Well, It's Definitely Alien

As a tech geek, I have a kind of shopping list of "Things I'd Like to Review One Day."

You'd think by now I'd have ticked off so many items on that list, it must be pretty short by now but the opposite is true; the trouble with tech is they keep inventing more of it.

So it seems like each time I finally get to play with a gadget on my wish-list, two more bright, shiny objects appear to replace it, as if by magic.

I've also made it pretty clear over the years I'm no gamer. But that's not to say I wouldn't like to be, if I only had the time. 

Luckily, every so often, my wish-list and my secret gaming ambitions converge.

Until last week, I'd never used a purpose-built gaming laptop. But now I have. I had to. It was for work...

Alienware has done a pretty decent job of establishing itself as a go-to brand for gaming enthusiasts. Alienware computers have been out there since 1997, always catching the attention of gamers and critics alike with their high-spec internal components and generally high pricetags to boot.

Right out of the box, the m15 R6 is an aquired taste. Remember, I'm comparing it with other business/personal laptops so to me, it seems absolutely huge. And heavy - around 2.5kgs. Alienware machines have always shouted, "I'm built for gaming! Take it or leave it!"

While the m15 R6 doesn't actually look like an alien, as some models of the past have, it does perhaps resemble an alien spacecraft; all graphite and dark grey, with hexagaonal air-flow grills top and bottom and those big air vents at the back. In fact, the rear of the chunky, robust hinge mechanism is surrounded by an LED ring and when it lights up, it's almost as if the laptop is about to launch itself into hyperspace.

Which it kind of is.

Because, as usual, the m15 R6 is specced up the wazoo. Lightning fast PCIe M2 SSD storage (1TB on the unit I was sent to review) and 16GB of RAM. The top-of-the-line NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 dedicated graphics card combines with the 15.6-inch ComfortView Plus FHD display to provide unheard-of refresh rates upto 360Hz. And of course, the star of the show is the 11th-gen Intel Core i7 processor.

All of this is accessible via the Alienware Command Centre, where you can customise pretty much every aspect of how the laptop runs - from fan speed to your RGB lighting scheme. The latter features on the keyboard, the rear IO port surround I mentioned earlier and the Alienware logos on both the lid and the power button. I immediately changed mine to red everywhere of course, because why would you want any other colour?

The m15 R6 ships with Windows 10 Home out of the box, so the first thing I did was upgrade it to Windows 11. I figured it would cope.

To be honest, there's not much this beast doesn't cope with. If you're buying it for browsing and streaming and emailing and the like, don't bother. It's just a waste.

As we've established, this machine is built for gaming and it nails it. 

Games start fast and the highest display and performance settings load by default. The crazy high refresh rate of that nice big display (closer to 16 inches than 15) makes everything look smooth with no stutter ever. Whether I'm trying to escape the puzzle rooms and hallways of Superliminal, or the robot guards and security drones patrolling the sewers in Marvel's Avengers, every detail is... well... just so detailed and the experience is totally immersive. 

Funnily enough, as I write this, Intel has just launched its latest 12th-generation chips, effectively making the one I'm using here obsolete. I can't imagine what the new iteration does better.

Well... maybe it'll run a little cooler.

My biggest criticism of the m15 R6 is fan noise. I've never experienced anything quite like it. I get that there's a lot going on under the hood and things have to be kept cool but this is really next level. Luckily most gamers wear headsets while playing because I'm not kidding, when the fans in this thing hit top speed, it sounds like an extractor fan and the only-okay built-in speakers struggle to be heard above the din.

Weirdly, depending on which cooling profile you run, they don't even keep things that cool. Right now both the CPU and GPU fans are reporting 55 degrees - and all I'm doing is typing a review. Let's just say the old lap feels pretty cosy right now.

But maybe game-aholics don't care about that stuff so much. Or maybe, like a muscle car enthusiast, it's actually all about the heat and the noise - the more the better.

For me as a non-gamer, the priority list here is a little hard to fathom. For instance, the touch pad is small and feels cramped to use - especially when it comes to right and left clicking. Given the size of the device, I would have expected to see something much bigger, offering a more detailed and accurate experience. I get most people who buy this laptop will do so primarily for its gaming abilities and therefore will most likely be using some kind of fancy-schmancy mouse or even an external controller - but still, I find it weird the touch pad kind of under-performs on such a beast of a machine.

Battery life is another mystery. Yes, the m15 R6 is infinitely more portable than a desktop PC tower with similar specs but you'll definitely need to take its bulky Dell power supply along with you to keep things running for very long. Apparently there is a smaller adapter available as an optional extra, which might be worth considering if you're planning to use this device in multiple locations.

The camera quality also leaves a little to be desired. Yes it is enabled for Windows Hello login and yes it features a dual-array mic setup so you do sound pretty good if you're talking to team-mates on a multi-player mission. But if you want to host a professional video-chat, the picture quality is a little less crisp than I was expecting.

What I love is the selection of ports - and where they're positioned. Ethernet and headphone jack one side, two Type-A USB 3.2 on the other, with HDMI 2.1, Type-C (Thunderbolt 4) and another Type-A USB 3.2 all out of the way at the back. You can never have too many ports - especially when you're wanting to plug in controllers and external monitors.

The keyboard is another blissful experience. The keys are so well spread out, with amazing travel for a laptop and of course, I can colour them red. Several function keys also double as programmable macros too - very useful in your next close combat encounter.

This is definitely the high-performance V8 of laptops and like those sorts of cars, it's loud, proud and not very economical to run. But in terms of sheer power, it's hard to beat. And when you're trying to avoid both space station pirates and the bloodthirsty alien in Alien: Isolation - you need a machine that just won't quit.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Alienware m15 R6 gaming laptop.