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

The battery life Es ok I test it yesterday and
It will las 3hr 30min, watching nex flix, playing music with iTunes and alien FX on. That's with out any setting tweaking! But playing games That's a different story! will check today when I get home from work.

 

bumbo2, can you comment on just normal web surfing and productivity tasks (office)? My Ghost gets about 3 hours doing these types of tasks, which IMO is not good enough. If the AW15 gets like 4-5 doing these types of task, which based on your much more intense testing seems possible, then it could very well be a great fit.

 

I don't use Microsoft office! But if it las 3 1/2 hours playing next flix. That means it will last longer surfing the web!

 

Sounds reasonable enough. Guess the Ghost is going back, lol.

 

What is ghost? What do that means? How I test or know if my screen has it?

 

Sorry I was speaking of my current laptop, the MSI GS60 Ghost Pro. I'm returning it so that I can place an order for the AW15.

 

Well, do keep in mind that the ghost has significantly lower weight. If you plan to carry it around, it might be worth it. I personally can't see myself carrying aw15 too much, with that being 7+ pounds.

 

I'm a little in between on which PSU to go with.

http://www.amazon.com/Original-Dell-Notebook-Computers-Flextronics/dp/B005EMQFNU

On this page, further down I see other Dell 240w adapters?

Also, does any believe these would work on the Crucial M500/M550 M.2 mSATA SSD's for cooling?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-8-pcs-N...088?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53f710bdd0

 

Not so much worried about carrying it around. The most I would be traveling with it would be to the local coffee shop or maybe when we go away on vacation. I'm not in school so I don't have to worry about dragging it back and forth to class. And the battery life thing is more for when i'm using it to surf on the couch or something like that. Obviously any gaming or high performance oriented tasks would be done connected to the PSU.

 

Oh ok! I ask because I so something on you tube about screen ghost on AW 15!

 

0 - 70 degrees Celsius for operating. And I heared that 2.5 inch of m500 and m550 has thermal throttling when the drive exceeds 70 degrees Celsius.
Can't find if m.2 also has same thing.
Anyway, I decided to return m500. mts800 idle temps are better in my opinion.

 

The Alienware 15, is not that heavy! Well compared to my M18!

 

I think he was comparing it more to the Ghost which is a 15.6" laptop with a 6GB 970M and a 4710HQ that only weighs 4.5 lbs. Don't get me wrong, I love my Ghost. But I would really love the 980M and the 4K IPS touchscreen (and possible better battery life) on the AW15.

 

Question on fan settings...

I was installing a game and updating it (all through a launcher and not starting the actual game) and the fan starts getting crazy loud. Anyone know why this would occur just from a simple task of running an updater and not being in the game? I have it set to use the nvidia card instead of the onboard.

 

I dont own an Alienware 15, but for the Alienware 13 the fan profiles were pretty bad. They did spin up really loud under little load and also just random. If that is the problem, hope for a update by Dell to fix the fan profile.
If you not use the nvidia GPU, just turn it off (use Optimus), this can also improve fan noise.

 

So i got my Alienware 15 on Saturday and have been playing around with it.
First thing I did was create a recovery usb drive and swapped out the default mechanical drive for a Samsung 850 Evo I picked up on sale. Had no problems at all using the AlienRespawn program to create the image and recover. Super easy.

I tested the SSD speed and was rocking like 540 mbs read and 500 writes so no problem with SSD after using the including Samsung Magician software to tweak and optimize the drive.

My first impression is that this thing is much lighter than I was expecting. Coming from an M15x and going to a AW 15 it's definitely much lighter and thinner.

Overall system temperatures seem pretty good. Was playing World of Warcraft on Ultra with everything maxed and was getting between 59-65 degrees CPU heat and GPU was around 55 degrees.

SSD was only 35 degrees. Glad I opted for the 2.5" drive instead of the m.2.

I got the 1080p screen and it's fine, haven't run any tests or anything on it.

Overall noise is about what I expected, although I suspect the default fan profile is not great. It's surprisingly quiet during most tasks, when I start to play games it ramps up and then quiets down a bit which may be the thermal paste breaking in?

 

Give me a few minutes and I"ll start a rendering that will tax all 4 cores and let you know.

 

If you don't mind answering a few questions?

#1. how is the 1080p screen, keyboard and touchpad? i'm looking for a good gaming machine, but above all, it has to have a great screen, a great keyboard and a great touchpad!!!
a. is the screen matte or glossy?
b. is the touchpad smooth and responsive, any troubles scrolling up down with gestures?
c. is the keyboard good and solid, is it easy to type? do the keys feel solid?

#2. one of the reasons i wanted the alienware was the cool black/yellow pics i've seen in the advertising. could you take a picture of yours and the color profile you're using?? just curious how a real life pic looks vs. a pro photoshopped and tailored one.

thanks! if you don't get the chance to do any of this stuff, it's okay, i need to save up for about 10 months before i can afford one, at the earliest!!! =)

 

Just checked and my AW17(2014) dosnt allow me to turn off hyperthreading with the A14 bios. Does the 15 allows you? Could anyone check for me please. Thanks.
Also if somebody knows any other way to turn it off by software please let me know in a PM.

 

The keyboard surface on the 15 get extreme hot on a not so cold ambient room temperature!

 

Ok I ran a benchmark on the Crucial M.2 SSD mSATA ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/171539507319?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT) and it did exceed 70 degrees and I believe I saw it get as high as 77 degrees.

Normal? Should I return/replace?

 

1. The 1080p screen seem good so far. Like I said, I haven't done any real testing other than playing world of warcraft which runs buttery smooth on maxed out ultra settings. I haven't noticed any ghosting or anything like some others have reported on the 1080 screen but again all I have to compare is world of warcraft and heroes of the storm so far.
a. the screen is matte which I prefer. My old m15x was glossy which was cool but kind of a pain with any kind of lighting in the room. Matte is excellent in my opinion.
b. touchpad seems great so far. Haven't noticed any problems while scrolling but haven't messed with any gestures really.
c. The keyboard is one of my favorite things about this laptop. It's super easy to type and the keys feel pretty damn solid. In addition, there is a column of 5 macro keys on the left of the keyboard which you can program using the command center software.

ALSO, nobody has really mentioned this but there are some pretty cool lighting effects you can do with the keyboard. You can color sections of keyboard as normal, BUT you can also set a section to alternate between two different colors like a "breathing" effect. It's not as good or functional as a Razer Chroma keyboard but it's interesting. I prefer having solid lighting though it's nice to have the macro keys be a separate color. I bet you could get some interesting results once they update the software or if people can hack it.

I'll post some pictures when I get home from work!

 

I couldn't find an option to turn it off in the BIOS when I had it (the 15). Check the manual online, it has all of the BIOS options listed and I could have just missed it.

 

I returned m500 ssd due to the same problem, and purchased mts800 512 gb.

 

What are your temps now under load with the mts800 512GB?

 

Hey folks - there was talk early on of using a 240 watt psu to maximize the AW 17, did anyone confirm this is true for the AW 15, and if so what was the difference with the 240 over the 180?

 

Mr. Fox posted some tests/results over in the Alienware 17 R2 Benchmark Thread that shows its most likely a BIOS issue holding the 980M back. It looks like a 180W power supply will be sufficient for a stock 980M once that gets sorted out. See post #283 in that thread for the full explanation.

 

Hey man - thanks!!!

 

Temps at idle: 43~45 degrees C with every power saving features turned off, and 33 degrees C with link power management turned on
at 100% full load with crystaldiskmark: 86 degrees C with every power saving feature turned off, and 82 with link power management.

However, when I touched the surface of controller, it is way cooler than M500 under full load.
So, the sensor may be closer the heat source in the controller than the sensor in m500's controller.
or the sensor is just not accurate.
And, mts800 cools faster, so I decided to keep this thing.

 

Hi jivemaster.
On alienware au's page.
Go to Alienware 15 page.
Select $1999 base model.
Select the most expensive i7 4710HQ option, it is like +$650 something.
Scroll down and you will see the GPU option is GTX980M now.
And use this coupon to get 16% off
code: 7FKDL1Z6Z3GHS3

Happy Gaming!

 

Has anyone tested the Alienware 15 with the Nvidia 346.87 drivers for GSync support? It seems to work on an Asus G751, wonder if it works on the Alienware 15 too....

 

#1
a. The 1080p screen, showed it with the old AW14 to a bunch of friends, most say the new one is better.
It's a matte screen.
b. Touchpad is not as smooth as it was on the older model, and the driver sucks, waiting for an update.
Stick to your mouse for the moment.
c. Keyboard is solid, easy to type.

#2 Real life looked the same.

 

Good idea, thanks, but sadly it dont list it so the answer is now. Im in the process y AW17 and looks like no 15 for me either.

 

Can anybody test if HWINFO can be used to control the fans in the Alienware 15? Thanks in advance. Will wait for a response. I'm thinking of trading in my M18X R1 with GTX 780M for an AW15 but want to make sure HWINFO works in it.

 

No, you can't use it to control the fans.

 

Really? That is interesting. I wonder what is preventing HWINFO from overriding the fan controls in the AW 15? So far HWINFO has worked great on my AW 14 2013 model and AW M18X R1. That stinks. Looks like I'm going to have to pass on this one. Thanks again for testing dogbirds. I was about to put my M18X R1 for trade. Could anybody else confirm that HWINFO doesn't work? Thanks all.

 

What about the weight. Do you consider the system to be portable or will you use it as a desktop replacement?

 

Hello guys, newbie here with a Alienware 15 on the way. I got the GTX970m and I7 configuration. I would like to ask if anyone with the same configuration could run the Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn benchmark on High (laptop) settings at 1080p and post their score?

 

Hey erodeox, many thanks. I actually found this the other day too when messing around with configurations. So weird they have the site set up like that. Hopefully this info helps other Aussies configuring the machine they want.

 

Just got my new Alienware 15 and front right side speaker LED looks like it's not working :-(
Is it easy to access and see if it's just loose connection or is it likely I need to return?

EDIT: Took it apart and reseated the cable - all working perfectly now, return avoided

 

I'd say it's pretty light and portable especially in comparison to the m15x I used to lug around on a daily basis.

 

Hey thought I would pop in here for a second trying to collect data on a potential issue. It seems like dell may have locked core clock adjustments on the 970m (does not affect the 980m) at a bios/hardware level. Trying to get confirmation to see if any other AW2015 owners with a 970m have been able to OC it at all but im having trouble finding anyone else with the 970m thought I might have more luck in the AW15 forum. so if anyone here has been able to OC their 970m in their 2015 Alienware please give a shout out.

 

We don't officially support overclocking. There may be releases of unlocked BIOS's to do that kind of process but any damage that comes from that will not be supported by the regular hardware warranty. That said, we haven't had any reports about this. If I see something I'll let you know and escalate internally to ask the engineers.

 

Thanks Jujiro. I have been going back and forth for quite some time now. Ordered the 13 twice. Cancelled the first time because of the announcement of the i7 version. And the second time because it was delayed at HID(Dell doesn't ship the i7 qhd model at the moment in The Netherland) since I need it for work asp.

Had some extra time to think about it now and decided the choose power over portability. It will never be light but it will probably last a bit longer. I placed my order today and it should arrive in about two weeks. I hope sooner.

 

Hey Djangi,

Im also from the Netherlands, and I ordered the Alienware 13 aswell with the i7 + QHD configuration.
Just couple of days ago I found out my order was canceld, contacted DELL and it was indeed because of the QHD display .
Now just like you im considering the AW 15 but the weight is still holding me back.

 

hey guy, the 15 model is very light!

 

Ofcourse light or heavy is subjective but 3.2 kg I dont consider to be very light

 

A good backpack can make it more acceptable. Used to use a hp zbook at work which is similar in weight. Bought a northface backback to carry it around which spreads te weight much better than the standard notebook messengers bags.

Ordered the 4k model which is even heavier. Luckily I got two weeks to get into shape

 

Ordered my aw 15 last Friday, still hasn't shipped

 

So I ordered a 240w PSU last week. Still beneficial or will a BIOS update fix the under-powering issues?