New Alienware 14 Discussion and Sharing

[tarhan]

You did it the right way with a clean install because recovering to a new SSD using our updated version of AlienRespawn does not work (think the video was from 2012). I did try it before looking for a Windows 8 OS. When attempting to restore to the SSD, AlienRespawn said the SSD was too small and asked for a hard drive of at least 750GB (the original drive is 750GB). Guess AlienRespawn is an imaging software, so it won't work unless the new drive is similar sized or larger than the original drive.

I prefer this method too at least I know what exactly is installed in my system.

Too add on, the system supports uefi boot mode so do make sure to install the os in this mode instead of legacy boot. Apparently there are some minor benefits over legacy boot which im lazy to go into the details.

And I have troubles installing alienrespawn back into my system. It sucks anyway so guess its alright.

Enjoying my ssd! Boots into windows 8 in less than 10 secs in UEFI mode.

 

[freakerknoid]

Any idea where to buy DDR3l ram locally

 

[FlushX]

Any idea where to buy DDR3l ram locally

Check out the pricelists here

 

[FlushX]

Finally managed to clone the entire HDD to my SSD! YAYYYY!!

Currently running on SSD now. I hope there won't be any issues. For now, won't be formatting the original HDD just yet.

 

[hamsterblur]

Finally managed to clone the entire HDD to my SSD! YAYYYY!!

Currently running on SSD now. I hope there won't be any issues. For now, won't be formatting the original HDD just yet.

Success is sweet, no?

I cloned mine too, rather than doing a clean install. Couldn't use AlienRespawn so downloaded Paragon Recovery Free. Managed to backup and then restore all the existing partitions to the SSD. When restoring, I resized the OS partition to around 220GB to fit the smaller SSD. Paragon had an option to clone all partitions at one go but couldn't resize nicely, so ended up cloning each partition one by one. Really fast backup compared to AlienRespawn.

Had to go into Bios to change the SATA mode from RAID to AHCI and disabled secure boot to detect the SSD and start the cloning. After cloning, I then removed the old HDD to check that the SSD worked well. Then I put in a new 1TB 7200rpm HDD to act as storage. Will the use the old one as an external HDD.

Strange thing I noticed was that the original HDD was listed as 3Gbps in the Intel Storage application, but my new 7200rpm Hitachi drive was listed as 6Gbps. Anyone with original HDD can verify? It's a WD Black 7200rpm drive, so it shld have the same speed. Or perhaps it's because I changed the Bios settings?

Now downloading all my Steam games.

 

[trigger25sg]

Just curious for those who have the msata cache on the alienware 2013 machines, is it sata 2 or sata 3 speed in raid 0?

 

[ProGamer84]

Can someone here can share with me the gaming lappy picture? Maybe the led light running in different color

 

[tarhan]

Success is sweet, no?

I cloned mine too, rather than doing a clean install. Couldn't use AlienRespawn so downloaded Paragon Recovery Free. Managed to backup and then restore all the existing partitions to the SSD. When restoring, I resized the OS partition to around 220GB to fit the smaller SSD. Paragon had an option to clone all partitions at one go but couldn't resize nicely, so ended up cloning each partition one by one. Really fast backup compared to AlienRespawn.

Had to go into Bios to change the SATA mode from RAID to AHCI and disabled secure boot to detect the SSD and start the cloning. After cloning, I then removed the old HDD to check that the SSD worked well. Then I put in a new 1TB 7200rpm HDD to act as storage. Will the use the old one as an external HDD.

Strange thing I noticed was that the original HDD was listed as 3Gbps in the Intel Storage application, but my new 7200rpm Hitachi drive was listed as 6Gbps. Anyone with original HDD can verify? It's a WD Black 7200rpm drive, so it shld have the same speed. Or perhaps it's because I changed the Bios settings?
Now downloading all my Steam games.

Wah 6Gbps is ssd speed already leh how can it be?
My ssd is 6Gbps and my original hdd is 3Gbps.

Did not use ssd as cache but as a separate drive for os. Sata3 speed.

 

[trigger25sg]

Wah 6Gbps is ssd speed already leh how can it be?
My ssd is 6Gbps and my original hdd is 3Gbps.

Did not use ssd as cache but as a separate drive for os. Sata3 speed.

Coz ssd can only use 1...msata can use 2. and yeah sata 3 speed is 6gbps.

 

[FlushX]

Here's mine. Sorry for the poor picture quality.

 

[tarhan]

Coz ssd can only use 1...msata can use 2. and yeah sata 3 speed is 6gbps.

Don't really understand what u mean by using 1 using 2. Care to explain?

 

[freakerknoid]

Here's mine. Sorry for the poor picture quality.

Nice, but why is the minion blocking the view

 

[trigger25sg]

Don't really understand what u mean by using 1 using 2. Care to explain?

I think if u keep the optical drive you can only use 1 ssd and 1 hdd. If msata maybe can use 2 x msata in raid 0 configuration and 1 hdd or ssd?

Previous alienware machine msata x 2 raid 0 is 3 gbps...sata 2 speed not sata 3 speed.I Was wondering if the new alienware is sata 3 speed with 2 x msata in raid 0.

I never open this machine yet so i have no idea of the hdd configuration.

 

[ProGamer84]

Here's mine. Sorry for the poor picture quality.

thanks for sharing... why nv make the keyboard led light in different?

 

[ProGamer84]

So Guys and comment on this gaming lappy? pro and con pls..

 

[tarhan]

I think if u keep the optical drive you can only use 1 ssd and 1 hdd. If msata maybe can use 2 x msata in raid 0 configuration and 1 hdd or ssd?

Previous alienware machine msata x 2 raid 0 is 3 gbps...sata 2 speed not sata 3 speed.I Was wondering if the new alienware is sata 3 speed with 2 x msata in raid 0.

I never open this machine yet so i have no idea of the hdd configuration.

Alienware 14 can store up to 3 drives. There is only 1 msata port. So the maxed configuration is 1 msata ssd, and 2 2.5 inch ssd if u remove the old hdd and dvd drive.

And yes alienware 14 supports sata 3 speed out of the box. M14xr2 can reach sata3 also but need to flash the bios.

 

[tarhan]

So Guys and comment on this gaming lappy? pro and con pls..

Shall list the pros and cons of the alienware 14 based on my personal opinion.

Pros
1. The new alienware has a better classy design and has a less beng look.
2. The performance of the cpu is great and I can have many games open at once with no issues.
3. Keyboard is very sturdy and good to type on.
4. The exhaust fan is at the rear and not to the side like my asus laptop.
5. Has a much better wireless range compared to my asus laptop.

Cons
1. THE SCREEN. The non full hd screen has bad viewing angle and is not very bright. 14 inch is also too small for me as I came from a 17 inch.
2. The fan noise is quite loud when playing games. I played cs go and the fan throttles at full speed sometimes.
3. The power socket is at the rear giving me some problems when docking. Would prefer it to be at the side.
4. Only 1 cooling fan. Was hoping for 2. Played bf3 for 1 hr and core temp for cpu and gpu around 70c. Not that bad.
5. The price. If it was not bundled promo I could build a better pc with 2499. Laptop still loses out to pc for gaming.

Others share their views too k go! =))

 

[onefineday]

Pros:
Blazing fast. Combined with small reso games run butter smooth on high.
Keyboard is solid, touchpad is nice and big, multitouch gestures work decently
Temps a little on the high side but never experience any throttling.
Aluminum body and design looks good and feels solid
Speakers are decent for a laptop.

Cons:
2 seperate cooling systems for CPU and GPU would be great but I think only asus has that for 14" systems.
The 768p LCD isn't that great in color reproduction. Those who use IPS monitors will definitely notice this
Size and weight, not exactly something u can lug around everywhere u go easily but then again this is something u should be prepared for when buying a gaming laptop
Battery life is not great, I see around 3-4 hours with Optimus and not gaming, this is something u leave plugged in most of the time.
Price. If buying retail the 2.7k price tag is seriously overpriced compared to offerings from other brands say aftershock. But of course most of us here bought the Singtel model

 

[ProGamer84]

Thanks guys for the great info here. So actually it's worth to get it from single?

And after YouTube didn't show much on this lappy..
I which to see more ppls here will post more pics to share with me. With the led setting.

 

[tarhan]

Hi all,

Just realised there is no white led option in the alienware 14 alienfx =.=