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

At first the bios was set to raid, I changed it to the other selection (forget now the exact name. Achi something...lol.)

 

Well, called Alienware support today. Seems the primary SSD is bad, they are going to replace both of them since the laptop is so new. Pretty good support so far.....

 

and I've been gaming on mine for the past 3 days ... and overall I'm OK with it. However, the lights all over the laptop are connected somehow to the game I play (or gaming mode in general) so those change colors during the game, so the laptop looks like a Christmas tree while I play, lol. Dont really like it. Apparently there is a gaming profile for these lights but mine is empty and it still does it.

I'm also not liking win 10 .... so has anybody put win 7 on the alienware 13 R2 yet ? I've read somewhere that it might be a problem (somebody tried to put win 7 on a MSI GS40 /also skylake/ and couldn't)

The GPU does good. I get 50 to 80 fps (with average of about 65) on World of Tanks at 1080 at high settings. At ultra it does about 40 to 45 fps. It works on 1200MHz core and 1250MHz memory, but it heats up - sitting on a table it went to 85 deg C after some time of plyaing, considering that the table underneath actually heats up as well thus ups the temps. If I would lift up the back end of the laptop then it tops at about 76-ish deg C, which is much better. So I need to figure out something about that part. I really hope they put thermal paste on the GPU/CPU and not thermal pads .. cause I dont want to take this one apart. Yet.

The 1TB 850 SSD arrived as well, but I haven't installed it yet.

The graphics amplifier was a pain to open - somebody should have said somewhere that there are two pins on the sides in the middle that need to be pulled outwards for the thing to open, cause I was gonna break one... but didn't.

so that's it for now. Looks like the battery would last somewhat about 3 hours , but I'm still with the HDD .. so that should improve. I'm expecting it to die within 3 years

 

WoT does have a file for this but you can disable the feature entirely laptop side. I can look later for details.

This appears better made than my M11x which still works so I have higher expectations

In game mode I do have a small fan powered cooler but mostly the benefit is by being raised so I agreen wit your observation. This system, much like the M11x, has very little gap from the stock pads! Haven't bothered to look into custom fan control as they seem to max out as needed.

How much was SSD?

 

This kind of worries me. The GTX 960m shouldn't get that hot. When I use my overclocked GTX 860m (+135Mhz, +335MHz), I get mid 70s (might be higher since I haven't put in new thermal paste), so I wonder if there is something different with the fan speed settings in the R2 compared to the R1. Or if the thermal paste isn't applied correctly.

 

AHCI - That was the default setting for my R1.

Mine runs 90 degrees on load, stock. They use thermal paste, not pads.

I'm on my 4th motherboard now and only recently learnt that they have been supplying refurbished motherboards for their service staff to replace during on-site servicings. Emailed them to request for a new motherboard because I've just been inheriting problems from these old motherboards. (Unable to startup/no keyboard/video glitching/insanely high temperatures)

 

Atter about 2hrs on flat surface my max GPU temp was 76. Not sure how typical that is but clearly others are having a diff experience. My CPU is 5500 though if that matters.

 

Same, on my R1 (5500U, 860M +135/+200), I'll top off at ~75C on both the GPU and CPU during Furmark or other benchmarks. Fan does ramp up though, and gets medium loud (nothing a TV wouldn't wash out though).

Can't seem to OC more than 135 on the core otherwise I probably would. Is there a fix?

I looked into repasting both the CPU and GPU, however after watching some teardown videos, it is quite involved and doesn't seem like its worth it for me (although I would love lower temps on the CPU)

EDIT: Temps for the GPU on afterburner while using the intel gfx card are kind of wonky for me, and drop to 0 every so often. Not exactly what's going on there, but seems to monitor fine in games and benchmarks.

 

You need an unlocked vBIOS to get more overclock on the core (this is standard across laptops). Contact Prema for instructions and help for it.
As for your edit, could be software detecting being funky.

 

Got similar temperatures under load (6500U and 960m). But it seems that the fan are running too slow and wait too long to start, so it is probably a fan table story.
It is a déjà vu, I got this problem with my A17R2 and got it resolved with the bios A0 (any bios that came after makes the laptop running hotter, but you probably knows that story already)

 

I know the 15 R2 and 17 R3 have this option in the BIOS, but is there any fan curve option to make the fans run faster?
Alternatively, one could use HWInfo to do set a manual fan curve.

 

Hi - just received my first Alienware, a 13 R2 and on first impressions it seems great however I have one big issue. The screen. I went for the FHD IPS panel and the color scheme just seems off. Like a yellow filter on everything.

Can anyone recommend base color settings which I can try on this to try and fix it? I am assuming it is an issue, so yellow looking in comparison to any of my other devices. I did try the ICC file from the notebookreview review and that really changed things but again not convinced on what I am seeing.

Thoughts/comments much appreciated.

 

Hi everyone,

I tried searching in the forums, but can't come up with anything.
I am using my 13 R2 in clamshell mode, with an ultrawide monitor hookedup via HDMI. The computer is in a vertical stand behind the monitor.

I have yet to figure out how to exit sleep mode via a keyboard press (either the laptop's own keyboard or a usb keyboard). The only way to wake up the computer while it is sleeping is to press that alienware power button.
This is really weird as every single laptop I have owned (mac or pc and there were many) allows me to wake up the computer with a keyboard press or even movement of the mouse.

I already checked in "device manager" to make sure the "allow this device to wake computer" is ticked. And I am pretty savvy with my computers (ie I routinely build desktops).

I also have the BIOS option to allow USB wake up (forget what it is called exactly) enabled.

Is there any way to wake up this laptop with a keyboard press? I really like my new monitor and I really don't want to keep my laptop on 24/7 (which is what I am doing right now), because you really dont want to fish the computer out of the vertical stand, with all cables attached, just to open the screen and press that button!

Thanks

 

Off topic: Have went to the dark side..... Just finished buying a desktop HP envy am installing a video card and upgraded power supply as you read this.

Thought about picking up a Alienware 15 but having to add 150.00 to upgrade the screen seemed to be a slap in the face to me. 15 inch high end laptops should not have a 220 nit screen.

 

Psst, you posted in the Alienware 13 section.

 

I was just thinking of a 15 as a upgrade from my 13. Sorry to have seemed as posting in the wrong forum. But still if you are considering buying a 13 shouldn't it have better than a 220 nit screen as a starting option? after all the build quality of Alienware laptops is of very high quality.

 

Oh... I didn't know you had a 13. Sorry.

 

No problem it's all good

 

guys, is the 220 nits on the aw13 R2 really that bad ? i know about the aw15 R2, but seems no one commented on the 13's yet...

 

Excuse me if this question was already raised...Anyone has used the gtx 980ti with AW13? can i have please have some benchmark?

 

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6403605
http://www.3dmark.com/sd/3196545
They aren't mine, but you can search for more on 3Dmark.

 

guys i need to know if the alienware 13's 1080p screen is as bad as the alienware 15's 1080p screen

 

Depends on your definition of "bad" -- But it is a significant downgrade from the 1080P 350-nits screen that the AW13 R1 used to have as an option. For indoor usage, it's sufficient, but its color reproduction and viewing angles are poor for an IPS screen.

 

Hi, thank you for the reply does it look washed out? have u tested the sRGB coverage ? I am so confused about the screen because no one reviewed the 1080p model yet

 

I am thinking of purchasing an Alienware 13 R2 with the 4K screen! Any thoughts?

 

The 13 R2 doesn't come with a 4K screen. The QHD+ screen has a resolution of 3200x1800.

 

Still a bit shocked they went with the WQXGA+ panel over the previous WQHD.

 

I like the 3200x1800 screen. It's great in some games that play well at that res and I run spit screen a lot so I can surf and watch a video at same time. It can be very tiny to read depending on zoom level and font size. I've used it a ton at 1080 and never had any troubles. I do wish it was brighter though.

 

I don't know if it has been addressed before or not, but I am having major wifi qualms with my AW13 R1.

I updated to windows 10 and can't roll back because it is just my school computer for the most part. I am long past the 1 month rollback period.

My wifi sort of works. It will connect to vent and gamevox, but loading web pages is painful, as some will load and some wont, then they all load, then nothing loads, then the wifi drops and ugh. Its awful.

I have installed all the latest drivers that I can, but lord dying it still wont work properly.

Anythign I can do that I havent tried?

 

Did you get the wifi drivers from Dell or from Killer?
Did you just update the wifi drivers or did you uninstall them and install the most recent one?

 

I got the drivers from Dell, and did not unistall anything...

I am going to assume I need to get my drivers from Killer/Qualcom and uninstall the stuff?

Any program I should use to wipe the drivers?

 

I don't use any programs to uninstall the wifi drivers.
Download the latest Killer Network drivers (basic or suite, pick whichever you want), uninstall your current wifi drivers (you might have to uninstall the Bluetooth and Ethernet drivers too), and install the latest you downloaded.

 

Omg, thank you. It works!!! Finally!!!

 

The qhd+ is really gorgeous,bright and colorful.
I was a bit worried that games running at a lower resolution on that screen would be blurry but it is not the case.
The only small drawback to me is the touchscreen glass i would have prefer a mat screen.

 

Hi!

I've got an AW13 R1 and I'd like to change WiFi Card. Do you know which one I could install instead of killer card?

Thanks very much for your help!
Best regards from France.

 

Intel-7265AC. The 8260-AC may work as well.

 

Thanks very much!!

 

Would you have a WWAN card to recommend?

 

Not really, no. Sorry.

 

try clean intstalling windows

 

@ Game:
Please,does this deals with the AW13:
http://www.amazon.com/Authentic-7265NGW-Wireless-AC-802-11ac-Bluetooth/dp/B00STV5UKW
Thanks for your help!

 

It should fit. It has the same shape as the Killer 1525 (though it does have a different screw placement. Shouldn't affect installing it).
Dell has drivers for the Intel-7265 for the 13, so you should be fine.

 

Im having trouble running After Effects... Everytime i launch AE im having a blue screen of death. I update the video driver and bios and still having trouble. Need some advice... Thakns

 

Just joined the club with snagging an R2 off the outlet for $1100 (With 2 years of complete care) I listed the specs below but wanted to know if there was 2x M.2 Slots?

Core i7 6500
4GB GTX 960M
512GB SSD
1920x1080 Screen
16gb Ram

 

Since you got the SSD, yes, there are two M.2 slots, one of which is already free.

 

Excellent, I only use my laptop for LAN parties here and there so I didn't need something beefy like the 17 and figure this would work well since I mostly game at home on my desktop.

 

Also not sure if thats an NVME SSD but should I have a problem putting the 950pro in with it?

 

No, the 950 Pro should work fine (as it does in the bigger laptops).
The SSD that'll be shipped in the laptop is the OEM PM951 M.2 (PCIe).

 

Ok cool, was worried as its listed this:


Module,Solid State Drive,512,2280,2,LITEON,V2G

 

Wait, what? That's... new to me. Seems to be a LiteOn SATA M.2 instead of the usual Samsung SSD for the new revisions (SATA M.2s shipped with the late 2014/early 2015 laptops).
I actually have the 256 GB M.2 LiteOn SSD. It's pretty good.