This review couldn't have come at a better time. For the past week I've been considering an Intel Skull Canyon with the idea of purchasing the Razer Core when it gets released in Australia. The R2 seems like the perfect replacement for that setup. Thankyou Blunty
Great review as always, yes we all wish the price was lower but companies need to earn a profit too. if you hate the price build your own. Blunty, I still want to buy you a beer my friend.
Does this have Bluetooth for wireless controllers? With the new Xbox one controllers having Bluetooth, and the ps4 already on Bluetooth (I think), that would be a nice addition.
This is perfect for me, i was thinking about building a gaming PC to place beside my consoles, but they are so huge that would look pretty bad, this being pretty compact and powerful is nice plus you use desktop graphics card in a separated box and still look fairly compact, awesome!
Nice vid Blunty Love your work buddy. I do get the feeling with the great $vP of the 960 @ $250AUD (pccase gear) (admittedly have found the R9 280 putting out very close performance to a 960 so close it is splitting hairs but I digress) the benchmarks were a tad lower than I would expect, and I dare say that the CPU being designed more for low power mobile platforms ie. 2 in 1's and Laptops that, that line of CPU's are bottle necking the system and that throwing on a higher powered GPU like the 1080's will see little improvement over the 960. But I will be happy to be proven wrong when you do the follow up vid with the GPU enclosure. Side note. I do wonder if the money would be better spent on a gaming capable laptop considering I know you can get ASUS, Acer, Toshiba, MSI etc...Branded lappys with decent if not similar performance for the same price? They have USB ports for your choice of gaming control scheme (controller, KB/Mouse, Joystick or mind controller helmet), a HDMI port for hooking to your TV (some even have a digital audio out for HTS's), and you can pack it up and take it with you to a mates place for a good ol' fashioned LAN party, without too much if any drama.
The thing that really shocked me was I went to newegg and grabbed all the parts for an "equivalent" version of the i5 model of the R2 it was really close to the same price. Normally Alienwares are overpriced but the alpha seems pretty good, then again it's not alienware's top of the line, which are still pretty overpriced.
blunty these are ideal, i want a compact gaming pc that my son can easily transport between my house and his mums... questiom though... is there much performance differences between tue i5 and i7 from a gaming point of view
depends if you want to play new games on 2017. sure it will be playable but at the lowest setting. I would sell it now while the price for that model you have is decent before the price drops.
I plan to build a proper PC once HB2 is fully available, and I plan to keep the Alpha as a stream box that can also game. If the Gen 3 Alpha has a 1060 in it, I might change my mind and buy one, but I don't see that happening. I'll stick with my gen 1 Alpha for now, yet to run into a game it has issues with, so I'm good for now.
+Drunken Tiger J I have the i3 original alienware alpha and I get 45 to 50 fps on bf1 on medium settings hopefully when it releases it will be optimized even better than now
I am in your same position now. Except the itch is VERY strong with me. I'm thinking sell my original Alpha before its value becomes worthless to help me buy the R2.....and I don't know about you but my Alpha cannot handle DOOM but maybe it badly optimized when I tried. Also, with the Amplifier being an option now I don't see why we have to wait for Gen 3 Alpha.
"You can just make your own PC bla bla" Hahahaha so accurate haha. I hate those guys lol I have a Gtx 980 system and I'm trying to sell it to buy this system, why you ask ? Because I rather have a console size machine since the only game I play is wow. And I'll be moving a lot so it's a lot more convenient that's why !
That makes a lot of sense man(not in a sarcastic way). Also if you need that extra punch in graphics just get the alienware graphics amp. its way cheaper than the razer core and works better due to the special alienware cable it uses instead of the lighting cable the razer core uses.
Great review... Looks like a very portable system. It will be interesting to see how the nVidia 10-series mobile GPUs compare in terms of performance but for now this looks like the machine to beat as far as portability:performance is concerned.
Best Australian tech youtuber
This review couldn't have come at a better time. For the past week I've been considering an Intel Skull Canyon with the idea of purchasing the Razer Core when it gets released in Australia. The R2 seems like the perfect replacement for that setup. Thankyou Blunty
Great review as always, yes we all wish the price was lower but companies need to earn a profit too. if you hate the price build your own. Blunty, I still want to buy you a beer my friend.
thanks for the review Blunty
I bet you could use a small logitech keyboard with touch pad. I have one that came with a GoogleTV box.
Does this have Bluetooth for wireless controllers? With the new Xbox one controllers having Bluetooth, and the ps4 already on Bluetooth (I think), that would be a nice addition.
All models feature Bluetooth. Yes.
But even if you have a dongle it features a hidden USB port under the bottom cover for peripherals.
This is perfect for me, i was thinking about building a gaming PC to place beside my consoles, but they are so huge that would look pretty bad, this being pretty compact and powerful is nice plus you use desktop graphics card in a separated box and still look fairly compact, awesome!
Nice vid Blunty Love your work buddy.
I do get the feeling with the great $vP of the 960 @ $250AUD (pccase gear) (admittedly have found the R9 280 putting out very close performance to a 960 so close it is splitting hairs but I digress) the benchmarks were a tad lower than I would expect, and I dare say that the CPU being designed more for low power mobile platforms ie. 2 in 1's and Laptops that, that line of CPU's are bottle necking the system and that throwing on a higher powered GPU like the 1080's will see little improvement over the 960. But I will be happy to be proven wrong when you do the follow up vid with the GPU enclosure.
Side note. I do wonder if the money would be better spent on a gaming capable laptop considering I know you can get ASUS, Acer, Toshiba, MSI etc...Branded lappys with decent if not similar performance for the same price? They have USB ports for your choice of gaming control scheme (controller, KB/Mouse, Joystick or mind controller helmet), a HDMI port for hooking to your TV (some even have a digital audio out for HTS's), and you can pack it up and take it with you to a mates place for a good ol' fashioned LAN party, without too much if any drama.
Great review !, do you think this is a worthy upgrade from the first alpha ?
The thing that really shocked me was I went to newegg and grabbed all the parts for an "equivalent" version of the i5 model of the R2 it was really close to the same price. Normally Alienwares are overpriced but the alpha seems pretty good, then again it's not alienware's top of the line, which are still pretty overpriced.
My original alpha sounds like a wind turbine.
From all of YT computer guys You've got the best voice :D Like a professional fairy tale reader. Thanks for Your attention.
blunty these are ideal, i want a compact gaming pc that my son can easily transport between my house and his mums... questiom though... is there much performance differences between tue i5 and i7 from a gaming point of view
I have the Alpha original with an i3, almost afraid to watch this, don't want the upgrade itch to kick in just yet, hoping to hold out until late 2017
depends if you want to play new games on 2017. sure it will be playable but at the lowest setting. I would sell it now while the price for that model you have is decent before the price drops.
I plan to build a proper PC once HB2 is fully available, and I plan to keep the Alpha as a stream box that can also game. If the Gen 3 Alpha has a 1060 in it, I might change my mind and buy one, but I don't see that happening. I'll stick with my gen 1 Alpha for now, yet to run into a game it has issues with, so I'm good for now.
+Drunken Tiger J I have the i3 original alienware alpha and I get 45 to 50 fps on bf1 on medium settings hopefully when it releases it will be optimized even better than now
I am in your same position now. Except the itch is VERY strong with me. I'm thinking sell my original Alpha before its value becomes worthless to help me buy the R2.....and I don't know about you but my Alpha cannot handle DOOM but maybe it badly optimized when I tried. Also, with the Amplifier being an option now I don't see why we have to wait for Gen 3 Alpha.
"You can just make your own PC bla bla" Hahahaha so accurate haha. I hate those guys lol I have a Gtx 980 system and I'm trying to sell it to buy this system, why you ask ? Because I rather have a console size machine since the only game I play is wow. And I'll be moving a lot so it's a lot more convenient that's why !
Almir Preldzic i just love the look and size of the alpha dude, is there a problem with that?
That makes a lot of sense man(not in a sarcastic way). Also if you need that extra punch in graphics just get the alienware graphics amp. its way cheaper than the razer core and works better due to the special alienware cable it uses instead of the lighting cable the razer core uses.
Great review... Looks like a very portable system. It will be interesting to see how the nVidia 10-series mobile GPUs compare in terms of performance but for now this looks like the machine to beat as far as portability:performance is concerned.
Cool vid
Nice video good sir
this is rise of the tomb raider? great video!
my laptop has a 980 in it :)
Ehh bet it still runs sub par on ultra settings?
idk, it runs pretty much anything i throw at it. I can max out games like Planetside 2 and Arma 3 with good playable framerate.
but can your laptop hook up to a graphics amp and use desktop graphics cards? didnt think so.
my laptop supports that actually.
i am subscribing because we are mo-bro's i have a gigabyte g1 gaming and a skylark