Some Questions

Hello,

I'm looking on purchasing an Alienware gaming laptop, and have a few questions for anyone that owns one. In a nutshell, I travel a lot on business so would rather keep to a smaller form facter (13 or 15") as I'd use this for that work as well (programming/coding). My actual gaming is fairly tame (LoL, Diablo 3, Minecraft, Some MMO's) so I think the any graphic card would suffice. Ideally, I'd consider getting the amplifier with a bigger card for home use in the future.

Money isn't an option, I can spend up to 3K. I'm aware that I'll pay extra for the 'Alienware' brand but that's fine. My biggest concerns are around the screen and noise:

• I am not a fan of backlight bleeding. I know it is going to happen on IPS screens, but am really wanting to keep that as minimal as possible. I'm used to a Macbook Pro Retina which has literally none. I imagine they do this via the glass in front of the screen. If I were to get the QHD touch screen w/the 13" would that eliminate backlight bleeding? Would a TN screen eliminate it? I don't care much about 4K... it is nice when coding but that's about it.

• How loud are these laptops when doing non-gaming work. I.e. if I'm programming for hours on end, I prefer silence. If they are loud during gaming, that's fine.

• I've been reading that the 15 R3 has issues with screens showing a yellow tint. Anyone know if that is fixed?

Really, my biggest concern is the screen... not necessarily having it be incredible, but rather the best quality with no flaws.

Thanks,
Tom

 

Hi Tom,

I would advise you to read through this forums to get a picture of what you are buying into by getting an Alienware. I got myself an AW15 for similar purposes and I'm on the verge of returning it and getting a Clevo P650RE or P750D.
Yes, it's silent under low load, battery life and build are excellent, but it's hard to advise on the screen because it's a complete lottery if you go with the matte FHD panel. Got extremely lucky and received the best FHD panel available from Dell, 300 nits instead of the 220 advertised. The panel is amazing for coding purposes (don't get excited, you are quite unlikely to get it from Dell) - but that's where my incredible luck ended. I received a 4GB 980M instead of the 8GB version I ordered. The keyboard repeat rate constantly reverts to 2/s disrupting coding (edit: this could be a Windows 10 issue). USB power sharing is not working (edit: it kind of works, in a dumb way, see the other thread). Customer services are not helping other than advising me to return the unit for a full refund which anecdotally can take up to 2 months to process. Another user went for a replacement and got the wrong unit for the second time. It's a really disappointing show.

Hope this reality check helps - I wish someone had provided me with one. Good luck.

 

Uskend,

I would like to add, I also have a macbook retina. Be aware these screens (as we as other brands) are 16:9 format. I originally went with a 15" because I felt that's all I needed. Until it look way smaller than my macbook retina 15"! That's because I didn't realize that the retina is a 16:10 aspect ration. Programming on that 15" 16:9 was an issue for me, I ended up selling that and got the AW 17" R3, very happy w/ 4k and while I do prefer edge-to-edge glass, the matte isn't bad at all. I can't say for the FHD models, but the UHD models are fantastic (both 15 & 17).

 

I own an M17xR4 and can only recommend buying Alienware fully because I can't say anything negative about them. Not even the prices are not adequate imho, as my M17xR4 was produced in such a high quality and with such excellent materials, that it still looks brandnew after 3y (ok, palmtop and keyboard got exchanged, but i. e. the casings are from Magnesium + Aluminium, which is the most high quality mixture for casings that I'm aware of, except assuming i. e. casings fully made from titan which would have ridiculous prices) . My notebook had one defect that the Alienware-service fixed the NBD and the other defect I caused myself without having service, Alienware still repaired it at a very reasonable price. Personally, it's the best PC I ever had while not even being the most expensive one. I especially value the fact, that the palmtop remains completely cool very high, because one's hands getting cooked by a notebook is between the worst things possible by bad design, and Alienware has done an amazing job when they developed the cooling system, they put the battery below the palmtop, and while that sounds superlogical and supersimple, it's actually genius and many notebook-manufaturers are not able to think that far. The fans of my notebook are basically unhearable during normal use, they do run at about 30% (guessed) on the slowest speed, but that's actually at about the noise-level of a harddisk. When running at full throttle though, they're very loud, as they run with 4k+ RPM. There's only one Notebook I'm aware of that is even better regarding cooling-design and that's the new P50 from Lenovo, because they combined the heatpipe between the cpu and the graphics-card, so that the heat from both gets distributed to both fans the whole time. Unfortunately, that notebook isn't really that viable for you if you play games, though the ones you mentioned, it would probably still master with ease, so maybe take a look at it too, as it's genius aswell and educational discounts can make it very favourable.
Afaik, the screens of both notebooks are excellent, but as I own neither, you'll better believe what the tests say about them.

 

One more thing, unless you are going for a refurbed older model, the feedback regarding the current line will be most relevant. Yes, we know Alienware used to be great: modular design, elite quality and customer service... Unfortunately, the latest models are not modular, quality is in question, and there is virtually no question regarding the lacking standards of customer service.

 

Good point, but what do you mean with "lacking standards of customer service" ? Afaik, the only thing negative about the AW-service is, that it's expensive. Personally, my experiences with DELL service are outstanding. The worst I ever experienced was, that I once had to sent my notebook to them, because I poured coffee over it, and while they only charged 250€ for the repair (I was enormously lucky, that the coffee hadn't damaged the really expensive parts like the CPU or the graphics-card) , they needed 14d for the repair in their "laboratory" , which I found very long, being used to their NBD-service, but which is still very fast, compared towards other manufacturers. The quality of the repair was also excellent, and that's again something that is not self-evident. I also always found the DELL / Alienware service employees to be either very friendly and professional, or only friendly, but therefore very professional.
Maybe it's a difference between the countries and the service in Europe is simply better than the one in the USA

 

I think you are referring to technical support, which is supposed to be good. I only had a chance to interact with them briefly and was left with decent impression (quickly confirmed I received the wrong graphics chip).

Customer support are something else. You can read one exciting story here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/980m-8gb.784889/

 

Keep it in perspective though, the problems we had were very rare in a weird state where they had 2 very similar video cards for a short period while they now only have 1 of the 980m (it appears). Of course the general Dell customer service has absolutely no idea. They are from India and can barely speak english... probably get minimum wage and have to follow strict guidelines. Most likely, you'll never have to deal with them in the first place.

Not to mention the amount of calls that probably go something like this... "Your dell printer X12YZ won't connect to my son's apple phoney, this printer is defective I demand my money back".

Also, how many companies (including Clevo) would send you an exchange while still using the other machine. That's crazy, I had both machines running for a day or two (pointless for me, but cool). Plus, when I had to send my machine in, they sent me a return box overnight to overnight to them and they fixed it within 2 days and sent it overnight back to me. Whole process took less than a week, Classy.

Yes, I received the wrong machine, yes I'm still waiting/fighting on a refund of my returned machine (almost 2 months out), yes I had to fight for an exchange... Still would buy an AW any day

 

That's great, I'm glad Dell came through for you after months and many exchanges (sorry about the refund situation).
Unfortunately, instead of a classy and amazing replacement, myself and a bunch of other people have been left hanging for weeks on end and fed of sorts of lies if not refused a replacement outright. My fav have to be these 3:

- I will be your personal representative, unfortunately there may be a delay in our handling of this issue because I'm going on holiday next week (there is no dedicated CS rep, each contact was handled by a different person)
- I'm sorry, customer service are on holiday today (I log in to the portal and see someone in CS India had read my email and updated the ticket an hour earlier)
- I'm sorry the 980M is not currently available in 8GB (multiple forum reports of people receiving the units at the same time, Dell offers them shipping in 3-5 days on their website at the very moment)

That's just ridiculous and what a gigantic waste of time.

If you want to see what customer support should look like go to the Clevo forums and check out HIDevolution, Eurocom or XMG or get in touch with those guys directly.
I recall having some pre-sale questions and using Dell's web chat. I couldn't believe how incompetent the responses were - should have stepped away right there.

In terms of value, for the current web price of AW15 with 6820HK, 4GB 980M and 16GB RAM, a random FHD screen, win 10 home and 1 year warrranty, one could get an identically reviewed (87% on notebookcheck) Clevo 650RE with 6820HK, 8GB 980M, 64GB RAM, 300 nits LG FHD panel (exact model specified), specifc S/HDD models, Win 10 pro (home or no OS on offer), and 2yr warranty. Main downside: lack of eGPU which I don't care about that much, and slightly less robust - but by all accounts sufficient - build. OK, no BIOS overclocking without Prema, TB3 or AlienFX

Still, I kind of like the feel of this machine, the unlikely screen is fantastic (which is a problem, because if Dell produces a replacement, they will probably supply me with an inferior FHD one and I don't want a 2x scaled glossy 4k on a 15" screen) - this has produced a bit of an intertia, and I'm still kind of deciding on the Clevo model, but prob best to end this wait soon and ask for a refund while the offer is still on the table. Can always get back on the Dell train if Clevo somehow disappoints despite basically unanimous user enthusiasm.

 

I think this has gotten a little off topic by some of the more passionate members here including myself . I'm rocking a aw15 with the below stats in it that I paid 1,500$ usd for. I have the samsung screen fhd which I've read is the worst of the lot. It could be brighter.. Colors could be better.. But it works for games and gaming, so whatever. It's a good machine so far and the graphics amplifier plus skylake is why I'd say stick with it. I plan on getting a graphics amplifier and external 4k monitor when pascal drops so forgive me if I don't mind the screen so much. The dim fhd panel for me is an overall better experience than the UHD issues. Still don't get why they gimped the fhd on the r2 when the 15r1 was so good. Dell is far from perfect but they are better than the rest in my view apart from Apple. Also I don't agree you can get a 32gb ram clevo for the same price. The aw is stable has great battery life and skylake so I'm ok with 1500$ for this machine.

 

Sorry, I'm talking about listed uk prices for a new laptop, not refurb outlet or secondary market deals.

I think if OP is the kind of person who doesn't care much what components he gets from the vendor, and is ready to suck up a gimped screen or graphics card, then Dell are fine for him.

BTW I really hate how GA disables the internal GPU (which could be used for physics or other computarions). Hope the TB3 eGPUs will be better than that.

I really don't have a clue what nickbarbs' criteria are. Apples are better for gaming?!?

 

I was flying back to the UK with my new alienware when i wrote that

Dell UK will be picking up my UHD / "8GB 980M" 15R2 tomorrow for a full refund.

My only point is, even with all the BS they put us through, I would only buy Dell for PC. The only other laptop i'd consider is Apple. I wasn't talking about gaming laptops - I'm going from an Apple to Dellienware now because I'm moving to HK and can't drag my desktop with me.

I was only saying here that despite the flaws I'd only really buy a PC from Dell anyway, because of their warranty and use of the latest components. I agree there is always one damned flaw in all their products though.

However, Regarding the price, I think it is important to note how cheap these are actually going for on the Dell Outlet New / Refurb store. I know they're not "New computers" but frankly i can't see any blemishes or signs of use on mine. For me i can't justify buying this new from dell for full price in the UK it is too eye wateringly expensive for what it is. If the OP is in the UK i'd say skip this and wait for an updated pascal GPU if you're going to be paying full price anyway. If people are picking up these units for 1000£ in the usa it is a matter of time before that price trickles over here.

 

Yes, points to Dell for international warranty and battery life.