Alienware 15 Gaming Laptop Review: GeForce Infused, Bang For Your Buck

Name: Alienware 15 Gaming Laptop: GeForce Infused, Bang For Your Buck
Brand: Alienware

by Joshua Gulick — Thursday, June 04, 2015, 12:00 PM EDT

Alienware has an interesting accessory for the gamer who uses his laptop as his main computer. The Alienware Graphics Amplifier sits on your desk and connects to your laptop with a single cable. The Graphics Amplifier houses a desktop graphics card (which you’ll need to buy and install) and uses the card to boost the graphics power of your laptop well beyond what it’s capable of by itself.

As if providing a serious performance bump isn’t enticing enough, the Alienware Graphics Amplifier also supports your keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The result is that you can put your laptop on your desk, plug in the single Graphics Amplifier cord, and be connected to all your peripherals.

Unfortunately, the Graphics Amplifier cord is a proprietary one, which means you’ll need a newer Alienware laptop to take advantage of it. The box has a built-in power supply and supports large graphics cards, including those that require two slots. It’s fairly easy to open and it provides more elbow room than a typical desktop system does when it comes to installing the graphics card.

One thing that struck me right off the bat is the Graphics Amplifier’s noise. It’s fairly loud for a device that will probably sit on your desk, especially under load. I’d find a place under the desk for it, if possible.

You can buy the Graphics Amplifier for $299 while configuring your laptop, or you can buy it separately later. The configurator has several graphics card choices for the Graphics Amplifier, including both AMD and Nvidia cards. Our test system included a PNY GeForce GTX 980, which would add an additional $599.99 to the price tag.

Tags: Nvidia, Intel, Dell, Alienware, Haswell, killer networks

Joshua Gulick

Josh cut his teeth (and hands) on his first PC upgrade in 2000 and was instantly hooked on all things tech. He took a degree in English and tech writing with him to Computer Power User Magazine and spent years reviewing high-end workstations and gaming systems, processors, motherboards, memory and video cards. His enthusiasm for PC hardware also made him a natural fit for covering the burgeoning modding community, and he wrote CPU’s “Mad Reader Mod” cover stories from the series’ inception until becoming the publication editor for Smart Computing Magazine. A few years ago, he returned to his first love, reviewing smoking-hot PCs and components, for HotHardware. When he’s not agonizing over benchmark scores, Josh is either running (very slowly) or spending time with family.