Alienware Laptops at CES 2022

Might as well make a thread about the new laptops they announced at CES.
https://dell.alienwarearena.com/alienware-amps-up-portability-performance-peripherals/

• The x15 R2 and x17 R2 come with Alder Lake and up to RTX 3080 Ti. Their Element 31 thermal paste is available on all GPU options for the x15 R2 and above RTX 3060 laptop models for the x17 R2. No word on their TGP and Dynamic Boost Range. Only the x17 R2 comes with an HK CPU.
• The new x14 is their 14" laptop. FHD at 144 Hz, up to an RTX 3060 (60w TGP, 25w being Dynamic Boost for a total of 85w), Alder Lake, and only comes with Element 31 and Vapor Chamber Cooling on the RTX 3060 models. Has soldered RAM.
• The m15 R7 comes in both AMD and Intel flavors, with Intel launching first. Seemingly only comes with RTX 30 series laptop GPUs.
• The m17 R5 is an AMD Advantage Laptop, featuring the new Ryzen 6000 series and RX 6850M XT gpu at max TGP (175w; no word on the Smartshift MAX wattage). Also comes with RTX 30-series GPUs. Vapor Chamber only in R9 and RX 6850M XT configurations. Much like the x17, includes option Cherry MX keyboard. Also maxes out with a 240w charger.
• They're all expensive. Ryzen laptops do start at a lower price, though.

https://dell.alienwarearena.com/concept-polaris/
Finally, they released a concept of their next eGPU dock, using Thunderbolt 4.

 

The design of the Polaris eGPU looks slimmer compared to the AGA, suggesting it will fail to take beefier graphics cards. Also this kind of enclosure will be harder to mod. The beauty of TB4 is that people are no longer bound to use an AW eGPU.

 

Interesting to see both NVIDIA RTX3080Ti Mobile and AMD Radeon RX6850M XT running at 175W, new AMD GPU will beat RTX 3080 Mobile, now i know why NVIDIA was forced to used GA103 chip on Laptops.

 

Will be possible to have a Intel CPU+AMD GPU or AMD CPU+NVIDIA GPU configurations?

 

The X14 was the laptop that caught my attention, but the specs are way behind what Razer is offering with the Blade 14 and ASUS are offering with the G14.

Hopefully, the new version of the X15 will be better from a thermal point of view.

 

"We’ve designed and optimized our M-Series and X-Series for two types of players: those who value raw power above all else (M-Series), and those who prioritize mobility but also require the latest gaming technologies (X-Series)"

This suggests that that the larger M series should have an edge over X-series in terms of raw performance, although we know that wasn't the case last iteration. Will be interesting to see if they manage to somehow course-correct.

 

My interpretation on that is that they will perform about the same (Same CPU, GPU configuration, etc), but you are paying more on X-Series to have that power on a very thin machine with better colling solutions (Gallium, Vapor Chamber, etc).

 

If M series is supposed to appeal to the crowd valuing "raw power above everything else", it obviously requires state of the art cooling solution (which shouldn't be a problem given the larger chassis). Otherwise it's all just more marketing gibberish.

The whole series naming would be so somewhat nonsensical too. The slim models should be called M (for mobility, duh), the larger more powerful models should be called X, for extreme..

 

I totally agree with you. Seems in Alienware minds they think "raw power" already comes with the laptop being ""thicker"" (come on, M Series doesn't have a decent cooling enough to use full raw power). They are trying to compete with Macbooks in thinness and that's a joke, only Apple's Custom-ARM can offer perf/watt to allow this right now.

 

They've lowered the TDP of the GPUs on the X series too, so the R5/R6 should outperform it when the specs are the same.

I would have preferred them to have continued the M15 range as it was, rather than stripping features in order to create a new premium tier.

 

It's a pitty the x14 is not offered with a 3070 RTX or higher. Even the Razer Blade 14 can be currently configured with a 3080.

 

Agreed. Idiotic move that must have lost them some business.

 

We won't know performance until they're out in the wild but yeah TDP has been going down for all laptops in general. 10 series and 20 series was great. Then 30 series came and reduced TDP again.

Probably best to wait for raptor lake + 4000 series gpus.

I will admit I kinda like the 14 though. At least it got the 14 core cpu. If it had a 3070 then it'd be perfect. OLED 1440p panel would have been welcome.

 

We won't know performance until they're out in the wild but yeah TDP has been going down for all laptops in general. 10 series and 20 series was great. Then 30 series came and reduced TDP again.

Probably best to wait for raptor lake + 4000 series gpus.

I will admit I kinda like the 14 though. At least it got the 14 core cpu. If it had a 3070 then it'd be perfect. OLED 1440p panel would have been welcome.

 

Something I don't get is the lack of m15 R7 information. It's one of the new laptops, but outside of knowing it has the latest AMD and Intel CPUs and uses RTX 30 GPUs, we know next to nothing about. It's very strange, but at least we know its price and launch windows. Even the press kit is lacking information about the specs (and it's the only laptop to lack that information).
That said, their press kit does include images, and it doesn't look like much has changed from the R5 and R6. More information about these laptops are to revealed in February on Twitch, so maybe that's when we'll hear more about the m15 R7.

 

One reasonable explanation is that it is still work in progress, which could cautiously be taken as a positive sign since tbe m15 needs work. They are also reviving the m17, which is a bit of a U-turn.

 

Probably because it might just be the same old chassis with new BGA MB..

 

Being limited to 1080p and FHD/144hz is disappointing as Razer and Asus are offering much better specs in laptops at the same size and weight. It would have been an easier sell if it was like 1.3KG, not 1.8KG. As it stands, the competition is doing better.

I'll be watching the reviews though as specs don't tell the full story.

 

I'm glad razer blade 14 is getting up to 3080Ti, that is great news, although we'll see if it's a throttle fest. One thing I don't like it it only has AMD CPUs from what I see.

I would rather have Intel's 12th gen 14 core than AMD's 8-core, but that's just me.

it will also be interesting to see if AW refreshes or adds 3070Ti or 3080Ti options in the future due to the competition having them.

 

It does look like the Intel chips this year will beat AMD. Once the benchmarks are out, we'll see how significant the difference is between them.

AMD killed Intel for battery life last year and it looks like Intel will catch up because of those efficiency cores.

I agree with you about the Razer Blade 14. I suspect it will be limited to 100 watts or so. Still, thermals could be an issue.

I like the look of the G14 and G15.

 

I was looking for a new productivity laptop and was happy to see that Alienware was going to come with a slim 14 inch laptop. But I'm disappointed and conflicted.
The good parts about the laptops are:
- 12th gen 45 Watt TDP i7 or i9 CPU
- A gpu up to 3060!
- Vapor chamber cooling (If you pick the 3060 option)
- Screen has color gamut of 100% DCI-P3 coverage
- Very slim and a nice portable size. And also looks slick
- has windows Hello Facial recognition

When coming to the bad sides (especially compared to the competition)
- It has a starting price of $1800. for the minimum i5 and 3050 configuration. Don't want to know what the 3060 version is going to cost.
- Has a screen that isn't qhd / 4k option, no oled option
- Has no glossy screen option, nor touch option but that one isn't such a big deal.
- Has no 16:10 screen ratio even though it has a massive chin. looks very dated with the chin.
- Keyboard doesn't light up secondary keys, also find the positioning of the volume keys a bit weird, but not a big deal
- Only 1 USB A port and no ethernet option
- No signature RGB ring at the back

So now with all these downsides I'm not sure if I should go with this laptop knowing how much it costs.
Honestly even though it has no HDMI port nor a USB A port the XPS 15 seems like a better option. But there is no update of the XPS 15, and looking at the abomination of a XPS 13 plus 9320 that was just annoucned, I'm afraid the XPS 15 will also be messed up. As a software architect, capacitive touch function keys is the last thing I need. Damn, don't know what laptop get to replace my Alienware 13 R3 with.

 

The XPS 13 and XPS 15 have always been good options. If you don't care about gaming, they're still worth considering.

I was pleased to see Alienware announce the X14, but they're behind Razer and ASUS in the 14" gaming market. Miles behind.

Check out the upcoming ASUS Z13 and X13. That might be closer to what you're looking for.

 

I have followed the CES releases, and the Interesting laptops for me are as following:
There are a couple really nice 16 inch laptops, from Gigabyte and from Lenovo, but those are simply too big.
The XPS 15 is actually an amazing machine. But after having waited so long I would want to get a 12th gen CPU, and they are not updated, and if they are going to be like the XPS13 Plus with the capacitive touch, then that's a big no go for me.

When looking at Asus, the Z13 is actually an amazing piece of machine. it pretty much is as of right now one of the best options, with the only downside being, if used as laptop the center of gravity is of course a little annoying, and also the screen has "only" 85% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Wish so bad it was oled or at least as good as the displays in the XPS's. Other than that, that machine is a perfect option for me.

Also checked the Asus 14X OLED which also seems like a really nice option as they are now also updated with the new H series 12th gen CPU's of intel. But it has no discrete GPU. Now I don't really need a beefy GPU, but a GPU that is at least like a 3050 ti would be really nice, as I do use my GPU during development sometimes, and it has a high resolution screen, when something 3d is running at that resolution, I don't want it to lag or anything.

So yeah. the z13 seems like my go to option for now. Now just gotta hope the price is somewhat okay and it's available in US qwerty here in Belgium.

 

I'm not sure about the new XPS 13 myself. I'm replying to you right now on an XPS 13 right now and have always liked this laptop. This one has three thunderbolt ports and a headphone jack. It looks like they're trying to make the new model more like a MacBook Air by removing the headphone jack and third thunderbolt. I'm not convinced about that new keyboard either.

I'm hoping the Z13 is a little more stable to use than a Surface Pro. As you say, it's not a great device to sit on your lap and type because all the weight is in the tablet. So when you're doing a lot of writing, it's better to sit at a table.

One thing I noted about the Z13 is that only the 4K/60hz version comes with a 1TB drive. The FHD/120HZ version comes with 512GB. I checked the user manual and the good news is that you can replace the SSD. The bad news is that it uses the M2.2230 format so even a 1TB drive will cost you a few hundred bucks. I'd be looking to upgrade as 512GB isn't enough for games, but I grudge paying that much for 1TB of storage.

You can obviously use the thunderbolt port to attach a fast drive for games. That might be the best solution but does mean having a drive hanging out of the tablet when you're gaming etc.

Another thing....it has one Type-A port and it's USB 2.0. WTF. Why didn't they at least make it USB 3.0. You're never going to use a USB 2.0 connection for storage or flash drives etc, so it's only useful for a mouse (and a Bluetooth mouse is arguably better with a tablet-like this). It's such a strange area to cut costs.

Despite all of that, it's still one of the most interesting laptops (tablet!) I've seen announced. I love the fact it's only 1.1KG and the fact that they've managed to include a mux switch too. I would have loved the 8MP camera to have been on the front though as I don't ever see myself using the rear camera.

 

LAG!

 

Looking at your implied criteria and strong preference for thin and light, have you considered abandoning all pretence and going with a MacBook?

 

*lag*

 

Yes I have! Actually that is why I waited a year extra, for the release of the M1 pro/max series. I was really impressed what the m1 could do in terms of watt per performance, and I wanted a new macbook pro with those. And surely here they are. The macbook pro 14 is nothing short of an amazing machine! The only thing I'd say I am missing is perhaps a touchscreen, but that's not a big deal, everything else is magnificent.
Plus the macbook has something no other high performance laptop in these days can offer. Same performance delivery when plugged in vs on battery. That is insane! All because the chips are so efficient, and that battery life they offer. Also love the fact that the video and CPU have a shared memory pool. Also a cool thing is the hardware accelerated h.264/HVEC encoding. I do watch a lot video's like series etc. that are encoded on these format. Which means a lot less battery consumption.

But then we get to MacOS. I thought about also switching my note 10 to an iphone 13 pro max. And then you have great synergy, but as a developer, there are so many tools I use that make life so much easier for me. Hell even the finder of macOS is so much inferior to Windows explorer that it can really get frustrating from time to time. And then on top of that, even though I see potential in the future of ARM SoC's. The fact that you have great gpu performance but can barely use it on (native) games is sad. So, I decided to stick with windows. Since 12th gen was around the corner, but here I am with an odd lineup of new systems...

And indeed there is Lag on this website for a couple days now. Very slowly responding.

 

That's my issue too. The MacBooks tick just about all boxes for me, but just aren't suitable for gaming.

The main reasons I didn't opt for a MacBook were.

1. Not suitable for gaming
2. Ridiculous pricing as soon as you want to upgrade the memory or SSD

 

Yeah, more generally, the GPU performance of those macbooks sucks compared to Nvidia GPUs even 3 gens back... The pricing is not great on high end options, and obviously the complete lack of serviceability or upgradeability is a big no for me personally. The main reason to get those is insane battery life/performance which is kind of less of a feature in the age of covid. And who needs MacOS when we have Linux.

 

So, reading the article (should have done that earlier), their Concept Polaris also could be used with Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4. And conveniently enough, the m17 R5 features USB 4 (on models not using the RTX 3050 Ti). However, the current m15 R5 wouldn't be able to use it (if it connects through USB 4) as it maxes out at USB 3.2.

 

Hi guys, I'm looking to upgrade from my area 51m r1 but I need a laptop that can accept 128GB of ram as I work with photogrammetry and laser scanning projects. My area 51m works perfectly with 128GB and as I see the newer Alienware laptops are even more limited in the max supported ram. I see that they support only up to 32GB now. I look also at other brands but they are pretty much the same. Is there any list available with laptops that support up to 128GB of ram?

 

Does it have to be a gaming laptop?

If not, a work station such as the Dell Precision would be perfect for you. Lenovo and HP have great options for workstations too.

 

I just sold a GPU and now I am eyeing that x14 LOL. Must resist...not worth it.

Why do you need an upgrade from Area 51m R1? 9900K + 128GB RAM + RTX 2080 GPU is very hard to beat (assuming those are your specs)

 

I assume you are looking for a top of the range gaming GPU, in that case Clevo X170 is the only DTR left on the market - everything else has been castrated down to your average gamer's needs: 2 RAM slots.

If you are willing to accept a Quadro with lower TGP, then there is the Precision and equivalents from Lenovo, HP etc.

 

Any word on the pricing of the X14 yet?

 

All we know is that it starts at $1,799 for the base model. No word on how much each upgrade to the base model will cost.

 

The problem is that I replaced the motherboard 3 times already under warranty because it blew up some mosfets. Now dell sent me the REV.2.0 of the motherboard and so far works perfectly fine but the warranty also is about to expire soon, that's why I'm thinking to get rid of this and buy something similar which also has 4 dimm slots. The perfect replacement laptop for me would be one with a 12900k - 3080 ti 16GB and 128GB ram. But clevo also didn't update their models, they are still with 11th gen cpus. Are there any news for such kind of laptop or these projects are dead?

Also Dell Precision unfortunately comes with xeon cpus with weak single core , I need something equivalent to 12900k as I also do 3D modelling and I need the single-core power.

 

XMG have said their new models with 12th gen Intel will be available for purchase at the end of January for delivery in mid February.

 

I saw $1,499 somewhere but that was only one place.

Get the R2 with 10900K lol

I must be lucky, I have a release day R1 all original still. It's been on 24/7 since April 2021. I got it in 2019 and used it as my daily machine. I got warranty until 2023 for mine just to be safe. Was it your motherboard or GPU that was causing issues?

 

Just to mention the obvious, tbe Precision also offers non-Xeon CPU options but they are all 45W BGA. For 11the gen the highest spec is i9-11950H. That said for single core action, the low TDP shouldn't be a problem, and indeed the CPU scores very similarly to 11900K:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i9-11950H-Processor-Benchmarks-and-Specs.539055.0.html

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i9-11900K-Processor-Benchmarks-and-Specs.530280.0.html

Should be similar for 12 gen.

Again, the main reason not too get a Precision is the underpowered Quadro GPU, but actually it might be a good fit for your 3D modeling work.