Power Spike. Dell offers updated components for the Alienware 13. Let us find out if the Core i7-5500U and the GeForce GTX 960M are worth the investment.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-13-GTX-960M-Notebook-Review.142854.0.html
Yeah, like you say the CPU is not up to task for a gaming notebook, not even with the midrange 960M GPU. This CPU bottleneck then just gets even worse when you hook up the Graphics Amplifier and use a desktop card - makes the whole feature of the Graphics Amplifier laughable when used with this Alienware 13 - I really don't know what the Dell engineers were thinking - not using a 4 core i7 CPU was a glaring oversight. Better options out there for small thin & light laptop gaming.
I bought one of these with the TN-HD panel early this year (when they still were i7-5500u / GTX860m), so far it's worked out decently.
The TN panel is rubbish of course, but the machine is great if you're an occasional/casual gamer and value quiet & cool operation with decent battery life.
For instance, playing 2D games I have had 4-5-hour play sessions before needing to plug in.
Thank you for good review. It is however missing "the big picture": the reason there are many somewhat similar notebooks on the market is simple: individual needs of customers are different. It all depends what your priorities are, and what compromises you are prepared to accept.
If someone looks for the most powerful 13-14in gaming machine as current technology allows: Razer Blade wins... and compromises on price, noise, heat emission. If someone is prepared to severely compromise gaming power when travelling, but wants very powerful stationary gaming machine: MSI GS30 wins. If someone does not mind single cooling fan for CPU and GPU with untidy, common piping, lesser build quality and larger plastic case: Clevo W230SD/SS (AKA Schenker) is very good alternative. None of them is bad, each of them reflects a set of different engineering compromises.
I bought Alienware 13 a few weeks ago, and I am very happy with my choice. I was not prepared to compromise on: build quality, tidiness of internal design, low emissions (noise and heat), LCD panel quality screen. Additionally I wanted solid mid-range gaming power when travelling, with option to increase it a bit when stationary. To achieve all that I was prepared to compromise and accept two core CPU. The Alienware 13 addressed my needs perfectly, and (contrary to what someone wrote): I see no alternative product: other "alternatives" for me are no alternatives: they are noisier and run hot, are more expensive, or do not offer stationary graphics amplifier (even if the Alienware solution is not fully optimised).
As a design engineer I am fully aware that every design is a compromise, and every person would find some compromises acceptable, and some not. At the same time there always will be people who want a notebook to be the most powerful gaming machine available with negligible noise and heat emissions, mounted in a solid, milled block of aluminium, with rigid lid and chassis -- and at the same time small, thin, light, inexpensive. Is it possible? No.
Name one other notebook in this form factor size with that long of a battery life? The main point of a laptop is to have portability. I don't care that it does not have the top performance of them all. It has the BEST battery life. Laptop makers, stop making things so small and so thin, give me a battery life that will last for ever and I will love you. 11 hours is REALLY impressive for a gaming laptop.