Alienware's hefty big-screen laptops are well known, but its more portable offerings still feel new to the gaming scene.
The original m15 was slim but not a standout; now, the Alienware m15 R2 (starts at $1,499.99; $2,659.99 as tested) rocks a massive redesign, as well as the latest components and top-end features.
Not everyone will love the bold new look, but it has personality.
The 4K OLED panel on our unit looks brilliant, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 2070 Max-Q GPU ensures 60fps gaming at most settings and resolutions.
The m15 R2 is much improved, but the $2,599 Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model remains our top high-end gaming laptop for its tip-top build quality.
Razer's OLED Blade configuration costs a lofty $3,299, however, so if you're set on a brilliant, dramatic OLED panel, Alienware's m15 R2 OLED model may be a better option.
The New m15 Design: I Come From the Future
The from-the-ground-up redesign of the m15 is the main focal point of the R2, even more so than the OLED screen.
Design is largely a subjective thing, and while I could see the new look being divisive, I like it quite a bit.
No, it doesn't blend in anywhere—"subtle" is far from the first thing you'd call it—and yes, it signals that it's a gaming laptop, but it does so more tastefully than most.
Alienware is a premium gaming brand, so the design should stand out a little.
As long as that's done with a clear vision and some restraint, there's nothing inherently wrong with that.
Many gaming laptops simply equate "gaming" with "garish."
To that end, Alienware's new design language is going for a clean look inspired by sci-fi and future tech.
Our model is the white "Lunar Light" option, but Alienware also offers a grey "Dark Side of the Moon" scheme.
The chassis on our sample is a greyish white, with a black rear portion that houses ports and thermal hardware.
The black portion is also ringed with an LED, another calling card of this new aesthetic.
The m15 R2 shares its look with the hulking Alienware Area 51-m, but is the first slim laptop to adopt the look.
As I've said about the Area 51-m, and about this laptop in my preview of it, the m15 R2 wouldn't look out of place in Mass Effect or another sci-fi world.
The previous-generation m15 was thin and relatively light, but it looked—in direct opposition to how I described the R2 above—safe, plain, and even a little boring.
It's worth noting that the previous m15 design did get an OLED-screen option added late in its lifecycle, but it felt like a holdover with new design on the way.
The R2, meanwhile, has premium parts inside, and it feels higher-quality, to boot.
The lid and keyboard deck are magnesium alloy, with a smooth finish that feels nice to the touch.
It's not quite the pure milled-aluminum construction of the Razer Blade 15, but it doesn't feel cheap.
It measures 0.8 by 14.2 by 10.9 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.75 pounds, which is almost exactly the same as the original m15 design.
Despite the new look, the general footprint and heft haven't changed much, so this is still a relatively portable gaming laptop.
How About That Screen?
Then, of course, there's the screen.
First, here's a quick primer on what makes OLED displays special.
LED-lit LCD screens use a white backlight that's passed through a fast filter, which tints the light to provide the correct color.
In a nutshell, OLED screens (the acronym stands for "organic light-emitting diode") use a whole different display paradigm: a self-emissive organic compound, allowing each pixel in the panel to produce its own light when current is applied to it.
That's the main difference from LCD screens, and what enables OLEDs to produce extra-brilliant colors and deep blacks.
To display black, that area of the screen simply stops producing any light, so it is truly displaying nothing, which in turn provides better contrast and "truer" blacks than blocking an ever-present LED backlight.
All of this also allows the panels to be more efficient, and thus thinner.
That doesn't come into play with laptops as dramatically as with TVs; many OLED TVs are nearly razor-thin.
So, with all of that said, we return to this particular screen.
As with the other laptops in this new wave of OLED displays, the panel is produced by Samsung, so they're all starting from the same point.
And, as we've seen with the others, the screen is beautiful.
Thanks to the wonders of OLED, the colors do seem to pop out at you, looking incredibly vibrant and rich.
The black areas, as they should, look extra deep and dark, creating a striking contrast with the colors.
I can describe it, but OLED is the kind of thing that you really have to experience for yourself, in person.
Looking at pictures of an OLED panel through a non-OLED panel doesn't do it justice.
The screen is part of what you're paying a premium for, and it's a hit.
It's nice enough that creative professionals may want to use this panel for legitimate media work.
This laptop has other, non-4K screen options, which Alienware rates for different color-spectrum coverage than the OLED display.
For the OLED screen, the only full gamut coverage claimed was for DCI-P3.
We tested that with Portrait Displays' CalMAN Ultimate software and our Klein colorimeter, and the results are below...
As you can see, the panel hits the claimed coverage percentage almost directly on the nose.
In an effort to see how it would fare with other gamuts, I also tested the sRGB (100 percent coverage) and Adobe RGB (96 percent coverage) gamuts.
All but the most exacting creative professionals should be satisfied with those results.
Beyond the picture quality, the panel features a 4K native resolution, which certainly adds to the crispness.
The OLED screen option tops out at a 60Hz refresh rate, which is arguably a downside for a gaming system.
The full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) screen options come in 60Hz, 144Hz, and 240Hz flavors, the last two being better for gamers seeking super-high frame rates in competitive esports games.
In this case, the 4K screen is definitely a tradeoff in terms of refresh rate, but given the quality of the display, it may be worth it for many.
As for the rest of the physical build, the keyboard feels roomier than on quite a few competing gaming laptops.
On competitors I've tested, the keyboard doesn't take up as much of the keyboard-deck space as it could, and the keys are sometimes smaller than average.
The m15 R2 doesn't have a number pad, but it makes up for it with a keyboard that doesn't feel cramped.
The keys do feel a bit plasticky, and there isn't much feedback, but the typing experience is decent on the whole.
The touchpad, too, is good enough, with very smooth panning, though it does feel somewhat loose to click on.
As with the build overall, it doesn't quite hit the heights of the Blade 15, but it is still better than many.
The keyboard is also fun to look at.
The keys can be individually backlit, and out of the box, our unit put on a rainbow light show.
Obviously, you can tone it down with the included customization software, but the multicolored lights dancing across the keys look especially good on this white laptop.
Rounding out the exterior are the side and rear ports, and the m15 R2 packs a wide variety.
The left flank holds a USB 3.1 port, an Ethernet jack, and a headset jack.
The right side has just two more USB 3.1 ports, with the rest of the connections on the black rear of the laptop.
There, you'll find a USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 3 support, an HDMI port, a mini DisplayPort connection, and the power connector.
There's one more wide, skinny port, which will mystify some observers.
This is the proprietary Alienware Graphics Amplifier port, for connecting to the company's venerable external GPU enclosure.
It's sold separately.
Extras and Configurations
Moving away from the hardware for a moment, the customization software I mentioned briefly is a cut above the average, so it deserves a shout-out.
It's called the Alienware Command Center, and it was rebuilt a few years ago to be the standard control panel for all Alienware PC products.
It wraps all of the usual gaming software—game-specific profiles, lighting options, audio settings, component tuning, system monitoring, and even a game library and launcher—into one program.
Most usefully for gaming, you can flip the laptop's thermal profile among several presets (five choices, ranging from quiet to full speed), and set overclock profiles to boost your GPU.
Command Center does all of this with a level of polish not usually seen in these free offerings.
You actually want to use it.
That brings us to our final main feature, a somewhat optional extra.
The m15 R2 is the first 15-inch laptop to include Tobii eye tracking, which comes standard with both the 240Hz and OLED display options.
If you're unfamiliar with Tobii, it's an independent company that has developed eye-tracking tech that's made its way into laptops and other devices, such as the HTC Vive Pro virtual-reality headset.
The tracking hardware is the slim, semi-transparent black bar running under the display.
Tobii has several nongaming functions, meant for general laptop use.
The most helpful is its ability to un-dim the display when the Tobii sensors detect that you've looked back at the screen.
But it has more specific uses while gaming.
It's supported in more than 100 titles (many of them major AAA games), and you can find out which features are enabled in which games by visiting the Tobii site.
Many of them revolve around eye aiming, as well as some selection features and enemy targeting.
I tested Tobii in-game for a bit, mostly using Far Cry 5.
The enhancements are subtle, and not, ahem, game-changing, but they are there.
Moving your eyes toward the edge of the screen will turn your character's head slightly, giving you a subtle sense of looking through his or her eyes.
I didn't notice many effects beyond that, but the tech adds a degree of immersion.
Between some in-game mechanics like the glance effect, and the advantages to desktop browsing, Tobii at worst doesn't detract from the experience, and at best makes some games more enjoyable.
Tobii is bundled into the cost, however, so I wouldn't blame you for wishing you could cut it to save money.
If you really don't want eye tracking, the lower two screen options (the full-HD 60Hz and 144Hz ones) don't come with Tobii.
If you want the OLED screen, though, you also have to pay for Tobii.
Before we get to the performance testing of our unit, let's stop for a quick look at other configuration options.
As a reminder, our $2,659.99 test unit includes an Intel Core i7-9750H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q GPU, 16GB of memory, a 512GB SSD, and (of course) the 4K OLED panel.
Those are far from the only options, though, so I'll start with the processors.
You can choose a Core i5 chip for less money, or pick between two Core i9 CPUs (one with the "K" designation, meaning it's overclockable).
Graphics options range even wider, from a light-hitting GeForce GTX 1650 (barely sufficient for 1080p gaming) up through to the muscular GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q.
Having many storage options is common on any type of laptop, so it's no surprise you can get a small 256GB SSD or a roomy 2TB SSD (both M.2 drives).
You can also configure dual drives in RAID arrays, up to 4TB.
(Our tester had just a single SSD.)
All of this is to say you can fashion an m15 R2 to fit your budget, so long as your budget is $1,500 or up.
Unlike what I've experienced with some laptops, the physical build quality is good enough that using it for both low- and high-end configurations doesn't leave the latter a disappointing compromise.
Using the same chassis at each end of the pricing spectrum is all well and good in theory, but some laptop bodies feel subpar once you pump up the components to a several-thousand-dollar configuration.
Alienware avoids that pitfall with premium construction, so those paying the $1,499 starting price should be just as pleased as those paying more than $2,000 for a decked-out m15 R2.
Testing the m15 R2: A Potent Performer
For performance-testing comparisons, I selected a group of laptops that serve both as competition and context.
All but one are similarly priced and/or equipped gaming machines, but all help give an idea of the Alienware's power and value.
In the cheat sheet below are the basic specs of each...
The Blade 15 Advanced Model released earlier this year was already a favorite, and the recently reviewed updated OLED model ($3,299 as tested) is a perfect competitor here for an OLED head-to-head battle.
The Acer Predator Triton 500 ($2,499 as tested) is another top-end 15-inch gaming laptop, while the MSI GS65 Stealth ($1,699 as tested) represents our top midrange pick.
It should give you an idea of what a step down in GPU power and cost will get you.
The XPS 15 7590 ($2,649 as tested), meanwhile, is the newest model of Dell's 15-inch desktop-replacement laptop.
While not a gaming laptop, our unit does include a low-end discrete GPU and an OLED display, making it a relevant inclusion here.
It also boasts the best CPU in the bunch, demonstrating what a Core i9 can do.
In addition, this is a good place to note that Alienware has engineered extra-efficient voltage regulation to back its GPU and CPU.
It has eight-phase power delivery for graphics, and six-phase for the processor, where most notebooks use four-phase regulation.
This should allow these components to sustain higher performance levels for longer.
(Read on to see how that plays out.)
Productivity & Storage Tests
PCMark 10 and 8 are holistic performance suites developed by the PC benchmark specialists at UL (formerly Futuremark).
The PCMark 10 test we run simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows.
We use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheet use, web browsing, and videoconferencing.
PCMark 8, meanwhile, has a specialized Storage subtest that we use to assess the speed of the PC's boot drive.
This powerful group of laptops performed very similarly on both of these tests, so I'll cut to the chase.
For pricier systems with gaming-grade parts, the daily home and office tasks measured by PCMark 10 are a breeze, and you shouldn't be concerned about their ability to handle them.
Similarly, the snappy solid state drives in these laptops finished within a very tight cluster of one...
