Message to Alienware / Dell Social Media Representatives - 15R2 FHD Screen Query

To Whom it May Concern: Alienware / Dell reps, RE: Alienware 15R2 FHD Screen Quality, Current Practice of users self upgrading.

By now you must know the 220 nit screen that Dell / Alienware have moved to on their top of the line 15R2 Skylake models has been 1. Receiving poor reviews across major review sites 2. has been deemed as poor in terms of brightness, colors, by the people on this forum and dell's own forum.

The net effect of this is that users are going to great lengths to source new screens for an average of 50$ USD from the second hand market, and in some rare cases even swapping screens from your own alienware 15 r1s, as a matter of necessity - I can vouch that the screen you shipped me was just straight up unusable.

My questions to you regarding the above are as follows,

A. Are you aware that this is a widespread issue? Between the social media posts and plethora of reviews that state the 220 nit is sub par, even cheap machines do not use such poor screens, I am convinced you must know.

B. Does this indicate a new direction for the brand, where cost above else will trump design and the needs of your core user base? Will this drop in quality will be consistent in the next versions of your devices? Individual IPS 300 nit screens can be sourced for 50$ from single users, so we can imagine with the scale dell has to buy these panels (and the fact the R1 units had better FHD and UHD Panels), the cost difference must be marginal at best, and could be happily bourne by customers who would like better screens. It is very confusing to me why you would be so quiet about the change from good quality 300 nit fhd screens to poor 220 nit units on your "premium" brand. A

C. Do you just expect us to sort our own screens out? Why hasn't any social rep commented on the fact that users are going in and buying new screens from 3rd parties for a paltry amount just to get a leg up on the stock shipped screens? You must be aware that we are your Brand Advocates - the ones who are most engaged with you and these devices, and therefore will be convincing our friends and family to buy your devices. Look across the threads in this forum - the feedback is overwhelmingly that these FHD screens arent cutting it, the UHD screens have taken a notable step down from the touch capable glossy versions as well ( i realise this UHD quality is debateable). People are NOT happy and resorting to extreme measures to get the version of your product that they want. The screen may be the most important component on the device - and the FHD screen is not up to par.

I will end this post by saying I like Dell for the fact that the service is good and the components they use are generally cutting edge. I am genuinely confused as to why you guys slashed the quality of the screens to the point they are lower quality than cheap competitors and not congruent with the Alienware brand (mostly the FHD screen, although i couldn't stomach the UHD Matte screen either), you seem OK with people desperately spending time and energy to bring a simple FHD screen up to expected quality standards, at considerable cost and time to themselves and even Dell who has to accept return units for this.

It would appear you guys are taking the "ostrich approach," the Ostrich is well known to stick his head in the sand when it becomes uncomfortable, from the lack of posts or response on the feedback regarding these screens. What is the point of social media engagement if we don't get your view on core, game stopping quality issues like these? Can you please explain and substantiate your decision to ship these unacceptable 220 nit FHD screens (sub-par color and sub-par brightness) to the community?

This is the type of discussion we expect from you social media representatives as it impacts the whole community. WE are your brand advocates, we are keeping you in business. We hope to hear from you, and hope you take the time to respond.

Thank you
Nicholas

 

Most, if not all, of those questions cannot be answered by us directly. It would need to be answered by our engineers and product developers. We have already submitted the feedback to them about what is happenning and we are waiting, just like you, for changes if they consider it's needed.

1) We are aware of the feedback and have passed it on already.

2) That has been sent to them as well. You could also raise a campaign/thread on ideastorm.com to make them more aware.

3) We don't recommend to use 3rd party screens at all, but if the user doesn't feel comfortable with the screen he/she may replace it and we will still honor the warranty on the rest of the components.

We haven't engaged directly because we could only say what I just said. We have sent the feedback to the developers and it's up to them if they make a change on this line of laptops or any future line.

Your feedback is highly appreciated, it does help us to create better products and understand the needs of our gaming community.

 

My 17 r3 UHD screen was unacceptably yellow and had large flaring from the bottom. Dell helpfully arranged to swap for a new computer--AND THE SCREEN WAS EVEN YELLOWER (beige actually), and instead of 400nits, was somewhere around 250nits. I returned the replacement computer, and I will try again once Dell seems to have a handle on their problems.

To suggest that Dell isn't aware of this is dellusional (sorry). While I am happy with the design of my computer, my recent purchase has been a true education. Dell appears to be sourcing shoddy parts and simply crossing their fingers that the customer will sit still for it. For those of us who are long-term Dell customers, this is truly sad.

 

Thanks for you response. This is better than I hoped and I am glad to hear you are aware and this has been passed internally for discussion with the team.

It is especially helpful where you pointed out that the warranty will remain intact for the rest of the system (aside from the screen) to individuals who want to upgrade. Thanks again.

 

Excellent initial post nickbarbs I couldnt agree more with your initial post I too have considered purchasing a 3rd party replacement screen for the poor quality of my current screen (220 nit).

Question/Solution though for @Alienware-L_Porras :

I imagine it would be possible (depending on supply) to offer the current Alienware 15 R2 product line new customers the choice to purchase the 300 nit screen at checkout. And in addition for the customers who received the 220 nit screens and where disatisfied to be able to call in for a direct swap to the 300 nit screen. This has happened before in regards to the Nvidia 980M equipped systems being shipped with 180 watt power supplies which where proven to be inadequate and getting a replacement 240 watt power supply.

In the case of the power supply the performance numbers where clearly inadequate. However regarding the 220 nit screen, sure the advertised brightness is clearly inadequate/expected, but dell mentions no were in regards to its color accuracy. The customer is ultimately the one who determines if a products gaming expierience / performance is satisfactory. Thus the reason why dell should stand behind its products and offer the 300 nit screen to COUNTLESS customers who are disatisfied with there current screens. Not only will this increase customer loyalty and satisfaction but will also increase dells profits by reducing the amount of returns based solely on the screen.

The screen is one of the most important aspects of any computer which I realize is based alot on the users preference who is viewing the screen rather than hard numbers. Imagine having the best top of the line hardware in your laptop/desktop computer but using a screen which can only display grayscale. I know this is an extreme example but when a majority of users are disatified with a screens quality it should be addressed. If dell was to advertise what the color accuracy for the AW 15 R2 I guarantee they would have less sales. Which is shady in my opinion why they can turn around and advertise a dell monitor as having 100% sRGB color accuracy. Sorry for the rant but this PROBLEM needs to be addressed.

Sincerely,
Tony V

 

Maybe this will be fixed in the next revision of this model in 2016. Second revision of Aw Echo models came with 240w psu and not the flimsy weak 180w. I think Dell don't want fix the problem in this revision of their high end laptops. Too expensive. Easier to svap the psu. The meaning with 220 nits junk panels was to force you on their more expensive 4K screens. A calculated choice.

 

I am beginning to feel inclined to agree with you (it being a calculated choice). If it is indeed true it is shameful of dell to intentionally degrade a component (the 220 nit screen) in order to upsale the UHD version. The engineers dont care if it is a 220 nit or 300 nit screen they are getting paid to design what there bosses are telling them to do. It is the higher level management which is calling all the shots whom needs to be informed of the negative results of their choices, not the engineering / development team.

 

Yeah. This is only about the money. No doubt. Maximum profit. Shareholders give a damn about the quality. Only maximum profit is important for them. Mr Azor is hired for making money. Not quality. Everyone should understand this. Engineering/development team can't do anything about this choice even if they would. Only lower sales can change the direction. If customers give a damn about quality and still buy high priced product. This will go on. Dell will only laugh highly...

 

FYI, the "yellowing" is due to IPS backlight bleed, and it is common across ALL Alienware models. I would like it very much if Porras or whoever at Alienware could relay the message that their LCD mounting system is BROKEN, because I've swapped 5-6 displays in my Alienware 18 with continued yellowing/back light bleed. The issue isn't just limited to the 15 R2, it was on my 17 R2 as well.

Very, very poor QC and business decisions Alienware, and it WILL cost you.

 

Those are 2 great solutions that we could share with them. I'll send it to them for review. The 1st one would be great for the short term, the second one may not be viable, but I'm not the one to decide about that haha. I'll do what I can do better, express the sentiment of the Alienware community in our meeting and share any feedback with the developers.

Noted! Thank you and everyone else for the feedback.

 

This is one of the main reasons I'm in two minds about buying an Alienware I want one but I don't want it with a 4K screen and based on this I can't buy the FHD because it's rubbish.

I would be super disappointed to spend £2k on a laptop to find the screen was as good as the ones found on £500 acer's at PCWorld.

Hopefully it will be fixed sooner rather than later and make my decision that much easier .

 

Yeah its not only the FHD panels.... my UHD panel is piss poor quality in color and brightness and I feel like dell isnt even using grade A panels at this point with all the issues and **** quality.

 

This is disappointing news indeed as I was literally about to buy an Alienware 15 R2. I thought for some reason that the 4K screen was touch screen ? I thought I saw that. And also that the 4K screen was amazing with 99% adobe RGB colour gamut. I knew about the FHD screen so had chosen to avoid that. And I had made that decision, EVEN THOUGH Dell are not including G-Sync on these machines, which is ridiculous. I have read that nVidia are only granting the use of G-Sync to laptops that have good enough screens to support their claim that G-Sync is a better quality product than AMD's equivalent, and this claim could be supported by the fact that everyone seems to think the current screens Dell are using on their Alienware products are lousy.

 

As far as I'm aware, the lack of G-Sync has nothing to do with the poor quality panels Dell is using. G-Sync requires direct connection to the Nvidia GPU but seeing as these laptops use Optimus and therefore feed through the Intel GPU, G-Sync is not possible (currently).

http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/technology/g-sync/faq

 

I agree that they use optimus, which precludes the use of G-sync. That does not mean though, that Dell have had to go with Optimus because nvidia will not grant them permission to use G-sync, does it ? Its the same result only from a different angle. My angle is that they are using Optimus because they are not permitted to use G-sync, and that could be based on the quality of their current screens. Yours is that they cant use G-sync because they are using Optimus. If you think that through, WHY in their right minds would they choose Optimus over G-sync ?

 

How do we know that Dell were "not permitted" to use G-Sync? I agree that there are requirements laid out by Nvidia but I would suspect that this is a concious decision by Dell, and quite likely one based on battery life.

 

I didnt say that we KNOW it to be the case. I said that if its true that Nvidia have some ruling on only permitting it to be used with screens of a certain quality (based on their marketing strategy of claiming G-sync is better than the AMD version), this could be borne out in conjunction with the FACT that Dell's current Alienware screens are being slated across the board.

To make a conscious decision NOT to include a function that is tied in with the very purpose of Alienware computers is ludicrous, especially in favour of battery life. Everyone accepts that gaming laptops have poor battery life. Alienware current models have excellent battery life. I seriously doubt that G-sync would impact on that life so significantly as to denigrate the obvious benefit that has been achieved by the improved battery life. It just does not make sense. Or at the very least not to OFFER it. Option A: Higher battery life, no G-sync and Option B: Marginally lower battery life, but the benefit of G-sync.

These are GAMING laptops predominantly and they need to retain that in mind when deciding what to include and what not to include. Dell have already made an abominably poor decision to use rubbish screens... probably one of the KEY criteria in a gaming laptop. So it would not surprise me if they also dropped the ball regarding G-sync.

For the money, I know I have several much better options than Alienware, and that is a great shame because i ADORE the styling and Im even drawn in by the fancy schmancy colour schemes you can create. But lets face it, Most top end manufacturers include decent multicolour keyboards. The custom build laptop I might be buying has PER KEY colour adjustment.

 

I certainly agree with your frustration however, you only have to look at the current line of Alienware laptops to realise that they are not the custom machines they used to be. BGA processors and the lack of MXM GPU's being the main points here.

There will also be a cost factor, G-Sync relies on what is called the G-Sync module. A chip that gets embedded into the control board of the display panel, so this would drive up costs and more importantly (for Dell of course) reduce overall profits.

 

There is no cost factor for Dell at all. Just like every other manufacturer, they would add the price of G-sync to the price. In fact, being Dell, they would overcharge for it just like they do for all their other "optional extras". For example, I can buy an external GTX980 for the external amp for almost a HUNDRED QUID less than if I buy it as an option. One thing is right for sure though. Alienware is nothing like the brand it used to be. Im only glad I did not get suckered in before it was too late.

 

Please, do not go off topic too much. This isn't about optimus and gsync or bga. I actually really like the machine and overall accept it's quirks. If you want gsync you can always get an external monitor gpu and aga. I do enjoy the battery life perks of optimus. This is strictly about the poor panels and a discussion with Dell social representatives about whether they also find them unacceptable

 

The discussion I was having with the other party is in direct relation to the poor panels, and the content of that is completely relevant to this matter. I would hope that the Dell rep would read what has been said and comment on it. It could be that another consequence of the poor quality screens is that Dell have not been allowed to incorporate G-sync into their offering, and therefore what I and the other guy have been saying is not off topic at all.

 

they can't offer gsync with optimus. So your comment is more about the implementation of optimus Vs direct connection to the gpu which I believe is required for gsync and simply not possible with the echo alienwares. That is not a screen discussion

 

You are missing the point. Im suggesting that they may have gone with Optimus because nvidia felt their screens were not up to showing G-sync at its best, and I am basing that suggestion on what I have already mentioned regarding nvidias (supposed) marketing policy on G-sync. IF that is the case, and Alienware users / potential users are unable to get G-sync because Dell have put shoddy screens on the product then it is DIRECTLY related to screen quality. I realise you instigated this thread but surely ALL angles of how these poor quality screens impact the end user is important in this discussion, for the Dell representative to be aware of.

 

Apologies, we did veer off a bit there.

 

Ah man, I think you have missed the point here. G-Sync panels have a G-sync chip built in. That means by definition, they are quality enough to be used with G-sync.

Dell using poor quality panels has no bearing on G-Sync and whether it could be implemented or not. That was a decision made by Dell in the design process. You can't add G-Sync to a non G-Sync panel.

Sorry nickbarbs, that will be my last comment on the matter.

 

No problem guys I enjoy a good discourse and my only aim is to keep this about the panels offering poor brightness and colors, and if Dell believe this is acceptable.

I think additional features above the basic expectation of a properly lit and good quality color panel, like gsync is a separate matter, these panels don't offer 3d capabilities either.

Fwik you also need a direct gpu connection for gsync and that's not possible with the alienware echos, I'm not proposing a redesign of the computer just an upgrade of one current part which is easily changeable. For me gsync would be nice but not a basic function or subject to grievance, compared to a screen which is usable at 300 nits and has decent colors that I do expect as basic for this model

 

yes I put the time to create the post and would appreciate if we could stay on topic. As an aside to save everyone time please take a sec and educate yourself on G-sync.
http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/technology/g-sync/faq

Q: Does G-SYNC work with Optimus technology?
A: G-SYNC currently does not work with Optimus technology. G-sync will never work with these machines as they use optimus technology. So yes I'd appreciate if you can leave this thread to the topics originally posted.

 

I must have been misinformed in that case. I was led to believe that external monitors have a g-sync chip, but for laptops the g-sync hardware is integrated on the motherboard... hence you either have one that works with optimus or with g-sync. If I am wrong there, fair enough.

 

If the above Q&A is directed at me, I get that point. I wont comment further.

 

My apologies, with laptops you are correct and I stand corrected.

There's no need for a G-Sync module
G-Sync on laptops is a little different than a desktop monitor. Desktop monitors feature built-in scalers to handle the different inputs and communicate with the graphics card. G-Sync replaces those scalers with a G-Sync module that connects to the panel. Laptops don't use scalers because they attach directly to the graphics card though LVDS or eDP (embedded DisplayPort).

Technically a laptop vendor could add G-Sync support to an existing laptop through a driver and firmware update. That isn't likely to happen, however: The vendors queried by PCWorld said they currently had no plans do that.

This however, still requires a direct connection to the GPU so with Optimus in use, it's a no go.

 

No problem. Im not a smart arse and dont relish in being right. I just like to be sure Ive got the correct information.

Nickbarbs, Im seriously not trying to "hijack" your thread. I just thought there seemed to be a correlation between the poor quality screens currently on the A15 R2, and the lack of G-sync options. I realise that you either have optimus or the ability to have G-sync, and its my belief that Dell have gone down the optimus option because nvidia do not think their screens are up to par to be part of their (what appears to be quite elite) list of laptops that have G-sync. As a potential (probably not now) purchaser of Alienware, it struck me as odd that a brand that used to be synonymous with the cutting edge of gaming product, should not only provide such poor quality in one of the most essential components of modern laptop gaming, but that this might also have had a direct correlation to their ability to provide a G-sync enabled product. That is why I felt it relevant to your OP, which is basically questioning Dell's choice of screens and asking them what they will do to correct it. I believe my experience and the fact I am now very unsure to purchase the Alienware 15 R2 that I have spent literally HOURS researching, would be of interest to the Dell rep, to give further substance to the fact that their screens are being slated across the board.

Having cleared that up, I wont make further mention if you believe it detracts from your OP, although I would welcome a comment from the Dell rep on this matter.

 

hmm...now that I read through all of it and a couple reviews, I might have to hold off on getting AW 15 r2. Subpar screen is just a deal breaker.

 

I will receive an R2 replacement probably end of next week. Curious how the FHD screen will be. My R1 had some problems and a technician unfortunately caused a problem which let to a system swap.

 

I have a fhd lg wf4 screen for sale.. UK buyers. If anyone is interested let me know comes with two year warranty

 

Nick is this the standard 4K screen that ships with the current model A15R2, I.E. the one I would get if I ordered that laptop today ? Perhaps you can PM me with details ? Thanks.

 

He has a FHD panel ie: 1080 not 4K.

 

DOH. Oops. Ive been filling in tax returns this morning so my eyes are a bit screen sore ! LOL.

 

Could you guys advise what would be the best FHD panel in your opinion to replace the dreadful one that comes standard with the 15R2? Would the LP156WF4-SPH1 be good, what would be the difference with the LP156WF6-SPH1 ?

Thanks

 

I think most ppl say AUO B156HAN01 and Samsung LTN156HL01/02 is good. LG is also good.

You can check and compare different panels in panelook.com

 

Thanks!!