When are the new Alienwares with Maxwell coming?

Is that 100% confirmed Papusan - 180W adapter for 980M A17 & A15? If so, then I agree, that's a real shame & is definitely gonna hamper any CPU and/or GPU overclocking!

 

Unfortunately. Yes. Is reasonably assured.
Edit: It says in the manual of Alienware 17 ...

 

Great, now all the alienware 15 have been delayed an extra month.
The expected shipping date was 2 april. now it's the 2nd of may.

 

Is it possible to use the same 240W PSU from AW 17 R1?

 

Who will buy this garbage right before Skylake coming?

 

What helps late former 240W if it is a watt limit(180w) on the motherboard such as in the Alienware Alienware 18 ? Alienware 18 can not use more than one 330W supplied.

 

papusan, i didn't know that, sorry.

 

May?!?! They will become already obsolete when arrive

 

That's 5th of Feb.

MONTH - DAY - YEAR

 

October or November might come Skylake .............

 

Maybe, if we're lucky power draw won't be limited by the 'motherboard' either.

 

"logic". Some system Month - day - year, stupid. But hey, it ended up good for me, i thought I had to wait a few more months XD

That doesn't mean it will be used in every system available right away, Only REALLY configurable systems provide such hardware fast, such as clevo, but I personally don't like clevo laptops.As example the 970M and 980M have been around for months now, and it's only just now being used by some companies such as alienware and asus. (but indeed it can change when it comes to CPU, I've seen indeed broadwell ULV cpu's being immediately utilized is some systems)

By the way, I've already waited since april 2014. so I cannot wait another year for a CPU upgrade.

EDIT: also by the way I live in belgium where they use a stupid azerty keyboard instead of qwerty even in the flemish side. It's stupid since it's meant for french people. So alienware is one of the few brands offering international US qwerty keyboard here. (again except for a sole few brands such as clevo and apple which I don't want). So I'm good. I have a m14x with a gt 555m. 900p screen and an i7 2630mq processor. SO the upgrade I get will be VERY significant for me.

 

Why will not Dellienware deliver a more powerful power supply to the new Alienware like other laptop manufacturers do with their gaming laptops?

 

No idea papusan, it's absurd, and I thought it was just MSI that had a pathological need to limit power supplies!

 

Here is R9 M295X for ya. Note that this is just a benchmark
Poll: M295X GPU heat in Valley benchmark - MacRumors Forums

Not sure how Alienware figured it would be a great match for a slimmer 15" notebook

 

Wow, that's just insane, most people had temperatures of over 100 degC!!! What kind of cooling capability does that Mac have (I know nothing about Macs really!)?

 

iMacs have 0 cooling... It's not surprising at all..

BTW, I like the way Clevo is at least bucking the trend with it's P750ZM/770ZM where they're putting desktop CPU's with MXM GPU's... Now if they do that in a dual GPU set up, I will buy it in a heartbeat in September.. Hopefully Broadwell-K is out by then too..

 

Cheers Tom, looks like they'll be a bit cooler in the Alienware then, although from the TDP figures that Cloudfire posted it's still gonna be pretty hot running!

 

Just what I have been saying... with the move, the likelihood of a component failure just requires maintaining a warranty... an if you flip it, I suspect over time people are going to be looking for that even more.

 

Its not so much about the cooling but the unefficient heat spewing AMD GPU.
GTX 680MX and 780M runs between 70-80C in the previous iMac so its reasonable to think the GPU is the reason.

 

I even think that argument is a a bit specious - its all relative to how you use a system - one could make the same argument and say lets just run 1366x768 and get the best fps and therefore effective "life" out of a component. People have settled due to HD televisions for this idea that 1080p is "good enough". Having spent years on desktops (not to mention my M17x-R2) I find the idea of being limited to 1080p a bit of a joke unless raw fps is all that matters, I recall when moving to 1600x1200 was fast becoming the norm, we have effectively lowered our standards on the PC side to that of the console generation. If that is the case, hell, just turn off all the graphic settings and play at 768.

In this particular case, the 4K setup (and the 1440p on the AW 13) both make sense if one is coupling it with the G/A and a desktop card, which is really why they offer the option.

 

Not really, it's about perspective, a single 980M is best suited to 1080p in modern games (and future games), which is not the case at 4K native res gaming - that's the only point really. Sure, with old games you can run 4K native, modern games generally you're gonna have to run at some kind of reduced non-native resolution. If people don't mind gaming at non-native res then the 4K screen is an OK choice.

 

Wow, 780M was quite a high Watt card - in that case M295x is a really hot running card then!!

 

Yup, I dont understand how they can fit it inside a thin smallish notebook like AW15

 

20nm???!!! (many ??? and !!! to avoid 10 char, looks like I didn't need them in the end!)

 

Thats a very good thesis Robbo. Could indeed be a way of reducing power and heat.
They have started producing 20nm APUs for Xbox One using existing products and just porting them from 28nm to 20nm so it could indeed happen here as well I guess

 

Here is what the best of the low-TDP turd BGA CPUs will get you... Result < check the crappy CPU score and physics test result.

 

Alienware 17 R2 using soldered GPU is confirmed
Look at picture #4.
Both heatsinks are directly on top of the motherboard

2015з¢²¼µÄ alienware 17 r2 ²ð»úͼ_´÷¶ûÍâÐÇÈËÂÛ̳

 

All of the new Alienware systems are non MXM correct? Alienware is garbage if that is true. At least Clevo and MSI seem to be pushing/keeping MXM and even supporting official MXM upgrading on MSI systems. It sucks they are going non socketed CPU though but that's being pressed on them by Intel IMO. The only alternative would be go the Clevo way and offer desktop CPUs. There is no excuse for removing MXM GPUs from Alienware though.

I hope people don't buy this stuff. Maybe they will go back to MXM.

 

The AW 15 and AW 17 motherboards are practically identical - cooling, design, etc. The main difference is I/O support. Even that sucks.

They've really cheapened themselves up this year. Damn, new Alienware's are nothing but "knock-offs" to their own older products. How is that even possible? Who's running this company?

 

While it may be not "native" to run at increased resolution above 1080p, I have yet to see a game that didn't look substantially better at higher resolutions unless scaling is very poorly done on a large enough display. The geometry of the game is agnostic to resolution, textures might be an issue, but normally people report seeing a better output at higher resolutions. The scaling is 4x and results in slight blurring (lol a basic form of AA), but to most people's eyes the image will still be more pleasing. I suspect though that I am in a minority on preferring higher resolutions where possible. By this logic then UHD gaming is effectively out until video cards are at least 4x more powerful, that means the public is stuck with a fairly low resolution like the next 4 years then, that is sad to say the least.

 

AWwww... Their going the ASUS way.... Too bad the AW bad- image will be gone soon....I hope other nb companies will follow the league of Clevo and MSI

 

Well, the Alienware image that's built upon enthusiast options and customization has always been antithetical to it being owned by Dell. While ASUS was first to go along with the full BGA setup, it's telling that Alienware under Dell embraced it so rapidly, this shows that they don't consider performance profitable to maintain ( I still say Dell never really liked the whole idea, and this was part of the plan anyhow). This is why we have moved from customizing through the order process, to cheapening on even boxing, lack of engraving, etc happen over time. I am sure that the few remaining people in Alienware are not happy about it, they are having to design within dictates laid down by dell in strategic planning, ie the move to BGA being cost effective and inevitable. I believe they are ultimately doing what will be necessary, it's the rapidity to embracing it that smacks of Dell, not Alienware's creed.

The big question facing everyone looking to take refuge in a competing brand that hasn't begun the slide in this direction is how long will mxm parts be produced? if you invest in a system with eyes towards upgrading, lets say four years, will parts still be produced in say two? I'm grappling with that very question right now, on the fence about snapping up an AW 17 R1 or 18 while I still can, but then the question is parts down the line.

 

I think we all should have known this day was eventually going to come.

 

The new breed of Alienware owner's are the little kids on Xbox Live.

Spoiler

 

Hard to tell from this angle. Too much is obscured.



Also, scroll down. "BGA BGA BGA BGA BGA BGA BGA." Even the Chinese hate BGA. Did Mr. Fox make an account over there? :laugh:

Edit: Nevermind GPU is 100% soldered. Look at the VRAM chips on its underside (on the right):

 

So now you have to remove the keyboard to access the battery? It takes up most of the space without it actually adding more power to the laptop, they seriously removed the optical drive just for that?

 

Wow.. their absolutely ripping Dell a new one in the comments there. Hahaha..nice. Yeah BGA is disposable rubbish - can't spin that.

 

I've been waiting since August to see what Delienware release, and i am somewhat deflated with all the omissions to the new 15 and 17, i dunno wither to just wait on them updating to the 5th gen cpus since i'm getting BGA anyways, might as well have the newer BGA..... Dunno what to do now

 

Good find! Looks like it would a PITA to repaste too! Not a good move here for Alienware!

 

That's too simple an argument which is why I just assumed it would be a bit more involved. Now, I've lost motivation.

 

So let's summarize, shall we.

New Alienware laptops:

1. BGA CPU
2. BGA GPU
3. No SLI
4. 2 RAM slots
5. Single 2.5" drive bay
6. No optical drive
7. Internal battery
8. Underpowered PSU
9. As difficult to disassemble as an ASUS

Anything else I missed?

I've never even owned an Alienware in my life and this is frankly mind-blowing to me.

Yeah, I'm reading through Google Translate and it's pretty amusing to say the least.

 

While I don't disagree with what you are saying, I can see the AW hatred now.

 

Wow, how many times do I have to repeat myself. ASUS is not full BGA. Their CPU is soldered but the GPU is an MXM slotted board of custom design.

 

You're missing: " Gigabyte P34 inspired cooling setup."

 

You wont find a similar PCB card anywhere for your Asus notebook. The newer Asus machines will say the MXM card you are using doesnt have a correct MXM structure because the BIOS is blocking any upgrades or there are really some differences in components/pins between theirs and traditional MXM designs

You might as well just call it soldered because it isnt upgradeable

 

I will add that Dell in my opinion has always had a plan to mainstream the brand name of Alienware to capitalize on it... these moves (BGA embracing, etc) fit that pattern but i think are not something they planned, just incidental.

Some mainstreaming actually resulted in better reliability and stability. What the BGA move is all about I think and how Dellienware looks at is that the gaming world is composed of mix of gamers, pc, console or both. They are attempting via the need to go to BGA to " console-ize" the laptop space. About the only nod of the hat to PC game-play is supporting higher resolutions along with the Graphics Accelerator. Even removing the option for an optical drive (admittedly this hasn't gotten much anger up on the ultra book side, I think Alienware thought no one really cares these days), is all consistent with creating a closed-box gaming device.

I strongly suspect courting hardcore non-PC console players is part of the overall strategy now, with gaming consigned to such environments.

 

I don't think so. They did bet everything on their new graphics amplifier, with those limitations on the laptops they want to force people to buy the graphcis amplifier, although I think they didn't realize it's not something for every laptop enthusiast.

- The gpu is not upgradable and not overclockable, but on the graphics amplifier it is.
- The cpu is not upgradable and not overclockable, but plugging the graphics amplifier overclocks it with the extra power.
- Since all the "upgrade factor" is locked within the graphics amplifier, they made everything else in favor for the laptop to make it thinner, since they are REALLY bad in creating thin chassis.

Just my point of view though.

 

Too much rationalization and excuse-making speculation. Instead of selling the brand to a company that will make products that live up to the reputation, they are just going to keep it and ruin it so that they have no name to sell of any value and no products worth buying. It would have made more sense just to shut it down while it still had a good name and write off the loss. I question the intelligence of compromising their product. It is starting to become more obvious and I am starting to feel less like a minority in this thread for having contempt for cheap junk.

In hindsight, the guys at Origin should view themselves as geniuses even though they are more or less just another Clevo reseller. It's nice to see some people still take their business seriously. If Intel goes 100% BGA crap for mobile, the simple solution is to just use a desktop CPU as the foundation for the rest of the machine like the new Origin EON17-X. I think it's brilliant the Eurocom has the vision to achieve a monopoly by continuing to purchase P570WM3 machines from Clevo even though Sager isn't. I think once long-term laptop gamers get over the silly thin and light fad and start to experience the nasty poor performance aftertaste of low-TDP garbage, thermal issues and not being able to work on own their laptops out of warranty there will be a mad dash to gobble up "real" hardware and they will be poised to crush their competitors that have nothing to offer that a serious gamer or enthusiast could deem to be worth buying.

And, yeah, the Chinese build these things and they are certainly smart enough to recognize garbage at first glance. We can only imagine what sort of ridicule is being tossed around at the Compal factory... maybe even sarcastic laughter at the notion that some Americans and Europeans are actually going to buy it. It might even strike some of them as being a really weird experience to go from assembling heavy-duty machines with a metal chassis and high grade components to a "Lego" jokebook.

 

Just FYI: When Alienware says, "overclock," they mean 100MHz - 200MHz boost in clock speed, lol. That's just a marketing gimmick to make it sound so bada**. It won't help you at all in-game. If you want to know what overclocking really is, ask John or Mr. Fox and I'm sure they'd be happy to oblige. They've gone from restrictive "energy saver" behaviors, to making knock-offs of their own products.

What's really sad, is that even after all of this, the Alienware 15 is still probably one of the best 15" laptops on the market right now. Competition is just pathetic these days - re-brand this, re-brand that, save energy here, save energy there, cut performance here, cut performance there, etc. - STOP, PLEASE! I think I'm going crazy.