Longevity of Alienware Echos (R2, R3 Skylakes)

Hi Guys

What do you think the longetivy of these models with the AGA and Skylake would be ? Do you see them still being viable for the next 4 years?

I ask because I can get a good deal on extending a warranty, and I'm wondering how crazy i should go.

I kept my i7 920 desktop for 7 years... given the rate of CPU advances.. I'm thinking i may keep this laptop for the next 4 years... any thoughts?

 

Hmm i think max 3 years. Then the specs are just too outdated when it comes to GPU power. I would wait for pascal now anyway.

 

He said with AGA, with that the life of the machine will last until the CPU is no longer powerful enough.

 

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to squeeze 4 yrs. Not at the highest settings, but you should be able to play most of the new games.

 

Yes, with the AGA - I think the real question is, when does the AGA's bandwith become a bottleneck, and you can't use a modern graphics card with this machine any longer...

My thoughts are the CPU should keep plodding along for another 4 years.... obviously there's no way to tell,

I just went ahead and added 4 more years to my warranty for 333£ with Dell (5 years total for this machine) because I have decided I certainly want to use it past this year, and it is performing well for me.

I think that was 1 year too much but the sales rep was a good salesman

 

99% of people won't need anything faster for the next 4-5 years and even that is a stretch (in regards to normal computing). As for gaming, I doubt this machine will handle any new titles in 2 1/2 - 3 years on "Ultra" or "High" settings (without the AGA). Of course there will be the odd few that will work on those settings, but the triple A titles, it's simply not going to work. Let's face it, for us with the 970m (980m different story) we can't even play DOOM (2016), 1080p, Ultra with full motion blur, AA, etc etc without framerate drops to about 30fps if not lower. That's where we start looking at the AGA. The AGA paired with a new graphics card (GTX 1080) in, should extend the life of this machine well past 2 1/2 - 3 years (assuming you purchased it today). The problem is, when do we hit a wall with the CPU and RAM, and, when do we hit a wall with graphics cards that either don't fit or a new standard is made where the AGA is obsolete after that time?

Or

Do we end up with a problem where the AGA graphics card that we install in 2 - 3 years is amazing but now we are bottle necked by the CPU and RAM?

I can almost guarantee if you bought the AGA, put in a 1080 card, you'd be fine for the next 3 years hands down. You would at least be able to play titles on Medium - high settings in the last year. People tend to forget how fast technology improves in so little time. Three years doesn't seem that long, but in computers, it's almost a decade. It's like Dog years VS Human years lol. For example, 3 years ago (at least), I purchased a Sager machine with a 670mx in it (which at the time was amazing and better than the regular 670m). The GPU can barely run DOOM on high settings with motion blur off and some other particle affects turned down at 1080p. Mind you this is will an older i7 CPU and DDR3 RAM, however, the basic formula applies. Where do we see this Alienware 15 R2 in 3 years? Maybe the same experience?

The problem is, as time goes on, the CPU and RAM and getting more out of date each year. The graphics card might not be suffering from this at the same rate, but you get what I'm getting at.

It's almost cheaper, just to buy a new laptop every 2-3 years and expect it to last 2-3 years if you are a gamer. Unfortunately, people try to stretch this out by upgrading components with unrealistic expectations down the road. It may be nice to get the upgrades now (and they are worth it for current games), but in 2-3 years what are you going to do? Upgrade the video card and hope for the best? Maybe push another year out of the machine? Maybe, depending on what games you play.

It's kind of the draw back for the situation we are all in. We want the mobility, but we also want something that lasts a while too.

5 Years? No way. No way at all, that's really stretching it. I don't even think I've kept a desktop gaming rig more than 3 years. The components simply get out of date and there are no upgrade path left. CPU, Motherboard and RAM need to be changed out to meet current gaming needs. This is what the situation will be with the laptop and the AGA in a few years time.


I remember having my first "Gaming" rig. An AMD 2500+ overclocked to 2.2Ghz or something crazy from the stock 1.8Ghz, 2GB DDR 2 Ram, ATI 9600XT and a 7200rpm drive. I was king **** on my block back then. Then newer games came out and I started noticing performance problems. So I upgraded to a 3200+, Overclocked as well haha, faster RAM and a better video card. Then again, same issue down the road. There was no upgrade path besides the video card. I had a choice, upgrade the video card and squeeze another year out of the machine, or, just buy a whole new machine. I bought a whole new machine and was thankful I did. It was apparent at that time how far technology got ahead in such little time.

 

My advice is going to differ slightly than everyone else so far it seems.

I've bought 5 of these current gen Alienwares. 3x 13 R2's and 2x 17 R3.
My first couple were bought in Q1 2015. I had both an i5-4210U/860M/768p screen and the i7-5500U/GTX 960M/2560 x 1440. One was for me, the other a gift, but it gave me a chance to look at the different screens and difference in the hardware.
In the beginning of Q2 2015, I got another i7-5500U/GTX 960M/1440p for an employee.

NONE OF THE THREE ALIENWARE 13'S HAVE SURVIVED THE YEAR OWNERSHIP. (I've only had the 17's ~3 months, but the hinges making "crack" sounds every time they get used.)

As for the 13's: All 3 were adult owned, used for daily driving/business-work and treated with the average (non-OCD) levels of care. (this means carried around a lot, but put in a padded messenger bag when transported.
The first had battery issues after ~4 months. (couldn't charge, couldn't recognize the adapter, etc) ended up needing to get it exchanged.
The second was going well for ~9 months, but then fully died and did the 4/8 beep thing. We had to replace RAM/HDD/power adapter/MB etc until it had to be fully replaced.
The third had its screen crap out ~7 months into the process and the ham-fisted tech then broke one of the hinges during its surgery and, you guessed it, it needed to be replaced.

ALL of them, while "properly" maintained, but used like a normal laptop, look like CR*P currently. The paint used on these new models scratches when you look at it sideways.
I had an older M11xr3 & M17xR3 with the soft touch paint, and even after ~7 years of the same type of use, while the edges are peeling, the bulk of the laptop looks SIGNIFICANTLY better.

To be fair, these new laptops are really a fraction of the cost of my old M series Alienwares of yesteryear, but I'd gladly have paid an extra couple hundred dollars for a bit more ruggedness.


So what all this means to me is this:
Option 1) don't spend an insane amount of money on the laptop, and just start treating them as disposable (dell outlet + wait for sales)
Option 2) buy the best accidental warranty you can and get any SSD/RAM things aftermarket to save money.

I've gone option 1 myself., but secretly hoping alienware brings back the soft touch red paint.

Oh, and since this has degraded into a bit of a rant for me, one last thing, the clickpad is ^#*@(@& horrible and ruins the whole experience of a nice 13" "powerful" laptop. D*mn you Dell for cheapening this thing so much!!! Give it its buttons back! (In other words, you might want to invest in the touch screen as an option to get around the useless spongy unresponsive & laggy BS that is the clickpad.)

 

Regarding the CPU, it really depends the era. In the past I would change almost every 2 years. But now? I have 2 desktops and the one if use the most for gaming (because the other one is rendering) is a now almost 6 years old 2500K with 16GB of ram PC. Heavily overclocked to 5ghz ofcourse. But it still does the job pretty much perfect.

For Doom your GPU is just too weak. Its not the CPU. I run Doom with everything including anti aliasing on ultra on a 970GTX in 1080P.

 

In this day-in-age, I would upgrade every 2-3 years. Personally, I rock with the 3 year plan. Granted, the last year I tend to down the graphics a bit, but its worth it. However with the new alienware's and the AGA, it really does extend the life of the laptop. Granted its not cheap, but it does provide a somewhat solution or at least prolong the computer's ability to keep up.. I do wonder though, if future laptops will be compatible with the current AWA or if a V2 will be made at that time.. Guess we have to wait and see....

 

i ended up going with the 3 year warranty upgrade instead of 4 years (for a total of 4 years all in for the machine)

5 years warranty seemed a stretch too far, so i saved the 85£ and am putting it towards other things, but i can see another 3.5 years with this machine for sure without upgrading.