Cast your vote or opinion on the new Alienware 2015 model line up!!

I just thought I'd post up a thread with a poll attached for....erm.....fun?? - well just to gauge the general consensus on the new 15 and 17 and demise of the 18. I know that several of you have posted your comments on various threads already, and as such, this might kind of duplicate things a wee bit.

Anyway, vote away and post any comments you may have. Votes remain anonymous.

 

Despite any bad opinion, i like the new line very much.

 

Poll is up!

 

Well this is my last Alienware ever.. Just waiting for a Clevo with i7-4790K + dual NVIDIA GPU's and I'll jump ship...

 

Huh, the consensus is more divided than I thought.

 

Wow, looks like the poll was a bit more scientific after all! Didn't guess it!

 

Still early days yet.......

 

I like the poll, it does turn me off from these machines.. This forum is amazing I will hate to leave but these new alienware machines are not machines at all, just pretty toys with no power. But I will admit they are pretty .

 

While I would have forgiven alienware if they released the 15 and 13 with soldered components as they are designed with portability in mind and I understand that, the 17 they offer is a joke compared to its older brothers. Seems like they threw out what made them popular with high performance enthusiasts and overclockers in the past and want to cater the mainstream market. That's all well and good, but a bunch of the people who buy $3,000+ machines like loaded alienware 17/18's are jumping ship. I'm sure they have an alienware 18 in development like they did in the past and are going to release it later, but I think they've thoroughly trashed their lineup enough that I think the 18 or whatever they decide to do isn't gonna hold up to snuff and the old reputation.Just a rant from an older school alienware owner who doesn't want to give up overclocking, socketed cpu's, and mxm.

 

I have nothing against Alienware as a brand, but I cannot support the engineering and design decisions made in the new product line. They are unacceptable for me. I am not their only customer, so I get it... I am one fish in an ocean. They have been an amazing company to work with and I have nothing bad I can say about how I have been treated. It has been a wonderful experience, but nothing lasts forever.

I do have a problem with the technology they and most of their competitors are selling, and as long as there is a sockets and slots option available I will won't even entertain the notion of purchasing anything with BGA CPU or GPU. It's not negotiable or open for consideration under any circumstances. So, the problem is the lack of availability of a product that I am willing to purchase. For that reason, Clevo is the Plan B escape route. Until this situation changes and Alienware has an SLI beast in a 17 or 18 form factor with a socketed and unlocked XM CPU and MXM slots, Clevo officially becomes Plan A and there is no Plan B that includes a laptop. Plan B would be no laptop and moving to building my own desktop.

I am not surprised to see the poll shaking out like it is. Alienware's customer base has been largely performance-centric overclockers, power users and enthusiasts (I am not talking about gamers that are console-converts) and folks like us simply will not drink the BGA Kool-Aid. This is a small sample, but the message is pretty obvious, especially when you combine the bottom two. I can only hope that there are many like-minded people that buy other brands that feel the same way. That would send a financially painful message to the entire industry rather than singling out Alienware as the scapegoat for garbage. The entire industry is worthy of retribution at the hands of consumers and deserving of financial harm for the proliferation of this filth.

 

Yup, around 65% of people surveyed thus far will not buy Alienware again or would be hard pushed to do so........that speaks volumes, even though it is a very small snapshot right now.

 

I think the Alienware 13 and 15 are acceptable, at least more so than the new 17. The 15 needs Broadwell, and then maybe it would be decent. The Alienware 13 needs the 960M. The 860M is old. The Alienware 17 R2 is the most disappointing system of all time.

If I were the GM of Alienware, I'd do something similar to the following: Would have kept the Alienware 18 designs and increased the size to make it an Alienware 19 and have it support Z97/Z99 (4790K - 5960X) with 980M SLI, and have gotten rid of the stupid "Graphics Amplifier" port because 980M SLI would outperform the GTX 980, anyway. I'd also have put 4x M.2 SSD ports with 2x 2.5" SATA III bays - stacked like the M18x R2 - offering up to 6 total SSD's, keeping the ODD out. I'd make room for up to 64GB's of memory (32GB's minimum if 64GB's won't work). I'd also offer a dual-PSU option (order a "spare" 330W PSU) that comes with an adapter. And when you order a six-core CPU, you get an extra heat sink on it (4 heat pipes for the CPU) with higher CFM fans as well - a "Limited Edition Overclocked Alienware 19" package including all of that.

Dominate the 13.3", 15.6", and 17.3" markets while also introducing a new enthusiast 19" market. (The 19" systems are made to order with stricter return policies to prevent wasting resources on the 19" market, as it will probably be smaller.) The 19" systems will be tested, benchmarked, and certified fully-functional before shipment like what Digital Storm does with their PC's. I'd also revise the Alienware 17 R2. That thing is just pathetic.

 

the 17 should have been released as an SLI system. Not a single gpu system with the current lineup the way it is.

 

The CPU is going to need a bit more heat pipes than 4.

From here.

 

Let's make it six then.

 

About what I expected.... Hoping they sell some units, TBH. It's better for all of us if they get sales, but still hear from us "power users" and give us a system that will fit the niche.

 

Enthusiasts will ban this stupid dellienware now....everyone's eyes are on Clevo and maybe some of them are waiting for a succesor to the P570WM

 

Clevo are just so ugly though.....their machines are hideous and bulky I know it about performance over looks but Cleve is hideous I would lean more towards the msi gt series they are still mxm based and socket cpu they also are the only company that actually support gpu upgrades to next gen cards without modded drivers they actually have a upgrade plane you can purchase with the gt lineup that allows you to trade up your 980m's for the next gen of nvidia cards and the gt series offers sli they even have the msi titan laptop that has a full cherry red mechanical keyboard... So dellienware dropped the ball on this one

No cpu upgrades

No xm model cpu

No gpu upgrades

Limited to 16gb ram

Shipped with a insufficient 180w brick that is incapable of properly powering the system

No drive bay

No hdmi in

You minus all that which alienware has been known for how can we even call these a alienware... The only thing alienware about the 2015 refresh is the price, $2749 for a i7 4980hq 980m with 8gb ram 128gb Sata m.2 with 1tb their are better options out their cheaper then this its just a shame I was so hype for these too guess I'm waiting ... Figured something was up since their has not been a single peep of these since CES not 1 benchmark

 

One of the reasons I turned to Alienware notebooks 2-3 years ago was because I wanted to be 'as close as possible' to a desktop while still being able to carry it around (it is heavy, but you get used to it easily).
To me desktop experience means the fact that you can flip it over, unscrew the bottom and basically replace everything. Not that I did do so (apart from the RAM and HDD), but it was more peace of mind that I could if I wanted.

The new lineup is basically the contrary to that; you can't replace anything more than you can in a random 700$ laptop. And also just one 7" SATA connection, as well as just two RAM slots in the new 17 is really a step backwards.

What I actually don't care about is that the DVD-drive is finally ditched. I only use mine maybe once every two months...

I'm also interested on how the new cooling system will perform (where the CPU and GPU heatpipes are connected).
I think it may be positive because that means a higher heat capacity of the cooling system so slower temperature fluctuations. It may also reduce overall fan noise: if only your GPU or CPU is stressed I presume that might result result in the two fans going on medium RPM instead of one going to full RPM? These are only things that suddenly came to mind though, but I'm definitely interested in how the new cooling system will affect the system noise etc.

.

 

I've never used a Clevo before but when been onto their forums those machines really are powerful, worth praise have a look at the XMG, Mythologic, Xotic PC and don't forget the Origin they are the best Sager resellers forgot Power notebooks. Just don't judge a machine by its design solely, I agree that their look is not superior to Alienware but the inner hardware flexibitly / forum / BIOS mods make it better than Alienwares accept it or not but it's the truth. All this because of the Dell and their greed for money they are just lame and stupid they had chance to use the MX, MQ CPUs but they chose the BGA and GPU also BGA that's a retarded move, the older M15x I've used felt sturdy but the newer machines feel good but lack the strong feeling and chopped off features, locked out BIOS etc etc...BS

These machines of Clevo - P377SMx, P7x0ZM series and the Beast P570WMx <-- This one is the world's best SLI machine It has dethroned the M18x R2 in several aspects, and they are better in upgrading than others.

Have a look here the #1 post says it all....
No official support for the maxwell GPUs, plus it needs hard mod, Unlike the Alienwares or Clevos & Any notebook that doesn't get released with the newer GPU refresh It needs a modded INF, though never did an INF mod but it's not at all risky or fry your GPU and easy task too.
"Just because MSI said GPU upgradable" doesn't make them the best, any laptop with an MXM can be upgraded imho. You will need to earn the rep like Clevos or Alienwares did, a thing of past now for Aws though .

And the Titan machine, it has got pretty new Cherry Red MX keyboard but how are you gonna use it ?? When there's no space for palm plus moreover that machine's not gonna have an MX, MQ cpu but instead again a HQ.
Still a personal opinion though not to hurt any but this is the current scenario of the Alienware brand, their machines & other gaming / DTR / NB brands.

P570WM single GTX980M 3Dmark vs M17x R4 980M 3Dmark

P570WM GTX 980M SLI vs M18x R2 GTX980M SLI by Tbonesan

 

Like it's been said before, AW 18 and 17 should've stayed as they were: without BGA, catering to the enthusiasts. The 15 and 13 as they are now: with BGA catering to mainstream users who want a thinner, lighter and cheaper laptop and don't care about upgrades.

This way they'd satisfy enthusiasts who'd go for the 17 and 18 as we've been doing all this time and at the same time appeal more to mainstream users with their 15 and 13 models and the GA. Going all BGA and killing off the AW 18, they've pretty much left the enthusiast market to Clevo and MSI.

The current 17 R2 is a joke and there's no reason to chose it over the 15 since they're both being offered with the same hardware and are both BGA. Unless you really want those extra 2" of screen, but then you lose the IPS panel and 4K option that you have on the 15. It's a joke.

 

Geez you could have at least linked them to an overclocked run

But what you've written is very true. The P570WMx is the only machine pushing the boundaries. Then the P377SMx is giving it's users value by be continuing to offer MXM and socketed CPU's

 

couldn't find much and unable to find Mr. Fox's run too

 

MSI doesn't sell any performance enthusiast grade laptops. They do have new morphodite Titan thing with 980M SLI, mechanical keyboard and no palmrest. Unfortunately, that goofy thing has also got a pile of crap BGA CPU exactly like the new Alienware 17 jokebook does. Crap is crap... even in smaller measure. So, having MXM will never make up for having a worthless BGA low-TDP turd CPU welded to the motherboard.

 

For now i think they are ok....nothing fancy components wise, they look awesome but will it be awesome in 3 years.....well i guess not and thats what Alienware was to me a very good build laptop with the option of upgrade and changes..................... so in a way i like them but i would not buy them anymore......just bought a second m15x so i can change that one. Alienware was a addiction now it's just a brand for me.

 

I completely agree with you're post I just wanted to point out there are more then a few changes between the 2 machines and the 17 r2 is confirmed to have ips displays I'll find the link and post it as for the differences

The 15 it's either matte panel or 4k display no true life 1080p no touch without 4k which sucks because 4k / uhd screens still suck in my opinion because windows still cannot handle dpi scaling well so apps like origin are so small you can't see them and steam is a blurry mess, also when ever you plug them into a tv or larger monitor you have to spchange the text scaling and log out/in every time or the scaling will be jacked up. Also a lot of games don't scale correctly as well leading to the game being scaled small and giant black borders .... It's just annoying and not main stream enough yet

On the 17 their is the matte panel and the true life touch which is glossy both 1080p so it has the better screen

The 17 has 3 sata m.2 slots the 15 has 2

The 17 has the num pad.(some don't use but I do....a lot)

The 17 has the 4980hq which is much better then the 4710hq

 

I love my older alienwares and if I see an m18x r2 I'm gonna snag it, but I can't justify spending a ton of money on a dead end machine. Especially when clevo sells pretty much the same system for a lot less minus the lights.

 

17 R2 has 4 M.2 slots.

 

Besides from this whole frustration crap about them moving to BGA but how about their new design? I've always love Alienware's design because of their distinctive looks and ooze of quality with very fine detail. But now let's took a look on what they are becoming.


No more dedicated keys on top. What's worst now vs the last gen. Alienware 14,17,18 is that now they have taken away that nice aluminum brushed strip and made it really Dull and Plain.

What happened to those nice lights that run along the sides? What made them different then now look exactly like the new Clevo/Sager and MSI notebooks that has just the front lights.

How about all the ports? The ports on the last gen. 14,17,18 have the nice bezels around them that added a very nice touch and prove why Alienware has always pay attention to detail but now they have plain cut outs that looks cheap like other notebooks.

Enough of my rant. You can agree or not agree but I think Alienware has slowly cheapen their design as well to become mainstream!!

 

I voted for the second to last option, but I'm more so in the middle of the last two options.

BGA is inevitable at this point, particularly in smaller form factors. Larger laptops should not have BGA, yet.

 

Inevitable is the correct word, which is why I find myself posting this on another thread:

I don't like it, I must admit. If I were in the market for an uber-beast, I'd be kicking Dell to the curb.......as I am not, which other manufacturers offer anything better than what Dell are offering?

 

To tell you the truth, the Alienware 13 is a improvement over the Alienware M11X, the M11X had extremely poor quality lid material and the interior weren't rubber surface. It was just a hard plastic, the only thing I miss is the lighting effect on the front of the laptop, but the Alienware 13 is beautiful. It is little thinner than the 13 when the lid is opened, sadly I had to take my 13 back because the base were scratched up brand new from the box. Also touchscreen and 1440p on a 13.3" is a nice touch...I like it.

However, for the 15 and the 17...I agree that they should add more details to the laptops. Dell/Alienware said they were cutting cost and making them soldered to make it cheaper and hoping more people will buy them. The alienware 15's sale is doing good because it packs a punch with 4k and touch, also 980M. Still these (15 &17) needs improvement, the 15" is still the heaviest at 7 pounds.

 

It's only inevitable if stupid people go along with the program. If enough people refuse to buy it and Intel (and their OEM "partners") profits tank because of it, this is not inevitable. In the end, consumers will have only themselves to blame, whether it be for ignorance or compromise. Of course, there is the chance they have imbeciles in top executive positions with authority to make decisions... execs like those at Micro$haft... losers that think their own poop smells like roses and insist on doing things the wrong way, even when millions of customers reject their product and it hurts them financially.

The fact that there are any votes in the top category shows how ignorant many consumers are. Some won't even realize they have a pathetic product when they receive it because it will be so much better than the pathetic product it replaces they will be none the wiser.

 

There are many things in this world that are getting destroyed solely due to this money minded political BS crap, all the good things that existed are slowly degenerating....

Which suits for the current topic For example : first comes this Anti Internet Neutrality then comes this stupid Win8 from micro$lot with UEFI chains, BGA Intel filth, Nvidia Gimpwell GPUs and in the end there are only a tiny fraction of the entire worlds populus who can see this through the deceiving selfish curtains thats hurting indirectly, still cannot resolve any but instead they will also sooner or later become a part of this corrupted & hideous masked society.

Damn, so much of control these politicians, draconian corporations they are taking away the liberty....:cry:

 

I voted for not buying Alienware again - until they sort themselves out - there are better options out there for performance laptops! You just have to look at the lack of upgradeability on the new models being BGA, and the inadequate 180W power supplies which is not enough to drive an i7 CPU + 980M; people have proved with 3DMark11 results that higher scores are achieve at stock with a 240W supply as opposed to the standard 180W supply - this was on an A17 R2. I think the Graphics Amplifier is an OK idea though, although it's not portable and just turns it into a desktop, but would be good for just home use - this would be a great idea if they had kept MXM GPUs and didn't gimp their laptops with inadequate power supplies. I'm also not a fan of the fact they've made the laptops thinner - this makes me think that we'll see that cooling capability is worse than previous models.

 

Clevo. Although the build quality is a step down, they more than make up for it with a sturdy chassis, great performance, upgradeability and good cooling (probably not as good as Alienware, but it suffices (especialy on the newer models with the desktop CPU's). Not to mention they are stupidly low priced too.

 

Why should I buy a full-featured new Alienware 17r2 with G / A ? Simply because I do not pay a lot of money on garbage BGA hardware. That cost as much as the top model of Alienware Area-51. This is totally out of the question. Dell has lost me as a customer as it comes to purchasing a New Alienware gaming laptop. My Alienware 17 "Ranger" works well and should I upgrade, so it becomes a built gaming rig. Alienware Area-51 with triple gtx980 costs $ 4499.99. Almost the same price as a full-featured New Alienware 17 that cost $ 4114.97 with only one gtx980 and not in sli) and with G / A. With 2 pcs gtx980 if it is possible to install graphics cards in sli would the Alienware 17 and G/A cost over $ 4745 ..In addition, you must buy a more powerful power supply because the that who comes with Alienware 17 is rubbish. For weak for a laptop with BGA garbage. An Alienware Area-51 and an Alienware 17R2 with a G / A is nearly as portable. Then it is not difficult to see what you should and should not buy.
In Norway does this soldered garbage costs me $ 4,925. Nearly $ 5,000. :laugh:

 

Yes, they are overcharging as they always have. But before, it was at least worth it.

 

Alienware laptops was worth every penny. Not now .. :thumbsup:

 

That's what I said.

It's a shame when you purchase a once superior product for a large amount of money and feel you've made a mistake. The old Alienware we know and love: You would purchase a superior product for a large amount of money and feel it was well worth it.

 

Imagine that a Area-51 costs the same as this garbage of a laptop ..

 

Alienware prices will eventually come down.

Keep in mind that compared to the competition, it is still a somewhat superior product, if only due to warranty and build quality. While you can get a Clevo with the same internals, the build quality just can't compare.

But warranty and build quality alone do not justify the large price gap that exists, so I can see prices falling a bit in the future.

If you can get an AW for close to the same price as an ASUS, MSI or Clevo, it IS still worth every penny. And it is pretty easy to negotiate the price down to that level.

For all the crying and whining going on, overall (relative to the competition), AW is still a good product, assuming you can negotiate the price down.

That being said, I don't understand why they couldn't have gone "mainstream" with the 13, 15 and 17 models (which they did) and kept the AW18 as the enthusiast product. That way they could've had the best of both worlds. And it would be easy to manage, as they would know exactly which model the enthusiasts would buy, and could therefore have structured their business accordingly (such as putting more knowledgeable support staff on the AW18, etc.)

 

What do you get the most for your money; one Alienware 17r2 with soldered (Garb)hardware and G/A or an Area-51 with proper hardware? Costs the same ..

 

Laptop vs desktop?

Somewhat apples vs oranges no?

 

Both are equally portable. You must remember that you must have with you the G / A, if you have to use your laptop in another house(or place). Alienware 17r2 is no longer a mobile computer.

 

That doesn't make any sense. How is a laptop not portable any more? Just leave your GA at home. Why must you have your GA with you at all times?

Just don't buy the GA is another option.

You seem to be assuming that you NEED to be constantly using the GA.

Besides, the Area-51 isn't "as portable". You need to carry your keyboard and monitor if you plan to use it elsewhere.

 

You need G / A if you like or want perfomance. Then you MUST lug it wherever you are .. :thumbsup:

 

Well, if you need more than what a GTX 980M offers, this new AW17 + GA probably isn't for you then. I can't see the appeal in lugging around a GA - kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop.

This GA is really weird. I mean, I can see a limited appeal for certain people. But the extra $700+ it would cost for the GA + desktop GPU would really just increase your performance by 20%-30%.

And by the time you NEED to use the GA (because your BGA GPU is starting to get old and can't handle the games anymore) you're tethered to your desk, and you may as well buy a desktop.

For me, since I'm only buying the GTX 970M, the GA + desktop GTX 970 would increase my performance. But I could spend half that $700 and upgrade to the GTX 980M and get similar performance to the desktop GTX 970.

This GA has me confused...

 

Think of using the GA not for this generation of GPUs, but the next (GTX 1000 / R9 400 series). That's how you get more use out of it.
If you plug in a current gen GPU, it's not worth it.

 

That's the way I am looking at it.The GPU is locked at whatever you get and you hope it's a top performer out-of-the-box. The GA allows you to go for the next generation later down the road.

Yeah it,s not really portable but at least i don't need a desktop or spend a lot more on whatever the latest gaming laptop comes with. And the choices of GPU is huge, although it looks like AW have skimped out on the GA PSU? It only has two power connectors and the latest (kingpin) needs three . A splitter is probably going to cause throttling...