*OFFICIAL* Alienware 13 R1/R2 Owner's Lounge

Only graphics cards. Both gaming and workstation but no one has used a workstation GPU.

 

Someone please tell me what chipset is used for alienware 13? is it H97 or Z97 chipset?

 

It's the Intel HM87 Express Chipset

 

What do you feel is generally more advantageous:
1. to order aw13 with regular hard drive so that you get a caddy that you can use for 512gb samsung ssd?
2. Or get upgrade from dell for 256gb M2 from dell for $50? and then possibly get another 256mb m2?

Thanks

 

I like the M2 option because it allows me to hold more storage space. (2x 512GB M2)

Also, there are some M2 that are faster than the default M2 (Samsung 3D nm something...)

As well...I think you could raid them, not sure.

 

No RAID in the 13.

 

Can I still fit in a 2.5" regular hard drive if I upgraded to M.2 256GB ssd?

 

No. Either one 2.5" 7mm HDD/SSD/SSHD or two M.2 2280 SSDs.

 

What? not even 2.5" 9mm drives?

is the 2.5" drive version is shipped without m.2 slots? Or I can still utilise the M.2 slots in the future?

 

There's a reason I said and bolded either or.
You only have room for one bay, and that one bay supports one interface or the other.
9mm is too thick.

 

I had a look at the service manual, the M.2 slots and hard drive at at the same area

Please confirm the M.2 slots are available for future upgrade even if I configure the laptop with regular hdd?

 

You'll have to change the bay to support M.2 or get a M.2 to SATA adapter.
These are from the manuals.

In short, no. Only room for either the 2.5" or the M.2s.

 

cool thanks, wondering how much it would cost just to get the SSD adapter card..hmm..

 

http://www.amazon.com/NGFF-SATA-adapter-California-Stock/dp/B00FKCSMYY

 

@ Game7a1: is it the same adapter card than the one provided by alienware in the M13?

 

Hey Game7a1,

You still think the GPU in the broadwell AW13 is the 960m ?
I find it odd that with only a improvement of 52mhz in boost, can be called a 960m.

 

It's a cage, if you select the m.2, you will receive the m.2's and the cage. If you selected the 2.5" drive you will receive it in the space where the m.2 drives would be.

 

I was able to fit a 9.5 mm, snuggly

 

No. The one in that comes with the 13 has two slots. This adapter only has one.

I'm not sure why this is either. Could be a side effect of the vBIOS we have.
But given the Hardware ID, it is a GTX 960m. I just hope Alienware releases a way for us winter owners to make our 860ms to 960ms.

That just sounds painful. Though I do know what you mean. My SSD in my HP laptop barely fit as well. I just fear the time I have to remove it.

 

Found something new about the 860m in the i7 13.
When I looked at HWInfo, i told me the processor clock of the GPU was 1097.5 MHz and the Video Unit Clock is 988.2. Ignoring the Video Clock, the processor clock is higher than the boost clock of a regular GTX 860m. GPU-Z, with its live monitoring, was also stating the same result for the core clock (I guess processor and core are the same here).
Either Alienware overclocked the GTX 860m in the i7 13 (most likely not), or this is another side effect of the vBIOS.
Also found that the 860m is on Bus #3, or the 5th PCI-E root port.

 

Hello Game,

Do you know if the Wifi card is soldered to the motherboard or we could change the wifi card for an intel for example?

Thanks very much!

 

Removable .

 

Hi

I just received my Alienware 13 today. It looks fantastic. The only concern I have with the machine, is that the keyboard is suffering very much from "flex", when the "H" key is pressed. Do you guys think, this is a manufacturing fault, or is it a general problem on the Alienware 13?

 

How bad is the flex? And does the flex happen every time you use "h" or just in heavy uses (like gaming for example)?

 

Thank you for the reply. yes, the flex is only noticeable in heavy uses. I am concerned about this, because my M11x did not have any flex at all, no matter how hard I pressed the keys. In my opinion "flex" is a sign of poor build quality.

 

Please help
i5-4210U vs i7 5500U
is there a clear winner?

 

From reviews, most of the "high-end" 13" laptops have flex. It is alot moe noticeable around the center but less so elsewhere.

The latter, which should have been addressed pages ago.
However, I would ask if it is sufficient for your needs.

 

With the i7 it should be able to handle most games on medium settings, right?
The screen is highly reviewed, so photo editing should not be a problem?
from what i have seen it is capable of running older versions of auto CAD, not fast but it will suffice I think?
If it can do this, it might be a little bit of a compromise, but it's pretty sexy. and all in all the pro of not carrying around a 7-8 pound computer is very appealing.

 

I will be buying the Alienware 13 next week and am wondering if its worth spending another $200 for an i5-5200U or stick with the 4210U original. Does anyone have a link to any benchmarks showing the differences between the two? Especially in games?

 

The i7 on the 13 is still a dual core. It does function better, but not as much as a quad. Even with the i5, I was able to run most games at high settings that are out there now.
If your purpose is photo editing that requires depth coloring, go with the 3k screen. TN screen is terrible.
Any version of AutoCAD will work on the 13. I've tested with 2002, 2009, 2011, and 2015 versions. All work sufficiently fast.
It is quite light considering what it has inside. ~4.5 pounds is quite nice.

 

Definitely not worth 200 bucks. For that, I'd switch for a high end quad i7, which is not an option for the 13.
However, that's quite subjective matter as well.
Personally, by saving 200 bucks, I'll add that towards a new computer in a shorter replacement time. This computer should last a good 4 years minimum, though.

 

How much battery life do you loose with the 3k screen plus the i7

 

911!

I have been through so much guys and need your help.

I have owned so many laptops lately and returned so many.

What I am looking for is the perfect balance of a gaming laptop.

I have owned the:

P34g V2
P35x V3
Aorus X7 Pro
MSI Ghost Pro GS60 x3

I have narrowed it down to the Razer Blade and the Alienware 13.

I really like the Razer Blade because I believe it is best between amazing gaming performance and decent battery life about 6 hours.

However the Aliewnare has 12 Hours battery life.

I mainly play Bf4.

How would you say this laptop stacks up with playing BF4?

What I am wanting to do is take notes all day during class and play games hard core between classes on break.

Will the Aliewnare 13 handle this very well. Or will I feel lacking in game performance?

 

wait, did you said 12 Hours of battery life? where did you saw that information? because playing games on battery my M15 don't last 2 hours!

 

notebookcheck's reviews. He must be citing the idle battery time.

 

Alienware 13 seems okay.

 

I would like to know your experience with the p34gv2 (was that also the 860m?). How did that hold up with bf4? Cooling concerns?

I am looking at a new laptop (have for a while) and had kind of decided on the p34gv3, but the alienware 3 is a cheaper option albeit with 860m vs 970m. I do not to all the high speed fps games, but play primarily civ 5 and similar games. Want to be able to play sim city 4, tropico 5, etc with no issues.

I have an m11x that will run civ 5 at low settings but there is a cooling problem and the fan runs 90million mph at late game trying to keep up and shuts down (believe cpu is just getting too hot). I've re applied thermal paste, etc. Even the old graphics card are handling civ 5 late game just fine, a little slow but the main issue is the heat.

 

Wanted this answered as well. I'd qhd worth getting? Will it affect fhd gaming? Another m11x owner looking to upgrade. I'm sure anything is better than the screen I have.

 

I know @Docsteel can explain this better than me, but the 1440p display is fine on the 13. I don't use scaling anymore as I manually make everything zoom in and use a big mouse pointer.
All looks good, and gaming at 1440p is better than expected. Just don't expect high settings.

 

Any issues running your heavier games at 1366x768 on the 1440p display? When you run the game are there issues with the resolution switch? My experience with laptops has only been running games in native resolution.

After some more research I too agree True qhd would be a little ridiculous on that small display.

Stupid question, does the mid level display have touchscreen capabilities? I honestly could care less since it has that big old click pad.

 

I only run games at either 1080p or 1440p. The resolution switching is fine if you know how to make game fill up the whole screen with any resolution.
Only the QHD has touch.

 

Hey, would anybody happen to have the stock personalisation theme and wallpapers for the Alienware 13?

 

Here's one.
Want me to upload the others? You could get a few from Dell's support site (the old laptops like the m15x have the old wallpapers).

 

hello
A quick question
how much will the higher res screen effect battery life?

 

I have civ 5 and tropico 4, but I don't think I've ever played either . I can load them up and check them out. I also have sim city 4. Don't think you'll have a problem with that one at all. I have that loaded on my Celeron netbook!

I know some LCD screens don't look good downrezed, but I didn't have any issues at all running 1080p on the 1440p I temporarily had.
In my opinion, the 1440p screen gets you:
touchscreen
crisper image
clear (and reflective) screen vs the 1080's matte screen
more saturated colors (some love it, I didn't)
Due to the size of the screen, there really isn't much benefit to the increased real estate as you're probably just going to magnify it back close to what you would with a 1080p screen.

 

Aah ok! I just left skyrim running to see how long it will last on a full charg and it last 1hr 40 min.

 

Love to see someone use a touchscreen on a 13 with 1440 screen res.

Your fingers would have to be thinner than a pencil.

Hmmmm - As useful as titts on a bull

 

I can confirm that you will get AT least 6 hours on web browsing and typing ms words on med brightness on 3k screen, i7 cpu, and M.2 SSD.

 

OK thanks

 

I took civ5 for a very quick spin. With max settings at 1080p my fps ranged from ~50-60fps (I think vsync caps it at 60).

BTW, I have the i7 and 1080p screen.