*OFFICIAL* Alienware 13 R1/R2 Owner's Lounge

Got my i7 yesterday. Surprisingly, unlike the i5 I had gotten, the package didn't require a signature for delivery! And the i7 cost more than the i5! It was also interesting that the i7's Alienware box came in a thin grocery-bag-like paper "box" while the i5 had come in a proper corrugated cardboard box. The unit itself looks brand new, unlike the pictures someone here posted recently.

Didn't really have much time to play with it last night. I did kick off a game install last night and this morning it said the install finished but it complained about a missing file...looked like a DirectX or perhaps video card dll. That's a bit concerning as that didn't happen with the i5 (or my desktop or my m11x) for that game. Will have to investigate tonight.

I find the i7/GPU combo problem really disconcerting. Did they not even test this or did they knowing rush this out the door? Either way i don't like it. I hate to put up with things like this, but there really isn't another laptop on the market that fits my needs.

I'll play with it tonight and this weekend and report my experience, benchmarks, etc.

 

If you want to use the GTX 860m before the driver fix comes, you'll have to mod the .inf file (nvdmi.inf) while disabling driver signature. That's the only fix I have seen work.
You might have to reinstall the driver, but doing so may be difficult as the installer will complain that there isn't compatible hardware.

 

anyone notice they discounted the 13 even more now 100 or 200 price drop. so tempting now uhhhh

 

Hey guys sorry about the late reply for benchmarks. I ended up installing a new harddrive and now the system dosent even see the 860m at all with the i7 so I contacted dell and they r sending me the usb refresh as we speak. Iv never messed with a computer which is this touchy.

Otherwise I have to say this commuter is breathtaking and the 1440p screen is worth every penny. I was worried about dead pixels but it is perfect in every way . Hopefully I can get everything running well and and get those benchmarks for u guys

 

Got my 13 damage-free. Here are my very first impressions of using it within 10 minutes:
- Keyboard is a bit mushy, but typing on it feels very comfortable.
- Clickpad is okay, but I'll stick with using a mouse and my stylus.
- Using my stylus, the touchscreen is responsive and effective.
- Everything is set to large by default, so I'll have to shrink it. But 1440p looks okay, and I do see the issues of Windows scaling.
- Palm rest is big.
- Colors are vibrant on the screen, but it's not as bright as I thought.
- Wifi may not mean alot to others as you may not notice the difference, but this wifi card is really good.
And that's about it.

 

any benches game? Also you think the i7 is nice? They just price dropped it so debating this or 15 now

 

Three more things.
- Glad that I can access the BIOS like usual. On my HP laptop, it takes a few steps. Was able to confirm that everything is as is.
- 1440p display looks great if you set the scaling to larger (150%). Extra large looks ugly. Makes things look sharper, too.
- I got a stripped screw... on the maintenance panel! Sigh... I always get a stripped screw. On my m14x R2, it was on the DVD drive. I don't know where it was on my m15x, though.
But really, on the maintenance panel? Anybody got a link on how to deal with these?
I'll have to graphics bench once I get the GTX 860m to work. It's detected, but according to GPU-Z, it goes on and off repeatedly, and in HWMonitor and CPU-Z, it isn't given a name. I'll get to processor benching soon. I have to some school work first, heh. But according to CPU-Z and task manager, it's at 2.9 GHz. So take that as you will.
And according to HWMonitor, it used up 15.69 watts at one point, higher than the TPD 15w. I happen to be on high performance battery plan.

 

Could you remind me what key to press to enter the BIOS? I guessed on the first boot yesterday and didn't get it right.

 

Thanks again Game7a1 I'll try this weekend

 

F2, but I was holding down delete upon booting. Not sure if that will make a difference.

 

that screen is it boarder less?do you think the i7 will hinder the ga

 

Just delete works for me.

Game7a1,
did you get your 2nd SSD in?

 

What do you mean by broader-less?
Of course the i7 will hinder the GA. It still has the same PCI 2.0 that the i5 has. But will it be better? I'll have to test first before making any numeric conclusions.

It's coming later today, but if I can't open my maintenance panel, then I can't install it.

 

The 1440 screen does not have the plastic bezel like the 1080 screen does. The glass on the 1440 screen extends to the outer edges.

I thought the bezel on the 1080 screen my annoy me since I'm used to not having one on my m11x, but I really didn't notice it unless I was looking for it.

 

At 16.56 watts for the CPU and 100% utilization according to HWMonitor. Max temps were 68 C, and this is in a room that's above room temperature.
So much for TPD...

 

hey game you think you might get those i7 benches in tonight. By hinder I mean the i5 really hurt the 13 but if the i7 helps alot it might not bottleneck the amp. Cause the 15 has that quad core.

 

I will have them done in the afternoon for sure.
This "unlimited" TPD Broadwell-U has may favor the 13 a lot more than without it. Then again, it may not.
Oh yeah, question for anybody. What was your battery wear level? Because my battery has 4% wear.

 

See this video here. I would be a little nervous about soldering that close to our panels being they have a rubber coating but if your careful it should work

 

I don't have any soldering gear.

 

Sold mine for 1100 dollars. I don't know, it just happened.

13 or 15 now... hm.

 

Over $400 in profit. Good job.
But you just sold a 13? Wouldn't it be better to get another laptop?

 

I when with the 15, ordered it today!

 

LiteON L9G's AS SSD Benchmark. They're kind of good.

 

I am still looking around! I would still like to keep it under 1200 though.

15 is indeed very tempting!

 

Wow, mine is already in production! and I just ordered!

 

Got my Transcend M.2, but I still have to deal with the stripped screw.
Anybody got anymore tips? I've heard of putting a rubber band on the screw driver to make sure it could fit in the screw's shape, but I don't have a rubber band. Well, I haven't found one yet.

 

game your killing me lol the anticipation on the i7 bench

 

Added a laptop sleeves tip.

 

Good news and bad news.
Good news, I got into the maintenance area and installed the Transcend M.2 Here are its benchmarks.


Bad news? I had to use a bit of clever brute force (think of using a credit card on a locked door). As a result, I damaged my laptop. Remind me to get rid of my stripped screw and replace the maintenance panel in the future, anyone.
Yeah, I didn't expect or want this to happen. I'm docking some points when I review this laptop. But before that, the CPU benchmarks and installation of Windows 7.

 

wow game sorry about that screw issue thats frustraiting. yea gimmie that cpu bench lol. I will buy you a drink for the pain of the door

 

Patience. I'm downloading Cinebench as we speak.
Since the GTX 860m fix hasn't arrived, I'll be doing a 3Dmark and Heaven benchmark of the HD 5500.

 

From CinebenchR15:

In single core benching, it beat out an i7-3820QM. But in everything else, it lost to it.
In the multi-core test, it reached 2.9 GHz, 100 % usage. In the Open GL test, the CPU used up 19.4w. This might be due to the iGPU trying to exert itself.
In the single core, it stayed around 2.9 GHz. It should have gone to 3.0 GHz, but it didn't. I don't know why that is.
So, who has the i5-4210u benchmark to compare?

 

Heaven benchmark score with the GTX 860m disabled.

Maximum watts used: 20.16w. About 3.1w came from the GP alone. Max GPU temps: 67 C. Max CPU temps: 73 C.

 

And finally, the 3Dmark benchmark.
Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5500U CPU @ 2.40GHz,Alienware 02C3X1 (Hopefully the link works for you all).
And a report from HWMonitor.
View attachment 120275
That's all the benching I'll do today. The 3Dmark one is a bit weird since Cloud Gate was acting strange. But during the benching, everything besides the GTX 860m was running at their max speeds.

 

I just got my amplifier and 970 GTX. I have read thru this forum: http://www.alienwarearena.com/forum...-graphics-amplifier-problem/last#post-1039141 and have installed and reinstalled the drivers even used DDU to uninstall as well as safe mode uninstall. I have tried 344.80 347.25 both desktop and mobile options and still no luck. My amplifier says connected but when I try to use the mini hdmi port connected to my dell external monitor there is no life. This is driving me crazy. I even uninstalled the 860m drivers and installed the 344.80 hot fix mobile and still no luck there is no gpu activity on the monitor but it says connected and there is no monitor detection when I have it plugged into the 970 gtx directly the monitor works fine plugged into the laptop hdmi port. Any ideas or should I swap to an AMD video card? Appreciate the input. For the amount of money spent this is more of a headache than anything.

 

Mine is 0%.

 

I can't believe how much time I invested into researching, configuring, and ordering this laptop. They advertised it as utilizing the full power of a desktop GPU, but it doesn't do that at all. Honestly, I don't know why any of you are keeping this stupid laptop. It is SUPER-FAT for a 13-inch laptop, it looks juvenile and childish with aliens everywhere, and it has an underpowered GPU. Even cheap brands like MSI have a more powerful GPU and are skinny. I was about to call and cancel my order, but they shipped it 2 weeks early. Now I have been sitting on hold for 35 minutes just trying to return it.....

 

Because each of us can make use of of it?
I've heard that return calls are long for some reason.

 

The GTX 960 was just launched. The 960M should follow shortly and may end up in the AW 13.

 

Actually, in the specs manual, the GTX 960m is in there. So it's been leaked that the 13 will get the GTX 960m.
This was recent,

 

Oh, sweet. Thanks for that information. I figured it wouldn't be much longer now.

 

Well, I just found out something.
In the notebookcheck review of the 13, the i5-4210u used up 19.21w at one point. according to their stress test image
Alienware might have just unlocked the TPD of the CPUs, causing them to run at whatever they should on a given task. It explains why I was able to g past the TPD so easily.

 

How do u like it game is the i7 as good as you thought?

 

Better than expected.
However, some of my benchmarks don't reveal how good gaming is on it since I used the HD 5500.

 

What is the main difference you were able to recognize compared to the I5 model?
Which games benefit the most because of the I7?

 

Any idea when the 960M will hit the 13?

 

Just purchased a slightly used Dell Alienware 13 - i5 4210U - 16GB RAM - 1TB HDD -1080p Display - unit off of ebay.

Plan to slap a 512GB Crucial MX100 SSD in this little guy and take him on the road to get my game on.

I know it is not the most powerful unit I could have gotten but for the price and the size it is perfect for casual / light travel gaming.

I have a beast rig at home anyway. =P

 

Crucial SATA SSDs don't work in the 13 as far as I know.

But please try it (if you already have the drive) and let us know if anything has changed.

 

@ jellymusher: could you give us a return on the compatability of the Crucial MX100 SSD int the A13?

 

Yeah I just read about that! What a shame as the MX100 is a great drive and perfectly priced for an upgrade for the A13.

Already have the drive from desktop upgrade (upgraded to 850evo 1TB on my beastly machine ^_^ ).

I will report back my findings once I receive my machine next week.