Soldato
I bought the Alienware 15 R3 just over a week ago to replace my late 2013 Macbook Pro with retina display (13 inch). I wanted something that would be able to power Siemens NX 10 and I could game on. There were plenty of cheaper laptops, but when spending this sort of money, it makes little sense to me to buy something that's adequate - I'd rather pay the extra and get something that'll last a bit longer. Specs are:
This is just going be a short review, explaining what I like not only about the laptop, but the experience of a premium windows machine in general.
I do own a custom built desktop that runs Windows 10, so I'm used to high end hardware running Windows.
When configuring the Alienware laptop, I had a few difficulties with the pricing. See, if I configured the model pre equipped with a 1070, and added the SSD (which isn't included!!), it came to 1970. However, if you equip the 1060 machine with a 1070 first, it automatically changes the CPU, then add the SSD, it comes to 1773?! Spec for spec they're identical (I checked over a few days to make sure). Adding my student discount, I managed to pickup the machine for a very reasonable £1600 with accidental damage for a year (thought it best to add this after recently destroying my K70 by spilling squash over it...).
Delivery reckoned 5-7 working days, so I had it sent to my university address (since I was moving back home in a couple of weeks). Only to find out that, once the order had been confirmed, it was due 3 days after my train home (almost three weeks after ordering it!). Doh! A quick call to Dell, and I had a service rep track the order from being built all the way to it reaching the UK, where she would request the laptop to be re directed to my home address. 5 days after ordering it, it turned up at my University address... Which while ideal for me, meant I did now have to carry an additional 3.5KG home with me on the train
I had a phone call asking whether it had been delivered at the new address (from the kind lady at Dell - excellent customer service thus far), to which I explained that it hadn't. She apologised and told me she would follow it up with the courier service. I had a call the next day to say that by the time the request for change of address had been processed, they had already delivered it, and was apologised to for the inconvenience!
I had the laptop setup, and my first impressions were JESUS CHRIST THIS THING IS HEAVY. Next, they were, JESUS THE NEON-STYLE LIGHTS ARE SO COOL. Here are some glamour shots:
Pros of the laptop:
I put the laptop to sleep, once I had spent the day tinkering with settings and updating it, and that's when the problems started...
The next day, I opened the laptop, and no hard drive! Gone. Not in device manager, explorer - it had completely disappeared. A reboot solved it, but after putting it to sleep and waking it again, I was having the same problem. Seems it's not a fan of going to sleep...
Since I was moving house in a few days, I decided to leave it for now and sort when home.
A home move and a 6 hour train journey with this mammoth later, I was at home in sunny (no really, it was) Wales. Gave Dell a ring about the problem, and was advised to resit the hard drive. A quick search around the house, I found a screw driver from an old christmas cracker that seemed to do the job of taking the bottom off. Removed the hard drive and cables, and after a 1 hour phone call trying to further diagnose the problem, they told me to reply to an email if I had any further problems.
A few hours of testing later, the problem persisted. Damn.
Emailed Dell, and received a call later that day. They told me they'd send me a hard drive for me to fit, and then I'd have to send the old one back via Royal Mail.
No. I told them that they'd have to pick it up and replace the hard drive, since I didn't want to do it myself, and risk any future warranty issues (I'd been done by companies like this before, *cough* Acer *cough*) They replied saying this wasn't an option, and insisted I'd have to replace the hard drive myself. I then explained to them that I don't live close to a post office, and would have to get a taxi to it (I don't drive - parents away on holiday). They told me this wasn't possible, so back the laptop goes.
My point of view is that I have enough stresses to deal with - I don't want anything to go wrong again. I'm more than capable of doing it myself, having built numerous computers and fixed multiple laptops. But the point is that I shouldn't have to. I don't want to. I wanted a hassle free experience of it just working, and if it didn't (I get sometimes things don't work - the way of technology), it should be fixed by Dell themselves. I don't feel it's fair they expect me to put in a new hard drive and worry about transferring all the data to it.
I walked into an Apple store recently with a faulty iPad Pro. They looked at the problem (Screen burn) and replaced it there and then no questions asked. This is the level of customer service I expect, and have given in my time working for companies like John Lewis.
So, to conclude; the laptop is excellent. It's exceptionally quick and very well built. I was unfortunate to receive a faulty HDD on mine, and the way Dell handled the situation is, to me, unacceptable for such an expensive machine. I have a desktop that I have to replace parts on when they're faulty (which annoys me as it is) - I don't need another. It'd be like something going wrong with your car, and the manufacturer sending you the replacement part!
I don't really want to send it back - it's a lovely bit of kit. But I guess it's back to Apple, and leave gaming to my (broken) desktop.
- i7 7700HQ
- GTX 1070
- 256GB SSD
- 8GB RAM
- 1TB HDD
- 99Whr battery
- 1080P 60 Hz G-Sync display (excellent quality and lovely matte finish - as good overall as the retina display from the Mac)
This is just going be a short review, explaining what I like not only about the laptop, but the experience of a premium windows machine in general.
I do own a custom built desktop that runs Windows 10, so I'm used to high end hardware running Windows.
When configuring the Alienware laptop, I had a few difficulties with the pricing. See, if I configured the model pre equipped with a 1070, and added the SSD (which isn't included!!), it came to 1970. However, if you equip the 1060 machine with a 1070 first, it automatically changes the CPU, then add the SSD, it comes to 1773?! Spec for spec they're identical (I checked over a few days to make sure). Adding my student discount, I managed to pickup the machine for a very reasonable £1600 with accidental damage for a year (thought it best to add this after recently destroying my K70 by spilling squash over it...).
Delivery reckoned 5-7 working days, so I had it sent to my university address (since I was moving back home in a couple of weeks). Only to find out that, once the order had been confirmed, it was due 3 days after my train home (almost three weeks after ordering it!). Doh! A quick call to Dell, and I had a service rep track the order from being built all the way to it reaching the UK, where she would request the laptop to be re directed to my home address. 5 days after ordering it, it turned up at my University address... Which while ideal for me, meant I did now have to carry an additional 3.5KG home with me on the train
I had a phone call asking whether it had been delivered at the new address (from the kind lady at Dell - excellent customer service thus far), to which I explained that it hadn't. She apologised and told me she would follow it up with the courier service. I had a call the next day to say that by the time the request for change of address had been processed, they had already delivered it, and was apologised to for the inconvenience!
I had the laptop setup, and my first impressions were JESUS CHRIST THIS THING IS HEAVY. Next, they were, JESUS THE NEON-STYLE LIGHTS ARE SO COOL. Here are some glamour shots:
Pros of the laptop:
- Really, really quick. No noticeable performance difference when gaming between this and my desktop (which is an i7 + 1070 too)
- Keyboard, while awkwardly positioned at first, is lovely to type on. Nice travel and great response.
- Display looks lovely. I wouldn't say I miss the retina display at all. Gets much brighter and way easier to see in the light.
- Battery life is surprisingly good for a machine this powerful. 5-6 hours web browsing isn't uncommon. (I've undervolted and restricted CPU power to 30% on battery)
- Speakers are very good. Little to no bass, but great clarity and loud. Much better than the Macbook.
- Much quieter under load that I anticipated, and quite cool. CPU hits 70 degrees under load (handbrake video converting)
- Build quality is ALMOST as good as Apple's stuff. The soft touch coating is nice to rest your hands on, but a little too much keyboard flex. But easily a 9/10
- The fans don't ever stop spinning, and ramp up and down all the time. It's very bothersome, and I can't figure out why they do it..
- The trackpad is awful. It's a chore to use it, and the worst thing about the laptop. But it does get better over time as your finger oils 'soak' into it. It's now a fairly decent trackpad.
- Battery life can be erratic. Windows has little to no optimisations for it.
- The laptop doesn't feel expensive. Using the Mac felt like I was using a >1K piece of equipment. The Alienware doesn't. But I think that's just the nature of the OS - it's a available to laptops of all budgets, and generally offers the same experience. But still..
I put the laptop to sleep, once I had spent the day tinkering with settings and updating it, and that's when the problems started...
The next day, I opened the laptop, and no hard drive! Gone. Not in device manager, explorer - it had completely disappeared. A reboot solved it, but after putting it to sleep and waking it again, I was having the same problem. Seems it's not a fan of going to sleep...
Since I was moving house in a few days, I decided to leave it for now and sort when home.
A home move and a 6 hour train journey with this mammoth later, I was at home in sunny (no really, it was) Wales. Gave Dell a ring about the problem, and was advised to resit the hard drive. A quick search around the house, I found a screw driver from an old christmas cracker that seemed to do the job of taking the bottom off. Removed the hard drive and cables, and after a 1 hour phone call trying to further diagnose the problem, they told me to reply to an email if I had any further problems.
A few hours of testing later, the problem persisted. Damn.
Emailed Dell, and received a call later that day. They told me they'd send me a hard drive for me to fit, and then I'd have to send the old one back via Royal Mail.
No. I told them that they'd have to pick it up and replace the hard drive, since I didn't want to do it myself, and risk any future warranty issues (I'd been done by companies like this before, *cough* Acer *cough*) They replied saying this wasn't an option, and insisted I'd have to replace the hard drive myself. I then explained to them that I don't live close to a post office, and would have to get a taxi to it (I don't drive - parents away on holiday). They told me this wasn't possible, so back the laptop goes.
My point of view is that I have enough stresses to deal with - I don't want anything to go wrong again. I'm more than capable of doing it myself, having built numerous computers and fixed multiple laptops. But the point is that I shouldn't have to. I don't want to. I wanted a hassle free experience of it just working, and if it didn't (I get sometimes things don't work - the way of technology), it should be fixed by Dell themselves. I don't feel it's fair they expect me to put in a new hard drive and worry about transferring all the data to it.
I walked into an Apple store recently with a faulty iPad Pro. They looked at the problem (Screen burn) and replaced it there and then no questions asked. This is the level of customer service I expect, and have given in my time working for companies like John Lewis.
So, to conclude; the laptop is excellent. It's exceptionally quick and very well built. I was unfortunate to receive a faulty HDD on mine, and the way Dell handled the situation is, to me, unacceptable for such an expensive machine. I have a desktop that I have to replace parts on when they're faulty (which annoys me as it is) - I don't need another. It'd be like something going wrong with your car, and the manufacturer sending you the replacement part!
I don't really want to send it back - it's a lovely bit of kit. But I guess it's back to Apple, and leave gaming to my (broken) desktop.
