Alienware 15 R3 (2016) unboxing (56k no!)

Lmg80 · 26 Nov 2016 at 22:37

Just sold my 17R2 980M and went back to desktop. make a custom pallette for white keys mate, sets it off nicely

naefeart · 30 Nov 2016 at 15:06

How are you getting along with your new purchase Spike?

I've got one of these coming, similar spec as yours but only a 1060 GTX and the normal 1080p screen. Does have the 256GB SSD and 1TB drive. Seemed ok for £1500.

I was going to buy the older R2 version for £1249, but it's thicker and apparently gets quite hot.

kaktus · 30 Nov 2016 at 18:11

naefeart said:
How are you getting along with your new purchase Spike?

I've got one of these coming, similar spec as yours but only a 1060 GTX and the normal 1080p screen. Does have the 256GB SSD and 1TB drive. Seemed ok for £1500.

I was going to buy the older R2 version for £1249, but it's thicker and apparently gets quite hot.

That's not a bad price there though I probably would've stretched a teeny bit more for the 1070 and the QHD screen.

And yes, Spike, do tell. How are you getting on with yours?

nelentari · 30 Nov 2016 at 18:14

The new alienware laptops have a huge design flaw - the heatsink is triangular instead of square resulting in uneven core temps. Certain cores can be 10-20 degrees hotter than the others resulting in early throttling and thermal shutdowns while gaming. I cancelled my order and many people are returning/refunding theirs. Reddit and various google-able notebook forums have more info. I recommend you check your core temps before the 30 day return period ends.

TheOtherOption · 30 Nov 2016 at 19:08

Dangerous said:
that screen bezel

Take my XPS 13 any date

Was just thinking the same thing!! :eek:

Oh and don't forget you can get money back through Quidco from Dell - I got nearly £170 back on my XPS15

naefeart · 30 Nov 2016 at 20:47

kaktus said:
That's not a bad price there though I probably would've stretched a teeny bit more for the 1070 and the QHD screen.

Agreed, normally I would too but I was only supposed to be buying a cheap laptop for around a grand. I'm not going to game with it as I'll use my desktop. Anything will be better than the old Thinkpad I'm using at the moment.

nelentari said:
The new alienware laptops have a huge design flaw - the heatsink is triangular instead of square resulting in uneven core temps. Certain cores can be 10-20 degrees hotter than the others resulting in early throttling and thermal shutdowns while gaming. I cancelled my order and many people are returning/refunding theirs. Reddit and various google-able notebook forums have more info. I recommend you check your core temps before the 30 day return period ends.

I've read that undervolting the cpu cures the issue. Not something you should have to do, but I don't really fancy any of the other laptops out there for the same money. Asus and MSI all seem to have issues of some kind.

nelentari · 1 Dec 2016 at 13:09

naefeart said:
I've read that undervolting the cpu cures the issue. Not something you should have to do, but I don't really fancy any of the other laptops out there for the same money. Asus and MSI all seem to have issues of some kind.

Undervolting, repasting the CPU and adjusting the tension on the third heatsink arm all help but you are right it's not something the user should have to do, not for a ~£2k laptop. That's why I returned mine.
I picked up the asus gl702vm for £1,099 last friday during the sales (i7-6700hq, gtx1060, 17" gsync 1080p IPS display, 128gb ssd) and although the temps are in the 80s during heavy gaming I'm very happy overall. The difference in price was the big factor.