Alienware 13 Pre-Release Speculation Thread

A good product will always attract people, do it right and they will come.

 

And, that weight and bulk probably would be easily forgiven by many if it had the performance of an M17xR4 or an M18x minus one GPU, with an Extreme CPU and MXM module, very high capacity AC adapter, etc. The fact that it performs similar to the thinner and lighter competition negates the benefits one would fully expect to attribute to bulk (i.e. superior performance and cooling). Like, who wants an F-450 Super Duty Crew Cab Dually 4x4 with an L4 or V6, or some stupid hybrid powertrain filth, LOL.

 

There is a system out there sub 14 inch with ips display, 870m and full fat quad. The only issue is the lack of mxm, it did it by sacrificing the optical bay and 2.5" form factor.

That's the sort of market this thing is releasing into. It better be good or it will be forgotten pretty quick.

 

I know everybody is hating on the 13 at the moment due to its specs. I think we are failing to realise that this product has to exist, without it could mean the end of our precious AW18's. Alienware haven't got the AW18 or AW17 quite right yet as per performance is going, we all know that. Although what we are missing is gaming is coming back in a big way. The difference is the platform has moved to a far more mobile stage. NVidia have just released the Shield Tablet and a host of other companies have smaller gaming laptops on the market.

Alienware have the 14. A to heavy to big laptop that genuinely doesn't have the guts to run with the best. Alienware needs a thinner lighter, more mobile platform that can compete with the likes of Razer, tablets, consoles and steam boxes. ENTER THE ALIENWARE 13. It has all the boxes ticked to where the aim for this product lies!

1. Its smaller, its lighter. This has made it more portable, it can be moved easily pulled out and you can just game away happily to a modest degree. Steam indie sort of games are on a huge rise!
2. Steam home stream, This allows your larger machine in your house to do the grunt work and stream the game to something less spec'ed this is perfect for many users as they don't want to be in a room locked away!
3. Console mode, HDMI 'check' Wireless keyboard mouse / Controller 'check' your set for console mod wherever you are!
4. Just enough power to allow some bigger titles to be played. Without compromising the Mobile platform
5. 1080p screen, Yes so the standard size is in the machine people are less won over buy pixel's and more buy quality for price
6. Attracts a new generation of mobile gamers to Alienware adding revenue.
7. Has the Alienware boutique look. Everybody likes to show off!

I think we need to know that product is designed for a market most of us are not looking at, however the general population is. If this drives more cash into Alienware to RND a better Aleinware 18 I would be happy with that.

Personally I can't wait to get an AW13. the AW18 is not really portable and just gets more desktop time than mobile time. In my personal lifestyle it has no mobile credentials as it doesn't fit my needs.
However this time next year with an Almighty desktop (talking serious money here) The AW13 will be my access to steam home stream, my system on the go (I hate tablets), My work machine, Also some light bigger titles for the rare occasions I do end up gaming away from home.

As long as they get the 13 right which I guarantee will basically be a smaller 14, So don't expect MXM boards and blah blah. Expect 860 and 870m options with i5 and i7 processors mSata SSD/single HDD bay (hopefully M.2), Forget ODD . Then Hi res screen to complete with Razer.

In conclusion there is an emerging market of highly mobile gamers. This product is aimed squarely there.

 

Why would one choose an alienware 13 instead of a Gigabyte Aorus X3? If you downclock the GPU and CPU of the Aorus X3 to the aliewnare 13 levels you will get way better temperatures. But I'm sure Disabling Turbo boost would be more then sufficient. The 870M still Almost 40% better than the 860M. (obviously the CPU too). So the only thing you might choose for alienware is because of it's looks (but they took away the illuminated touchpad and the lights at the sides), the touchscreen, the better next business day at home warranty (but if you are willing to pay a few hundred bucks of course), or the price (though considering the performance the X3 offers in that form factor it's normal I'd say and not to forget For GPU upgrades Alienware asks A LOT money). So yeah (though I cannot say anything about the quality/durability of both systems, since that has to be seen from reviews after months of usage from other people) why would one otherwise choose for the alienware 13 then?

Also I use a 5.1 surround sound setup so I appreciate the spdif out on the X3, then it also has the X3plus option if you want it a little bigger (not a fan of the 1800p monitor, but 900p is a perfect 1/4 allowing crisp 900p gaming a few years later when you cannot handle games, without the blur of scaling),

 

Aorus X3 is not very easy to get hold of here in the UK. I found one store than has the 13.9" Version for like £1675. That's way too overpriced for what is now as well built as an Alienware system

 

The alienware Aorus X3 and X3 plus are not released yet in Europe. Currently It only released in Korea and just recently in New Zeeland. It will come to UK and france at the end of August. So if that one you saw is shipping to UK, it's probably imported so it's extra expensive

 

Brand loyalty.

 

One could argue that "brand loyalty" is a contributing factor to what's happening right now. Dell knows that whatever they do the diehard fans will still gobble up their product, so it gives them little incentive to innovate and keep pushing the edge.

Not trying to troll, just some food for thought perhaps?

 

That's just one of the reasons that popped into mind.

My main reason for being "brand loyal" is that lack of dissatisfaction across the board. I've never been dissatisfied with an Alienware laptop. For this reason, I'd give Alienware the benefit of the doubt over any other gaming laptop on the market right now. It doesn't matter whether or not I like the Alienware 13. There's a good chance it will be the best 13" gaming notebook available because Alienware has a reputation to uphold, and they have yet to disappoint me.

P.S. That's my personal feeling towards the subject of brand loyalty. I'm not suggesting everyone feels this way or that their products are perfect. I'm merely suggesting I've had only good experiences with their products themselves. And for that reason, I think it's only fair that we give it a chance before completely dismissing the possibility this may actually be a decent system.

 

I will be getting a new laptop very soon, and if what you are saying will be the case I'd buy it no question. On the 13 inch market there already is a competitor with the 870M GPU (instead of the 860M of the AW 13) and the i7 4710HQ quad core processor (instead of an ULV one in the AW 13). How in the world will the alienware 13 surpass that? I mean I genuinely want an answer to that, because I do prefer an alienware as my m14x r1 has been my best laptop experience so far.

 

I'm brand loyal to a point, but not stupid. Dell/Alienware has been awesome as a company. The service, support and ownership experience has been nothing short of amazing for me. (Yes, a few bumps in the road, but that is expected because nothing is perfect.) However, they must produce a product that I want as a prerequisite. So, even if the new 13 turns out to be the best in class, which would be very nice for people that want something in that class, I'd never buy it. If they don't make something I want, then I abandon the brand and buy something from another company that is what I want. If nobody makes what I want, then I will buy nothing, LOL. Compromise always sucks, IMHO... I leave no room for that nonsense... it's go to be all or nothing.

Before anyone gets all hot under the collar by my choice of words, let me be clear that I'm not saying "stupid" describes people with different personal tastes. I would be "stupid" to settle for something less than I want just because it's an Alienware... in fact, I would go as far as to call myself "retarded" for doing that.

 

The 860M is only a temporary GPU until Maxwell launches the replacement 900M series variant when Broadwell hits the market. For all we know, the 960M/965M will outperform the 870M. The same goes for the CPU and Broadwell.

 

1st of all that temporary you call will be quite a while. It's only been 4 months since the 800M series released. and the 800 desktop series are only releasing after a month or two. Sorry but I don't wan't to wait >6 months for the hopes that the next linup of GPU's that might released

And don't you think that the competition would do the same? If the alienware 13 will upgrade from 860M to 960M, the competition will upgrade from 870M to 970M. So your argument is totally invalid

 

What if they offer the 970M in the Alienware 13 as well? Unless you have a time machine, both our arguments are "invalid."

And my personal feelings toward a product should not affect your choice. This entire argument is moot.

 

That would be amazing! But why don't they do it immediately right now then with a 870M? I need a laptop now, not over a year waiting for the alienware 13 r2. And even if I were to wait for an alienware 13 with a 970M, I will go MAD of anger if they didn't do it.

 

Then go buy a laptop, lol. For now, I'm waiting until Pascal and Skylake come out.

They probably won't offer the 970M in the AW 13 if they keep the AW 14.

 

-__-" Once more I'll repeat myself. When I wanted to but a laptop 5 years ago I searched almost 2 years for the machine I wanted. I immediately bought the alienware m14x r1. Now I'm in need to upgrade that, while I was hoping to go on with the alienware it's 14 inch linup.
So currently I want a 14 inch laptop with a 870M a good quality IPS display, a CPU around i7 4710MQ or close to that since I do CPU intensive tasks, also I want it to support 5.1 surround audio through spdif or 3.5mm jacks.
Sadly currently there is no laptop that meets my requirements. And I really wanted to stay with alienware too, but they disappointed me with the ULV processor on that alienware 13 and a 860M knowing the competition has 870M. So that's all.

 

Either way, you should wait until it comes out. The Alienware 13 probably isn't the only thing that will change with their lineup. Companies refresh products every year. Maybe the Alienware 14 will be improved as well. Worst case scenario, you're in the same situation as you are now.

 

Wow. So much hate on the Alienware 13 already.

Let me ask a complete hypothetical:

What if the "mystery port" is for an external GPU dock? What if you could run something like a desktop Geforce GTX770 when docked to drive a 1440p panel, and rely on the Geforce 860m only when undocked?

Would that spice things up a bit?

Again, complete hypothetical, with absolutely zero basis on any fact.

 

Thanks for the motivation. Yeah who knows, in the end alienware still said a few things are a suspect to chance, since it's still in development. Perhaps they will come with a better alienware 13, or better as you said an even better alienware 14. In the end I think I still might go with the alienware 13. since an upgrade from 555M to 860M is still quite something, and considerring they are using the 860M Maxwell variant it uses low power meaning lower temperatures again meaning more room for overclocking. Only bothering part is ULV CPU and no support for 5.1 audio so far

 

What you want kinda there already
Gigabyte P34 V2 (CF4) is nearly Perfect, 14 screen (Smaller than alien13 duo less Bezel) it's also thinner and weight only crazy (1.67KG including Battery+SSD) Has 860m Maxwell not 870m as you wanted but people already overclocked it to 870m level easily since it's a very cool card (870m is not maxwell and hot card) 1080p IPS Screen QUAD I7 CPU HD slot available, Big Battery 61wh (5hours+) and not sure but i believe it does support 5.1 too as far as i know ( hdmi 5.1 is easily done unless you want analog out?)

Costs 1500$ only with all of the above setup with additional 1TB HD too

Alienware never did make 570/670/770/870 available to m14 why do you think they will for the 13 lol

Alienware 13 is the running joke currently at all other Gaming forums hopefully Alienware read other forums too and go back to the design board this thing is still 3 months away, when you carry 1.6KG laptop everywhere then suddenly switch to 2.5KG you will feel the difference, 1.67 to 2.5 is +50% weight increase

 

Tbh I think its smarter to put an 860m instead of an 870m in thin and light laptops as long as the price is adjusted down accordingly. Thin laptops with an 870m simply can't handle the heat. Ex: Razer blade 14 and MSI gs60. I have a Razer blade and the thing turns into a furnace when gaming. The 860m maxwell on the other hand is very easily cooled comparatively as shown in the p34g v2 and y50. 860m also has much more overclock room than 870m, which I haven't dared oc in my blade because of how hot it gets already...

Ulv CPU is just garbage though.

 

I think people are jumping to conclusions a little too fast, by assuming the Alienware 13 is going to be garbage.

I think a lot of people are just assuming that this laptop will be a 13.3" laptop with an nVidia 860m GPU in a 4.5lb package. That would be incredibly underwhelming, because other manufacturers have done this

I find it very hard to believe that Alienware would just release another "me too" laptop and call it a day. If the Alienware M11x taught us anything, it would be that Alienware is not afraid to innovate.

I'd wager that the "secret sauce" in the Alienware 13 is the mystery port we don't know anything about yet. I'd wager it is an eGPU, that allows you to run a desktop-class GPU when docked, so that you can use something like a Geforce GTX770 to drive the 1440p panel.

 

There is no assumptions involved, it's a garbage.
External GPU is even more garbage now if it actually happened because the Ultra low Volt Dual Core CPU will bottleneck the GPU.

 

Yeah, eGPU seems silly to me also... having to connect any kind of peripheral device to realize decent performance would be a huge turn-off for me. It also defeats the point of having something portable if you have to connect it to something that tethers it to a desk to get your game on. Hopefully, it will turn out to be something useful and not some proprietary gimmick like that.

Any ULV CPU is going to deliver, at best, a mediocre performance. There is no assumption involved as soon as the specs are identified... you can know immediately that it's not going up to be awesome no matter how fancy the wrapper looks.

 

Oh, come on Mr. Fox... How can you expect a 13" laptop to be awesome, lol? That's like being angry at Honda for making the Fit. It's all relative.

I just think it would be nice for class work, but that's me. And yes, I dislike Apple MacBook's. I'd much rather have an Alienware alternative, no matter how "weak" it is in comparison to other Alienware laptops because this 13" serves more than one purpose at a convenience.

EDIT: It really just depends on your personal preference. We all like, want, and need different things. But, I know one thing for sure: If it only supports ULV CPU's, I probably won't even consider purchasing it. Let's hope Broadwell is "cool" enough to run in it, and actually does.

 

I never said it would not be nice, LOL. Razer and MSI make nice Ultrabooks, too. Nice doesn't mean awesome. I don't like Apple products either, but they're nice. I'm actually in agreement with you... it can't be awesome... ever. It lacks the capacity and the components to achieve the status of awesomeness. It would be just fine for work or school, web browsing and email. Just not something I'd get too excited about gaming with or benching. I'd only become upset if they diverted their attention and resources to producing more and more crap like this and keep cranking out 17" and 18" beasts that are locked down, lack adequate power supply, and don't work right. My concern is that could become the status quo.

It's like the Alpha in concept. Is it better than a console? Yeah, sure it is, if for no reason other than it is not a console. It is a versatile product that can do more than run a proprietary single-purpose platform. Is it cheaper than a bonafide high performance system? Yup, it is. But, it will never be a legitimate substitute for one. It rapidly loses relevance and becomes a less tolerable product if you have something that actually qualifies as awesome. Once you raise the bar, that bar height becomes the new minimum acceptable threshold. Products that cannot perform at that level tend to disappoint more than please. I realize some folks have variable expectations and are fairly easy to please.

 

Okay, I understand what you were getting at now. I'm pretty much in the same boat there. It would be a disaster if this became the norm for Alienware.

 

To be fair Intel shares in the blame for AW18's performance, but that locked down BIOS is absolutely unforgivable.

So much of this. I was really looking forward to buying a maxed out AW18, and was very sorely disappointed. I still remember back when I was browsing these forums people were still very hopeful that AW would do everybody right and fix the 18's issues. A05 brought some hope and excitement, but A07 was a huge step backwards.

Yeah I really hope making locked down crippled machines doesn't become the norm for Alienware, otherwise as you said it, Alienware will cease to become relevant.

 

It's very clear in my head that this is a notebook for casual gamers that want mobility. It's a great idea, and I hope it works.

 

Just an assumption: (that I hope is true)
You see there is the alienware 17 and the 18. Only 1 inch of difference yet quite a difference in performance due to one offering SLI and HDMI-in. So the one 1 difference that can makes the difference between the TRUE enthusiast.
Perhaps (I REALLY hope so) they wanted to do the same with alienware 13 and 14? So the alienware 13 Actually is now a totally portable laptop in terms of thickness and weight, while with a 1 inch difference, you get instead a fully fledged Notebook CPU (meaning not the ULV) and other stuff 5.1 audio, more light, (bluray reader), ... So yeah.

This gives me the idea like. Alienware has two laptops, a big one and a small one. Yet there quite some versatility in those choices between big and small.

Perhaps that is the reason they went for a ULV CPU? because to make an actual difference between AW 13 and 14? I hope it is.

EDIT: Important Notice! : I contacted Dell Alienware support. Told them I've been waiting so long to get an AW 14 while the performance compremise and size combination is THE perfect combination for me and that I'm not satisfied with the AW 13 announcement since I was waiting for an AW 14 update ever since the AW 17 and 18 got their 800M series GPU. GUESS WHAT?
The support guy told me: (I quote)
Support guy: "Don't worry, Dell is not planning to discontinue the aleinware 14"
Support guy: "It is one of our best selling system so there's no reason to stop selling it."
Me : "So you are saying that the alienware 14 is actually subject to get an 800M series GPU right? That would make me so happy
Support guy: "that's right. We will continue to provide upgrades to it and I can send you an email once we have the card upgrade on it."

What a relief!!

 

I would probably rather have a razer for a portable

 

Great news! Should happen only when maxwell come out, though, which I hope happens next month.

 

Support guys have no knowledge of up coming products or company strategies.

 

Next month? I think you are mistaken. next month Nvidia will only release the 800 Series DESKTOP GPU's. The 800M were released back in april. The desktop GPU's were supposed to release right after but got delayed until next month. Perhaps a few new GPU's may come out like the 865M (that would be actually quite amazing if they did it with maxwell). But no actual news about new Mobile GPU's from nvidia as far as I know.

 

Of course they're not going to get rid of the AW 14, lol. The AW 13 has a different target market.

Déjà-vu much.

 

Looks interesting. If the ULV processor is at least a i7-4650U, it may be decent gaming wise. At 1080p it should be fine, even the 1366x768 resolution. It'll struggle at the 2560x1440 resolution though.

Who knows, maybe it'll feature a broadwell ULV processor.

 

Wohoo! that's good news. Even though I really like the new look of the 13 (Alienhead is back!) I would rather keep my 14, 13" is just a bit to small for my eyes.

 

This Alienware 13 actually intrigues me. I've long had no optical drive on the go with my 3820TG, though I do pack my USB DVD drive when I need to (which is rare). And out of all the notebooks I've toyed around with in the last year looking for an upgrade, the Alienware by far had the best keyboard.

Hmmmm, choices.

 

I almost never use my BD-RE ODD any more... maybe 2 or 3 times a year, and only for just long enough to extract what I need off of the disc. I avoid using optical media as much as possible. For folks that use them all the time (and there are some) having to tote around an external USB ODD would be kind of sucky.

 

Sager have had a laptop out with similar specs for a couple of months; Sager NP7338 / Clevo W230SS. i7-4810QM, GTX-860M. I imagine it is significantly cheaper than what Alienware will be charging. 1920x1080 res standard, but higher resolutions available also, but not touchscreen. Backlit keyboard, 4.6 LBs with battery pack, dimensions 12.99" (w) x 8.94" (d) x 1.26" (h) etc., and users are getting an impressive 5.5 hours on light usage. It's a nice machine. Might want to check it out before throwing money at Dell just to have an Alienware logo.

*ducks head expecting abuse* :thumbsup:

 

If this was a competition only about who has the best GPU and CPU, than you are right. But I'm paying the extra money on alienware for a reason. I'm a computer scientist I ain't stupid. I know the performances of these PC's. So why am I going for the alienware you think? let me explain.
- The looks. I LOVE lights the amount of lights it has and also every light being costumizable to any color dynamically or static, is amazing. ALso I'm a big fan of aluminum, which gives it a solid design which shouts quality.
- The experiance. The keyboard is by far the best keyboard I have ever used on a laptop, and as a computer scientist who once worked on a helpdesk and used many times the laptops of my friends back at school, saying that about the alienware keyboard isn't an overstatement. Also the soft touch palm rest, and how aliewnare avoids heat on your left palm to avoid sweat when gaming is very thoughtful, even on the alienware 14 it is so.
- Service. They have a 24/7 (not every country 24/7 but still in working days) chat support. If you are able to pay extra for the extra years warranty (though some countries have law of min 2 years warranty on electronic devices, which is nice) you get a next-business day premium phone support where they literally come the next day to your home to fix your laptop, which is Amazing, I mean who likes waiting weeks for their laptop in repair?
- Performance (this I cannot confirm, but my personal test results were this). When I 1st bought my alienware m14x r1. I had a friend with a 15 inch laptop that is custom build with EXACTLY same specs, he only had a slightly stronger CPU. We overclocked both our GPUs from 590MHZ to 750MHZ. And on Heaven benchmark my laptop scored in the 800 while he scored somewhere in the 600. That is a major difference! Even though my laptop is smaller with less room for airflow.
- Quality. I've been using my alienware m14x r1 for 3 and a half years now (though I've been using it clean as it should be. I use a good internet security antivirus, and I clean the dust off my computer every few months with an air compressor). My laptop has never had a performance drop whatsoever. I even installed an SSD at some point and it became better than ever. So yeah, my laptop is still working like a beast currently. Now as an enthusiast I naturally want to have better performance, so I'm planning to invest further on the alienware 14.

 

Alienware laptops are great (see my signature) the issue is with this 13 is that people buys 13 for portability/thinness/weight, this Alienware got much much worse CPU than other 13 and 14 (others 14 is technically a smaller laptop while having a bigger screen) and GPU weaker vs others too, so it doesn't have the performance neither the portability of others, basically as a person who wants a portable laptop or a strong portable laptop or both of these together then Alienware 13 is not the choice unless you buy things to enjoy the LED on it alone, m14 x1 at its time of release was actually a great laptop not anymore though.

My wish was with the 13 =

1-Go as light/thin vs others and offer similar performance

Or

2-Go a little bigger but offer BETTER performance

What we got is #3 which is they went heavier/thicker/bigger(yes alienware 13 is bigger than gigabyte 14/razer14) while offering less performance (much less) and probably asking more $ for it my response is clearly LOL alienware

 

The sager is pretty good, a friend of mine has a Clevo 230st. But it´s build quality and material use is nowhere near my 14, and that´s not weird considering the 230 is a lot cheaper.

I don´t see any reason to ´abuse´ the 230 like saying it´s bad, but I want something a bit more well build (Like the old Latitude Trimetal series, those things are build like a tank).

 

The AW 13 may have 14nm Broadwell and 28nm Maxwell (860M) when it's released in November. Intel just announced some new information about their ULV CPU's. The "roadmap" has been updated to late 2014: AnandTech | Intel Broadwell Architecture Preview: A Glimpse into Core M.

New leaks of Broadwell just hit the net and it looks pretty good. The 14nm process is performing better than Haswell and consuming up to 30% less power across the board, which means less heat and greater battery life. It looks like the i7 Broadwell ULV CPU's are performing at 4710MQ levels and better. This means no bottleneck with an upgraded CPU.

 

Lol, bad move, Alienware fans are almost as passionate about their stuff as the Desktop AMD guys. What you did was almost as bad as going on to the AMD OverClock.net forums and yelling "Hail NVIDIA!!".
That being said, I'm a firm believer in brand agnosticism. All brands produce good and bad products, true insight is being able to critically appraise the technology for what it is, as it is.

It is true that the W230SS is classified as an ultra-portable machine, it is more designed for high performance rather than efficiency. I don't think the Alienware 13 inch will use the same design approach, there are a lot of little things that the W230SS design doesn't employ thus it is not as efficient as it can be.
W230SS
For example, it uses the standard voltage chipset instead of the low power chipset (i.e. the ones used with ULV chips and Ultrabooks), this is primarily a cost thing since this one change can shave off as much as 1-2W at idle and under load, this is equivalent to upgrading the CPU to a new process node in terms of battery life yield.
Secondly, the LCD screen is a relatively power hungry LVDS model with no support for PSR. Again, PSR costs more but will basically reduce average power consumption by at least 30%. At the very least, an IGZO screen could've been used.
Finally, the battery is extremely basic, it uses a bottom tier controller + average cells. This cuts the efficiency considerably while also reducing the amount of duty cycles.

However, on the other side of the coin, the compromises of the W230SS allows you to receive a standard voltage i7 + 860m + IPS screen for <$1300.

There are always some who will pay for quality, Alienware isn't just a logo.

 

I'll believe the info about the CPU performance when I see it...

 

Yeah, same here. It looks good on paper but we all know real world performance is different.

 

It is also hard to get reliable information from professional reviews regarding performance. They are useful to gain information about features, aesthetics and specs, but not necessarily an accurate view of performance capacity. An opinion that something performs well can be very subjective. What one person considers "good performance" may be inadequate or even regarded as poor by others. An experience of something not performing well can also be way off base if all the reviewer does it flick the switch and hope for the best without diving in to find out what makes it work better. Until new hardware hits a forum like this one and starts getting pushed really hard by end users to determine what the functional limitations are, nobody knows for sure what to expect in a new product. I think a fair portion of the new notebook tech in the past year or so (regardless of brand) has generated as much or more disappointment from performance enthusiasts than it has exceeded enthusiasts' expectations.

As most performance enthusiasts are not content with status quo, professional reviews can even be misleading. A system that functions at or near its functional limits out of the box is going to disappoint a lot of folks that expect more from their hardware. The days of having a reasonable expectation that a product can do more than it does as it rolls off the assembly line might be coming to an end as laptops and notebooks are looking more and more like cheap garbage mobile electronics and less like real computers. I think part of what has been responsible for this situation is products are being engineered for the consumers that fit into the lowest common denominator bucket... which, unfortunately happens to be the biggest bucket. So products are engineered with just barely enough effort to make it work and no overhead or capacity for doing more than they want it to do. A combination of low budget, inadequate R&D, lack of regard for quality, and an evil streak for increasing profits based on "engineered obsolescence" (no capacity for upgrades) are probably all contributing to what we see taking place.