This 2024 Alienware Model Is The Rare Gaming Laptop I Wouldn't Mind Bringing To The Office

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Alienware m16 R2 intends to beryllium nan cleanable laptop for gamers and professionals alike, and it succeeds.
• It delivers high-level capacity and a 2K show that'll make some groups smile, while giving users a measurement to reside down nan RGB lighting via Stealth Mode.
• You'll request to support that charger adjacent by, arsenic nan M16 R2's artillery doesn't past very long.

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Gaming laptops are often connected nan cutting separator of technology, lodging immoderate of nan industry's champion hardware. Powerful Meteor Lake processors, visually stunning RTX 40-series GPUs, nan works. With that successful mind, you'd deliberation that professionals looking for high-end machines would beryllium clamoring to bargain 1 of these machines for themselves, but that's not really nan case. Gaming laptops aren't precisely ubiquitous, but why? Well, it mightiness person to do pinch their flashy RGB lights that ray up for illustration Disney's Electrical Parade. 

Also: One of nan champion activity laptops I've tested has MacBook written each complete it (but it's moreover better)

Gaming devices often travel equipped pinch RGB lighting, which looks cool, but tin beryllium beautiful distracting, particularly erstwhile you're successful a activity gathering trying to look superior and person a laptop lit up for illustration a Christmas character successful beforehand of you. Subtlety is nan sanction of nan crippled here. Thankfully, manufacturers are taking announcement of this imaginable displacement successful customer preference. Dell, for one, has travel up pinch a solution successful a caller gaming laptop that besides has nan moving master successful mind: nan Alienware m16 R2.

I americium a large instrumentality of Dell's creation choices here. The m16 R2 strikes a bully equilibrium of looking aesthetically cool while besides maintaining practicality. On nan outside, you person a shiny acheronian grey exterior pinch a stylized number 16 and an Alienware logo astatine nan top. You'll announcement location isn't a large thermal support jutting out; nan power vents are flush pinch nan show erstwhile positioned upright. Ditching nan support makes this laptop easier to transportation compared to bulkier models. Owners will request each nan thief they tin get since nan m16 R2 isn't easy to transportation around; it weighs astir six pounds.

On nan wrong is simply a matte achromatic keyboard. The RGB lighting connected this acheronian inheritance makes nan colors guidelines retired nicely. Typing connected nan keyboard was a pleasure, too. The matte aboveground is soft to nan touch, and nan keys each person a springy consciousness to them. I'm a sucker for a comfy keyboard, but nan comfortableness level isn't what I for illustration astir about nan m16's keyboard. If you look intimately astatine nan usability keys, you'll announcement different icons than what you would spot connected a modular keyboard, arsenic they person unsocial functionalities made specifically for this laptop.

Also: Finally, an ultraportable Windows laptop I'd usage astatine nan agency (even though it's for gamers)

F2 is nan astir useful successful my sentiment since it activates Stealth Mode. The mode causes nan RGB lights to instantly move white, making nan instrumentality look much for illustration a generic activity laptop. This is ace useful for erstwhile you're successful a nationalist mounting and don't want to pull attraction to yourself. Pressing F1, connected nan different hand, activates Performance Mode. Hitting nan fastener while gaming forces nan hardware to instantly execute amended by defaulting nan hardware to preset settings optimized for gaming. The problem pinch this mode is that it besides instantly activates nan cooling fans, and they're rather loud. At slightest nan fans do activity good astatine keeping nan laptop from overheating.

F4, F5, and F6 are for keybinds, letting you necktie civilization actions to them, pinch F3 reserved for redeeming your keybinds. All nan accustomed audio power functions person been moved to nan acold right. Besides nan keyboard, I bask really nan separator of nan thenar remainder astatine nan beforehand of nan instrumentality is noticeably round. It's softer connected nan wrists erstwhile compared to different laptops, ensuring a comfortable typing experience. Features for illustration these let nan m16 R2 to propulsion double work astatine being a gaming and work-centric laptop and bespeak that Dell put a batch of thought into designing nan model. 

One point worthy noting, though, is that I did find nan trackpad to beryllium a small small. Perhaps they wanted to make room for nan speakers supra nan keyboard, successful which lawsuit I opportunity it was a worthwhile move since nan audio sounds awesome for a laptop. Just support successful mind that they're not powerful capable to capable a room.

Also: I tested Dell's XPS successor, and it made my $3,000 Windows laptop look bad

The Alienware m16 R2 runs connected an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, a processor I announcement is commonly recovered connected galore 2024 laptops. It's a bully action arsenic it offers coagulated capacity while not inflating nan value tag excessively much. To spot what it's tin of, I ran it done nan Geekbench test, wherever nan processor earned a people of 12,725, outperforming nan Ultra 9's mean people of 12,611. So connected nan correct laptop, nan Ultra 7 tin beryllium nan amended spot than nan higher-end hardware. 

Alongside nan CPU are nan Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics paper and 16GB of RAM, though it would've been bully to person 32GB. I knowledgeable a dip successful capacity erstwhile I was playing Helldivers 2 astatine precocious graphical settings. But 16GB is fine; it gets nan occupation done successful astir situations.

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

Speaking of video games, nan gamers retired location will emotion nan device's screen. It's a 16-inch 2K solution show (2,560 x 1,600 pixels) pinch a refresh complaint of 240Hz. A precocious refresh complaint enables soft and responsive gameplay, making it a adjacent necessity for fast-paced titles.

All this hardware does travel pinch a powerfulness cost, however. While it's unplugged from a powerfulness source, nan artillery connected nan m16 R2 doesn't past very agelong contempt each nan tech meant to support its longevity. I performed my accustomed trial of moving an endlessly playing YouTube unrecorded watercourse astatine 720p and 50 percent brightness, and it lasted 6.5 hours pinch Best Power Efficient enabled.  

ZDNET's buying advice

I urge nan Alienware m16 R2 to group who want a laptop that tin do double duty. It excels astatine being an entertainment/gaming machine, but it's inconspicuous capable for nan office. Prices for nan laptop person risen successful caller months. A build carrying an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, a GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, and 16GB of RAM tin beryllium bought for $1,900 astatine Best Buy. A much powerful configuration pinch 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD is disposable for $2,479 astatine Amazon.

I should mention that you tin customize definite parts of nan instrumentality moreover aft you've purchased it. For example, you tin upgrade nan SSD from 1 TB of retention to 8 TB. To study really to do this, travel nan instructions connected pages 36 to 44 of nan laptop's Owner's Manual, which you tin find on Dell's website.