*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 R2 / m17 R2 Owner's Lounge

I'm awaiting my purchase on your reviews between them. If you can do apples to apples FPS, that would be fantastic. GTAV and Apex seem to be nice benchmarks that separate cards.

 

I only have one benchmark to report so far. I ran AC:Odyssey at Ultra High 4K preset.

R1 w/2060 achieved 24 FPS
R2 w/2070MQ achieved 28 FPS

So 16% increase? Sounds about right...obviously both are non playable. They quickly become playable if you turn volumetric clouds to HIGH as that increased frames over 30, but I didn’t record the exact results. I also ran the 2060 at 1080P and a custom preset which is basically Ultra High with volumetric clouds at High, and I think Fog at Med. That was 58 FPS on the 2060. I don’t have the 2070’s benchmark result, but I have played the game at that exact setup and it’s right around 60FPS, so the 2070 isn’t really showing benefit for 1080P gaming in this one particular game.

 

1080p is definitely what I'm interested in, since 4k is a bit unreasonable to ask of these chips. Thanks for the data, I'll keep watching for more

 

Try to set color accuracy on/off in Intel Graphics panel. The setting is missing in command center.

On my OLED setting it to OFF gives more vibrant colors (definitely not accurate, but more 'alive').

 

I'd suggest going to NotebookCheck and setting up a 3 way comparison with 2060, 2070 MQ, and 2070 (laptop). Here is the link to check games:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphics-Cards.13849.0.html

For example, it says Apex Legends is 129 FPS on the 2070 full (not Max Q) and the 2060 gets 114 - looks like the MQ variant is smack dab in the middle. If these extra 15 frames really matter, I doubt it. Certainly not worth ~300 dollar upgrade for the max-q. I tend to look at the full fat 2070, not the Max Q for how the M15's 2070 MQ performs, which is also supported by the NotebookCheck review on other Alienware laptops with Max Q graphics.

I've tested a few more games/benchies on the two M15's that I have, and I would say based on this limited testing, that the 2070 offers better frames for native 4K (albeit still sub 60FPS), and much better ray tracing performance. So if you do not care about 4K or Ray Tracing (the latter is more interesting) then just stick with the 2060!

I am a bit torn as I have the 4K OLED model, and while most games will scale well at 1080P or slightly higher, it would be nice to have a more capable GPU should the game only really work at 4K. It also probably starts to matter a bit more at 1440P as well, which looks great on the 4k display.

Here are some of my results:

• Shadow of the Tomb Raider @ 1080P Highest Setting: R1 w/2060 gets 60 FPS /// R2 w/2070 MQ gets 66
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider @ 4K High Setting: R1 gets 30 FPS /// R2 gets 39 FPS
• AC:Odyssey @ 1080P Ultra : R1 gets 58 FPS // R2 gets 62 FPS
• AC: Odyssey @ 4K Ultra: R1 gets 24 FPS // R2 gets 28 FPS
• I'll add that in AC:Odyssey, once I turned volumetric clouds to Medium, the R1 rose to 30 FPS at 4k, while the R2 went to 39 FPS
• Port Royale Benchmark Stock settings: R1 scores 3,298 / 15.27 FPS /// R2 scores 4,329 / 20.04 FPS
• Quake II RTX @1080p (ray tracing on obviously, also set the sun position to Morning): R1 averaging 75-82 FPS /// R2 averaging 103-115 FPS

The above supports my conclusion: only get the 2070 if you desire RTX specific power, and want to go for higher resolutions, including 4K. The extra 2GB ram will be beneficial at 4K and the gap widens. Sure, it's sub 60FPS, and I know most PC Gamers are going for the smooth high-refresh rate these days, but as someone who switches from consoles to PC often, I an tolerate some 30FPS sigh-seeing games here and there, and native 4K sharpness is actually considerably nice on this screen. I don't have a 1080P native version to say whether or not the way this monitor scales introduces extra blurriness, but I'm sure it does verse a 1:1 pixel mapped 1080P display. The colors and motion resolution with the sub 2 ms response rate makes up for it though!

Some other observations between these two models to share.

• Maybe I'm boring, but I prefer the R1 look more - it's a classic design language. My wife thinks the R2 is better looking and likes the light up ring on the back (she's not a techie at all).
• I agree R2 is a nice unique design that will stand out in a sea of black/silver laptops. I'm worried about soiling the white surface over time making that beautiful thing look like garbage.
• Materials definitely have a better feel on the R2 and my trackpad on the R1 is a bit wobbly and feels much rougher on the surface.
• R2 definitely has the better keyboard/trackpad combo.
• Fans on the R1 seem quieter - didn't measure though.
• I can't see much of a difference running performance mode vs balanced in terms of the effect on the systems performance in games and applications on either system
• Prefer the per-key RGB and centered keyboard on the R2, and the keycaps are a touch larger on the R2 (didn't measure though, going by feeling)
• deleting all my commentary - I ran the R2 through a similar stress test tonight. It's just as hot on the CPU side as my R1. Maybe a touch cooler, but it seems to do that by dropping freq on the CPU down to 3.1 Ghz more often than the R1? It was really confusing because the watts going to the processor was higher under stress, but yet frequency would take more frequent dips to cool the CPU down.
• R1 seems to respond really well to lifting the back edge up about 3/4-1 inch - temps will plummet 5-10 degrees. GPU went into the upper 70s, and CPU will drop to high 80s - hard to say, but I think it helps keep a higher boost clock as well (combined with Balanced fans).
• I'm sure the R2 would benefit from a lift as well, but also doesn't seem to REQUIRE that to be an overall cooler system
• This may be because of bad thermal paste on my R1, and certainly a much easier job on this older model to accomplish that re-paste

Ok, that's a lot to say - if there is anything in particular anyone wants to know - hit me up. I have a lot of games in the library, however, my R1 is only a 512GB drive vs the 2TB in the R2 I have, and since games can really hit north of 100GB these days, it's a bit of a bear to use at the moment.

If you want to know which one I'll go with - I'm still on the fence.

 

Where do I find this? I don't see it under the color options, only options to select a color to change.

 

Thanks for these head-to-head numbers! The reason I don't always trust sites like that is because laptop brands/models vary so much on their thermals and performance, you can't really put any weight on them. For example, the m17 has larger heatsinks than the m15, theoretically it should perform better, but I haven't found any comparisons. Now that you've provided feedback, I'm in this weird position to look at other brands, yet again.... I really would like 2070 (non max-q) performance.

 

Disable makes all colors uber vibrant (not color accurate, but pleasant to see, yet not oversaturated for films)

I only use Intel HD Graphics Control Panel (DCH Driver). I uninstalled the other panel as it does not have these 2 options.

I see _\|/_ spacecake I ate at work made me forget that I wrote pretty much same thing in my previous post LUL ... *SPACEPALM*

 

I have this under the Video settings, but it’s as already disabled. There is no option under the display color options though. Must have been removed in my version of control panel. Also Intel is telling me the control panel is obsolete in “command center” software lol.

 

I hear ya, and I think NBC is pretty solid. I’m finding consistency with their overall assessment the Alienware M15 R2 performs closer to the non-Max-Q variant in performance. However, it is going to be a few frames short. I would estimate it between the Max Q and full laptop version of the 2070. For example, in AC:Odyssey@4K, they show the 2060 at 25 FPS, Max Q is actually 20 (frequency really hurts it), and 2070 at 31 FPS. My Alienware R1 hits 24 FPS, and the R2 was at 28; thus showing the R2 and 2070 MQ is acting more like the non-MQ variant.

Another example - I ran the Division2 1080P@Ultra on the R2 I have an scored north of 80FPS (multiple runs). I haven’t installed this on my R1 (SSD space limits). In this case the R2’s 2070 actually surpasses the full fat 2070 in the NBC database linked (but margin of error means they run about the same). Assuming the 2060 runs at 59FPS or close, this means the 2070 in the Alienware M15 R2 is a whopping 33% faster in this one game.

So this all boils down to whether you have a specific favorite game or set of games and your desires for those games’ performance. I have a huge library, and also Games Pass ultimate - so I like to sample and jump around a lot. I also chose the 4K OLED, so it probably makes sense to stick with the 2070 for the extra oomph should I have to run a game at 4K.

 

Thanks! What concerns me is the number of games, including Overwatch and GTAV that get worse frames with the maxq cards than the base 2060 (as found on NBC). Definitely still lost on this, but weighing toward a 2060. It's silly that we even need to guess at this stuff and go through this rodeo.

 

I'm adding two screenshots, one of the R1, laying flat on the table vs the R2 running the same stress test. Despite running a bit hotter, the R1 seems to perform more stable and holds 3.5 Ghz for a very extended AIDA/Valley stress test. Meanwhile, the only reason the R2 gets closer to 90 is it seems to take frequent dips to lower clock speed and then bounces back up to 3.6. I would prefer more stability than what I saw on the R2!

 

I 'had' LUL to re-install W 10 1909 with its latest image (not latest Insider preview image as it is different from the final public release one) and Intel Graphics DCH driver installed only Command Center now. The above 2 options for color corrections accuracy are also in Command center, could not find them before, therefore bye bye Graphics Control panel !!!

@smugpanda if i change the setting under Display, it will automatically do it for Video too.

 

Hello All,

Black Friday is coming lads and I would like get a new laptop
Thinking about two rigs, one is Dell XPS with I7 9750H / 16 GB Ram / 512 m.2 GB SSD / 1650 4GB and OLED display, the second one is Alienware m15 R2 with I7 9750H / 16GB Ram / 512 GB m.2 SSD / 2060 6GB with OLED display.
Now I have few questions, I really like the Alienware White Moon Color, but sow few post when people complaining about the paint job quality, basically the white at corners become yellow... Is this commons problem of this laptop or is happen very rarely please?
The first one cost atm 2000 Euro and the second one approx 2500 Euro, at Black Friday will be possible 15-25 percent discount, so leave me know with one I should get, and why, thanks a lot

Kindest Regards
Scorpik

 

What about the M15 R1? Classic design, and I think offers better build quality over the R2. I currently have both R1/R2 in hand as of this moment. The way the lid closes on the R2 is floppy and annoying. The overall material on the R2 is amazing to the touch though, but like you said, it will get a mark/scuff/stain at some point. The all Black R1 with OLED is excellent however. It also more closely resembles the XPS15 color scheme. Also - if you want any gaming power, I would definitely get the 2060 M15 R1 - that 1650 will struggle - even at 1080P half rez.

 

Thanks for reply,

First one I really love the thin bezels at Alienware m15 R2 & Dell XPS, m15 classic one look nice too, but dont know why at dell shop here at EU is only options get the new ones version like m15 R2 & m17 R & Area 51m.
For gaming, hm I am not sure if I will ever play some triple A titles, at this moment I played only Dota 2 what is most cpu game and I believe the "cheap" nvidia 1650 can handle it, other way will be nice have OLED for game too, but is 4K screen and there is no chance play 4K 60 Hz with 1650, maybe 4K 60Hz with 2060 ? But I am not sure, someone with nvidia RTX 2060 need confirm that, that there is solid 40-60 FPS on 4K display
Other way for gaming I can use mine Asus what I am more then happy with it, 144 Hz FHD Display with G sync and Nvidia RTX 2080

 

Def worth noting m15 R1 and R2 side bezels are almost identical.

 

Yes that fine, but is not for sale in Ireland
www.dell.ie

 

Does anyone offer a re-pasting service?

 

I have the m15 r2 in lunar white using it with external monitor/keyboard/mouse 70% of my time on cooling pad repasted and undervolted it's an amazing notebook i love it. On the go i use the built in keyboard many times and i don't see any discoloration, you can easily clean off little stains with a drop of water or bit of saliva from your tongue and your own cloth or tissue, do not use microfibers and any special alcoholic cleaning spray. Trust me ppl will look after it

 

Thanks for the information,
Because only the information of discoloring what I have is from owners of Area 51m and maybe, just maybe dell fix it with m15 R2

 

In many cases when ppl posted to alienware sub-reddit at the end the reason was they worked with some oil or dust etc so their hands had a very very little dirt but more then normal users so they discolored it much faster. Yep and consider that ppl only complain when something is wrong if you see 10 posts about discoloration they are just the 1% another 99% doesn't even know these forums even exist.

 

If the 99% of users don't know about these forums (surely, 99% is an overestimate), then they don't report whether they have suffered from the issue or not.

Here, we have a small sample of the users of the new laptop design, which is shared between the m15 R2 and the 51M for obvious reasons - (why would they come up with different materials and process for each to achieve the same look), and a significant proportion of the users have complained about the discoloration. To dismiss this would be irrational.

 

Thanks

So what I should do, avoid the alienware m15 R2 at all and get just XPS 15, what is approx 500 euro cheaper, but have very weak graphics ?
Don't like the m15 R2 at black that much like the white one

 

I'm struggling to advise anyone to go ahead with a purchase of the m15 R2 due to the soldered RAM. If this was just down to the chassis, I remember reading warnings of the rubbery coating on my AW 15 R2 being a dirt magnet and ultimately rubbing off. Sure enough, that's what happened. If I didn't need an 8-core CPU I would look into importing the m15 R1, the warranty is global.

 

Well I am looking only for a 4K OLED display and i7 9750H what is enough for me, only sad think is the "cheap" graphic at the XPS line, so I was thinking to get instead a m15 R2 because I really do like it at that white color and plus the options for a 2060 graphic, but is much expensive, have "color issue" and solid Ram at mobo, so now I don't know if the XPS or the R2
Be honest way I don't need a strong graphic, but I was think, if I order the OLED laptop, why not try it with 2060 for light gaming like Dota 2 ...

 

BTW Apparently with 4K OLED there is a grey banding issue to consider. Check the m15 R1 thread for a report on this from a user who returned the R2 due to the issue ( @smugpanda I believe).

 

Yes, the banding on my R2 was bad. However, the R1 with OLED is fine - can see banding, but not severe or noticeable in day to day use. I’m not sure if this is an R2 vs R1 thing or just a standard OLED Panel variability.

I will say that if you like the XPS 15 look, just get the R1 - it’s thicker, but with way better thermal design and massively better GPU options. In online pictures the R1 looks a bit boring and maybe even ugly, but in person gives off a much more classic XPS vibe with excellent fit and finish. The way the lid securely closes on the R1 is vastly better than the R2, which I found to be “floppy” when closed.

Additionally, the 1650 in the XPS 15 paired with a 4K display will be a no go should you ever NEED to run anything at 4K. I realize most games allow you to pick a lower resolution, like 1080P, but some struggle with that (like Civ VI). The 2060 in my M15R1 is able to handle some limited 4K gaming. Further, I’ve found 1440P to be a great middle of the road option that provides a sharpness boost in many titles over 1080P. The 1650 is going to struggle with 1080P gaming, and anything higher is off limits. Further, the M15R1 Maintains the same Thunderbolt 3 port, but then adds Dell’s secret weapon, which is the AGA port for future expansion options.

I think the look, having owned both XPS15 and AW M15R1, is similar when you get it in EPIC Silver. The carbon fiber palm rest of the XPS15 is also different, but at a distant, the material feels similar and looks similar.

Food for thought!

 

I will add that, if you are savvy enough, reposting and maintaining the R1 is much simpler due to the traditional layout of internal components. After a repaste, undervolt, and combined with raising the back end of the laptop up to increase airflow, and the M15R1 vastly outperformed my R2 in thermal performance. CPU is able to hold 4Ghz in this mode, mostly under 90C during normal gaming. Holds 4Ghz continuous under the unrealistic AIDA/Valley stress test as well, with mid 90s CPU temps.

SO yes, very hot machine, and if I capped the CPU at 3.6Ghz, I’m sure it would be much cooler as well, but I want that sweet 4Ghz continuous all day every day!

 

Thanks lads, but there is only one issue,
There is no R1 option at dell Ireland

 

Was thinking of getting a 130w dell adapter to use with my i7 9750h 2060 m15 r2 since it's so much smaller and portable than the 240w one.

Has anyone tried it? Assuming I don't game and just do light tasks like emails, web browsing etc.

Will be handy for travel purposes or simply doing work at a coffee shop for without having to lug around a 240w brick.

 

What spec you have please?
Mean CPU/GPU
Thanks

 

Don't think so, that 130 W will be enough power for CPU and GPU, I don't own I7 9750H (6 Cores / 12 Threads ) but I own I9 9980HK and I know for 100 percent that the CPU power drow in full load ( mine CPU is underwolted, but power limits are unlocked and the max core frequency is setup to 4.7 on all cores / low frequency is setup on same. ) so 100 on all cores / threads ( 8 cores / 16 threads ) eat 200 W of power, sometimes little bit more, and mine graphic eat same 200W at full load, so you CPU won't be eat that much, but you can still count something around 100 - 130 Watts
What I know and I know well, because mine friend own XPS i7 9750H and 1650 Nvidia graphic, if he tray stress test in same time CPU and GPU the computer shut down because of low power ( XPS have only 130 Watts adapter )
That is why I always laugh when someone try but a XPS with i9 9980HK , first the CPU newer will have enough power ( 130 Watts is no enough) and there is no heat room as well, so maybe that is the whole reason why they use 130 Watts
So shortly answer, 130 Watts is to low for play a game or medium to heavy load task for both CPU and GPU but for light browsing, emails and watching video is enough
Try play a game in medium or high setting and download HWiNFO64 and after few minutes of gaming you can check how much power drow eat your CPU and your GPU ( you will see the lowest, the highest, the correct and average.

Hope this help

 

Same in the UK Bastards. Ordering from the US might be an option I guess, depending on Irish import duty arrangements.

 

Well dell.ie and dell.co.uk is the same company, besacly own be dell.uk
If we order it from USA we will pay a lot of duty and that will be overpriced the laptop

 

The base price would be much lower though, right?

 

I checked it now, 2450€ from USA with shipping cost, but the duty is not included, so I guess another 20 percent from the price what will be bring the cost to near 3K € what is a little bit much for me

 

Sad. Well, tweet to Dell and let them know how you feel about the situation.

 

The power draw on the m15r2 with an i7 9750h and an rtx 2060 during gaming with a 144hz 1080p screen is between 130w and 140w. You can mostly disable the gpu and pull down much less and still get full speed on the cpu. No reason you have to carry around the 240w if you don't intend to game. Likely the system will power throttle if you try to game

 

9750h/2060 on the R1, and 9750h/2070MQ on the R2

 

I used to use a 90W on my old Alienware 13r3 - the system would throttle back. It actually let me do “quiet gaming” pretty well. See this link:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...3-owners-lounge.797884/page-520#post-10518315

Look for my username - I don’t think I ever got the answer to the 130watt adapter question for the 13r3.

I am curious to try now on the M15R1 I have - although I find the existing quiet mode pretty decent for keeping sound in check.

 

Does this Toby camera support Windows Hello? I think there is no fingerprintreader also?

 

I'm looking for a premium sleeve for the alienware m15 r2.
If no sleeve it could be like an as slim as possible topload carrying case.
E.g. for my alienware 13 r3. I have the Neoprene sleeve, which is great for simple carriage. And I have my Targus executive 14" Topload laptop case.
I see that Alienware does sell a sleeve for the m15 r2 as accessory, but it doesn't mention m15 r2, it only mentions like alienware 15 r2. But that is a significantly thicker and larger laptop relatively in terms of 15 inch laptops. So I want it to be an as snug fit as possible.

Anyone knows anything good?

 

I tested this one out with the M15 R2 and it fits perfectly..

https://www.amazon.com/NIDOO-Resist...qid=1574600364&sprefix=nidoo+,aps,133&sr=8-13

 

The sleeve for the m15 works with the m15r2.

 

Officially Ordered my m15 r2 today.
Specs:
- i7 9750H
- Win Pro
- RTX 2080 MaxQ
- Lunar Light (couldn't choose black because I chose for Oled, but white is good nonetheless)
- UHD OLED with Tobii
- 2TB m.2 SSD (single)
- Killer WiFi 6

 

Congratulations.
I just placed the almost exact same order today except with 9980HK. Mine is a system exchange from alienware 15R4. Dell were very generous with the config, i cannot complain. Hopefully we will help each other finding the best settings.

 

Nice! yeah I got my 8 months old Area 51M refunded. Yeah, once I receive the laptop first thing is going to be, me doing all kinds of undervolts and stuff. So yeah, looking forward to see the results.
About the i9, the difference in performance is in my use cases negligible + the i9 config costed 450€ more, and it gets more hot than the i7. So yeah, hope it's going to be a good experience.

 

I had to tweak my 15r2 OLED way more than my 51m to keep the temps down.overall it’s a good travel alternative for me but indie it more for showing off photography and stuff like that. Throw in a little DCS World and COD on occasion. It’s definitely not my heavy lifter for gaming. Not sure it would stand up to hours on end of COD or BF4.

 

Just ordered my m17 r2 w/2070 max-q, let's see how she goes! I'll report back with gaming framerates and feedback.