Alienware 13 Pre-Release Speculation Thread

The R1 hasn't even come out yet. How are we supposed to know? Build a time machine and you can find out for yourself.

 

An "R2" would release when the other Alienware laptops launch (when Broadwell is out, supposedly).

 

Msi gs30 has yet to be released (and that doesn't have a discrete GPU) and the rest are all based on a 14 inch chassis.

 

If they follow the pattern of the M11x-series, the R2 came quite quickly after the R1, less than a year if I recall correctly, like 6 months. I am in a holding pattern for an AW 13 once the refresh occurs, I am betting on it being a Spring release.

 

In virtually every preview of the AW 13 a Broadwell refresh was clearly stated - it's pretty obvious they are going to do at least one refresh.

 

I priced out a system with complete care, 1080P & AGA and it came to $1497US. Then I tried on the Canadian site and it came to $1678. At first I was thinking that it was total crap, then I looked at the exchange rate..... $1497US = $1688.43CDN. That's sad, our dollar is really sucking right now.

 

Here is the new R2 unit.

 

I bet you it has a soldered cpu.

 

I bet they are all going to have one, one day :thumbsup:

 

These are my thoughts exactly. It's been interesting following the revisions of a product like the Razer Blade 14. When that machine was introduced, it had several dealbreakers. Then the second revision squandered many of those, and here in the third revision, they have almost hit a homerun.

If the product is adequately designed, its just a question of time for tech to follow up. In the case of AW13 Maybe full voltage dual core will be possible once broadwell hits. It's possible, and hopeful. I believe the only thing holding AW13 back is the possibility that games that are CPU bound will suffer needless due to disparity issues. We haven't gotten much faith to show in M processors yet, but lets wait and see. This is about how far they can push it without sacrificing the battery life. In a world with optimus graphics, you see the difference between a Macbook Air (14 hours) and a full quad-core based gaming laptop like Razer Blade 4 which is like 3-4 hours for the 2014 model (the 2013 model had an hour more).
For the gamer who wont use machine for productivity this is less of a concern, but battery life goes under the echelon of being mobile, and being a multi-purpose device, a PC should be able to fill other needs.

It has a great keyboard, good touchpad, much improved IPS screen, and it seems that even the speakers are off of absurdly high quality compared to to most other 13-inchers. So we're talking about a product that can be your productivity device too. The LED fratboy fest is even toned down, and the casing itself suggests that they decided to go against the fad of ultrabook-too-thin-for-its-own-good.



It all will come down to the power draw. But with the 14nn chip being significantly smaller, boy. I will be surprised if the R3 version at least by then, 1.5 years from now will not have a full-voltage CPU, or something akin to a Hashwell 2.5 Dual Core. Intel has delayed the release of chips as long as I have been a member of this board, so I dont have a lot of faith in Skylake even being out by then, but who knows? The starting price here is really aggressive when compared to the Razer Blade 14 and the AX13, there is a room here for a middle-weighter, as it just makes little sense to opt for the ultrabook alternatives which packs 840m with their ULV. AW13 will make sense simply because of the cooling. Those Ultrabooks, lilke Macbook Airs, get so toasty that daily light gaming becomes a nuisance relatively fast, which is shame. The Zenbooks are gorgeous. The Lenovo Yogas are practical, but they are all to thin for their own good, when measured against testing them to their limits.

 

I feel as though the Razer Blade 14 has a ton of ongoing issues judging by me following their forum thread. After their handling of the Razer Edge, I'm done with Razer.

 

We have to be careful though, because if you had looked inside here on M11x and M11xR2 launches you could really only see the forum full of problems.


The truth is that laptop failure rates globally are high. The industry leading, I have seen (graph from 2009) had Asus, Apple, Sony as the lowest failure rate of 15% with the first 24 months of purchase. The highest where the likes the of HP, probably due to their heat ventilation solutions in those budget laptops always being in the bottom. Laptops are not anywhere near as sturdy as the Ipads and Iphones. They have hinges, a lot more risks regarding drops, water, spillage, leaks, hinge weardown (m11x hinges was a massive massive problem), static build up and tons of other failure possibilities. Then you have the display, broken glass, simply failure during the assembly. trackpads that are uneven, flexing keyboards, bluetooth, backlit keyboard, speakers that don't work probably.

I mean the list goes on and on. There is so many issues with any laptop, that I tune out of this community every time I get a new product, because the majority of people posting in these forums are complaining or anticipating some new product they are waiting for. Forum Notebookreview is not a very fun place for people who just want to talk about how happy they are with their machine. There are lots of threads for that, but I feel its the minority.

Im sure there are tons of people who love their Razer Blade 14, but I am concerned about the build quality, and the lasting capabillities of such powerful thermals. I have a Retina Macbook Pro 15 with 750m and while its drivers are worse under Windows, I can feel that Apple pushes it hard. This makes sense as Apple has millions of people who update every 2-3 years, even though their major cornerstone is that their laptops are supposedly more durable. I have no idea if this is true, but they do have superior resell value, if you are into that.
All I know is that the cooling mechanism is similar on the Razer Blade as on the Macbook Pro, and the Razer's graphic cards are considerable more powerful than the 750m. Its going to get really crazy really fast.

For me its not about how hot it gets in my lap or under the keyboard. I'm talking scorched earth, the adhesive glue giving out on the batteries, motherboard components failling because its browsing a youtube video gets the integrated graphic card and the cpu up the 70-80 degrees just by using flash. It's a complete farce if you ask me. Yet most reviews and videos you see are people judging heat by holding their hands outside the fan grills which misses the point entirely.


People dont know how much of a threat heat is until they have paid a lot of money for a laptop that just shuts down to the poor thermals. The Nvidia 800 series from around 6-7 years ago caused laptops across all manufacturer's to just shut down. And there was no/very few returns or replacements no matter the brand because it was Nvidias fault. The silicone just gave in due to poor thermal paste. Since then many gaming laptops have become less over time as throttle wears its ugly head. This has also been a case with Alienware machines. Downclocking just to have a staple system? screw you. Design something responsible instead.
Lastly, Razer also has a reputation for their product quality. Mine have been mixed. I've had mice that lasted, mice that didn't and some keyboards that felt so-so.

It's difficult to gauge these things. Same with the Lenovo Y50. All we see here is problems, but it's not the full story, and yet there is much doubt and little consumer safety.

 

I tried to configure the FHD option with the amplifier and it went up to $2400!
Wow I love this Alienware innovation which is totally a game changer other than the MSI GS30 Shadow..
But with that processor and total price, I would rather build a mini ITX gaming PC, think a case like that of the crowdfunded NCASE M1 V2
I know $2400 is almost as halfway as that Alienware 18 with a SLI GTX 980 which now costs like $4000 but hell $2400 is too much for a notebook with a custom way of using a desktop GPU and an i5?
I would rather purchase an alienware with an SLI GTX 970M or single GTX 980M
my 2 cents

 

Anyone who is interested in purchasing the AW 13 should wait until December.

Watch: 0:23 - 0:40

 

this is the answer i am after! thanks! hmm will most probably hold as well

looking forward to see user reviews - those who buy and own the unit will be a good read

 

Yup - haven't forgotten that comment about the i3 and i7; we keep hearing rumors of news in November.... could be the first news of the next direction for the rest of the lines.

 

I'm really interest on the new 13! But I'm waiting to see what it can really do, before I pull the trigger!

Because my m18 is to heavy for traveling wit it!!! Uuufffff!!

 

I luckily purchased the m11x r3 and it's still a tank. Razer is the worst of them all in all honesty. I used to work with Asus and I had nothing but issues on their laptops too. Apple is extremely dependable but of course it's a separate ecosystem that I recommend to people who want a no nonsense computer. I feel like being on both OS' is the same as me being on Android and others are on iPhone. I do miss the stability of an iPhone but I simply do so much more on my note 3 (same goes with a gaming pc vs mac book).

 

Change of plans. From facebook.

 

yep just saw that... it came from alienware themselves oh well waiting for december then...

i can still survive for 2-3 months with my macbook air.. not much gaming options though
i miss my pc games when on vacation or when wifey wants me on bed hehe
i don't need that much performance since i have a desktop pc for that

 

Why did they even release the 13 then? Why not just milk more time from the 14?

 

Its not really a change of plans - its the continuation of what they have indicated before really - that an i7 option (and i3 fwiw) would become available.

 

Core i7 comes in dual core ULV flavor too, and there's even a disgustingly worthless Y part ( Core i7-4610Y) that gets the i7 badge.

 

prolly a dual core i7 U Haswell proc and a GTX 970M SLI most likely

 

Full trotted!! Why my 780M trotting so much with a game like metro last light??

 

For now, no one really knows what the future holds though.

This unfortunately I believe is the case, and I still contend we may see a revised 14 (or even new thinned-out 15) with a Broadwell release. They are pushing the AW 13 to get it out the door for a holiday buzz but alsoI believe to work through the kinks of incorporating the Graphics Accelerator through sales, support and technical channels.

 

I feel certain we won't see a quad in the AW 13 unless Silverlake makes it possible.

 

I don't believe there will be a quad-core in the AW 13 either. Not anymore. It's kind of pathetic, if you ask me.

 

Ya, I wouldn't hold out much hope for the "i7" that is rumored to making it's way into the AW13. It's actually kind of a joke that they can even give some of these CPUs the names that they do, given that they're so far removed from the architecture.

 

This is going to defo be my next Alienware! Currently have a M17x R2 and since starting a family this beast is too difficult to lug around.

The 13 will be perfect, im just waiting on the i7 ULV and (dreaming) if there is a 960M.

When family is away I can dock it for super gaming! I think we need to give AW a chance and show us the benchmarks we can then see if the bottlenecks will be as bad as everyone is predicting?

 

For GPU-bound games it is going to do well enough, the problem comes in with newer titles that are coded expecting a true quad-core for optimized gaming. This is why people are focused on getting a quad in it or a revised 14/15 design.

 

I'm going to order mine next month!.

 

I've been back and forth on Aorus X3 and Alienware 13. If the Aorus had touch screen I would be all over it. I'm going to wait for i7 A13 and hopefully quad core. As much as I want a powerful computer I need it to be slim. Even the thickness of the m11x created issues in my bag today when I wanted to fit a few more things before my 30 km bike ride to work.

 

The 13 inches is a perfect size for traveling!! My experience with my M18 was no that great when I traveled back in July!! It was to heavy to carry on with it!

 

They should make that graphics accelerator for ALL thier models. And, yeah - the 13 needs a faster CPU. with the accelerator, we can forgo caring too too much about the 860 and, well we know how bad the issues are with 8series mobile cards..

If they do an i7 version. Im buying it. Straight up. Without it, Im not buying one. If I understand correctly, these CPU's can not be removed right ? So, its got to be what I need/want from the start.

 

Would it be possible to buy the lowest HDD version and install a 1TB SSD? I guess I would use a USB image of Windows 8.1? Does the 13 come with the OS on a stick? 500 gb doesn't cut it when my M11x has a 800 gb HD (NOT SSD but it's a good amount of space for my games and files)

 

That could be possible, but the there's no 1 TB M.2 SSD; you would have to RAID 0 two 512 GB M.2 SSDs. You could, though, replace the HDD with a 1 TB SSD.

 

Ah okay, keep the m.2 SSD the biggest one (512) that Alienware offers and then put a 1 TB SSD where the HDD is?

 

Apparently you either have dual m.2 drives or one 2.5" hdd, you can't have both at the same time.

ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals///all-pr...ptops//alienware-13_Reference Guide_en-us.pdf

 

Ah... what would be the max config? 2 x 512 m.2 right?

 

can you have 1x m2sata and 1x 2.5" drive?

are there any pics of the inside of the laptop so far?

edit:
found this service guide:
ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/\\all-pr...aptops\/alienware-13_Service Manual_en-us.pdf

seams strange that you can only configure it with 1x sata or 2x msata only

 

I wanted to purchase the AW 13, too. But after seeing there's no quad-core CPU, and it's only offering Haswell and the 860M, it's obsolete from day one. I refuse to purchase technology like that. It makes absolutely no sense, in my opinion. I may go to Gigabyte or Aorus for portability. The P34W v3 CF2 looks intriguing.

Let's see if they update the hardware inside the AW 13 by next year. I'll give them that.

 

Yeah I was reading reviews on the MSI Ghost 15 inch and it had the same 800 series GPU as the A13 inch.

 

And that review was from 6 months ago!

 

They are definitely dropping the ball this year.

 

Agree on the obsolete technology.

 

I'm in such a dilemma. ..there are hardly any touch based gaming laptops either than Razer 14 and Yoga Y50. The Razer 14 has big time issues with heat and the screen breaking. The Yoga is underpowered. I was looking hard at the Aorus X3 but it doesn't have touch. I find touch is a great way when I'm actually using the laptop on my lap next to a client at the airport or in my office lounge...or when I have to get some work done on the bus. If Razer didn't drop the ball on the Edge I would still be using that tablet as my main computer but the keyboard is the worst keyboard in the world and I need to also type on my lap so an external bluetooth keyboard only works well on a flat surface. Then AW 13 comes along and it's not even Quad core! . I've been using gaming laptops since 2002 and the worst feeling is after a year when games start to chug.

 

Right now is a horrible time to be in the market for a gaming laptop. I don't think there could be a worse time.

All of the companies that build components for gaming laptops, or build gaming laptops themselves, are basically fiddling around with old hardware because of the delays by Intel and AMD. The best thing you can do is forget about all of this, walk away, and come back in January - deal with what you have now for a couple months longer.

 

I am on the same boat with you. I was so happy that I could eventually get my M11x replacement, and then, i5! Yes, you just cannot swap the CPU, so it is not possible to upgrade in the future. I really think Alienware really should up their game, they had been on the fore front of gaming laptops in the past few years, but other companies are all catching up. I still do no understand, if they could put an i7 into the M11x, how can they not have it in the 13? I suspect that it is not about heat or battery life, would you expect an Alienware user worrying too much about those things while playing some intenive 3D games? It is probably down to the cost and internal competition within it's own range. I serious think they will suffer until they get the next revision out soon with i7 and 9 series video next year.

 

Yep I literally just said this to myself before I read your post. Spent a few hours on MSI and Asus' sites but forget it. I'll wait for a quadcore A13 that is at least i7...or switch over to a desktop for everything and use my M11x as a mobile solution.