Serious Nvidia Optimus issue

[Strider]

This Thread isn't exactly fitting for the systems building category, but I suppose this is the place where the most people are interested in what I'm going to tell or maybe can help regarding this.

So, I bought an Alienware m11x R2 (http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/alienware-m11x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn) close to the end of last year. It's not supposed to be my main computer, but rather for mobility purposes although with enough power for gaming if required.

Technical details but for the graphics are not so relevant for this thread. The i3/5/7 cores contain 'Intel HD' graphics and the notebook also features a Nvidia 335m. This and the damned Nvidia Optimus (http://www.nvidia.com/object/optimus_technology.html) technology, which I suppose is featured in all notebooks with Nvidia GPU now.
For those not knowing, in a nutshell this technology manages both GPUs and can select them per-application. So your desktop runs on Intel HD, but games start with the Nvidia GPU.

At first I was very happy with the notebook. Soon though, the first game froze on me. However, it was possible to return to the desktop, but the process could not be closed and the resources (GPU and Ram, especially) still remained occupied. A reboot was neccessary, but shutdown could not be completed, forcing a hard reboot.
I thought of a freak accident, but soon I learned that this is reproducable (playing EQ2X (http://launch.soe.com/eq2x/) mainly). It does not affect every game, and in some games certain video settings can influence this.

So I thought my brand new notebook had a hardware defect, or the driver is broken.

I did some research on the internet, and now I am certain this issue is widespread (at least for the Nvidia 335m) and a driver, if not hardware issue. I tried contacting Nvidia via their forums but after a first quick answer they stay silent, now. Kind of the behaviour I would expect when a customer finds an issue which is unknown when or if it's going to be fixed.

My notebook will be returned, since I deem it defective in the current state.
Why am I posting here, then?

For one, I want to warn all of you about this. On the other hand I want to ask who might have a notebook with 'Nvidia Optimus' with or without these issues. In any case please put your Notebook type and GPU (oh and maybe the game that freezes or not) in a short answer, that'd be great.


Edit: This is (currently) unrelated to driver version, but running 260.99 now and I could've mentioned several posts on the internet about this, but wanted the thread here to stay clean.

[Jotoco]

Thank you strider. I appreciate the heads up.

And
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/15/nvidias-faulty-laptop-gpu-settlement-starts-paying-out-file-yo/

Not really the same case, but illustrate something I don't like about nVidia. If they need to choose between processing power and quality, they will always choose power. Whereas ATI usually go for the economy/heat/quality decision.

I usually go for ATI video cards, but I digress. I hope this does not boil down to a ATI vs nVidia war, because nVidia can have VERY good cards, specially for people who want to the very best.

[Kopacha]

There are a similar problems with the ATI's take on this type of technology.

My two cents - i still think it's mostly software related, and i'm more to blame Intel side of things, instead of nVidia, but i guess it depends on "case-by-case".
Too bad.

I've recently played around with the ACER Aspire Timeline X (3820TG i think), which uses the same kind of tech. Something I've noticed in the BIOS is that, one can switch between the "hybrid" mode and "discrete" mode a.k.a using only the 5650 chip on the machine, but not the Intel's. Look for something like that in your BIOS, if you still haven't returned the machine.

[Strider]

Thanks for your answer. Yes, I would love an option like that, but it does not feature this.

Dell is very unhelpful, although the issue clearly persists/exists. After a failed trouble ticket I have handed the case over to my attorney.

[lockwoodx]

Most of the problems I've had over the years have come from motherboards. That's why I build my own so I can replace those cheap pieces of junk easily. Computers are very prone to crashing from stack overflows when your GPU or CPU wants it "NOW" and your Mobo says "Well I think I'm gonna wait a little"

There's a bottle-neck in every computer. It's only a mater of finding it so you can create the new one.