Image: Alien
Last year, Alienware partnered with AMD for the first time in more than a decade when it launched the m15 Ryzen Edition R5, and now the company is doubling down on Team Red by releasing a new fleet of PCs powered by Ryzen chips.
Dell and its high-end gaming arm announced four new devices at Pax East, ranging from budget-friendly gaming laptops to high-end desktops, all of which have one thing in common: AMD components.
A pair of high-end gaming laptops
Starting with the laptop successor that re-established the Alienware x AMD relationship, the new Alienware m15 R7 is the brand’s “most powerful 15-inch laptop.” Premium machines can be equipped with AMD Ryzen 7 6800H or Ryzen 9 6900HX CPUs – the highest-end mobile chips AMD has.
Not quite ready to paint everything red, Alienware kept things festive by turning to Nvidia for a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU (125W TGP) with 16GB of GDDR6 RAM – a card that should give the m15 R7 enough charm to Run the latest games on their highest settings. Other important performance specs include space for up to 64GB of DDR5 4800MHz RAM and up to 4TB (2×2) of PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD.
Image: Alien
Three panel options are available, starting with a 15.6-inch, 1080p display with a 165Hz refresh rate, 3ms response time, and Nvidia G-Sync support. Competitive gamers who play fast-action games can opt for an FHD, 360Hz refresh rate screen with a 1ms response time, while the third option — which I also want to shoot for — has a 1440p resolution with a 240Hz refresh rate.
From the looks of it, you won’t notice many changes to the Alienware m15 R7. It has the same simple design as the previous model, consisting of a grey chassis with a “15” engraved on the lid next to a centered Alienware head. At 0.8 inches thick and weighing 5.9 pounds, it’s not meant to be a highly portable system, although it’s also not the heaviest in its class. Port selection is plentiful, with the m15 offering an RJ-45 Ethernet port, three USB 3.2 Type-A inputs, two Type-C ports, a headphone jack, and HDMI 2.1 connectivity.
While the design is familiar, Alienware promises improved cooling by upgrading its “Cryo-tech” architecture, which now has thinner, wider bladed fans that deliver 1.3 times the airflow.
Image: Alien
Also arriving today is the m17 R5, a 17-inch version of this high-end gaming rig. It packs more AMD inside, adding Radeon RX 6700M and RX 6850M XT graphics options and a Ryzen 9 6980HX CPU. It includes all of AMD’s companion technologies, including SmartShift Max, which dynamically switches power distribution between the CPU and GPU, and SmartAccess Memory, which better connects your CPU to the GPU. It’s also the first laptop to feature SmartAccess Graphics, an AMD feature that promises to boost gaming performance by an average of 15 percent by allowing the Radeon GPU to directly control the display, rather than transferring information from the Ryzen GPU to the display. Speaking of the display, the screen options are similar, except this larger model swaps the 1440p panel for a 4K display with a 120Hz refresh rate.
The Alienware m15 R7 and m17 R5 are available now, starting at $1,499 and $1,599, respectively. AMD Advantage Edition configurations of the m17 R5 will arrive later this spring.
Budget notebooks, expensive desktops
Dell laptops and Alienware desktops were also revealed today, both devices at opposite ends of the pricing spectrum.
I’ll start with the more accessible option: Dell’s new G15. The G15 starts at $899 and goes up to an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU, RTX 3070 Ti GPU, 32GB RAM, and a 2TB PCIe NVME M.2 SSD.
Image: Dell
The base display is a 1080p, 120Hz panel with 250 nits of low brightness and 45% NTSC color gamut. If you’re on a budget, upgrading to a 1080p, 165Hz panel up to 300 nits seems like a no-brainer. The best screens are 1440p, 240Hz panels with up to 400 nits of brightness.
The design of the G15 is simple, but I’m intrigued by the Spectre Green color option with “camo” that looks good when matched with the optional orange Backlit keyboard (also available in white and full RGB).
Image: Alien
Finally, those looking for a more permanent setup and with a big enough budget might consider the Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R14. It has the same sci-fi aesthetic as the other Aurora models, but with up to a Ryzen 9 processor and a Radeon RX 6900XT or RTX 3090 graphics card. Perhaps the most interesting component is the optional Ryzen 7 5800X 3D CPU and its 3D V-Cache for better frame rates when playing 3A games.This – get ready for it – can now start with…
