Alienware 13 New - Worth Buying??

[wifislow]

This is the new Alienware 13 (13.3")
http/www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-13/pd?oc=dksoe04sc&model_id=alienware-13

I am considering a laptop that can use for AUTOCAD and heavy gaming (GTA 5)

Is this a good deal?

 

[wifislow]

According to the specialist in DELL. It runs (Unplug) normal programs for 9-10 hours and GTA 5 for 7-8 hours. Is it POSSIBLE???
And how much power is needed to charge it? I don't want my electric bill double.!!!.

And How many year expecting to use this machine for??

 

[loki1944]

960M isn't going blow your socks off gaming wise; if you want to stay above 30FPS on max settings then you'll need a 970M or 980M for some games. I have an 880M which is pretty decent for MOST games around 30 FPS on high or ultra depending on the game. Power consumption will probably around 100W for this model. Dell/Alienware laptops can last a long time; I have an M11X that is 4.5 years old, an XPS that is 7 years old, and a dell inspiron that is 13 years old and they all run fine. Always get a long warranty with laptops since it's not normally something you can't fix yourself when it comes to hardware problems.

The only reason to get a gaming laptop is if you travel a lot or are restricted on space, sure you could get the graphics amplifier and use a regular GPU with the laptop, but at that point you'd be better off building yourself a much, much more powerful desktop for less money.

 

[wifislow]

960M isn't going blow your socks off gaming wise; if you want to stay above 30FPS on max settings then you'll need a 970M or 980M for some games. I have an 880M which is pretty decent for MOST games around 30 FPS on high or ultra depending on the game. Power consumption will probably around 100W for this model. Dell/Alienware laptops can last a long time; I have an M11X that is 4.5 years old, an XPS that is 7 years old, and a dell inspiron that is 13 years old and they all run fine. Always get a long warranty with laptops since it's not normally something you can't fix yourself when it comes to hardware problems.

The only reason to get a gaming laptop is if you travel a lot or are restricted on space, sure you could get the graphics amplifier and use a regular GPU with the laptop, but at that point you'd be better off building yourself a much, much more powerful desktop for less money.

So do you mean the GTX 960M is not powerful enough?
What is the average hours it can last on one charge?

 

[wifislow]

960M isn't going blow your socks off gaming wise; if you want to stay above 30FPS on max settings then you'll need a 970M or 980M for some games. I have an 880M which is pretty decent for MOST games around 30 FPS on high or ultra depending on the game. Power consumption will probably around 100W for this model. Dell/Alienware laptops can last a long time; I have an M11X that is 4.5 years old, an XPS that is 7 years old, and a dell inspiron that is 13 years old and they all run fine. Always get a long warranty with laptops since it's not normally something you can't fix yourself when it comes to hardware problems.

The only reason to get a gaming laptop is if you travel a lot or are restricted on space, sure you could get the graphics amplifier and use a regular GPU with the laptop, but at that point you'd be better off building yourself a much, much more powerful desktop for less money.

This one better?
Inspiron 14 7000, i7-4710HQ, 3.5GHz, 8GB, N GeForce 850M 4GB, 8hr, 4.7 lb.

 

[loki1944]

960M isn't going blow your socks off gaming wise; if you want to stay above 30FPS on max settings then you'll need a 970M or 980M for some games. I have an 880M which is pretty decent for MOST games around 30 FPS on high or ultra depending on the game. Power consumption will probably around 100W for this model. Dell/Alienware laptops can last a long time; I have an M11X that is 4.5 years old, an XPS that is 7 years old, and a dell inspiron that is 13 years old and they all run fine. Always get a long warranty with laptops since it's not normally something you can't fix yourself when it comes to hardware problems.

The only reason to get a gaming laptop is if you travel a lot or are restricted on space, sure you could get the graphics amplifier and use a regular GPU with the laptop, but at that point you'd be better off building yourself a much, much more powerful desktop for less money.

This one better?
Inspiron 14 7000, i7-4710HQ, 3.5GHz, 8GB, N GeForce 850M 4GB, 8hr, 4.7 lb.

No, 960M will be better than the 850M for gaming. 980M is the best mobile card for gaming right now, 2nd best is the 970M. If you want to max games, or come close at 30FPS you'll want a 980M, if you're happy with medium/high mix then a 970M or if you can't afford that a 960M. I was in a similar situation a couple of years ago where I went with an Alienware 14 and a 760M; I wasn't satisfied with the performance and replaced it with an Origin 15S with an 880M which gave me 30FPS on high settings in most games, but not all.

Here's how the 960/970/980/880 stack up using GTA V as a benchmark at 1080p on ultra settings:
960M: 18.1 FPS
880M: 26.8 FPS
970M: 28.1 FPS
980M: 35.6 FPS

Watchdogs Ultra 1080p
960M: 15.4 FPS
880M: 31 FPS
970M: 35 FPS
980M: 45 FPS

Crysis 3 ultra 1080p
960M: 20.6 FPS
880M: 33 FPS
970M: 33 FPS
980M: 43 FPS

Far Cry 4 ultra 1080p
960M: 31 FPS
880M: 36 FPS
970M: 50 FPS
980M: 52 FPS

Source: http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-960M.138006.0.html

Hopefully that gives you a bit of an idea on the differences between the cards. As to battery life, the 900 series is supposed to be more power efficient, all I can say is that for the 700 and 800 series, while gaming, battery life was about 75 minutes max, without gaming about 2-3 hours max.

This guy here says he got 9 hours out of the AW13 for work stuff, so definitely not as demanding as gaming: https/na.alienwarearena.com/forums/thread/90637/general-1/i-bought-a-fully-upgraded-aw13-subjective-analysis/last.

 

[wifislow]

960M isn't going blow your socks off gaming wise; if you want to stay above 30FPS on max settings then you'll need a 970M or 980M for some games. I have an 880M which is pretty decent for MOST games around 30 FPS on high or ultra depending on the game. Power consumption will probably around 100W for this model. Dell/Alienware laptops can last a long time; I have an M11X that is 4.5 years old, an XPS that is 7 years old, and a dell inspiron that is 13 years old and they all run fine. Always get a long warranty with laptops since it's not normally something you can't fix yourself when it comes to hardware problems.

The only reason to get a gaming laptop is if you travel a lot or are restricted on space, sure you could get the graphics amplifier and use a regular GPU with the laptop, but at that point you'd be better off building yourself a much, much more powerful desktop for less money.

This one better?
Inspiron 14 7000, i7-4710HQ, 3.5GHz, 8GB, N GeForce 850M 4GB, 8hr, 4.7 lb.

No, 960M will be better than the 850M for gaming. 980M is the best mobile card for gaming right now, 2nd best is the 970M. If you want to max games, or come close at 30FPS you'll want a 980M, if you're happy with medium/high mix then a 970M or if you can't afford that a 960M. I was in a similar situation a couple of years ago where I went with an Alienware 14 and a 760M; I wasn't satisfied with the performance and replaced it with an Origin 15S with an 880M which gave me 30FPS on high settings in most games, but not all.

Here's how the 960/970/980/880 stack up using GTA V as a benchmark at 1080p on ultra settings:
960M: 18.1 FPS
880M: 26.8 FPS
970M: 28.1 FPS
980M: 35.6 FPS

Watchdogs Ultra 1080p
960M: 15.4 FPS
880M: 31 FPS
970M: 35 FPS
980M: 45 FPS

Crysis 3 ultra 1080p
960M: 20.6 FPS
880M: 33 FPS
970M: 33 FPS
980M: 43 FPS

Far Cry 4 ultra 1080p
960M: 31 FPS
880M: 36 FPS
970M: 50 FPS
980M: 52 FPS


The 850M isn't get close to the 960M in terms of performance?
I will accept GTA5 in mid low to mid setting..

Source: http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-960M.138006.0.html

Hopefully that gives you a bit of an idea on the differences between the cards. As to battery life, the 900 series is supposed to be more power efficient, all I can say is that for the 700 and 800 series, while gaming, battery life was about 75 minutes max, without gaming about 2-3 hours max.

This guy here says he got 9 hours out of the AW13 for work stuff, so definitely not as demanding as gaming: https/na.alienwarearena.com/forums/thread/90637/general-1/i-bought-a-fully-upgraded-aw13-subjective-analysis/last.

 

[wifislow]

The 850M isn't get close to the 960M in terms of performance?
I will accept GTA5 in mid low to mid setting..

 

[loki1944]

The 850M isn't get close to the 960M in terms of performance?
I will accept GTA5 in mid low to mid setting..

960M is better; at high (not ultra) settings the 960M should give you around 40+ FPS at 1080p, the 850M doesn't even hit 30 FPS http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-850M.107795.0.html. If you have to choose between those two cards then the 960M will be the more powerful card of those two.

 

[wifislow]

960M isn't going blow your socks off gaming wise; if you want to stay above 30FPS on max settings then you'll need a 970M or 980M for some games. I have an 880M which is pretty decent for MOST games around 30 FPS on high or ultra depending on the game. Power consumption will probably around 100W for this model. Dell/Alienware laptops can last a long time; I have an M11X that is 4.5 years old, an XPS that is 7 years old, and a dell inspiron that is 13 years old and they all run fine. Always get a long warranty with laptops since it's not normally something you can't fix yourself when it comes to hardware problems.

The only reason to get a gaming laptop is if you travel a lot or are restricted on space, sure you could get the graphics amplifier and use a regular GPU with the laptop, but at that point you'd be better off building yourself a much, much more powerful desktop for less money.

This one better?
Inspiron 14 7000, i7-4710HQ, 3.5GHz, 8GB, N GeForce 850M 4GB, 8hr, 4.7 lb.

No, 960M will be better than the 850M for gaming. 980M is the best mobile card for gaming right now, 2nd best is the 970M. If you want to max games, or come close at 30FPS you'll want a 980M, if you're happy with medium/high mix then a 970M or if you can't afford that a 960M. I was in a similar situation a couple of years ago where I went with an Alienware 14 and a 760M; I wasn't satisfied with the performance and replaced it with an Origin 15S with an 880M which gave me 30FPS on high settings in most games, but not all.

Here's how the 960/970/980/880 stack up using GTA V as a benchmark at 1080p on ultra settings:
960M: 18.1 FPS
880M: 26.8 FPS
970M: 28.1 FPS
980M: 35.6 FPS

Watchdogs Ultra 1080p
960M: 15.4 FPS
880M: 31 FPS
970M: 35 FPS
980M: 45 FPS

Crysis 3 ultra 1080p
960M: 20.6 FPS
880M: 33 FPS
970M: 33 FPS
980M: 43 FPS

Far Cry 4 ultra 1080p
960M: 31 FPS
880M: 36 FPS
970M: 50 FPS
980M: 52 FPS

Source: http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-960M.138006.0.html

Hopefully that gives you a bit of an idea on the differences between the cards. As to battery life, the 900 series is supposed to be more power efficient, all I can say is that for the 700 and 800 series, while gaming, battery life was about 75 minutes max, without gaming about 2-3 hours max.

This guy here says he got 9 hours out of the AW13 for work stuff, so definitely not as demanding as gaming: https/na.alienwarearena.com/forums/thread/90637/general-1/i-bought-a-fully-upgraded-aw13-subjective-analysis/last.

What age is your alienware and how much do you get for the battery life??
As you mentioned, the guy have 9 hour usage, do you think it is possible **New AW13 is with better battery according to DELL**

 

[loki1944]

I think it's possible to get 9 hours of office work out of it, I don't think it's possible to play GTA V for 9 hours on it. The battery boost on the 970M and 980M may help, but basically once you start using the GPU your battery life tanks; I'm guessing you'd be lucky to get more than a couple of hours of heavy gaming in even with the 900 series. As to the M11X I have, the battery lasts about 3.5 hours when browsing/working, and about an hour or so gaming, my Alienware 14 lasted about 3 hours browsing/working and about an hour gaming, my Origin Eon 15S lasts about 2-3 hours browsing/working and about an hour and fifteen minutes while gaming.

If you want to play AAA games at decent settings and solid FPS you have to sacrifice a bit because that gpu is going to increase your battery consumption when you start gaming.

 

[wifislow]

I think it's possible to get 9 hours of office work out of it, I don't think it's possible to play GTA V for 9 hours on it. The battery boost on the 970M and 980M may help, but basically once you start using the GPU your battery life tanks; I'm guessing you'd be lucky to get more than a couple of hours of heavy gaming in even with the 900 series. As to the M11X I have, the battery lasts about 3.5 hours when browsing/working, and about an hour or so gaming, my Alienware 14 lasted about 3 hours browsing/working and about an hour gaming, my Origin Eon 15S lasts about 2-3 hours browsing/working and about an hour and fifteen minutes while gaming.

If you want to play AAA games at decent settings and solid FPS you have to sacrifice a bit because that gpu is going to increase your battery consumption when you start gaming.

Oh yeah, of course not 9 hours of GTA.. lol..
But will the battery drain very fast?
Let say.. using for one month, getting 9 hours on normal use..
Using for three months, getting 7 hours on normal use..
Will it be the case, heavy gaming wears the battery..thus lower the the battery usable cycle?

 

[BBMadrides]

Really, your better off building a PC or a laptop for a lower price. You can save hundreds of dollars.

 

[wifislow]

Really, your better off building a PC or a laptop for a lower price. You can save hundreds of dollars.

Sorry buddy, what did you say

 

[loki1944]

I think it's possible to get 9 hours of office work out of it, I don't think it's possible to play GTA V for 9 hours on it. The battery boost on the 970M and 980M may help, but basically once you start using the GPU your battery life tanks; I'm guessing you'd be lucky to get more than a couple of hours of heavy gaming in even with the 900 series. As to the M11X I have, the battery lasts about 3.5 hours when browsing/working, and about an hour or so gaming, my Alienware 14 lasted about 3 hours browsing/working and about an hour gaming, my Origin Eon 15S lasts about 2-3 hours browsing/working and about an hour and fifteen minutes while gaming.

If you want to play AAA games at decent settings and solid FPS you have to sacrifice a bit because that gpu is going to increase your battery consumption when you start gaming.

Oh yeah, of course not 9 hours of GTA.. lol..
But will the battery drain very fast?
Let say.. using for one month, getting 9 hours on normal use..
Using for three months, getting 7 hours on normal use..
Will it be the case, heavy gaming wears the battery..thus lower the the battery usable cycle?

Usual battery life is 2-4 years. For me with heavy gaming on my laptops, my Dell XPS battery died after 3 years, Alienware M11X battery still works with about 2 years of heavy gaming in its 4.5 year life. The good thing is you can buy new batteries, and with Alienware there is a 1 year warranty on the battery, so if it goes bad in a year you can replace it for free. Obviously the less you use the battery the longer it will last http/www.pcworld.com/article/2036479/keep-your-laptop-battery-healthy-use-it-sparingly.html.

 

[orlbuckeye]

Look at this one. On sale 300 off.

http/www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-15/pd?oc=dkcwf05&model_id=alienware-15

 

[wifislow]

Look at this one. On sale 300 off.

http/www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-15/pd?oc=dkcwf05&model_id=alienware-15

This is good, and expensive tho.
I cannot afford one...

 

[loki1944]

Look at this one. On sale 300 off.

http/www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-15/pd?oc=dkcwf05&model_id=alienware-15

This is good, and expensive tho.
I cannot afford one...

What is your budget?

 

[loki1944]

Because for $100 more you can get a Sager laptop with a 970M http/www.sagernotebook.com/customize.php?productid=406, also they have a 960M laptop for $1100, http/www.sagernotebook.com/customize.php?productid=725.

 

[loki1944]

Obviously if you plan on using the graphics amplifier then the AW13 is a better choice.