Aurora R13 Review

Question

Since there was a general question recently about R13 reviews, here is a very recent interview by a major PC news source that is fair.

Aurora R13 review

I thought the information below was very fitting with the overall viewpoint on what the next generation Aurora PC's should be:

"The primary downside of the Aurora's design is parent company Dell's continued use of proprietary parts. The motherboard here has an L-shaped protrusion that sticks out of the front, presenting the plethora of USB ports there. And while it's unlikely that more than a small percentage of Aurora buyers are likely to, at some point, want to swap out their motherboards, the power supply that sits below the motherboard and GPU is also non-standard (at least for consumer PCs. Dell is using a server PSU). So if during the life of the system it fails or you need more power than the 750W available in our review unit (which you very well might with future high-end graphics cards and CPUs), that means at the very least you'll need to get a new power supply from Dell rather than buying a standard ATX supply off the shelf of an online or brick-and-mortar store. At a time when competitor HP and its Omen lineup (seen most recently in the Omen 45L) has moved steadily toward standardized, name-brand parts for a couple years now, it's past time for Dell/Alienware to do something similar."

Vanadiel · Answer

Then at minimal they should design the OEM parts so they include the good features from the retail boards. Both MSI and Asus make great retail boards with great BIOS support.

For some reason that is not carried over into the Alienware systems. That is unfortunate.

redxps630 · Answer

Dell by track record will not be like other boutique builders such as iBuypower, cyberpower, etc. in that Dell does not want to use standard components from ASUS, Thermaltake etc. Dell has partnered with MSI to build its own oem board for a long time. Dell has long tradition of designing and sourcing its own supply chain so it is not dependent on those other standard parts makers.

Dell will continue to push out unique love it or hate it AW new case design to woo its old and new loyal base. Despite the mobo and psu proprietary design, Dell offers internal upgrade path from 460 w to 750/1000w depending on oem gpu power need.

Dell is a tech phenomenon continuously interesting to watch. "May the force be with Dell", says one user. If Dell became one day like Omen, woe would be the end of the big bad name.

AnClar · Answer

I've said this for years about Dell. If you don't mind proprietary parts, they build solid purpose-designed systems. Before I got my Aurora R13, I owned a Studio XPS9000/435T. I had that system for thirteen years, and even though it too had a proprietary mobo, I was able to upgrade it over the years with new GPUs, and PSUs. That system did at least have a standard ATX PSU. For a gen 1 Core i7EE, it did me well for those thirteen years. I still have it in my back office as an additional general use PC.

I'm pretty pleased with my R13. I had no illusions when I bought it. I wanted a good gaming rig, period. I'm not a content creator and wasn't overly concerned about the proprietary parts. I'm not jumping for joy that I have to use Dell replacement parts. I am a tinkerer so I'm also unhappy about not having the ability to do much in the way of overclocking, but again, I get all the performance I want with the basic out-of-the-box config.

I really do wish that Dell would go to more industry-standard parts...especially in their high-end Alienware rigs. But overall, I'm not unhappy with my purchase.

rosros · Answer

Just critquing the article and not the OP.

Dell is a very interesting company. Much like Tesla, they are a vertical manufacturing company; in that everything is designed and built in-house. This allows for better cost controls, better quality assurances, parts that are tuned for their specific application, and control of the supply chain. Because of this, there will be proprietary parts involved as Dell wants their system to have a very predictable behavior. Even during the last GPU and chip shortages, Dell chugged along. People were buying the Dells and stripping them of the chip sets.

True these proprietary parts are a hassle for diy'ers, but for the typical Dell buyers it all about plug and play. On the R13, everything is upgradable less the motherboard. Dell has up to 1000watt ps, though getting it maybe challenging. The 750 watt p/s is a platinum certified; how often do ps fail anyways. If anyone is worried, get the extended support package. So there is an upgrade path, but most computer buyers out there would rather simply replace their computers when they have out grown it. Besides, with cpu sockets changing every 2 years, there is only so much to upgrade before the next greatest comes around.

Alienware Desktops

Aurora R13 Review

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