Dell Alienware launches its first AMD-powered gaming laptop since 2007

  • Behold: the all-important top-down keyboard view.

  • She might not look like much—but she does the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs.

  • The rear view reminds us of the Millennium Falcon, but this three-quarter profile is Star Destroyer all the way.

  • The alien head logo and exhaust trim ring are done in glowy LED, not paint—we’ve seen them both in blood red, as well as this aqua/cyan. Note rear-mounted USB-A, USB-C, full-size HDMI, and DC power ports.

  • The left side of the m15 shows off a 2.5Gbps wired Ethernet port, next to a 3.5mm audio jack.

  • On the right side, we have two type-A USB 3.2 ports.

This time last year, we covered one of the first Ryzen 9 gaming laptops—Asus’ ROG Zephyrus G14. A year later, Dell is joining the Ryzen-powered gaming laptop party with its new Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition.

Last year, the Achilles heel of Ryzen-powered gaming laptops was mediocre GPU selection—for whatever reason, most manufacturers didn’t spec RTX 3000-series GPUs along with Ryzen processors. That’s thankfully no longer the case in 2021—the new Alienware m15 pairs Ryzen 7 5800H or Ryzen 9 5900HX with up to 32GiB RAM and a choice of RTX 3060 or RTX 3070 graphics. (Asus is also offering high-end GPUs this year—we’re in the process of hands-on testing a ROG Zephyrus G15 with Ryzen 9 5900HS and RTX 3070 this week.)

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You can get a quick peek at the Alienware m15 in this short hype video.

The new m15 offers three display choices—1080 p at 165 Hz or 360 Hz, or 1440 p at 240 Hz—and an optional keyboard upgrade to Cherry MX. There’s a standard 2.5Gbps wired Ethernet adapter to go with the Killer AX1650 Wi-Fi 6—and unlike the ROG Zephyrus gaming laptops, the Alienware m15 has an integrated 720 p webcam.

RAM is fully user-upgradeable with two DDR4 sockets, supporting DIMMs up to 3200 MHz. Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition will be available in the US on April 20 in select configurations starting at $1,800.

Dell G15 Ryzen Edition

If you're looking for a less expensive entre into gaming laptops—or you just don't like Alienware branding—check out the Dell G15 lineup.
Enlarge / If you’re looking for a less expensive entre into gaming laptops—or you just don’t like Alienware branding—check out the Dell G15 lineup.

If you’re in the market for a solid gaming laptop at a lower price point, the Dell G15 Ryzen Edition might be more your speed. The G15 pairs a Ryzen 5 5600H or Ryzen 7 5800H with a GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, up to 32GiB of DDR4-3200 RAM, and up to 2TB PCIe NVMe storage.

You don’t get a Cherry MX keyboard-upgrade option on the G15, and the G15 only offers two display options—both 1080 p, at 120 Hz/250 nits and 165 Hz/300 nits. But G15 configurations start at only $900, half the cost of the lowest Alienware m15 spec. The G15 Ryzen Edition will be available in the US beginning May 4—or, if you’re an Intel fan, you can opt for 10th-gen Intel processor configurations as early as April 13, also starting at $900.

Listing image by Dell

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1755155