Dell is refreshing its gaming laptop lineup with new Alienware M15 and M17 R4 models. Both will be available with up to an Intel Core i9-10980HK octa-core processor, NVIDIA RTX 3000 graphics, and support for up to 32GB of RAM and up to 4.5GB of solid state storage.
While the Alienware M17 R4 is a bit chunky for my tastes, with a starting weight of 5.5 pounds, the Alienware M15 R4 is a slightly more portable gaming laptop with a starting weight of 4.65 pounds.
Both of the new gaming laptops should be available January 26 with prices starting at $2,149.
The Alienware M15 R4 features a 15.6 inch display and Dell/Alienware will offer a choice of a 1080p 300 Hz display panel with 3ms response time or a 4K 60 Hz display with 1ms response time.
Ports include Thunderbolt 3, HDMI 2.1, mini DisplayPort 1.4, headset, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, and a microSD card reader. There’s also an Ethernet port with support for data transfer speeds up to 2.5 Gbps, and an Alienware Graphics Amplifier port that lets you connect one of the company’s external graphics docks.
Under the hood, there are three PCIe slots for storage, so the laptop can be configured with a single SSD up to 2TB in capacity, two SSDs (for up to 4TB of combined storage in a RAID0 configuration), or in a RAID0 Plus configuration with up to 4.5TB of storage (2 x 2TB SSDs Plus a 512GB SSD).
Other features include stereo speakers, a cooling system consisting of a CPU vapor chamber, separate 66-blade fans for the CPU and GPU, and four copper heat pipes, an 86 Wh battery, and support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1.
Details are largely the same for the 17 inch model, except that version is available with 144 Hz or 360 Hz 1080p displays (with 7ms or 5ms response times, respectively), or a 4K 60 Hz display (with 25ms response time).
The larger model also has a numeric keypad on the right side of the keyboard.
