Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 Laptop Pairs Zen 3 With RTX 30 And A Buttery 360Hz Display
AMD is finally getting the respect it deserves, and with good reason—its latest generation Zen 3 lineup is the real deal, in both desktop and laptop form. The demand for Zen 3 is so high that Dell is updating its Alienware laptops with AMD's latest generation processors, pairing them with NVIDIA's newest Ampere GPUs. Not to be overlooked, the combination of AMD and NVIDIA in an Alienware laptop has not been done in over a decade, since the Aurora mALX in 2007.
"We heard what you wanted," Dell wrote on Twitter. "The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5, now with a fresh design and AMD Ryzen 5000 series mobile CPUs. Enjoy multi-core performance designed for gaming and content creation, all in one portable form factor. Coming soon."
Dell is pulling out all the stops for its latest Alienware laptop. There are multiple display options, each one in the 15.6-inch form factor and each with a blazing fast refresh rate. Two of the options are Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) configurations, one with a 165Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time, and the other with a insanely fast 360MHz refresh rate and 1ms response time. The latter also adds G-Sync to the equation. Both have a 300 nits brightness rating.
For gamers who want more on-screen real estate, Dell is also offering a brighter QHD (2560x1440) display option that hits 400 nits. In terms of speed, it splits the difference between the other two, with a 240Hz refresh rate. It also boasts G-Sync support to keep the action smooth and tear-free.
Fast refresh rates are one thing, but taking advantage of them is another. It takes high-end hardware to push triple-digit frame rates. To that end, users can choose between an AMD Ryzen R7 5800H processor (8 cores, 16 threads, 3.2GHz to 4.4GHz, 16MB L3 cache) or a Ryzen 9 5900HX (8 cores, 16 threads, 3.3GHz to 4.6GHz, 16MB L3 cache).
On the graphics side, Dell is offering the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 with two RTX 30 series mobile GPU options. One is a GeForce RTX 3060 configured with a 115W TGP and 10W Dynamic Boost, running at 1,387MHz (base clock) to 1,702MHz (boost clock). The other is a GeForce RTX 3070 with the same power profile, running at 1,110MHz (base clock) and 1,560MHz (boost clock).
Taking full advantage of the 360Hz option or even the 240Hz display is not an easy task in more demanding games, even for the potential pairings offered here. However, the ultra-high refresh rates can benefit competitive gamers who play less intensive esports titles.
Other core specs include up to 32GB of DDR4-3200 RAM (this is the first 15-inch class Alienware laptop to use DDR4-3200 memory, which is upgradeable by way of two SO-DIMM slots), and up to a pair of 2TB NVMe SSDs, for 4TB of total storage (non-RAID).
On the outside, Dell is pitching a new "Silky-Smooth High-Endurance" paint job that is supposed to offer stain resistance while maintaining a premium feel. And on the inside, Dell's Alienware Cryo-Tech cooling technology is in play, which partly consists of load-balanced copper heat pipes and liquid crystal polymer fans.
For the keyboard, Dell co-developed low profile mechanical switches with Cherry that have a short 1.8mm of key travel, N-key rollover, and per-key backlighting.
Finally, as for the port selection, the latest Alienware laptops comes with an HDMI 2.1 output, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, and a 2.5Gbps LAN port for wired connections. For wireless connectivity, it has a Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 adapter inside.
The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 will be available May 4 starting at $1,793.98.
