The Area-51m mini-me: Dell Alienware m15 R2 Laptop Review

[Redaktion]

If you've ever wanted the 17.3-inch Alienware Area-51m desktop replacement but wished it was smaller, then the 15.6-inch Alienware m15 R2 should fit the bill. The new model is a complete design overhaul of last year's Alienware m15 R1 that unfortunately feels more like a lateral step sideways instead of a big leap forward.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Area-51m-mini-me-Dell-Alienware-m15-R2-Laptop-Review.433556.0.html

[S.Yu]

The chassis simply squeaks because it's not as well built as Blade 15 with a similar weight and size, I think that's quite clear.
I'm very curious about the execution of Asus' ProArt models though, the high end models with RTX5000 and 6000 will probably end up in the ~5K region.

[DF]

Wifi standards update every couple of years.  Soldered wifi isn't necessary (Razer managed to be thinner and still avoid it).
Meanwhile Razer is cooler, quieter by a small bit, and has more consistent performance.  Seems that Razer finally has out engineered Dell.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  The 51m burns out way too often (plenty of web info on that).  What a sad decline.
And why on earth did they engineer Tobi tracking which no one uses and not put in a Windows Hello camera, which almost all the competition is adopting.  There isn't even an option to get standard Intel AX201 wifi chips, which the industry standard as well.
This box isn't worth bothering with.

[not_anton]

Wow, that's the first laptop to run its CPU hotter than Macbook - Apple computers keep long-term core temperatures around 91-92 degrees.

Combined with Dell build "quality" wound not expect a long life from it.

[BIll]

I heard that the laptop performs significantly better with an undervolt. Other laptop brands for this generation of gaming laptops do a factor undervolting. Can NoteBookCheck verify the performance boost? Alienware SubReddit has evidence of people getting good performance with undervolt.

[MOFO]

I heard that the laptop performs significantly better with an undervolt. Other laptop brands for this generation of gaming laptops do a factor undervolting. Can NoteBookCheck verify the performance boost? Alienware SubReddit has evidence of people getting good performance with undervolt.

Yeah so do all other laptops!
Thing is you shouldn't have to do that , most  everyday users don't know how and it's crazy hot fresh from the factory.
This things a lot more negatives than positives
Soldered RAM and WiFi card with no upgrade options is a extremely stupid direction to go, only positive is the screen and GPU performance.
AlienWare laptops have steadily declined in value , it's one of the most expensive brands that performs much worse than other cheaper brands.
There is absolutely NO reason to get this laptop over another similarly equipped laptop unless your a AlienWare fanboy and want stupid fancy lighting affects.
Shame on DELL for releasing such a expensive under engineered user un-upgradable  laptop.

[Khav]

I remember when laptops could be upgradable by CPU, RAM, storage, graphics, WiFi and modem. It's not exactly reliable, having everything soldered is asking for massive trouble in terms of reliability and potential landfill. I prefer upgrading in sacrifice of thin. Heck my MSI GT640 is thinner than my ASUS and I can't upgrade the GPU in the Asus!

[wr13984]

May I ask why the keyboard score is only 83% when Alienware m15 R1, which has a worse keyboard from the review, scores 88%?

[S.Yu]

I heard that the laptop performs significantly better with an undervolt. Other laptop brands for this generation of gaming laptops do a factor undervolting. Can NoteBookCheck verify the performance boost? Alienware SubReddit has evidence of people getting good performance with undervolt.

Yeah so do all other laptops!
Thing is you shouldn't have to do that , most  everyday users don't know how and it's crazy hot fresh from the factory.
This things a lot more negatives than positives
Soldered RAM and WiFi card with no upgrade options is a extremely stupid direction to go, only positive is the screen and GPU performance.
AlienWare laptops have steadily declined in value , it's one of the most expensive brands that performs much worse than other cheaper brands.
There is absolutely NO reason to get this laptop over another similarly equipped laptop unless your a AlienWare fanboy and want stupid fancy lighting affects.
Shame on DELL for releasing such a expensive under engineered user un-upgradable  laptop.

Some models come factory-undervolted (like the RTX2080MQ Blade 15 IIRC), that means there's less room for performance improvements in case it runs hot or throttles, I think reviewers should be keeping an eye out for this, if only in performance models.

[T q t]

This is how a review should be written. Astoundingly comprehensive, blows all other publications out of the water  ;D