Alienware x17 R2 Gaming Laptop Review

[MikeJe86]

The Alienware x17 R2 is a bold, fast, and impressive gaming laptop -- and while it's expensive, it justifies the cost with consistent quality.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/review/2530-alienware-x17-r2/

 

[Theinsanegamer]

That battery life is absolutely pathetic. I stand by my thoughts that the R series were the last decent alienware laptops. My 15r2 managed 7-8 hours of battery life while browsing, and with GFE limiting games to 30 FPS you could push gaming battery life to over 2 hours.

Combine that with the overheating issues and random firmware bugs alienwares seem to develop, I'd hard pass.

 

[mbk34]

Great if someone else is buying it for you but, at $3500, I'd have to have to have a screw loose to buy one.

 

[brucek]

I'd welcome seeing TechSpot get serious about laptop reviews, but if so I hope that direction would come with the same rigor we see for say CPU and GPU reviews, particularly charts comparing every important aspect via repeatable tests across all major products or at least all recent reviews.

I'd also argue that since we already understand the theoretical performance of the parts within them (of course please verify if the manufacturer did anything that prevents the contained components from reaching their potential), what's new and important to understand about laptops in particular is:

1) thermals, cooling, noise - for me this is the one that most often determines if I'll be happy with a laptop long-term or if the claimed performance will turn out to be illusory (or nil when the unit breaks with no attractive repair options.)

2) warranty, reliability, service options

3) parts lottery details - disclose whether unit was a review unit or purchased anonymously; attempt to discover which parts are the same in all units or which are likely to vary (I.e., I feel like display, SSD, maybe battery substitutions are not uncommon.)

4) real world pricing - for example Dell products can often be found "on sale" and/or with coupons (not sure about this particular one)

 

[Superconductor]

Horrible back IO pictures.

 

[abdullah123]

Yes, you are totally right. The laptop offers many rare and top-class features that are not even available in custom-made Gaming PCs. For example, we have the razer blade R2 15-inch laptop that was released back in 2018. Can you compare both laptops? Because both of them have crazy features that are not to be compared. Well, we would like to know which one is better! Again, thanks a lot for this informational article.

 

[krazekiote]

I tried to make this laptop work for me, but just couldn't do it. I have been using Alienware laptops since they first came out and a true diehard, but I'm not willing to change my gaming playing style by working on a system that doesn't have a keypad. Biggest heartbreak from the engineers who thought that was a good idea. Sorry, but you can't call this a gaming system if gamers can't play on it. It would be like taking away the LT and RT buttons off an console controller.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Yeah, the words "gaming" and "laptop" don't belong together.

Seriously, $3,500 to game on a 17.3" display? I doubt that you could tell 1080p from 2160p with a screen that small.

But hey, if that's your thing, that's your thing.

 

[PEnnn]

The price is totally pathetic.

For much less, but with the same parts, you can get a fully loaded, with water cooling and fully customizable (looking straight at you Dell, aka Alienware!!) top of the line PC. Whether from HP / look at their 45L line - or many other top of the line PC builders!!.

But hey, if you love laptops for gaming and think you never ever have to upgrade a single item, this overpriced, already obsolete, non-upgradable toy is for you!!

 

[Avro Arrow]

The price is totally pathetic.

For much less, but with the same parts, you can get a fully loaded, with water cooling and fully customizable (looking straight at you Dell, aka Alienware!!) top of the line PC. Whether from HP / look at their 45L line - or many other top of the line PC builders!!.

Yep. The article also states that the card struggles to push beyond 120fps at 4K anyway. Why in the name of all that's holy would anyone want to pay for a 17.3" 2160p display? You can't see 2160p on a screen that small! I know because on my craptop, with a 15.6" display, 720p is absolutely perfect. If I try increasing a YouTube video to 1080p, even one that has 4K as an option, I can't tell between 720p and 1080p. Adding 1.7" to the diagonal would, at most, make 1080p look better than 720p but 1080p would be a perfectly crystal-clear and sharp image and even then, I'm not convinced that you'd be able to tell 1080p from 720p even at 17.3". It's like when people pay thousands for 1080p/1440p/2160p phones and I laugh at them because those screens are so small that even 480p looks perfect!

But hey, if you love laptops for gaming and think you never ever have to upgrade a single item, this overpriced, already obsolete, non-upgradable toy is for you!!

And this is why I call them "craptops". They're technological dead-ends.

 

[toooooot]

I admire alienware. Them and razer are my favorite choices if I need a gaming laptop, which I thought if, only 14in size.

 

[m3tavision]

ANY.... Intel and Nvidia laptop is garbage. They do not have the power efficiency of AMD's systems.

And who would buy a 3080ti laptop right now? (knowing what is coming in months)

 

[g0dlike]

Actually you can have an offer of "Alienware 17 R2 3080ti {discount}" for 1543$ with 2coupons from dell shop