ALIENWARE 15 HYPE?! leaked video

I won't buy one . I will upgrade my 17 until nothing is compatable with it anymore then I will switch to clevo/sager. It's already bad enough to buy a new laptop and in less than 6 months there's already a better gpu out. But not being able to upgrade is even worse.
It's still hard to believe that alienware is selling there systems with soldered everything now.

 

Also 10% off now here in the Netherlands. Considering the i7 build with 4k monitor(it's finally available), 16 GB ram and gtx 970. Will probably add a ssd myself considering the high cost @ Alienware. The only problem now is that now that there is an interesting offer on the table is that I'm conflicted about the weight.

 

I haven't been keeping up much with clevo lately, but glad to see someone is still keeping the upgradable systems alive. And I bet you money that all these companies are switching over to BGA because of broadwell. It looks like with broadwell intel is ditching LGA entirely on the mobile front which is dumb and moving over to BGA. So this market shift is really being done by intel.

 

The 15" and smaller notebooks, I understand having soldered components. They're focused primarily on mobility (weight, etc.). But anything larger should not be subject to such crap. In my opinion, the AW 15 is tolerable only because it has the 980M as an option, which makes it a beast of a 15" laptop compared to other 15" laptops, aside from a select few (e.g. Clevo P750ZM). It's still such a shame to see Alienware fall in line with other manufacturers.

 

Well it's good to see that the alienware 15 is now available in Belgium. Also 4K monitors are available. also Netherlands was added to them too. So I guess the 4K now has been added to europe too.
Now only thing remaining is the 980M. If that gets here too I'm willing to get it.

On the competition side, the Aorus X5 seem appealing to me too:
Good sides compared to the aliewnare 15:
- The 965M in SLI is more powerful.
- Full aluminum chassis, like the apple ones, also helps with cooling.
- Considerably thinner.
- Has optical spid/f port for surround sound.
- The Panel is IGZO based, so less power consumption (still IPS though)
- supports 3 up m.2 ssd's in raid 0
Bad sides compared to the alienware 15
- Non common 2880x1620 resolution
- No bay for 2.5 inch drives.
- Very bad keyboard
- No alienware like lights.
- worse support (the premium support is still a standard in my country for alienware)

- (unknown) How are the temperatures of both laptops I don't know, but it looks like the aorus will run hotter.

 

I swear linus from linus tech tips said there is a 2.5 inch drive slot in the x5, but he could be wrong.

 

I know there's a lot of disappointment in this thread, but I'm impressed by the value of an Alienware 15 with the 128 gb SSD + 1 TB HDD and everything else base spec. Very respectable midsize, performance laptop with premium materials/build for $1350.

 

The disappointment is primarily because they no longer sell anything except these mickey mouse BGA Ultrabooks. They threw the baby out with the bath water and alienated (pun intended) many long term customers with more demanding standards.

Had they introduced these mediocre new featherweights as additional purchase options to supplement the existing enthusiast-grade product line, and refreshed the 17 and 18 with 980M and 980M SLI, I doubt most of us would really care one way or the other. We never made a big deal about the 14, or the M11x, because those models didn't affect us. That would have given the low-budget thin and light casual gamer shoppers something to be happy about while still upholding the brand reputation and meeting the expectations of performance enthusiasts. I suppose some guys would throw a temper tantrum about the bigger machines not having an eGPU like the Ultrabooks, but I think most of us look at that as being a geeky tinker toy more than anything else.

 

I hear ya there. And I think that is the reason origin pc switched over to desktop cpu's in some of their machines. To keep upgradability a possibility instead of going down the bga/broadwell route. it would have been interesting if Alienware went down a similar path.

 

I don't keep my stuff long enough for this to really bother me... having said that... If Origin or any other botique builders decide to jump on the "amplifier" bandwagon, I'll be outta here.

 

Yea I've got a pretty high end desktop now so I don't need a super powerful laptop. I just wanted something to bring to school and be able to game on the go if needed.I like that aorus x3, but for that price I could get an alienware 15 with a 4k screen and 980m. Not sure what i'm gonna do.

 

I don't see a Graphics Amplifier as a problem. It's a small IO port that doesn't take up any room having it there. It gives upgrade paths and doesn't take away features to have it, so why not?

The lack of value in the product by not being able to upgrade the actual laptop or replace faulty components is what sucks lemons. Even if you change laptops every couple of years,nothing wrong with that, but very few people will buy an aging gaming machine that's GPU can't be refreshed. Customer's are being robbed of their resale value too.
In a couple of years time the already 4-5 years old m15x will be able to tear strips off this new model.

At the same time there is nothing wrong with having these products. But AW went and got rid of their uber powerful flagship machines which leaves their line up totally lacking an extreme model for the enthusiasts.

 

People may still get them just so they can amplify it and then type and do browsing/light gaming on the go.

 

I'm having a lot of trouble attributing the words "featherweight," "ultrabook," and "mediocre performance" to the Alienware 15, even though it's somewhat lighter and less powerful than a Clevo flagship. Then again, I'm typing this on a VAIO Duo 11, so maybe my opinion doesn't count

 

guys
wanna ask
is it alienware 15 battery removable ?

 

It is an embedded battery, unsure at the moment whether its easy or not to remove but chances are its not going to be plug-n-play level removeable, so it will require work.

 

oh i c ,
cause i am from malaysia
aw 15 price just release yesterday and got problem
but lucky manage to get hdd and ssd
but embedded battery, will it easy spoil?
because most of the laptop i use, i will remove the battery.
To prevent wasted battery life cycle

 

Battery is not going to be easy to remove.

 

You may be able to unplug it and leave it in place. But as Game7a1 said, it's not easy to remove, in fact it looks like one of the last few items to remove before you're left with an empty shell.

Prerequisites
1 Remove the base panel.
2 Remove the memory modules.
3 Remove the solid-state drives.
4 Remove the wireless card.
5 Follow the procedure from step 1 to step 11 in “Removing the palm rest”.
6 Remove the hinge covers.
7 Remove the display assembly.
8 Follow the procedure from step 1 to step 10 in “Removing the system
board”.

 

What you said in bold, then what you said after made me laugh. "I don't need anything fast, but for that price I could get a Lamborghini. Not sure what I'm gonna do."

 

About the weight.. alienware seems to be not clear on the weight of the AW 15. Ive heard alienware rep telling its 6 pounds = 2.7 kg and somewhere else I read its 3.2kg.
Thats quite some difference. 2.7 is still acceptable for me.. 3.2 its not. Also surprisingly on the alienware site they are not showing the details about the weight for AW 15.
For the AW 13 they show everything about the dimensions but nothing for the AW 15, strange...

 

Height Front: 1.34" / 34.0mm
Height Rear: 1.34" / 34.0mm
Depth: 10.64" / 270.2mm
Width: 15.19" / 385.8mm
Average weight: 7.07Lbs / 3.2078Kg
All taken from here.

 

yey! it is finally in Singapore!

but the choices are very restrictive, not much configurations to play with

 

Thanks Game7a1.. youre helpful in every topic

To bad about the 3.2kg I was thinking about the AW 15 since no i7 for AW 13 overhere, what we already discussed in the AW13 thread.
But i need something more portbale than 3.2 kg.
Game7a1, whats your opinion on the MSI GS60 ? its under 2kg and seems powerfull.

 

there looks like a pricing discrepancy on the singapore site
The top spec is just 2999 SGD - that is just actually 2080 USD if you remove the 7% govt tax

On the US site, the same spec is at 2599 USD

note:
Dell SGP price includes accidental damage
both are on the i7 chips
both are on 980m
both are on hi res screen
and both are on 256gb m.2 tlc ssd

details:


Module Description Show Details
Base Alienware 15
Operating System Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English
Memory 16GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz (2x8GB)
Keyboard Internal Eng/Int (Qwerty) Keyboard
Video Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M with 4GB GDDR5
Wireless Driver/Label Killer 1525 Driver
Hard Drive 256GB m2.80 NGF TLC SSD + 1TB 5400RPM
Wireless Killer Wireless Card 1525
Power Options Power Cord (UK)
Documentation/Disks Document for MUI (English,Simplified Chinese,Japanese,Traditional Chinese,Korean)
Bundle W511113SGW8 - Alienware 15
Dell Services: Hardware Support 1Yr ProSupport: NBD Onsite with Accidental Damage Service
Systems Management Haswell Driver
Placemat Welcome Letter - English
Dell Services: Remarks Dell's Terms and Conditions apply
Dell Services: Remarks Laptop Batteries Carry 1 Year Warranty Only From Invoice Date
Dell Services: Remarks Great Technical Tips & Information available 24x7 at Dell Support
Order Information None
Primary Battery 8 Cell 92W Hour Battery
Item included in the System FullHD 2MP Camera with dual digital microphones
Processor 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4710HQ Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.50 GHz)
Dell Services: Tech Sheet Included NONE
Packaging Alienware 15 Shipping box
FGA Module No FGA
Additional Settings Dropbox software
Additional Settings FastAccess Facial Recognition 4, Digital Delivery
Dell Services: Item Included Technical Support
Retail Information None
Retail Tech Sheets None
LCD 15.6 inch UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS-Panel Anti-Glare 350-nits Display with Touch Technology
Freights FGA NB-OS-BTO Freight Charges(Singapore)
Microsoft Application Software Microsoft Office Trial (Multi-Language)
Additional Software additional software
Security Software McAfee Live Safe 12 month Subscription
AC Adapter Alienware 180W AC Adapter
Microsoft Operating System Media OS Media Kit Not Included

 

Omg what nonsense. Even singapore has 980M GPu while non european country has, this is bs.
Pff.

 

Maybe, but Broadwell isn't here yet and there's no point in drinking sewage if you don't have to. They'll have to do a product revision for Broadwell crap anyway since the chips are welded to the PCB, so I guess some moron with the power to call the shots thought it would be a good idea to hit the fast-forward button and start building garbage ahead of schedule.

 

Yup sadly.... They should have kept the 18 as a flagship and put a desktop processor in it or something. Then with the amplifier you could go compete with desktops.

 

I thought Alienware said that, except for the 13, they would be skipping Broadwell and jumping straight to Skylake.

 

omg it is so troublesome
just want to ask
if the battery reach 100% i still charge will it make the battery spoil fast?

 

actually i also not understand something
why cant we go for gtx 980m with full hd screen = =

 

That's an option in the US, not sure about other countries.

 

Wow, and I thought with a thick case like that everything can be maintained well. So what can Alienware offer when it has bad maintainability, soldered cpu and soldered gpu? Less fan noise? I even doubt that with regards on the reviews of previous models...

 

no in malaysia
if u choose gtx 980m
then is UHD screen > <
actually i not understand got what difference on processor
i7-4710HQ
they have 2 options
but 2 also list as :
(6M Cache, up to 3.50 GHz)

 

What is this with this messed up systems all over the place.

In US and Canada you can order anything that has been advertised.
In Europe you cannot chose the AMD graphics card or the 980M whatsoever
In some asian countries you cannot chose FHD with 980M.

Why is this a better marketing?
I don't understand.

I live in Europe and want 4K screen with a 980M, but I can't.

 

haha yesterday they only release
and u can choose
but today they update then worst cant choose at all > <
heard that tomorrow the price may be raise
because us currency raise
really....swt
i still thinking go for clevo or alienware
but i have get quote by this spec
Components
1 Alienware 15
1 Intel(R) i7-4710HQ [4th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4710HQ Processor (6M Cache, up to
3.50 GHz)]
1 15.6 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS-Panel Anti-Glare 300-nits Display
1 16GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (2x8GB)
1 256GB m2.80 NGFF TLC SSD + 1TB 5,400 HDD
1 Power Supply : Alienware 180W AC Adapter
1 Power Cord (UK)
1 8 Cell 92W Hour Battery
1 NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 970M with 3GB GDDR5
1 Killer 1525 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0
1 Killer Wireless 1525 Driver
1 Internal Eng/Int (Qwerty) Keyboard
1 Alienware 6 programmable Macro module keys
1 McAfee(R) Live Safe Image (Trial Version)
1 Additional Software
1 OpenLabs StageLight
1 Technical Support

 

ok guys needed a opinion please. Looking at the 15 with either the full hd or qhd what do you guys think on that also since Im getting the ga will the 970m be enough when traveling. Second if I get the basic 1tb hdd can I just switch it out to a ssd cause I hate spinning drives and none of the options come without a spinning drive. Also is there any benefit getting a m2 ssd.

 

I went with the 1080p... but thats just me.

You can either replace the 1tb drive with a 2.5" SSD, or you can grab a m.2 and use that. The 15 has 2 spots for m.2 drives.

Also...

The Amplifier is for sale on Amazon for $265 right now. I ordered mine a few days ago and just got notification I'll have it Monday, even though it says OOS.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PCJXN0I/

 

About the 4K monitor. I want to give it a shot. I have seen 4K monitors and TV's if you run 4K content, the difference is really there, and it's impressive imho. So I want to take the 4K monitor. Becuase there are games such as diablo 3 I play that aren't the most graphically demanding games which I will be able to play on 4K. And Since the pixels are so small that you cannot notice, and 4K being a perfectly 4x 1080p size, there is also no scaling artifacts. So I'm convinced that 1080p scaling will still look good on a 4K monitor. Also might buy a graphics amplifier later on, so a few years later when there is more to enjoy in 4K I will be ready.

But if you don't know 4K then go 1st to a multimedia shop check it out, if it REALLY something you want, then go for it, otherwise don't get it.
It makes things a little more difficult such as:
- More power consumption
- Bad scaling of windows UI elements (otherwise too small) though will probably be fixed in the future.
- More expensive.
- Not many 4K video content available at the moment, might change in the near future with the recent introduction of UHD Alliance.

About your GPU. the 970M is More then enough for a 1080p gaming. (doesn't matter if you are running 1080p on 4K monitor). So that is a good option. Especially if you are going to buy a graphics amplifier immediately.

Now about SSD. The benefits from M.2 SSD's are, the ports are typically more faster then Sata, and most importantly they are significantly smaller. It's a good thing if you want to combine a 2,5 inch Hard Drive as large storage for things such as videos music etc. While all programs and the OS is installed on the SSD.

but if one SSD space is enough for you go with that of course, because like you said, you will have nothing mechanical in your laptop and SSD's don't brake as easily as hard drives.

 

I'm glad Dell's Precision line is still upgradeable. I love my m6800.

 

I've been away from the game for a while .. Happy with my 14 for over a year ! After 10 17s/17xr2/r3/18x/11x the 14 hit the spot for me even better than a few retina macs I've had. This 15 looks awesome though ! 4k? I'm a huge nut for quality displays but 4k to me is almost pointless on such a small screen.

 

got your point bro, I am also over the fence on this 4k thing

i hope they offer the 1080p display with such wonderful bezels as the 4k
i am not really after the touch capability

problem in this part of the world is you can not get the 980m without going 4k

 

thank you for taking the time to explain that. one other question if you don't mind. When u say bad windows scaling does that mean it will look bad for normal computing also if I have the 128gb with 1tb option does that 1 tb make my computer run really slow or any hotter.

 

With bad windows scaling I mean that when you use windows on a 4K monitor that is only 15 inch. the User Interface elements gets too small, with those I mean like the different menu buttons, the task bar and menu bars/ everything gets too small. So you use the built in windows UI scaling to 150% or 200%. Everything gets a lot bigger as if it was a normal 1080p. But the button images and some text characters are not scaled properly by using larger quality version or vector scaling. It simply scales them with a rather simple algorithm and it looks blurry instead of sharp. Not everything though only some of the elements scale bad. Not a huge issue though.

About the 1TB Hard drive it won't make your system run any hotter. Nor will it make your system slower. Because windows will be installed in the SSD. Of course you should Install all your programs in that SSD too. And if room left, install the games you play most also in the SSD for significantly faster loading times.
The 1TB HDD is naturally slow. So I suggest you only use that for storage for videos, fotos, music, ...

The drive is mechanical though, so it will make your battery run out slightly faster. But nothing important, not sure if the difference would be even noticeable.

 

Does anyone know what specific model the Alienware 15 uses for its 512gb SSD? It's really important to me.

 

If it's like the 13, it would be the Samsung PM851 (M.2).

 

Thanks, is this model MLC or TLC? or at least is whatever SSD in the Alienware 15 TLC or MLC?

 

TLC. Same goes for the 13 and 17 R2.

 

Just be aware, Dell's HDD and SSD always have proprietary firmware. You cannot use retail firmware updates and most of the time OEM SSD tools (i.e. Samsung Magician) do not work with the Dell-branded SSD drives due to their proprietary firmware.

 

actually i got 1 question ask that if the monitor change to 4k
then the game setting cant set high right
because the screen resolution is big?
correct me if i am wrong
cause not too familiar with 4k