AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX performance debut: Alienware m16 R1 laptop review

[Redaktion]

The Alienware m16 R1 includes everything but the kitchen sink. You'll have to choose carefully, however, as some configurations may be less buggy than others.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Ryzen-9-7845HX-performance-debut-Alienware-m16-R1-laptop-review.742228.0.html

[RobertJasiek]

It is very good that the review gives both GPU speeds and noise levels for different fan modes, and mentions the bugs.

[NikoB]

Overpriced rubbish.

The author writes about some "debut" (apparently for him personally) 7845HX, although in our stores Asus Strix 17 with this processor has been collecting dust on the shelves since May - there were not so many who wanted to buy it. Even though the price is $1,000 less than this overpriced junk.

Again, the shame of all manufacturers is obvious - why are there no USB40 controllers? After all, the Zen4 HX series has 24 free pci-e 5.0 lines directly into the processor. What prevented you from soldering 2 USB40 controllers with 2 ports each? And bring them out on the left and right on 1 port and 2 behind (plus 1 usb-a on the left and right for 20Gb / s).

Why did AMD put a controller in the Zen4 HX pci-e 5.0 if stupid and greedy laptop manufacturers don't use those lines to their full potential?

Stupid and greedy Dell put a miserable 16GB of the shameful ddr5 4800 for a monstrous $ 2700, instead of immediately soldering the 64GB LPDDR5 7500 and closing the topic, because. Zen4 HX is still more than 64GB in hardware and does not support it, unlike Zen4 Phoenix, which, despite half the number of cores, for some reason claims to support as much as 256GB of RAM!

It's too lazy to write about the screen - shameful contrast, high response time and low brightness (although it's enough for the house, but there is no margin for burnout). Low resolution - 4k@120Hz is needed here, but it's not available.

Will there be eccentrics with money ready to pay so much for this overpriced garbage? Of course there are on an overpopulated planet...

p.s. I am very sad and upset with the 2023 models - this is a complete EPIC FAIL for all manufacturers without exception.

Even the new Legion 9i is a bit of a shame.

[Gastredner]

Thank you Alienware for finally prioritizing cooling over a light weight! 3.1kg are by no means light, but they don't have to. For short distances or occasional transports it is fine. If you want to carry around your high-end laptop all day by foot ( does anyone really do that? ;) ), get something else with worse cooling and more fan noise or less performance under load.

Those average ~2.5kg competitors favor unneccessaryly low weight over sufficient cooling which is needed though to finally get rig of loud fan noise during full load. I don't want to pay a lot of money for getting only 80% performance because of a too thin and light chassis and insufficient cooling.

The m16 is a great step into the right direction! It can get very loud as well, but it does not need to! It also achieves almost full performance with 49db!! Do we know any competitor who achieves nearly full performance with 49db? By reducing fan speed/noise to 42-44 db you can play without being forced to wear a bulky headset and still get easily over 90% performance.

On lighter competitors with worse cooling, e.g. Legion Pro 5 (no vapor chamber and only 2 fans) you have to lower performance to around 80%. Legion Pro 7 has a vapor chamber, but comes with the same two shallow fans like the 5 Pro. So same suboptimal airflow and worse airflow than on the Alienware m16.


What holds me back from ordering:

1. after seeing the X16's cooling with 4 big (in terms of diameter) fans, I am dissappointed why Alienware went for only 3 (or 2 and a half) big fans on the m16. I would order the X16 if it was not way too thin. Come on. Even on the m16 the fans are very shallow (only 10mm?). Why do you make them even thinner on the X16?

2. Fan whining: I have read several complaints mostly from m18 owners about high-pitched undertones from the fans. That is a total no-go for me. My current laptop also has that and it drives me nuts. But I have also heard laptop fans which only made an air rushing sound without hiph-pitched whining.

3. The inverted motherboard is a smart idea to create room for the quad fan cooling solution. But this only makes sense if you apply a TIM which does not need to be replaced. At least for many years. What I don't get though is why they decided to left Element31 out on the 4060 and 4070? If they use a regular thermal paste, it might dry out after a couple of years making it neccessary to disassembly the mainboard for a repasting. Don't know if Element31 needs to be replaced as well? Why do they cut 2 dollars on the TIM on a almost 1800 Euro expensive laptop (4060 + 7745HX in germany)

4. Display brightness is dissappointing. Many competitors have 500 nits and more which is very handy for bright indoors and even more important outside. I buy a laptop instead of a desktop to be able to use it in different places.

5. The huge power BRICK is a bad joke. Hopefully the 4060 comes with the small power adaptor?


@Alienware: Summary to get me ordering from you:

1. Either make the X16 4-5mm thicker or bring the X16 cooling system to the M16 (of course with thicker fans and heatsinks). If the two mini m.2 slots are in the way, get them out. Almost every competitor also comes with 2x m.2 slots which is plenty enough.
2. No high-pitched whining fan sound!
3. Brighter display with at least 500 nits. That's much more important to me than stupidly high refresh rates >240 Hz
4. Get Element31, liquid metal oder Honeywell PTM7945 on EVERY SKU (incl. 4060!)
5. Make the SFF power adaptor available for order.

[Neenyah]

It also achieves almost full performance with 49db!! Do we know any competitor who achieves nearly full performance with 49db?

Razer Blade 16 2023 i9 13950HX + 4090; thinner, lighter, runs slightly cooler (with the latest BIOS, not the one here in the linked review) and quieter at 46.72 dB(A) max loudness (same with the latest BIOS).

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Razer-Blade-16-Early-2023-RTX-4090-Review-Core-i9-13950HX-beast-with-world-s-first-dual-mode-mini-LED-UHD-display.702200.0.html

There is more of them but that's the first I've had in mind because searching from phone is hell.

[Gastredner]

It also achieves almost full performance with 49db!! Do we know any competitor who achieves nearly full performance with 49db?

Razer Blade 16 2023 i9 13950HX + 4090; thinner, lighter, runs slightly cooler (with the latest BIOS, not the one here in the linked review) and quieter at 46.72 dB(A) max loudness (same with the latest BIOS).

There is more of them but that's the first I've had in mind because searching from phone is hell.

Comparing this to the Alienware m16 in balanced mode in Witcher 3 I come up with the following numbers:

Avg fan noise:
49.4 (m16) vs 46.7 (Blade 16)

Avg GPU power:
150.216 (m16) vs 157.0 (Blade)

Avg GPU temp:
69.5 (m16) vs 81.8 (Blade)

Avg CPU power:
50.705 (m16) vs 42.70 (Blade)

Avg CPU package temp:
89.6 (m16) vs 90.0 (Blade)

I used the following screenshots for the comparison:
/fileadmin/_processed_/6/c/csm_stresswitbala_e55220d6e5.png
/fileadmin/_processed_/7/2/csm_witcher_3_1_aeb8c62418.png
/fileadmin/_processed_/2/6/csm_witcher_3_hwinfo_9_75b1e364e8.png

The Razer Blade does a pretty good job considering its thin chassis and two small fans, but the m16 seems to be a bit ahead in terms of cooling performance.

[Neenyah]

No, no, don't think I'm disagreeing with you, I just added that there are other laptops too to run quiet (in powerful gaming laptops terms) at full power.

And that's good for all of us because if Razer can do it then Dell/Alienware can do it too, as demonstrated clearly here with this m16. Also thicker laptops will always have more thermal buffer AKA more room for better cooling, there is no way around it so I'm glad to see them (Dell/Alienware) coming to reality with focus on improvement in that aspect.

Btw, almost all mobile RTX 40 are safe to push to 85°C so they keeping it this low without sacrificing any performance is a great success.

Edit: When I said that the Blade 16 runs slightly cooler (with the latest BIOS) than this m16 I meant at the bottom, measured with Flir. Probably because of a different internal design that keeps the bottom slightly cooler instead of using it to dissipate the heat.

[LL]

If you want to carry around your high-end laptop all day by foot ( does anyone really do that? ;) ), get something else with worse cooling and more fan noise or less performance under load.

What about getting more muscle and strength to carry it around? 
Soldiers move around with 4kg gun and a lot more stuff...  :o)

[Gastredner]

No, no, don't think I'm disagreeing with you, I just added that there are other laptops too to run quiet (in powerful gaming laptops terms) at full power.

And that's good for all of us because if Razer can do it then Dell/Alienware can do it too, as demonstrated clearly here with this m16. Also thicker laptops will always have more thermal buffer AKA more room for better cooling, there is no way around it so I'm glad to see them (Dell/Alienware) coming to reality with focus on improvement in that aspect.

I am fully with you! Thumbs up!

If you want to carry around your high-end laptop all day by foot ( does anyone really do that? ;) ), get something else with worse cooling and more fan noise or less performance under load.

What about getting more muscle and strength to carry it around? 
Soldiers move around with 4kg gun and a lot more stuff...  :o)

Come on. Do you really need to get more muscle strength in order to carry a 3.1kg laptop plus power supply? LOL

Another example: How did we manage to get our backpacks with several heavy books to school many many years ago? Don't think my backpack was much lighter than 3-4 kg, but I had to carry it every single day for a walk of 20 minutes as a skinny 12 years old and I don't remember complaining about that :) Now, as a grown-up male in my 30s I would find it embarrassing to complain about only occassionally carrying 4kg in a backback :D

Don't get me wrong. If you need to carry around your laptop every single day for hours (do you?) then go for a lighter alternative. But I think most of us use these high-end laptops mostly on a desk and carry it from there to a couch, another room or to the balcony. For the occassional times where we transport it to vacation destination, hotel, friend's house, office etc, we should be able to carry the same weight like we did at school every single day without complaining.

[LL]

It was you that appeared to be complaining :)

[Zanahorio]

Honestly ... for me, no USB4 is an absolute showstopper ...

I'm sorry.

[Aiman]

Fully agree with Gastredner. A thicker X16 would be awesome. I would add 'better speakers' to your m16 wishlist.

Allen Ngo: Could you say something about the fan noise? Was it only air being pushed or did you notice any high pitched whiny frequencies? Fan noise is also critical to me, because I also usually play without headphones.

[Victor]

What about the BIOS? Do you have any screenshots of it?