Things to Consider

I've read through quite a few threads now, which is nerve wracking, via search trying to put together a pattern of known issues as I try to decide if this is the machine for me as i am purchasing a new gaming laptop.

I wondered if you folks would be so kind as to help me close the gap a bit quicker (they are on sale right now it seems), so I am asking you Alienware 17 owners if there are any known issues or things to consider or anything like that, before I decide with finality.

 

From what I've gathered:
-AW 17 R2 has CPU throttling issues due to hybrid BIOS but can be worked around most of the time, the R3 however seems to not suffer from this problem, it's been out for a few months now and no complaints so that's good

-Some people have problems with the wireless functionality dropping, this has been attributed to killer's iffy drivers, can also be worked around.

-My R3 came with a dead pixel on the screen, it's the FHD 300 nits ips anti glare one, the UHD screen however is awesome from what I've heard.

That's about it, the new skylake CPUs are not a real upgrade from the previous two generations in terms of performance, but they are quite a lot more efficient and cooler, so try to get a CPU from the 6th generation (6700hq or 6820hk)

 

The only problems I've experienced with my 17 R3 are:

• Intel display drivers occasionally crashing, usually while browsing -- just causes a very brief black screen. Most people can fix this by uninstalling nVidia drivers -> uninstalling Intel graphics drivers then reinstalling in the reverse order, but this has not fixed the problem for me. In any case, it's a negligible inconvenience
• The Killer networking drivers seem to cause massive memory leaks every time they get out of date, so it's worth keeping on top of updating them. Easily resolvable

Otherwise I've had no problems intrinsic to the machine itself, and I've definitely had no problems that make me remotely regret choosing it. Oh, the sound from the speakers is awful compared to my old XPS 15z from 2011, but I use earphones so this doesn't bother me and it's more than adequate for playing the occasional film etc out loud.

 

I've never been terribly impressed with laptop speakers, so I just assume they will suck. So no biggy.

Doesnt sound like either option i am considering has any major issues. One time I bought this laptop, should have researched, lid when open obstructed vents... this was before there were really gaming laptops like now, but... never hurts to be sure. i mean i wouldnt buy an acer based on my research thus far

Now i just need to i guess flip a coin or something lol

 

I agree with the above, except the speakers aren't that bad (apart from the subwoofer which can't seem to reach low enough HZ to provide deep bass), and the intel driver thing does happen frequently but as mentioned, it's a minor inconvenience.

 

The ventillation on the R3 is as follows:
There are two fans on the top left and right of the chassis, they work together all the time (albeit the gpu fan doesn't kick into higher gear until the gpu is being used) to dissipate heat from a shared heatsink that spans the width of the laptop and covers the cpu and gpu, and to improve airflow over those heatpipes, the bottom cover has vents that leave all the heatpipes exposed to the outside air.

The exhausts are never blocked by any part of the laptop (unlike the lenovo y50-70 which has this stupid screen hinge that curves over the exhausts when the screen is open), the screen rests on good ol plain double hinges.

To get better airflow anyway, i use 1cm rubber feet and put them under the laptop's feet, with my setup (6700hq, gtx 965m, no overclocks) i get maximum sustained temps of 75-83 for the cpu (temps vary per core) and 55-63 for the gpu, didn't even repaste.

Edit: btw, i use Nvidia inspector to limit my fps to 55, that way i reduce unnecessary load on gpu, and eliminate the need for using Vsync without any noticeable differences in framerate smoothness.