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

I was having lots of problems with wifi connections and system stability in general. I did finally do a clean install of win 10 and still had those issues. I downloaded the killer networking suite (updated on 10/6/15) and most of those issues have gone away.

I don't get disconnects or random freezes anymore but I do get extremely rare freezes that require a hard boot when I wake the computer from sleep. I have a 256 liteon m.2 ssd that wont update with the firmware update dell put out months ago, just says something to the effect that the hardware wasn't found.

 

I might give that a try. And I have the same SSD. However, I did the update under Windows 8.1. Not sure if that might make a difference.

 

Had the same error under windows 8.1 maybe I have a faulty hard drive, not really sure.

 

It took three Alienware 13's, but I finally have the perfect one. Amazon is great.

Upgrading the memory has improved responsiveness and battery life by a good amount. I've been at the library for about 1.5 hours now and the battery is at 89% with 6 hours and 53 minutes left. You all should consider upgrading to higher quality components. I haven't changed the SSD, as I have no reason to, but I imagine the 850 EVO M.2 SSD is more efficient than the stock SSD's.

Definitely will consider the R2 when Pascal is launched. The 1060M should be a nice improvement over the 960M.

 

DRAM uses about 5W per stick. I wouldn't think different memory would make a noticeable difference. If you went from 8 to 16 gig and were using a butt-load of programs at the same time, the HD would not have to swap as much and would save some power. More so with an HD than an SSD. Also, some big power savings can be achieved when going from HD to SSD, but I wouldn't think one SSD to another SSD would make a noticeable difference either.

I upgraded my AW13 r1 to a 500GB SSD (EVO 850) from the included 1TB 5400RPM HD and I'm noticing about .5 to 1 hr more on a full charge.

Did Windows show 6hrs 53min by using the battery symbol in the lower right corner of the task bar? I've NEVER had the battery estimate in the Win. task bar show more than 2hrs 50min time remaining, even when in power saver mode and using the laptop for over 5 hrs, showing these power predictions are useless. If Windows gave a graph or data of PAST actual battery usage, I could make informed estimates of battery life on my own. But NOO, I guess Microsoft want's you to live in a fantasy world of baseless predictions. (I've always hated the battery life predictions.)

 

When I study, I have a timer going so I can have set breaks. During the 1 hour and 40~ minutes I worked (Word, Power Point, browsing web, email, etc.) it used 11% of the battery (89% left). At this point it said 6 hours and 53 minutes left on the bottom right corner. But if you do the math, it should actually have lasted longer.

This is my 3rd Alienware 13 I've put through testing. It seems the memory made quite an impact (pun intended).

 

@J.Dre You have 1 SSD or 2 SSDs in your 13?
I'm actually wondering if the OEM SSDs are a bigger part of the problem. The RAM upgrade seems to have helped, but the OEM SSDs don't seem all that efficient, especially considering that one of them (LiteOn) needed a firmware update for its low-power state.
Or do you think its the other way around? That the RAM contributes more to the battery life problem?
Or it could be that you got a good motherboard. I mean, that's always a possibility.

 

To be honest, I'm not sure what it is. Probably a combination. The first two systems had horribly random battery life, usually 4-5 hours. All I know is, Alienware is using some cheap internal components. Upgrading to aftermarket components has helped me a lot. It could be a complete coincidence, but I don't believe it is.

Web pages load faster now. Switching to external monitors is faster now. There's no lag or anything when moving between applications.

I'm using the stock LiteON 256GB M.2 SSD at the moment.

 

I've been using my AW13 with Windows 10 on a new 850 EVO SSD.
I'm having a weird problem using Win10 and the Graphics Amplifier.
If I do a restart, or power down and power up while connected to the Graphics Amp, the Win 10 start button, and other task bar functions like 'notifications' don't respond. The start button won't even open.

The temp solution is to power down, disconnect the AGA PCIe cable, power up (test start button, works), power down, reconnect the AGA, power up, test start button, works.

What a PAIN!

Do I need to update the AGA software? I'm going to the Dell site to check.
I would post this on the AGA forum, but it seems that's a faux pas.

 

This Sounds more like a win10 Problem (maybe in combination with another software). Clean install of win10 would help.. I dont have that issue

 

I think I figured it out. I didn't do a 'clean' install of Win10. It took me weeks to get all the settings, startup processes and scheduled tasks set up in Win8.1. Then there's all the Dell (Alienware) bloatware I removed like Dell support center, and Alien Respawn (resource hogs). No way was I going to go through that again. I cloned the HD to an SSD before the Win10 upgrade, because I was going to do both upgrades at the same time. The old HD served as a Win 8.1 backup in case the Win10 upgrade failed. I went to the Dell website to update any drivers or system apps for Win10.

The problem of the Win10 start button and task bar items not responding was sort of random except for one point. When it happened, it was always when running the AGA with it's GTX960 I installed. I figured it had to be from the AGA driver from Dell, or the Nvidia drivers for the 960M. I tried updating both these drivers and the problem still showed up.

So I used the DDU app suggested in this thread several pages back to uninstall everything Nvidia (I think it cleaned up the registry too), rebooted using the HD4000 drivers, and installed the drivers I downloaded manually from Nvidia's driver page for the 960M.

I fired it up through the AGA and rebooted a couple of times. I think the problem is solved.

The Geforce Experience app.'s driver updater is dumb. It said I was up to date, but it was 4 updates old, and didn't even load a Win10 driver.
My computer is loaded with automatic updaters that hog my resources and don't even do what they're supposed to do.

To computer manufacturers - Stop trying to maintain my SW automatically, because all you do is waste my time and screw things up. (*cough* Win 10 auto updates. *cough*)

 

Well my 13 still gets flickering on battery, so I called support, and they're getting a tech to replace the battery. Let's hope it works. Either way, I'm getting a fresh new battery. My current battery has about 3% wear, so more battery life (also, I seem to get more battery life on Win10, but I don't have enough data to prove that. Batterybar and Windows just report higher numbers than on WIn8.1 or Win7).
Note that the flickering seems to happen on the 1440p panel, but it doesn't happen always. Haven't heard reports of the other panels being affected.

 

All three of my Alienware 13's had 3% wear on the battery, according to CPUID HWMonitor. Something's up there...

Note: After having it fully charged and then drained to about 40%, then leaving it plugged in for several hours of use (over 2-3 days) extended the battery life as well. Sort of like "breaking it in." Might be something worth mentioning for future owners.

 

Hi guys
New problem here for Alienware 13 r2, I got it two days ago,just wondering does anyone got connection unstable? I've only played lol, FPS was awesome,150-250, but for internet connection just unstable at all, so I was trying to upgrade all drivers, finally, blue screen comes out shows drivers IRQL not less or equal, called support this morning, did recovery, and tried again to play lol vs AI, stays same,ping was like 34-3400, this is a amazing ping range that I've ever played, if u guys got solution, plz help!

 

The Killer Network Manager seems to be causing you problems. Uninstall the Killer wifi drivers, and install the generic ones on Killer's website (the non-suite one). It should help out.

 

There are 2 way I could uninstall driver, 1. Uninstall at app option.2. Uninstall at device manager. Which one should I do?

 

doesnt matter.

 

Okay, so I just replaced my battery (all the tech did was deliver the battery, so that kills any time lost for not working on my laptop), and I noticed something unusual. My new battery has a slightly higher battery capacity than my old battery.
Old battery capacity: 51,680 mWh
New battery capacity: 52,392 mWh
Essentially, a 712mW increase (maybe a minute or 2 gained), but I wonder if the batteries at launch were of lower quality since the new battery does meet the 52 wHr capacity Alienware was advertising for the 13 R1. Won't know until I use the battery on laptop mode (it already has some wear, but this wear is actually battery capacity reserved, so it's not actually worn down). The new battery also has a shiny new coat compared to dull coat on my old battery.
Also, my AlienFX kind of got confused after installing the battery. The left side of my keyboard was lime-green for no reason. It changed back to it's intended color shortly afterwards.

 

My AW13 r1 has 9% wear from the first day I used it. (HW info)
The real question is can I get the 62Whr battery from the r2, and can I install it in the r1?
Windows 10 'battery saver' feature doesn't seem to do anything.

And also when is Nvidia going to fix the Win10 drivers for the GTX 960 so I can use it in the Graphics Amplifier and have a working start button?
I guess I'll have to try a clean install of Win10 and spend the next month fiddling with the settings and installing programs.

 

I'd like to know about the battery as well. I may be willing to be a guinea pig as long as I get enough info about the battery, and depending on the cost too.

 

i can give you and advice ( search on your computer= services.msc and find a service called ioloEnergyBooster and make right clic on it / properties / type of start / automatic.
another advice, in the properties of your power plan ( advenced options) Intel Dynamic Plataform and Thermal Framework settings/ low power mode settings/ with battery: LPM set index 2--- pluged: disabled

 

The drivers work for me. I would get something like ShutUp10 and prevent Windows from auto-updating your Nvidia drivers as Microsoft's drivers don't include the IDs, and create problems when trying to use the GA.
About your battery. Have you ever called Dell that your battery came with a 9% wear? I mean, to lose about 10% of battery when getting a laptop is bad, though it has been months, so it may be hard to get a new battery.

 

Double Post... This post can be deleted (I thought the creator of the post could do this)

 

Can you clarify what these settings will do, other than from the context? I'm guessing this should improve battery life, but I was not sure if there was something more technical than that.

I tend to over analyze things sometimes, even if it is straight up simple :\

Also, this might have been asked before, but does anyone know if a PCIe/NVMe M.2 SSD will work in the R1 models?

 

LPM set index 2 = reduce the power consumition of your cpu, reducing the speed a little bit, but in my case i dont use heavy aplication on battery. i cant notice any difference on performance surfing and working on my pc on battery. (index 3 = more battery life, less speed)

ioloEnergy booster= more information here http://www.iolo.com/resources/articles/get-in-the-game-with-energybooster/

and your third question = no, you cant install PCIe/NVMe m.2 ssd because all the interfaces are sata 3 ( 6gb/S)

dont let you cheat with benchmark speeds. i have 2 m.2 samsung EVO 850 and you can reach insane write/read speeds with samunsung rapid mode. And if you see benchmarks you cant see a real difference in games. you are not going to have more fps or anithing like this, only in heat.

 

5 days with same problem, the new Alienware 13 r2, always killer 1535 adapter cause crash, blue screen, it happens twice a day, called support 5 times, no help, but their service is awesome, just the computer pissed me off, I think there's no way could fix it,I'm just play lol, don't know what to do no , and when I'm in the game, the ping stays same, 34 up to 1500

 

Can you use wired etherenet one day? That would prove it's just the wireless card problem. Assuming you've tried different wireless drivers and an OS clean install, I would say replacing the wireless card would be the next option. Is support open to replacing that card?

Replacing the card, maybe even a different model card, which will have different drivers, will surely solve your issue and it's a very cheap fix too.

 

Actually, they can't, because I'm in Canada, Couldn't open laptop by myself, just in case for return policy, so the only thing I can do is send it back to exchange or return, Tried all of the driver that I could get, no luck, I'm just played lol on this laptop, when I do speed test on website and play game same time, the test is only 14 ms, but in game just high, I was thinking its game problem,couldn't confirm yet, nothing on Google, I think I'm the only 1 get this situation. yesterday the blue screen has already gives me different noise from the fan, I checked whole parts work by dell support software after that, they all works good

 

You can open the laptop and still return it. Just don't damaged anything.
It's possible that one of the antennas is not hooked onto the wifi card. That said, if you do get a chance, play some other games that rely on wifi connections.

 

I'll try, when I do speed test, everything goes fun, 14ms each test, I don't know if it's still device problem, I have asked my friend, he think is might be just software crash, I'm still gonna try to open it

 

Is the new 950 PRO going to be compatible with the R2? I'd assume so.

 

Possibly, but some people are having trouble with the SM951 being detected (in the bigger laptops).

 

So I had pretty bad BSODs as of late in addition to my unable-to-shutdown problems. Updating the Intel Thermal drivers did not change things. Called my local Dell tech support hotline (spent 30 mins on the line waiting for the ePSA to do its thing) and they've determined its a RAM issue through the minidump files they requested that I sent to them. They're sending in replacement RAMs by this week... Will report back soon!

 

Was getting strange wifi disconnects for a week on my R1 on win 10 that could only be resolved by reboot. I checked on the killer networking site and there is a brand new set of drivers dated the 22nd of October that seem to have fixed the problem.

 

Dell-subcontracted serviceman came to replace the motherboard today.

Motherboard model changed from "Alienware 02C3X1" to "Alienware 0V7VWN"
With this came the i7-5500U with a GTX 960m (my old board was 860m)

Didn't need to install any new drivers. However, going into the BIOS I get an error message:
Intel ICC: ICC Overclocking Unavailable: Library failed to initialize

Also, in BIOS, entering the "Performance Options with Alienware Graphics Amplifier" page causes the computer to freeze.

Tried re-flashing the BIOS A04 but same issues occur. The serviceman ignored the message and said to call Dell again if any issues arise.

 

Guys i cant decide. I want a laptop to use in my work for productivity i also am a gamer i got a powerfull desktop pc, im between this laptop because its light and small, i know i can get a msi ge62 for the same price with better specs but its big heavy and ac adapter too, ok im between this laptop and surface pro 4 for work and light gaming what you guys recommend me? I know both are different tech but i like both

Enviado desde mi Nexus 5 mediante Tapatalk

 

I'm considering downgrading from the 15 R1 to the 13 R2 for some extra portability.

I have the Graphics Amplifier with a GTX 970.

Am I going to run into issues with the CPU (i7 6500U) in terms of bottlenecking making this a pointless swap?

 

Define pointless? Because it's not like you'll suffer a 50% drop in performance or something.
In the case of GPU-intensive games, the performance difference shouldn't be too much (5 to 10%). In CPU-intensive games, the difference will be more noticeable (at least double of previous numbers). And if said CPU games are like LoL or DOTA, then shouldn't those max out with the internal GTX 960m anyways?

 

The games I play are almost all single player. These include Elder Scrolls, Arkham, Assassin's Creed, Fallout 4, 2k Sports, and FPS titles.

 

Ehh.... you'll be alright. Though if "alright" doesn't sound convincing to you, then it is your decision (and nothing wrong with that).

 

Hi, I can hear some noise like something is rolling inside the bottom right compartment when I flip my AW13 vertically and horizontally.

Does anyone hear anything similar noise with their AW13?

 

Anyone know if dell pushes the Alienware products for Black Friday thinking about getting a 13 but don't know on waiting or not.

 

Dell does do some discounts for the Alienware line on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. You can check their leaked deals to see if anything interests you.

 

Do you happen to know about if the fhd screen and qhd have like a different bezel or is it the same? Also game is there any leaked 13 deals?

 

No leaked deals for the 13. The leaked deals, I think, are for doorbusters.
The 13 R2's screen options and what bezel they come with are pretty much the same as the 13 R1, sans the 1080's lower nit count on the R2.

 

I am all over the 13 except for that darn dual core. I've been reading minimum requirements for newer games and many are starting to say quad cores are needed at minimum.

 

Sometimes, those "minimum" requirements go overboard. Usually, an Intel dual core + Hyperthreading will be fine. It's not as great as an Intel quad core, but it'll suffice. I can play some of the recent AAA games with my GTX 960 just fine on higher graphics settings.

 

Yes, my AW13 r1 had this right out of the box. It's the BIOS battery. It's not in a holder, but has shrink tubing around it with the wires sticking out the side to a connector. It's supposed to be double sided taped to the bottom side of the motherboard. The tape is lame. Unfortunately you have to take the whole damn thing apart to get to the bottom of the motherboard. I found mine wasn't sticking properly because the wires were pinched in the plastic housing for a screw on one of the fans. The wires were showing through the insulation, but I didn't think they were broken or shorting so I unpinched it, and retaped it to the motherboard. After I got it back together, it turns out the wires are broken. If my battery goes to 0%, I loose the BIOS and RTC settings. I haven't taken the time to open it back up again, but at least it doesn't rattle anymore!

 

Does anyone think Alienware will ever put a quad core CPU in the 13?

 

I dont think so

Enviado desde mi Nexus 5 mediante Tapatalk