The Alienware x17 R2 is the company's latest assault on the gaming laptop market, and you'll find plenty to like here as soon as you slide this machine from its box. The x17 deploys Alienware's eye-catching and now familiar Legend 2.0 design language, with the sheer size of this notebook signaling that you're in for an immersive and enjoyable gaming experience.
On the inside, Alienware's notebook pairs range-topping Nvidia graphics with a muscular Intel processor and a fast screen with G-Sync. The rig we've reviewed came in with Nvidia's RTX 3080 Ti and an Intel Core i7-12700H alongside 32GB RAM and a 2TB SSD, it will set you back $3,499. As is to be expected, Alienware laptops aren't particularly cheap. The most affordable x17 R2 still demands $2,249 from your wallet.
That's big bucks to spend on a gaming laptop, and it might prove too much when the Alienware x17 R2 faces strong competition from the likes of Razer and Asus.
Features and Design
Regardless of what those rivals look like, no-one could accuse the Alienware of being shy. The design combines a white exterior with black interior, and the combined colors look excellent. There's a huge "17" motif on the lid, and familiar Alienware touches abound...
The power button is an Alienware logo, and the speaker grilles and cooling vents use a honeycomb shape. Slim screen bezels and a ring of RGB LEDs around the rear ports complete the overall look.
The Alienware looks fantastic and there's no doubt that it takes a different path from its closest rivals. An alternative like the Razer Blade 17 is subtle, with an all-black design and fewer RGB, while the flagship Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 goes in the opposite direction, with loads of glow, translucent plastic and a more traditional "gamer" notebook style.
The Alienware sits somewhere between the two, balancing a mature aesthetic with the striking visuals that plenty of people expect from top-tier gaming notebooks.
The dimensions are reasonable, too. The x17 R2 is 21mm thick, which means it's slimmer than top gaming notebooks from Asus and barely thicker than the sleek Razer. At 6.61 pounds on the scales, the x17 R2 is a tad heavier than most of its competitors, but the gap isn't huge and you won't notice differences between the Alienware and its competitors -- when you buy a 17.3" gaming notebook you're going to have to accept having a weighty laptop in your bag. And while the power brick weighs 1.9 pounds, that's entirely normal in this segment.
It's an ideal specification for single-player gaming. The graphics card will struggle to drive refresh rates beyond 120Hz at 4K anyway, and 120 fps performance is easily ample to make most modern single-player titles look fantastic.
You'll need more speed if you're into esports or twitchy, fast-paced FPS games, in which case Alienware offers the x17 R2 with a 1080p screen that runs at 360Hz with a 1ms response time. That's great for competitive speed, and on this model it drops the price to $3,299.
Alienware also sells a 480Hz screen with this laptop, but we'd avoid that: the response time drops back down to 3ms, and the jump from 360Hz to 480Hz delivers diminishing returns. Add that display and our laptop jumps in price to a vast $3,749, too.
There are other more conventional options, too. Entry-level configurations have 1080p screens that run at 165Hz, which is ideal for mainstream single-player gaming and esports. And if you want a bit of extra sharpness, a 2,560 x 1,440 display at 165Hz is available, too.
We'd pick out the 4K and 1080p/360Hz screens as the best-value options, and the 4K screen we've reviewed delivered superb quality. The peak brightness level of 474cd/m2 is easily high enough to tackle indoor and outdoor gaming, and its accompanying black point of 0.44cd/m2 is decent. The resulting contrast ratio of 1,077:1 is solid for an IPS display, and means games have huge punch and nuance.
A deeper black point would have delivered even more depth and nuance to dark areas. But that's a tiny flaw that won't cause noticeable issues during gameplay, and titles are still vibrant and bold.
The Delta E of 2.91 is good and below the 3.0 point where most people will be able to detect deviations in color accuracy -- for gaming, that's easily good enough. But you'll want to find a laptop with a sub-2.0 Delta E if you need to tackle color-sensitive creative workloads. The color temperature of 6,671K is well-balanced -- we have no issues there.
Alienware's 4K screen rendered 98.6% of the sRGB color gamut at 139.7% volume. Those are excellent figures that will translate in games showing lashings of energetic color. Elsewhere, the panel produces 94.4% of the DCI-P3 color space at 99% volume -- more good figures, even though this isn't an HDR display.
This 4K screen only generated 84.8% of the Adobe RGB color space, though. That's not good enough for color-sensitive work in Adobe tools -- combine this with the Delta E and you've got a screen that won't quite sate creative professionals.
For gaming, though, it's superb: crisp, smooth and dynamic, with vivid colors. The speakers have plenty of punch with loud, bassy output. They certainly make games boom, but the top-end is slightly tinny, and anyone who wants a better gaming experience should invest in a headset.
Input and Connectivity
The Alienware x17 keyboard's got per-key RGB LED backlighting that's bright, sharp and easy to customize in the AlienFX software, and its stainless steel butterfly switches have 1.5mm of travel, n-key rollover and anti-ghosting tech.
The buttons are snappy and quick, with pleasing, crisp action and solid strength beneath. They're not far short of the best low-profile mechanical units you'll find on some laptops, and this keyboard is sturdy enough to cope with long gaming sessions.
Alienware x17 R2 Gaming Laptop Review
On the inside, Alienware's notebook pairs range-topping Nvidia graphics with a muscular Intel processor and a fast screen with G-Sync. The rig we've reviewed came in with Nvidia's RTX 3080 Ti and an Intel Core i7-12700H alongside 32GB RAM and a 2TB SSD, it will set you back $3,499. As is to be expected, Alienware laptops aren't particularly cheap. The most affordable x17 R2 still demands $2,249 from your wallet.
That's big bucks to spend on a gaming laptop, and it might prove too much when the Alienware x17 R2 faces strong competition from the likes of Razer and Asus.
Features and Design
Regardless of what those rivals look like, no-one could accuse the Alienware of being shy. The design combines a white exterior with black interior, and the combined colors look excellent. There's a huge "17" motif on the lid, and familiar Alienware touches abound...
The power button is an Alienware logo, and the speaker grilles and cooling vents use a honeycomb shape. Slim screen bezels and a ring of RGB LEDs around the rear ports complete the overall look.
The Alienware looks fantastic and there's no doubt that it takes a different path from its closest rivals. An alternative like the Razer Blade 17 is subtle, with an all-black design and fewer RGB, while the flagship Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 goes in the opposite direction, with loads of glow, translucent plastic and a more traditional "gamer" notebook style.
The Alienware sits somewhere between the two, balancing a mature aesthetic with the striking visuals that plenty of people expect from top-tier gaming notebooks.
The dimensions are reasonable, too. The x17 R2 is 21mm thick, which means it's slimmer than top gaming notebooks from Asus and barely thicker than the sleek Razer. At 6.61 pounds on the scales, the x17 R2 is a tad heavier than most of its competitors, but the gap isn't huge and you won't notice differences between the Alienware and its competitors -- when you buy a 17.3" gaming notebook you're going to have to accept having a weighty laptop in your bag. And while the power brick weighs 1.9 pounds, that's entirely normal in this segment.
Happily, the heft is justified by the impressive build quality. There's hardly any give in the display, the wrist-rest barely moves and the underside is sturdy. We have no qualms about carrying this rig around and the magnesium-aluminum alloy casing does a brilliant job.
There's a welcome practical touch on the base, too. It's designed to be removed, so you don't have to spend uncomfortable minutes trying to prise the panel from around the laptop's edges, and on the inside you can access both memory slots and two M.2 SSD sockets. Removing the base panels from Razer laptops is harder, and on Asus machines you're scuppered by awkwardly-placed lighting cables.
The Display
The Alienware x17 R2 we tested pairs a 17.3" IPS non-touch display with a 4K resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, and 3ms response time. The refresh rate is capped at 120Hz with Nvidia G-Sync support to ensure butter-smooth gaming.
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