Alienware m15 R4 Review
Alienware's m15 arrangement of scratchpad has normally intrigued us, on account of the family's presentation and remarkable great looks in a generally smooth versatile bundle. Execution consistently pivots after having the most recent stage equipment, so maybe it's nothing unexpected that the PC we're seeing today has one of NVIDIA's most recent versatile Ampere GPUs on board from its new GeForce RTX 30 family.
At the point when NVIDIA pulled the cover off versatile Ampere, it made some huge guarantees. Execution across the Ampere arrangement that ranges from RTX 3060 to 3080 ought to be quicker than NVIDIA's past portable force to be reckoned with, the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER. That looks good for the center kid in NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 30 Mobile setup, the RTX 3070, which ends up ready the Alienware m15 R4 we have in for survey today.
Saying this doesn't imply that this most recent gaming PC from Alienware is a one-stunt horse. Truth be told, the freshest m15 packs a larger number of stunts on board than maybe Houdini himself. Indeed, it begins with the journal variant of NVIDIA's ground-breaking GeForce RTX 3070, however, there's a stunning OLED show, Tobii eye following, Intel's present top-end tenth gen CPU, and another top-end tech in the engine.
All that gaming goodness is stuffed inside a generally convenient journal with a lot of adaptable RGB LED-mixed beautiful sight, and a many-sided ventilation framework to whisk hot air away from the segments that produce it. However, before we lose track of what's most important, here's a brief glance at the spec summary of the fourth happening to Alienware's m15 gaming PC...
Alienware m15 R4
Specifications & Features
Processor
Intel 10th Generaiton Core i7-10870H (8 cores/16 threads, 2.2GHz to 5GHz, 16MB L3 cache)
Display
15.6-inch 4K (3840x2160) OLED display (60Hz, 1ms, 400 nits, Tobii Eyetracking)
Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB GDDR6
Storage
1TB (2x512GB) PCIe M.2 SSD RAID 0
Memory
16GB DDR4-2933
Audio
Stereo speakers
Camera
1080p FHD webcam
Networking
Killer Ethernet E3100X 2.5Gbps NIC, Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650i, Bluetooth 5.1
Ports: Left
1x LAN (Killer E3100X 2.5Gbps)
1x USB 3.2 Gen 1
1x 3.5mm headset jack
Ports: Right
2x USB 3.2 Gen 1
1x microSD card reader
Ports: Rear
1x HDMI 2.1
1x mini DisplayPort 1.4
1x Thunderbolt 3.0 Type-C
1x Alienware Graphics Amplifier port
DC-In power
Keyboard
Alienware mSeries four-zone AlienFX RGB
Touchpad
Multi-touch gesture premium precision-point glass with integrated scrolling
Battery
6-cell, 86WHr
Weight
Starting at 4.65 pounds (2.11 kilograms)
Dimensions
14.19 x 10.87 x 0.72-0.807 inches (360.3 x 276.2 x 18.3-20.5 millimeters)
Warranty
1 year
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Price
What's Powering The New Dell Alienware m15 R4
Ordinarily, we'd start by considering the CPU, stockpiling, and memory subsystem at the center of numerous journals, however, let's face it. We need to realize everything we can get some answers concerning this portable GeForce RTX 3070 GPU first. NVIDIA's own control board enlightens us concerning however much we can learn with freely accessible devices.
For this situation, the GeForce RTX 3070 has 5,120 CUDA centers and an illustrations support clock of 1,620MHz. There's likewise 8 GB of 14 GT/s GDDR6 VRAM on a 256-cycle memory transport, which is useful for 448 GB each second of data transmission.
It's to be expected to discover that a portion of these specs has restrained a piece from the work area form of the GeForce RTX 3070, which has 15% more CUDA centers.
The versatile variation's top lift speed is just down 105 MHz from the 1,725 MHz help clock of the work area card. Everything considered that is an 18% dunk in most extreme execution from 20.3 concealing TFLOPS for the GeForce RTX 3070 Founder's Edition, to 16.65 TFLOPS for this versatile form.
Notwithstanding, there are as yet really decent GPU specs to crush into a PC stage, where power utilization will without a doubt be not exactly the most extreme 220 W of the work area variant. The individuals who need a touch more torque actually have the GeForce RTX 3080 also, at the top finish of NVIDIA's portable arrangement.
The remainder of the equipment in the m15 R4 isn't too unique in relation to the past cycle m15 R3 which we surveyed back in October.
Intel's tenth era CPUs are as yet the thing to take care of, however, our survey test this break has a right-center, 16-string Core i7-10870H with a 2.2 GHz base speed and a most extreme single-center increase in 5 GHz. There's likewise the Core i9-10980HK accessible as an overhaul. We don't expect that our CPU will invest a lot of energy at its base clock rate, thus this scratchpad ought to have a lot of gaming execution in the engine. Similar to the m15 R3 before it, the R4 has Alienware's 6-stage CPU voltage guideline hardware and a 12-stage controller for the GPU.
This shouldn't imply that this most recent gaming PC from Alienware is a one-stunt horse. Indeed, the freshest m15 packs a bigger number of stunts on board than maybe Houdini himself. Indeed, it begins with the note pad form of NVIDIA's ground-breaking GeForce RTX 3070, however, there's a dazzling OLED show, Tobii eye following, Intel's present top-end tenth gen CPU, and another top-end tech in the engine.
All that gaming goodness is stuffed inside a moderately compact journal with a lot of adaptable RGB LED-imbued gorgeous sight, and a many-sided ventilation framework to whisk hot air away from the parts that produce it. In any case, before we lose track of the main issue at hand, here's a brief glance at the spec overview of the fourth happening to Alienware's m15 gaming PC...
Alienware gave the CPU 16 GB of DDR4-2933 memory to work with. Additional configurations offer between 8 and 32 GB of RAM. That RAM is soldered, however, so buyers should be sure to order all they think they'll need now and down the road. For primary storage, a pair of 512 GB M.2 NVMe solid state drives in a RAID 0 configuration come along for the ride, as well. The m15 comes in configurations with up to three SSDs.
Single-drive models top out at 2 TB of onboard storage, where the dual-drive systems can double that to 4 TB with striping for the best performance. Lastly, RAID 0 Plus configurations can optionally add a 512 GB SSD on top of the other two, maxing out at 4.5 TB combined.
Networking did get a refresh this time around. Now the 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet controller is a Killer E3100X. Wi-Fi is provided by a Killer AX1650i, which has a 2x2 MIMO antenna configuration and Bluetooth 5.1. We're also weirdly excited about the 1080p full-HD webcam, as it feels like laptops have been stuck with subpar 720p cameras for far too long.
Alienware m15 R4 Design, Display And Features
On the outside, not a whole lot has changed about the m15 since the last version. Alienware still offers the Dark Side of the Moon and Lunar Light finishes, which are polycarbonate bodies with Alienware's trademark mysterious alien-style design with lots of hexagons and lighting. The rear vents have RGB lights that outline them like twin exhaust pipes on a tricked-out car, and the keyboard has per-zone RGB lighting. Lastly, the Alienware logo-style badge on the lid and power button both have RGB bling.
Once you open the m15 R4 the fast hardware under the hood is even more accentuated, at least on our review model, by a gorgeous 15.6-inch 3,840x2,160 OLED display panel.
The panel's brightness maxes out at 500 nits, which is plenty bright for indoor or outdoor use, in most cases. Nobody's going to burn their retinas on HDR content like a 1,000-nit display would, but this panel's contrast ratio is striking, thanks to its inky OLED saturation and pop. Speaking of which, the OLED panel's deep contrast ratio also meets the HDR500 specifications, so high dynamic range content will be rendered with accuracy and vibrance.
Right below the display sits the Alienware m15's Tobii eye tracker. The red lights you see in the photo above are just proof that the infrared lights are present to detect faces, even in the dark. To the naked eye they're totally invisible, but the camera sees all.
As we've seen in previous reviews, Alienware put these facial tracking features to good use. Whenever we move our head to look away from the display, the panel would dim to save power after a couple of seconds. However, once we reverted our attention to the display, it would automatically brighten back up to where we had it. This had to be disabled for battery tests and photography, however.
Above the display rests the 1080p HD webcam and noise-canceling microphone array. These worked great for Skype calls, as we could be seen and heard well. This system also has some powerful speakers for a notebook, and had no problem filling the room with sound. Alienware says the m15 R4 has discrete woofers and tweeters for its stereo audio output, and it makes a big difference. Nobody will mistake the internal speakers for a pair of externals bookshelf boxes, but there's definitely more oomph to these speakers than smaller, less endowed laptops can muster.
Below the display sits Alienware's big, m Series keyboard with four RGB lighting zones. This feels like basically the same keyboard that was on the previous model. We had no problem typing on this machine, and produced this entire review using it. There's ample key travel (1.7 mm according to Alienware's specifications) which felt great as we typed. It also worked well for gaming, as the keys are approximately the same size as most full-sized keyboards on which we've typed. Many 15" notebooks try to squeeze in room for a numpad to the right of the traditional QWERTY keyboard but that's not the case here, and we think the system is better for it. When a number pad is present, it shifts the user to the left but few (if any?) laptops don't shift the display alongside it.
The smallish but totally usable trackpad doesn't seem updated this time around, either. It's responsive to the touch and has left-click and right-click integrated as well. We think that most gamers will opt to use a traditional mouse when gaming, so the size of the trackpad isn't a big deal, and it handles virtually any productivity task with ease and Windows 10 multi-gesture support.
Alienware m15 R4 IO Expansion Ports And Software
Alienware was generous with the port selection array on this gaming laptop. On the left, we find a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port, a single USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) Type-A port and a headphone jack. On the right we find two more 5 Gbps USB ports and a micro SD card reader. Both sides are also outfitted with additional vents, so along with the big vents on the rear, warm air can escape the system in a multitude of ways. Speaking of the rear of the m15 R4, Alienware included one HDMI 2.1 port, one Mini DisplayPort 1.4, and one Thunderbolt 3 Type-C connector. We'd be remiss if we didn't mention the expansion slot for Alienware's Graphics Amplifier next to the barrel power jack. The power adapter can provide up to 240 W of power to simultaneously charge the battery while gaming.
For software, Alienware includes its Command Center utility, which allows firing up one of the included overclocking profiles. They take effect after a reboot, and we had no problem using the more aggressive of the two for playing games. We've included results for our gaming benchmarks in our testing. Disconnecting the m15 R4 from power will revert to the default power state, so there's no overclocking while using the battery.
Alienware Command Center can also control the multiple lighting zones. The rear, lid logo, and keyboard can all be controlled independently. They keyboard has four zones organized left to right, so they can have a rotating color wave in addition to any single solid color. Finally, the power button can be colored, but seems to always light up amber in color when the power adapter is disconnected and the system is running on battery reserves.
Lastly, Command Center can also act as a game library manager, similar to the way GeForce Experience does, by detecting games it knows to look for and displaying them on a single menu. You can then customize power and fan profiles, and even lighting, to kick into gear when a specific game from your library is launched.
Finally, Alienware was very good about not loading the system down with additional bloat, so there's really not much else to cover here. Just the way we like it. Now that we've gotten a tour of the system, it's time to see how this GeForce RTX 30-series equipped beastie performs...