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

does anyone use the 860m version ?
which vga driver is the most suitable with the laptop ?
i have been rolling with lots of crashes with the driver problems

 

So the GPU temps don't change much (just slightly higher to my GTX 960m), but the CPU temps are higher (hitting 90 C does look scary).
Never really understood why the temps on the 13 R2 were hotter than the 13 R1, but oh well. I know making the fans run at max speed somewhat helps, but hearing two fans run at 6.7k RPM isn't the nicest thing to hear.

Which CPU do you have? Just to make sure which GTX 860m you have.
The last driver I used for the GTX 860m was 353.62. 359.06 hasn't given any problems for my GTX 960m, so try those two drivers. Be sure when uninstalling the Nvidia drivers, you use DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller).
Are you getting any Intel GPU driver crashes?

 

I think that i get no intel driver crashes
the most stable nvidia driver i found is 340.84 which is from dell's support page and i try to install newer drivers (362.00 till now) and i got random freezes lots of time
i will try the 353.62
P/s: im sorry not to inform that im using win 7, i cant use the 353.62 driver

 

The reason I asked about your CPU is because there are two different GTX 860ms depending on which CPU you have.
Not this problem. The "I can't install any driver for some odd reason due to my GTX 860m being so different". See if you can install one of the other Dell Nvidia drivers. Not sure what you mean by being unable to use 353.62 as it is a Windows 7 driver (as well as 8.1 and 10).

 

My bad, my CPU is i7-5500u Broadwell version
I'm worried about the fact that the driver 353.62 is only for win 10, according to Nvidia's driver download site.

 

I linked you 353.62 for Windows 7 (click the link in my previous post). Use it.

 

For the first 10 min, it works really good, better than any driver except the 340. I will keep tracking to see if there is any problem occur.
Thank you for the drivers.
Btw, do you know which driver is suitable for my laptop in win 10 ?
I had to roll back to win 7 from 10 due to the driver problems also.

 

Does anyone know how to enable DSR? I assume its cause Nvidia doesn't have drivers for the Alienware 13 R2 yet and I'm using the dell drivers. I can see MFAA in the control panel though.

If that's the case, can someone show me how to mod the latest nvidia drivers for my system? I remember it being mentioned that its possible somewhere.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-13-r2-bios-1-2-13.791255/

I don't know if DSR works when one uses Optimus.
As for modding the dirver, all you have to do is mod (well, add to it) the nvdmi.inf file to include your GTX 965m ID. Or you can copy-paste your current .inf file contents (should be nvdm) into nvdmi.

 

Hi, I bought an Alienware 13 R2 from eBay without a hard drive. Turns out it doesn't have the SATA interposer cable or an M.2 board and cable or any way to hook up a hard drive. Do any of you know what part number the 13 R2 cable is or even the part number of the M.2 NGFF board? I bought a cable from eBay for a 13, but apparently the R1 and R2 have different sizes where it connects to the motherboard. Are there any other dell laptops that would use the same connection? Thank you in advance for any information you can give me.

 

Has anyone tried ordering the larger battery from Dell and installing it in the R1 yet? Contemplating on doing this. My laptop is about a year old now and under the Dell Diagnostics, it says my battery health is already down to 82% :/

 

Just noticed something interesting. Ran the Alienware Diagnostics (Hit F12 when you turn the laptop on) and if you go to the Configuration tab, it will tell you how many charge cycles the battery has gone through. I've gone through 51 cycles within the last 12 months. Not too bad... but not sure if that should be giving me an 82% battery health.

For comparison purposes (I'm sure this is probably not a good comparison), Apple states that their batteries should be able to reach 1000 recharge cycles before being considered completely consumed ( https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201585). Has anyone been able to find any kind of documentation like this for the Alienware laptops?

Also note: The meaning of "charge cycles" might vary per product (battery manufacturer). i.e. If your device has 70% battery life left and you charge it back to 100%, this might not be counted as a 'charge cycle'.

 

Had not noticed... what battery?

 

13 R1 / R2
300 cycles. However, no definition of a cycle is given.

 

Ouch. I thought I had read it somewhere, but I could not remember. Has anyone successfully been able to order the 62 WHr battery from Dell and install it in the 13 R1 yet?

 

Hi @Game7a1 , I still have a problem with your driver solution. At first 4 days, it worked flawlessly. But now when I unplug and try to play some game I get random freeze and several BSOD related to TDR. Please help me fix this issue.

 

Okay, uninstall both Nvidia and Intel GPU drivers using DDU. Then, install the latest from Intel for the HD 5500 (not from Dell) and install the same Nvidia driver from before. To play it safe, do not install Geforce Experience, and make sure Windows Update doesn't update your GPU drivers (in other words, disable automatic updates, and disable any optional update to your GPU).
Also make sure you have the latest BIOS.

 

Errrrrr

Anyone seriously getting close to that 10hr battery life claimed on the dell website?

 

Hello,
does the gtx965m in the 13 r2 support hdcp 2.2? And which 3200x1800 screen panel is build in?
Thanks for the answers!

 

Its not an accessory listed for R1. All R2 come with.... I was not able to order without 62WHr.

451-BBQK <--- this is the number I found. Specifically, "Battery 4C62 [451-BBQK]"

I dont see where to order this.

 

2.5"

 

I'm sorry, but I don't know/remember what you have in the laptop. Do you currently have an M.2 SSD or the 2.5" SSHD?

 

In it I have a normal spinning drive. I would like to add a 2.5" ssd. Idk how to describe it, but it is this drive: http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...isite/SSD/global/html/ssd850evo/overview.html

 

You can't add another 2.5" drive. You'll have to replace the SSHD with the SSD you want if you want to upgrade.

 

Anyone else have any ideas where I can order this and try to install it into my R1?

 

Have you tried contacting the Parts and Accessories Department?

 

Hi guys,

After many sleepless nights I'm more or less set on picking up an AW13. Just have a couple of questions which I was hoping someone could answer for me. Wish I could find out these things in person, but no shops in India have a sample unit, and sales reps around here are about as qualified in tech matters as Subway sandwich makers.

1. How good/bad is the trackpad on the AW13? I'm upgrading from a 3 year old Lenovo Thinkpad E430, which IMO has a nice trackpad with great gesture support (UltraNav). I've read numerous threads trashing the trackpad. While I will obviously use a mouse for gaming, I'll be using the trackpad to get my regular work done (usually a lot of formatting in Word, Excel, and a bunch of web browsing for research). Is the trackpad so bad that it would get in the way of doing this basic stuff? Also, more important sub-question: do the touchpad drivers support 3-finger clicks for middle click (this is second nature for me, so it would be a deal-breaker), and three finger swipes for navigating pages?

2. M.2 SSD models aren't available here, so I only have the option of the 500GB SSHD variant, which I plan to swap out for a Samsung 850 Evo 2.5". Would that be compatible/fit in the mounting bracket?

Would really help if someone could answer these

Thanks a bunch!

 

It is a usable trackpad once you get used to default "zones". That said, its one of the worst I've used just because of the button control. With no tweaks/adjustments, it really needed dedicated mouse buttons.

My system came with a standard HD. Now swapped to SSD850 Evo. No issues.

 

Could you elaborate on what you mean by button control? Also is there an interface with the newer trackpad driver to configure gestures like 3 finger taps? And lastly, does Windows 10 recognize the touchpad as a precision touchpad?

Thanks!

 

Important to know that I have NOT tried to alter the behavior in any way or change driver/software. I'm referencing button control as there are not dedicated buttons but rather zones or areas in the pad to use. How this is setup doesn't work well with my fingers for left vs right click.

The "feel" of it seems fine so no complaints, but I doubt it is best in class. I do no use multi-finger control.

Lastly, I would tell you in Win10 it says "Device cannot start, Code10". I never noticed this but in Win8 it didnt say and I notice no diff in either OS.

 

NOT my post but related. Sorry for off topic... http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-13-touchpad-driver.767297/page-3#post-10184121

Read through this and other links and enabled the proper driver (already installed)

 

Yes except the controls are not in windows Settings but in touchpad app. I tested all of these: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/touchpad-gestures-for-windows-10.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks a bunch! If I could ask you for one tiny favour. Could you post a screenshot of what the touchpad app looks like? Does it come as part of the driver?

 

There ya go...

 

Thank you!

 

Hi everyone, I am debating whether to get the Alienware directly from Microsoft or Dell.

Microsoft offers the i7 6500u, 16GB DDR3L, 256GB PCIe, 960m

Or directly from Dell and upgrade the GPU to 965m for $300 CAD more.

Are there any delays in shipment from Dell now with the new OLED Alienware 13 coming out soon?

 

I have. They said the the only battery listed for sale is the 54whr battery. I don't think I told them I had a r1 AW13, but they kept asking me for my service tag number. I didn't give it to them.
If I did have the r2 AW13, I don't think I could order one either, which seems odd. I was told by the tech dept. ( on a separate call several days earlier) that it wouldn't fit the chassis of the r1, but I think they never tried and were just assuming (lying).

 

The AW13 track pad is pretty bad.
I find the surface rough and causes breaks in swipe gestures. It also makes my skin crawl like rubbing a wooden popsicle stick through my teeth. I like glassy, smooth touch pads like on the Samsung Ativ book 8.
As for the missing buttons that a lot of people complain about, I haven't used touch pad buttons at all since multi finger gestures were introduced.
Why doesn't everyone just use single finger tap for left click and two finger tap for right click? I wish it didn't move down at all.
When you tap it, it has a cheap plasticy wiggle instead of a solid feel.
I've used two finger gestures like two finger swipe for scrolling, but I've never tried 3 finger gestures.
If your AW13 comes with a SSHD bracket, the Samsung 850 evo 2.5" will fit perfectly and be a great choice. That's the drive I replaced it with and couldn't be happier.

 

If you can swing the price, I think the 965 is a good upgrade, since it's about a 25% (according to earlier benchmarks) boost from the 960.

While OLED will probably look nice, I'd be curious to see how he input lag is on it.

 

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us...re-13-r2&driverId=R7G8N&c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04
OLED panel may be coming soon.

 

The Australian store lists the following:

"F ree Upgrade to QHD+ OLED Display - Ends Thurs, June 2"

I'm confused. Have been eagerly awaiting the 1440p OLED screen... but now it's saying that the QHD+ is OLED?

 

The Australian store lists the following:

"F ree Upgrade to QHD+ OLED Display - Ends Thurs, June 2"

I'm confused. Have been eagerly awaiting the 1440p OLED screen... but now it's saying that the QHD+ is OLED?

 

Hey guys,

Just wanted to basically answer my own question since I picked up my AW13 R2 last night.

I'm in love with the machine, and my only hang-up in the process of buying it was the touchpad. In all the display units I tested, the touchpad just seemed woeful and draggy and horrible.

HOWEVER, I don't know what it is over the past 24 hours, whether it's just my fingers getting accustomed to the surface, or something else, but I'm actually quite happy with the trackpad. It's not close to Macbook or XPS level, but it feels very smooth to use, two finger scrolling and zooming is fine. I've also managed to find registry hacks for Synaptics to get 3 finger taps and swipes to do exactly what I want them to.

I find a few occasional mis-clicks (touchpad moves a little instead of registering a click; this is 2 or 3 out of a hundred clicks, ballpark)

So on the whole, couldn't be happier. It's a beautiful little machine that does exactly what I want. Money very well spent

So if people are wondering about the trackpad quality (I know this is very subjective), let me be one of the few to tell you that it's not as bad as the reviews online make it out to be.

And I've seen a lot of people in various forums trying to find ways to configure three finger gestures. Rest assured, with a little bit of registry tweaking, it can all be done

 

Okay, now I'd like to ask another question.

So through a major oversight while picking my unit up from the shop, I didn't notice that my AW13 has a minor blemish around the keyboard body. I can't tell exactly what it is. It looks like some kind of dent on the bottom left corner of the keyboard area.

Image -> http://imgur.com/ngV5ez5

I don't live in the country where I bought it (has worldwide warranty though) and I had to leave the next day, but I noticed this and it's bothering me. Obviously I can't go into the shop and trade it for a new one since I'm not in the country anymore, but I'm wondering, is this blemish something to worry about? I was planning to just put a sticker over it and forget about it, but could this be anything more sinister?

Thoughts? Also, is this part of the laptop body the kind where they could replace it?

Thanks in advance

 

The palm rest is replaceable, so if you wanted a new palm rest, you can replace it. However, it just seems to be cosmetic damage.

 

Delete. Servers are messing with posts.

 

Just to clarify, there is a button zone or area designated as a button - but without any detectable border or division. Result is getting a right click or left click when trying for the other (long story on hand placement).

Some improvement in what I think of the pad by disabling navigation in the button zone.

Note: I seldom use the trackpad and when I do, gestures are not used. Old habits die hard!

 

Long time lurker first time poster.... Hopefully one of you guys can help source a cable.

Got my alienware 13 R2 it came with the hideous WXGA monitor so I upgraded it myself to the QHD+ touchscreen (which is a very easy painless swap btw). In the meantime, an issue came up with the motherboard so the Alienware onsite service person came to replace the board and in the process broke the eDP cable. Alienware refuses to fix it or even send me a replacement cable other than the cable that fit the original configuration (original eDP cable p/n is 0C0XT). The part I need and that they refuse to send is I believe 4YX53.


Any clue on where to source this cable? And beware of the onsite service techs and their sketchy service.

 

You mean the cable for the QHD+ panel, right? You could get one on ebay (they seem to have everything).
If you didn't buy that panel through Dell, then they won't cover any upgrade that isn't a part of the original configuration. That said, them breaking something you bought is not right, either.

 

About to pull the trigger on a 13 with the 965M.

Does anyone know if this is the refreshed 965M (Ti) or the original lower clocked one? Thanks.