*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R2/R3 Owner's Lounge

This thread is a place to discuss all things related to your new Alienware 17 R2 and share information your experience with fellow owners, or a place that prospective owners can read and ask questions.

Below are some links that owners of this model may find helpful.

Manuals
Alienware 17 R2 Service Manual

Dell Phone Directory
Spare Parts and Accessories: Purchase your Upgrade, Accessories, or Replacement Parts 1-800-357-3355

For Alienware Support, avoid calling Dell Support. Call 1-800-ALIENWARE whenever possible.

Drivers
Alienware 17 R2 Official Driver Downloads

Benchmark thread
*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R2/R3 Benchmark Thread


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Edit: Having issues with your fans not working well? Please promote this and comment at IdeaStorm. This is the second generation of Alienware laptops with fans problems. It needs to be fixed, and needs to stop here.

http://www.ideastorm.com/idea2ReadIdea?v=1432006980935&Id=087700000009mDXAAY

 

So, it looks like Dell announced the new Alienware 17 r2 at CES today, and there are some nasty changes!

There's some good things - an extra 5 macro keys to the left of the keyboard in addition to the 4 above the numpad from the 17r1, a connector for an external GPU like the AW 13 has (it's an external enclosure with a PSU and a physical x16 PCIe slot, 4x electrical iirc), and 1080p by default. You can also upgrade to touch for some reason, but I really don't see many doing this. There are also 4 m.2 drive slots for you to expand into. And, of course, it is significantly slimmer and lighter - 1.35' thick (down from 1.9') and 8.1lb (down from 9.1lb in the 17r1), which is not insignificant.

But the bad changes really add up. There is now only one 2.5" drive bay and no DVD drive, and only 2 sodimm slots - limiting the AW 17r2 to 16GB max ram. Because seriously, no one would ever mind halving the maximum ram, right?

And as the real kicker, it appears that the video card is NOT an MXM card, and is instead part of the "system board" which also seems to contain the CPU. And the CPU is now a BGA part (socket FCBGA1364) which means it is soldered in-place and non-upgradable. So all of the 'interesting' components are part of the same board, which is unique to the Alienware 17r2. To me, this kills any interest I had. Because seriously, what's the point of an Alienware that can't be upgraded?

AW 17 r2 Reference Guide
AW 17 r2 Service Manual

 

Well i dislike the only 2 RAM slot. For the soldered GPU i don't mind, cause surely will not spend lot of money (about 700$) to upgrade the GPU, i prefer buy a brand new Pc.

 

Goodbye alienware, you were a great compagny ( yea dell i know ).

Seriously , no dvd drive , bga gpu and cpu , at least we have now the 1080p screen from stock LOL. I will get an m18x r2 by some time and that will be the end of alienware gaming laptop for me.

 

What about those costly M.2 SSDs you must use? Do they not have a maximum size of 256GB? 180w power supply is like to go back in the past. (Msi received criticism for its 180w power supply earlier but has launched a bigger with the its new gaming laptop model With gtx980m) Forget overclocking on the new Alienware models. All other laptops with gtx980m have greater power supply due to the over 210W consumption during benchmark tests with processor and GPU.

 

Yes i don't use 4x M.2 SSD, so it's a waste. Maybe you right about power supply, but the new 9xx series required less power than predecessor.

 

If you look at tests of new laptop with gtx980m you'll see that they use over 210W under benchmark tests showcased ..

 

210W?! So the 180w is not enough!

 

Look at Energy Management and Power Consumption in this test of Msi..210.1 watt
MSI GT72 (GTX 980M) Notebook Review Update - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

 

Yes but it's an MSI, the rest of the hardware may be different.

 

Soldered GPU = Asus ROG.

 

Parts may be different but we can say that the psu will run at full capacity very often, that and the one year waranty ... Maybe the 240 and 330w will be modded.

 

Dell goes the opposite way by other laptop brands. Dellienware reduces the performance of the power supply while others brands they use powerful psu as before and Msi increased to 230W from 180w. Everyone uses roughly the same hardware (processors and GPU) Why reduces Dellienware performance? garbage

What if the new Alienware motherboard has watt limit such as motherboard of Alienware 18?

 

The m15x has a watt limitt, it can be bypass by using an 230w psu. My R2 haven't got any limit in the other hand, that would be very innaceptable for me to put such a limit in a 17/18 inch. There are plenty of room tu put a big heatsink ...

 

Remember there is already a first time.. Dellienware have done it. it is on Alienware 18.

 

Hi guys, I ordered one yesterday with the 4980HQ and saw later in the day that they were only offering it with the 4710HQ.

Then this arrived a few minutes ago:


Many thanks for the email,

I have been working on your order request since morning as you rightly noticed due to few last minute glitches we were told that we had to de-activate the few options as there are restrictions applied on “4980 HQ” CPU
As a result all the orders received yesterday for this configurations are held and we are advised to offer customers with alternative CPU choices.

Therefore, I request you to kindly revisit the revised attached quote and advise if you are ok to reconsider the new combinations. I can also work on further discount if you can consider this. please advise

Regards,



Now I am mad at them, again! Rot in hell Dell!

 

Your R4 is better than the new R2. I don't know what you're doing, Mick. I'm disappointed with you. Just go grab a 980M and 3940XM.

 

Listen J.Dre!

 

damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn i just ordered mine yesterday as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

how much you picked yours up for i got out pretty much even 4k with gtx 980 8gb ram and 1tb drive for 1799

 

Just an experiment man. No better way to see exactly what cra* they are selling. And who knows I might have had fun with that G/A, I was looking into a water loop for it as a project.

With the touch screen, 8gb ram, 512ssd + 1Tb HD and 4980HQ @ £2700 GBP. They have now offered me a price drop to £2400 and 'discuss' further discounts. Like I always say, talk to a rep and get his name, they can do stuff we can't see.

Gave him a 'no thank's and had to dig, 'if the CPU was upgradable later I might have considered it' haha

 

i wonder how there gonna dooo that.....for your situation? theyre not gonna just make one of them for you with a 4980HQ in it............they'll probably try to refund your money later when you dont break lol

holyyy crap mann compared to you after doing the conversion i payed 1190.48GBP for my 15 with full options except ram and ssd that are crap from dell anyway..........lol

 

Ah right, well it was going to be an interesting experiment, but you've decided to abort it now right? Because of the CPU right? Or would you reconsider if they offer you even further discounts?

 

Nah, I told the guy to call me when he can get it. Pointless testing it with an 'old' CPU option that is way slower than I have now on a 2 year old machine. If it was just a case of gaming I might have given it a try but I would always feel cheated.

pretty P'd off right now.

The AW team keep talking about 'no compromise' then expect me to. I already am by even considering one

 

Hay man is it possible for you to tell me your order number for the 4980hq they changed mine....without even asking nd now swear up and down it doesn't existt

 

Just to protect my personal info, this is a copy/paste from the order confirmation (dell use order number to access an individuals account)
You'll need to format it a bit to make sense.

This is the latest communication from my rep (I linked him here)

" Thanks for the feedback, I will read and share with relevant groups. I am in touch with the AW brand managers checking the reasons for the launch and next available date for the order.
I really apologies for the inconvenience and regret the situation.

I assure you that you will come to know first when it’s available to order. I will be in touch. "

snip/
New! Alienware 17
BASE,NBK,CTO,ECHO17, Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English
2,158.33£
1
2,158.33£
Item
Description
Base
BASE,NBK,CTO,ECHO17
Memory
8GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (2 x 4G)
Keyboard
Internal UK/Irish (QWERTY) Keyboard
Video Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M with 4GB GDDR5
Driver
Killer 1525 Driver
Hard Drive
512GB m2.80 NGFF TLC SSD + 1TB 5,400 HDD
Operating System
Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English
Wireless
Killer Wireless Card 1525
Cable
UK Power Cord
Documentation/Disks
English, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Hungarian Shipping Docs
Bundle
N00AW7R217
Extended Service
2 Years NBD with Premium Phone Support
Systems Management
Haswell Driver
Placemat
Placemat for English
Documentation
Documetation not included
Order Information
Aienware X51 R2 Order
Primary Battery
8-cell Lithium Ion (92 WHr)
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 4980HQ (Quad-Core, 6MB Cache, up to 4.0GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
Accidental Damage Support
2 years Accidental Damage Protection
Packaging
Shipping Material
Included with your Order
Dropbox software
Access Logix Software Upgrades
Facial Recognition Software Application version 4.0 Digital Delivery
Label
Enviromental Label
Retail Information
No Retail Info Required
LCD
17.3 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) TrueLife 300-nits Display with Touch Technology
Microsoft Application Software
Microsoft® Office 2013 Trial, MUI
Non-Microsoft Application Software
Additional Software W8.1
Protect your new PC
Antivirus not included
Power Supply
Alienware 180W AC Adapter
Operating System Recovery Options
Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English Resource USB Key
Alienware Graphics Amplifier
165.84£
1
165.84£
Total excl. VAT VAT Rate VAT Total incl. VAT
Sub-total(s): 2,324.17£ 20.00% 447.84£ 2,772.01£
Delivery Charge: 16.66£ 20.00% 3.33£ 19.99£
Total Price: 2,340.83£ 451.17£ 2,792.00

 

Supply and demand maybe? They could have ran out of them super fast and have to offer other alternatives since they don't have stock and maybe can't get any more.

EDIT: Only 180W adapter ? ......for a high end cpu and 980m?

 

Yeah, i've seen them do this before. A whole bunch of people had their orders cancelled when a GPU went in short supply. Since we are looking at production runs of soldered components it could be that the base config has sold well and they want to extend a run, way cheaper than switching components in smaller batches.

I got my order in within an hour of it appearing in the UK but maybe the take-up in the US leans towards the base CPU?

I was also kinda shocked to see a 180w but then again I will have the kit to see if it can benefit from more . The CPU is rated 47w so if the GPU draws close to it's 100w limit there's not a lot left for the display n stuff. I predict a very warm adaptor!

 

I look forward to hearing about your experience about it

As much as I am not a fan of the direction they are heading I am interested to hear about how it all pans out.

 

Just remember - if you buy the soldered on junk system then you are telling Dell that it is ok for them to release a system which you cannot upgrade the CPU on. Apple did it with soldered on RAM and now look at the systems they sell all of them have the soldered stuff!
I'd personally rather that Dell's sales go down significantly so they realise that it isn't what the customer wants!
You'd be much better buying the old 17 and then upgrading!

 

Well if anyone wants an old 17 let me know, I went with a 15 as I needed something slimmer for traveling for work.

 

Interested to see how you like the new machine Micky. I feel like they predict people will buy that amplifier or whatever they are calling that dock. I think that is supposed to provide some additional power, but I'm not sure. I was looking at the 15 cause I want a lighter machine and that 4k screen, but I'm gonna hold off and wait for broadwell. I don't really need a laptop till august anyway so I can afford to wait.

 

the GA overrides the mobile GPU.

 

I know that, but I thought I also heard something about the higher end cpu's being able to overclock higher while plugged into the dock. Not sure though.

 

One would think it would be pointless with the 17 and a 980m anyways, that mobile GPU is pretty damn impressive...I can't imagine what your trying to run short of something in 4k that the 980m can't handle at Ultra everything....my 780m is still keeping up so I can't see the 980m having problems for a long time.

 

Didn't say I like it! I've waited around a year for them to make up their mind once the obvious change of market the AW R1 heralded in my eyes.

Now I see it's not a dell corruption, or Intel, or even the factories. They are all under pressure to cut emission and power draw. If they don't comply then governments (EU for sure) legislate against them. By plugging in an externally powered device (G/A) the certification is no longer valid/required and they can pull more power.

The MXM slot is dead. Who is going to manufacture them for such a small market once the OEM's solder? The GPU OEM's have had their mobile GPU sales decimated by Intel's decision to go on-die with a halfway decent GPU.

For me I thought I might be able to temper my disappointment by giving one a go. The G/A is a carrot for me as mobility is secondary. And it still plays to the enthusiast in me . Now they have restricted UK orders to the entry level CPU it's never going to fly for me. Guess demand in the US (where the CPU options are still being taken) has captured the stock .

Hope you're having fun with your DT build .

 

Always man, though most of my money is going into my truck these days. Plus I'm running out of upgrades. got two 1440p monitors, multiple gaming mice, really nice keyboard, and my system won't need an upgrade anytime soon.... till big Maxwell that is.

 

Update!

True to his word the dell rep called and told me the 4980HQ is now available for order so I told him to pull the trigger. As soon as I have an ETA I'll update .

We will see...

ETA : On or before Feb 10.

 

At the moment I find the Alienware.co.uk site is a mess, you can't change what OS you want on the laptops, can't change the RAM, no hard drive options and not only that but even if you select the Graphics adapter you no longer get an option for it to ship with any graphics card. Hardly a great start.

 

Yeah, it's far from perfect. They seem to be trying to limit the configs, probably for support reasons. The GA has never had GPU options in the UK AFAIK, again, less they have to support. It's cost cutting on every front. At least they re-introduced the alienhead power switch haha...

 

Mhh i start beeing sad againt alienware.. aw was for me the best when i was young. Now i can buy them, i'm happy but i feel dissapointed to not be able to upgrade easely as a clevo. I council to my friends always clevo, they never had issues and are trully happy with. They just love the design of aw thats all as metoo now. But my next one will be certainly a clevo. I don't put lot of money in a system to be locked as a hp for upgrading, i think enginner forget that. If we want a working laptop, there are good brand not expensive. But gaming laptop is made to be upgradable, not beeing transformed into kinda desktop/portable. Next generation of aw is a bit bad for us, if one problem is present without warranty as i always am after a year, i can buy a new one for instead of a reparation certainly overprised.. i know everyone has his opinion and its hard to speak without having the new r2 in hand to talk about, but myself as i love upgrading to keep update in year,it seem that i will feel to pay a lot for having the beast of the year but the next year it will be not. They want us to buy the alien power for using it as desktop power: Its a great idea, i love it but for me an alienware should be the big overzised laptop powerfull, not a random laptop with integrated hardware. I dont know if dell or intel faulty.. but well, hope its not intel decision...

 

You are better off buying one aftermarket anyway. I'd rather deal with EVGA for warranty issues than dell plus it would be cheaper anyway.

 

Very true. Come the day when I need more HP I will have a ton of options (except mobile). Looking forward to opening up the G/A to see what can be done with cooling...

 

Would be cool to mod up a water-cooled setup... If I get one I might have to do that.

 

Is the 4980HQ a major upgrade over the 4710? It is about a $500-600 upgrade.

 

I personally wouldn't say its worth the upgrade but that's just me. 4710 should hold its own for a while I believe.

 

I'm trying to decide between 4710HQ and 4980HQ. Would you say that the 4710HQ cand hold for the next 5-6 years I plan to use my new laptop?

 

Take the cheaper and upgrade in two years . Oh wait ...

 

I'm a bit different to the other guys in their opinion on this, if you look at the CPU details there's not much difference:
4710HQ: base frequency = 2.5GHz, max turbo = 3.5GHz
4980HQ: base frequency = 2.8Ghz, max turbo = 4.0GHz

So, you're only getting a 10-15% performance increase in choosing the 4890HQ, which is by no means a generational performance difference, so it's not really gonna mean a greater future proofing by going with the slightly faster CPU. I'd save the money & get the 4710HQ, the $500-600 can then go to your next laptop or something completely different!

@Galahad78, this applies to your question too. Although in 5-6yrs it's hard to say that either CPU will be enough, that 10-15% performance difference between the two CPU's is gonna mean approximately zero effective difference when talking 5-6yrs down the line.

 

I'm rather new to this processor debate, so I'm a bit lost. I found this chart:

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-4980HQ+@+2.80GHz&id=2327

Will I notice a big difference from my current three-years-old 2670QM (2.2 Ghz to 3.1 Ghz with turbo-boost) to the 4710HQ?

Thanks a lot for your help, really appreciated.

 

It depends if you do CPU intensive tasks - most users/gamers don't do CPU intensive tasks. Office applications, gaming, virus scanning, the usual stuff doesn't use much CPU; some games use a lot of CPU, but most are GPU limited with CPU's from the i7 Sandybridge range onwards. (We both have i7 Sandybridge CPUs). I don't need a CPU upgrade at all for games, or anything else for that matter, however I could probably do with a GPU upgrade - I'd be happy wacking a 980M in with this CPU. BF4, and a few other games could be limited by our CPU, but I don't play that one. I don't think you'll notice a big difference in gaming or other tasks comparing your CPU with 4890HQ - the exception is if you're aiming for 120fps in games or if you do use CPU intensive applications - if you're not sure, then just open the Task Manager and monitor your CPU usage when doing stuff. As we're talking Alienware gaming systems here, then the focus is going to mainly be the GPU, that's the limitation.

EDIT: when viewing your CPU usage in Task Manager, break down the view into a graph per CPU core, because if you're limited in single-threaded applications then it WILL help to get the 4890HQ, because that's 4.0Ghz in single threads vs your 3.1Ghz (not including architectural efficiency gains too).