Alienware 13 Pre-Release Speculation Thread

Agreed on 1080p. I constantly debate the tech challenged in the Android community that Qhd compromises too much as far as battery life and performance.

A full function docking station would rock, btw. Nice main or desktop backup solution

A proper docking station and not a generic port replicator.

 

I have to ask, why would a dock exist if the processors in the 13 are ULV or LV (both in the U line of CPUs)? What kind of dock would it be?
The MSI GS30 uses a dock for a desktop GPU and 3.5" hard drive, but has a quad-core CPU to prevent CPU bottleneck. This laptop from ASUS has an external mobile GPU (and I guess, at that time, an adequate processor). And of course, other types of docks have existed for the purpose of adding ports. On the 13, I don't see an SD card slot, which is a bit of a shame. But again, what would the purpose of the dock be if the CPU would be holding it back.
I'm just being realistic here. A dock could happen, but it may not appear compared to wishful thinking.

 

They have and they can, it's just not that hard (or even costly), even for Alienware as a subsidiary and if they think they risk losing a significant position they will eat the costs if necessary, many companies do this from time to time if they think it makes strategic market sense and Dell/AW has more competition eating into all their price points than ever before... and please don't try to tell me sales are going up relative to the growth in gaming laptop market share, it's pretty evident it is stagnant at best. As before, I didn't say it would happen immediately, only that the AW 13 design (failure or not) I think is a sign (in terms of overall thinning out of the chassis) the shape of things to come, maybe not this refresh or the next, but in a relatively short time which is ALL I have ever said. I have never, EVER said this year or even next; again, you are reading into things I am saying that are not there again.

Remember, it is less important to be right than it is to be correct :thumbsup:

 

You obviously have no idea how businesses operate. Anyway, I'm not here to start, nor was I trying to start an argument with you... One thing I don't understand is this: if you're not suggesting that it will happen this year, why even make this argument at all? That's like saying it will rain sometime next month. Of course it will, we know this. Technology advances, systems become thinner, designs change. It's just another inevitable adaptation to market forces in this industry.

 

Dang, I thought the A13 would have a sd slot and thought it had one, but is a port. Not interested then since like using my 256gb sd for more space (used on my Y410 but gave the Y410 to my son for school). I actually use the micro sd for extra Steam game space for older games on the Dell V11 Baytrail. Installs take time, but the games play fine. Also put some of my game emulators and roms on it. MAME alone takes up over 50gb. I will pass on the A11. Might just get the Yoga when Lenovo adds the Broadwell chip later this year in the 1080p 13" version. They have a sd slot and play games like Unreal 2004, 3 and Left for Dead smooth. The new gpu is 40% faster on broadwell. I know that 40% is relative to the integrated 4400, but I will use the laptop for more than PC 3d gaming.

I have my emulator collection in the sd card already. Thought the A13 would be its new home. IMO, no sd slot is dumb, but JMO. Lost my sale though.

I thought the A13 would just have a nice bonus of playing even more games well. Enjoy your A13s !

The Y40 has a sd slot, but the display is not good and has poor contrast. Pretty bad.

 

I looked all over the design, and couldn't see an SD card slot. However, in the articles, they did say the design wasn't final, so the possibility of an SD card slot could exist. I'll hinge my bets on a micro SD card slot ,though, due to the limited space I see (possible for either). More info about the 13 will be coming at the end of October and beginning of November.
Another thing that worries me is the touchpad. Sure, the previews say the touchpad is on par with the Alienware quality (and that's good), but... no separate left and right-mouse buttons. They are connected to the touchpad (rather, trackpad now). I haven't used a trackpad before aside from a Macbook Air 11, but reading up on it, I wouldn't like the feel of it.
But the good thing is the 13 still has an HDMI and Mini-display port, and 3 USB 3.0 ports, on par with the 14 I believe. All seem to be the SuperSpeed.

 

The Aorus X3 Plus just came out. Looks like a competitor for the AW 13. However, it starts at $2099.

They might be able to fit an 870M and a full-pledged quad-core processor (i.e. 4860HQ) in the AW 13 after all.

 

(From here.)
Nope. I doubt the 13 is coming with a 180w charger as well; mostly likely a 130w charger or 150w charger.
I read the reviews on the Aorus X3 + (can't believe the X3 and X3+ have the same size, but whatever), and the machine sounds promising. Still don't like hearing above 85 C temps for the CPU and GPU, but people say it is a Razer Blade beater. Sends heat waves down my spine.
And for added salt:

(From here)

 

The Aorus x3 Plus is thinner than the Alienware 13. Alienware can fit it in there if they want to. The design is similar, and both the CPU and GPU have dedicated cooling.

Alienware Technical Support agents, while helpful to this community, know no more than any of us do about what will be in the Alienware 13. Quoting them is as supportive as quoting anyone else. You're better off quoting online articles reviewing the Alienware 13, preferably those who have had hands-on experience with the system.

The Alienware 14 comes with a 150W PSU, and in some cases requires the 180W PSU. I can definitely see the Alienware 13 having the same PSU.

 

The Aorus X3 is about .1 inches or about 2.5mm thinner, and since Alienware is bent on make cooling a priority for the 13, they wouldn't take the chance to put a GTX 870m. A GTX 860m and possibly their custom GPU in the Alpha is as far as they would go.
However, if reviews of the GTX 970m and GTX 980m say they cooler than the GTX 870m and GTX 780m (not mentioning the GTX 880m for the design flaw issue), then the possibility for either to be in the 13 is greater than before. And that would compensate the odd and unimpressive, but reasonable, choice for using Intel "U" CPUs.

 

There are a few HQ quad-core CPU's that are more than capable of fitting inside the Alienware 13 that will blow any ULV CPU out of the water. The 870M would not be bottle-necked by those. We still do not have anything confirming if ULV will be the only offered variant of CPU's in this system. I find it to be a very unlikely scenario considering Alienware offers multiple upgrade options on their website for all of their products. And if it were ULV only, they would be way behind their competition in regards to performance.

There are going to be options.

 

But, and I just said this earlier, there is confirmation that dual core CPUs would be the only type of CPUs in the 13. Here's one of my sources to back up the proof.

Nothing about only being ULV as most of the articles mention the U line of CPUs, meaning the i7-4587U, a low-voltage CPU, is an option. The best the 13 could get is an i7-4610m, the best mobile dual-core out there as of now. That's not a bad thing, as Mr. Fox said, them being better than those wimpy [ULV] processors. And yes, options will exist, but as the source states, the variety won't be as huge as what the 17, 18, and Aurora R4 have been given. The CPUs, for the late 2014/probably early 2015 model, will remain dual-core. There hasn't been any confirmation of low-powered Broadwell CPUs that are quad-core; only dual-core.
If you have a counter-source to my point, please provide it.

 

Yes, the base configuration will have a dual-core CPU. That's a given. I'm not denying that they will offer ULV processors, but none of the articles say anything about which CPU's will be offered and if they're only going to be dual-core CPU's. "Focusing on low power" does not mean ULV only. The 4712HQ processor is also a 37W CPU. Any "HQ" CPU is a plausible configurable option suitable for such a system because they are considered to be more energy efficient. And as you said, we still do not know if it will have Haswell or Broadwell. Intel has moved up their launch date for Broadwell in the past month.

 

There's just one problem with that "not-only dual-core CPU at launch" assumption. If 37w TPD processors can work, then why didn't Alienware use the i7-4712MQ, an LGA form of the i7-4712HQ? The two are practically the same processor. If Alienware were able to use a 37w CPU, then they wouldn't begin to think with using BGA form factor (ULV CPUs) and just go with LGA because the possibility can be reality. They may be a slight design change, and it could be a bit more expensive, but would people care for a small thickness increase when it would replace the 14?

 

Having a 4712HQ would not cause them to replace the AW 14, lol.

HQ processors have a smaller size and different socket compatibility, which is why they are most often used in thinner notebooks. There's no need for them to use HQ in the Alienware 14, 17 or 18 because of the size/design of the laptop. They are capable of supporting a standard mobile quad-core processor, and remains upgradeable because so.

I'm trying to make a point that nobody knows exactly what will be in the Alienware 13 until it is released. You can't say with any certainty that this will be in this, period. All of these articles are written by people who have gathered some accurate information, a lot of misinformation, with some speculation sprinkled on top. Sure, some have had the actual machine in front of them, but did you notice that the machine they had was a "prototype" of what is to be released? It's not a retail version.* Many, many things can happen or change in the 3 months it has been since these reviews were published.

*The Alienware 13 these people reviewed is the equivalent of a concept vehicle shown at auto shows.

 

The biggest difference between the 14 and 13 is the CPU (quad-croe versus dual-core). Remove that difference, and the 13 ends up being the preferred device despite the CPU being soldered. A quad-core would handle a GTX 980m, and we all know that easily. It'll also increase the chances of an external GPU dock. I already raised the point that the design wasn't final, but you need to realize that once the biggest difference is removed, then why bother with more options.

 

What about the 1600p screen, 8 hour battery life, and I/O design? Oh, and don't forget that it's thinner, lighter and cheaper.

You don't need that much CPU power to run an 860M. I'm not denying that ULV CPU's will be offered. As a matter of fact, I guarantee there will be at least two or three of them. But I'm saying that you can't say with certainty that there will not be a low-voltage quad-core processor in the higher model configuration. It may be unlikely, but it's still a possibility.

 

I too think that it is plausible for them to go with a quad-core processor, but probably remain with only GTX 860M(or 960M), and if the user wants more GPU capability, there will be the 14" version with the 970M and more powerful i7 options.

By the way, do you guys think that they will update all of their notebook versions to the 900M series before the end of the year? I'm eager to pick up a 14" with hopefully a 970M.

 

They should. Pretty much every one of their competitors is. It's safe to assume they will.

 

I'm not saying the possibility is impossible, but it is very unlikely. The differences you raised are not what I consider the biggest because
A. The 8 hours of battery life can be achieved with a 14 (with a bit of messing around and such)
B. Screen res. would increase.
And the design... I didn't consider it because I was purely talking about specs, not chassis size. It is true that the size is different.
Alienware has confirmed there will be i3, i5, and i7 processors. They also have confirmed that the price is so competitive that you could buy 2 13's for the price of 1 Razer Blade. Video source here.
JDre, your argument is based around the fact that Alienware will keep the 14 and offer a quad-core for the 13. There are problems with that, and you're making an appeal to ignorance/lack of evidence to prove what you say is very likely (saying that since there is no evidence that quad-cores won't be offered, they most likely will be offered because the i7-4712HQ meets this low wattage requirement, which is ambiguous because what is the value of low wattage). You also have not proven that these article are mostly speculation and misinformation. Never did I say you denied that there will be a GTX 860m or ULV processors, but I am showing why there are reasons to put doubt on such assumptions you have made. I already did my research on the 13 more than you have, and you also haven't provided a counter source to my point. If you aren't, your points are not doubtful.
Now, if the possibility becomes a reality that a quad-core would exist at launch for the 13, great. But then what about the 14? If the trend of consumer laptops is that thinner is better continues, then the 13 will eat a large chunk of the 14's market. CPU upgradability isn't the biggest thing for games, so the 14 doesn't have much to boast compared to the 13 other than an extra audio port, bigger screen, and... bigger size. The only way I see a high probablity for the 14 to remain is if the 14 has an removable GPU. If it doesn't, then we have a reverse m14xR1-m11xR3 situation, where instead the smaller, but better selling, laptop gets cut off, the bigger laptop doesn't get a revision.
If you aren't going to make a clear point and find a counter to points made and instead use wishful thinking and "clever" remarks, then please stop theorizing this and that. Because you have not provided the grounds to your points, whereas I provided mine (most of the time). I took the time to read your posts, and you make some good points, but not all of them as believable as those that should happen, not could or can.

 

We can probably expect a $899 base price with a i3.

 

I understand more than you think, and AW/Dell have not really been targeting the market well... the AW 13 design hints at a move (finally) towards designs more in keeping with what the market wants, at least in the chassis form (specs maybe not).

My entire point was that the designs were inevitably going to thing out, and saying it wont happen this year or possibly next is irrelevant; what is relevant is that it signals a clear acknowledgement of Dell/AW finally waking up to their designs being off and that this new model is the harbinger of things to come.

I sincerely hope that we can get movement on a full quad in the AW 13 regardless.

 

Pretty much everything you said about the Alienware 14 is false.

I am not going to continue to argue or debate this with you because it's pointless. You want to be right and won't accept possibilities as an outcome. That's fine with me. I've made more than a dozen posts, and have even agreed with you once or twice, yet you continue to argue. If you want to know what I think, look at the past few pages again. I am starting to think you did not even read my posts thoroughly and just picked and poked at things you wanted to. I'm basing everything I say on the fact that I know businesses, markets, and how it all operates. My entire life has been dedicated to this, both professionally and recreationally (on occasion).

I am not suggesting that you are wrong nor am I suggesting I am right. I'm suggesting there is a possibility that there will be a full quad-core processor offered in the Alienware 13, because if not, it will not remain a competitive product in this market for long. Companies adapt and make changes to meet demand and to remain competitive.

EDIT: By the way, I know Alienware's goal was to introduce a cheap solution to the market, and the AW 13 is what they came up with. However, I don't know what they plan to do with it. If they keep the AW 14, as I suspect they will, the Alienware 13 may be a "one-off" product and may not have another revision next year. If this is true, I can see it having only ULV processors and the 860M. However, if history serves as a guide, they will have several configurable options and multiple variations of the same product.

 

Why did you make an edit when you don't want to keep speaking with me on the topic? I'll respect that decision to yours of stop talking about the possibilities of the 13 with you. If you've been doing business this for years, that's fine. I won't debate further.
I didn't appreciate the fact that you kept a very subtle idea that I don't know how computers are. Posts #465 and #467 come to mind, as well as #463 to an extent. Agreements and disagreements were made, but I felt insulted. I didn't know you were one of business, so I apologize for any impairment.
But in any case, more info about the 13 will release in about a month, so who knows what will be uncovered.

 

My edit was basically to agree with you, yet again, under certain circumstances. :thumbsup:

There's just not enough information to make a valid argument. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

Yes, I do feel like we all have been repeating ourselves on the 13's matter, whether in agreement or not. But hey, the more the merrier (hopefully) they say.
Though I have to say, one thing puzzles me about Alienware's plans with their computers. And that's, well, if there will be a slight external design change with their computers. The Alien power head on the 13 wasn't in the 14, 17, and 18 right? I am just wondering what subtle changes to them we'll be seeing this November. Alienware did say they have a few surprises, and we know that they are revising the Tactx line.

 

Yeah, good point. The button changed and so did the position it is in. They've been known to make all of their laptops look the same. So, I'm going to assume that the R2's of the current lineup will have some minor changes to their design to match. I'm excited about that. I loved the AlienHead power button.

 

If this laptop has a docking station, Ill buy it. Ill sell my m18x-r2.... its soo heavy to lug around, and by the time im home and carried it to my desk, its anouther hassle hooking it up to evereything. the only two connectors not hooked up in the end are the optical s/pdif and the HDMI-IN. so its a real pain in the to use everyday at work.

I bet they will have some special station to hook up too, that'll offer cd rom and stuff. Would be great if it had more then just hookups too.. like a place for an extra HD for backups/syncs..

 

Well, it will be excellent if it can contain the build quality of the other Alienware notebooks. When I looked at reviews of the Gigabyte Aorus X3, it looked really impressive but the weak keyboard and trackpad is a shame. I know "gaming" notebooks have specific sets of focus were the R&D goes into, but at the same time, it doesn't jive well with me if the functionality of the notebook is compromised by something like a poor keyboard.


I've never owned a Alienware before but I saw a reviews of the Alienware 14x that said the construction of the chassis was really solid well build, and the only negative they had towards it was heat and battery life. Since these two areas seems to be addressed in this one (or we can hope so) maybe AWs conservative approach will yield it in a really great notebook.

Question; what is the general sound quality on Alienware notebooks? Are the speakers on the 14, 17 and 18 decent?

 

The speakers are pretty good. My M14xR1 had excellent sound. My M18xR2 has good sound as well. The 17 lacks bass a bit since it doesn't have a subwoofer, but still sounds better than most laptops out there.

I expect the sound quality of the AW13 to be similar to the 14.

 

The sound quality is good, probably of the best in notebooks. But they haven't changed the audio since the last generation. So, I hope they do some more in that regard.

As for the Alienware 13 having "good" audio: I can't really see any 13" notebook having good audio. Headsets are mostly what they're aimed for.

 

Well the m11xR3 had Klipsch sound like its bigger brothers, and reviews said it was more than better for its category. Outside of that, meh...
There's potential for a good-sounding 13" laptop here. At least the speakers aren't on the bottom, and that's a plus, right?

 

I know there is no way to know for sure now, but maybe some of you is familiar with how alienware updates its products, maybe some of you remember how it was when they released the 11" Model, for those of you:

Do you guys think AW will keep the 14" around? If so, should we expect an updated version with 960M, maybe 970M before the holidays?
I ask because I am in the market for a portable yet somewhat powerful notebook and I always enjoyed AW machines.

 

It's up in the air. The 14 may stay, or it may not. Since the newest CPUs are coming, all of the notebooks Alienware has that have a solid chance for 2015 (13, 17, and 18) will be getting a revision 2 in Winter/Holiday/whatever. The same can't be said about the 14 because no one but Alienware knows if it'll stay or not,
Right now isn't the best time to get a notebook with the incoming 900m series and Broadwell (ehh.. sort of on that one); maybe next month or December at earliest.

 

Your best option is to wait and see. We are literally less than a month away.

An interview (on YouTube) with a senior member of the design team said they will launch the Alienware 13 before November. There is a very high chance that they will also refresh or update the rest of their systems at the same time. Also, NVIDIA will be releasing mobile GPU's before the end of this month. There may even be a 965M available, shortly after, to replace the 765M. There are still too many unknowns at this point to give you a solid answer. But we're so close, you should wait.

 

Thank you guys for the responses!

I'll wait and hope for the best! :thumbsup:

 

Do you have a link to this video? I thought they were releasing the 13 next month.

 

Some guy interviewed them and asked a bunch of stupid questions that didn't answer any of our concerns about the system. If I were the interviewer, I would have asked so much more. It was a disappointing interview.

EDIT: I think I found it. He only says "before the end of the year" in this one.

 

I don't have any authority to reference, but I just have a nasty gut feeling there may not be a refresh of the Alienware 18. I think anyone that wants a huge slice of awesome performance is taking a huge risk in waiting for a refresh and should NOT WAIT to buy an Alienware 18. Right now might be a last chance to purchase a genuine Alienware beast. Maybe I am just suspicious, but they have never fully addressed its engineering deficits. It looks like they intentionally did things to limit its overclocking performance potential. The bitter outcries against the monster being crippled almost certainly got noticed. I think perhaps the extreme performance seekers that flock to the dual GPU monster machines scare the head honchos enough that they just don't want our business any more. I think they only want to sell flashy laptops to ordinary gamers that don't care about extreme performance as long as they can achieve a consistent 30 to 60 FPS on maxed out game settings.

 

There's something odd about Alienware's 18 inch laptops, and that's the fact that it is the only 18 inch laptop out on the market (outside the XPS 18, but that's a tablet/AIO combo).
I could understand why the 13 may give the idea that Alienware is looking at a different, yet similar, target audience but if the 18 were to be discontinued, it would be due to, possibly, the materials for the 18. Why spend so much on a product when it's one-of-a-kind? Then the 17 would be the dual GPU laptop then whatever comes next comes next.

 

There is nothing odd about it other than they used to strive for engineering awesomeness. Now they don't. The larger chassis has been ideal for extreme performance because therre is ample room for components. Things were a much tighter fit with the M17xR2 and adding that extra inch of bulk was brilliant back when they still cared about making machines with industry-leading performance. The small field of 17" dual-GPU machines are faced with greater challenges in terms of cooling simply because there's not enough space to work with.

I think it is highly unlikely they will offer a 17" dual-GPU machine. It would be fine with me if they did, because that form factor is large enough, although just barely so, as long as they don't try to do something completely retarded like striving for thin and light. They could make it thicker, like Clevo did with the P570WM, but I really doubt they will even go down that road.

Once Alienware kicks us to the curb and no longer offers a dual-GPU machine, that opens the door for Clevo to stop spending money on continued development and support of machines to compete with Alienware's 18" monster laptops. Clevo has already discontinued the awesome P570WM, so they currently have nothing available for purchase that can truly hold its own against the M18x.

My prediction is the entire product line-up will be dumbed down in terms of performance capacity as a matter of necessity to make the thin and light kiddies gleeful.

 

It will be sad, as I always want to buy a bigger alienware when I get a bit richer
but then, I will be struggling between getting a premium laptop or building a desktop
there aren't as much things to tweak about in a laptop

 

I meant odd as in unique, but I see where you are coming from.
I mean, what's the best that could happen in this scenario?

 

If what I fear comes to fruition and they stop selling a massive dual-GPU beast, nothing good can or will come from that scenario. It ultimately means no acceptable option for the customers like myself and zero cash flow for Dell/Alienware. The only option for customer retention is to continue offering a fully upgradable (no BGA processors) dual-GPU laptop with unlocked mobile Extreme CPU support. Absent that, they will simply lose business from folks that are unwilling to accept a lesser option, such as a single GPU laptop and/or no fully unlocked CPU option. I know I will not purchase an Alienware or any other brand of "high performance" laptop equipped with a single GPU, or one without a fully unlocked CPU because those products do not interest me, even slightly. I will simply keep my M18xR2 kicking with aftermarket upgrades until it is no longer serviceable and/or buy the most powerful dual-GPU option available from a competitor, assuming there is still one available. If there is not such an option, I will simply go back to building my own desktop beasts and downgrade to the most inexpensive/disposable ($300~) Chromium or Android ~14-15" notebook option available for web browsing and email away from the desk anchor.

 

what LGA are you talking about? LGA is for desktop CPUs. the changeable package on mobile is PGA

 

or get a shield so you have the option of remote streaming
if all the OEMs are abandoning the flagship SLI high performance monsters, I guess this is the only option left for us as we go to desktops

 

Oops, yeah just found that out. I'm too used to calling removable CPUs LGA since I keep dealing with desktops.

 

I don't know, I don't think they'll get rid of the 18. They can easily refresh it to broadwell and maxwell without changing much. If they end the 18, then Alienware would loose a decent amount of sales. The 14/17 are their most popular options, but I'm sure their is plenty of us 18 owners. It does sound concerning indeed. Especially if the 13 has a external gpu dock option. They can easily get rid of the 18 then and make users just buy the external gpu dock. The external gpu dock could also come to the 14 or 17 later on as well.

 

That's really more of a novelty to me than anything else. For one, I totally loathe touch display input and don't like using gamepad controllers. I'm an overclocker/bencher first and foremost, a gamer second, and streaming presents unwanted system overhead. As such, it is close to worthless even though it is fairly cool in a geeky tech sort of way. Even so, I do not consider streaming from a powerful machine to a pathetic little handheld device to be a solid or serious gaming option. It is also pretty worthless for benching and gaming while traveling for business, which is why I got into high-performance DTR laptops to begin with.

There's nothing to dislike about an eGPU that works extremely well, but the concern lies in what liberties will be taken in terms of increasing the level of performance mediocrity found in the rest of a machine built upon a pathetic Ultrabook form factor. Having an eGPU option for connecting something like a Titan-Z or an R9 295X2 to an already über-wicked dual-GPU laptop like the Avenger, Viking, or a P570WM equipped with an unlocked X or K CPU and unlimited TDP would be outstanding, but it definitely won't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. If the underlying connected machine is pathetic, it will still be a pathetic machine attached to a nice GPU... the eGPU won't cure that disease.

 

An eGPU is going to be worthless if the CPU is going to bottleneck it. The full quad cores will do just fine but ULVs? Not a chance.

Clevo is also giving in to the thin and light fad, although to be fair Clevo has a far more diverse portfolio and they never really advertised themselves as a brand that catered to high performance enthusiasts only. If Alienware discontinues the 18, I think it's safe to say they're pretty much throwing in the towel.