ALIENWARE 15 HYPE?! leaked video

Mine still says In Production too but I found it in the FedEx tracking database using my order number. They printed my label last Friday but nothing has happened since then.

 

Whoa! I ordered on the 10th and it still is "in production" and slated to arrive at the end of February.

 

They called me friday and told me that mine was shipping and should be here today... NO sign of it nor has it changed from "in production"... really really weird.

I ordered on the 8th, 2nd option, no recovery.

EDIT:

Just tracked by reference on Fedex and the label was printed Saturday. Looks like its Slated for this week afterall. Hopefully it goes out tonite and get here by Friday.

 

I see some people have received their AW 15 computers. Could someone please post a picture of the AW 15 with the 1080p panel?

Also, someone recently posted an unboxing video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMQBI-2CRmE

 

Mine will be hear tomorrow, i just called and asked and they said it was on its way.

 

any one can confirm dell are using what brand of ssd?

 

Man, i was about to orer my new 15, and i see they are putting the gtx 980m and the AMD gpu like in the US site, glad i didnt order mine Yesterday lol, the site is still not fully functional as if i select the gtx 980m it sais its not compatible with the core i5 processor even if i selected the i7 one, so i will wait till they fix this problem, then its gonna be waiting time to receive it. Pretty happy if they bring all the options here too!
by the way, i see noone here talks about that AMD Radeon card, is it that bad compared to the gtx 980m or 970m?

 

If I remember right its a samsung 951 m2 drive

The problem is the 295x is 10% slower than the 970m and that means it's much slower than the 980m. Not a lot of performance numbers out on it though.

 

hmm is it every country same ?
if yes then i am ok with it
the m2 is not bad right ?

 

FINALLYYYY....
BUT WAIT!!!!

980M is finally available in Belgium (Europe) and for 0 euro at the moment. But it says compatibility issue: it says: You have chosen the i5 4210HQ or i7 4710HQ, But the i7 4710HQ is required to be chosen with the 980M. However even though the i7 4710HQ was chosen it still gave this compatibility issue. Which disables the Order button of that very product.

Well it's just added, with wrong price and wrong compatibility, but I guess it will be fixed soon. Since it's only just added.

 

oh
my country is u if u choose gtx 970 then it will choose i7
they 2 are tied, so i7 got few option
they tied with gtx 970m or gtx 980m

 

i think its in all Europe, they probably understood there is no point bringing only 970m, as people would buy it from other sites or the US site, glad they brought the changes and cant wait till site is functional (i wish still 0 euros option lol)

 

Okay, so a few notes to everyone who has posted to this thread. I have followed this since page 10 because its the only resource for the Alienware 15 so far. I have picked up on a few things that I wanted to share. For those of you asking about shipping time, I am in MD and ordered my Alienware 15 Jan.8, $1500 model vanilla ( no add-ons), and its set to be delivered tomorrow. Next, for those of you talking about ordering the Alienware 13 I can provide some incite as I returned it to order the 15 and previously owned an Alienware 14. I owned TWO Alienware 13s, the first has scratches and finger prints on the screen from the factory ( returned) and the second I was happy with but the i5 and trackpad were enough to make me leap to the 15 for what it offers.
Points to note about the Alieware 13 from someone that has it for a couple weeks:
-The bios on the 13 won't accept the MX100 crucial SSD drives, I had to sell mine and buy a Samsung. It worked just fine in my Alienware 14 so I don't know what to expect, but plan for both scenarios.
-The trackpad is awful, the trackpad in the 14 I loved with the dedicated buttons but they removed them from the 13 for some reason and I was forced to used an external mouse
- VERY IMPORTANT The core i7 model is a DUAL CORE i7, which means its only hyper threaded for 4 cores and performs worse than most i5 m series CPUs.
I hope this helps some people decide, as you can see you get a lot more for your dollar with the Alienware 15 for the same $1500 price. I am open to PMs with questions.

 

Actually I was seriously sarcastic. Expected more boycott since everything is soldered, but the majority doesn't seem to care and proudly tells their story of how they already pre-ordered their rig. Of course it then pays for Alienware to only produce throwaway products.

 

As it goes for me, i don't care if its soldered or not, i want to buy something that works well, and that is up to date now, i dont need to buy a laptop that i will open up and change all the components, GPU CPU whatever, most i will think about changing is the HD or SSD, so maybe other people think of it like i do.Also they made it slimmer and lighter so its definitely a BIG plus for me!
But i also understand that people that are way more good with computers, would like to change everything inside, but probably Alienware making few products, (13-15-17) only now, they dont have the power to keep all the lineup up to speed, so they stopped the 18-14 model, i seem to understand they Always keep not more than 3 laptop sizes, so probably thats what they can produce, this year they went with some soldered parts, i think also to push their game ampliphier thing (probably all to make more money).

 

A Quick search shows that the 970m upgrade kit for the Alienware 17 and M17x is between $618 and $720.....

This is a $1400 laptop.... ($1499-$100)....the card kit (or future equivalent) upgrade amounts to almost 50% of the purchase cost....at that point it would make sense to consider a complete upgraded system which would likely cost about the same (net cost after factoring in reselling the existing machine).....

This is not the $3-4k Alienware of old.....this price point brings it down to general consumer level as opposed to enthusiast only....

Again...I'm torn between this and the 650SE....the Clevo/Sager will be a slightly better value...but the having a juggernaut of a company like Dell behind this machine makes me feel more confident in the support and service of the product.

 

That is a poor comparison of prices. "Aftermarket upgrade" prices are full retail prices. And the soldered components are cheaper in themselves, and also more expensive to repair. There's a fine balance between Alienware's pricing compared to the market price. They at least got this part somewhat right.*

*Except for the SSD's. They are overcharging for the SSD's. It's obscene.

 

Anyone get extended warranty. It's so expensive and they don't discount no matter how many times I call

 

According to a reply from an Alienware 15 owner here, the 256GB SSD is a LITEONIT L8T-256L9G-11 which has average performance.

So, don't buy the SSD from Alienware, there are faster and cheaper alternatives.

 

Agreed, SSDs are less expensive elsewhere even if you have to buy an OS disc. Regarding the warranty, I skipped it...WAY overpriced. If your looking for a good complete care warranty look at squaretrade, cheaper and they even offer accidental coverage.

 

I just wanted to add my $0.02... Don't forget about your credit cards.. Some might add additional warranty.. I use my AMEX for large electronic purchases because it doubles my warranty and has accidental coverage.

 

It's not a poor comparison at all....the largest outcry about the soldered components is the lack of upgradeability...which is indeed aftermarket retail!!!

Could they have used the bolt-ins as opposed to soldered for only a moderate increase....sure!! does it make any real difference? Not really......if it had inflated the price any more it would have just fueled the fire of the "Alienware is overpriced Dell junk contingent"...

 

Do all amex have accidental coverage or just yours (if its plantinum) ? Could you please confirm, thanks

Also anyone able to get any discounts on the new system via a rep?

 

I'm not sure if all AMEX cards are covered.. but I found this online.. Purchase Protection - Frequently Asked Questions - American Express®

 

Anyone else expecting theirs soon? Still waiting on the reviews to post even though I already bought it.

 

Mine is on the way. Full video and written review incoming asap.

 

Dell says mine shipped yesterday, no updates from FedEx yet though.

 

so whats been the average turnaround time from order placed to estimated recieving date...not the one that shows on the website? Also any discounts being availed by anyone or are you guys paying the prices on the website?

 

Wait wait........really?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! It comes with a Samsung SM951 SSD?????!?!?! That's the fastest SSD by faarrrr!!!!! Can anyone comfirm this with an Alienware 15?? This is HUGE news if true.

 

See this...

 

Xotic just updated their website with the new AWs. They have TITAN Z(juice bottleneck?) and 295x2(don't think this one is possible).

 

Sorry if I missed this earlier, but is the i5 really enough or are most people upgrading to an i7?

 

Conflicting views, but the bottom line is yes. Bottlenecks will happen with an i5, how much remains to be seen in benchmarks. You're already spending that much on a laptop you might as well spend more to avoid the issue.

 

curious to see how bad the i5 bottlenecks the dual gpus, especially at 1440p or 4k.

 

can anyone please respond to this query? Also are people getting the 970m or the 980m?

 

Get an i7. i5 is a bottleneck, but also an i7 far outperforms it in CPU intensive games and tasks.

 

I went with the 970m only because I have a beefy desktop rig, but if it's your only computer and you and can swing the cost, the 980m increases performance quite a bit. The bit rate alone, 192bit ( 970m) vs 256bit (980m) gives you more wiggle room down the road. I previously stated my shipping was about 12 days after my order date and well before my estimated delivery.

 

what did it cost for your rig?

 

I am in the USA, it was $1425 ( i7, 970m, fhd, 8gb) with a $75 off coupon from the Dell site. They are also offering rewards in the form of a future purchase coupon, I got a $160 coupon. I bought a Samsung EVO 840 500gb SSD, great performance and lower power consumption than other drives, for only $114 with the coupon. You can buy a good SSD for cheap in store or online at Newegg and Microcenter in the states.

If you're referring to my desktop rig it was $2200, picture right, i7 3770k overclocked to 4.6, water-cooled with H100, 20gb DDR3 RAM, Nvidia GTX EVGA 670 FTW SLI, 120 OCZ SSD, x2 TB 7200 Samsung Spinpoint drives, and a 1000w Fatality PSU with individually threaded cables. White LED lighting. Its a beast, but I'm already noticing my GPUs age.

 

Both aren't possible as they take up too much space (TITAN Z is a triple slot GPU, and the R9 295x2 is self-explanatory).

 

I was referring to your AW 15. Quick question, fhd is 1080p or are you referring to the 4k display? I am guessing 1080p. What made you chose against the 4k. Also did you order via phone?

 

1080p is the better choice. I've actually used 4K and 3K 15" laptops and a resolution that high on a tiny 15" screen is a miserable experience. Even 1440p is too much on a 15" display. 3K and 4K needs to be 21" or larger.

 

I'd get the 980m if you can swallow the upgrade cost cause you can't really upgrade later which really stinks. The 980m is like 34% faster than the 970m and is about on par with a desktop 770/680. Its also apparently twice as fast as a 680m.

I was looking at pretty much the same system, but I'm tempted to get the 980m just to keep my machine for as long as possible. Hate the up front cost. And nice desktop rig btw.

They might have modded something together. If you really wanna play at 4k you need the additional horsepower.

+1 for 1080p. plus you aren't gonna be able to game with even the 980m at 4k. just not enough horsepower. Maybe with an SLI system you could, but even then you would be pushing it.

 

True, but even forget gaming for a moment. Simply reading text on the screen is hellish experience at 3K and higher on a screen that small. You need a stinking magnifying glass to read stuff. You have to increase zoom levels in web browsers, which degrades image quality and text sharpness. If you up the scaling to make the text readable, it overruns the size of Windows dialog boxes and text becomes truncated on menus. There are not sufficient adjustments available to correct everything that needs to be corrected, and Windows 8 has even fewer settings compared to Windows 7.

 

SLI 980M tweaked can just about get away with 4k native.

 

Another Alienware 15 unboxing >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2WcM_Y8HEU

 

FHD=1080p, and I would recommend that over the 4K screen. As others have mentioned Windows doesn't scale that well. Also the 970m while capable of gaming at 4k, won't be able to game at that resolution with full graphical effects which is not bad but I prefer to play with max setting on. My final argument to get the FHD vs. 4K is the glare. The touchscreen is REALLY reflective, it can be seen in some of the early videos, where as the FHD screen is a matte anti-glare finish.

 

Really tempted to buy a Sager NP8258 instead of one of these. Its upgradeable down the road at the very least. Not sure how it compares weight/thickness wise with the alienware 15 though.

Edit: Or a Clevo P650SG. It may be soldered, but I'll take that for a 980m for about $1500!!!!

 

That would be true if the OS and/or applications did no scaling at all. There are still some very rough edges with high dpi displays on Windows but with a well-configured system reading text is actually better on those displays : the text has the same physical size, but the rendering is better.

 

Hey guys! mine came in today with total surprise! i ordered the top end one 4k touch/980m/256gb ssd,the screen is immaculate the sound is delicious and the touch screen... eh why not i find myself using it more and more especially with scrolling (i have two finger scroll on touch pad disabled) here is a close up as you can see towards the end how much i can zoom into the screen! I ordered mine on the 13th by the way! totally beats my old mx15 and 17r2 by a long shot! cant wait to add a card to the graphics amp! im not too worried about the parts attached to the mobo because i know im going to be upgrading in that limit! Hope whoever ordered gets theirs soon!
I have noticed the small problems like with sonyvegas and photoshop but i already know those programs by heart so im not going to sweat it!

Im in the usa if that helps anyone.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIkqmxvZK3s