Alirnware 15 R1 vs R2

I bought the Alienware 15 R1 and 2 weeks later the R2 comes out. Can anyone list the specific advantages and disadvantages the R2 has over the R1? Thanks. Also does the Acer Predator Laptops have RGB lighting or just Red and Blue on the WASD keys?

 

Yes the R1 has a design flaw that has been bandaided.
They "bandaided" it by creating a BIOS that takes some wattage from the battery to compensate. Yes there is an option to get a 240watt PSU but who knows of the side effects of the BIOS(s) bandaids. Yes the last BIOS (A06) helped it tremendously, but it still has not totally fixed it. However as new drivers come out and new game update become available it has caused games to throttle that didnt when A06 first came out. A06 is presumably the last BIOS.

Bottom line: It is plagued with power and current limit throttling issues that cannot be 100% resolved by a BIOS update or a driver update. The flaws can only be fixed by redesigning hardware.
Presumably they have done this on the R2 because the R2 does not throttle under the same or even more extreme situations.

Whats my source? Me! (and tons of people on here) I had an R1 for a year and then I was able to get an R2 side by side an ran several tests. I have thrown everything I can at the R2 and it wont throttle.
Also Dell has indirectly admitted to this flaw on several occasions to me. They ended up letting me return the R1 one year after purchase for a full refund. Why would they do that?
Enough said.

Regarding the Acer questions I would ask in the Acer forums.
I never have bought an Acer anything but a monitor.
I heard they were good laptops. However I personally wouldnt buy one myself since it doesnt have an onsite warranty.

 

Does the throttling issue apply to the R1 with just a core i5 and 965m. Also can i still get the skylake upgrade?

 

Also how does the osd app work? Does it replace the default windows notifications when i press fn+f key? Has anyone gotten it to work on Windows 10 because i can install it but notifications arent changing. The only change that i see is the option to go to desktop charging mode.

 

Sorry for the multiple questions but in what order do i have to update the bios. Current is A01. Do i have to go to A02 then A03 to A06 or do i just go straight to A06. What are the risks. What are the benefits of A06. Also can anyone give me recommended fan table values for hwinfo. What do i do in case of a faulty bios update. How do i clean my laptop and is it recommended to do a repaste?

 

The throttling probably wouldn't happen with an i5 / 965m. How ever the throttling with the i7 and the 980m shows the problem with the design. Me personally I would feel as if I am owning a flawed system. Also the BIOS would be the same as was developed in such a way to bandaid the problem with the maxed out specs. The whole thing was handled sloppy.



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You will get different answers to these questions from different people.
A06 greatly reduced the throttling. Dell said A06 fixed it. However people were not happy with the fan tables. Because of this people often use A00.

Same thing with flashing the BIOS. I usually went straight to the latest. However there have been people that suggested sequential order. I personally gave gone from A00 to A06, and back to A01, then to A06. Never ever a problem for me.

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Can

I just directly update to A06? What are the risks? My current version is A01. What do I do in case a BIOS update goes wrong? Also can anyone give me recommended fan table values for hwinfo?

 

Alienware 15 R1 user here.
The R1 has a vastly superior FHD screen with the 300nits brightness.

I'm running an i7 4720 along with the Gtx980m on a 180W adapter.
I've had no issues with performance and A06 Bios is working perfectly fine.
The fans on the these systems run loud. It's a gaming laptop. It's to be expected.

Simply install A06 as per instructed on the official Dell Website, upgrade your Nvidia drivers to the latest version and enjoy.
Don't worry.

 

Run Intel extreme tuning utility stress test at the same time as heaven benchmark.
Yes its very unnatural scenario, however it is an easy way to recreate and show the problem exists.
This is sustained stress. However there will be times under natural real world gaming sessions that the system will spike to these levels and throttle.
For example WoW during huge raids it can happen.
In GTA 5 it can happen.

It has been discussed enough times on here to back up what I am saying.
Plus the fact that Dell admitted this to me and offered me a refund 13 months after owning the system speaks volumes.

Bottom line: If you run Intel Extreme Tuning Stress test and heaven at the same time on the R2 it dosent throttle at all.
If you run those same things at the same time on the R1 it will throttle like crazy. 15R1 / 17R2 owners should be aware.
(power limit and current limit throttling)

 

If it's a very unnatural scenario then I'm not going to run it. Simple as that. Whilst I understand stress tests in theory, I've read stories of this damaging computers and as such aren't willing to attempt it.

I've had no performance drops on any game I've tested including BF4 and Eternal Crusade. I also emulate using Dolphin. And before labelling begins....I'm neither a hardcore nor a casual gamer.

 

Can i just update my bios directly to a06 from a01? What are the risjs of it goijg wrong and what do u do in case of a faulty bios update.​

 

Can i just update my bios directly to a06 from a01? What are the risjs of it goijg wrong and what do u do in case of a faulty bios update.​

 

There is not much in terms of software that can damage an intel based PC.
I have heard that furmark can damage video cards but have never seen it.
Though we used to stress test with furmark running at the same time as prime95.
Also obviously overvoltage has some potential of damage if it is done incorrectly.
I have been stress testing Intel PC(s) for more then 15 years plus years and never have damaged a PC from stress testing or even overclocking.

Techically the only risk to a PC from the type of stress I mentioned is by thermal. However I would say it's not a risk because Intel chips have thermal protections. The thermal protections go as far back as the pentium 4. There was a old video of a guy running quake 3 on an Intel board and on an AMD board. He pulled th heat sink off each. The Intel just slowed down to the point of stopping. The AMD chip fried with visible smoke. I assure you things are much more advanced with icore chips.

I'm just trying to point out how you can demonstrate that Dell had a laptop with a design flaw that cannot be fixed.
They have admitted it and as I mentioned before gave me a refund for it a year later. It's not the first time they have done this. The m15x was like this while the m17xr2 and r3 were fine.

If you are OK with your system they that's all that matters. I'm simply presenting the facts. I'm the type of person that if I spent $2k-$3k on a system I want it to be solid and with out design flaws. As new drivers come out or games take advantage of new technologies the problem in theory could get worse.



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