m15 R2, Battery Drain while gaming if it's ALWAYS Plugged?

Do an ePSA to see if the battery is bad. Click the F12 button while restarting then using the arrow keys go to ePSA diagnostics.

tell me if it gets messed up.

This is happening more than just with Dell systems - I've seen MSI systems doing the same thing.

What I suspect is happening is that Intel is releasing one set of specifications to manufacturers, who design the boards around them, and by the time Intel releases that generation of CPUs, it becomes clear they need more power to hit their performance numbers.  Redesigning the power circuitry would be expensive (particularly if the masks for the board have been made and the parts ordered for the SMT lines), so the battery is called into use to balance the rest.

We've seen this before a couple of times when Intel couldn't keep up with its competitor from Sunnyvale, which has a much more power-efficient, lower die size CPU that's more than competitive not just in the desktop market, but now in the notebook market -- just not to this extreme.

And if recent news is any indication, the situation may get worse before it gets better.

I think it also explains in good measure why Apple will begin phasing out Intel CPUs this year.  If AMD can get Zen 4 out the door by year's end, Intel will be in even more serious trouble than it is now.  One time, AMD's notebooks could be used as space heaters, while Intel's barely broke a sweat.  The tables have completely turned - and it remains to be seen how reliable the noteooks are when 100 C isn't an extreme any longer -- it's common.

After reading what @ejn63 posted, I should add I can’t have the laptop on my lap after about 45 minutes of gaming. It’s too hot!

The more I think about what’s mentioned here already, I’m not sure I want to keep this laptop...

Thanks for the replies. 

Found a 2 year old post at Reddit. A new ( at the time) Alienware laptop owner with the same issue. It was mentioned the a high powered GPU with setting maxed out is simply too much power for a 240W PSU.

Suggestion was to request a 330W (if that’s even enough) power pack from Dell. Unless I’m missing something, I don’t see 330W Power Packs on Dell’s site. There is one listed on a 3rd party site however. 

Unbelievable  

@tscan2004  I can't answer about whether it's normal specifically for the m15 R2, but there are some laptops that are specifically designed to drain the battery under load.  The new XPS 17 9700 works that way, for example.  Apparently Dell decided that customers would rather put up with that than deal with the weight and bulk of an adequately sized charger.  Someone with an Inspiron G5 5590 reported a similar issue to me via PM, and Apple has done this with the 15" MacBook Pro in the past (not sure about the recent 15-16" models).  I personally think it's disappointing that vendors are shipping systems with undersized power supplies since it adds unnecessary wear and tear on the battery and inherently limits either the time you can run the system under load or (if the system starts throttling performance when the battery reaches at a certain level) limits the amount of time you can run it at its true performance level.  But I think it would be especially disappointing if Dell did this on an Alienware system that's specifically marketed at gamers that expect sustained high performance, and where minimizing weight and bulk presumably aren't top priorities, or at least don't take priority over performance.

Again, I don't know for sure that this is normal for the m15.  But based on what I've seen with other systems, including higher-end Dell systems marketed as performance/gaming models, it unfortunately wouldn't surprise me.

@tscan2004  Dell does make 330W power supplies -- the Alienware Area 51m comes with one -- but it does indeed seem to be missing from the Dell US site even when specifically choosing to see parts for that system.  But even if you got one of those, the system may not actually draw the extra available wattage.  The person I mentioned above who PMed me about his Inspiron G5 5590 had a 180W adapter that came with the system.  He got a real Dell 240W adapter and it didn't make a difference.

Because it’s rare to see 330watts on the m15 and m17 that’s why. They even ship the i9 / RTX 2070 super models with the 240watt.

Heres a 330watt PSU from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088BSYQM3/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B088BSYQM3&pd_rd_w=XSL1j&pf_rd_p=48d372c1-f7e1-4b8b-9d02-4bd86f5158c5&pd_rd_wg=y2UDH&pf_rd_r=BBR37XV3ZRFEN1G68610&pd_rd_r=6af9cd9d-30bf-4437-8288-47a67869a10d&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFPRTJYSUZSS1FQRjcmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAyMTE0ODIxMERRQ0xJSlRaSE9GJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAyMDk5OTAyQzhTVEFDQktKWUJKJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfZGV0YWlsJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

That's largely why I'm left wondering if these systems are engineered either so economically - or to standards that were issued to manufacturers before the final products were ready -- that they cannot supply the CPU needs from the DC input, through the boards as they were designed.

Intel did this before, as anyone who got stuck with a mobile P4 system that ran too hot and drew too much power, where it had pushed the designs beyond their reasonable limits.  It seems to be happening all over again - and it may be 2023 before Intel has the smaller die size production to return these CPUs to reasonable power consumption and therefore thermal limits.

Wait. They put a Pentium 4 in a Laptop?

What year because I think my aunt has one from 2001 and she always complained how thick and heavy the notebook was and how hot it would get after just turning it on plugged in.

@ejn63 Funny you say that about MSI as i have a MSI graphics card and it says the hardware internal graphics 1070 gtx chip matched the MSI 1660 GTX Factory OC and I can use the MSI OC driver to bind the 2 graphics cards on a software basis, little lone my AGA hardware dose not support this. 

@Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006  There was a Pentium 4-M chip actually DESIGNED for laptops, but I had an Dell Inspiron 9100 that had a desktop-grade Pentium 4 CPU installed in it.

Probably since its draining itself while its plugged in. Does it say plugged in and charging or just plugged in not charging.

Thanks again for all the replies. 

So theoretically, if I am gaming for 5-6 hours straight (which I don't do) the Alienware would shut down because there would not be enough power?

I was hoping this new laptop would last at least as long as my Inspiron 15 has. At this rate, I don't see that happening. I had to make a decision with their 21 day return policy. I requested a Return Authorization and sent the laptop back to Dell today. 

All,

Hybrid Power Design (15 R3/15 R4/17 R4/17 R5/m15/m17) Note, this also applies to the newer m15 R2/R3, m17 R2/R3.

Does it apply to older Alienware systems like the r2 revisions of the 13,15,17?
Not according to that article. DELL-Chris M