Alienware 13 Pre-Release Speculation Thread

definitely!!!

 

Wow. ..HP releases a gaming laptop to rival the 13:

http://m.ca.ign.com/articles/2014/1...ptop?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

 

nVidia needs to release the 965M and 960M. Everyone is still putting the 860m in their new not yet released laptops.

 

Yep... I'm waiting until mid December to see what Aorus does with the X3 and X7. Would be great if AW released a slimmer 17 with 900 series in December but it's looking like late January/February for a refresh.

 

We are in agreement on this - without a quad it just makes no sense - even a weaker quad would be tolerable. My hope is that Silverlake will result in a quad, low power CPU to be introduced if the AW 13 survives that long (I believe Dell is committed on this size currently but if sales are bad enough they might pull it). The problem I see here is that they have introduced the AW 13 with the i5, but a forthcoming i7 will still be dual core until (and maybe if) Silverlake gets introduced and that is likely to be this time next year. I am almost half tempted to pull the trigger on one and then sell it down the line, even with a dual core. My M14x-R2 oc'd serves heavy mobile lifting for me, and the desktop for uber-gaming, the last thing I need is a newer M11x-R3 replacement that is quiet enough (wifey hates the sound of fans at the dinner table ). I just can't understand not having the i7 and i3 options yet (though I cannot imagine and i3 given how weak the i5/i7 is to start).

 

I really wanted to like this laptop, and at first, I did. I love the idea of having a portable laptop for gaming, and a small enclosure for a desktop GPU. It would've been a great feature to have while I was in college.

However, I'm not sure I'll buy this product (maybe)

I'm all for compromising by gaming on a laptop mobile GPU for mobility, that's fine. But gaming on a ULV processor? That's kinda pushing it for me. Currently, I game on an almost 4 year old m14x. Quad core i7 and a weak by todays standard gt555m. I'm looking to replace it, but I don't think the Alienware 13 can. I love my quad core cpu, and I can't and will not game on a ULV, regardless if it's a core i5 or i7 dual core.

I also heard that other notebooks with a full fledge laptop CPU paired with the gtx 860m actually get more FPS than the 860m in the alienware 13, which proves that the ULV is bottlenecking the GPU. (If I'm wrong, please correct me)

Lastly, if razer and MSI can fit full laptop CPU's in to a chassis much thinner than the Alienware 13, I'm sure that having room for it wasn't the issue, or heat (since the AW 13 has two separate fans) Maybe dell is just getting greedy?

But, it may not be a total failure IMO. I love the idea of what they're doing with it. But, since the AW 13 is going to be added the lineup, I'm hoping for a more logical lineup. Keep the AW13, introduce an AW 15 (which I'll buy in a heartbeat) to replace the AW17, hell, even sell it for the same price as the AW17 (that'll grow your margins, pocket the extra cash dell) and keep the AW 18 as both a single GPU (for people who still wanted a 17" or greater laptop) and a dual gpu option.

 

I was just thinking that while typing away on my m11x r3 (Nvidia driver was updating and my specs popped up within Nvidia experience). I'm in desperate need of a refresh so this waiting game of anything better than an i5 is really killing me).

 

Epic line I have read so far this year for Technology Kudos!
(no pun intended for real!)
I am holding until Skylake platform arrives and Occulos will be mainstream

I feel like this Alienware 13 is like the M11X release again, small form factor, weak cpu, and gpu

While other models and brands are busy putting up GTX 980Ms and 970Ms on single and SLI configuration options!

 

I too am still using my M11xR3 full time for school and it's serving me fine thus far, even with the aging components. As of now, the only issue I am running into is that Fedora Linux does not have Optimus drivers and the laptop is running hotter than I would like. Beyond that, however, it's still a very practical work machine.

As for the 13, I'm not impressed. On top of the lack of an i7 and a newer generation GPU, I recall reading that it appears to be shelled in plastic rather than brushed metal like its 17 and 18 inch counterparts (correct me if I'm wrong). It's a "new" and "performance" product with a weak CPU and a generation old GPU.

The Alienware 13 in its current shape is a very poor successor to the M11x.

 

The 13's i5 ulv processor is faster than your i7-2637 by at least 10%.

The 13's 860m (maxwell) is 4x faster than your 540m.

The 13 offers 1366x768, 1080p, and 2560x1440 displays instead of just the 1366x768 display of the m11x.

The 13 will be refreshed with broadwell i3, i5, i7 cpus making it even faster than it currently is(Q1 2015?)

The 13 supports a graphics amplifier allowing you to use desktop gpus with it.

The 13 has the same if not probably better build quality than the m11x.

Seriously the 13 is better than the m11x, I don't see why people are complaining about it, specifically m11x owners.

If this thing is also replacing the 14, then it makes sense for 14 users to be mad.

I think when the 13 is refreshed with broadwell and maybe a 960m gpu, it will be a very good device.

 

I'm not disputing that the 13's hardware is objectively better than the M11x. No one is. What people are saying is that in its current state, the 13 is not exactly an outstanding successor to the M11x and M14x lines. Yes, it may perform a little better, but it's still a bit disappointing when compared to what it could have been.

As for your points:

While this is true, a 10% boost in performance isn't exactly something to write home about.

Again, no one said anything about the performance of a mid range 500 series GPU compared to an lower high end 800 series GPU.

I admit, it is nice that more than the 1366x768 display is available on the 13. The display on the M11x does suck.

That's not the point. Right now, as the product has launched, nothing but a ULV i5 is available. It's pretty moot to discuss what will be released in the new quarter when people are discussing the current release.

This is a gimmick and you know it. Yes, it works, but it's hardly practical.

Maybe, maybe not. I specifically mentioned the build quality compared to the rest of the current lineup.

Of course it's better. Again, no one is questioning the fact that the 13 is objectively faster than the M11x. The argument here was never a direct comparison between the two.

I'm not sure why sure why the users of the 14 inch laptops should be mad. I'm sure that some people may be unhappy to see the 14 inch units go, but I see no self evident reason for them to be angry at this.

Yes, when it's refreshed. The point being made all over is that this is not yet the case.

 

I'm too lazy too respond to all the thoughts on this thread, but...

The i7 option in the M11x is/was a ULV part, it's dual-core, the i7 we were hoping for on the AW 13 was a quad; the one it will almost certainly get is a ULV dual-core again. I have both an i5 and i7 M11x-R3 (on top of the M11x-R2 in my sig), and honestly the difference between the i5 and i7 are almost imperceptible, I mean like maybe 1.5 fps if that. Loading programs a tad longer, with an SSD you just wouldn't care.

The CPU is not getting a huge bump with the AW 13 (even with an i7 part), but if you couple the significantly upgraded screen, GPU and chipset, its a huge change from an M11x, probably around double the speed at higher resolution (1080p) with CPU-bound games, GPU will be even better.

The only downside I see even with the i5 AW 13 is that some games are starting to utilize quad-core for better performance... I've noticed the only benchmarks to date use GPU-bound games to give results...I'd like to see a few with MMO's that are CPU-bound.

Alienware is offering an alternative that makes sense on paper but not necessarily in the market... that of a system that offers many of the benefits of an ultrabook design that is mobile but at a more reasonable cost and from at least one report substantially quieter with long battery life. The two problems are many notebooks for nearly the same cost and size exist now, and they offer quads to match newer games. Personally I suspect the majority of these will run well-enough to satisfy most folks on a ULV processor coupled with the GPU in the AW 13, but it does make a difference...

If one can accept the cost along with less than ideal horsepower for CPU-bound games, then the vastly improved screen (including size), graphics card and new styling and build make it worth while. Some folks are saying wait on Silverlake but I cannot imagine us seeing an AW 13 with that until this time next year. Broadwell will help, along with a 900-series card (and no guarantee the AW 13 will get one right away), so people are also concerned about how rapidly the current release will be eclipsed by a likely refresh in the Spring or possibly late Winter.

 

I got to talk to the Alienware product director at PAX Melbourne, and since I had all the same issues/questions you guys seem to, I asked him what was up.

1) I was most disappointed about the graphics card being the 860m. Yes it is Maxwell, no, it isn't that powerful. He said it was due to the TDP: the 970m requires 25 watts more than the 860m. This means the AW13 won't get a 9xx series card unless nvidia release one with the same power req's/TDP as the current 860m maxwell.
2) The low voltage/i5: he said the machines were supposed to ship with a broadwell i7, but obviously broadwell as been delayed. He said they will include the broadwell i7's as soon as intel releases them (ETA jan/feb). Given broadwell's lower TDP, they may use the standard mobile versions instead of the low voltage. But if you're worried about proc specs, you're just worried about 'on paper' specs (or your ) - see below.
3) There is always a refresh that will make your old hardware, well, old. Welcome to electronics What matters is will it do what you want it to do, how you want it to do it?
4) He said all future AW laptops will have the PCI port for the amplifier. He also said that the amplifier port and cable are not proprietary or patented.
5) I'm not sure why everyone thinks Alienware has 'lead the pack' in terms of specs-on-paper. In my memory, they never have since being bought by Dell. But that wasn't/isn't their primary selling point, either.

Which brings me to a few points..

1) Raise your hand if you've been bottlenecked by your CPU while using a portable laptop ( anything above 15" or 1" thick doesn't count) for what it's designed to be used for recently? I know I haven't in about...uh...7 years. I work exclusively online, which lets me travel a bunch and live all over, so I am always working on a laptop. At any given time I have 2 browsers with 50+ tabs open, photoshop, EM email client, skype, MS office, PDF files, teamspeak, etc, and I sit at about 7% CPU usage on my current i7 - an i7 is massively overkill in terms of power, performance, and TDP for, well, any portable machine. The only game I can think of where cpu *might* be a bottleneck is Starcraft II - so if you're an SCII fanatic, maybe look elsewhere, but for everyone else - why worry? My old XPS M1730 still has more than enough proc power for what I do (although not enough RAM...). If what you do will bottleneck this CPU, you probably need a workstation anyway, not a smaller portable gaming machine.

2) Specs on paper vs long-term IRL usage: AFAIK, Asus, MSI, Razer, Gigabyte/Aorus, etc don't offer warranties longer than 2 years. Ever wonder why this is? It's because cramming that many higher TDP products into a very slim chassis causes them to fail sooner because of the excess heat. As in, probably around the 2-3 year mark. No, not always, but more often than an Alienware machine, which pack less powerful hardware into a larger space to maintain their very strict thermal envelopes. I believe this is why they are willing to offer 'repair or replace' insurance on a $2,000 machine for $130/year for as long as you want to buy said insurance.

3) Battery life: M11x battery life was bad, and while it was small, it wasn't really portable (the thing was almost 2" thick!!). My M11x lasted about ~3 hours away from the wall. Alienware is claiming ~4-6 for the 13, at 1" thick. Let's hope it's true. And as I said above, IMO anything more than 1" thick is not portable.

Don't get me wrong - I want the best of the best in the smallest package with the highest DPI screen possible with the longest battery life possible. The annoying and unfortunate reality (something I've had to realize after months of putting off a purchase) is that in the gaming laptop world, there's always a compromise.

The alienware 13 is the current compromise for me because:
1) I can't have a desktop. I don't just travel, I live all over the world. I can't have or bring a desktop and maintain this lifestyle without traveling 'heavy' - and I travel heavy enough as it is with crashpads for bouldering, etc.
2) I want to play Homeworld: Remastered and Star Citizen in high resolution. Wherever it is I'm spending my next few months, I can buy the amplifier and a monitor and do so, if I choose. Or not, if I don't want to deal with the hassle. But the option is there. The "Amplifier" is absolutely not a gimmick to me - if I set down in one spot for a few months to a year, I can get desktop graphics performance *from my existing machine*. That rocks for me. If it doesn't for you, there are lots of other options!
3) I'm familiar with Dell/Alienware and their warranty process and always found it to be excellent, although the only other co I've used the warranty for is Acer, and theirs was terribad.
4) I doubt I (or anyone else) will ever be CPU bottlenecked, even with the current ULV i5. If that unlikely situation occurs in a few years (maybe with Star Citizen @ 4k) then I'll buy a new machine. Which brings me to
5) This is a $1700 machine fully specced out! In the gaming laptop world, this is pretty damn cheap. I can buy another one in two years if I start getting held back and not blink twice - my last gaming laptop cost me $3k!

Is the alienware 13 for everyone? No, because no machine is. I'm also very tempted by the Aorus X3 because I love the macro keys (great for work/productivity), the design and the screen. But for $2,500, I'm getting a machine that I know for a fact won't run the games I want to run at the native resolution of it's screen (or in 3 or 4k) and does not have an option to use a desktop card that could do that. Also, Aorus hasn't released the 9xxm yet for their X3, and I have no idea what kind of warranty service or longevity I'll get out of the machine (and at nearly $1k more than the alienware 13, this sort of matters) and am just not willing to risk those uncertainties at that price point.

 

I'm interested in running Homeworld: Remastered and Star Citizen at higher res with full detail but still have portability (14" or below and 1" thick or less) and when I'm mobile, I understand that won't be possible - not with any current machine, not just the AW13. That's my reason for (probably) going with the AW13. Even with the 'best of the best' current mobile hardware, my above 2 goals won't happen, even if I payed $800 more (X3 or new gigabyte) or $1,000 more (blade 14 and GS60 Ghost) whereas in 1-2 years there will probably be a single desktop card that can accomplish my desires that I can plug into the "Amplifier" (awful name lol) without having to buy a new machine. And correct me if I'm wrong, but who gets CPU capped in (most) games, even with a ULV proc?

Even if the ULV proc does bottleneck in the future, for ~$1k less I'm willing to risk having to upgrade/buy the latest 13, rather than pay $1k more for the certainty that even 'best of the best' portable gaming laptops can't/won't run SC at high res/full detail. And even a ULV proc certainly isn't going to hold anyone back on realistic use of the AW13 when they're not gaming.

Given this goal, the AW13 makes more sense to me than other machines. It's still a compromise, but that's inescapable in laptop gaming.

 

I was all set to buy one of these too. On release day, I couldn't believe they'd thrown that weak ULV processor in it. ULV AND an old 860m? Pass.

**Official Clevo P650SE/SG - P651SE/SG / Sager NP8651 - NP8652 Owner´s Lounge**

 

What are you running that will be bottlenecked by the ULV? Everyone's complaining, and I'm trying to figure out why. I don't even bottleneck the proc on my 5 year old laptop, but I haven't read much about tech til recently (I only catch up when it's time to buy a new machine) so I want to make sure I'm not missing anything...

(just checked the CPU usage on my gf's 2 year old laptop with i7 mobile with 2 browers with 50 tabs, skype, photoshop, teamspeak, ms word, and email client open: 7% usage lol. I don't think I'll be bottlenecking even a ULV proc).

I do feel you on the 860m tho. Shoulda been 970 for sure. But it's also like $800 cheaper than anything with a 970m and 2" smaller.

Is everyone thinking the ULV proc will bottleneck future desktop GPU's? I guess no way to know until this comes out?

 

Well, I can say why I refused to buy it.
I want to buy small powerful laptop and with reasonable battery life, as my aw m14x r2 still is. It should be capable to run few new games like Witcher 3 and dragon age only by taking it out from backpack and plug in to power for example in a hotel.
But this laptop offers to take with me another heavy and bulky chest with desktop GPU on my business trip. Thank you, no way.
Another point is 2 core CPU. There is significant difference when compiling sources in 3 threads or in 5 at 4 core based CPU. Also I m often use my AW to run several virtual machines and it stays responsible. I am not certain that AW 13 will do the same.

So by now I'm waiting for p34g v3 release. But it will be late this year, and if there will rumors of AW 13 to get 4 cored CPU and 970m maxwell or revised AW 14 may be I ll wait them to release in order to compare because of very comfortable keyboard (don't like typing on clicklet ones)

 

here in switzerland the date of delivery is 17 december for the 13" ?! i mean people say wait wait until december the cpu will maibe be a quadcore ,,,, in my opinion buy one now and sale it in 6 months when skylake and ddr4 pcie4 will come out,,, isnt i good deal lot of money to have it and then sale it for the half price ,,,

 

Good information - the bottle-necking is a real question though on the AW 13, and applies to gaming, not casual browsing, etc.

If you doubt this, compare the numbers the AW 13 with the 860m vs. a full on quad give with the same GPU; it's clear the ULV-CPU cannot push through enough data to max the GPU out; this is bottle-necking for sure. You might want to hunt around for a good breakdown of this, because it isn't as simple to determine as popping up the task manager and seeing if all the logical cores are pegged at 100%.

As for portability, I think personally it's more about weight and size overall, with thickness my least concern, but that's just opinion. I totally agree with you about the question on warranty's, and this is Dell's strength and some might say weakness as they expect many owners to hold a system for 3-5 years. The folks who just buy on specs like getting an MSI are not thinking about ownership down the line; they are either flipping them or just waving their hands away at the question in order to game today. I expect there to be many posts on all these ultrabook gaming systems starting in about a year with failures due to heat load.

On the question of cost, 1700 USD for a ULV-powered system with last years GPU is off-putting to quite a few people when for the same money systems with better specs abound. Frankly, if you price the components out for the major pieces my issue is that the AW 13 is about 150-200 USD more expensive than it warrants, even accounting for build-quality.

 

You make a lot of valid points, but I do have to disagree here.

I've had an average 5 hour run time on my M11x battery, even now after a few years. It never really did the 8 hours promised by Alienware when the M11x line launched, but I didn't really expect it to. I recall that the M11xR1 was tested to last up to around 7 and a half hours by several reviewers at ultra low screen brightness and minimal power use, but those weren't really practical settings. Nonetheless, with WiFi, keyboard lights, and medium brightness, my M11x runs just fine for almost 4 hours, and around 5 if I turn the screen down and keyboard lights off.

As for your comments regarding the portability, I'm not sure why thickness is such a huge contender. Yes, the M11x was a little beefy, but that was a design choice to keep its body style consistent with the rest of the lineup. Beyond that, it was still an 11.6 inch notebook. Just because it's a little thicker does not diminish the fact that it is quite small and very portable. When talking about portability, screen size affects a lot more than the thickness, especially when it's as marginal as a half inch on an 11.6 inch notebook.

 

I totally agree with Fhmike!

 

So does anyone have any idea on how badly the ULV CPU will bottleneck a high powered desktop card like the 980?

 

Considering theres a chance that a full on quad core 4710hq is bottlenecking a simple 980m, I think its fairly safe to say that a mobile ULV cpu will significantly bottleneck a top end desktop 980

 

A 4710HQ does not bottleneck a 980M, but back on track with this new AW.

I like the idea of a 13" AW but not the hardware they used, seems to me they used the AW branding to push average hardware ( for a gaming laptop ) but the prices are just way to high for what you get.
C'mon a 1366 x 768 TN panel 200 nit display for $999, fail, 860M fail ( not that it's a bad card but with 900 series cards out now they should have used those )
It should at least come with the 1080P screen as the base model and go from there, for a gaming laptop company they should be ashamed for using such a below average screen going by the specs.

 

Alienware hasn't been about high end hardware since Dell bought them (for better or for worse) - I'm surprised people expect top-of-the-lne hardware when they think Alienware. This hasn't been the case for half a decade. Alienware is all about charging a (smallish) premium for long term stability and good warranties with a distinct image. In the AW13's case, I think the price/performance is fairly spot on - I don't know of anything similar (small size, lightweight, high dpi screen, decent hardware, 16gb ram) that can be had in the pricerange from a company that also offers similar long term hardware reliability/coverage. The next step up is $800 more. If you want similar formfactor/screen + top of the line hardware, pay $800 more for a machine that you'll get 1-2 years of use before it fails from thermal related issues.

I'll grant you that the $999 model is a total sham, tho.

 

I actually had the Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo SA3650 back in the day which had the first (?) graphic booster for a consumer laptop ever made and it was really sweet IMHO. I am surprised that companies haven't tried this more and when I found out about the Alienware 13" I was thrilled, until:

I found out that it has an i5 ULV which would bottleneck external graphic cards and therefore esentially make the graphic accelerator useless. WHY have they done this? Its just... haha I just get so mad since they nerf their own product, I mean sure the TDP / cooling sets limitations but then make a bigger (thicker) computer since people will want to use this additional hardware and not be limited by the CPU. As I understand it the accelerator in itself will of course dial back the performance of the external graphic card, you won't get 100% of the performance of the card since it is limited by the bus but don't make an additional chokepoint by having a CPU that will bottleneck it as well.

/grief off.

- I am wondering if there are any reviews out there which has tested this (i.e. how much the i5 ULV bottlenecks GTX970/980 for instance)? I think that would be quite valid to have in a review of this laptop together with the graphic accelerator...
- I understand it so that even if we get an i7 ULV it will still be 2 cores instead of 4 cores and still bottleneck external graphic cards? So one would have to wait until a refresh-refresh (i7 option and then Broadwell) to possibly get a quad core CPU in there? A review (when/if) the i7 ULV option is out there would be nice too, to compare to the i5 ULV review with the graphic accelerator...

Sorry for my spelling, not a native english-speaker and just wanted to get all my thoughts out on "paper" (well, the internet).

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/763237-gtx-980m-limited-cpu.html

 

ULV is fine for daily tasks, web browsing, basic photo editing and such, but the CPU also needs to feed the GPU in games not to mention CPU hungry routines like AI and physics and such. ULV will bottleneck desktop GPU's. Depending on game of course. Most 2014 and earlier games likely will be fine with 860m at medium/high detail at 1080p. But future games not likely.

 

Refer to what HTWingNut said about the CPU.

As for the 860M, it is what it is. Now that the new P65xSE is out, it's a much better choice than the ALW 13 as it comes with a 4710HQ CPU and a GTX 970M at 1 inch thick.

ALW 13 with a 1080P display is $1399. The P65xSE with the same specs would be $1439. I think the extra $40 is worth it.

Notebooks :: Sager NP8651 / Clevo P650SE - Ultimate Clevo, Sager, Gaming Laptops, 4th Generation Intel Core i7 - LPC Digital

 

If they made the machine any thicker, I for one would not have purchased it. You'll always have to make gaming compromises in a small formfactor, sadly.

 

You absolutely can not compare a 15,6" ntoebook to a 13" one. Even if they have the same thickness, the size just wont be the same. For me anything above 14" is just no go. While 15.6" is close to desktop replacement, 13" is just a small portable one, that fits in your small messenger bag. so i don't really get your point up there.

 

agree with this one here.. 13" hits the sweets spot for me

 

It really does become an apples and oranges discussion when you changes sizes IMHO, but if specs vs. cost is the only factor then there are a lot of options out there. In the end it comes down to various factors of importance to each individual. Durability and support are important to me, then full on specs. There are a lot of systems right now with awesome specs-to-cost ratios, but there is usually a downside... poor construction, lackluster support, or serious compromises on certain components like screen quality, keyboard, or thermal handling. Buying on specs alone to me is like buying a car reading the literature but with no idea how it actually feels on the road or what it's like to live with on a day-to-day basis; it helps to read the rest of the story from owners and a large number of reviews that cover all the bases.

I'd really love to see the ULV-option AW 13 have a full-on quad with 900-series card at some point, but I doubt we will ever see it. With luck, *maybe* the introduction of an AW 14 or 15 with a thinned out chassis and better CPU+GPU setup.

There have been a few indicators that we might be hearing about more news possibly with the AW 13 and other systems in November, I'd just sit tight for awhile and see.

 

It Will be Great But It Will Change The Main Idea!

 

I know there's a lot of "hate" for the alienware 13, including from me, about the ulv processor. But we do have to remember that it is an m11x successor, and not an aw14 successor. So think of it like this. An m11x, but has a 13 inch screen instead, a gtx 860m gpu (imagine if the m11x had that), and an hd/quad hd available screen. If you imagine all of those specs in an m11x successor, it does sound pretty awesome.

And then the amplifier to top it all off.

And for those reasons, maybe I'll get it.

 

For $999, I don't think it's a bad price. If you are able to negotiate a 1080p screen upgrade for the $999, it's definitely a good deal.

For $1599, though (before taxes), there are so many more options out there. You can get a system with a 4710HQ and 970M for that price. If you get the maxed out version of the AW 13, you're basically just telling everyone you are an Alienware "fanboy" or you don't mind wasting money. That specific configuration is almost worthy of the title, "Rip Off" because of the such low performance components. They need to add more configurable options! Come on, Alienware!

 

Hmmm, upon reading the maintenance documents on dells support site, it shows that there's 1 2.5 inch bay. And inside that bay, it could either house a 2.5 inch drive, or a m2 bracket that can support 2 m.2 drives. That's kind of a let down for me, I was under the impression that it would have both sata and m2 connectors simultaneously, like how the alienware 14 is.

 

the sager NP8651 look interesting! but I like The Alien Better!

 

Guys looks like Alienware have confirmed there will be other processor options...including i7 (not sure if ULV but possibly Broadwell?)

https://twitter.com/Alienware/status/530442565041262593

 

Confirms what they said in the video discussion where they mentioned i3, i5 and i7 options. I am not holding out much hope for a quad anymore, but until I know for sure I am holding off as my M11x's are getting long in the tooth. The nearest unit to me that matches what we want is the Eurocomm M4; just wish it had been quieter but then that's not very realistic with that much hardware in a small space. The one benefit if you can take the performance hit is the AW 13 with ULV is supposed to be quiet but no official word yet.

 

This is all we can guess from the sound of the fans (from Gizmondo):
"The machine stays nice and cool, and reasonably quiet, even running at full bore. Can't say that about the Razer Blade."
From laptopmag:
"During a 15-minute playthrough of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, the touchpad's temperature hit 79 degrees [Fahrenheit]), while the space between the G and H keys dropped to 85 degrees. The undercarriage was still a little on the warm side at 113 degrees [translates to 45 degrees Celsius]."
So yeah, the machine is quiet, and it has some battery life (laptopmag reports 6 hours, but there's a good possibility that it can last longer with the right tweaks). How quiet is, well, a bit unknown, but we have a good idea.

 

Yeah - it is kind of sad that given how loud gaming laptops are, that at least a db measurement at full throttle and idle isn't standard practice. To date the only site I have seen that calls it out routinely is www.Notebookcheck,net, but no full review is up for an AW 13, just references to other sites reviews and some meaningless combined score with an auto-assigned recommendation.

Real curious to see if they stick with the 865m on the chip refresh or not...

 

Question (sorry if it was asked before): do you have to be connected to a power source to have the GPU active like on the bigger models?

 

And that's the point really... I think Alienware thought that the M11x with ULV which made sense four years ago still made sense for a reduced form-factor, but now is increasingly not a good option when games are moving towards quad-core to get best performance. This doesn't mean it will not be playable, but it means a compromise towards lesser performance beyond just Ghz rates. For GPU-bound games I think it's a decent solution, much like it's predecessor, but it will be less playable for CPU-bound games.

Dell, in making a compromise here, went a bit low for our tastes in CPU, but if you accept it as a portable system with good power and (reputedly fairly quiet), it's pretty decent in and of itself. I have to agree with the assessment that using the external Graphics Accelerator just doesn't make sense coupled with such a weak CPU to start. Like the M11x, it's a decent portable system for most people as a single laptop if you can live not playing games at highest settings, or as a backup to a desktop gamer or say for those with larger gaming laptops who need more portability and less noise in certain circumstances.

I'd really like to see a thinned out AW 14 (or 15) to fill the gap between the AW 13 and the AW 17/18, but due to pricing of the AW 13 I can't see it happening now unless they drop the 18, and push the 17 to SLI again and push it's price up.

 

I know that I can use the 650m on my m14x on battery, although it eats through that really quickly and possibly underclocks it, so my guess would be that it would work.

 

No hands-on review has made any mention of it being an issue, I would think it would be fine but down-clocked like Green Fairy said. Her (his?) statement about the 650m is exactly what I see in any laptop including my old M17x-R2 which is SLI when it's off the AC.

 

I'd get it if it had a touch screen. I've owned a Sager in the past and they are decent. I was working on my m11x for the last two weeks and then took my Razer Edge on a 6 hour train ride. ..man touch in windows 8 is way better for my needs. The AW 13 is the only one that's not Razer who are offering the two combined...gaming + touch in a 13/14 form factor. I won't buy a Razer ever again...but of course I wish it had a quad core i7 non ULV...but may have to settle with it.

 

I agree with the sentiment that an i7 is.. It's pretty much mandatory. It's about respect the power of the 860m as well, which is a fairly powerful GPU. I feel that 870m or a 865m would probably have put the heat, price, just general design of the laptop into a territory of all sorts of compromises.

They can fit the 840m in ultrabooks. The 840m can give an edge over the IGPUs, and thats fine. That means that 840m is really probably the best thing to pair with an i5 ULV. At least that's my thinking. This is what is featured in the new very impressive looking Thinkpad Yoga 14. Its closer to AW13 than the Razer Blade 14 is to AW13 in my opinion.

Both the thinkpad and AW has great build quality, renowned for their keyboards. thermals seems comparable, battery life, touch screen, screen size is one inch apart, even the price is similar. Thinkpad has the better CPU config, but AW13 has a much superior 860m with GGDR5 which is a deal breaker over the DDR3 variant. It's almost two classes apart.

it means that the thinkpad yoga 14 has better specs for what it wants to be. light gaming, perhaps medium gaming in some titles from the last few years. But the AW13 has a really respectful GPU. Its not like the blade, but the blade is a crazy anomaly.
Some people are hoping for Quads, but we still have a lot of games not quad optimised. even CPU heavy games that don't use the quad. And, with games like Assasins Creed Unity, which has laughable minimum specs (680 GTX Desktop is minimum.. absolutely stupid) we are beginning to see titles that most gaming laptops will struggle with.


If we got a quad it would have to be low clocked. I am not sure if the performance would not be better spend on a higher clocked dual core. perhaps with broad well architecture. we have to take Intels promises with a grain of salt, but every ideation.. 10-25% improvements across the board. AW13 might be closer to hitting its strides than we think. even if the launch i5 config is not that. I feel this board is going to have some threads popping up about people regretting getting this model. unless it turns out that the i7 will only offer minuscule improvements or some sort of problems that kills the battery or gets too hot. everything is possible.

 

The entire market place is screwed up right now. I want everything in an AW 13 and can't find it in other products I.e. Razer 14 only has 512 gb with one SSD slot (non expandable to 1 TB). It also has major heat problems. Aorus X series looks amazing but doesn't have touch. Lenovo Y70 17 inch has everything I want but is underpowered for gaming within the next year and the screen sucks. MSI doesn't have touch....and all non AW 13s don't have the amplifier. Honestly I've never been at a crossroads when buying a gaming laptop like I am now. Waiting for R2 AW13 is gonna be around March in my opinion. I have to look at the current AW13 as a disposable laptop...sell it as soon as i7 is offered.