Alienware 17in Laptop – Is it the best gaming laptop out there?

Alienware laptops have always stood stop in gaming laptop hierarchy with their incredible performances, and these 17-in Gaming laptop options are no less either!

Known as one of the biggest and the best brands in the sky of gaming laptops, Alienware Gaming Laptops have never missed out. And, when it comes to the size of 17inches, these are basically purchased by people who are looking to compensate their gaming desktop with a gaming PC with this. These are known to deliver excellent performance and gaming quality to the users tackling issues like over-heating and leaving spaces for over-clocking too.

Today, the company is a subsidiary of Dell, one of the world’s largest laptop manufacturer. In general, Dell have not been very good with their latest products, but Alienware has not stooped low in it’s reputation, which might be dues to its specialized niche and the target audience the laptops are based on.

Perfornamce wise, Alienware Gaming laptops feature the latest and best of the CPUs, GPUs providing desktop gaming experience, along with their exclusively stunning builts and designs and highly feasible peripherals. Even the laptops, focused more at towards the entry level gamers offer specs like GeForce 30 series graphics cards and a 10th generation Intel CPU of your choice, which makes Alienware 17 in Laptops one of the best gaming laptops out there in the market.

Featured with top-quality keyboards, mouse and screens, you are bound to have the gaming experience of your life. Not just that, the customization options these Alienware Gaming laptops offer are no joke! Ranging from customized keyboards, RGB lightings, you can make the laptop your pet without much technical hassles.

Alienware 17in laptops in the market..

Till date, Alienware has come up with a wide range of 17in. gaming laptops targeted both towards entry-level gamers to professionals. Some of the most popular and sought after gaming laptops are listed down below along with their Amazon links:

• Alienware X17 R2 Gaming Laptop (Intel Core i7 512 GB SSD Variant)
• Alienware X17 R2 Gaming Laptop (12th Gen Intel Core i7 1 TB SSD Variant)
• Alienware X17 R2 Gaming Laptop ( 12th Gen Intel Core i9 2TB SSD Variant)
• Alienware M17 R5 Gaming Laptop (Ryzen 9 1 TB SSD Variant)
• Alienware M17 R5 Gaming Laptop (Ryzen 7 512 GB SSD Variant)
• Alienware M17 R5 Gaming Laptop (AMD Ryzen 7 512 GB SSD Variant)

For further explanation, we have picked up the two most loved and purchased Alienware 17-in Laptops, on which one is the best gaming laptops. In this article, we will give you a general overview, specification, pros and cons along with our final verdict on the Alienware 17in laptop. This will help you decide whether or not you should make it your next big purchase. Please take a look at them below:

#1. Alienware X17 R2 Gaming Laptop – Popular Pick

Available in only white color on the exterior, and a one-color dark grey color with speckle-patterns on the surface, this Alienware X17 R2 Gaming Laptop, is a as functionally incredible as it looks.  

Claimed as the revised version of the last year’s original laptop from Alienware, the Alienware X17 R2 Gaming laptop, has an upgraded firepower. Featuring an Intel “Arder Lake” Cire i9 CPU alongside Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics, it delivers unhinged performance throughout. Compared to the original model, the Alienware X17 R2 gaming laptop features, Intel’s 12^th Genration processors with DDR5 memory. It comes with the Wi-Fi part baked on but removable RAM.

External Appearance:

Surprisingly, unlike most of the other Alienware laptops offering a great colour options, it is just available in Lunar light with high endurance coat in the exterior and a dark grey palette with speckles texture on the interior.

Thermal System:

The Alienware X17 gaming laptop contains 4 fans – two big ones and two small ones. In addition to the fans, they also have integrated a phase change material containing thermal compound, made up of Gallium. Now, not delving into the chemical composition, what we can say honestly is that the cooling system has amazingly improved and is very satisfactory with the CPU clocking at 3.2 to 3.3 GHz, CPU/GPU temperature at 82C/ 62C along with the fan noise of just 49dB. It also comes with premium features like Alienware Command Centre, Alien FX Lighting Technology, game library with auto-tune game profile functionality and many more.

Overclock Possibilities:

Overclocking is also fairly supported unlike other gaming laptops which are generally at their thermal limit, and with the great thermal system the Alienware X17 gaming laptop doesn’t disappoint.

Camera Quality:

Coming towards the camera quality, it has a 1280×720 resolution camera with dual-array microphones and Windows Hello IR support, which is pretty good for Zoom calls and business meetings too.

Battery Life:

The battery in the device is also pretty big with 4 and a half hours of battery life on regular testing with a 4K panel. The keyboard also uses the same Cherry MX mechanical switches as in the last device. But, if you are not a fan of loud keyboard while typing, you might not like it very much.

Customization Options:

The tail-end of Alienware X17 R2 gaming laptop is still up with the iconic Alienware look – consisting of an RGB trim-light (extensively customizable according to your wish), and the hexagonal exhaust grid. First introduced as the thinnest laptop model Alienware has ever put out, however, it isn’t exceptionally lighter to carry, still remaining big and heavy.

Ports:

It contains ports like the 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports with PowerShare, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, 1 Thunderbolt 4 port with Power Delivery, 1 Universal Audio Jack,1 HDMI 2.1 port,1 Mini, DisplayPort 1.4, 1 RJ45 Ethernet port, and a 1 power-adapter port. This is better in comparison to it’s market competitors.

Alienware X17 R2 gaming laptop is a very powerful laptop, competing with market rockers like the MSI Raider Ge76, but is not a cheap one.  Among the several shortcomings, the speckle integrated interior of the laptop is very prone to fingerprints and the laptop’s added thinness, doesn’t really make it more portable, and in fact sets limit to its power potential whilst adding more cost.

Specifications

What we liked and didn’t like about the Alienware X17 R2 Gaming laptop

#2. Alienware M17 r5 Gaming Laptop – Latest Release

Undoubtedly, one of the world’s most powerful 17-inch gaming laptop, the Alienware m17 r5 gaming laptop is truly the best purchase you can make right now if you are looking for a high-definition gaming laptop to buy.

This was one of the most anticipated laptops for the AMD fans, for it is in fact, the first all AMD Alienware system integrating the Ryzen 6000 processor alongside Radeon 6000 graphics. Now, this combination is honestly, one of the best as this fuels the AMD Smart Shift max, and what this basically does is shifts power dynamically around the system components in real time, depending on performance priority. For instance, if you are to edit a video on this laptop, all the performance is going to be shifted to the CPU and GPU likewise.  This is a great tool that can challenge the power constraints seen in most of the gaming laptops.  

Like most of the Alienware Gaming laptops, you are going to have a few specs options, and the one we are talking about right now is the model having Ryzen 9 6900 HX paired with Radeon RX 6850 M XT graphics. This particular one also comes with a 32 GB of ddr5 memory, that operates at 4800 MhZ along with 120 Hz 4K display.

On top of that, it also has a AMD free sync premium to mitigate any kinds of tearing delivering you an amazingly smooth gameplay experience. However, if you are on a budget, you can get this feature at the 1080p 360Hz one too, which delivers at a similar frame rate. Containing two m.2 slots available, this laptop gives you enough room for upgrade in case you need one in the future, that is beside a removable Wi-Fi too.   

External Appearance:

Alienware m17 r5 Gaming laptop is an incredible gaming beast that is even worthy enough to replace your main gaming desktop with it’s power, gaming screen and an overall gaming experience. Color wise too, this model has an external casing of a dark grey color with the signature Alienware stadium fx ring similar to the previous model we described (Alienware X17 R2) with a terrific color-customizable Alien head on top and also in the power button.

Thermal Systems:

For thermal systems, first starting off with the vents, frankly speaking, the vents are everywhere in this on Alienware Gaming Laptop! There are vents all over the keyboard, on the side, towards the back and even on the underside. This gaming laptop runs on a dual intake quad exhaust design that pulls the cool air from the top and bottom vents and exhausts through the side ( left and right) and back cooling. The thermal profiles can also be chosen via Alienware Command Center program depending on whether low noise or the maximum performance is a priority to you.

Memory:

It also lets the CPU have full access to the ddr6 vRAM on the GPU, which was only limited to 256 GB in the past. This will let CPU offload more resources onto the VRAM, that will result in an incredible performance boost while doing activities like gaming. The keyboard is also very great with ultra-low profile cherry mx keys with the cool alien fx rgb backlighting, setting each key to whatever individual color you want. The track pad is also significantly good with great responsiveness and tactile feedback, even though a little bigger would have been better (that’s what she said).

Camera Quality:

Now, coming towards the camera, it has a 720p camera which can easily assist you in zoom calls and classes. The built-in microphone is also satisfactory, as it doesn’t get affected by the background noises.

Speakers and Audio Quality:

The speakers are also pretty good giving you quite a loud sound, but you should not expect insane audio qualities from it.

Ports:

For ports, on the left is the headset/mic combo jack and an ethernet port, and on the right side are 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, one of which is a power share port that’ll let you charge devices like phone from it even when the system is off. On the rear side, is a USB Type C, USB A 3.2 Gen 1 port, alongside HDMI 2.1 output and finally the connector for the charging brick, which is pretty cool.  

Battery Life:

The Ryzen- Radeon combo on this Alienware Gaming Laptop has also significantly assisted in increasing battery life, due to its ability to switch between APU and GPU during performances, based on your needs. If you do the basic activities like watching YouTube in 4k quality, the battery life is about 6 hours which is pretty good for a gaming laptop. However, intense gaming like Elden Ring and Horizon Zero, will only last you a battery of about 1 hour. So, it is recommendable to use it plugged in.

Specifications

What we liked and didn’t like about the Alienware M17 R5 Gaming laptop

Is Alienware 17in laptop worth it?

Yes! It is definitely worth it! If you are looking for incredible performance and quality, along with a great thermal system, the Alienware 17 in. is definitely something you should invest money in. Although the prices are a little high, it is definitely worth for the service it provides, that will make you forget about a gaming desktop!

Conclusion

All in all, Alienware 17 in laptops are a great option for the best gaming laptops in the market. As mentioned above already, these offer you great performance directed for both entry level gamers and professionals. With the power to replace desktops on your gaming desks, they also provide almost all control in your set up giving your very high customizability, including a range of CPUs and GPUs to different screen panels for your needs, which a lot of brands don’t offer.

Plus, a great peripheral addition made from top-quality products are bound to give you a great gaming experience, no doubt. However, the prices for these laptops are higher than it’s competitors like ASUS and MSI, that might turn out to be unsuitable for people who are on a tight budget.

Frequently Asked Questions

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