Is there any different on the design between 13 , 13 r1 and 13 r2

My alienware 17x after 3 years serving me ( always proud of it) can no longer handle new games coming up.

So iam thinking of buying a Alienware 13 (with 3200 QHD+ display ...dang thats screen is even better than the macbook, and with graphic amplifier for the gtx-980 of course)

At first i plan to buy the Alienware 13 on dell outlet (25% off ) 5th gen i7 and gtx-860m (for 1k2 it is not bad at all compare to 1500$ for 6th-i7 and 960m (which 960m is useless)) but i found out that alienware 13 is not the alienware 13 r1 , thats means they are selling refurbished 1st generation, and now we are on 3 rd generation

i did see the alienware r1 at microcenter- store (and i strongly believe that it is an R1) and really love it. So my question is: is there any different on the look (LCD panel design look different? thicker ? between the three generations ?)

thanks you.

 

There's only two Alienware 13s, the 13 R1 (Late 2014-Early 2015) and the 13 R2 (Late 2015). The 13 R1 comes with either a Haswell or Broadwell processor and a GTX 860m or GTX 960m. The 13 R2 comes with Skylake + GTX 960m. Aside from a couple of port differences, the two laptops are pretty identical on the outside. Sometimes, Dell/Alienware don't call their first revision by "R1".
There's no 13 R3 yet.

 

Some ports come and go. Those are the main changes in the outside.

 

did you mean " inside " instead ?
Also does the first generation support graphic amplifier ?

"the two laptops are pretty identical" . I did heard somewhere that they make it a little bit slimmer ? iam not sure. Iam asking this because i just want the lastest design

So can any body confirm that except for the port(which i mostly dont care), the design is exactly the same ? thanks

 

The only things changed between the R1 and R2 are

• R1 has a Mini Display Port on the back. The R2 has no mini DP, but it does have HDMI 2.0 (R1 has HDMI 1.4).
• The R1 has 3 USB 3.0 ports, one of them having powershare technology. The R2 has 2 USB 3.0 ports (no powershare) and a USB 3.1 Type C port with Thunderbolt 3 capabilities. This replaces both the mini DP and the other USB 3.0 port from the R1.
• R2 has Skylake processor. R1 has either Haswell or Broadwell.

Everything else is pretty much the same. Same chassis*, same keyboard, touchpad, etc. Both have GA support. You can find more differences in the manuals of the R1 and R2.
*Because of the change in ports, the R1 and R2 bottom chassis have a slight design differences because of the ports, but outside of that, the dimensions of both are the same.

 

Aaaand both support the Graphics Amplifier.

 

GA = Graphics Amplifier. I probably should have typed it out.

 

It was clear enough haha. I just didn't see that part.