Looking to buy AW15

Hi All,

I have been debating for some weeks now about getting an AW15. I originally had at AW18 but it was just to large for my needs, plus needed some battery life which the AW18 really didn't have.

So I have been reading the forums like a mad man, seems the AW15 has to many problems to make it worth buying? I might have to go AW13 and get an Area 51 desktop.

Problem 1. Screen ghosting on 1080p screen

Problem 2. No raid support (though i don't need this)

Problem 3. 180w PSU not enough so additional cost in buying 240w PSU

Is there anymore problems I should consider?
Basically should I put my money into this or hold fire? I do need a laptop currently I'm laptop less

I also have debated the Alienware graphics AMP is this working yet? I mean fully with nvidia drivers? I don't know weather the 4xPCI and only a 4710hq will be a bottle neck. For that matter i'm not sure if its just a gimmick and I should save up and get a full desktop rather than the amp?

 

I think the screen ghosting is blown out of proportion, or maybe you can just live with it, some of the guys don't have it, people with the 1080p are liking it so far it seems.
The 240 PSU will be given to you for free if you get the 980m.
Also if you take 1080p and 980m I don't think you will need the GA any time soon

 

If you are going withthe 980m dont waste your money on the ga. The ga is basically taking a gtx 980 and running it at ~60-70% performance due to cpu andpcie4x

Get an msi gs30! No bottlenecking or issues almost 4 weeks in.

 

trouble with the MSI is the cost in the UK is stupidly high

 

Yea in Europe there isn't much choice, Alienware is probably the only gaming you can get up to date, Asus in most countries don't bring the latest products, Clevo Sager Aorus Razer you can't find them and will be trouble with warranty

 

What do you mean given for free? I have an alienware 15 with the 980m and I have a 180 watt power supply.
So how can I get a 240 watt one for free?

Also how can I tell if my power supply isn't providing enough power? I did notice that my GPU benchmarking result for heaven benchmark and my fps for tomb raider Ultra settings is lower then on the results on notebook check. I didn't see my gpu throttle though. And my CPU temps never went above 80°C so I don't think my cpu throttled either, though haven't monitored the clock frequency.

 

I'm pretty sure that you can ask for a 240 watt PSU if you have the gtx980m, as it uses more than the 180w that they gave you, thats been stated from the day there was the chat with Alienware CEO Frank Azor, you should be able to chat with your Dell operators and ask them the 240PSU and they should know about providing people with gtx980m one

 

Nice thank you very much for the info. I just noticed that the TDP only of that GPU is 122 Watt so will definitely surpass a total usage of 180 Watt. Also I just noticed that even though the GPU has a memory clock of 2505MHz and also shows like that during the heaven benchmark. GPU-Z it's sensors tell it always caps at 1252 MHz. Is that normal? Or is there a multiplier? Or is it a result of low power?

Edit: also can you link that message of the CEO? so I can use it as proof in case it's necessary.

 

Alienware General Manager Frank Azor stated that those that request a 240W PSU will receive one free charge :

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ger-frank-azor-anything-on-awa.770195/page-12

And here is the official statement on dell.com:

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN295814



Sadly, for me, this does not seem to be the case in Europe yet - or at least it hasn't been communicated to reps over here. I'm holding off on ordering the Alienware 15 till I know for sure.

Cheers,
Dev.

 

Nice thanks again. I'm from belgium europe. So I'll let you know after contacting them next wek.

 

Dev, you can buy it and they will fix it, either by providing the 240 right away or after purchase, they KNOW the laptop with 980m uses more W so they will provide you one.
Quicksort, as u here they know (or suppose to know as they work for Dell) if not link them the page from Ask Azor Anything.

 

Yeah but so far it hasn't been acknowledged in Germany. Have linked to all the places it has been stated, and am waiting on another rep to confirm that they will replace in Europe (or ship straight off with the 280w). Will see how it goes.

 

Maybe they hope people will not ask for it when they are ordering it, and will give the 240 to only already owners who notice the lack of performance. Even tought its a waste of money for Dell to send 2 PSU one at purchase one later, anyways its been discussed enough on the Ask the CEO thread and its undeniable the 980m needs more than 180

 

For those who would never open it anyway the 15 is a decent machine. With the GA wait for it to mature and come back to it later if you want some more performance at home.

 

Okay so I contacted premium phone support. They had no idea about the issue at all, and they said to me that the hosting issue could also be a result of the lack of power, but that seems weird since the problem was not reported from a 4K monitor so far.
Anyway so they asked me to send the links where the problem was addressed so I liked him through mail the two links you guys gave above. And now gotta see what will happen.

 

I bought a 13 and returned it, its a nice small, light portable laptop, but just doesn't have the power the 15 does.
I really like my 15, perfect size not too heavy, its quiet and fast

 

I think I am going to get the 15 regardless even if I do get a desktop a little way down the line least the 15" will serve me for years to come over what the 13" can do

 

The 15 has a large chunk of extra power in both the CPU and GPU which makes it's performance/weight ratio a bit better.

 

Just pulled the trigger on the AW15 i7 4710hq, 970m, 4k screen, 8gb, 1tb hdd + GA for $1925 including tax and shipping.

I used the $100 off $1499 coupon, 2% member/EPP, $100 off GA with purchase of laptop, and haggled for another $110 off. I also used dell financing to get the 10% back in a form of egift card. Plan on selling that egift card on ebay for 80% of its value possibly.

Got tired of waiting for another 20% off coupon event. If a 30% coupon pops up in the next couple of days, smh.

 

you will like it, just to note the 1tb hd is slow as shi**, I would recommend also getting a m.2 drive to make your primary and then just slave the 1tb

 

Okay I have just ordered.

4710hq, 980m, 16gb ram, 236gb m2 +1tb 5400rpm, 1080p screen, 240watt PSU

As for GA I will hold fire on that till it matures as I might get a desktop instead