Alienware m15 RTX Gaming Laptop Review

[Julio Franco]

Today we're taking a look at another gaming laptop, the brand new Alienware m15, which is the company's portable laptop offering to rival systems like the MSI GS65 Stealth, Gigabyte Aero 15 and Razer Blade. Historically we haven't been huge fans of Alienware's chunkier laptop designs, but the m15 is one of the best we've seen from the company so far.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1820-alienware-m15/

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I miss the older R series. My 15R2 has been a fantastic machine, they could get upwards of 8 hours of battery life, they were the last that had a proper physical keyboard, and they were tough. While techspot might not like laptops thicker then a piece of paper, I loved the thick machines and their ability to survive being carted around for years without complaint.

These newer ones completely miss the mark. Weaker, thinner chassis that compromise cooling (My 15r2 has a 970m and an i7, and has no issue running full bore and only getting up to 72-73C) and worse battery life, along with a chicklet keyboard.

It's a shame, really.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I have the Alienware 17 and the Alienware 15. Both have 32GB of DDR4 and GTX1080.

Frankly, I don't see the point of RTX in a laptop yet. I just don't see myself ogling over shadows and reflections with RTX on on a laptop display. Mind you, I have a 2080Ti in my Desktop and I've yet to actually use Ray tracing.

I also prefer the Alienware 17 and 15 because they have the edge lighting which really makes them attractive. My 15 was slightly more expensive than the M15.

I upgraded the secondary storage from the 1TB HDD to a 1TB SSD and then dropped a second M.2 into the empty slots.

I love these computers and I love my AREA 51.

You can see them in my profile.

As for the 51m... that thing is WAY too expensive for most buyers and I'm not a fan of the case design because it doesn't have edge lighting.

$4000 is just too high for one that isn't equipped with a 2080...and RTX still hasn't been proven to be a necessity over the far more efficient 1080.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Yet another 2080 max Q laptop reviewed without being compared to a 1080 or a 1080 max Q.... other than noise and storage performance.... can we PLEASE get a comparison? The 2080 replaces the 1080, so why aren’t there any graphs to show us?!

 

[Toju Mikie]

I miss the older R series. My 15R2 has been a fantastic machine, they could get upwards of 8 hours of battery life, they were the last that had a proper physical keyboard, and they were tough. While techspot might not like laptops thicker then a piece of paper, I loved the thick machines and their ability to survive being carted around for years without complaint.

These newer ones completely miss the mark. Weaker, thinner chassis that compromise cooling (My 15r2 has a 970m and an i7, and has no issue running full bore and only getting up to 72-73C) and worse battery life, along with a chicklet keyboard.

It's a shame, really.

When I heard that they were not releasing a 15 r6 or 17 r6, I was disappointed. I also have a Dell, but Inspiron 7577 and it was also having thermal issues like the Alienware in the review until I reapplied thermal paste... It's like all these new Dell laptops, other than the Area 51m, need reapplication of thermal paste before you can even start to play
games. It's like they don't even test the design before producing them because this is a repeat issue

 

[Soulburn74]

I love the detailed look at all the RTX mobile laptop reviews! Keep 'em coming. Are you saving the Area-51m for last? I gotta believe it will be at the top of the heap (or at least near it!).

 

[BellBoy]

Dell refused to post this review but I felt others should be made aware of a support problem Dell/Alienware has:

I love my Alienware laptop, and have enjoyed it for 2 years. When I purchased it, I added the 4 year support and the uplift to accidental support. This cost more than Apple-care! Recently I received an alert that my battery had suffered a permanent error and needed to be replaced. I called Dell support and was told not only is the battery not covered by the extended warranty I paid so much for, but that they couldn't sell me a new battery only a refurbished battery with a 90 day warranty! I have purchased more than 5 Alienware desktops and laptops for family over the past 2 years and regret this now. I will never recommend anyone purchase a dell product when they won't stand behind their products. I understand that the battery isn't part of the warranty but when I can buy a new battery from Amazon with a 1 year warranty at a cheaper price than Dell's refurbished product and Dell won't even cover 1 battery after a year when a customer purchases the extended warranty. Even Apple will run a check to see how many cycles the battery has gone through and if it isn't over a certain threshold will replace the battery.