DELL Alienware 13

FISHGUTS · 20 Mar 2015 at 22:11

Anyone come across this and have an opinion on them?

Specs are:

LCD-Display, 13,3", HD
Intel® Core™ i5-4210U 2,7 GHz 3MB.
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 860M 2GB GDDR5
8 GB DDR3L (2 x 4 GB), 1.600 MHz
SATA-III 1 TB (5.400 1/min)

I want a small laptop to replace a 11.6" lenovo i3 x121e.

At the moment it's either that or a lenovo x240 with a I5-4300u, 8 mb ram and 256 ssd. Both similar price at what I'm looking at as x240 is an old model and alienware I'm looking at has a scratched case.
Budget of up to £650.

Playing some games would be good, so would the gfx card be a better bet over an ssd?

Teknobry · 21 Mar 2015 at 00:10

If it's for gaming, always always get the best graphics card you can. SSD's/RAM/HD even processors are cheaper and easier to upgrade than graphics later down the line.

thedinks · 21 Mar 2015 at 09:50

Teknobry said:
If it's for gaming, always always get the best graphics card you can. SSD's/RAM/HD even processors are cheaper and easier to upgrade than graphics later down the line.

CPU is soldered.

PooKer · 21 Mar 2015 at 10:13

I tend to find with Alienware you are paying for a brand. Not the best value for money.
Maybe take a look at the XMG P304 13.3" Pro Gaming Notebook

Teknobry · 21 Mar 2015 at 10:57

thedinks said:
CPU is soldered.

cpu is very rarely (more like never) the bottleneck when it comes to gaming on a laptop. it's the graphics card which is the most important component.

thedinks · 21 Mar 2015 at 11:19

Teknobry said:
cpu is very rarely (more like never) the bottleneck when it comes to gaming on a laptop. it's the graphics card which is the most important component.

??? I think your misunderstanding I was responding to your post about upgrading xy and z.. the CPU is soldered in on the AW 13 and can't be upgraded.

Teknobry · 21 Mar 2015 at 19:31

I know you were. The point I'm making is that when choosing a laptop that you want to use for gaming, the graphics card is the most important choice. A CPU is almost never the bottleneck. All other components can generally be upgraded later if they need to.

robinbanks · 22 Mar 2015 at 23:34

I cant advise getting the 13inch, I down graded from a m18x r1 flagship mod to the m14x (new shape one) I have found the build quality to be very mid range for the price. And i have had problems with screen, I have blobs of screen light bleed (alienware don't care) They are nice laptops but cant you get a custom one made for that price range?

Threepwood · 23 Mar 2015 at 06:09

I wouldn't go anywhere near it, the cpu speed is terrible, urg.

(I play games that love cpu grunt.)

PJHUK · 26 Mar 2015 at 18:50

I have just bought one of these from the outlet - a 'scratch and dent' product. In all honesty, I have no idea why it was classified as such, I cannot find a mark on it and it looks brand new.

The system I snagged would cost £1,300 configured new and I paid £680. I've not done much with it so far, but on first impressions I couldn't be happier.

I have a main desktop gaming rig, so this was a 'nice to have' back up for when I'm out and about. Very happy