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

Unquestionably get the 1080p, and the 1440p is actually worth the difference if price is not a question. My only point about the TN is if it was equivalent to the M11x, then it wouldn't be great but it would be live-able.

 

Does anyone have experience using the graphics amplifier? To me, this is the most compelling reason to get the Alienware 13.

 

Has anyone tried Guild Wars 2?

That game is immensely CPU-heavy! I would love to hear your findings - How it would work in WvW when there are big battles. On a 13-inch screen I think many settings can be turned down (subsampling, low other-character models) but I am still concerned it will not run well.

 

Added Graphics tip.
Updated Trackpad tip.

If I'm wrong, please let me know, and I'll add your comments to the post, as well as giving you credit.

 

I use a Crucial m.2 SSD 512gb (M550) on the alienware 13, and it's working like a charm :hi2:

 

Thank you.
We know the 2.5" SSD is having troubles, but at least the M.2 is working.

 

So glad Alienware choosed the ULV CPU. They are powerful little chips, but they are way too underrated.

 

Could you explain why ? cause for me the ULV CPU is for me the biggest reason I didnt buy the AW 13 yet. Especially when I see budget laptops
using the exact same processor .. thats making me doubt a lot.

 

To be fair, business laptops, even some of the expensive and rugged ones, use ULV processors.
The 13 with its ULV CPU does get performance between a GTX 850m and GTX 860m, both with full voltage CPUs. That's not too bad.
Still, CES 2015 is almost here, so no one should be buying a 13 now with the upcoming Broadwell-U (unless you get a really good deal).

 

Yeah you mean the gpu performance is still very good ? I have no doubt about that at all. But I would have much preferred a lower gpu like a 850mbut with a stronger processor. Because I will use this laptop as my main computer and not to much gaming.. and when I do game its games like Football manager which its cpu intensive.

 

If the ULV bothers you then you should look for something else, like a still available AW 14. The ULV dual core sounds horrendous but the truth is if you look at the benchmarks you can do some good gaming on it, and it's a pretty good work laptop. The point was a power efficient platform capable of reasonable gaming (hardcore gamers wanting 60+ fps sustained rates need not apply).

I guess if the majority of good reviews on here and in the press don't help you form a positive opinion there isn't much more to say.

There might be a new Alienware 15 (I would like to see one, but we have one equivalent of a big foot sighting saying there is one coming), and see if that works better for you if you want to stay in the Alienware camp.

 

You're right, the thing is I really like everything else from the AW 13.. and I find it really difficult to estimate( in real world use)
if I really would feel the need of a stronger processor or that I wouldnt even notice the weaker ulv processor.
Im not heavy user who uses programs likephotoshop or lightroom but I guess its more the feeling of possibly coming something short.

 

Are you talking about this game? Because you should be able to run this 1080p Ultra (definitely 768p60 Ultra).

 

The system alone is not that future proof, but then what really is? Even guys playing on AW 18's incessantly fret about not having the latest thing to game on but for most games, even a two or three year old system will run them provided you turn down a few settings. Wanting to get a laptop, even non-BGA and expect it to run games at full notch settings for three years is just unrealistic even with upgrades if you can manage them.

Now, Silverlake should offer some real benefits, hence why I got my AW 13 to hold for a year to see what develops with Silverlake (and hoping then for a quad or an AW 15 to appear). If you want a system and not flip it in a year or so, I would get something with a quad-core and as good a video card as you can afford.

If it were me I would sit tight and wait to see what PAX and CES brings in January from Alienware. It's pretty clear a new AW 17 (albeit with BGA) is coming and will leverage the Graphic Accelerator. That is a pretty good combo even if you can't upgrade the processor for say three years.

 

Yes thats indeed the game i meant (y). I guess it should run ok.

 

If the tool is to be believed you have nothing to worry about -

 

So while looking through the Internet i came across the sager np7338 and I was curious... A lot of members have already received their alienwares and I was curious if anyone looked at it over ours? It looks slightly bigger but seems more powerful then the 13 at relatively the same price. Any thought? Thanks
Ps room for one 2.5 and 2 Msata cards is crazy in a 13" computer

 

alienware could have made the i7 4510u (same 15 tdp as i5 ) standard instead of the i5 4210u. On cpubenchmark.net, the i5 4210u scored 3441 and the i7 4510u 3981 on average, so the i7 ulv does offer a solid performance increase. Alieware also choose to ignore all questions and comments regarding bottlenecking (like in the videos).

the notebookcheck german review made it clear that the i5 4210u was bottlenecking the 860m and that the 860m is performing at a 850m level in some games.

 

This guy on YouTube had no trouble running the Alienware 13 with a GTX 980 inside the Graphics Amplifier. Also, he shows multi-monitor use working fine.

http://www.youtube.com/user/raguilar26/videos

I have to be honest, I don't understand why you guys like the Alienware 13 if you are not using it with the Graphics Amplifier. On its own, the Alienware 13 is bulky and underpowered, but with the Graphics Amplifier it creates the perfect work/play setup. I can come home from class and plug my Alienware 13 into the Graphics Amplifier, multiple monitors, a keyboard, and a mouse. Then, I can either game or get some work done. If I get tired and want to hit the couch, then I just unplug and my routine continues unphased. That just sounds perfect to me and I'm really excited to make it happen. Unfortunately, my delivery won't arrive until February.

 

Yes, I also am looking at the NP7338 but the problem with that one is Heat and battery life. I already own a Sager and can tell you the build quality is good but not great. and the speakers are not good at all.

 

I'm getting something thinner than my current laptop. All I lose is some ports, a subwoofer, and CPU power, but what I gain (GPU power, battery life, a better screen, etc.) should overcome the losses.
I can't really call it bulky if the darn thing is a 1" thick. I mean, it's not as thin as its 14" competitors, but some heft would be nice. I want to feel like I'm holding a laptop when I hold the 13, not a tablet. Thinness should have a limit or else you put cases on everything, which defeats the purpose of the thinness in the first place.

 

Hey so decided to step in and say just got an AW 13 and have the AW 14 after playing games found the AW 14 plays everything better. Which shouldn't be the case, 860M vs 765M. I know the pcrocessor can bottleneck the AW 13, but by this much?

For example Borderlands 2 maxed out 1080P on both systems:
AW 14 45-60 FPS AW 13 27-36 FPS
(This happens on every game I have tried WoW, Metro, LoL, and Mass Effect Trilogy.)

Anyways love both systems just a little disappointed in the 13, anyone here have any ideas of what I could try to fix this? Also I have installed the latest nvidia drivers and have everything set to use the nvidia driver. Alas can't seem to get the AW 13 to run very well. Any help would rock!

 

FYI to everyone here. I just read this foreign review of the Alienware 13 (you should translate it and give it a read).

Test Alienware 13 Notebook - Notebookcheck.com Tests

Their tests revealed that the i5 CPU is a bottleneck when you use it with the Graphics Amplifier and a GTX 980. Just to be clear, it still performs very well when it is plugged into a GTX 980, but it would perform 30-40fps better if the CPU had been an i7. I am waiting for the i7 because I want full crazy desktop power when this is plugged into the Graphics Amplifier.

 

FN+F1 allow to switch between amplifier and integrated. But i haven't got the amplifier.
If i press the button, nothing append ;-)

Yes i try, but the Nvidia cpl only allow to modify 3d parameters. It seems impossible to specify the wanted resolution on NVCPL !

Is it possible to get the full NVCPL with desktop options ?

 

Yes - we are very aware of the issue of bottlenecking - the i7 will help, but it will still bottleneck on a 980 no question, it's just not that much more powerful. The absolute best you will get out of the i7 is 30% (and thats due mainly to it being slightly faster and a move to Broadwell over Haswell) over the i5, but on average I wouldn't expect more than say 15~20%, not enough to overcome the bottlenecking with a 980. The G/A really becomes a good solution in a quadcore system like the upcoming AW 17, but it does help the AW 13, but no point in spending more than necessary, I would look for a card roughly equivalent to what they issued numbers on, the AMD R90 290x. Each setup with a processor (and chipset really) will have a sweet spot on the edge of bottle necking; the fun is in comparing notes and finding it

If you really want full crazy desktop power wait for the AW 17, get a G/A and couple it with a strong processor and external card like a 980. But then, if you want mad desktop power, maybe just buy an Area 51 lol. The AW 13 even in i7 form is just not going to be that strong a system any which way you cut it.

 

Well, mine run skyrim max out at 35 to 60 fps, metro last light maximum setting very well and metro 2033 at a good fps on high. So I'm no even touching my M18!

 

Has anyone gotten the i7 Aw 13 yet? When is it due to ship? Mine is early Feb.

 

Could you post your settings for these games with those FPS?

 

Ok, I wi when I get home from work!

Check this one, http://youtu.be/MCCBYIKNOpM

 

I finally decided to get the one with 1080p display.
Got to play with it these last couple days and let me say I'm very impressed.It is very quiet even at full load where you just hear a whisper from the fans.
So far I was able to run all the games I have on ultra settings at 1080p (probably not the most demanding games but still..)
This is a perfect complement to my Aurora R4.
I was not 100% sold on the AW13 when it was announced but now I found it to have the perfect blend of portability and power.
I ordered a 500GB Samsung evo 840 to replace the 1TB HDD (for free thanks to Dell Advantage reward gift cards).

 

Yeah even the transfer rate speeds from an usb disks is excellent ����!

 

ok plz tell me this so i know cause im close to gettin this, will XTU work at all wit this i5 cpu to overclock it..is there a program to overclock it or do u guys think they will make a modded bios to let us overclock it..i just think that 300-500mhz will make a big diference on our fps, wht u guys think?

 

Well, I'm not sure about that. Have to try it!

 

It's using a Broadwell CPU, so all of those of bought the i7 will get in in February, or hopefully late January.

 

Ugh, last time I trust Google translate. I thought notebookcheck said there was an optimus switcher. Well, there isn't then.

 

When the i7 first became available, I thought i saw early jan, i could be wrong.

 

I did too, so you aren't alone. But it either must have been a mistake, or for those very early adopters.

 

------------

 

No, my i7 is also due early February

 

Well, this was similar with i5. If you ordered earlier, you'd get yours earlier. When I ordered one with i5, at the time, i7 was to be delivered in mid January. Unless they delayed the production, people that ordered earlier will get theirs in mid Jan.

 

Yeah, I am betting units will ship by the end of the 2nd week in January and hitting folks by the end of the third week. Real curious to see the benchmarks of everyone who go one

 

the i7 starts at 2.0 GHz, right? So that is a 300 mhz difference. Do you think it can really be as much as 15-20% cpu improvement?

I mean, I hope so. It would be nice. 860m already seems very very capable so I would not really wish anything more powerful for the maxwell upgrade, just more power efficient.


I wonder if Broadwell will have much improvements at all. I feel the last time a CPU felt faster was Sandy Bridge... I never noticed anything with either IvyBridge or Haswell hehe!

 

i7-5500U starts at 2.4 GHz, but turbos to 3.0 GHz for 1 core ( i7-4510u turbos to 3.1 for 1 core) or 2.9 for 2 cores (2.8 for i7-4510u's 2 cores). Compared to the i5-4210u, that's a 700 MHz starting boost, and a 300 MHz turbo lead for 1 core or 500 MHz turbo lead for 2 cores.
Remember, there is no i7-4510u in the 13. But all in all, the i7-5500U is going to be a noticeable improvement over the i5-4210u and i7-4510u.

 

Hello, I am new to this forum.
I was about to purchase AW 13 with i5, since there is not much difference between i5-4210u and i7-4510u.
But I just found this forum and read i7 is actually broadwell, not 4510u.
That's awesome! but I think I will wait more for more information about 5500u.
Anyway, it is really nice to see that i7 is broadwell. I hope there is a big improvement from i5.

 

I don't understand. 4510u is the i7 on the alienware website?


You're saying i7 5500U will be in AW13?

 

Correct, my build sheets shows i7 5500U.

 

Here is my order and build sheet.

210-ADIC
1 Alienware 13
370-AANG
1 16GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (2x8GB)
580-ACTO
1 English Keyboard
490-BCKD
1 NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 860M with 2GB GDDR5
555-BCHM
1 WLAN Card DW1550 Driver
400-AGFB
1 256GB M.2 SSD
619-AGCT
1 Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English
555-BCDR
1 Killer 1525 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0
450-AAUO
1 US Power Cord
340-AGUD
1 Safety/Environment and Regulatory Guide (English/French)
950-9797
1 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
995-5423
1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year
994-3730
1 Warranty Support, Initial Year
995-5443
1 In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year
950-3337
1 1 Year Limited Warranty
981-4619
1 No Accidental Damage Selected
631-AALT
1 System management software
340-ANBG
1 Placemat (English,French,BRPT,Spanish)
332-1530
2 Dell.com Order
332-1286
1 US Order
451-BBKW
1 52 WHr, 4-Cell Battery
338-BGBW
1 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5500U Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.00 GHz)
340-AAPP
1 Directship Info Mod
340-AMOW
1 Alienware 13 Shipping box
817-BBBB
1 No FGA
525-0016
1 Dropbox, Digital Delivery, 20GB for 1 year Promotion
391-BBUF
1 13 inch QHD (2560 x 1440) IPS-Panel Anti-Glare 400-nits Display with Touch Technology
630-AAAU
1 Software: Microsoft Office 2013 Trial
658-BCML
1 Additional Software
817-BBBP
1 None Required
450-ADFZ
1 130 W A/C Adapter
340-ACQQ
1 No Option Included

 

All the build sheets so far show the Broadwell part; we think this is due possibly to an agreement with Intel to not show that Broadwell chips are not present until formally released, or that internal spec sheets are showing the current Haswell chips in their database. Dellienware has said in several videos that i7 chips would be an option "when available", so it is consistent with a Broadwell release or they would have just shipped them already assuming there are no problems with supply, etc.

As Game7A1 has said, the best future-proofing is with the i7 setup, but the current i5 is by no means a disappointment in relative comparison. I do believe however you will get the maximum pairing of the 860m with the i7 (despite being a ULV-dual core chip) for GPU-bound games.

 

This would also explain why (most likely) only the US configuration has the "i7-4510u" option. None of the other regions I've checked have the option, so they must be gathering in pre-order numbers to see how many i7 13's they should initially ship out.

 

The English review of the 13 on notebokkcheck is live.