*OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R1/R2 Owner's Lounge

Just give me a second I'm not using that computer at the time.. Give me 7 minutes

 

its 60hz

 

please delete

 

Display GPU: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
Render GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M

3840x2160 @ 48p Hz / 60p Hz

 

Sorry to hear that. The way my experience has been going, I may not be far from walking down the same path as you. So what are you looking to replace the AW with?

 

Thanks.

 

honestly, i'm not sure. i still research the Razer Blade, but there hasn't been any reviews yet of the 1080p version, and none of the current owners have responded to me regarding their thoughts on it. i'm also really worried about the heat factor. and my pre sale experience with their customer service has not been good. i may look into the clevo or msi options, but their build quality is just not great also.

 

This asus should be releasing, at least, by summer.

http://rog.asus.com/399392015/g-ser...light-15-inch-gaming-laptop-with-4k-pcie-ssd/

 

I returned mine for an Omen; it's probably not as powerful as what y'all are looking for but it'll work well for me since I already have a desktop. It should be here next week and I'll post up a review as long as nothing is wrong with it when it arrives.

 

oh yea, i've been tracking that. i just wish i knew when it'll be released, as i've been waiting quite a while now to just get settled with a gaming notebook. dunno if i can wait any longer. Asus hasn't given any updates in a while too.

 

can a second hdd be installed on this one guys?

 

I really like my Alienware 15, i had the 14, sold it to buy the new one. I think there fast powerful and pretty durable for my needs. Plus they seem to push anything i throw at it without issues, and the one thing i really like with this years models. Is its quiet, when running a game.

The stock Alienware is slow, i have since upgraded the Harddrives and added 16gb of Ram, which makes a VERY notable difference.

 

Ok guys, finally my laptop arrived!!!
what can i say? i just opened it, now i need a little time to play with it, got work so will do later on, but i gotta say it looks AMAZING.
i love the glossy 4k screen, the built quality seems very good.
Can't say much more now, just that i am finally an Alienware 15 owner

 

I have a question for all of you who have returned a Dell product. Has anyone insured the product before sending it back? Also, do you usually get a prepaid shipping label from them?

 

Nope. They emailed me a shipping label so I didn't have to pay anything for the return shipping.

 

Thank you very much! I'll call them today and try to arrange for the shipping label.

 

Did you already receive a refund, if not, do you know how long it will take for them to give the refund?

 

I believe it only took them around a week to refund me after they received it. However they say it can take up to 30 days.

 

As another 14 owner, I like the break from the 14's square frame. The 15's angled rear section adds some visual appeal (near power outlet). I would say that the 14's screen is a little more vivid, featuring brighter/cleaner whites. The Alien fx lighting is also a little brighter on the 14 as well.

 

welcome aboard

 

That HP is a beauty, for sure. I like the pulsing effect of those side palmrest leds. The design is right there with alienware, and would probably be more stealth for office use. The only detriments are the outdated card (860m) and super glossy display. If HP updates it with a 970m, I would probably buy one in a year or two. I'll be anxious to see any personal photos and review/opinions.

 

Omen looks cool and sleek. Good luck! I'd have got something like that if it had at least a 970m. I think I am not prepared to get a laptop that doesn't have a Maxwell GPU.

 

Well the 860M in the Omen is Maxwell but I know what you mean, most people that are looking at the 15 are looking for something powerful that'll serve as their primary machine.

The Omen isn't going to be a gaming laptop for me, it's just gonna be my "ultrabook" with the capability of playing games when I'm away from my desktop. And it should serve that purpose pretty well.

 

Okay, here are my first impressions after 1/2 hours of use:
Looks: i love it, i mean personally i bought it because its the best looking laptop out there,(some say its MacBook, some say Razer, it'sll personal at the end) i love the light show, not too bright, its not the slimmest out there but its not even a brick to carry around.
Built Quality: ok here i dont have much to compare it too, i can just say it feels very solid, i dont mind the plastic as it feels strong.
the palmrest is kind of strange, its a really nice feeling, dont know if it will be durable, but i gotta say its a nice material.
Keyboard is good, i get good typing and feels good to touch, not very noisy, not 100% silent, but thats not a problem to me, back lighting is good enought to see everything in the dark, not too shiny, i like it. The macros on the side, you'll get used in 1 day.
I am still running on battery, looks ok for a 4k panel, it's not going to be like the 1080p version but feels ok for surfing web emails and such.
Heat is ok, it gets warm if you keep it on your lap, but nothing major i think, on top, palmrest is cool, keyboard on the high part is a little warm (still havent done anything to push it)
The screen; here it's the best part (to me) its a beauty, i knew it was going to be nice but to look at it oh man, you can tell the difference fromn 1080p, i am so glad i got it, as i said in earlier posts, gaming isnt main reason why i got the laptop, so this 4k is Amazing, cant say it differently!
yes its glossy, it reflects if there is light behind, but i Always preferred glossy.
well for now this is my impressions, if you have questions, i'm here and laptop too

 

Yeah - I missed that. Thanks for pointing out. I should have said I'd like to have at least a 970M. True - it seems to be pretty good for your case.

Anyways, I got the return label from Dell. I should be sending out my laptop soon. I'll be out again looking for a good gaming laptop.

 

I'd take a look at the Clevo P650SE (Sager NP8651, Mythologic Dia, etc.), it's probably the most popular 970M notebook here on NBR. That's what I'd be going with if I still wanted the 970M or higher.

EDIT: Also check out the P750ZM (NP9752) if weight and battery life aren't important to you.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I was about to pull the trigger on a NP8652, but I saw the new AW 15 and thought I'd give it a try. While the build of AW definitely looks better than that of Sager and is classy, it seems that Dell's quality control is sub-par. It may also be that once Dell's production line becomes stable with the new AWs, the quality may improve. I suggested the NP8651 to my colleague and he has it - it has been working like a charm. Sager's build lacks the looks though - so if I want my laptop to look good I'll have to look elsewhere. However, I really doubt there is anything out there that looks good and is reliable - unless Apple starts their own line of 970M laptops.

 

I agree 100%, I was in the same exact situation haha

 

Regarding the P750ZM, I was closely following that too before I starting looking at AW. I think the P75x series is very good - CPU is powerful and the GPU is not soldered, so I can get the 980M with 8GB. My only concern is the cooling. I am not sure if the desktop CPU would run as cool as its laptop counterparts - don't remember, but I think people were saying that the max temp may be 90C and upwards.

 

I think they were hitting low to mid 90s with a 4790K at full load, but if you just picked up a 4690K (which is plenty for gaming) I would imagine the temps would be a good bit lower.

 

Thanks! Will check out the 4690K.

 

You have the Razer Blade. The downsides are the ports and the storage. If you can get over that it's the best 970M notebook out there.

 

Wow! I was actually trying to find someone who owned a 2015 Blade. I'm fine with the ports and the storage. I was wondering about the temps though. How bad can it get? How has your experience been? Can you compare the temps of the blade with that of others in the same category? Thanks a lot!

My skepticism is based on the reports on this forum. Many have said the cooling is not good - not sure I have read enough to figure out on what basis.

 

Temps are pleasantly surprising. But it seems I'm getting lower temps than most. Over a 15 minutes XTU stress test, I average 85 degrees and the max temps after a firestrike run is 77 degrees. Pretty good temps for the form factor if you ask me. The CPU doesn't get any hotter than the P650SE (NP8651) CPU. The GPU does run hotter but it almost never gets to 80 degrees so it's not an issue. The body usually stays cool.

 

Temps are pleasantly surprising. But it seems I'm getting lower temps than most. Over a 15 minutes XTU stress test, I average 85 degrees and the max temps after a firestrike run is 77 degrees. Pretty good temps for the form factor if you ask me. The CPU doesn't get any hotter than the P650SE (NP8651) CPU. The GPU does run hotter but it almost never gets to 80 degrees so it's not an issue. The body usually stays cool. The only game where it really gets warm is Crysis 3 but the only spot uncomfortable to touch is around the power button. The rest of the body is warm but completely comfortable.

 

Thanks! I'm going to check the Blade as well.

 

Also keep in my mind that it does get quite a bit loud under load, Max volumes on the PC or Headphones drown the sound of the fans but it's something you should consider if you're looking for something relatively quiet under load. Fan is usually inaudible otherwise though. Good luck!

 

The main downfall of the razer blade is the stupid display. It has two checks which kill it in my eyes, mirror-like screen and a resolution which cannot be evenly downscaled to 1080p (for gaming). In order to do the "even pixel" downscale method, you will have to play like on 900p(with possible blurriness). They really could have won people over with their newly added 1080p matte display. Yet, they decided to only allow the 1080p to have a max of 8gb soldered ram. That is a bonkers move, as it would have been nearly perfect with that screen and the necessary ram. I had the Clevo 650se, that you guys have mentioned, and its build quality was Walmart-like for me. The metal bits felt wayyyyy cheaper than the 15's quality plastic. Every time that i touched the palmrest, or other "metal" parts, a cheap, hollow rattling sound effect would emanate. Its screen was also flimsy as hell like reports from gs60 Ghost owners.

While I have had my share of troubleshooting and broken service door, I can hands down say that the Alienware 15 is the all around best consumer 15 inch laptop on the planet. No other product will give you the strongest gpu, good cpu, matte and glossy display options, somewhat decent maintenance access, graphics amp option, warranty, eye candy, and the great community. Good luck to those who look elsewhere. The Asus g501 looks like a nice package, but it will only have the 960m (most likely). Really the 15 inch market should be the primary attention for laptop makers. It is the perfect size for easy viewing, storage options, room for cooling, and portability. Here's to some good, future competition for the A 15.

 

I couldn't disagree with you more and I'm not even saying this because I own a blade. The screen isn't any glossier than any other touch screen out there. It's also one of the brightest screens around with well over 300 nits so reflections are easily countered. Its quality has been praised by virtually every other reviewer out there. The whole perfect downscaling thing is a very theoretical. It does not always work in practice and besides the real place where you would be able to see the difference is on the desktop not in games. Playing games at 1080p looks just as good as it did on my P650SE and 900p is certainly not blurry (why would it be blurry?) as I use that res more often to max out games. Although I do agree that the P650SE didn't have the best build quality, it was solid and there was certainly no rattling sound from the Palm rest (at least with mine). At the end of the day, people buy what works best for them. I personally don't find a 15 inch, 7 pound, 1.4 inch machine to be the perfect size but that doesn't mean that it isn't for a lot of people. The AW15 has issues that other PCs don't have and vice versa. There is no perfect machine.

 

I don't know the technical jargon, but basically dozens of knowledgeable people have explained that an even number of pixels is needed to correctly populate each cell. For example, the 15's 4k screen of 2160p, can be cleanly divided to 1080p. With the Razer Blade, 1080p would not be possible without splitting a pixel or overcrowding them. I also have heard of stories detailing the resolution struggles with certain games. The games would populate only a box in the center of the screen, as opposed to full screen. So to get the optimal gaming presentation, of 1080p, the Razer must be manually downscaled via the control panel (each session). That seems like an awful amount of work for a nearly 3 grand laptop, especially if the downscaled image is blurry at all. Then the usual 4k screen resolution is ruined by the glossy screen, as it resembles a mirror. I'm also a little prejudiced against 13/14 inch laptops. After finally get back into the perfect 15 inch form factor, my Alienware 14 and XPS 13 feel so inferior due to the screen size and crowded keyboards. Really, in my eyes, any gaming laptop that ventures below 15 inches starts to take on a more upscale Gameboy, toy-like resemblance. I will agree that the 15 would be a better sell at 5.5 lbs (ala 650se) as opposed to the 7 lb total. Of course, you are talking to a guy who has brought his 12 lb Alienware 18 to work many times.

quick googled pics of the mirror display:

http://www.aonecomputer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/razer-blade-6.jpg

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0Ar12ZHYdAE/maxresdefault.jpg

 

So you are saying that there are too many pixels to be fit in too small a real estate. I'm fine with the glossy screen, and as long as I can get to a resolution that isn't blurry and the games occupy the entire screen evenly with pixels, I'm happy.

ChrisAtsin, do you think this is possible without issues?

 

The game opening in a box is a scaling problem. Not a Razer Blade problem, the AW 15 with the 4K display would have the same issue. It also doesn't happen with every game and it takes 5 seconds to fix. What I meant when I said theoretical is that although it makes sense in practice, it is not always the case with every display. But even if we assume that the even number of pixel theory was true, setting the blade to a resolution of 900p would yield the same results with a very similar ppi to an AW15 at 1080p. So 900p on a blade would theoretically give you a very similar experience as 1080p on an AW15. And what do you mean optimal resolution of 1080p? Why is 1080p optimal? And again as I said your preference is 15.6 inch and that is fine but that doesn't make 14 or 17 inch suboptimal for everyone else. Maybe for you but that's you bought a 15.6 inch laptop in the first place. 15 inch is perfect for you. Not for everyone else. I find 14 inches plently for my gaming on the go.
Currently in my dorm room with overhead lighting and the window open. Good luck spotting me.

 

I've always wanted those, that own both the glossy 4k and matte, to take a comparison 1080p pic. I would have loved to have jumped to 4k, but all of the scaling issues make it more of a chore (according to various owners of UHD laptops).

 

When you're using the windows desktop you have to use scaling because there is indeed a lot of pixels. The glossy screen is not an issue as long as your brightness is high enough. Games are not blurry and do occupy the entire screens but because of windows scaling you might have to do 5 seconds of tweaking before launching the game. I'll game at 900p now and take screenshots to show you.

 

I meant that current laptop and even desktop gpus (via amp) are not strong enough for high, AAA game settings above that resolution.

 

My Desktop 980 can handle anything at 1440p. By that definition that would be optimal but it all depends on the size of your screen. My desktop has a 27 inch screen so it doesn't look much sharper than my laptop at 900p to be honest.

 

I'm glad you enjoy the Blade. I think I'm mainly venting over the PC industry's rampant use of impractical glossy screens (seems like 90%). You are correct, though, concerning the 900p even downscaling. That resolution should look nearly as good as a true 900p screen. I just think Razer would have been better served to offer a fully loaded matte 1080p option with a 2160p glossy (clean 1080p downscale). That would cater to both the gaming and graphic design crowd (similar to 15).

 

I used an AMD R290, in the graphics amp, and could never get a consistent 55- 60 fps (1080p; Assassin's Creed Unity/Dying Light). I'm sure a pure desktop setup would do well at 1440p, though.

 

It's true that it wouldn't hurt to have a less glossy screen but maybe that conflicts with touch technology that manufacturers feel they have to include due to Windows 8. I was also bummed when I saw that the 1080p version would only come with 8 GB but I'm glad I got the QHD+ display. I feel like the pros of a high res display outweigh the cons especially with the imminent launch of Windows 10 that promises to fix scaling.

 

Yeah the R9 290 is quite a bit weaker than the 980 and the whole AGA setup bottlenecks the GPU a little bit that must be why. My GPU is a little bit overclocked too. 60+ FPS for Crysis 3, 55-60 for AC Unity. Only with FXAA though.