Alienware's Latest AMD Gaming Laptop Has A 480Hz Display
At CES 2022, Alienware gave us a glimpse of its 2022 lineup of 17-inch gaming laptops, among which was the Alienware m17 R5 — a direct successor to the Alienware m17 R4 from 2021. Back then, Alienware promised the m17 R5 lineup would go on sale starting April 2021. The machines did go on sale as planned, and as evident from the listing on Dell's website, you can buy an m17 R5 machine right now in both Intel and AMD configurations.
Today, however, Alienware gave the m17 R5 a mid-life upgrade by adding the option of a new machine that will use AMD's brand new graphics card: the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT 12GB GDDR6 GPU. The m17 R5 now also boasts of an FHD display with a 480Hz refresh rate and a response time of just 3ms.
Another product that received the AMD treatment today is Alienware's thin and light laptop called the Alienware x17 R2. Alienware already sells the Intel variants of this machine — all of them featuring Intel chips and NVIDIA graphics. The mid-life update to the x17 R2 comes with the same FHD, 480hz, 3ms display we saw on the m17 R5.
In addition to these two machines, Alienware's parent company Dell also announced the launch of a new gaming-centric machine called the Dell G16 — claimed to be the company's first 16-inch gaming laptop that is the size of a traditional 15-inch laptop.
Alienware m17 R5: Everything you should know
The Alienware m17 R5 range of notebooks includes the company's most expensive, feature-packed machines. While all m17 R5 get a 17.3-inch FHD panel with a 3ms response time, there are four refresh rate options on offer depending on your budget, starting with 120 Hz and 165 Hz going up to 360 Hz and 480 Hz. The 480Hz option — as you might be already aware — is a fresh addition in terms of the features list for the Alienware m17 R5.
The processor options available for the Alienware m17 R5 include an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H and an even more powerful Ryzen 9 6900 HX. In addition, the machine offers six different graphics options to choose from, including NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. AMD graphics options include the AMD Radeon RX 6700M and the RX 6850M XT.
The Alienware m17 R5 allows users to choose between 8GB and 64GB of dual channel DDR5 RAM, with 16GB and 32GB as options on the mid-tier variants. Depending on your budget, Alienware lets you choose between single and dual storage SSD configurations with the base capacity set at 256GB — going up to 4TB on the top variants. The new variants of the Alienware m17 R5 go on sale today, with the base price starting at $1599.99.
Alienware x17 R2: What's new?
Alienware claims that its x17 R2 is its thinnest 17-inch laptop yet. Like the m17 R5, this machine has also been on sale for a while now. Today's update, however, endows the Alienware x17 R2 with the same feature that the m17 R5 — the addition of 480Hz refresh rate as an option. The rest of the tech specs don't seem to have changed much. The 17.3-inch display also comes on less expensive 160 Hz and 120Hz options. The processor options on offer for the x17 R2 include an Intel Core i7 12700H and the Core i9 12900HK. Graphics options include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, RTX 3070 Ti, and the RTX 3080 Ti. Moving on to the RAM configurations, they start with 16GB, going up to 64GB for the top variant. The mid-tier option gives users 32GB of RAM.
Onboard storage options start with 512GB and go up to 4TB on the most expensive variant. Alienware also lets users configure these SSDs in RAID 0 configuration. Like its cousin — the Alienware m17 R5, this machine will also go on sale starting today, July 19, 2022, across the U.S.
Dell G16 Gaming laptop: A 16-inch machine in the body of a 15-inch laptop
Also announced alongside the two Alienware machines is Dell's new 16-inch gaming-oriented machine called the Dell G16. The G16's claim to fame is the fact that it packs a 16-inch display in the frame of what Dell suggests is a traditionally-sized 15-inch machine. As expected, this 11% improvement in screen real estate is achieved by implementing a narrower bezel design. The display itself has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels and supports a refresh rate of 165Hz.
Powering the Dell G16 is a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 12700H chip with memory options ranging from 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB. Storage options start from 512GB and go up to 2TB using SSDs. Graphics card options include the NVIDIA RTX 3050 Ti, the RTX 3060 Ti, and the 3070 Ti.
The Dell G16 will go on sale starting July 21, 2022, with a starting price of $1399.