Alienware 15R3 and 17R4, which one should I choose?

I like the design of Alienware, I plan to buy a notebook for work and sometimes play some games, 17R4's screen is bigger, which is better for gaming, however, it's too heavy, so I prefer to 15R3, I cannot make a decision, may I know your suggestions, thank you so much.

 

well if you want to know my personal opinion, I would actually go a r2-r3 with an AGA and desktop GPU, if you go that route you will save yourself quite a chunk of change and get virturally the same performance if you do not plan on mobile gaming. as far as the size/weight goes I would always recommend 17 over 15 granted its a lot heavier but as far as marketshare and reselling goes I would say the 15 so its all up to your preference but because your only going to be playing games every so often I would go a r2-3 with a aga and save like 500-800

 

Through the forum, I noted there's big heat sink problem with Alienware 15R3 and 17R4, especially when playing games, how to solve this headache problem?

 

Well the solution is to repaste it either with liquid metal or a similar application, it is in large part because of the poor heatsink design not applying adequate pressure on the die slugs. This is why out of the newest crop of Alienwares the 13r3 is by far the best. It's the easiest by far to access replacement parts, it's the easiest to repair, it's the easiest to repaste and since it's the smallest it also has the least problems with mounting it's heatsink properly.

It's why I ultimately bought it rather than what I wanted which was a 15r4 with a 1070

 

Frankly speaking, I don't want to change anything, because I want the warranty from Dell, so I will try to find a good laptop cooler for it, is there any good recommendation?

 

If you aren't will to repaste do NOT buy any of them. It should not affect the warranty in any way but if you have no appetite to do so again *DO NOT BUY THIS*. There is no laptop cooler that can compensate for the issues with the laptop's heatsink design unless you get your hands dirty. I can't stress this enough.

 

get the enhanced laptop cooling pad from here https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074QWPC1N/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 before I started using it I would reach 100-120 C under load sense I started using it I average between 70-95 C huge difference

check out this article, that enhanced works just as good as the kootek but has usb ports

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/best-laptop-coolers

I'm sorry but I beg to differ my friend, if you open the case it auto voids the warranty, and the enhanced laptop pad dropped my running temps by 30 C

 

I found a smart laptop cooler specially designed for Alienware, who tried this before?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0742HY88P?m=A271AVGLUQ7R20&ref_=v_sp_widget_detail_page

 

I found a smart laptop cooler specially designed for Alienware, who tried this before? Is it effective?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0742HY88P

 

it sounds really gimmicky and extremely overpriced, and they don't provide any actual thermal readings I'm telling you that enhanced one works great

 

Really? Have you tried it before?

 

120C ? If you could lower max temp with 30c degrees with your laptop pad... I wonder what temp people will get with a proper heatsink and Liquid metal. Let’s say they manage 75/80C in load... Will max temp be around 45/50C with same Cpu load if they buy this laptop pad? Thanks

 

yes I know 120 is very hot and that is internal alienware says that its within the running "parameters" and yes I do believe it would drop it to 45-50 maybe 60 tops atleast that's from my experience I would be happy to show you on and off the pad if you would like

 

When DELL will release new Alienware?

 

Jesus. All of those pads are bad.
The most temperature improvement you get from most of those are a combination of 1) some airflow being more than no airflow (so laptops with bad ventilation and weak fans will benefit), 2) the pads basically raising the laptop above a surface naturally.

If you look at all the reviews, you always see people complaining about how the fans don't move air. Well of course not. What did people expect from puny 5v fans ? Even some of the better high CFM 12 vans won't move alot of air at 5v (but still more than these crappy fans these pads come with).

Only pad people should be buying for maximum performance (unless they simply want something with elevation, some air and good grip) is the Notepal U3+. And that's not for the crappy puny stock fans it comes with (that are only useful for cooling a macbook or something). It's for it being very mod friendly for hooking up powerful desktop fans, and a fan controller or other 12V AC source so you can get maximum speed.

 

I ended up buying an AW17 R4 over the AW15 because of one thing.... There was no numeric keypad on the AW15. LMAO. I also work occasionally on my worktop, couldn't be bothered to hook up an external numeric keypad, so yeah.. XD

I honestly can't see myself putting the AW17 R4 into a backpack and leaving the house with it every day though. (Like for a weekend trip no problem.)

 

Wait next gen....

 

They are both big but if portability is your thing, the 15 is the easy choice. Not only is it smaller, its thinner, and weighs less. I have the 17 and flew with it 4 times last year and after taking 1 trip without it, I am leaving it at home from now on. The 15 would be much more manageable. If you aren't moving it and don't have a different monitor to hook it up to, then the 17 is great. I use mine at home for a while with just the laptop screen and it was plenty good. I now keep it hooked up to a 34' ultrawide so the 15 would have been just as good.