Alienware 13 Pre-Release Speculation Thread

If they did plan on scrapping or dicontinuing the 18 why not just sell it for another round with the 980m or 970m. They already have the machine just change video cards. Cost effective. And they already have now over clocked cpus so people think there getting a whole new cpu with the new cards.

 

It would be really awesome if they would do that. We can only hope and pray that they do. If they do not do so it will be an inference that they no longer want to sell truly high performance enthusiast grade products.

If their new product model is going to be churning out a high volume of thin and light crap for the kiddies, then doing this to support the performance enthusiasts that kept the brand kicking for so long might be too much of a distraction from the new business objective.

 

Hi Everyone,

Sorry to jump in mid conversation. I have an M11XR2 and couldn't be happier.

• Intel Core i7 CPU U 640 @ 1.20GHz
• GT 335M
• Crucial M4 512GB SSD
• 8GB Ram
• Windows 8.1 x64 Pro

It's been a great little machine and got me through my 5 years of grad school. I love having the portability and power. I run CS6 on it and do video rendering and other light computations. I travel a lot, work out in the field, and work on the go so the size couldn't be better. The only other machines that appeal to me in size are the Air 11 and XPS12, but neither of those could come close to my machine (I had an Air 13 and it wasn't impressive running Windows). Plus, video storage really has me stuck with needing a 2.5" drive (and I like to dual boot with Ubuntu, so that eats away ~50GB for that partition).

I have a few questions.

1. Will the 13 be an upgrade to my M11XR2?
2. I don't really game much (less than once a month), but this thing has been great to that end. Will the 860M be better than my 335M?
3. Will the 13 have a 2.5" or mSATA? I want my next machine to be a 1TB ssd so I'm hoping for a 2.5".

I don't want to end up hoarding used M11Xs from eBay forever. I'm hoping that the 13 might be a step up. 1920x1080 would be nice.

I read the first 20 pages of this thread, so maybe this comparison has been discussed. I guess at the end of the day I want an 11" machine with a 2.5" slot and any NVIDIA card. This 13" doesn't exactly fit the bill, but I've been waiting a while now for the M11XR4

Thanks for the replies.

 

First, be aware that nobody really knows what specifications, prucing, or "surprise features" an Alienware 13 would have, since nothing has been officially announced by alienware. So far, we have leaked specs and rumors. Rumors are fun to discuss, but definitely should not be used to make a purchasing decision. Wait for official announced specs, pricing, and availability to come from alienware if you are seriously considering buying something.

But otherwise...
1) Yes. The rumored specs of an Alienware M13 would be a big upgrade over your current m11xR2.

2) Yes. An 860m would be a huge upgrade over your 335m.

3) uncertain, but almost certainly yes. **VERY** rarely does a laptop not have a 2.5" SATA slot. Most likely, an alienware 13 would have both a 2.5" SATA slot and an M.2 slot for SSDs.


And I can tell you... don't bother waiting for an Alienware M11xR4. About a year or two ago, Alienware announced they were discontinuing the M11x line of products.

 

The form factor will be very limiting with respect to drive space. If you are planning on getting this little guy, just don't buy anything that you intend to go on the inside of it until you know for certain what components (mSATA, M.2, etc.) will fit.

 

Thank you for this! The "big upgrade" for #1 and "huge upgrade" for #2 helped put the answers in perspective. Excited to learn more, but will wait for now.

 

I run counter to some of the, pure enthusiast opinions here, particularly on the 18" design. It's cool, it's powerful, and given that laptops are bucking the downward spiral of PC sales I don't think it's going away tomorrow. However, let's face it, the "kiddies" would like an 18" laptop but usually don't have the money to buy one, and road warriors have difficulty justifying the size in close quarters like cabs and airplanes, so there is a need for other smaller, more cost-effective sizes in the space. I don't think it's as simple an assessment as "true gamers want MOAR" on the market. From what I have read the AW 17 is the best seller, even over the 14 and certainly over the 18. I think Dell is seeing the market in two sides, 1) the hard-core, cost-is-no-expense crowd, small in number but good for margins, willing to keep buying the biggest, baddest hardware they can get, and 2) the mobile gaming crowd that wants good gaming experience but at a more reasonable price and form-factor; thus we are seeing a higher end product for halo effect, the ever-selling AW 17 in the middle, and a lower end more mobile system on the bottom end. Ain't nothing wrong with that

What I find humorous is that the jibes in favor of the 18 over a smaller (and weaker) system are identical to the complaints of "real gamers" who find the idea of gaming on any laptop ludicrous to begin with and roll their eyes at the mention of an AW 18 for instance. It really is all relative in the end.

 

'Real gamers' By today's definition its only Pro's who use desktops all the time. What classes someone as a gamer in the first place? The amount of games you play or type, device, time or is the the hardware you have? I think it is simply someone that enjoys playing the game. 18" users, rightly protect their chosen path of extreme laptops. Others prefer the idea of a 13 to be able to get a slice of gaming. Indie gaming has come a long way on PC's now.

I think to label the hardware you play a factor in gaming is irrelevant, that just means your bank balance is bigger. If I go blow some money tomorrow on 4 way Titan Z SLi, 5960x, 64Gb DDR 3000mhz, 4x1tb 850 pro in RAID 0, that must make me an epic gamer. right?

Jibing for the AW18 makes no odds either, yes its better but that's by definition of its user. 18" users it is the only choice, for road warriors the 13" is for them so does that make it inferior? Why should someone who bought a 13 feel inferior to those with an 18? Especially when it serves there purpose? Especially when if someone with more money got the desktop above it would melt the 18" into a black hole.

 

Why shouldn't we expect for 970m on the 13"?

 

I couldn't agree more. I would never get a 18" laptop because I had an asus ROG 15" and that thing is HEAVY, it is stupid to even consider one of those if you ever plan on removing it from your desk and take it somewhere as frequently as once every two days. I can only imagine how painful that would be in a much bigger and heavier AW 18.
And at least in my mind, if I am going to buy something very powerful that I'll only take outside my house, say once a month, I might as well get the money and buy a much more powerful desktop.
So everybody saying crappy things about smaller and thinner notebooks, know that for every single one of you, there is another guy just like you talking trash comparing (any sized) gaming notebooks to Desktops.

 

This last part reminded me of this classic:

 

Probably because it would cause the "aiming to be mobile" 13 to suffer in the battery life department, need a large power brick, and, most importantly (to dell) it would cannibalize the m14 sales to much.

 

What 14 sales? When the 13 launches it is very unlikely there will be an Alienware 14 any more. I anticipate the 13 may replace the 14 entirely. The 14 was a nice machine to fill a gap in size and price and there is nothing inherently wrong with it. Many complained it was too thick to be portable based on their definition of portability, it was not very close to the equivalent to an AW 17 in terms of GPU performance and lacks the ability to be upgraded to a more powerful GPU. This is not a slam against the 14 in any way, just observations of the way it is designed, price, performance, etc. It would not make very good business sense for them to continue selling the 14. Even as a person that prefers a machine that offers huge size and massive performance, if I were in some sort of a position that warranted setting aside performance preference in favor of a laptop primarily on the basis of its diminutive size, buying the 13 would make a whole lot more sense.

 

Well, the only way that someone would still buy a 14" after the 13" was releases it would be if the 13" doesn't offer 970m. I personally think that this is exactly what alienware will do. They will first release the 13" without 970m to force everyone that is waiting to buy the 14" refreshed, because they are all tired of waiting, and then they will do something with the 14. Maybe refresh the gpu, maybe the entire model, or even the line-up and forget about the 14, jumping to 13,15 and 17.

 

I have a M18x 18.4" 12lb laptop I carry to work every weekend(Fri/Sat/Sun). No issues. Feels the same as my M15x does. I use a laptop bag to carry it on my shoulder. Once again, doesn't really make a difference. I've owned plenty of laptops, even a macbook air 13" and 11" model. Sure the laptop is bigger and heavier, but it's still a laptop. I'm not carrying a desktop around that weights 50 pounds (my desktop is pretty heavy). On top of that, I'm not that big. I'm only 5'4" to put things into perspective.

The only thing I could complain about would be the footprint of the laptop. It barely fits on desks because it's big. Other than that, it's great and has tons of more power to do what I need it to do.

It would be great to have an Alienware 13 that has tons of power, but ULV processors and an 860m just wouldn't cut it. Although I'd rather have a Alienware 13 with those specs rather than some ultrabook. I notice thin laptops to heat up a lot. My macbook air would reach 100C on the cpu within a few seconds running cpu intensive software. If the Alienware 13 doesn't suffer from this, then it's already a winner in one category.

 

Yeah, I don't understand why people say that kind of stuff. An XPS M1730, M17xR2, M18xR1, M18xR2 and 18 have followed me on business trips from coast-to-coast for years and it's not a big deal. With a nice backpack it's not really any different than packing around something smaller. The big beasts are a pleasure to have and use on the road. It would be better to just say "I like small laptops" or "I prefer smaller machines" and be done with it rather than making up nonsense about them being too big and heavy.

The choice is a matter of personal preference unless you're abnormally weak and frail, or possibly have some sort of physical impairment that makes carrying a 12 pound laptop around too difficult. But, I would not recommend working out or going for a jog while wearing the loaded back-pack.

 

My girlfriend has my Alienware 17 and that weights 9 pounds. She carries it around all the time. At least three times a week like me. It really isn't an issue with weight as much as people make it be.

I noticed I've started to like bigger laptops. I recently got rid of my Macbook Air 11" and my M15x. I also have just put my surface pro 3 on sale.

Big laptops are definitely a pleasure to work with. I really like having the screen space to be able to truly multitask and use windows snap properly where I can actually fit the two programs and read the text easily.

I am interested in the new Alienware 13 as a secondary portable since I only have my desktop and M18x now, but I'm afraid I might not like the small form factor lol. :thumbsup:

 

Nonsense? You guys gotta be kidding.
MY asus is 9lb(without the power supply) I am not a weak guy and taking it to the university a couple days a week made my back hurt within 20 minutes. Which never happened when instead of the notebook I only carry some text books. Say whatever you want, 9 lb is a lot heavier than a 4.5lb AW 13.
And when comparing to the AW 18 which is probably 11+ it just gets worse...

 

Do you have back problems to begin with . Or is it just the laptop causing this.

 

No, I don't have any back problems, I've checked

Whenever you carry some significant amount of weight on your back while you have to walk from room to restaurant, from restaurant to lab, etc., it fatigues.
I am not saying it's not doable, I am saying I would much rather carry a 4.5 lb good notebook than a 11+ monster. If it does not bother you, that is great, if it did not bother me, I would be all over it too

 

It's not required to use a backpack. You can use a laptop shoulder bag like I do. Makes it very easy to carry these beasts.

 

Well, I'm an old dude that does have back problems... even had surgery for it... but, it's still worth it and it doesn't make things any worse than they already are. Again, this all boils down to individual preference. The only wrong answer is one that is presented as though "too big" or "too heavy" is some kind of a factual statement. Liking little laptops is not a crime. Neither is liking big and powerful laptops. Choose whatever laptop size makes you happy is the right answer. If über-big and über-powerful is what floats your boat, hopefully Alienware will still provide an option for years to come and not leave this market segment high and dry. Will be interesting to find out if their saga of supremacy lives on or ends in tragedy in the near future.

 

Even though I agree with what you said here, it seems that you don't really agree with yourself:

Which is why I said what I said in the first place. It doesn't require a machine like an AW 18 to make you a real gamer instead of a "kid" that enjoys taking his light crap notebook to class and also play games at home

I do hope they keep their bigger models for people who enjoy them, and I also hope they either keep the 14 with a 970M (would it be too much to ask for a 980M here?) or come up with a 15 with said GPUs

 

I think sometimes senior management confuses sales volume for supremacy. Then again they probably couldn't care less as long as they can keep laughing all the way to the bank.

 

Sorry if that was misleading. I totally agree with myself, but I am attempting to use diplomacy and be accommodating with people that have a different opinion. It wouldn't be polite to do otherwise, but if helps clear up any confusion, as long you promise not to tell anyone else I will share that what I really think is my opinion is the only one that counts.

 

and I hope they do it fast! Tired of waiting for this 14/13. I don't know if Alienware just fell behind on their schedule or it's just market strategy.

 

Maybe the guy that pushes the red button that opens the chute is on an extended vacation or medical leave.

If so, then this is a fine example of why cross-training is so important.

 

Tell me about it... I've had my money ready to throw at their faces since August, and when Nvidia finally released the 980M/970M I thought I would only have to wait a couple of days... I've never been more wrong in my life

Now I just hope we hear some good news about their whole line(not only the 13) at PAX AU...

 

If the 13 comes only with 860m then I won't even touch on that thing. It will probably be overpriced just like Razer and much less powerful than any 970m out there. Something tells me that I won't get any 14 with 900m cards before 2015. I should just go with MSI and get over with it

 

I would be VERY disappointed if nothing comes up before 2015... PAX AU can't come soon enough..

 

Love my 18 that I haul around in my EVERKI backpack. To big for my Timbuk 2 bag...

Now all I need is the 13 for light use and trips I don't need the 18. I have a Surface Pro 3 i7 for the light stuff.. but it kinda blows..

So.. again I'm standing here with a fistful of cash waiting to had it over to Dell.

 

What don't you like about the surface?

 

If they get rid of the 14 then yes, I can see the 970 maybe popping into the 13.

 

Windows 8, it's a tablet, keyboard is not for me, QHD....

I really just need a smallish laptop. I've tried tablets and 2 in 1's and they just don't cut it for me.

 

Well, if things work like they do at most huge companies, including the one I work for, then it will probably end up being whatever their design team's discretion deems to be an "appropriate" level of performance for a 13" Ultrabook. If using a more powerful GPU or CPU requires any kind of rework for changes to the power, thermal and EMI design standards it may not happen because of red tape and codependency on collaborators that own various pieces of a big project... stepping on the toes of other teams to get things done is frowned upon.

 

Finally something:
https://www.facebook.com/Alienware/...5/10152479715571973/?type=1&notif_t=notify_me


Alienware Launch 2014

We will hear more about it next monday

 

Can't wait!

 

Yes! The moment is coming.
It also tells us the launch of the Area 51. I would also believe this might tell us of the next revision.

 

the few pro gamers I know, actually use tablets and laptops more then desktops, cause they're constantly on the go from one competition to the next and most the time the carrying stuff is a mouse and keyboard, and they just stream everything else, like from steam etc..

then theres administrative networking guys like myself who are stuck in a different office everyday and night for 10-12 hours, and half the time are just sitting waiting for something to happen. having a laptop capable gaming mahcine is what is needed (course, the next thing is tethering from a ell phone, cause no free wifi anywhere ive ever seen was worthwhile to surf nevermind game on..) .

The people I know with desktops soley, only game at home, only when not working, or do not have enough cash to go all out fancy. Some are enthusiasts, who want the best ultimate experience at home on thier desk, but its not the hardware so much as the look and feel for these guys.



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on another note, its only 4-5 hour drive to newyork city for me. Might go to this event. See what the fuss is all about/.

 

Depending on the price this could be a very tempting upgrade from the m14x R2 I'm using now (although I'll likely hold off until this is completely obsolete or breaks before investing in another gaming machine, no sense upgrading before I have to).

 

LOL, so true. Yay for corporate bureaucracy!

 

Hey everyone I need some advice please.

I am very intrigued by the AW 13 due to its size and portability (I am on the go constantly). I currently have the old M17xR3 with the 6990M card and Im afraid its going to die on me any day.

I am looking for a much smaller laptop than the 17. I have been looking at the 14 but im not sure they will refresh it or not. If they do then im sold on it however if they dont..I may have to go with the 13.

I still choose alienware due to the quality of their machines. I love the build quality and temps/noise levels (Plus they look freakin awesome!). I work in the oil field so I need something built like a tank that wont break with all the stuff that I have going on out in the field.

I am just skiddish on the ULV processor that is only a dual core. I do not know if that will be enough for me. Here is a list of games I want this for:

WoW
League of Legends
Diablo 3
SC2
any other free to play MMO

Those arent very graphical intense games but will the CPU be enough for some of the MMOs?

Thanks!

 

still playing D3 on my 9 years old XPS15... it will be time to upgrade !!
Alienware 13 or some nicely lowered price 14..

 

All of those listed games are really, really well optimized (especially WoW and league). The 13 will probably be able to play all of those at high/max settings.

 

That's something we are waiting to find out ourselves. I think it will be fine for 1080p gaming. The AW 14 has a dual-core option on its base configuration, and I know people who had the 765M with the i5 and it ran every game fine. But the 860M is a better card. We don't know if it will be bottlenecked or not.

Either way, it will be a very nice upgrade from your M11x. The AW 13 should more than double the graphics performance of it.

 

Mostly games do want single threaded performance. There are a few exceptions like battlefield 4 but with a lower end gpu it won't impact it too much.

 

FINE ≠ EXCELLENT. That's just code word for ordinary, average or lackluster. People that pay extra to have an Alienware expect better than that. Whether it is a 13, 17 or 18, or an Area 51, it needs to be excellent. Otherwise, it's just "too expensive."

 

The 13 made a little debut in China, and with a bunch of articles and comparisons to the 14 and 17 in size, this bit of info revealed more of the nature of the processors and one of the drive sizes.

 

God I love wacky translations lol.

 

Am I the only one to find a bit strange (maybe even ridiculous?) that they are releasing a NEW product with OLD hardware? If there is a new GPU series, then use the new one! Unless they are going to sell the AW13 for one, maybe 2 months with the 860M and then when Nvidia releases the 960M, they update it to this one, which is also kind of messed up to the ones who get it now.