Diff between AW18s?

Noob here and I have a quick question...
I’m aware that the AW18 only available for 3 years (2013-2015) with diff graphic cards each years. Beside that, are there anything else diff? I read somewhere the 2015 is more exclusive because it was limited edition, was it true?
Also, I read here and noticed people mention about the R1,2,3 or Viking. I ordered mine on July 2014 with 860m SLI. Can you guys tell me which version I have?
I probably sound super dumb rn but please don’t roast me lol.

 

@Raidriar ?

Im going to venture on not much difference other than GPU's but I never spent much time looking over the AW18 much.

 

No difference, all motherboards are prone to failure. Early versions came with DMC slot intact, later versions removed it altogether. The "limited edition" Alienware 18 was just for 970M/980M factory equipped models that came with special heatsinks for them, but the rest of the machine is identical to earlier Alienware 18s, nothing special about them at all.

OP your model is Alienware 18 "Viking", sometimes called Alienware 18 R1 (there is no R2 or R3). You may be confusing with M18x R1 and M18x R2, two entirely different machines.

 

The "special edition" AW18 was one sold with 980M SLI. It just has an updated BIOS, nothing special about it besides the fact it was sold from the factory with 980M SLI.

Alienware M18x aka R1 (2011) was sold with 2XXX Sandy-Bridge CPUs and 5XXM GPUs , can be upgraded up to 880M SLI

Alienware M18x "R2" (2012) was sold with 3XXX Ivy-bridge CPUs & 6XXM GPUs. This is also the AW that was considered to be the best from AW by many of us. It has been able to use 2x330w AC Adapters and upgrade up to 1070 or 980M SLI using a modified BIOS. This one was also known by the name "Avenger"

Alienware 18 ("R3" in some places, "Viking" model) [2013] This was sold with 4XXX Haswell CPUs and 7XXXM/8XXXM GPUs. It was later sold with 980M SLI as well. This is the least reliable of the three 18" models due to AW heading to a more mainstream market. This model can also be upgraded to 1070 just like the M18xR2 with the latest unlocked BIOS. Although with the latest official BIOS you can run 980M SLI.

Since you have 860m SLI you have the Alienware 18 "Viking"

@Raidriar beat me to it by 1 second

 

The Special Edition is the one that have the GTX 980 DT SLI MXM

 

Wow, thank you so much for all the answers guys. Glad I asked the question cuz I just learned a lot more about the machine just now lol. I love this laptop and don’t wanna sell it since it’s been with me for years but it’s starting to have a hard time to handle certain games now. Do you guys think they will bring back the 18in laptop in the future? I guess my best option rn is to upgrade the GPU to 980m but not sure how risky it might be

 

No more 18”, area51m is the successor now

 

I have the Area-51M now along with my M18xR2 still.

I will say Area-51M is a good laptop, needs a bit tweaking but runs well.

Build quality is great

 

@ssj92

Is the 17.3" screen actually larger than your conventional 17.3 laptop due to the thin bezels or it's still a 17 inch screen?

I love the 18.4 inch screen on my old Alienware 18

Also, this is an OLED panel? I've never an OLED panel? How different is it than regular panels?

 

Amazing blacks and colors, great response times. Really the only downside is the risk of burn in, very $$$ to make, and lower lifespan than traditional LED backlit panels

 

Well I have a 4 year warranty bro so I'm not concerned about the cost of replacing it.

To be honst with you, out of all the laptops I've owned, there are only 2 screens that I still remember for how good they were

1) Sony VAIO SZ Premium, back in 2007, that 13inch screen blew me away, it was glossy which I prefer, the colors were so vibrant and looking at it I could almost feel things were REAL. It was mind blowing
2) Any MacBook retina screen blows all these gloomy/washed out anti-glare screens out of the water. I hate anti-glare screens, they are so dull in comparison.

 

I anticipate Alienware will eventually make it an option. The Razer Blade will be receiving an OLED option in the future, I’m sure Alienware will do the same. It is simply the best display period, only thing that comes close are older laptops like Sony VGN and Alienware M17x R2 that has very very expensive RGB backlit panels (vs standard white LED + yellow phosphor coating). RGBLED went out of fashion because it was extremely expensive to produce.

 

Area-51M is still a 17.3” panel with thin bezels.

M18x screen is still bigger. I’ll make a comparison of them later.

OLED is coming to AW m15. No news about m17 and Area-51M yet.

 

Oh! I thought that the current FHD screen IS OLED! dang!

 

Nope just a standard IPS panel. It’s not bad though. I think with calibration it’ll look good.

 

When I get my taptop, I'll do a calibration using my Spyder Elite colorimeter and share it with y'all for free

 

Thanks, check the color gamut ratings as well.

Every display is different so we’ll see how yours works out for us. I want to actually invest in one, I could calibrate all my computers.

 

yes, best purchase I ever made, worth every penny since you can calibrate unlimited amount of displays, even your neighbors' taptops

this is the one I have:

Spyder5ELITE+

 

Can it be used from a computer to calibrate a TV?

 

Hi, I just purchased an Alienware 18 for repair (not sure if it's 2013, 2014, or 2015). What exactly do you mean by your quoted line above? Why do you say the 18 is the least reliable of the three? I don't know much about the 18 line.

 

There are Alienware M18X-R1 : Alienware M18X-R2 : and Alienware 18 aka AW 18. AW 18 burns up a lot faster than the previous generations.

 

By "burns up" do you mean overheating or physical circuit frying? Is it descent enough or have I bought an un-repairable lemon? :-D

 

Alienware M18xR1 (2011) Sandy Bridge 2XXX series CPUs & 5XXM series GPUs (Come in Black & Red)
Alienware M8xR2 (2012) Ivy Bridge 3XXX CPUs & 6XXM GPUs (Come in Black & Red)
Alienware 18 R1 (2013) Haswell 4XXX CPUs & 7XXM, 8XXXM, & 9XXXM GPUs (Comes in Silver)

The 18 has motherboard issues due to bad mosfets being used.

 

Ah ok, what mosfets commonly die, do you know of some threads, pictures and more info of this issue? If that is a common issue it may be the same issue with the one I've bought.

When the mosfets die, do they just short out or do they burn the board?

Sorry for all the questions. :-D

 

I'm not sure, mine never died, but I did sell it.

@Raidriar had a couple die so maybe he can chime in.

 

Found this thread, hmm... nasty!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/fried-my-alienware-18.821064/

I wish I found this out before buying.

 

Is it the DC in mosfets or the GPU mosfets that are common faults?

 

Motherboard mosfets are the common killer, and they take the first gpu card with them.

 

I experienced the same failure as @imest on three different boards. When the third board failed, I parted out what was salvageable and chucked the husk into recycling bin. Piss poor excuse of a computer, Alienware should be ashamed they put it into production

 

@imest From those pictures they look to be the main DC IN mosfets, on these blowing up occasions did you have your AC adapters/chargers connected?

 

Also @Raidriar, would you happen to still have the 2 piece bottom access cover/door for the 18? mine is missing the bottom cover. It would be a big help if you did depending how much postage costs. :-D

 

stock 330W power supply always hooked in, fast charging disabled in the BIOS, never overvolted the CPU or the GPU

 

I chucked it long ago, sorry

 

Ok, if I find that's the issue with the one I bought it may be an easy fix

Ah that's a shame, all good

 

AW18 kind of sucked compared to the R2, had a hard limit of 330W power so getting that 980M SLI config with a 4910MQ or 4940MX resulted in the battery being drained followed by hard throttling. I had 2 18s I played with along with 980M SLI

 

Yes, AC adapter is almost always connected as I run 2 x 980m in sli and 4940MX OCed to 4.4GHz while gaming. I have warranty with Dell, they replaced the motherboard, warranty is up in October and that is when I am going to switch to a desktop and maybe buy another portable computer (Razer Blade maybe). But I do not think I will buy another "Desktop replacement" in the form of a mobile computer in the future (this was a bad experience for me).


-imest

 

It has arrived and the mosfets look good, it has SLI GTX 770M.

 

@imest Would you still have your broken/fried AW 18 board and willing to part with it? Looking for parts.

 

I do not, I have warranty with Dell, so all parts are theirs. Only items I have are 2 x GTX 880m MXM cards with 100 Watt heat sinks (primary and secondary).


-imest