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

In case you missed it, here is a post telling us about a revised Synaptics trackpad driver for AW13 from Dell.

 

I did indeed miss that post, thanks!!!

 

I meant the physical feel of using the trackpad.

 

So, this evening, I powered up on battery. I had few flashes, though they didn't seem to be directly related to mouse pointer movement like yesterday. Though after those few,I didn't have any more. After a while I plugged it in, didn't have the flashes; unplugged it and still no flashes.... So, while it seems fine now, it is still unsettling.

 

After buying a mini-DP -> DP cable i can confirm that the ALW13 does not support UHD @ 60Hz.
It's only 30hz !

The problem is the integrated GPU manage the desktop and it's limited to UHD@30Hz. The 860M seems to be off when you are out of game.

Did someone know how to force the 860M to be first GPU or a way to shutdown the integrated GPU ?

 

Hey guys! I am planning on ordering this machine and was wondering if I could swap out the internal hard drive with an SSD of my choosing from Amazon.

 

@ Desi Munda: Yes, you can!

 

@docsteel, call dell support and ask for the screws they will sends it to you! It happened to me on the past!

 

Yes, you can but be aware some people have had problems with Crucial drives not being recognized:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-13-m11x/767227-aw-13-problem-swapping-out-ssd.html

 

Merry XMAS to ALL! :thumbsup:

 

You could force the GTX 860m by pressing FN + F1 (or F5, whichever it is). That seems to be the new graphics switching command.

 

i was thinking they could have put a gtx 850m instead of 860m. The power consumption for the gtx 850m is 40-45watts compared to 60 watts in the gtx 860m. Wth the cpu bottlenecking, the gtx 860m performances about the level of the 850m anyway(not a big difference). With the lower power cosumption, they could have added a better cpu (or just left it as i5 4210u+850m to reduce heat/size of power brick).

 

This is correct.

I had Crucial SSD but the computer did not recognize in the bootup.

When I plugged in a Samsung SSD, it worked fine.

*Note that if it's only the boot speed that you're concerned about, the base model comes with an SSHD. This works almost similar to SSD in boot speed.*

 

I think the they did tested others possibilities, others hardwares, and then chose the right one on that category!

 

Now that I have a fully functioning AW 13, the Samsung 850 SSD 256GB is going in over the weekend, maybe on Friday. Others have done it, I don't think there is any issue, but I will post afterwards on how smoothly it went.

On the question of the 850m vs 860m, wouldn't bottle-necking have been a worse issue with a better CPU vs. a weaker GPU? From a few numbers I have seen the 860m reliably beats the 850m with the same CPU by a good 35% on average. I would think they went with the 860m matched to a reasonably performing CPU over a significantly weaker GPU+CPU which would lead to bottle-necking earlier.

 

so just got my aw 13 and I am wondering I got the full hd screen, now I know these are edge lit led screens but does anyone else have any bleeding, I know led will have it I think its impossible to get one with none but if you black your screen does anyone else seen any bleeding I have 3 bleeding lights, nothing crazy but just asking and would you return it and hope to get one with like 1 or 2. Otherwise the system is flawless and looks amazing.

btw this thing is fast and silent I love it.

 

Actually, it does support 4k@60hz... I believe you will have to create a custom profile to force 60hz under Nvidia control panel. Also make sure you are using display port 1.2

 

I got my Alienware 13 last Monday and I customized mine to have 16GB of ram, initially had the 1TB 5400RPM HDD, and the QHD display with touch screen. At the time of ordering, there wasn't an option to change out the CPU and GPU so I was "stuck" with the Core i5 option and the nVidia Geforce GTX 860M.

Initial thoughts:

- The screen is gorgeous and very bright
- The laptop is surprisingly light for an Alienware branded laptop and the size makes it easy to bring with you
- Awesome sound quality and volume!
- I like the feel of the keys on the keyboard and overall the material that lines the playing surface.. though it is prone to fingerprints, oils, etc..

- I had to swap out the 1TB 5400HDD with a Samsung 1TB Evo 840 SSD and the loading times are blazingly fast now compared to the original set-up..
- The laptop gets really hot while playing games (not recommended on lap) but fan noise wasn't as loud as I thought it was going to be

- I really dig the lighting accents on the laptop but wished there was more affixed to the front portion...

Anyway, these are just my impressions so far. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to y'all! Happy gaming!

 

I'll say one thing on the speed of hybrids, of which i have three, they come nowhere close to a decent SSD, even after they have everything for boot cached up. In just counting seconds by hand, they fall right smack in the middle between a good 7200 RPM drive and a full SSD in my experience. That's nothing to sneeze at, but SSD's definitely are a much faster boot up from what I have observed.

Interesting, your the first person who I recall saying the laptops get hot (I have yet to report any real heat but I mainly play some older games). Going to dig into Assassin's Creed and do a BF4 test this weekend, be interesting to see how it goes.

Glad to hear you like it, as my M11x replacement it is awesome in that role. it's apples to oranges but I haven't noticed any bleeding so far on the 1440p screen.

BTW:

*** MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!! ***

 

I'm just wondering if I dhou return it for some bleeding. What would u guys do. And merry Christmas

 

Hi all, this is my first post, but i've been here before many times, I had to create a new account due to me have forgotten my old.

Anyhow, I would like to thank everyone's input on the A13, I know this will be an awesome machine.
Placed an order for an i7, 1440, 256gb last night on Christmas Eve. Dell says it's shipping around feb, it'll be a painful wait.

While i'm waiting, I was think if I should get matching storage like the Samsung m.2 that comes with the system.
I know there's a secondary slot open it think, unless Dell stuck 2 128's in there. Anyone can confirm?
I'm wondering if I should Raid0 that sucka to gain more performance. Anyone have done this and is there noticeable real world performance to be felt?

 

Welcome Bluf22... not sure based on your post, but be clear that there is only one HDD slot, a slimmer one to boot. The only way to have two drives is to use M.2 drives with a bracket to hold them; full HDD/SSD's will take up the entire slot. The 512 SSD M.2 option by all accounts so far is one drive, not two if that answers your question.

Me personally, I would try to live with it unless you do the majority of your work on dark screens and it is really a distraction. Seems like every time I hear complaints about televisions or monitors with this and people try to get them replaced it's just random luck, you might get a unit that is perfect, or one that is worse, or (as I have experienced) a unit with an entirely worse problem. I would say if it really bothers your, hold the unit you have on hand, and do like I did, order one or two more to compare and take the best unit and return the others. I hate to advise that, but you are paying good money and it's between Dellienware and the factory to regulate their quality, if they don't then you are in your right to work the system.

 

Based on this pic someone posted, it should have one slot available if you go with the 256gb option.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/att...11x/118721d1418522794-new-alienware-13-h4.jpg

 

The only option that occupies both slots is the 384 GB M.2 option.
The Samsung M.2 in the 13 isn't sold in stores. There is the XP941, though.
I do wonder if a Crucial M.2 will work. With the 2.5" Crucials not working, can the M.2 version share the same fate?

 

384gb option? Only option I saw for my build is aside from the 1tb hdd, is 256gb or 2x256gb.
I see you have the same build as my A13 coming in Feb, maybe you can open it up to see if you have one stick of 256gb and an open slot.

 

Forgot to take into account the different regions.
That aside, I might not be one of the first to test out the i7 13 since I have to go through a weird shipping mess (Dell tried to interpret my address as a PO box all the time, so yeah...). I plan on getting a 512 GB M.2, but I need confirmation that a Crucial M.2 works as it seems to be the best M.2 on the performance-price ratio.
I think one of us here got the 256 GB option.

 

Yup that was my pic and the 256GB M.2 SSD comes in 1 stick. So you will have 1 spare slot available. :thumbsup:

 

Nice, thanks for confirming.

Now, should I bother to raid0 this? Will there be added real world benefit to this?

 

Hello guys,

Im still not sure about buying the Alienware 13 or not. My main concern is the i5 4210 ULV processor. Maybe you guys can give me some advice.
Im not a big pc gamer. But the games I do play are mostly cpu demanding.. like for example Football manager 2015 or CiV5.
Also im planning to use the Alienware 13 as my main pc by hooking it up to a external monitor.. is this device with its ulv processor capable enough
to act as a desktop replacement in your opinion ?

 

You'll notice in benchmarks, but if this is your first outing with SSDs, I wouldn't bother with RAID 0. You do get more performance, but whether you notice it or not is unlikely. You'll also have to reinstall Windows, but I think that's about it.

Manager would work fine withe the CPU. Civ... not so much. I assume you are planning on getting a GA in the future?
If the i5 Broadwell makes a difference, I would wait. HP New Zealand happens to be selling Broadwell-U laptops, so we should see some benchmarks soon. Maybe.

 

You know, I had the same concern. However, I guess I'm not much of a hardcore gamer. If you expect to play a lot of CPU demanding games, stay away. I know this computer is very tempting, but if it does not meet your need, stay away.

As with hooking up to an external monitor, I can connect to a 27inch wide and 29inch ultra wide screen just fine. Games work fine in those depending on the resolution. Act as a desktop replacement? It depends on your needs. Again, if the CPU is not capable of running heavy duty games, this is not for you.

I paid quite low for this rig and for that I am happy with what I have.

 

Thanks for the reply. Since your not a hardcore gamer.. where do you use this laptop mostly for ? And does it satisfy your needs ?

 

There's been a lot of talk on this point of dual vs. quad, and the impact (and yes, I would have preferred a quad too). No question, a game designed to take full advantage of a quad is going to play best on a quad, but that does not mean a game that is designed for a quad is going to suck outright on a dual core, even today. Let's not forget the AW 17 bottom unit is sold with an i5 dual-core as well, not saying that means a lot in the big picture but it's telling that Alienware's own testing (and I am certain they test games designed for quad on dual-cores) shows it plays well enough for many people.

Not trying to get a flame thread going, but I think for casual gaming the dual core is going to be good enough for most people; people wanting 60+ fps on an AW 13 however will be unhappy because they might have to settle for average fps running between 20 and 40 fps. There is a review somewhere that had Civ 5 fps, I'll see if I can find it again.

 

From notebookcheck Germany.

Google translate still sucks. I wonder how Bing translate will do.
Used Far Cry 4 as the main comparison since the reviewer did not run Civ 5 with the Amplifier.

 

Hey man, thanks, that is the review I was looking for!

 

Yea my think with the bleeding is that your right you could send it back and get worse I only have like one semi bright one and like 1 or 2 little ones, but u can only tell on a really dark screen like batman movie.

However people are scaring me on all this cpu talk. I play games like company of heros and shogun total war. is this fine for that or should I send back and wait for i7 then cause now im torn.

 

With Dellienware extended Holiday hours you have up until January 15th 2015 to call and get the RMA going. Just try a game and see. At best it's a 25% to 30% difference, more likely a 18% on average. Nothing to sneeze at, but that is something you will have to judge is worth the trouble.

 

I play games too, just not at the extreme level. I don't care much about the minor differences fps... as long as the game doesn't skip, I'm OK.

I still play recent games. I tried CoD:AW, Total war, etc etc... they all seem to work perfectly fine. I play at the 1920x1080 and 2560x1080 resolutions using the external monitors and they work perfectly fine. CoD:AW was very nice at 2560x1080.

The small form factor allows me to carry it with ease when I have to. When I get a comp, I usually use it for a good 5-6 years. For example, the Sager NP8662 back then at a full spec, I used it until now and it's still kickin. I got this AW13 with replacing it in 4-5 years in my mind... since the spec was not as high at the time, but the price... I got this for 650 after tax, so it was a very good deal for me. Definitely good enough for me for now.

 

hey sabricaze did you get the AW 13 with the TN screen? if so how is the quality of the screen?

 

The TN will have the worse picture, but I did try the 1080p in 1366x768 mode to see what the fps was like - it actually was not that bad... for the price Sabricaze got it for it's a steal even at that resolution and a TN panel. For 650 I might have been seriously tempted to get one at that price!

For what he saved he could easily get a G/A and a decent desktop card...!

 

Wow thats a amazing price. Where I come from( Holland) it will cost me 1130 euro ( with Full HD display + 256 SSD). Therefore im thinking about the Macbook pro retina aswell.

 

I got the base model priced at 999 currently. It includes the TN screen. I'll be honest with you - the screen is sh*t. It's quite bad. The angles on it are really bad too. However... I did purchase this with the mind that I would be using it mostly with the monitor. I wouldn't game much, if at all, outside. Also, when outside doing simple tasks, I would not need a kick- butt (a*s is not allowed?) screen or resolution especially when I would be looking at the screen less than half a meter away. These are the reasons why I went with the TN screen. Sure, if I wanted to spend extra money, I would have gotten the IPS screen, but for my needs, I did not think I needed to. Frankly it is perfectly fine with me so far.

As Docsteel said, it was definitely a steal at 650 dollars. Even if I had to upgrade to another gear in 3-4 years of time, instead of 5-6 that I normally use for, I don't think I would be losing at all. The m11x that I purchased back in 2011 for 500 dollars... is still kickin' too.

 

I can confirm that Shogun Total War works perfectly well at maximum settings at 1920x1080.

Also - just order first. Decide later. That's what happened to me. In fact, when you do decide to call (return or... "fake" return) they will try to give you discounts. And I still have until Jan 1*, can't remember the exact date, to return if I want to.

Get it, try out all you want until the return date, and if you don't like something... just return it. There is no charge in returning it.

 

Mine came with the SSHD and I "could" have lived with it... but I went with a separate purchase of 500gb ssd for another 175 dollars.

 

Has anyone gotten a Crucial SSD working with the 13 yet?

 

Curious - compared to the M11x screen, is the TN comparable? I was speaking from the position of the impact of resolution, but having been stuck with TN's until now on my laptops... I was kind of used to them sadly : /

 

Also, does anyone know if the 13's TN panel is comparable to a MacBook Air or non-retina MacBook Pro's TN panel?

If it's not much different than those I may just save $150 and just go with the base model.

Thanks

 

I've always used TN screens on my laptops as well. It seems to me that the m11x has a better quality over the 13. The one I have on 13 is just complete sh*t, I think.

I am used to them too... it doesn't really affect me much. When it comes to closer inspections only, I realize that it's a complete sh*t. lol.

 

Totally agree! If you can avoid getting the lower RES TN panel it would be best. Crappy RES and no brightness + not to mention rubbish colours and viewing angles.
It is totally not worth it unless you really don't mind or get a killer deal like sabricaze did. I would highly recommend going for the IPS 1080p panel as a bare minimum.
I've never paid much attention to MAC screens however I would say it would be worse.