Alienware 13 with Graphics Amplifier review

The Graphics Amplifier is much shorter than a conventional PC chassis, but at 410mm it’s longer than many microATX cases. It’s easy to hide behind your monitor, which we would recommend – the cheap-looking black plastic is a far cry from Alienware’s more premium looking designs and doesn’t match the laptop. You can put it on the floor, too, as the cable is long enough to run from the floor up to a desk.

The proprietary cable acts both as a x4-speed PCI-E lane and a USB port replicator. All your peripherals including keyboard, mouse and monitor(s) plug into the USB and video output connectors, and are instantly available as soon as you switch the laptop on. It’s not quite as convenient as a dock that you’d drop your laptop on to; you have to instead reach around the back of the laptop and connect the cable.

The base unit holds a PCI-E x16 slot and a 460W PSU, but you’ll have to fit your own graphics card unless you pay the extra upfront. We’d recommend buying a graphics card from another supplier, however, because Dell charges through the nose. The PNY GeForce GTX 980 costs around £440 from UK retailers but Dell charges £600, in addition to the Graphics Amplifier itself.

Installing a graphics card should be easy, but despite Alienware claiming the amplifier can accommodate double height, full-length graphics cards, we found several that wouldn’t fit. The Asus Strix GTX 970, for example, was too wide and the Sapphire R9 270X was too thick. On both occasions we had to run our benchmarks with the case open. Annoyingly there’s no easy way to find out which cards will fit, but as a rule cards with custom coolers are likely to cause problems.

We tested several graphics cards to see whether performance was on a par with a conventional desktop. For the most part it was, with minor deviations mostly explained by the laptop-grade Core i5 processor. Performance will vary depending on your laptop’s configuration.

We initially had issues when connecting the Alienware 13 to the Graphics Amplifier when an Nvidia desktop graphics card was installed, an issue that didn’t occur with AMD cards because AMD had already released drivers designed to work with the product. Since our initial review, however, Nvidia has released drivers that appear to have solved the problems we experienced. The problems included the laptop ignoring both its dedicated 860M GPU and the external graphics card. Now, however, once you plug in the graphics amplifier and switch the laptop on, you only have to wait a few seconds for the laptop to understand that an external graphics card is connected. There’s a bit of flickering but once you’re connected, you shouldn’t have any issues.

The Alienware 13 is a beautifully designed and rugged feeling gaming laptop that you can take with you anywhere. As is often the case with Alienware, the price is just a little too steep considering the specifications. However, at this size we would be tempted to pick the 13 over any similarly sized rivals simply because it feels so well made. You also get Dell’s excellent collect and return warranty that includes in-home support should the firm decide it’s required. If you don’t have as much money to spend, though, the Chillblast Defiant 2 Mini remains our favourite compact gaming laptop.

The Graphics Amplifier, meanwhile, is an expensive add-on with niche appeal. Nonetheless, it’s a great way to extend the life of what is an otherwise perfectly capable laptop so it’s difficult to complain. We just wish it was slightly less expensive. If you’re looking for something a bit more conventional then check out our regularly-updated Best Laptops and buying guide.