Dell Alienware 13Dell LaptopTeardown
Dell Alienware 13 Disassembly and SSD, RAM, HDD Upgrade Options
In this guide, I’ll explain how to disassemble the Dell Alienware 13 to remove the bottom case, battery, RAM, hard drive, SSD, heat sink, cooling fan, and motherboard.
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- Other Alienware teardown:
- Dell Alienware 14 Disassembly
- Dell Alienware 17 Disassembly
- Dell Alienware 18 Disassembly
Remove two screws securing the service cover.
When the cover is removed, you can get access to two RAM and a hard drive.
This Alienware 13 has two RAM slots and an HDD slot.
This Alienware 13 comes with two 4GB PC3L-12800S Micron RAM.
Remove four screws securing the hard drive. Disconnect the cable from the motherboard.
Western Digital slim hard drive
Remove all screws securing the bottom case and remove another two screws.
Pry up and remove the palm rest.
Under the palm rest, you can access the battery, speaker, cooling fan, and motherboard.
Disconnect the LCD cable from the motherboard.
Remove the screws securing the LCD hinges (left and right).
Now remove the LCD screen assembly.
Remove all screws securing the motherboard.
The Alienware 13 motherboard has been removed.
Remove the screws securing the battery. The battery can be removed.
Alienware 13 comes with a 14.8v, 51wh Li-ion battery, Dell part number: 3V806.
In the next step, we will remove the heat sink.
Remove all screws securing the heat sink.
The heat sink and cooling fan assembly have been removed. The wireless card and DC power jack can also be removed.
Heat sink and cooling fan assembly
RJ45 port and USB port
DC power jack
Graphics card chip and Intel processor
How many SSDs can I fit in there?
It seems there is no spare SSD slot.
There are two different brackets: one type allows for only one SSD/HDD, and the second type allows for one or two M.2 (NGFF) modules. The brackets are very difficult to get from Dell. The best path is to get a configuration with one M.2 (Dell calls them confusingly “Mobility Solid State Drive”) and add a second M.2 in the future.
So, my SSD failed and that’s what it boots off of so my computer won’t boot or let me factory reset. Where exactly is the SSD? I believe it may have become unseated and would like to make sure it’s plugged in or get a new one.
Could you write a guide for the lid/screen disassembly? I have a nasty scratch or crack on the top of the lid, so I am replacing the screen/bezel with a new lid. Thanks so much!
Hi, my right fan is making a loud noise sometimes.
Is it possible to replace the fan?
or does the whole heat sink and cooling fan need to be replaced?
You just need to replace the cooling fan.
Loud fan: Also check that you have current Nvidia drivers installed. Older drivers (until around early 2016) did not slow down the fans after heavy load; the fans ran at full speed until the next reboot. Newer Nvidia drivers (from about mid-2016) fix this issue.