Thin, Light Alienware 13 Gaming Notebook Coming With Intel Core Processors And NVIDIA 860M Graphics
For a while, Razer's 0.71-inch tall Blade seemingly dominated the ultra-thin gaming notebook sector. But as of late, other players like Origin PC and CyberPower have produced super-thin gaming solutions as well. Alienware appears to have no intention of letting that continue without a fight, as the company has released the Alienware 13, a thin-and-light gaming notebook that packs a punch not only in components, but in the style department, too.
According to the specifications, the Alienware 13 will arrive in three flavors: HD (1366 x 768, 200 nits, TN-panel, 45 percent color gamut), FHD (1920 x 1080, 350 nits, IPS-panel, 72 percent color gamut, double-wide viewing angles), and QHD with touch (2560 x 1440, 400 nits, IPS-panel, 72 percent color gamut, double-wide viewing angles).
The Alienware 13 is the company's thinnest gaming laptop to date, measuring just 1 inch thin and weighing slightly under 4.5 pounds. The laptop is also based on Intel Core processors, Nvidia GeForce 860M GTX graphics, and it offers up to 16 GB of DDR3 memory.
The specifications also show that the Alienware 13 includes support for up to two SSDs, Killer Wireless AC connectivity, and audio powered by Klipsch. Also included is Alienware's Command Center 4.0, AlienFX, and an Alienware TACTX keyboard. The laptop is cooled by using a copper thermal solution mounted inside the laptop.
CyberPower revealed a 15.6-inch thin-and-light gaming laptop last month packing an Intel Core i7-4710HQ Haswell processor and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M with 6 GB of VRAM. Keeping all of this cool is the company's Supra-Cool cooling system featuring dual fans and heatsinks. Also included is 8 GB of DDR3 memory, a 1 TB hard drive and Wireless N and Bluetooth connectivity. This laptop measures 0.82 inches thick, weighs 4.75 pounds and has a starting price of $1399.
Origin PC's EVO15-S includes a 15.6-inch eDP display with a 1920 x 1080 resolution, or customers can opt for the 15.6-inch screen with a 2880 x 1620 resolution. Under the hood is an Intel Core i7-4710HQ quad-core processor (2.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz), an Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M GPU with 3 GB of GDDR5 VRAM, and 16 GB of DDR3L-1600 memory. This notebook measures 0.79 inches tall, weighs 4.36 pounds and has a starting price of $2,199.
So how much will the Alienware 13 cost compared to these two competing laptops? Here's something to chew on: the Alienware 14 has a starting price of $1,099, and the Alienware 17 starts at $1,399. Unfortunately, pricing for the Alienware 13 won't be revealed until a later date.
Follow Kevin Parrish @exfileme. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.


Interesting to finally see alienware stepping it up a notch, since I haven't heard of any new slim laptops from Dells gaming line.
Thanks
Thanks
And how do you figure? Every review of it shows it beating or equaling intel nics. Not a huge fan of the software so I don't load it but the nic itself and their firmware/drivers seem rather good minus some of the weird problems that seem to crop up with Intel nics and tethering.
the desktop counterpart of the 860m Is the 750ti. they are LITERALLY the same chip, just clocked a little lower. a desktop 860 does not exist. do some research next time.
I don't get why people think laptops have to compare in performance to a top-end desktop to be considered "gaming" machines especially considering the limited space. This GPU will play any game on the market quite nicely provided you've properly tweaked the settings.
I don't get why people think laptops have to compare in performance to a top-end desktop to be considered "gaming" machines especially considering the limited space. This GPU will play any game on the market quite nicely provided you've properly tweaked the settings.
This is true, but I'd also add that 860M GTX is still more capable than the next gen consoles are (considering XboxOne and PS4 games are rocking 790p - 1080p, no AA, high settings, 30fps / 60fps) which an 860m GTX is capable of delivering on a mobile laptop, I'd say that qualifies it as a "gaming" laptop.
FFS the 860m GTX gets 55fps on BF4 on high at 900p.
That's pretty damn solid for a laptop.
I don't know how you figure that. If you had any idea how many of the Alienware so called "Gaming" laptops we've seen with overheating issues, I don't think you would make that statement. Even stock clocked units with no turbo core or turbo boost enabled have presented heat issues. Fix the heat issues BEFORE you cram more, better, faster and hotter components inside the cases.
http://www.msi.com/product/nb/GS60-2PE-Ghost-Pro-3K-Edition.html#hero-specification
And how do you figure? Every review of it shows it beating or equaling intel nics. Not a huge fan of the software so I don't load it but the nic itself and their firmware/drivers seem rather good minus some of the weird problems that seem to crop up with Intel nics and tethering.
It is obvious you have never used a Killer nic card. The limited testing done for reviews doesn't show the weaknesses that show up under constant usage. For example, I often find the Killer software memory usage growing to out of control levels. After about 2 weeks without restarting the machine, you end up at nearly 750MB of ram used for the nic cards. And by that point, the software is simply unusable. The "packet prioritization" is entirely garbage. I tried it a couple times, including over different software versions. In the end, the system was nearly unusable due to buggy software blocking random things from using the internet entirely.
Trust the people who have used recent Killer products; they aren't worth it.