Alienware AW17R3-7092SLV 17.3-Inch FHD Laptop (6th Generation Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX980M,Windows 10 Home),Silver
Condition: Used - Very Good
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RAM Size: 16 GB
Capacity: 1 TB HDD + 256 GB SSD
Display Resolution Maximum: 1920x1080
Style: NVIDIA GTX 980M
Features
- Intel Core i7 2.6 GHz
- 16 GB RAM. GTX 980M
- 1000 GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive, 256 GB SATA Solid-State Drive
- 17.3-Inch FHD Screen
- Windows 10 Home
Description
The Alienware 17 is engineered for high-performance gaming, combining jaw- dropping power with mind-blowing graphics capabilities.
Brand: Dell
Model Name: Alienware 17 R3
Screen Size: 17.3 Inches
Color: Silver
Hard Disk Size: 1 TB
CPU Model: Core i7
Ram Memory Installed Size: 16 GB
Operating System: Windows 10
Special Feature: Webcam
Graphics Card Description: Dedicated
Color: Silver
Hard-Drive Size: 1 TB
Operating System: Windows 10
Other Special Features of the Product: Webcam
Graphics Description: Dedicated
Graphics Coprocessor: NVIDIA GeForce
Hard Disk Description: SATA
Item Weight: 8.33 Pounds
Video Processor: NVIDIA
Specific Uses For Product: personal, gaming
Webcam Capability: Yes
Graphics Card Ram: 4 GB
Automatic Backup Software Included: windows 10 home
Form Factor: Laptop
Hard Disk Interface: SATA 16 GB/s
Voltage: 14.8 Volts
Graphics Ram Type: GDDR5
Compatible Devices: External displays, mice, keyboards, storage devices, and other USB or Bluetooth peripherals
Chipset Type: HM170
Hard Disk Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM
Power Device: AC adapter
Video Output: Multiple
Screen Size: 17.3 Inches
Resolution: 1080p
Native Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
Display Type: LED
Display Resolution Maximum: 1920x1080
Display Technology: LED
Supported Monitor Maximum Quantity: 1
Touch Screen Type: capacitive
Has Color Screen: Yes
Screen Finish: Glossy
Battery Cell Type: Lithium Ion
Number Of Cells: 8
Lithium-Battery Energy Content: 92 Watt Hours
Total Usb Ports: 2
Hardware Interface: Solid State Drive
Number of Ports: 2
Total Number of HDMI Ports: 1
Audio Output Type: Bluetooth
Microphone Form Factor: Dual-array microphones
Audio Recording: Yes
Processor Series: Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.6 GHz
Processor Count: 4
Processor Brand: Intel
CPU Model Number: Core i7-6700HQ
CPU Model Generation: 6th Generation
CPU Model Speed Maximum: 2.6 GHz
CPU L1 Cache: 256 KB
CPU L2 Cache: 1 MB
CPU Codename: Skylake
Brand: Dell
Model Name: Alienware 17 R3
Model Year: 2015
Model Number: AW17R3-7092SLV
Built-In Media: Laptop
Manufacturer: Dell Marketing USA, LP
UPC: 884116203162
Warranty Description: 1 Year Mail In Service
RAM Memory Installed: 16 GB
RAM Memory Technology: gddr5
Memory Clock Speed: 2133 MHz
Ram Memory Maximum Size: 16 GB
Memory Speed: 2133 MHz
RAM Type: GDDR5
RAM Memory Slot Total Count: 2
Connectivity Technology: Wireless
Wireless Technology: Wireless
Wireless Compability: 802.11ac
Bluetooth support?: Yes
Wi-Fi Generation: Wi-Fi 5
Human-Interface Input: Touch Pad
Keyboard Description: Qwerty
Keyboard Layout: QWERTY
Control Method: Touch
Touchpad Feature: true
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Top Amazon Reviews
RAM Size: 8 GB
Capacity: 1 TB HDD
Display Resolution Maximum: 1920 x 1080 pixels
Style: NVIDIA GTX 970M
I have read alot of reviews complaining about problems galore with their Alienware laptop. However after recieving mine I'm happy to report that there was absolutely nothing wrong with mine, maybe I'm lucky or maybe they other people citing problems were overclocking or doing other things that risk damaging their laptop. I inspected my laptop closely and found no dead or bright pixels, no scratches or blemishes anywhere. And when i turned it on there were no problems booting, or bugs or crashes or slowness (do note my order was fulfilled by amazon). The only funny thing i ran into is that Star citizen was not recognized by nvidia so Star citizen would use intel graphics resulting in really low frames. To fix this just go into the nvidia control panel and add the game in the right pane, then in the dropdown box select "High-Performance NVIDIA processor" after doing this star citizen runs awesome on this laptop. anyhoo for the actual review. The chassis: I was immediately impressed with how solid this laptop felt in my hand, it felt like a macbook. The outside is aluminum and the finish is superb, second to none. The hinge feels solid and I haven't experienced any flexing or creaking. The unit is hefty but not particularly heavy when in my backpack, after cleaning out a little junk in my backpack it feels great for carrying around. I wouldn't carry it long distances in a briefcase but a messenger bag would be fine. The interior is relatively tame with flat plastic on both sides of the interior. This isn't regular plastic but instead that soft almost rubbery feeling plastic (it's not grippy like rubber though). The keyboard feels excellent and has a little more actuation force than my mechanical keyboard with Cherry switches but it's not too hard to press that I think I will wear myself out typing alot. The trackpad is gorgeous and the best trackpad I've ever used (I haven't tried other high end computers trackpads but this is leagues better than other mid to low end laptops). The Backlighting on the keyboard is really cool and really useful at night. During the day you can turn off the keyboard backlighting because the keys are white print during the day so you can read them like any other keyboard. Performance: This pc's performance is amazing. I was able to run star citizen on the highest settings getting 35-50 fps @ 1080p and this game isn't even that optimized yet. All my other games run at the highest settings @ 1080p no problem. it does produce alot of heat but the fans aren't too loud and they have a good sound to them (not an annoying whine but a calm whooshing sound when they ramp up). Games like league of legends dont even get the fans going and not playing games this computer is silent as death, you literally can't hear it when your not playing games. The hard drive that came with this computer is unacceptable for such high end hardware and i recommend you get a Samsung 850 EVO when you buy this computer. I was able to replace this computers harddrive with a solid state and did a fresh install. The process i took that had no problems is as follows. 1) go to [...] and use that to make a bootable usb drive 2) swap out the old hard drive with a solid state (i used a 2.5" sata instead of m2) 3) power on the computer and follow the normal windows installation 4) go to [...]=drivers and download and install the drivers, the general principle is first install the chipset drivers, then install the networking drivers (Lan and wifi), then sound driver and video drivers (i got my video driver from nvidia.com instead). Then last but not least the alienware specific programs (command center, airplane switch, onscreen). Windows will automatically activate so you dont enter a product key (the product key is fetched from the motherboard automatically) after doing this I had this baby purring like a kitten, no crashes, no bsods, no problems. then i just installed some games and they ran fine. display: This display is pretty good, i got the 1080P one. The colors are clear and accurate and the matte finish is good to reduce glare. The viewing angle is reasonable, just so so. It gets quiet bright and should work excellent in an office setting, and better than average in daylight (due to matte screen). I personally recommend getting the 1080p version instead of the 4k because windows has poor scaling and 1080p is about the highest resolution that you can do no scaling and see everything fine. Instead buy an external 4k display so you can get a nice large one. However I have read good things about the model with the 4k screen. Sound: The speakers are by Klipsch and it has two speakers on the front and a subwoofer on the bottem so it's a 2.1 system. The sound is great for a laptop, the woofer adds base but isn't dubstep by any means, the front speakers are clear and can get reasonably loud but they aren't a bose stereo system. However the real gem in this machine is it's Creative X-FI sound card, THIS IS A BIG DEAL! I've used creative sound cards before and they are the best when it comes to a sound card, realtec is nothing compared to creative. The number one feature of creative is their "crystalizer" what this does is restore sound fidelity lost due to compression, I like to turn this thing up to 100% but you can tweak it to anything inbetween. The crystalizer feature makes music and sound go from sounding like it came through a telephone, to sounding like your really there at the stage, or by that person. To experience this get nice headphones or earbuds with the standard 3.5mm connector NOT USB, if you get usb then the sound will be through their driver and you'll miss out on the ear heaven that is creative X-FI. Also I recommend turning ON the 3d surround when using the laptop speakers but TURN IT OFF for headphones when your listening to music. also the creative sound card filters out background noise if you turn that feature on and I say turn it on. My room sounded like a warzone off my speakers, but all my friends hear out of the built in michrophone is my voice, nice and clear. The built in microphone is superb but if you want an external microphone make sure it is 3.5mm standard connector and not usb for the same reason as stated above. Battery life: This thing has crazy good battery life, which is unheard of with gaming laptops. Mind you if you play games on this you may get 2-3 hours depending on how demanding the game is. Where the battery life really shines is when your using the intel graphics instead. You can expect 6 hours (or maybe even a little more) doing things like web browsing, watching 1080p moves, programming, word documents email etc. conclusion: I'm a computer science major and I got this laptop because although i like small ultralight pc's I hate having a slow computer and moreso I hate having a tiny screen when most of my day is spent writing and reading code. This screen is excellent for this purpose because I can do a split view where my code editor is on one side and google chrome on the other (all coders are google addicts lol). I also have to run a linux virtual machine so i can test that my code compiles on it and this computer works great with vmware (I wouldn't recommend trying to boot linux as the host operating system because of not having drivers for this hardware). I also like playing games and this baby does that too. All in all i think this computer works great for my uses, the battery life is great, the hardware is top notch, and the quality and aesthetics make you smile when this is what you get to use for your day.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2016 by Brandon
Edit 2/07/16 I want to thank amazon for their amazing service. And thank you so much for awarding my years of loyal amazon shopping! The rating of one star reflects my bad first impression with this faulty unit. But thanks to amazon, I'm not throwing in the towel so easy. 5 stars to amazing customer service. Original review: 2/05/2016 I'm going to post an update of my experience with this laptop every day as it happens, as opposed to one large review. Wish me luck. On Wednesday (two days ago) I ordered this beauty - the Alienware AW17R3-8342SLV - with the highest possible expectations. (Intel Quad Core i7-6700HQ 2.6 GHz Processor - 16 GB DDR4 - 1 TB HDD + 256 GB SSD Storage; 17.3 Inch UHD (3840 x 2160 pixels) LED-lit Truelife Screen). It arrived quicker than expected, like 1.75 days (THANKS AMAZON!). This laptop really is gorgeous! However, right off the bat we have issues. It takes 2 minutes to boot up after a restart. Tons of google troubleshooting. It's a known issue. Fix: Device Manger > Sensor I/O Devices > Update Kionic KXCNL Freefall Sensor. After that it takes more like 20 seconds to start. Don't start updating all your drivers willy nilly, however. I updated the Display adapters > Intel(R) HD Graphics 530 and immediate started getting a black screen and the error: "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered." Are you kidding me?! I just bought this laptop for over $2000. Bummer. I wanted to like this laptop so bad. Call a Dell customer service rep for Alienware support. Immediately treated like a prospect to be milked for cash. A woman is intrusively presses for email, phone number, first and last. Tries to tell me if I don't buy a premium warranty now, it would cost $800 for a 4 year warranty in a few weeks. What the?? I just need help with my computer!! I hang up in frustration. I uninstall the Intel Driver that I updated, restarted, then reinstalled the driver from dell here: [...]driverId=XP2MM&fileId=3488566979&osCode=WT64A&productCode=alienware-17-r3&languageCode=EN&categoryId=VI "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered." has not popped up and no black screen glitches for the last 2 hours. Whew!! Approximately 3 hours after first powering on this laptop, I"m able install Steam and try to play a game. I launch the new game Rise of the Tomb Raider. While it's loading,a strange interference noise cackles from the left speaker. That noise is immediately drowned out a buzzing like a fan thats possibly at the wrong angle, a teeny buzzing mechanical failure noise. It sounds like a tiny lawnmower. At high settings, the game chugs along at 17fps. I turn off the game and come here to write my first Amazon review. I'm not sure the cause of all this. The Dell woman had told me to only buy Dell, because Amazon buys the Alienware 17R3s in bulk, and they all have outdated firmware and software. Maybe she's wrong. Maybe it's a compatibility issue with Windows 10 and something else on this Super-Laptop. Maybe the SSD, graphics card, drivers, and speakers are faulty. Maybe I got another lemon. Whatever it is, I have a sore brain and eyeballs, a bitter taste in my mouth with Dell. Pros: Keys are springier and more amazing than any I've used anywhere. The screen is discernibly sharp. The startup is 5 seconds. The restart is 20. It plays the original Bioshock at 60 fps. Just another reviewer here said, It's not work the risk. I'm returning this gorgeous laptop tomorrow. I'm so dissapointed in Dell and my first attempt at purchasing an Alienware. I really went out on a limb there and was sorely let down.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2016 by Forrest Manning
RAM Size: 8 GB
Capacity: 1 TB HDD
Display Resolution Maximum: 1920 x 1080 pixels
Style: NVIDIA GTX 970M
I did a lot of research before buying this laptop and for the cost (right now a new one is about 1350$) your not going to find much better. I had an ASUS ROG before buying this that I had been using for 6 years (ROG's are great laptops as well by the way), but I decided to pull the trigger on the Alienware mainly because of the Gforce 970m it had under the hood. First off its a great looking laptop, with one of the best screens I have ever used on a laptop. The resolution is great and the keyboard layout is nice and works well for gaming. It does heat up a bit where the underside fans are so if its sitting on your lap its going to get a bit warm, but that's nothing you can't solve with a cooling pad, or just putting it on something harder. The video card is awesome and I am having no problems running things on ultra settings (battlefleet gothic, vermintide, just to name a few). I bought the entry level R17 with 8gig of ram and a 1tb 7200 hd, which was fine. However right out of the box I installed 16 gig of ram (the laptop has 2 expansion bays so you can put in 2x4gig or 2x8, 2x16 gig for a max of 32gig) and put in a samsug 850 evo 250 gb m.2 in one of the expansion slots for much cheaper than it is to order those things from Dell. I also did a fresh windows install over to that ssd and now this thing flies. The one frustrating thing is finding a screw to hold the ssd down (you need an m2xl3, or in other words a screw that has a 2mm thread that is 3mm long). I went over to best buy and asked the geek squad guys for one and they let me look through their loose laptop screws and just take a few for free. Do yourself a favor though and pull out one of the screws that holds the back panel on to use as a guide (they are also the right size to hold that ssd down). After those few upgrades this thing is a total monster and I am looking forward to using this laptop for years to come. I would recommend that you update the bios from dell though, and update the network card drivers to avoid some of the other problems people have had with this laptop. I did not have any problems with mine, but I updated them still just in case. Both of which can be found on dell's website for download. If you do a clean install of windows onto your new ssd make sure to update the video drivers as well for the Gforce970m (or 980m if you get the better model) from Nvidia. I will update this review in a few months to report back on how this baby is running, but I expect no problems. (Updated 5/27/16) I am still very very happy with this laptop almost 2 months later. I have had no problems with it and it makes me happy every time I hit the power button and within 4 seconds its up and running. One thing that I did not mention before is that the lights on it can be changed to any color you want, or you can have each area (there are about 9) different colors if you want. I don't game in the dark, or do big network parties like in my younger days, but my kids get a kick out of it as I change the colors around. I broke down and put another ssd in the extra port (500gig this time) and I am installing all my steam stuff there now. Everything loads up fast and runs great. One thing I did notice that I commented on a bit, is that the bottom of the computer gets a bit hot, but also the keyboard itself will get a bit warm. This had not ever been a problem for me and I use a cooling pad but thought I would mention it so no one is surprised.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2016 by Nerfalus
Ok, I've had this for almost 2 months and I'm ready to write a review. I'll cut to the chase, I love this notebook and would highly recommend it, but I'm not giving it 5 stars and this is why. It has 2 video cards, but not in the classic "Alienware" way in which you've got 2 matched gpu's in a crossfire or sli interface, it instead has a nice nvidea gpu and an integrated pos Intel display. It "switches" to the nvidea display when it needs the performance, and it uses the Intel chip the rest of the time. There is no way to completely not use the Intel chip and only use the nvidea card. I assume they did this to extend battery life, but lets face it, if you've got a 17" Alienware, you didn't buy it to carry on a plane with you, battery life is not really the reason for having this beast. There are drawbacks of having the Intel chip at all, the biggest of which seems to be that the HDMI port is dedicated to the Intel chip, so if I'm using an external hdmi display and I want to play a game which wants to use the nvidea gpu, everything goes bonky and it doesn't work. I've since learned but haven't tested that the Thunderbolt output may be tied directly to the nvidea gpu, so if I get an HDMI adapter for it, I may be able to do it that way, but since I don't have that adapter yet, I'm annoyed that I can't use an external display. If they simply had a way of disabling the Intel display completely if you don't care about battery life (or when it's plugged in), then this would be 5 stars. The only other negative I have is that for whatever reason the soundblaster sound card in this does not switch automatically between speakers and headsets when you plug them in or unplug them. You have to run the soundblaster control app and manually switch them. I have never seen another notebook that needs this, it's really kind of a pain in the butt, but it's manageable. Now, as far as everything else goes, my last Alienware notebook was a M17x-r2 with crossfire HD4xxx ati video cards. Even though it was a great notebook for it's time, I still did not really ever use it as a "gaming" platform. The cards just weren't enough to match my desktop and it would get so hot it would start to burn you if you had it on your lap while the fans would become really loud. Plus, while they tried hard with the aluminum casing to try and dissipate the heat, it just wasn't as good as it, and the video cards would cook, and mobile video cards don't depreciate much in value so they're very expensive to replace. This notebook on the other hand is the first notebook I've every really enjoyed playing games on. It's kind of nice to be able to sit in my comfy chair in the living room while my wife is watching something I don't want to and being able to play a game with the headphones on and not having to go down to the basement to my desktop. I'm very happy with the feel of it, the look of it, and the performance of it. Plus, I got it for a whole lot less since it's last years model, even though the specs are almost identical to this years model except for the one year older video card. Since I'm not playing games at 4K, this card works great and I'm very happy with it.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2017 by Richard Sims
Received my Alienware 17 R3 a few days ago. Build quality is great, it feels very sturdy. Keyboard and touch-pad are some of the best I've ever used on a laptop. Screen is gorgeous, and the video card is running all my game at high or ultra settings, just like I had hoped. It doesn't run overly hot, even while gaming. Battery is decent for a rig this powerful, of this size. I get about 4 hours out of it before I have to plug it in, while gaming (almost all I do). I suspect it would last longer if I wasn't gaming so much. In short, this laptop is everything you expect a high quality, top of the line (or close to it), rig to be. EXCEPT... I had LOADS of IRQ, BIOS and Driver issues out of the box. Crashes, blue screens, conflicts... I spent a day updating and troubleshooting various problems, updating practically ALL my drivers, the BIOS... I wont go into all of it here, because there was a lot, and these sort of issues will be different with each computer, so a lengthy explanation wouldn't be useful, with one exception. I had the exact same problem as tons of other people with the Killer Wireless dropping signal constantly. Seriously, do a search, it's a VERY common problem with this laptop. After spending some time researching the issue (which will generate a lot of possible solutions), and trying several "fixes" to no avail. I downloaded the newest Killer Network Manager from their website, then uninstalled both the existing suite AND the existing killer wireless drivers. Then I installed the newest version of the Killer Network Manager (which includes drivers). This fixed the issue. I have gone several days now with no Wireless issues. NOTE: be sure to DL the newest version BEFORE you uninstall everything or you won't be able to get online to DL it! Long story short, after spending a couple days updating, uninstalling and reinstalling, and a 2 hours on the phone with Alienware to fix a few issues that updating drivers wouldn't fix, I now have an amazing laptop that runs perfect, and is everything I had hoped it would be. Having to do all that work was a pain in the ass for sure, but it shouldn't be a deal breaker. None of the problems were defective hardware, etc. As someone who is fairly tech-savvy, and someone who spent months researching before pulling the trigger on this purchase, I still feel that this laptop represents the best value at this price-point.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2016 by D. Dietzen
UPDATE: After three or four years of life, I experienced an evidently common issue with Dell laptops: the DC power supply shorted out and the thing turned into a brick. The problem is with the motherboard, which unfortunately may mean a very expensive repair. I'm happy with Dell's customer service responsiveness, but frankly this is a stupid quality control problem that seems to have been a calculated business decision for them. This episode makes me seriously question whether I'll ever go with a Dell product again. Original (naive) review: The Alienware AW17 is a great value for basically top-of-the-line hardware (at least as far as a laptop is concerned). I have been fortunate, as I have not really had any problems with this laptop whatsoever. Evidently the "Killer Wireless" ethernet adapter had some driver issues in the past, but mine seems to be working fine after downloading and installing the latest driver directly from the vendor. I suspect that some of the other unhappy customers were directing their anger at Dell/Alienware whereas they probably should have been directing their anger at Microsoft/Windows 10, although your actual mileage may vary... I got the UHD 4K monitor and have zero regrets there. Windows 10 does not scale very well, true, but the 4K screen is great for web browsing and even some games, although the GTX 980m does struggle to get above 30 fps on many recent titles @4K resolution (not a probem for X-Com 2 though!). The GTX 980m runs essentially without bottlenecking with this setup, and I'm happily running the Witcher 3 at around 30 FPS at 1080 resolution with all settings maxed out (a bit faster if you turn NVIDIA Hairworks down a notch), and Far Cry 4 at around 35 - 38 fps (as far as I can recall). The real reason this deserves 5 stars is the option to add the graphics amplifier (sold separately) and drop in a desktop-spec GTX 1080 (or whatever else they come out with), which I fully intend to do. Dell is really the only game in town for this. I think I need to look into buying some stock... My only gripe is that all the flashy AW trim seems to be aimed at the juvenile/teenager set, and I'm in my mid-30's and ashamed to be playing videogames at my relatively advanced age, so whenever I take this thing into the office and my coworkers see this thing, I get outed as the true Gooberish Geek-Nerdling that I actually am. Oh well... When you have this laptop, who needs a girlfriend?!? Not me! :-p Now back to p3wning n00bz with a bag of Doritos and a case of beer! ... Which reminds me, don't use alcohol to clean this thing, it will slowly eat the rubberized coating on the keys. Use this stuff instead (trust me, it's the right product): Meguiar's G13616 Quik Interior Detailer Cleaner - 16 oz.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2016 by Lash LaRue
RAM Size: 16 GB
Capacity: 1 TB HDD + 256 GB SSD
Display Resolution Maximum: 1920 x 1080 pixels
Style: NVIDIA GTX 980M
First, let me state that I am not a 'gamer.' Then why am I reviewing this Alienware AW17R3-7092SLV 17.3" FHD Laptop (6th Generation Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD) NVIDIA GeForce GTX980M? It was offered to me by Amazon Vine™ and, as soon as I saw it, I ordered it. I ordered it because I know that gaming computers are extremely powerful machines and would be suitable for the type of audio and video work that I like to do. I use several programs for these purposes as well as some photography ones. Some of those programs use a lot, sometimes almost all, of a computer's CPU power. This one does not disappoint. It has just about all the processing power anyone would need. And everything on it runs FAST! It does run a bit warm (not hot) but so did (and does) every other laptop computer I have ever used with these programs. The very large and heavy power supply runs warm too. Normally I use the openSUSE (GNU/Linux) operating system but, for the time being, I shall use this computer as it is, with its Microsoft Windows 10 system, for some months just to make certain that there are no problems which might need warranty work. After I am sure that nothing untoward is going to occur, I shall convert it to openSUSE.. In the meantime, there are several programs I use which are cross-platform. In other words these programs have versions for Windows, Mac, as well as GNU/Linux systems. So far, I have installed just a couple of them. One, in its Windows version, is about equivalent to its GNU/Linux counterpart; the other is noticeably inferior (or, as we used to say, "Crude but Usable"). Both programs work well and both work much faster than they do on my "old" (2012 - ancient in computer terms!) laptop (which also has an Intel i7 processor [an older version] and 16 GB of RAM). It too runs very fast but its speed pales compared to this new Alienware computer. (I'm sure that when it is converted to openSUSE, it will run even faster. All things being equal on a given computer, GNU/Linux OSes generally run much faster than Windows or Mac OSes.) I moved all of the data folders (Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos) to the D-drive (1 TB, 7200 RPM) which, as the computer comes from the factory, are installed on the C-drive (256 GB SSD). (Why isn't this placement done by Alienware?) I added some Internet Radio Station URLs to the Music folder, downloaded the K-Lite codec package, and played a couple of Internet Radio Stations. It's certainly not ' ultra high fidelity,' but the sound which emanates from this computer is absolutely the very best I have ever heard from a laptop's built-in speakers. Nothing else that I have ever heard is even close! The graphics are excellent. Plus there are adjustments to the colors on the keyboard and on the lid and body and they can be very 'cool' if you like that sort of thing. I had what turned out to be a very minor problem: when I received the computer on May 12, 2016, the AC cord which plugs into the transformer had the wrong connectors. It had round holes while the transformer had blade connectors. As I learned many years ago, you can't put a square peg into a round hole, so I called Alienware/Dell. Fortunately I had registered the computer (using my older computer) even before I tried to attach the power supply. So when I spoke with a representative, he already had my information at hand. He asked me to send him pictures so he could show his supervisor the problem. I did so - and so did he. He telephoned me within fifteen minutes of receiving those pictures (you can view these pictures below) and, believe it or not, he promised to FedEx Overnight the right cord to me - and he did! It arrived the next day. I couldn't have asked for better service from a computer vendor I then turned on the computer, went through Microsoft's 'registration' procedure, and started using it. The keyboard is very well-designed and is a pleasure to use. So is the large trackpad. The 'feel' is just right, at least for me, and I anticipate no fatigue. The display is superb, bright and colorful. (I downloaded and installed a number of Alienware HD backdrops.) And, as I mentioned above, everything for which I use it runs FAST, much faster than any other computer I own or have previously owned. Is it 'perfect?' Of course not. What computer (or anything else) is? For me, there are three very minor 'nits' - the computer is very heavy (nothing to be done about that) and it has no internal optical drive (can be remedied with an inexpensive external Blu-ray/DVD/CD reader/writer). In addition, it has only three standard USB 3.0 ports (can be remedied with an inexpensive USB 3.0 hub). But these are very minor points, at least in my opinion, and two of them are easily 'fixed.' (I already have disc reader/writers and hubs.) And my minor complaints may not even be applicable for you. I'm sure that you can guess by now that I am very pleased with this laptop! I'm very, very happy that Amazon Vine™ chose to offer it to me as I had been planning to replace my 2012 computer (as always, money being a problem!). I shall (hopefully) make good use of this one's very powerful capabilities. I'm sure that it will be even more capable when it is converted to openSUSE, though this probably would not apply to the majority of people reading this review. So, in conclusion, let me state that, if you need an advanced powerful laptop computer for a variety of resource-intensive uses and also desire excellent graphics and superb sound quality, I believe that this one is one of the best choices available. (I'm also sure that it would be great for gaming!) And if my experience with Alienware/Dell's service department is any indication, the company stands behind its products, is an easy one with which to deal, and is anxious to please its customers. Thus I highly recommend this laptop computer. Thank you for reading this and for considering my opinions. Lawrence H. Bulk =====Update: Monday, July 25, 2016 Yesterday I 'wiped' the supplied Microsoft Windows 10 operating system from this computer and replaced it with the openSUSE 'Tumbleweed' (rolling release - a 'permanent' system which 'never' needs to be upgraded) operating system. As I expected, this computer as well as all its installed programs now operate much faster than previously when it used Windows. I certainly do not expect many people to do what I did - get rid of Windows and replace it with a GNU/Linux operating system - but if anyone reading this desires to do so, it is quite easy. The openSUSE system will install with UEFI activated; Secure Boot must be deactivated. Again I thank you for reading this. Lawrence
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Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2016 Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2016 by Lawrence H. Bulk
RAM Size: 8 GB
Capacity: 1 TB HDD
Display Resolution Maximum: 1920 x 1080 pixels
Style: NVIDIA GTX 970M
Display - Amazing, and no dead pixels here Battery Life - Way longer than most other gaming laptop varieties Cooling - Abysmal and can get hot enough to cook your breakfast or anybody's lap that it happens to reside on Lighting - Different areas on the laptop can styled differently with the alienware fx Laptop usage while gaming - Yeah, this will cook anything you put this on. Including you, your house, your family, your animals, and your neighborhood. Seriously you would've thought the cooling system would port heat out the back and not directly down below it. What kind of moron decided that this would have been an optimal cooling solution in the design process. Look at asus laptops no overheating there what so ever. Have an older model that gets no where near the temps on this. I feel like Dell is pushing gamers to the external graphics amplifier because of the design choice on cooling. Dell is being lazy and not deciding to redesign, which would require money. Look at their tech support, it answers everything. Overall - Long battery life, nice display, overheating is terrible on this. It hasn't gotten so hot that it shuts down, but it is annoying that they don't mention this to you. Like hey, "The heat is all blowing directly below the laptop, and your lap will get cooked while gaming". There was an option in bios to turn up the fans, which don't consistently run. Well, compared to my asus rog laptop, which actually cools the laptop properly. This was a miserable experience with the alienware laptop. It completely died on me for no reason. PS - Avoid putting this on any kind of carpet, blankets, or anything that can possibly make the heating situation much worse. You might try a cooling pad or the external graphics amplifier to help with heating issues while gaming. UPDATE: I sent the Alienware laptop back. Kudos to amazon for helping me return this laptop back painlessly and was beyond the 30 days policy. I didn't feel like dealing with the rma process with Dell, which I have heard my fair share of horror stories in the forums that I just gave up and sent this back. The laptop would no longer turn on, and you have no way to get to the battery out to reset it, because it's locked in the bottom casing. You would also need to break warranty seals to get to the battery on this laptop. Not really sure what happened, it just didn't turn on at all. It would take a charge, but the laptop didn't respond to pressing the power button. It may have overheated as there was significant heat issues with this laptop model.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2016 by Dandra