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

Those are different laptops entirely. If you aren't going to game, an ultrabook may be more suitable than the AW13.

 

Im a gamer offcourse ill going to game. What about al 13 quality build? A lot of ppl are complaning about Alienware 2015 lineup laptops that are no longer manufactured and quality as before

 

Don't bother with the MacBook Air. If you go Apple, I would recommend nothing less than the 13" rMBP with 256 GB SSD and 16 GB of RAM, seeing as the RAM is soldered onto the board.

 

The quality isn't as top-notch as before, but it's still good.
That said, would your work allow the AW13? I remember someone on here saying he couldn't use the 13 anymore because it wasn't permitted at his work or something.

 

I am my own boss thats why i can game when i have a space

 

Well that makes thing easier.
Of course, the AW13 would have more power over the Macbooks of same size.

 

Okk thanks

 

Don't you think the non-ULV cpu of Mac is better for work? I very like the Aw13, but i fear ULV cpu.

 

The Macbook Airs and MBP 13" all use ULV CPUs, but the rMBP 13" uses the 28w ULV CPUs.

 

What is ULV CPU?

 

ULV CPU= Ultra low voltage CPU

 

And what worried you about this CPU? Low voltage its a problem? Por bottleneck?

 

I don't mind the bottleneck with Graphics Amplifier. I fear using CPU for work. For example compiling code with Visual Studio. Are the ULV CPUs enough for this kind of work?

 

Lol no im lawyer i use microsoft office surfing web youtube etc

 

You'll be fine with CPU.

 

I have a question grid bottom where sinks processor and video card looks can be opened without dismantling the entire laptop or the only access they have is the hard drive and RAM

 

When I got my AW13, I heard something rattling inside. I took it apart to see what it was. The service manual is very detailed. Only the hard drive and memory is under the service panel. You have to take off the bottom, remove the hard drive, take off the top with the keyboard, disconnect the wifi antenna, and remove the display with it's hinges - and THEN you can remove the motherboard to turn it over and see the cooling fans and heat sinks and, low and behold, there is the RTC battery that is supposed to be double sided taped to the PCB. It has no holder and had come loose, but it wasn't just the tape that caused the battery to be out of position. The wires for the battery were pinched on the screw housing of one of the fans. I could see wires showing through the pinched insulation. I untwisted the wires, moved them over and taped the battery down. I got a bad RTC time error several times when the main batt. was discharged, so it's obvious the wires are actually broken. I'm not looking forward to opening it again, but at least I know what to do.

The various ribbon cables and connectors are a pain to connect properly and could take several tries. The plastic clips for the top cover with the keyboard could break or become loose if taken apart multiple times.

Pinchedbat by ttfid posted Jun 2, 2015 at 3:12 AM

Batsolution by ttfid posted Jun 2, 2015 at 3:11 AM

 

Hmmm thats a problem... I want an easy acess laptop

 

If you find your current system lacking then maybe this would be an issue. From what I can see the current systems are all well above min system spec for each version. Exception might be if you are doing emulation/virtual server stuff to test with. I would guess "whole" system plays a part. Especially RAM.

That said, I dont do compiling.

 

What you would want to remove from the laptop? The Air and rMBP aren't as easy to access either, if I recall.

 

Acces to clean fans and repaste... anyway I would go for the model that gets cheaper on amazon whether used almost new, rebuilt or new if I spend more than $ 1,000 I think it's not worth rather go and be a 17-inch worth a little more but at least worth the money. You think the i5 versión its ok?

 

I think any laptop would be hard to get at the fans to clean. Repasting just isn't necessary as removing the heat sink is also unnecessary. The value of a laptop is in its convenience, like food at a gas station. I like the size of the aw13, I just wish they put a bigger battery in it. If a processor is soldered to the motherboard, always go for the highest one available.

 

From 15th estimated delivery...
Estimated Delivery Date: 10/6/2015

 

Hi, first time post!
My AW13 is due next week. What tests should I run to ensure its operating at 100%?
Got the i7, 16gb ram, 256gb ssd.
Do I need to update drivers, and if so which ones? Just nvidia?
Thanks in advance!

 

To 'test' this thing, I mainly use HWinfo, CPUID, GPU-Z, FRAPS and TaskManager while running my favorite games that use the GTX 960M.
The first thing to do is update the bios to 04.
I went to the dell site and downloaded all the SW for the AW13.
Some of that stuff is a newer version, some is current or older than the ones preinstalled.
Then go to the Nvidia web site and look up the drivers for the GTX 960M. It installs more than just the drivers.
It installs Geforce Experience for gamestream and things like battery boost.

I'm not sure if you should allow windows to do it's 'updates' before or after updating the system SW.
I usually don't let windows update any hardware drivers and just find them myself.
I let windows update handle all the operating system updates, but it always seem to break some functionality, so create OS restore points and be ready to roll back some or all of the 'updates.'

You should also create some sort of external recovery media separate from the HD factory recovery partition in case the HD fails.
I put mine on a USB HD.

The next thing to do is look at the power profiles. Even if you don't change any of the settings, at least look over all of the behaviors so you will be able to identify 'weird' things happening, and relate it to a power profile.

Personally, I like to use High performance and turn off every power saving feature I can find so I know what the best performance of everything is.
The battery will drain like hellfire, but you'll know what it can do. After that I'm almost forced to use some power saving features to make up for the TINY battery in this thing. News flash to the computer gods - Haswell and Broadwell CPU's low power requirement doesn't justify cutting the batteries in HALF.

The speakers were sounding overloaded and weird at first. I turned off all the sound 'enhancements' in the Sound Blaster SW. After that it still sounded distorted. I found the 'loudness' enhancement in the sound driver details tabs under Windows device manager. Turning that off made the speakers max volume lower, but no more distortion!

One thing that caught me off guard is:
The battery boost in Geforce experience is defaulted to limit games to 30FPS. Turn that s**t off for >30fps!

Shadow of Mordor fails to load a lot and crashes sometimes. I still haven't figured out why.

Good Luck!

 

Thank you! Exactly what I was after. Now just for dell to hurry and get it to

 

..me. (Sorry phone issues)

 

Anyone here reserved a win10 upgrade ???
It shows 860m as unsupported on mine so I canceled my reservation...

 

I did. The 860m issue can be fixed with a driver mod, if the OEM 860m's ID is not in the .inf file. It's not as if the GPU won't work properly under Win10.
EDIT: The latest Win10 driver, 352.84, has the ID of the OEM 860m. So all should be good.

 

so what do you suggest should i set it to auto update to win10, its very tempting for me considering dx12

 

You do have a year to decide once July 29th hits. I would reserve it, but not immediately update (if you want Win10 on your 13, that is). I plan on doing that as I want to make sure the drivers are fine (I'm being a guinea pig for this).

 

I would like to add an M.2 drive to my AW 13 but it doesn't have the slots.....I pulled the hybrid hard drive out and there isn't an place to install the M.2 . Am I missing something?

 

If you chose the HDD or SSHD at purchase, you got the SATA bay, not the M.2 bay.
In other words, you'll need an adapter. Or return the M.2.

 

I was afraid that was going to be the answer. I searched for info on that but couldn't find it. Thanks Game.

UPDATE: I'm sending the AW 13 back instead. The lack of the M.2 adapter, a key on the keyboard that isn't working, and being overall underpowered for the type of gaming I want to do was enough to go back to an AW 15. I absolutely hate the macro keys on the AW 15 but I can overlook that to get a laptop that will play my games at the settings I want to play at. This dual core and 960M is pretty weak.

 

Hey have not been here for a while but did buy a AW13 i7 860m 16gb 1tb complete care loved it then it died sent it to be fixed cant be fixed replacement ordered from dell new config i7 960m 16gb 640gb ssd as some parts weren't available when I called the replacement dep. Very happy with the upgrade I'm getting.

 

I would return it for the bad key issue alone.
Are M.2 SSDs any better than regular SSDs?
How is being able to play Shadow of Mordor or Dragon Age at Ultra settings in 1080p at 30fps 'underpowered'?
Most 4 core processors in laptops are power hogs and complete overkill on performance.

What bugs me is the cheap rough click pad, and maybe the dark right edge to the screen (1080p non-glare), or the inability to blank the power button and status lights while the keyboard is still lit, or the tiny battery that lasts only about 3 hours for doing anything cool.

The reasons I will keep my AW13:
The keyboard with cool lights and no Chiclet keys.
Weight at 4.5 lbs
1080p gaming, ultra @ 30fps
Non-glare, bright screen w/ a stiff hinge
Cooling system has good open vents on bottom with stiff rubber feet.
Vents out the back allowing the screen to be closed and still cool properly.
And finally the Graphics amp port.

 

As far as M.2 SSD's, I don't know what the difference is in performance but I already have a 500GB 850 EVO M.2 so that's why I wanted the adapter.

I've never played Dragon Age before , but that's great that the AW 13 handles it at Ultra settings. I play Men of War Assault Squad 2 and when I have it set to a mix of High and Ultra the highest the FPS go is 35. As soon as there is a large explosion it drops to the teens and actually will pause or stutter. I've tried lowering the settings but it looks like crap. Now if I have my GA plugged in with my GTX 780 I can crank up the settings but I don't want to depend on that.

 

I can see why the AW15 is better for you. I have to carry my laptop around a lot, and a 13" 4.5lb one that can play games is perfect for me.
I don't really play Dragon Age very much (didn't realize how 'merry' it was at first ;-)), but it has a built in benchmark and demanding graphics. All the articles these days use it for a benchmark so it's easy for me to compare my personal results with them. I'll have to look into Men of War (RTS right?). It looks like a lot of fun. I loved Company of Heroes and RTS games in general.

 

My aw 13 fan after gaming runs at Max and after 30-45 mins after cooling down the fans does not slow down at all

 

I noticed that too. When I open the Nvidia control panel, the fans seems to catch on and slow down, but I'm not sure if it was a coincidence.

 

@pokey2014 , @ttfid
not a coincidence its the same for me, probably a bug...

 

I dun know what seem to be the issue

 

My com is dead....

 

seems like alienware has not much spare parts for the 13.... mine can't turn on at all

 

Have you contact support?

 

Yup, gonna take 2-3 days...my killer wifi card causes audio stuttering

 

Your killer wifi card?
How did you determine that?
Thanks.

 

I bought a Intel wifi card and replaced the killer card

 

Ok, thanks and now you have no audio stuttering with the new Intel Wifi card? Could you tell me the model of your new intel wifi card please?
Thanks very much.

 

No audio stutter for now, bought a Intel ac 7260. I bought the wrong model actually as i remember it wrongly.. was suppose to get the ac 7265 and the aw 13 has the 7265 drivers