Here are my specs, Thanks guys.

System Color Alienware M17x Soft-Touch Stealth Black
Processor Intel® Core™ i7 2670QM processor (2.2GHz,3.1GHz,w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
Memory 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
A/C Adapter Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
Display Panel 17.3-inch WideFHD1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
Video Card 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon™ HD 6870M
Hard Drive 1 TB RAID 0 (2x 500GB) 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Nameplate Standard Nameplate
AlienFX Quasar Blue
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Adobe Reader Acrobat SW Adobe Acrobat Reader
Optical Drives 8X Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Sound Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
Wireless Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video
Security Software McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
Service 1 Year Basic Service Plan
Pre-Installed Software Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed
Alien Wallpaper Alienhead 3D

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

You ONLY need to flash a Bios if you need to upgrade to a faster CPU...

Its also RISKY...you can KILL your motherboard if it goes wrong....

With a new laptop dont even think about it....

All the best Brett

 

[extremepcs]

Install antivirus software right away if it didn't come with anything good. McAfee and Norton are not good in my opinion and slow the system down way too much. Unless it came with them, making system restore DVD's would be a good idea, too, especially since you're running RAID 0.

 

[Maziar]

You don't need to flash the BIOS unless there's some kind of hardware problem/upgrade that requires it.
Install some games and enjoy your new laptop :d

 

[unksol]

in general the very first thing you should do with an alienware is promptly return it for a refund.

However if you insist... You will want to make your factory restore disks. then you will want to uninstall all the crapware that dell put on it while off line. once that's done install antivirus and update it. Then update windows which may take a few rounds, and update the drivers.

When I have mine all updated and basic programs installed I make a drive image with easeus todo backup so I don't have to mess with it again if I ever want to restore it. You can store it on an external drive or compress it and split it to store on DVDs. This is optional though.

 

[ReverseClassic]

What's the significance of it being Raid 0 and needing recovery disks?

 

[unksol]

raid zero means faster read/write speeds but there is a higher chance of failure because if either of the two drives fails or the array breaks you lose all data on both. There is no way to recover the data. you will want to make regular backups