Alienware m16 R2 laptop review: Big and risky changes

[Redaktion]

The Alienware m16 R2 is the first Alienware laptop in recent memory to drop the girthy thermal deck along the rear in favor of a smaller and lighter form factor. The end result is one of the most portable Alienware laptops ever created, but certain features have been omitted along the way.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-m16-R2-laptop-review-Big-and-risky-changes.804547.0.html

[lmao]

finally laptop producers started adapting the concept of 'enough power' instead of 'maximum power'.

[LL]

finally laptop producers started adapting the concept of 'enough power' instead of 'maximum power'.

Not when it is a noisy machine.

[RobertJasiek]

Totally insufficient cooling so very loud under GPU load. Mechanical keyboard unavailable and German mechanical keyboard had already not existed. No 4080/4090. Next.

[Neenyah]

In general I am not a fan of Alienware aesthetics but this one is looking quite nice. It is also nice to see more 16" options without numpad (and with centred touchpad!). Fan noise is irrelevant because thermals are excellent so just adjust fan curves and make it quieter for a bit higher chassis temps, no big deal for those situations where you have to push it at prolonged 100% (work)load. Sweet package overall.

...so very loud... Mechanical keyboard unavailable...

Mechanical keyboards on Alienwares are way louder than fan noise though. It's as loud as normal Cherry red switches.

[lmao]

thanks to marketing history made a full circle, first everyone was happy about replacing noisy long travel mechanics with silent slick membranes and hinges, now nostalgia took over and they are selling people 1986s keyboards for $300+ plus the obligatory wristpad of course, because 1986 keyboards are thick and kill your wrist
now just need to wait for another round of membranes popularity

[RobertJasiek]

Mechanical keyboards on Alienwares are way louder than fan noise though. It's as loud as normal Cherry red switches.

Hehe, I understand your objection. However, I have never been annoyed by the noise (or loudness) of mechanical keyboards. Noise of key pressing differs very much from noise of fans: occasional versus permanent, pleasant versus stressing, confirming versus unwanted.

Besides, I do not type at public places so cannot annoy others by typing.

[Neenyah]

Fair Robert, but just saying that fans (fan curves) can be adjusted to be quieter while their mechanical keyboards are nowhere near the true typing experience of a proper mechanical KB yet they have the same loudness level as Cherry MX Red - so, very loud 😬 This option here in this laptop is better, IMHO, and you can always use a good external mechanical KB for better experience and quieter acoustics.

[lmao]

Fair Robert

nah, roberto is just hating dell the same way he hates apple everywhere. guy failed to prove his 'dell rip-off' conspiracy theory so he immediately requires some other stuff he would never buy like mechanical keyboards and 4090. at least it's not esata, but who knows what would he say if it had mechanical keyboard + 4090 laptop.

[RobertJasiek]

you can always use a good external mechanical KB for better experience and quieter acoustics.

If I need an external keyboard anyway, I prefer a desktop. Mine has low fan noise and a very good mechanical keyboard, of course. For convincing me to buy a notebook instead, manufacturers needed and will need to integrate a similarly good mechanical keyboard so that I can profit from the simple mobility advantage of the notebook formfactor. In 2023 to early 2024, the notebook manufacturers have failed to offer me a convincing combination of low noise, good mechanical keyboard and other wanted aspects (such as rip-off-free price, reasonable quality of hardware and firmware, longevity, easy maintainance and at least 4080 laptop).

[lmao]

ok so roberto's demands are:
* huge mechanical keyboard like his desktop one in laptop
* low noise 4080 in laptop
* has to be free or very cheap, otherwise it's a ripoff

totally legit, not a low-effort troll requirements

[lmao]

very good mechanical keyboard

what model is your keyboard exactly? kinda hard to find both 'very good' and 'with numpad' mechanical keyboard.

[Gastredner]

Wow! This is the biggest downgrade I've ever seen! The m16 R1 was one of the best, if not the best 16 inch notebook in terms of cooling.

The fan control was suboptimal, but that should be fixable on any notebook via custom fan curves. The important thing is that the m16 R1 had the cooling hardware to be reasonably quiet and very fast! It was heavy, but thin and still portable. Almost all competitors are equipped with mediocre cooling in favor of unnecessarily high mobility, which can only do one thing: Either reasonably quiet and moderately fast or very loud and very fast.

A real shame for Alienware. They used to be a respectable gamer brand, but Dell has castrated them into a toothless tiger so that the m16 R2 swims along in the same mediocre mishmash as thousands of other thin & light gaming notebooks.

Dell doesn't care that the cooling is then super loud. That's ridiculous. They don't care for criticism about fan noise from buyers and testers for years, but as soon as some weak-chested customers find the m16 R1 "too heavy", they immediately destroy a great product!

I don't understand this at all. Alienware already has such a stupidly thin and light marketing shitbook with the x16. Why is the m16 now also built to be thin and light?

And the huge disadvantage: the cooling. Up to 62db is just sick! And the other modes are also far too loud! In balanced mode 52db! What have they been smoking at Dell?

The m16 R1 is quieter in Witcher (51 vs. 54db) and at the same time consumes 70 watts more power! With the same power consumption, R1 could remain much quieter than this accident of a successor!

In 2023, I really thought that some manufacturers had finally realized that not everyone wants thin and light notebooks. The m16 R1 was not a mass-compatible product, but it was a very good one! But I guess there is no room for quality if only inferior mass-produced laptops shall be sold.

I actually wanted to buy the m16 and was just hoping for a brighter display :-( Congrats, Dell for the worst successor ever!

[NikoB]

In principle, for Intel this is an acknowledgment of its shame before AMD.
With a monstrous consumption of more than 100W in PL1, this long-term construction from Intel cannot score even a measly 3000 points in CBR15, while the Raptor cores are already closer to 3500+ at "10nm", not "7nm" from Intel.

Otherwise, the laptop is not very interesting.

In reviews, the authors constantly ignore key data on the SSD form factor - where is the information about which SSDs can be installed Double-Sided or Single-Sided?
The inability to install a Double-Sided SSD reduces the buyer's choice by an order of magnitude, especially among 2-4TB models. It's as if no one on this site in the editorial office cares at all whether it is possible to install there the maximum capacity SSDs and a significantly increased selection of models in the Double-Sided form factor.

Moreover, it is not clear in the photo where and how 2 M.2 SSD 2280 are installed - on top of each other?! But this is crazy in terms of thermal comfort for NAND chips!

The laptop negates all its versatility because of the 14" keyboard, instead of a full-fledged one with a classic numpad.
Such a laptop is completely unsuitable for work, but only for entertainment, which immediately reduces the value of the model by half.

[Neenyah]

The laptop negates all its versatility because of the 14" keyboard, instead of a full-fledged one with a classic numpad.
Such a laptop is completely unsuitable for work, but only for entertainment, which immediately reduces the value of the model by half.

Say that to Mark Zuckerberg; 14" laptop without numpad and even an external keyboard without numpad, yet the work is being done just fine: https://imgur.com/swH8lG7