*OFFICIAL* Alienware 14 Owner's Lounge Thread

Not many spares for these new machines available outside Dell yet. I'd say place the order and the back order should be filled pretty quick I would think.

 

hey guys I just want to ask you if optimus works fine in the meanwhile. In older reviews was mentioned that the switch from intel to nvidia gpu didn't worked properly.

The other thing I want to know are the temps and with 4800qm/765m under idle/load with the newer bios. Is the notebook quiet under low usage such as browsing and light office use?

Thanks in advance

 

Switching graphics works just fine. Most people so t realize the key combination and having to reboot.

 

You have to press the key combination and reboot to switch the graphics or does it change automatically?

Gesendet von meinem Nexus 5 mit Tapatalk

 

if you want nvidia running all the time and not switching between both cards, fn+f5, reboot and you are done.

 

Send me a PM, I'll help you find them.

 

It does it automatically , this article explains how to set up the games and programs using the Optimus driver, check it out.

 

I was just wondering with all of these updates to the bios for nVidia and AMD updates in the bios. Does that mean we are bound to see a release with new GPUs. Its the same thing for the AW18, with the latest bios, it says it in the description. And seeing as to how the GPU on the AW14 is not upgrade-able, It just made me thing around about what time will the refresh be coming. If its in the coming month, or so, I'd like to know before I buy a MBP13 instead.

 

Hey guys!

Ok, so after weeks of contemplating and even returning one laptop (gigabyte p34g, due to stability issues) I decided to go for AW 14. Since I can't really wait for the laptop anymore (my lenovo died a painful death ) I have to settle for the I5-4200m processor (I think it's still quite capable and shouldn't bottleneck the GPU, unless you think otherwise), but I can afford 765m and full hd screen. The main argument for the laptop (except for cool looks, not gonna lie) is the stability and quality of materials used in - I'd like my laptop to last around 3 years and since I'm not a hard-core gamer who needs everything that's currently best on the martket, I think it should last for that long. But, I have 2 questions I want to ask owners of the laptop:

1) How exactly does the GPU switching works in AW? I'm slightly confused, because I saw some people complaining that they can't force games to play with nvidia and the integrated graphics switch on instead

2) Is the falling off of a rubber/plastic corner of a laptop really a thing? I saw both threads and videos of this happening, but I'm not sure if it's a built quality defect or just careless owners' treatment.

Any other issues that I potentially should be ready for?

Cheers

 

I strongly recommend the i7 quad. If you can't afford it new, don't be afraid to look used. I've seen some like new 14s selling pretty cheap on the classifieds (I bought one myself that way and saved a bunch).

When gaming, I force the dGPU by rebooting after using the switchable graphics key. It disables the iGPU completely and I've yet to have a problem doing that. The switchable graphics is hit or miss, so I just force the dGPU and avoid the headache.

I have a tiny patch of the rubber coating missing on one corner of my laptop. I am extremely cautious with my laptop and think it came from carrying my laptop in my bag at college. The rubberized coating feels great, and I hope it only starts peeling on the corners and not the palm rest.

 

Thanks, I'll consider it Although I read on other threads that in terms of FPS and real life performance the difference between i5-4200m and even i7-4800hq is quite small, so I'm not sure if I'll benefit enough from an upgrade to the quad core processor. Especially since I'm not planning to play battlefield, which is very heavy on CPU.

I guess I'll just have to be super careful with the front of the chasis then!

 

Guys - quick question for you......

Recently acquired the baby Alien in my signature.....just noticed that when I plug in the juice and the machine is sleeping, when I resume, I get the battery icon pop up and the message to connect the juice for optimal performance. The tray icon indicates charging though LOL

Unplugging and plugging back in brings up the correct 'plugged in' icon.

Also, Fn&F5 does squat on my machine....perhaps because I have the GT750m and not the GTX765m. Either way, connecting/disconnecting the juice always throws up the message about switching for optimal performance, which is a bit absurd if the FnF5 functionality of machines equipped with the 750m is not able to use switching by Dell design.

Thoughts or comments??

 

Oh, btw, has anyone bought Alienware through Dell UK/had any problems with it? Dell UK is known for its horrible customer service, so I'm a bit anxious

 

i had a faulty unit (squeaky hinges) and rather than get it repaired and have a random engineer gets his mits all over my beast, simply sent it back for a refund within the qualifying period. i then ordered another. perfect unit with zero issues.

 

The performance difference isn't a bunch for gaming, but you'll notice a difference if you're doing any rendering or anything CPU intensive. It's tough to recommend spending $1500 on a gaming laptop without an i7 in this day and age IMO.

 

I wouldn't be over-concerned. I've been buying AW in the UK for 4 years now via Dell UK. Remember, we always hear more on forums from people who have had bad experiences as opposed to many happy customers who simply do not post on forums that they are indeed happy. The biggest downside to Dell UK is having to deal with rep's/service based out of India - sometimes the language barrier/understanding can be a bit stressed, but on the whole, each time I have had cause to liaise with Dell UK over problems, it's been just fine.

If there is anything wrong with your order when it lands, you have the 7 day return window in which to return the machine with no quibbles. I'd say go for it......I'm pretty sure you will be glad you did.

 

I have a problem with my alienware 14 sometimes when I start my laptop the audio driver stop working. I already re install the driver but its still the same. same thing with the mircosoft visual c++ . how can i FIX this? thanks

 

Hello all. I've finally decided to order the Alienware 14. I alrdy have a 2.5" samsung 840 evo that I plan to replace the hdd with. It will come with win8 and I would like to keep that os (no win 8.1; I've had too many issues with it). Would it be easier to just clone the hdd or should I do a fresh install? How would I go about doing a fresh install if there will be no windows 8 cd included with computer? Any advice will help. This will be my first time upgrading anything so dumb it down for me please

 

Just ordered my new 14 inch baby after months of savings, never have I been so excited! And got some cheeky discount as well Now the worst part - waiting

 

Contrats! I really like my 14 great little machine.

 

Any update on the nvidia gtx 800m series Maxwell for AW14?

 

How are you guys keeping your keyboard clean? Aside from can of compressed air, what products are you using?

 

hot air from my mouth + camera lens cleaning cloth

 

I've been using this for years: Cyber Clean Products - Home & Office

 

:laugh: I'll have to remember that, thx.

 

seriously give it a try! do it right after a session when the beast is still warm. works a treat :thumbsup:

 

What settings are you guys using in Titanfall at the moment? Nvidia Experience recommends putting everything on Low...

 

Not sure why Nvidia Experience has you at Low, I let mine "Optimize" and it has it at a mixture of Medium to High.
(and I'm running the 750GT with 1366x768, so if you have a 765GTX it should be pushing higher, unless of course you have an older 14 with a less powerfull graphics chip, you didn't state what your hardware configuration is)

 

Whats your experience with the FullHD display while working with excel, word and reading some pdfs? It's a lot of space on the screen but how comfortable is it to read for a loger period of time?

My current sony vaio 13" has just a 768p resolution and I need more space to work My laptop is almost 1m from me so thats an another point which worries me regarding the fullHD resolution.

 

Sorry about that! My 14 has a GTX 765m, 8GB DDR3, a SSD and a i7 4700MQ processor. That's why I was surprised it wanted me to go Low on graphics... Should I just ignore Nvidia Experience and go through the game optimizer?

 

You should be able to run fairly high settings with the 765.
I would change settings within the game and see what works best for your setup. It is much easier to
tweak the settings from within the game that through the Nvidia optimizer.

 

So I was waiting for my planned Alienware delivery today, no one showed up so far. To my surprised, the tracking website displayed that the courier came with a delivery, but no one was at home and a note has been left. Needless to say, no note has been left at my place, so it looks like he mixed up addresses. Great start...

 

Got my AW today! And I have to say I'm almost shocked by the quality of the laptop - I didn't expect it to be that good :O

1) Screen. Fantastic, vibrant etc, everyone knows how good IPS displays are though, so this point doesn't have to be explained. Luckily, I got a unit without any yellowish tint whatsoever, so nothing to complain about!

2) Keyboard - great. Much better than any chicKlet keyboard I've used before, keys feel extremely sturdy, but are soft and give very satisfying tactile feedback.

3) Overall impression - excellent. Feels sturdy like a tank, made of high quality and premium materials. Not squeaky hinges, no plastic, no cheap components. Surprisingly, light effects don't leave a 'flashy' Christmas tree like impression. Instead, it's a very subtle and classy backlit keyboard.

4) Can't say much yet, because the only game I played so far was skyrim (on ultra, ran flawlessly), but everything feels snappy and smooth. Noise isn't really an issue - completely quiet while browsing, loudish, but not hairdryer like while pushed. Doesn't feel hot.

5) Flaws. Aren't many, but if I had to be picky: the screen bezel seems slightly awkwardly big. The lappy is heavy like a brick, but I expected that, so no complains. Oh, the charging port seems almost a bit too stiff - it is very secure, but you have to connect the charger at the exact angle, which is not easy without looking at it.

Overall - fantastic laptop, much recommended. Not regretting sending back gigabyte p34g and getting AW instead

 

That is awesome! It truly is a great machine. Thank you taking the time to give your impressions!

 

Great to hear you got your machine, and thank you for taking the time to write your thoughts, I'm sure this will help others a lot.

 

Natalia,

I have a problem with the Dell Alienware 14. I have a brand new one with the Nvidia 765, and it does a really annoying thing. Whenever I open a new window (like Explorer), it slowly "fades in" and then "snaps" into place. This little transition takes a couple of seconds, and it's pretty annoying. Closing a window does the same thing - it slowly "fades out".

I started off with the Dell version of the Nvidia driver - 331.65. Almost immediately the Nvidia control panel said a new update was available - 335.23. I upgraded to the newer Nvidia driver, and then later on, coincidentally or not, this behavior started to happen. I switched from dedicated to Intel graphics, and the problem persisted.

Is this a known issue? More importantly, is there a fix to this issue?

 

Hello All.

I am looking to purchase my first Alienware machine. I am looking to get a refurbished 14 with the following specs.

i7-4900MQ
7 Home Premium 64Bit
750GB SATA 7200 RPM Hard Drive
64 GB MSata Solid State Drive
16 GB Ram
Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M 2GB
14.0" WLED FHD 1920x1080P
8X Blu-ray Combo
Broadcom 4352 802.11 ac 2x2

I am wanting to swap out the 64GB SSD for a crucial M550 256GB SSD.

I was just wondering if the units that ship from dell with the SSD MSata are configured differently or are they configured the same as a standard HDD?

I have been reading on different sites about turning off some windows features that are not good for the Solid State Drives.

Does anyone know if the ones from dell with SSD come set to AHCI or RAID?

My original plan was to purchase one with only a HDD drive and then just add a MSata later on, but I have found one that already has the SSD and I am just wondering if they are configured any differently?

Thanks!!

 

Congratulations on your new machine, you'll love it!

As for the HDD configuration, the operating system should be on the 750gb HDD and the 64gb mSata should be being used to cache (or speed up) your HDD performance. You'll have to re-install (or clone) Windows on to your new SSD. Your machine should be set to RAID in bios so that it can be used to cache your HDD so you can leave it at that. There is little difference between using AHCI and RAID except maybe one or two seconds off your boot time and seeing the option to enter the RAID menu at boot.

Personally, even though you are going to be running one SSD - and possibly the mSata as additional storage, I'd install under RAID because if you ever want to remove the ODD and add a second 7mm SSD of the same capacity, or upgrade the mSata to a 256gb version, you can then RAID the two together without having to re-install Windows. If you installed under AHCI, you'd have to do a re-install.

As for SSD tweaks, there are some you can implement, others should be done automatically, such as disabling scheduled disk defragging for the SSD's in your machine. Disabling hibernation will return some valuable SSD storage space. Prefetch and superfetch can also be tweaked along with drive indexing etc....there are more, but you don't have to do every one you read about, for example, turning off page file is not a tweak I do.

Here is a good guide - have a read: The SSD Optimization Guide Ultimate Windows 8 (And Win7) Edition | The SSD Review

Any questions, just ask - we are all here to help out and welcome to the Alienware club!

 

Thanks for all the info. My plan is to replace the 64GB ssd with the 256GB ssd and keep the 750gb just for storage. I want the computer to boot from the SSD and run programs from the SSD. Will this change any of your statements above?

Thanks Again!

 

Not really. You can still install under RAID - if you ever change the HDD and add a 7mm 256gb, you could RAID them together without the hassle of a re-install. You're gonna have to install the OS to your new mSata so that would be an ideal opportunity to get everything set up as you like it. Depending on how much space you require from the 256gb mSata for your OS/programs, you might also want to consider using a small partition to still use to cache the 750gb HDD - that would give you the fastest all around drive configuration from your drives, but you may require more space from the mSata for your frequently used stuff.

Be sure to make recovery media using AlienRespawn before you wipe your 750gb HDD - you'll want it to revert back to factory state if ever needed. Grab a 8gb USB 3.0 or a couple of DVD's (not rewritable ones) and once you've created your factory image, stash the media and you are good to go.

 

So I just had a thought. Why don't I replace the 750HDD with a 256SSD and keep the 64GB SSD as storage. I don't need tons of storage space. Right now I am only using about 94GB including my OS and I could easily get rid of 10GB without missing any of it. I think it would be better to have 2 ssd drives and just use the 64GB MSata as backup.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

If you don't need tonnes of space, that would be an option. Typically, you would get about 238gb of usable space on a formatted 256gb drive. Let's say by the time you've got your OS on, it leaves you with 200gb free for anything else. If you are only using 94gb including your OS now, and you feel you don't need much more, then it sounds like that would suit your needs just fine. Of course, if you wanted to utilize the 64gb mSata as additional storage, you could do - you would need to turn off acceleration/caching in Intel RST to return the mSata for storage purposes - when it's being used for caching, you won't see it showing as available.

If you went with the above, you would end up with around 250gb+ after OS installation between the 7mm SSD and the 64gb mSata, I imagine.

If you DID require more space - as it is soon gobbled up by games installations - I'd consider a 256gb mSata over a 7mm SSD. You could then partition the mSata so that it still caches (effectively speeding up to SSD-like speeds) your 750gb HDD and you would still have a good deal of space left on the mSata for your OS and a fair bit of other stuff, too. Then main benefit of that is simple - you would then have close to 1tb of storage that works very fast.

There are other options as the 14 can accommodate up to three hard drives in total - x1 mSata and up to x2 7mm drives if you remove the optical drive and replace with a HDD in a drive caddy/adapter.

I guess it all depends on how much storage you want or need. If you remove original drives, I'd also recommend keeping them for warranty purposes - if you ever need to return your machine, or trouble-shoot stuff, having the original factory specification is often very important as Dell can ask for the machine to be 'as it was' for them to assist under warranty. Just a heads up.

 

Thanks Again. I really appreciate all the info. I do think I am going to use the 64ssd as storage and replace the HDD with a SSD for now. Storage isn't a huge issue for me. Can you explain how to turn off acceleration/caching in Intel RST? And since I am going this route should I use AHCI now instead of RAID?

 

You can install under AHCI if you want to. If you have no plans to add a 2nd 256gb SSD into the optical drive bay in future, and you are keeping the 64gb mSata for storage, RAID isn't going to help out with future plans. I only mentioned keeping it set to RAID if you had future plans to add another same capacity drive, in which case it would have been easier to do without the need to re-install everything all over again. If the only drives you are going to have are the 64gb mSata and the new 256gb 7mm SSD, AHCI will be fine.

As for acceleration and RST, have a read of this short thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...-turn-cache-msata-into-regular-partition.html

If you are clean installing your OS to the new 256gb, you'll be re-installing all the drivers anyway, so no need to do anything with RST - just make sure that acceleration is turned off in the bios menus and carry on with the OS installation.

 

You can disable acceleration on the IRST driver app and format the drive.

 

Once I get the OS on the new ssd, can I format the msata ssd within windows or do I have to do that with something like parted magic, or with the OS disc?

 

You should be able to format the mSata within Windows no problem using disk management.

 

Loving my new converted m14xR2 for a R1 such a great size compared to my old m18xR2 and has ample power for what i do in linux etc
Think i'll swap out to the 2013 14 model when the next 2014 14 refresh comes out

 

Nice! Enjoy your m14x

 

they removed the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 765M with 2GB GDDR5 as an option for the base model. you cant customize OR BUILD it anymore. i asked an expert and he said this "Agent (Efrem M): "It seems we only have limited number of configurations for the Alienware 14 system because of the availability of parts as well as the size of the chassis for the Alienware 14 which does not fit with newer video cards" smh i was about to pull the trigger. guess i will have to wait. i doubt the 800 series gtx card will be available for the m14.