Alienware 13 r2 vs r3 for 1080p gaming and portability

I'm having a hard time deciding between the alienware 13 r2 and r3. They both have oled screen which is the main thing. I won't be getting the 1060 on the r3 since it is too expensive and i only need 1080p gaming, so either the 1050 or 1050ti which are comparable to the 965m. I want to know which has the better sound system, build quality, keyboard, battery, and any other notable differences. Im not sure how widespread the thermal issues are but it would seem the new r3 design still has kinks that need to be worked out. I also find the r2 design better looking with a much smaller footprint and weight. I was also wondering if the 7300hq i5 used less power than the 7700hq i7 or not. I thought the i7 just clocked better because it was higher grade and the power consumption was the same on both?

 

the i5 and i7 HQs are both 45W TDP, so they most likely consume similar power and have negligible battery life differences (maybe +15 extra minutes for the i5 max).

The AW 13 R2 with the GTX 965M will get about 2.5 hours more battery life (~7 hours total in my experience with web on and 33% brightness) Can get up to ~12 hours with black background web plugin on OLED screen, but only good for reading (pictures look bad). Kindle app with black background and WiFi + Bluetooth off gives me 18 hours of battery (Estimated)

Dark contrast games (Limbo for example) can game for 2.5 hours on battery.

The U cpu gives a lot more battery, but will bottleneck some CPU demanding games like Battlefield 1 and Shadow of Mordor (Still get decent FPS at medium)

Will cost considerably less for an R2

Both R2 and R3 have AGA port

(I am selling my R2 if u are interested)

 

i have the 965m and i just wanna say, the 1050 ti is a much better card.

if given the choice i would take the 1050 ti in a heart beat.

also i'd get the 7700hq with it because it's an awesome cpu (and in a 13 inch you won't be overclocking anyway), it runs quite cool and you can even undervolt for even cooler temps.

7700hq and 1050 ti with 16gb ram would be fantastic on a 13 inch laptop, heck, even a 15 inch.

edit: be advised, the 1050 and the 1050 Ti are very different in performance, the 1050 is similar to the 965m, but the 1050 Ti is at least 40% better than the 965m, mostly on par with the 970m.

 

Would the 1050 run cooler and use less power than the 1050ti?

 

Yes and no, it is 50W and the 1050TI is 70W, so in theory the 1050 will game better on battery

However both will throttle on battery power to similar levels (45W I think). So negligible difference, plus gaming on battery will only give you about 1 hour with the full power quad core CPU

If not gaming, then optimus is used, and the GPU shouldn't matter too much at this level.

Edit: It should run cooler under full power though.