Alienware 13 Pre-Release Speculation Thread

Yes, I agree Clevo/Sager are butt-ugly, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, no matter how lacking in taste that eye is

I guess the sound resulting from keeping the heat down is one issue with the Auros... I might be able to work around that but I think a couple reviews have noted issues with gaps, flexing, etc... sadly.

 

Taste is also a matter of opinion, and some would say the Alienwares look gaudy.

As for the Aorus, Gigabyte set the throttling temp of the CPU to 70C or some ridiculously low number like that, and even then the GPUs heat up to 87C (CPU and GPUs share the same heatpipe). So I'd personally avoid the Aorus at all costs, it clearly has some pretty serious thermal issues.

 

Good info on the Aorus - and that's why I said it was a matter of taste :thumbsup:

 

anyone considered the hp omen? the design is nice and has a IPS display, i7, ssd, although its 15.6 and $1500+. could use a better gpu than gtx 860m.

 

HP Omen is a 15.6" whereas Alienware M13 is a 13"...mobility is not equal...

 

Are you seriously comparing an HP to an Alienware?

 

I Will Never Buy A Computer From HP, HP customer Services is terrible!!!!

 

i owned two hp laptops in the past and had positive experiences with the customer service.

the alienware has everything going for it. IPS display 350nits, gtx 860m, ssd, good size 13.3, not too heavy, reasonably priced. just the relatively weak processor (for gaming standards) holds it back.

 

Thanks for the info on the aorus. Yep, I need something 14" or smaller

 

So I hear that its going to be released with an i7 ULV sometime December? Since its still a ULV cpu, is that going to make a big difference in terms of gaming performance and bottlenecks?

From what I understand, i7's are usually for video/image rendering and does not have a large impact on gaming. Also adding to the fact it's probably still gonna be a dual-core so I really don't know whether to pull the trigger or wait for the i7.

 

So has anyone pre ordered this thing?
I am pretty much more sold to the only counter part of it as of the moment;

MSI GS30 Shadow

Dell and Alienware should be afraid...

 

Why? It's a tradeoff in a different direction - better proc, non-existent gfx ('iris' doesn't count). Also worse keyboard, worse warranty options, and likely worse build quality.

Edit: Whoa, it has to physically dock ON TOP of the card box and not via cable? Wow, eff that.

 

Its a brick..... View attachment 118089

Not impressed.

The whole point of a laptop is to be portable, even if you want more graphics power a egpu is more compact. That thing is basically a desktop....

To the post above its msi that has to dock:



Also a crap bulky concept...

 

The concept is awesome. AW does it better than MSI.

 

Nah. A custom Egpu is MUCH better. This for example is much more compact:



And will be cheaper... And won't be limited to ONE SINGLE laptop.....

And if you get a nvidia card with Optimus capability then you don't need the monitor either whereas the Alienware and msi ATM need a monitor......

 

A dual-core is still a dual-core. We're talking about a 10% improvement, at best. It won't be noticeable in games. Benchmark numbers may slightly improve, though.

I was excited about i7 because I originally thought Alienware couldn't be so naive as to believe such a weak CPU would support a GTX 970/980. Not anymore... I was hoping they'd at least offer a low-voltage quad-core processor of some sort. We're talking another 10W-15W extra for twice the performance any ULV chip can offer.

 

Alienware 13 with i7 is out!

Alienware 13 Gaming Laptop | Dell

 

Hmm 3.1GHZ dual core is not THAT bad. I am not liking the price though. It seems fairly steep to NOT offer a quad core processor.

 

Surprise surprise its a rip off like it always has been. You pay for a light up alien head..... No wonder these companies make so much money, they see those idiots coming a mile off

 

I not dislike this i7 at all. 3,1 Ghz is good compromise for performance and weight. But the price is about 350$ more than i5 !!!

 

Hmm, so the one with the 4210U is $1199. The one with the 4510U is $1549. Every other specification is the same...

Spoiler

Bring back the AW 14. This is depressing.

 

Its 550 - 915 dollars for that graphics amplifier! What a rip off.

 

lol MSI cant get the PCI Express connection to go through via cable. They have to get the lappy physically docked on that brick for it to work.
On one of the Alienware vids, the Alienware representative mentioned that they started work on the GA on 2011. It took them 3 years to perfect that PCI-E connectivity.

From where I am located, the MSI customer service sucks. They also have the highest RMA ratio for mobos bought.

 

Alienware probably has the best eGPU + laptop combination on the market. If you're into that, buy it.

 

Actually, troll, the difference on average is about $200.00 after a call to sales and bargaining which accounts mostly for build quality. Go back to reading posts by your neck-beard friends in the ASUS forum or wherever you hail from. Honestly, people who post absurd hate comments from a position of obvious ignorance...

As I said to the troll, if the price bothers you call them... right now however they are trying to buff their numbers for the holidays when that funny market thing called "demand" raises it's ugly head and prices go up. Once the holidays are over then prices will be more malleable (for the troll, this means "more easily changed"), and will fall again once Broadwell is imminent (for the troll, this means "soon" ). Take your time and hold off and then call in. I think no one here was under any illusion that a quad-core was forthcoming this go round... except maybe the neck-bearded troll

Knocking off the markup for the 1TB down to a 500 GB drive and the 16GB of RAM to 8GB, that's about $200.00... now were talking 1349.00, a call-in to dicker will probably net what, another 50 to 100 off, so a real market value for a decent system minus the usual filler items winds up being about 1300.00... that's reasonable factoring in build quality, etc.

All things being equal I think I would get an i5 with 1080p screen, 8 GB RAM and opt for the cheapest drive for now over the i7 due to the options, or wait till January for better options, or wait to see what the Broadwell refresh brings. The problem there is that I suspect we won't see it until March. If Dell shows off the rest of the new lineup designed to incorporate the G/A in January, it's a good eight weeks to units getting into the field, which effectively means units might go on sale in February for a March delivery....

 

Lol over 1500 laptop and no ssd lol.

Also I know with hp and toshiba if you threaten to return the laptop you might get 100 or 50 discount

 

Yes, but Alienware is more cool than Hp and Toshiba

 

Not trolling at all. Its truth. Their prices are outrageous! I own a dell for crying out loud. Alienware is more expensive for the SAME spec, they change more for the flashy case.... Fact.

 

No reasoning with trolls... the real cost difference is about $200 on average, barring other circumstances like inflated periods such as holiday seasons. Going just off spec as an argument says you don't get the big picture... but then this is what plagues much of the criticism... people going off just specs usually don't "get it", but it's to be expected... and again, anyone in the know calls Dell if they want the best price.

Personally I also look at the additional price that helps maintain a support infrastructure among other things that beats most of the other gaming laptop vendors... but specs alone won't point out such things; specs alone are what trolls and n00bs focus on to the exclusion of other factors.... Fact.

I did a cursory scan of MSI as an example, the vast majority of their systems are using a 128GB boot and 1 TB drive, but we're comparing apples and oranges. If you opt for 256GB SSD (larger than those in the MSI's I checked for instance) the price is a paltry $50 on top. The problem here is we have a unit that is currently fixed for options, and options always inflate the price.

What I find humorous is that the trolls are always scanning this forum, ready to charge in with insults and half-witted observations to self-justify their particular purchases over Alienware.... what exactly are you worried about? I think some deep down really want that little alien-head button

 

No reasoning with morons more like... This is why this world is so messed up because people allow themselves to be taken for a fool. Well done you, I'll leave you to reveal in your ignorance.

 

Yep, run back under your bridge when faced with the light of reason that destroys your myopic criticisms...

 

On another note I personally think the GA is wasted on the 13 due to the CPU, but it would go great with the 17.

 

From what I see, the i7-4510U is a $150 upgrade, not a $350 upgrade (not factoring in discounts here). Ehh... that's close to what the m11x had ($200 upgrade, but with 1 GB more of VRAM), but now the 13 is even more tempting now (how much more varies with each person). Now let's see what Cyber Monday and Black Friday have for us.
If only they unlocked the processors and had the touchscreen ready for holidays.

 

It's already been said, but the i7-4510U is now an option for the 13.

 

Hmmm. My order still is in preproduction! :hi2:

 

after abit more thought im seriously considering the $1250 configuration with i5, 256gb ssd, 16gb ram, 1080p display. it sounds like an overall killer laptop. just the god damn i5 4210u....

Also will be working next semester and the alienware 13 isn't the most professional looking laptop. decisions, decisions....

 

I was able to get the Alienware 13 for a HELL of a deal.

 

It's reasonable enough for what the system will do... I'd definitely try to call in and talk them down a bit.

@TheSandman226: Wow - what did you have to do to get them that low? That is awesome.... btw, we are in the same neck of the woods - hailing in from Sandy Springs

 

I forgot to mention the 5% back on a giftcard they are sending as well as they also threw in a Dell Venue 7000 Atom/Android tablet...that thing will be here tomorrow. I just sweet talked em a bit, told him how excited I was about it blah blah christmas gift from the wife -- asked if they had any promos going on to help me save some money.

 

You should join our LAN party group on Meetup -- I'm in Marietta.

 

if you stick a bow tie on that alien head in the cover, will that look professional to you?

 

That's definitely a good deal, but I would have gotten more warranty.

I assume you plan to take it everywhere. More likely than not, you are going to drop it or spill something on it. Protect your investment.

 

Yeah - with the savings you'd do well to consider adding to the warranty, it's really not that much, more of an insurance protection but when you need it...

 

Hi guys,

I'm new in this forum and this is my first post. I'm concidering buying an AW13 but the i5 and the 860 are bothering me, do you think that in the near future there will be options with i7 and more powerfull GPUs (at least the 870m) ? I also heard that the graphics amplifier will soon be given free with the laptop.
Also, here in France we don't have as much options as in the US like touchscreen or SSD, do you think that will change?
So do you think I should wait to get it or not ? (considering my actual laptop is really making my life harder, low battery life, too heavy etc)

 

If you can't wait, go for it.

NVIDIA has only released three Maxwell mobile GPU's - the 860M, 970M, and 980M. They have yet to release a few more - rumored 965M, 975M, and 985M. There's a good chance by next summer the AW 13 will have better hardware in it. Broadwell is expected to launch next year as well. The thing is, we don't know when.

 

Well I don't wanna buy a laptop which's gonna be outdated in 3 months, I surely can wait if it's worth it.
I'm not asking for Broadwell, just the actual i7 that was on the AW14. surely that will be available soon?
Talking about the AW14, there's a big gap now between the 13 and the 17, do you think that there will be a new 14 or a 15 version that is worth the wait too?

 

The AW 14 had quad-core CPU's. The AW 13 will not have quad-core.

 

Now Dre.... that may be true currently, but who knows what the future may hold

 

Yeah, I guess, lol.

 

I wouldn't hold out hope for a quad even with Broadwell's intro, but Silverlake... you never know.