A successor to the alienware 13?

Hi,

I have an alienware 13 R3, I used it for almost 4 years now. It was hands down for me the best all-rounder in terms of ultra portable laptops. Surely it's not one of the thinnest and lightest 13 inch laptops, but it still was and even is a lot more portable than most of 15 inch laptops.

However I'm looking for a successor to it. A worthy successor. As a couple things of the 13 R3 is feeling dated as of now, such as the thick bezels very poor battery life, as the CPU doesn't even have support for the Intel Dynamic Platform and thermal framework. And the question arises to me, what is the likeliness for an Alienware m13?

I've looked at premium 13 inch laptops, but the only two that catches my eye are the new XPS 13, which is hands down one of the greatest 13 inch laptops, but lacks a proper dedicated GPU. The Intel G7 isn't all that bad for an integrated GPU, but it still roughly only has 1/3 of the power that the GTX 1060 has in my R3. So yeah, that is too much of a downgrade.

Which leaves only the Razer blade stealth 13. It's all around not bad, but a couple things I don't like about it: the screens are barely 100% srgb, I'm looking for at least 90% argb/DCI-p3, and also I didn't hear great things in terms of the longevity and support of Razer laptops.

Now I am worrying, because since the footprint of Alienware laptops went a lot thinner, I don't even know if a 13 inch option remains viable/feasible for Alienware. So yeah.

Or do you guys think I should give up on 13 inch laptops, and go for the XPS 15?

 

Yeah you kinda already got it figured out.

The successor for the entire market was figuring out how to bezel and slotting 15" laptops into the market segment that chunky 13" gaming systems used to fill and discontinue 13" gaming systems.

I doubt alienware will release a competitor to the Razerblade stealth 13, their thermals universally suck and i can't imagine them trying to grapple with a 13" bezelless solution, the only reason the alienware 13 r3 worked at all was because it was actually a 15" laptop with a 13" screen and they had the thickness and realestate to cram a huge cooling solution into it.


The only other thing I can think of is the ASUS Zephrus G14, but you know, I don't really recommend buying ASUS laptops unless you also want to buy a protection plan, but you should probably do that on any high end gaming laptop because the warranty on all of them has the potential to be a real nightmare.

 

Have you considered the Alienware m15 r3? It also has an OLED option just like the 13 did.

Weight is less than 13 R3, thinner, but it's a bit wider due to it being a 15".

There aren't many 13" options really, the 13 R3 was in a league of its own at the time.

 

Yeah you are pretty much right I think, and I am aware of the Asus one, but I simply didn't like it. It's it doesn't look as premium as alienware / razer / xps

I actually own the alienware m15 r2. It's my personal entertainment device at home. Which is used for personal use, and heavy gaming.
The alienware 13 r3 is my work laptop I got from my company, which is used for mainly for work, and that one I do take to work and back home on daily basis. I was looking for a successor to my work laptop.
And for my work laptop, I don't really need a massive GPU such as the RTX 2080. So if trading it off for something like a GTX 1660 were to mean, significantly less size, than I'd go with the smaller option. Hence why I am also considering the XPS 15 still.

Nonetheless, I suppose I'll wait until next month when tiger lake CPU's are announced, but I think I pretty much got my answer here, that sub 15 inch gaming laptops might be a dying breed.
Although, I still remember the Alienware M11X R3, which was also a marvelous thing for its time. Back then I was rocking the m14x r1, which I got the moment it released.

 

The m15 R3 is almost the same size as 13 R3. You don't need a RTX 2080, they come with lesser power GPUs. My main point was the OLED display similar to 13 R3.

You asked for a 13 R3 successor and m15 R3 is the closest we get. I used the m15 R1 and m15 R2 and I can tell you the m15 R2 and R1 felt similar to the 13 R3. The m15 R1 was just too big but the R2/R3 fixed the size thing.

There are many other laptops not Alienware brand for work, doesn't have to be a gaming laptop right? What exactly are you looking for in a laptop because a 13 R3 successor isn't here and isn't going to be and m15 R3 is probably closest you can get.

 

Indeed it doesn't have to be a gaming laptop, but I would still appreciate a proper dedicated GPU, indeed, nothing like an rtx 2080.
But honestly for me it comes down to this. I want a new laptop that replaces my R3, that is if possible in (almost) no certain aspect a downgrade from what I have right now, while remaining as portable, if not more portable than what I already have now.

Though thanks for thinking about it, but I'm very invested in laptops, so I'm pretty much aware what is on the market and what I potentially see as a candidate for the replacement of my current laptop. And honestly the closest that one gets are the ones I mentioned above.
- XPS 15 9500: By far the best option, but is in width bigger than the 13 R3 (keep in mind, it's significantly smaller than the Alienware m15 r3). And the specs are basically perfect, although I wish the GPU was more like a 1660 ti instead of a 1650 ti.
- XPS 13 9300: Significantly more portable, but has a Lower end CPU, but because it runs at 25 Watt instead of the rated 15 watt TDP, it actually has good enough performance for my work, but then there is no GPU either so yeah, tough choice.
- Razer blade 15: Same CPU as the XPS 13, but runs at 15 watt, so has even less CPU performance, this is actually not acceptable for me. GPU is great, size is good. Monitor is bad. Support is bad. longevity is bad.

So My best options for now seems to be the XPS 15. But I wonder if I will be okay with something more wide, as I didn't have it in hand, while I was looking for something as portable, if not more portable than the 13 R3, which brings me to the title of this thread.
Basically me hoping for something new that does check all the things I'd want.

E.g, if there is a thicker XPS 13, that has the same specs + a proper GPU, I would go for it. And that would pretty much be something like an alienware m13 in my head. Even if it was a GTX 1650 ti. Because it's so small and portable that I would be okay with it.
In other words, I want the smallest most powerful laptop I can get, where the power/size ratio is maximized. Without going overboard, like I said. I definitely don't need GPU performance stronger than an RTX 2060 on such a machine.
It's just that because the Aliewnare 13 r3 back when I purchased it, was basically the perfect choice, I am basically looking for something where I can have the same feeling. And yeah I know, I'm a rather difficult person when it comes to laptops. As laptops are my only real material passion.