AW 15R3 vs 17R4

Long time Lurker new poster.

I've been posting the past few days trying to figure something out. Here is a little background.

I travel for work 2 nights a week and to a vacation home weekly (During the summer). Currently have a great set up at home fully loaded desktop Titan Xp, 165hz monitors. Its awesome for games; also have a second set of monitors for photo editing and premier pro work.

Currently my travel laptops are - Surface pro 4 (Work only), Alienware 13 R3 Oled 1060 (photoshop/lightroom work and Games). I am okay picking up another Thin and Light just for international travel where I only need to edit photos not play games.

I have found now that when I have down time if not traveling with the family and trying to relax I play a lot more games then photo edit/ video edit. Which has led me to want an sell the alienware 13r3 OLED and grab a 15" or 17"

Things in my Bag that I need to be able to bring:
Leica M 240 - 2 Lenses Chargers etc.
Sometimes a Sony A7II 2 lenses (not a big deal if I can't)
Surface Pro 4 (work)

Which of the two would you chose knowing I am already carrying a good bit of gear. I don't mind the weight if only temporary and if in an Airport typically will put on my roller bag.

15" - 7820hk
1070 (with the oc vbios)
32GB of Ram (probably get standard and upgrade on my own)
960 pro 1tb (will upgrade on my own)
120hz Gsync 1080p (not excited about the TN panel esp. coming from the OLED))


17" - 7820hk
1080 with OC Vbios ( I assume I will have to repad and repaste)
32gb of Ram upgraded later
960 Pro 1tb (I will remove the 1tb HD it comes with to reduce weight)
120hz Gsync 1440p

Thanks for the help.

 

What's wrong with the AW13? It sounds like you have a good desktop.

Where would the 15 or 17 be in this case then? If it's gonna be at home why not use the desktop?

Sorry I'm just trying to figure out what's what lol.

Funny I was looking at whether to get 15 or 13 and I'm thinking 13 but you're on the opposite side.

 

Nothing wrong with it just going from 165hz to 60hz is horrible.

Replacing the 13 for the 15 or 17 for the travel days so I can game on the go. I play mostly fps competitive games.


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Okay I see. In that case here's what I think of them both:

AW15: Smaller, lighter, thinner but has almost the exact same specs, has the same ports etc.

I think the 15 is a good size still for traveling even though it is bigger than most 15" laptops.
If you can play all of your games at 1080p @ 120hz with a 1070 then this would be the choice.

AW17: 1080 is the only differentiation against 15. Other than that it's bigger, heavier, thicker for no extra ports, or any other things.
It may have a 1080 but your resolution is also higher so the performance difference you would normally get from 1070 > 1080 is negated.

I would assume the 1080p 120hz is a better display than the 1440p 120hz in terms of picture quality (I'm basing this off my P870DM3 120hz 1440p vs a friends P870DM2 1080p 120hz). Pretty sure alienware uses the same panels.

Also the AW17 is "deep" it is deeper than my M18x laptop which is a huge 18.4" laptop. This means it's going to fit in less bags etc.

If it were me, I'd get the AW15 given the two choices.

 

Really I would think the 17" screen would be worth a little extra weight and size. Also the better cooling

 

The 17" is a good screen size for a laptop but lugging it around, it gets heavy. And along with that, the laptop will also end up taking a significant part of you hand luggage when you travel by air, it would be better going for the 15". At home, you can just connect it to a 24+" monitor and run it.

 

I don't need it for home. Its purely a travel gaming beast is what I am looking for.

 

Is the 1440p 120hz screen better on the 17 then the 15 1080 120hz sceeen from a contrast prospective?


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I would agree if the choice is between the standard 15" and 17", but these new Alienwares are not really of standard proportions. The extra cooling protrusion behind the screen makes them much deeper than is standard (e.g. the Alienware 15 R3 is 3 cm deeper than my 17" M6700, while its 2 cm less wide so at least it's not too wide as well). In that regard, the 17 R4 seems pretty big to comfortably carry around. I bet it's not that easy to find bags that would fit it, either.

How demanding are these games you're playing? Since you don't need to use the Alienwares at home, did you consider something more portable? E.g. a Gigabyte Aero 15 or something from Aorus (X5 or X7)?

 

To put things into perspective I can carry both my 12lb Clevo P870DM3 (17.3") and my 12lb Alienware M18x (18.4") in my backpack(one laptop at a time of course) with books and the chargers.

The Alienware 17 R4 my friend has does not fit at all because of how deep it is, even with the backpack completely empty. The fact that my 12lb monsters are more portable than a thinner 17" modern alienware lol. The 15 will be easier to carry, but at the end of the day it's your decision.

 

You really are a Super Saiyan.

 

Is the TN panel on the 17 better as far as contrast ratios go? Has anyone calibrated the 17 vs the 15? I will calibrate the second I open.

 

Anyone have both of these laptops and care to discuss?

 

I only have an AW15R3 but in all honesty it's a pain to travel with (assuming you are flying and not driving) given the size, weight, pain of taking it out at airports, depth which means it won't fit in traditional laptop bags/backpacks, etc... it kills your carry on luggage allowance both in weight and size. I can only imagine how bad the 17" is. That being said, I now use an Alienware Vindicator backpack which helps a lot with fitting loads in and the laptop nice and snug/protected, but even then, I plan to only carry my Surface Pro 4 when travelling since it's not like I'd get decent battery life out of it (no Optimus on my 1060).

I used to want loads of devices/laptops but now I'm trying to consolidate as much as possible since my setup at home is an Alienware Graphics Amplifier with a 1080Ti and an X34 monitor. If it wasn't for my need to have multiple SSDs and hard drive, I would've gone for an AW13 instead.

So for the Op, I think you need to consider realistically what you can/can't carry with you when travelling. I know there's a lot of noise in the market about the Max-Q BS but that might actually be the right fit for you!

 

If flying over seas. It would stay at home. I don't need it for a desktop replacement. I need it mainly for Traveling to the vacation home during the summer, Traveling by car for business trips and sometimes by plane. For example I leave for SC Monday morning short flight and I have a ton of down time in my hotel room. Perfect time to get some gaming in... the 13" is just not enjoyable to play on for me. I figured if I was going 15" 7.8 lbs 9lbs is not much difference. Also the 15" would require an enormous bag already. The Everki Titan seems like it would be suitable for the 17 and hold my other items.

 

Well thats odd. My 17 R4 fits in a few bags just fine. How tight is the fit of the 18?

Regarding the OP, I agree it sounds like the 15 R3 would suit your needs just fine as it will have the power to game when needed on the road but will be smaller.
However for me the 17 R4 is great. Plus the QHD screen is really on point when it comes to laptop gaming. The response time and the 120Hz coupled with the QHD is rather nice.
I get power close to my desktop and the build quality I prefer.
Regardless, I have had my hands on both. and you can't go wrong with either one.

 

What bags does it fit well in?

Yeah Just a 1080p screen on a 15"... eh... not happy about that and mobile 1080 gtx would be nice. Esp. coming from Titan Xp at home. Only thing holding me back is the lack there of portability but I can't imagine the 15" is any better, that thing is huge. Hell the 13" I have is as big as normal 15"

 

I have the Alienware Orion 17" backpack. It fits my Clevo P870DM3 and M18x perfectly.

The Alienware 17 R4 is deeper than the M18x so it does not fit in the backpack at all.

Maybe the Orion 18.4" version can fit the 17 R4 but I don't know.

 

Why not get a evga sc17/15.

Only reason I went for Alienware was because of the external GPU, and it's not a laptop I would recommend to anyone. 13, 15 or 17.

There are issues with the PCH, uneven CPU, defected GPU... dells customer service. Subpar parts for a leg and a arm price) compare Samsung 960 evo/ pro M.2 PCIe NVMe prices to dells crappy tosiba M.2 NVMe SSD.

Wifi being killer with no intel option (because last I read it's still having trouble)

I swear I bought a EVGA 1080ti ftw3 and I am sooo happy not needing to do anything that I really wished they made a laptop with a external GPU that connected though PCIe instead of thunderbolt. I would have bought that over the one I have.

 

Its probably the Epeen but I wanted a mobile 1080 that wasn't 2" thick.... also looked nice as well. From what I heard most of the 17 issues have been resolved to a point and I have no problem with a pad and repaste job. I have a 8625 card, actually 3 of them... the 1535 is ****. No problem switching that out either.

From what I can tell and people can chime in it seems like the pch, uneven cpu pipes, and gpu defects have been resolved?