Alienware m17 R3 review

Our Verdict

The Alienware m17 R3 is a powerful and capable gaming laptop, just it has some unexpected crude spots that seem out of place in a system this well-made and well-heeled.

For

Gorgeous design
Rich 4K display
Solid operation beyond the lath

Against

Tobii centre-tracking feels like a pricey gimmick
Gaming ability can't go on up with the 4K brandish
Brusque battery life

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Alienware m17 R3 is a powerful and capable gaming laptop, but information technology has some unexpected rough spots that seem out of place in a arrangement this well-fabricated and well-heeled.

Pros

+
Gorgeous design
+
Rich 4K display
+
Solid performance beyond the lath

Cons

-
Tobii centre-tracking feels like a pricey gimmick
-
Gaming power tin can't keep up with the 4K display
-
Curt battery life

When information technology comes to gaming, Alienware has long been the gorilla in the room, with a well-earned reputation for distinctive designs and strong gaming hardware that'south usually worth the premium toll.

The Alienware m17 R3 is another notch in the belt of the Dell-owned gaming brand, with a capable gaming arrangement that boasts impressive looks and futuristic features. Notwithstanding, not all of those features stick the landing. And when it comes to raw gaming power, the Alienware delivers, but didn't wow me the way I expected it to.

Alienware m17 R3 review: Pricing and configurations

The Alienware m17 R3 starts at $1,549, scaling up as high as $3,529 for the superlative configuration. Within that $two,000 price difference are several preconfigured models, offering everything from higher-powered processing and graphics to loftier-resolution displays, and even eye-tracking technology.

The basic model is outfitted with a 2.six-GHz Intel Core i7-10750H processor and 16GB of RAM, with a 256GB SSD for storage, an AMD Radeon RX 5500M graphics carte with 4GB of VRAM and a 17.3-inch, 1920 10 1080p 144Hz brandish.

At higher prices, you lot can upgrade the processor to a two.4-GHz Intel Core i9-10980HK CPU, bump retention upward to 32GB, swap out the AMD card for an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 or 2080 Super GPU with 8GB of VRAM, upgrade the storage to a pair of 1TB PCIe m.2 SSDs, and stride up from the FHD display to a 4K a 3840 ten 2160 panel.

Our own review unit got all of these upgrades, giving united states the best-of-the-best, $3,529 version of the m17 R3.

Alienware m17 R3 review: Design

The overall wait of the Alienware m17 R3 is both entirely what you'd expect from a gaming laptop, and zippo you lot'd wait from the stereotypical gaming rig. Sure, there are RGB lights blinking and colors pulsing beyond the keyboard, and the overall design of the laptop is on the thicker side to adapt the cooling hardware within. Only the Alienware is surprisingly sleek and elegant, balancing gamer aesthetics with a sophisticated pattern that looks fantastic.

The magnesium alloy chassis is done upwards in "Lunar White" and absolute with rugged black plastic, a look that brings some Star Wars Stormtrooper season to a category best known for blackness color schemes. If you adopt a darker color scheme, you lot tin can besides become the laptop in a charcoal grey finish called "Dark Side of the Moon."

Weighing in at half dozen.six pounds, the 17-inch laptop is surprisingly light for its 15.7 10 11.viii x 0.8-inch dimensions. The chassis design too adds some visual flare to basic elements similar speaker grills and vents, with a hexagonal pattern that looks more futuristic than gaudy.

Beneath the screen is a unique feature: built-in Tobii eye tracking, which tracks your gaze equally you watch the screen, and opens up a number of absurd features you won't observe on other gaming rigs.

On-screen UI elements in some games will fade when y'all expect elsewhere, reducing the clutter in your peripheral vision for more than immersive gaming. Eye tracking-enabled tools tin can train your map and clock-checking habits to help y'all develop a competitive edge, and some game characters will fifty-fifty reply to your gaze or note an inattentive look away.

Alienware m17 R3 review: Ports

The 17-inch size of the Alienware offers enough of space for ports, which are located along the sides and rear of the laptop. On the correct, you will find ii USB 3.0 ports and a micro SD bill of fare slot.

On the left, there'south a meaty Ethernet connection, a tertiary USB 3.0 port and a combination audio jack for headphones or headsets. Also on the left-hand side of the laptop is a case lock slot situated nearly the hinge.

On the back of the m17 is the laptop'south power connexion, HDMI and mini DisplayPort for external monitors, and a single Thunderbolt 3 port for all sorts of peripherals. And, unique to Alienware systems, in that location is a proprietary port for connecting the Alienware Graphics Amplifier, the brand's external graphics menu solution.

Alienware m17 R3 review: Display

Gaming laptops are not always known for their large and expansive displays, but the 17-inch panel on the m17 does ameliorate than most. That's in large part due to the 4K resolution of the 60Hz display, and the impressive HDR functioning it delivers. Compared to xiv- and 15-inch systems, the 17.three-inch display looks huge, only the level of detail information technology offers makes it a cut above the balance.

With very slim 0.three-inch bezels around the UHD panel, you won't feel hemmed in by thick borders effectually the screen. The result is a gaming laptop brandish large plenty to exist a pocket-size monitor, with enough particular and brightness to compete with fifty-fifty mid-range gaming monitors.

In our testing, the Alienware'south 4K display boasted a broad color gamut, reproducing 166% of the sRGB colour gamut, exceeding the sRGB spec by a considerable margin. Compared to other gaming laptops, like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (116%) and the Acer Predator Triton 500 (117%), the difference is staggering.

Whether I was racing through the streets of Los Santos in Thou Theft Auto V or admiring the realistic ray tracing in Control, the Alienware m17 display looked great. Details were sharp and easy to distinguish, and everything from bright neon signs to textured fabric looked exquisite.

It'southward also worth pointing out the excellent brightness of the console, which measured at an boilerplate effulgence of 591 nits. That over again tops the Acer Predator Triton 500 (277 nits) and the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (323 nits). But the screen actually shines in its HDR capability, where playback of HDR video flared with bright highlights while still retaining item even in murky shadows.

Alienware m17 R3 review: Sound

The Alienware m17 R3 is outfitted with downward firing stereo speakers, although the laptop's ventilation grills allow much of the audio to come up up from the top side besides. The overall audio quality is okay, but often competes with the internal cooling fans, which boot on for any demanding job, including all gaming.

Listening to The Deftones' "Genesis," I was impressed by the clear reproduction of vocals and guitars, simply the synthesizers that lead into the runway didn't sound quite right. The lack of bass was specially notable, without any sort of subwoofer to provide the full low-stop that would give the vocal more heft.

Equally with most gaming laptops, we recommend getting a good gaming headset for improve audio quality and easier communication in online games.

Alienware m17 R3 review: General operation

Our review unit of the Alienware m17 R3 offered the all-time hardware bachelor on the laptop, with an Intel Core i9-10980HK processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super GPU, 32GB DDR4 memory and double-barreled storage with dual 1TB PCIe M.two solid state drives. It's a setup that costs a few thousand dollars, but there'southward some question near whether the functioning it produces is actually top of the line.

On the Geekbench iv.three overall performance examination, the m17 put up an impressive score of 29,955, just it was bested by the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (thirty,181 with an AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS) and just pulled slightly ahead of the Dell G5 15 SE (29,253 with a AMD Ryzen R7 4800H), feuling contentions that AMD's latest chips may be the better bargain.

The Alienware m17 easily handled our Handbrake video conversion examination, transcoding a 4K video to 1080p in 7 minutes 16 seconds. Again, this is a respectable fourth dimension, only it was edged out by cheaper, AMD-powered systems, similar the Dell G5 15 SE (6:43) and the Asus ROG Zephyrus (half-dozen:59).

Finally, the solid state storage offers zippy data transfer rates, finishing our file transfer test in 5 seconds, at a rate of one,082.8 MBps. Here the Alienware takes top marks, beating out the Dell G5 15 SE (400 MBps) and most matching the Zephyrus (1,131 MBps), which also boasted a 1TB SSD.

Alienware m17 R3 review: Gaming functioning

Armed with a potent Intel Cadre i9-10980HK processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super GPU with 8GB of VRAM, our review unit was clearly outfitted to blow by the competition in most gaming tasks.

When sticking to 1080p resolutions, the Alienware routine pumped out excellent frame rates.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the m17 produced 74 frames per 2nd (fps), blazing past the Asus ROG Zephyrus (49 fps with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q) and the Dell G5 fifteen SE (45 fps with an AMD Radeon RX 5600m), merely falling backside more as equipped competitors, like the Acer Predator Triton 500 (98 fps with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super).

In 4K gaming, which the 17-inch UHD display cries out for, the results were less impressive. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the Alienware notched a less-than-playable 28 fps, although it did better in benchmarks for Grand Theft Auto 5 (34 fps) and Metro: Exodus (34 fps). To really enjoy 4K gaming on the Alienware m17, y'all'll probably demand to invest in Alienware's external GPU, the Graphics Amplifier.

That said, at 1080p and WQHD resolutions, I found gaming to be shine and enjoyable. While touring the Acropolis in Assassinator's Creed Odyssey, the brightly lit environments of ancient Greece were full of vivid colors and minute details, from textures on stone and fabric to meticulously recreated sweeping cityscapes, punctuated by recreations of famous historical sites. Nonetheless, during this historical tour, I noted occasional screen tearing, and motility was not always shine and judder-free.

The same was truthful in Spotter Dogs two, where a brightly lit San Francisco park was filled with colorful landscapes and objects. Crowds of bystanders went about their imitation lives as I hacked every device in sight.

Alienware m17 R3 review: Eye tracking

1 unique characteristic available on the Alienware m17 R3 is the congenital-in Tobii center tracking offered on higher-terminate configurations, including our review unit of measurement.

Just below the display, embedded in the hinge of the display lid, is a sensor bar that quietly watches you, with an intensity that would be creepy in a human — and may be a lilliputian creepy in a laptop, as well. Able to track the direction of your gaze with a combination of sensors, information technology can track where you're looking on screen. That, in plough, can enable all sorts of features, from focus-driven elements in games, to streaming aids that allow Twitch streamers circulate and share information more than easily.

The reality, though, is that eye-tracking seems to be a lot of work for very limited return. The setup process is relatively painless, with a few directed glances to calibrate the eye tracker to your particular peepers. In games, it besides provides a bubble on screen that indicates where you're looking, and could definitely provide some interesting post-game analysis fodder for competitive gamers.

Support is limited, simply growing, and Tobii touts a list of more than 150 supported games, including Hitman, Far Cry 5, Valkyrie Warzone and Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

If that sounds worthwhile, and then definitely get it, because it is the sort of futuristic technology that feels like magic. But later on a few sessions with the tracking turned on, I institute myself mostly irritated by it. Center-tracking required thinking about how and where I looked — not only as a thing of looking to run across something, but as a functional interaction with the laptop. The feature actually pulled me out of games more often than it aided the immersion.

Alienware m17 R3 review: Keyboard and touchpad

The Alienware m17 boasts a total size keyboard with a number pad, all done upwards with a sleek chiclet design in the aforementioned Lunar White color as the magnesium alloy deck. But where other laptops have struggled to keep white-on-white keycaps legible and usable, the Alienware m17 backs each primal with RGB lighting, letting y'all light upwards the keyboard with the color of your choice, or pulse with a rainbow pattern in default manner.

Even more impressive than the keyboard is the extra big touchpad, which measures 4.1 x 3.i inches and uses a clickable surface instead of detached buttons. That large surface area is super useful, particularly in not-gaming situations, as you swipe and tap across the 17-in screen. Information technology's i of the largest touchpads I've seen, and information technology's 1 of the near comfortable to use.

The merely minor detail about the trackpad that defenseless my attending was an occasional false positive, when it would sense a fingertip where one wasn't meant to exist, and would then leap to a different function of the folio or document I was working on. Whether this is faulty palm rejection or misreading the location of an intended bear upon was unclear.

Alienware m17 R3 review: Battery life

Gaming laptops are not known for their battery life, and aside from outliers similar the ASUS ROG Zephyrus, an 60 minutes or ii of gaming is actually a pretty practiced upshot. In our bombardment test, which lowers the screen brightness to 150 nits and tests the battery with continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi, the m17 lasted 2 hours and 30 minutes.

While that'south non out of the ordinary for a gaming laptop, it'south a far cry from some of the latest competitors, which push button battery life to several hours, similar the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (eleven:32) or even the Dell G5 15 SE (7:13). Information technology's far closer to systems like the Acer Predator Triton 500 (2:24).

But information technology's also worth noting that web-browsing tests don't reflect gaming use, and actual duration while gaming was much, much less. Playing Grand Theft Automobile 5 at 1080p resolution the laptop bombardment quickly dropped from full to empty, and only lasted 21 minutes. This isn't a laptop for gaming on the go, unless your definition of on-the-go includes a wall outlet and the m17'southward giant power adapter.

Alienware m17 R3 review: Verdict

The Alienware m17 R3 is a beautiful machine and a capable gaming rig, but information technology's held back by a mix of former and new – old-school battery functioning limits your mobility when gaming, and the decision to use high-terminate Intel hardware didn't quite interpret into the sort of performance we expect at this premium pricing tier. Fifty-fifty some of the forward-thinking features had their issues: the Tobii center tracker, for case, which sounds crawly, but left this reviewer cold, and the trackpad, which had issues with basic fingertip tracking.

Those faults aside, the Alienware m17 R3 is still a superb automobile, with a killer design and slap-up gaming chops. Merely compared to other gaming systems on the market, information technology doesn't reach the highs that we know Alienware can hit.

Brian Westover is an Editor at Tom'due south Guide, covering everything from TVs to the latest PCs. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he wrote for TopTenReviews and PCMag.