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

Hey,
- if you can, run some stress tests (e.g. Prime95, Furmark) and tell us how the temps are.
- Do you got a M.2 drive in your 15? Is it as hot (~70 °C) as reported here in the forum?

Well, the option for the USB drive is +20$ (in the US), so I would expect a physical USB drive and not only a download link. But I'm not shure, since this option does not exist in Europe.

 

I don't know. At least in my experience, 4 RAM slots in a 15 inch laptop are rare. However, the mainboard has space for 4 RAM slots, and since the 15 is a desktop replacement with the Graphics Amp, its a shame that we got only 2.

What concerns me more is the fact, that you have to disassemble the notebook to clean the fans, since cant be accesses any more via the maintenance flap.

 

Mine is on fedex truck for delivery!

 

Mine too!

 

It comes on a physical USB drive. Mine was in the box with my power adapter/cable.

 

I've got a question -- on the new 15, is it possible to disable the integrated Intel graphics with Fn-F5 or Fn-F7 (as was the case with some of the older Alienware laptops)? I'm looking at getting a 15 to use with an Oculus and apparently this is the best way to get good refresh rates... thanks!

 

I do not believe you can disable Optimus with the new product line.

 

I received mine two days ago. Solid feel as always and a smooth accurate touchpad. 980m version.

Ive had an Aleinware 17 2014, GS60, P650SG (which I didn't game on due to damage during manufacturing), and an Alienware 13.

Both the GS60 and the P650SG had CPU fans that would ramp up during generally computing tasks about every minute or so. That got really annoying. The Alienware 15 remains silent.

The GS60 and Alienware 13 were pretty loud at load. The GS60 had more of a high pitched sound. The 15 seems to be more subdued. Its audible but its more of a dull constant noise. Not too loud in my opinion . Keep in mind that I do not have the notebook's back towards a hard surface which would increase the overall sound form the fans at load. All during AC Unity and FC3/FC4 gameplay.

The P650Sg had a similar smooth and accurate trackpad. I felt that the trackpad of the GS60 wasn't very accurate, had a rough texture, and I didn't like the fact that it was so close to the front edge of the laptop. The 13 had a rough textured surface as well which I didn't like at all. I cannot for the life of me understand why Dell would do that. It actually became really uncomfortable to use after about ten minutes.

In regards to build quality, while the GS60 was solid, its lid was very very flimsy. The P650Sg surprised me at how flimsy its lid, keyboard, and bottom panel were. I mean for the price, you cant beat the components but I was pretty shocked at the low build quality. None of the reviews I read seemed to cover the build quality accurately in my opinion. When I take my laptop to work, I just don't want to worry about at item in my bag pressing into the lid of the screen and possibly causing damage. The 13 was very solidly built and the 15 is the same. Solid lid, solid bottom panel, and the keyboard just does not flex. I know there is the argument that the 15 costs much more but for me personally, I will cough up the extra $400 for a solid build.

I replaced the HD with an SSD and broke off one of the bottom panel retention pins. Be very careful when removing it.

The warranty price for the 15 is ridiculous but its necessary now. Sager charges about half the price.

 

Yikes, that would be a bummer. Can anyone with a new 15 confirm that Fn-F5 or Fn-F7 doesn't disable the intel graphics?

I guess my other option is to pick up an Alienware 14 on clearance... (albeit with a weaker GPU).

 

Did you perform a clean install or did you use Alien Respawn? I'm in a dilemma as respawning would be easier but everyone seems to suggest a clean install to avoid any issues with the ssd. I just dont have a Windows installation disk and am puzzled.

 

I actually ordered the 128 m.2 + 5400 upgrade. Didn't wanted to reinstall windows.

 

Hey bumbo did you happen to order the 13 i7 too like in your sig?

 

No I Did No!

 

I Always do a Alien Respawn and I never get any problem!

 

You Are Right Fox. The new product line don't have that function!

 

Found an interesting thread on the official dell forums which may provide some clues to the M.2 pcie vs sata mystery. http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19616327

Can anyone confirm whether they have the B style or M style connector?

 

Anybody have a 15 with an R9 m295x? All I have seen is the Nvidia GPUs.

 

I found a Youtube video of someone who bought a 15 with the r9 m295x... it ended up being defective.

 

So the 240 watt power supply I order from Amazon came in today, I used 3dmark firestrike to put it to the test and compare it to my 180 watt power supply that came with my Alienware 15.

here are my system specs
Alienware 15 - Intel i7-4710HQ Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.50GHz)
| 15.6 inch UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS-Panel
| 16GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (2x8GB)
| NVIDIA GTX 980M with 4GB GDDR5
| 1,000 GB TOSHIBA 5400rpm HDD



240 watt power supply test

SCORE
8333
Graphics Score 9834
Physics Score 9052
Combined Score 3682

SCORE
8326
Graphics Score 9831
Physics Score 9006
Combined Score 3683

SCORE
8357
Graphics Score 9886
Physics Score 8977
Combined Score 3693

180 watt power supply test

SCORE
8166
Graphics Score 9873
Physics Score 9063
Combined Score 3340

SCORE
8036
Graphics Score 9805
Physics Score 8962
Combined Score 3204

SCORE
8113
Graphics Score 9814
Physics Score 9096
Combined Score 3296

 

It seems that I find many of my fellow AW 13 purchasers (at similar times) in this forum now with the 15! Well, so am I! I ordered the 15 and waiting for its arrival...

Oh, and xxpmrong, you don't have to purchase the recover disk. The Dell/Alienware rep actually have no idea that they are on sale and will send you one via one day delivery if you tell them that it's missing. Try it. Ask for the recovery USB (they have the CD too) and the Alienware 15 resource disc as well (this is a CD).

So yes, you really don't need to purchase the recovery thing for 20 bucks in the US.

 

Well... this is not what I expected.

 

Anybody notice he's using Windows 7 instead of 8.1? Is it possible that his install of the AW command software is just corrupt? Are the newer software versions only optimized for Windows 8.1?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

ACC 4.0 works fine on my Windows 7 M.2 (I use both 7 and 8.1 on my 13), so maybe there's something wrong with how things installed or something.

 

I reviewed the quote they sent me and realized that the recovery usb/disk does not actually come with my purchase.
So yeah thanks! I'll try that technique and will give a dell rep a call.

 

Thank you Soloduo11x. I have updated the OP (Post 2) with your reported average combined scores, which demonstrate a clear requirement for a more powerful PSU for optimal performance.

 

I'm thinking of returning an Asus G751JT because it is too big and buy an Alienware 15.

Someone could do me the favor of putting an image with maximum temperatures in-game after a long session in a demanding title as BF4 or other similar.

And last question; the alienware 15 includes subwofer¿?

Thanks

 

make sure you make an Alien Respawn to a usb flash drive before you format your drive.! and be aware that the Recovery usb disk does not have any of the Alienware drivers or feature. it is just a plain copy of windows with not drivers.

 

I would be really interested in the temperatures aswell and the noise under gaming/load.
And has anybody tried out the GA ? Is it true that the I7 oc itself if the ga is plugged in ? (if yes, what are its clocks?)
Especially the noise and temperature are very important for me, as i think about getting an AW15 aswell .

 

What is the size of the M.2 screws?

I appear to be missing them.

 

So has it been confirmed that a 240 watt PSU works just fine and won't cause any sort of damage?

 

I wondering if trading my Alienware M18X R1 with i7 2960XM and 780M single GPU for the Alienware 15 would be a good idea. Any thoughts guys? I would like to move down to a smaller system.

 

I've had mine for 3-4 days and though I'm still getting used to win 8.1, this thing is awesome. Hard drive performance is sluggish with the 5400rpm platter drive but the extra space is well worth it.

Build quality, material selection, design details are all epic. I can run COD Black Ops 2 @ 2560x1440 with all settings maxed on the GTX970 and my monitor (U2715H) pegs @ 60fps (the limit of the monitor).

 

i am sure the "gods" here believes that will be a bad idea and opt for you to upgrade the AW18 instead

 

do it. don't think twice!

 

I agree with bumbo2... do it and enjoy a higher-spec system with a better portability.

 

U can activate easy oc lvl1 in bios. The cpu clocks with 3.6 GHz with all 4 cores.

 

It is M2 x 3mm screw. The head size does not matter.
I recommend 5-7mm head tho..

 

I continue without knowing what about the maximum temperatures of cpu working under load.

I've only found one video on youtube where you can see that running 3dmark13 ,the cpu reaches 82-83ºC, so running Battlefield 4 probably should pass 87-88ºC.

Same question with vents noise.

Everything discussed along with the fact that it seems that the sound system is not good, I´m thinking of canceling my order of 15 and request an Alienware 17 (which seems to keep the cpu temps and have better audio system) or stay with the Asus G751.

(P.D: Sorry my bad english, but I´m spanish)

 

hola. el sonido es ok! = hi the sound is ok!

 

man! finally i'm ready to buy this Alienware 15 with 4k dispdsplay, gtx 970m since gaming isnt going to be big time, 16 ram, waiting go get a quotation email Tomorrow since i asked for the italian keyboard to the polish site (i live there now) and its gonna be just a matter of waiting for it to arrive, pretty happy about it!
what about the owners here, who has the 4k t? noticing differences between the 1080p one?

 

Temperatures in games are often lower than in benchmarks because benchmarks forces to use CPU at 100% but Battlefield 4 doesn't need that much power to use cpu fully all the time

EDIT:: what the heck? I was writing in different thread!

 

I do notice that my Crucial M550 512GB M.2 mSATA SSD is running hotter than it should like others have previously discussed.

What alternative is there really?

 

The 4k display is mind blowing! I dont currently use 4k for games as it heats up the system a lot and my AW15 starts to produce that whinning sound (not unbearable though).

I can see much clearer 4k youtube videos now and when remote working the 4k display allows me to see all my 3 screens at work at the same time! =)

I was actually looking at buying a cheap 1080p external monitor but my experience in 4k in my new AW15 makes me now want 4k! hehe my eyes are now kinda spoiled

 

Isn't everything super duper small if you're viewing on 1 15 inch monitor, the layout of 3 screens? I've seen somewhere that with scaling, having a 4k screen actually ends up looking like a 1600x900 screen? When i get my alienware 15, i am planning on the normal 1920x1080 screen. But if you have a 4k screen already and you love it, there must be something i'm missing?!! Could you put up a screenshot? do you use scaling?? Thanks! Jason

 

Yep it really appears small! The thing is, my line of work includes monitoring the systems that we support. Seeing all my tools in one screen is like a dream come true. Although very small, I only need to see where the problem is or when some of my monitoring tools turn red. That is when I focus on that part of the screen and magnify it using the Win OS Magnifier app. Using the same tool I can also scroll through the whole screen by moving the mouse pointer at the edge of screen - works well for me.

Oh and I have the 980m not sure if that really makes a huge difference on the 4k screen experience.

 

I am glad you said that, i know 4k should be an Amazing experience even in a small screen as 15 inches, my good friend tried a Toshiba 4k and told me he could never take a 1080p screen again, i understand who games as number 1 reason, having 4k is useless as gtx 980m cant run games and they dont want to scale it down and maybe loose details or fps, but i think you could see the difference, and you just made my choice feel better saying its mind blowing!
I am getting your same setup exept i will stick with the gtx 970m, i'm not a hadcore gamer so i should be enough for what i do, dont think those extra 300 euros will change my life (i hope)

 

I complained about M500's super high temps about a week ago. Yesterday, I bought mts800 512 gb to see if it is just m500's problem or it is a problem of m.2 form factor.



So, this is what I get with mts800.
Speed is not bad, but 89 degrees C.
However, I'm pretty sure that the reading is not accurate, cuz mts800 is actually way cooler than M500 when I touched the surface of controller.
It was actually as hot as when m500 is on idle.

 

How glossy is the 4K screen? I prefer matte since I plan to work outdoors. Anybody not happy with their AW 15? If so I would love to trade my M18X for it. Haha

 

Do we know what the thresholds are for the M500/M550 M.2's?

I don't want to buy a new one just to have it be really hot like these are.

 

Can any owners comment now on battery life? I'm looking at the 980M/4K spec, but I am hesitant to until some real battery life ratings start showing up. If the battery life isn't better than my current GS60 Ghost Pro-064, then I may not bother with the AW15.