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

Not sure, may want to ask Alienware. 2-3 weeks seems long. I also got it just a week from ordering. You may want to call them back and say you need it earlier. Hopefully the replacement wont have any issues for you, i've heard many great great things about the UHD display.

 

They told me the same. My system was in repair for 3.5 weeks until I asked for a refund. The Dell rep who called me offered me either a refund or a new system with 2-3 weeks wait time.

 

What about the 30 day money back policy? Does it apply to the replacement as well?

EDIT: It does, finally got to chat with a rep, was 596 in line...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

You should contact Dell about that. I recommend doing that by Email so you have proof in case they tell you something and then don't honor it later on.

 

You have a point there, will do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Also, does anyone else feel like opening the components bay door is like pulling teeth?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Bought the base model 15 R2 w/ 6th gen i7 - 670 video - 1TB 7200 RPM HDD - 8GB.

Purchased 16GB DDR4 Ram and 2 - 500GB m.2 drives from Newegg. NOTE you need to supply your own screws for the m.2 drives. My plan is to transfer the boot drive to 1 of the m.2 drives - use the other for game and specialized programs storage and keep the spinning disc for long term storage until I can get a 2TB+ SSD for less than $400.

It does take a LONG time to boot from the mechanical drive. I will update as I get things installed.

16GB G.Skill RIPjAWS DDR4 So-DIMM booted up and was recognized. Have to locate screws for the M.2 drives. standard m2-3mm screws. Why wouldn't Alienware include the 2 screws? Also the screws on my rear panel were cross stripped. Looks like they are hiring the cheapest labor to get the price down. Hope I can get it trucking a little quicker soon, or I may return and wait for R3.

 

I've also got a bit of backlight bleed, although nowhere close to what you have.
Try pressing the edges of the screens at the bezels, does it go away?
My guess is that it's not a problem with the display but a problem with the fitment of it.

 

You gotta use a plastic pry tool to undo the "hooks". Just find a flat piece of soft plastic and run it around the edges of the door, but a pry tool would be safest.

 

Interesting. I have the exact same model as you with the 1 TB HDD and my machine boots into the login screen in 13 seconds. Do you have fast startup turned on? Try a system reset as that worked for me on other computers with the same problem.

 

A system reset may do trick, also there is problems with old version of drivers with the freefall sensor, download latest driver from dell and reinstall it.

 

Tried pressing my finger along the bezel, no effect, in fact I think it worsened a bit in one place. I also think it might be a setting problem rather than the display itself, in which case it becomes a lottery in whether it's assembled appropriately in the factory or not.

 

Doing my initial start-ups and installs right now. I will report more as I go along. I just found a few of the start-ups extraordinarily long.
Going to install my M.2 drives when the screws arrive on Wed. Leaving on a business trip for the next few days and will take the R2 with me and play around with it.

 

Replacement system went into production today. Fingers crossed for the screen second time around.

Oh and the USB issue is back: devices aren't recognized on wake or boot. They have to be unplugged them plugged back in.

 

Even USB mouse & keyboard?

 

Another (slightly) annoying problem I've discovered on my 15 R2:
If I have a headphone plugged in and then unplug it, the sound doesn't work through the laptop speakers until I do a restart.



Anyone else have this?

 

Check the windows 10 drivers, with the November update my speakers stop working and stuff, i reinstall them and problem solved

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

I don't use a keyboard but I may have to since the keyboard is a bit cramped, but yes, the mouse.

Also, timed the battery drain from 100 percent to 7 while playing fallout 4: 1 ****ing hour. ONE HOUR! Is this normal under a heavy workload? I know it's not always the most accurate but windows reported 11 hours till drain. I haven't tested it yet under a normal, office application woekload, however.

 

1-1.5 hours is normal. Under Windows it's only that good because of Optimus and the integrated graphics card.

 

you're joking right? You think that 1 hour playing a game that just came out on full settings is bad?? Do you realise how much power it takes? 1h gaming is pretty good imo. This is a gaming laptop.
You should get 5-6 hours of Web use and video etc use..

 

Just ordered my 15" R2 a few days ago. Says it will be delivered on the 28th. I ended up going with the following:

16Gb RAM
GTX 980M with 8GB of RAM
i7-6700HQ
15.6 inch UHD screen
1TB mechanical drive
Graphics Amplifier

I'm pretty excited about getting this laptop and saving some space. I'm downsizing from a desktop with an EVGA SR-2 with 4 monitors to this with 2.

 

Looks like my AW15 R2 is going to get here a week early! Had an ETA of 12/23, but just got a FedEx shipping notice. Sweet.

It's got the i7-6700HQ, GTX 970, 16GB RAM, 1TB 7200 RPM, and UHD.

Now I need to find a good M.2 SSD to toss in. Considering just getting the OEM PM951; although I suppose something cheaper like the older 850 EVO would work. Just looking for the best bang for my buck right now.

If anybody has suggestions that work well on this guy, I'm open.

 

i have used both aw 15 r1 and aw 15 r2. both or them have 4k uhd display

i can confirm they both use same panel but part number is different

and the screen on r1 is noticably brighter

 

Hi guys,

Please bear with me, as english isn't my first language, so i hope you all can understand me.

First of all, i am an owner of alienware 15 R1 4k 980m with I7 4710hq.
Have been using it for the last 4 weeks, and today my R1 system was replaced with a i7 6700hq 980m 4k Uhd (alienware 15 R2 ) device.
It was replaced by Dell, due to the fact that they broke my case and motherboard cable clasp when they tried to repair my broken led fx light.

Let me compare the two.
R1 = The screen is perfect, even viewing it in pitch black at 100% brightness, i see no blacklight bleed at all.
R2= Altho the screen looks wonderful, and if you were looking at the r1 screen for the last few weeks, then there will be some problem. The black light bleeding on my r2 is insanely noticable, and which the r1 4k screen doesn't even have any bleeding at all.

Brightness:
Other than that you can really tell that the brightness of the r2 300nits panel is about 33% darker, but by no means unusable. i actually rarely use my r1 screen at 100% anyways. usually only 10% lol.
however, if you compare the r1 and r2 100% brightness side by side , i am sure you will notice the difference. (i no longer have the r1 with me, only have r2, but i noticed the differences are about 33%).

Color:
let me say this, r1 screen is a glossy panel. And the color is very very vivid. And now with my new R2 screen, i can really tell that the screen are warmer also the color are not as vivid.
how about R1 = samsung s6 screen Vs R2 = iphone 6 screen.
Yes, i mean it. the color is more accurate on the r2, which is less vivid and black is also very good on the r2 if and only if you are not viewing a solid full black screen.

for gaming the r1 screen is just too perfect, no bleeding at all and color are as vivid as some super amoled display. Howe3ver, if you are into photo making, i would say r2 4k screen produces more accurate color.

R1 and R2 display uses exactly the same panel with just different model ID:
please take a look at the photo below for proof, but they look very different

Conclusion:
to me , i perfer the r1 screen for gaming, but r2 screen isn't bad at all. so you shouldn't worry. i am going to stay with my r2 as the performance in gaming is just better.
even tho both of my r1 and my r2 has 980m.

I am more happy with my alienware 15 now than ever, the screen is not as good. but everything else is better .

[/url][/IMG]





r2 4k White screen , not that bad

 

As i said, i am more happy with my r2. due to the fact that this is my gaming device, and the performance difference is noticable.

i got 41 fps at 4k ultra in project cars on my r1. and 51 fps at 4k ultra on my r2.

I am not sure how tho. also the r2 seems to have more resolution from intel graphic setting.
before i can't use 2560x 1660 and on r2 i have a few more res setting between 4k to 1080p
on r1 there are only 2 other option which is 16:9 or one that is 16:10. . if i remember correctly it was something like 2058 x 1158.
But some how with same panel my r2 is able to select and play 2560 x 1660 res( correct me if i am wrong, i really don't remeber the exact res of those setting.)

This is r1 100% brightness Black screen , as you can see its perfect


This is r2 4k 100% brightness

 

project car at 4k

 

@wc326 Your images aren't showing.

 

You know I took a break from Dell for six years and really hoped they stopped this ********.. Four different kinds of panels for the exact same form factor!!? This blows my mind. Why dell why. They get it right in the r1 and then do this to us for r2- is this to ensure there is no perfect device ?
I'm 99% sure my UHD panel will have light bleed and I take delivery of it tomorrow..

Not looking forward to dealing with this

 

They do it because they can. Most users never know and don't care. If it powers on most people are fine. The wouldn't know or care about color calibration, light bleed, yellow tint etc.

Therefore Dell can use whatever panel they can source at the right profit price point or delivery timeframe depending on the imperative of the day.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Yes, this is concerning. If everything else is awesome, I may live with very minor light bleed. Considering price, performance, quality, etc. But any more than that, and it'll go back. Personal preference of course, some folks don't care/notice; it just drives me crazy.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

is it showing? i can still see them on my pc

 

I want to switch off led on a power button but i cant choose black option in alienfx. does anyone else have a simmilar problem?

 

I am in the same pickle. For now i decided to just go with size over speed but in the future I definitely plan on getting on of the PCIe drives. The one I chose was this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147399

 

I just took delivery of my r2. The build quality and size are great. Initial impressions are very bad on the UHD screen however really really bad to the point where I should have saved myself 300£ and skipped out on this screen. Firstly the back light bleed is terrible. I'm trying to upload a pic but I'm dealing with light bleed all around with specifically big blotches on the left and top of the screen. It's bad. The next thing is the matte finish I mean what the hell are they thinking? The whites look dirty and the pixels are obfuscated you can't even tell it's a UHD screen. Did anyone at alienware bother to look at this screen at all? I'm really unsure what to do because this machine was going to go with me on holiday. I'm going to try to get a discount from Dell back on this UHD screen for now and take it from there. Big thumbs down on the poor quality UHD screen and poor quality matte finish.

 

You're right, the backlight bleed has become an issue on these latest display panels. My UHD has the same problem, but I'm thinking it's nowhere near as bad as yours. Mine is present in the loading screen (Alienware logo one) on the top left and top right, but after that it's not noticeable at all. I would have loved it if it wasn't present at all, but what to do.

However the matte finish is perfect as far as matte finish screens go. I mean i can read really really tiny text on my screen, and it's extremely clear. Even the colors are perfect. I had a glossy RGBLED Dell Trulife screen before this, and the whites look whiter and the colors look more real on this one. The text is extremely crisp, I love doing anything on this screen.
So it might be that your screen is faulty. I would get it replaced if I were you.

That's another issue with the current AW lineup, the quality control sucks so much.

 

So, Its been almost a week since I got my Alienware 15 R2 with FHD screen. I love it so far, but theres some things that are kinda bugging me and worthy of a replacement. So first off, theres a pretty significant bulge on the palm rest to the left of the arrow keys. Its not huge or anything but for a $1100+ laptop thats not acceptable. Next, the camera module is misaligned with the glass on the case. It doesnt affect the visual quality but its still not to be expected. Also, the "alienware" logo on the bottom of the screen does not light up evenly, its not that bad, but still noticeable. And lastly, this may be complaining on a high level, but one of hinges is very slightly tilted and misaligned with the rest of the case. That doesnt bother me very much though. Other than that, everything else is perfect. Ill be posting some pictures soon. Does anyone else have any of the problems that I'm experiencing?
Alienware better replace my $1000+ machine.

 

the screen is growing on me.. the colors seem better now.. i can probably live with the matte finish, even if i prefer glossy.

However the backlight bleed on the left is awful.. putting up a movie and its all i can stare at. it would be fine if it didnt pass more than a few CM like the rest of the edges and sides of the display taht are bleeding, but i have a nice fat blotch on the upper left that is coming in about 3/4 of an inch .. its bad.

Dell takes two steps forward and one back, seems they're still at it!

 

Hello all, just got my Alienware 15 R2 - i7-6700HQ, GTX 970m, 1TB HDD in yesterday. Impressed by the looks, played 4 hours on it, the fans do a good job at keeping the CPU/GPU cool but does anyone else notice the area of the panel above the RAM slots get a bit hot? Uncomfortable to touch.

I can't find a spare panel on eBay to hack so I may be going with a custom clear acrylic cover mod: red LEDs and internal fan in the HDD slot ideas are in the head at the moment. Non-invasive MODS that won't void warranty.


Also, I took the panel off to look at my storage upgrade path and found that the two m.2 slots are in fact M Key edges and not the elder B Key edges. I read up about other users unable to boot off a Samsung SM951 NVME m.2 drive on other Alienware models.

I have a 128GB Samsung SM951 AHCI OEM version with the M Key on order, should be here friday. I'll post up my findings to see I can get it working.

Also going into my build is a 500GB Samsung EVO 850 msata on a 2.5" adapter.

Other gripes: laptop only as a single HDMI output but with the USB-C / 3.1 / Thunderbolt / Graphics Accelerator may solve this issue, just needs some money pumped into it.

 

Why are you using the battery to game? In my experience, gaming performance on battery has always half of that on AC. I've only used the battery for non-gaming tasks and MineCraft on the go.

 

Easy peasy on my 15 R2: loosen screws, use gift card to pry between the screws, then pry on sides (DO NOT PRY on opposite edge of the screws), lifted up end with the screws, slid at an angle (up and towards the rear of the laptop where the fan exhaust is) and it came right out.

 

Just download the Windows 10 drivers from Dell to your C: drive in a directory, call it "Windows 10 drivers" or something, and do the upgrade. Once it's complete, just install the drivers from that folder. This is the proper-planning upgrade path.

What I usually do is a clean install using a Windows 10 install flash drive. The newest Windows 10 build 10586 does a great job of pulling your Windows 8 key from the UEFI bios and auto-activation. I then use Windows Update to pull drivers automatically. If the wifi doesn't work right off the bat, I have a spare USB wifi stick I use until Windows Update installs the drivers.

 

I took a look at the RAM sticks in my 15 R2, they are the same 4GB SKHynix DDR4 sticks that I see in other brand laptops.
I would recommend a full shutdown, pull the battery cable going to the board, hold down the power button with the battery disconnected to drain the flea power, then do the ram upgrade.
Perhaps that is the problem faced by other users: laptop booting up on "sleep" or "hibernate"and looking for data that are no longer in RAM.

Hope this helps.

 

Good Afternoon All!

Posting as a new owner of a 15r2 Nvidia 980M and 6820HK . . . that's the good news! but the bad news is that when I change my OC level to OC 3 . . . I'm getting repeated "whea_uncorrectable_error" and restart / complete lockups. This is only for OC3 . . . OC1 and 2 seem to work fine. I'm even able to run a 3DMark on those levels. I have the enhanced fans turned on - fan sounds don't bother me . . . .

I've searched this forum and only found a couple of references to that error and it was in the 17 series . . . anyone else seen this?

I do think the temps are a bit high . . during the below test it hit near and above 100C during the Physics and Combined test . . .the GPU barely popped over 50C throughout the entire test (Graphics 1, Graphics 2, Physics and Combined)
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6807353

Obviously I'm going to reach out to support but what's the best thing to do? Push for a replacement? (cause if they replace the motherboard it's going to be refurbished??) or just let them replace the parts that they need to replace?

Thanks!


Farson

 

Farson,

Did you get the 8GB version of the 980m?

 

lol I left that detail out . . . it was ordered that way but HWInfo and GPU-Z are reporting 4gb . . . so that was another point I was going to bring up . . .

 

Yeah, that's what I've had in my cart, but thinking I'll try my older 2.5" 512GB SSD I already have laying around. Make sure it works out. Especially considering M.2 SSD prices jumped back up again. After holidays, should hopefully settle back down.

More sad news, especially with mine due tomorrow. The question is then, should this prove to be unacceptable... who makes a comparable gaming system with a good quality panel these days? I was looking at Sager/Clevo P650RE3 before I ordered the AW15, but they have more than enough light bleed issues with all of their panels as well.

 

Do you have the 240W power supply? I heard something about Dell shipping out the upper tiers with the regular 180W power supply causing throttling issues.

 

Nyiab X

I'm seeing under Input on the pack that it's showing 100-240V~50-60Hz 3.5A . . . it's a Flextronics and going into the bios it is reporting 240W

 

My new 15 r2 arrived today, but was NOT expecting a USB Type C instead of Mini Displayport unlike my old Alienware 14. Can anyone recommend an adapter to get 2560x1440 out to my DVI Dual Link input???