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    For those who owned Alienware 13 before January 2017, what modifications have you made?

    Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by tom_mai78101, Nov 27, 2018.

  1. tom_mai78101

    tom_mai78101 Notebook Consultant

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    I'm an Alienware 13 R1 owner, and will be getting a new Alienware 15 R4 in a couple of days.

    I would like to know what modifications other owners of Alienware 13 have done before, like swapping displays, changing RAMs, customizing the chassis, or something. Reason for wanting to know about this, is that the warranty for the Alienware 13 R1 has expired a long time ago, and I wanted to see how far I can push the Alienware 13 R1 to its maximum potential, before drawing the line and end its life.

    Another reason is for me to understand how to build laptops, and how to swap hardware components in/out of laptops. It's probably a nice way of knowing how to work with internals other than knowing how to build desktops.

    I did attempt to read any threads starting from page 123 in this forum and moving towards the more recent threads, but the threads I have seen are mostly Alienware 15 R1, 15 R2, 17 R1, 17 R2, 17 R3. Rarely does Alienware 13 gets mentioned, and when they are mentioned, it's about BIOS updates, drivers updates, issues/problems, and asking for help.

    Maybe I'm not a good searcher. :/
     
    tom_mai78101, Nov 27, 2018
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  2. xKilXlerx

    xKilXlerx Notebook Geek

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    As much i know, the Aw 13 R1 has good GPU(gtx860 or 960m) but limited due to the ULV CPU but can manage games. Maintainace is a bit tricky on the 13 R1. Also what is ur specs on your model.
     
    xKilXlerx, Nov 27, 2018
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  3. tom_mai78101

    tom_mai78101 Notebook Consultant

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    Intel Core i5-4210U
    Nvidia GTX 860m
    8GB RAM
    Windows 10 Pro
    1080p non-Gsync TN display

    I had the cheapest model when it was first announced.
     
    tom_mai78101, Nov 28, 2018
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  4. xKilXlerx

    xKilXlerx Notebook Geek

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    My R1 somehow got a i5-5200u and a GTX960m, and will be replacing it with the same specs.(Bro somehow destroyed LVDS connector, now it is shorted.)
    I believe just increasing the RAM/upgrade to SSD will be enough, together with some cleaning of the fan vents, they tend to clog up due to very small fins.
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2018
    xKilXlerx, Nov 29, 2018
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  5. tom_mai78101

    tom_mai78101 Notebook Consultant

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    I see.

    But I never learned how to swap hard drives, let alone installing/upgrading to SSDs. So I guess I can do this. I'm assuming the RAMs are easy to install, more easily than the hard drives. And the place to put the new RAMs in is next to the hard drive slots.
     
    tom_mai78101, Nov 29, 2018
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  6. xKilXlerx

    xKilXlerx Notebook Geek

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    The Alienware 13 comes with a built in Win 8 recovery if I remember, to swap hard drives, you should find a hard drive cloning program. The 13 of mine uses Windows 7 from the recovery disk of my Alienware 14.
     
    xKilXlerx, Nov 30, 2018
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  7. tom_mai78101

    tom_mai78101 Notebook Consultant

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    I see. But I don't know if I wanted to keep the built-in Win8 recovery, now that I've updated to Windows 10 Pro.
     
    tom_mai78101, Nov 30, 2018
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