Alienware m15 R4 - Review

Alienware have been updating most of their laptops with the newer Intel CPU’s lately, which has resulted in some serious performance boosting across the board, but the question needs to be asked, is extra power, in laptops that are quite thin, all that wonderful?

If you are new to the Alienware laptops, or at least haven’t been around for a few years, then you will be happy to note that the same Legend ID design is still in effect here. In fact, comparing this R4 model, to the R3 from last year, there is extraordinarily little that is different, at least at first, in fact if you read our review on the m17 R3 that we did last year, that delves into the design more. While the overall look and feel is very much the same, highlighting the refresh nature of the product, there are some significant improvements across the board, that have instead made this a far more worthwhile investment. Now while the case itself is similar, there is one big change to the keyboard, that will change things drastically and that is the fact that the m15 R4 sports a new Cherry Red MX mechanical keyboard, just in a new ultra-narrow form factor and even more surprising, it works as expected.

Mechanical keyboards are not everyone’s cup of tea, purely due to the amount of noise that they can create, because as the name suggests, they are mechanical. However, the experience of use, is far greater than the average chicklet style keyboard, which until now has been the only option for most laptops. Being able to type and play games with a mechanical keyboard, contained within the form factor of a laptop, is utterly bizarre and amazing at the same time. The strangest part about all of it, is that the ultra-narrow form means that it no longer contains the massive keys, which are the source of most of the noise, so even though it is mechanical, it sounds more like a chicklet style keyboard when in use. While mechanical keyboards are not going to be for everyone, the fact that there is one included here and it is quiet when you are using it, is just an impressive feat of engineering.

Outside of that, the other upgrades to the m15 series, as well as the m17, is that the GPU has been boosted, now sporting a powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 inside, meaning that you can get some serious power from it. I was able to run DOOM Eternal, with everything set to Ultra and not encounter any frame drops or lag in visual clarity. Games with larger spaces like The Outer Worlds, also ran smoothly, hitting over 100fps without issue, in 4K and even more intense titles, though older, like Counter Strike Global Offensive were able to run, flawlessly. The amount of power that the laptop offers is beyond insane and right now, they are only offering the 10th gen Intel CPU’s, once the 11th gen offerings are included, you could see some increase in performance across the board.

This though brings us to a downside for all that power, heat and noise, two things you really have to consider with any laptop, but here it is crucial. First the heat, while Alienware are still using their Cryo-tech cooling system, there is some heat generated by the newer GPU that the system doesn’t manage to dissipate with ease. Worry not though, you won’t be able to flip it over anytime soon to cook eggs on it, but if you are sitting with the laptop on your lap, you might find that it takes less time for it to become annoying. While the vapor chamber tech keeps things cool for most use, when you game and run something at the maximum settings and resolutions, it struggles to keep up, even with the fans running at max speeds, which brings us to the other problem. The noise level that the laptop can create when you are doing anything taxing is, in a word infuriating, you would get less noise if you were gaming in between two active airport runways.

Alienware have done a solid job for the fans, because if you are just surfing the web, or doing some light productivity, you won’t hear a thing, even if you start to do some extra work like in Photoshop, the noise generated is minimal. The problem is that this is a gaming laptop, made by a brand that specializes in gaming and aimed at gamers, having it sound like it is trying to take off, whenever you boot up a modern game is not the most optimal experience. At this point, there is also nothing Alienware can do about it, at least until they are willing to change the form factor and given its appeal, I can’t see that happening.

Speaking of the form factor, this is a point that I raise with almost every laptop and it has to be said here again, but the power brick for this machine is just too damn big. Given that this is meant to be a portable gaming machine, needing to carry a power brick that is 1/3 the size, plus then all the cables, is nothing short of horrifying and what makes it even worse, is that the USB-C port on the back, can charge the laptop. Now I understand that this was a refresh, not an all-new design, but after a few years of letting it slide, this is now something that Alienware need to correct. Having a laptop with a sleek design, like the m series has, but throwing a massive and ugly power brick next it, is just not going to cut it in future.

In terms of other features on the laptop, you are getting standard options, there are a few USB-A 3.2 gen ports on the left and right sides of it, a microSD card slot, ethernet port and a headphone jack as well. The rear of it contains your HDMI and Display ports, as well as the USB-C port, which is also Thunderbolt 3 compatible. You will also discover the Alienware designed power slot and the Graphics Amplifier connector, should you want to make use of that. We already spoke on the keyboard above, but while it is all new, the trackpad is the same precision-point glass option that has been around for a while, but it is as smooth as ever and does exactly what you need, there is no reason to change what works.

The internal update to the Alienware m15 is not a massive jump, if you bought in last year, the inclusion of the new Nvidia GeForce 3080 GPU is welcome, but not something you need to rush out and get. However, the additional mechanical keyboard is something to pay attention to, purely because it changes how the laptop feels when in use, which if we are being honest, is not something that changes all that often. For the general user, it shouldn’t be a big selling point, but for anyone who considers themselves a power user or gamer, without a doubt this is something you should pay attention to. While the laptop runs fine and was able to handle all the tasks, I threw at it, the amount of noise that it creates when running at full throttle is unnerving and while the heat levels were not horrendous, there is enough to be annoying after a while.

If you haven’t updated in a while and are considering doing it this year, then the R4 revisions are a series to keep an eye on, the power provided should cover you for years and years, just as long as you can deal with the tradeoffs.

The Score

8.5

Review code provided by Alienware

The Pros

+Keeps that amazing design, which is one of my favourites

+The included mechanical keyboard feels like magic when in use

The Cons

-All the extra power requires more cooling than it was made to do

-That power brick is massive and hurts the portability of the laptop