The Dell Alienware x17 R2 Gaming Laptop Review: A Comprehensive Analysis

The Dell Alienware x17 R2 gaming laptop is a high-specced device that boasts impressive performance and features. As expected, Adobe Photoshop prefers single-threaded performance, and although the multi-threaded performance was not amazing in Cinebench, the single-core score was still decent due to the i9 chip, which is why again, the x17 R2 is doing quite well here compared to others. GPU power matters more in DaVinci Resolve, though there are both lower wattage 3080 Ti and lower-tier 3070 Ti laptops scoring within the margin of error range.

Nevertheless, this is a great result. We're still building up the Blender data, but it's one of the lower results out of the higher-powered 3080 Ti laptops, though of course it's ahead of smaller 3080 Ti laptops that have lower power limits. We've also tested SPECviewperf which tests out various professional 3D workloads. The BIOS is ancient looking compared to Dell's own cheaper G15 gaming laptop which looks far more modern.

Regardless, there are still quite a few options that you can change through here compared to many other laptops out there. Linux support was tested with an Ubuntu 22.04 live CD. By default the keyboard, touchpad, speakers, camera, and ethernet worked, but Wi-Fi wasn't recognized which seems to be the case with many laptops, it probably needs additional drivers. The MicroSD card gets detected, and the keyboard shortcuts for volume adjustment, screen brightness, and keyboard brightness all work fine.

Let's discuss pricing and availability next. This will change over time, so refer to the link below the video for current sales, as Dell in particular are known to run sales all the time. At the time of recording, in the US the Alienware x17 R2 gaming laptop starts at $2050 USD for the lowest spec configuration with an Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics. And just for brief comparison, it's pretty easy to get a 3070 Ti laptop from another brand for less than this.

The exact configuration I've tested with i9, 3080 Ti, 64 gigs of RAM, 1TB SSD, and 4K 120Hz screen is double the price, so a similar sort of price to Razer's Blade 17 with similar specs, which is also meant to be a thinner designed laptop. But is it worth paying for? Honestly for most people, probably not. The 3060 is still very capable, especially if you're considering one with an 1080p screen option. Remember the x17 R2 has 3 1080p screen choices, and given 1080p gaming generally depends more on CPU performance than GPU performance, you could absolutely save money and not get the 3080 Ti.

If eSports games are the goal, then it could be worth spending more money to get the i9 processor instead of the i7, instead of wasting that money on a 3080 Ti. Other than that, I don't like that the secondary key functions don't get lit up, the lid felt difficult to open up, Wi-Fi is soldered and can't be upgraded despite it being a larger 17-inch machine, and as is always the case with Alienware, it just costs more compared to alternatives. The x17 tries to be thin, but why? At 17 inches with a deeper back and heavier weight it doesn't end up being more portable anyway.

Not to mention being harder to carry due to the sharp edge on the back. I don't know, I feel like it could have just been a little thicker for a higher CPU power limit which would make configurations with a 1080p screen more justifiable. In addition to boosting the multi-core CPU performance, which was lower compared to cheaper laptops.

The quad fan design is pretty interesting though, and with the way they've configured it, out of the box it doesn't thermal throttle in a combined CPU plus GPU workload. The battery life wasn't impressive, but the performance on battery was pretty good for an Intel laptop. RGB lighting is definitely a unique point, but considering that you don't even get to see the main ring on the back when sitting in front of it and using it, it'll really depend on how much more money you want to spend just to flex on your friends.

But yeah, most people shouldn't spend more money on the RTX 3080 Ti configuration, and you can find out more in this video over here where I've compared it fairly against the RTX 3070 Ti. Or if you're an eSports player, check out this one next. If you're going for the 1080p screen option, it might be worth spending more money to get the i9 over the i7 CPU instead of blowing the budget on a 3080 Ti.

So I'll see you in one of those videos next.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enThe x17 R2 is Alienware’s most powerfulgaming laptop, which is why it has 4 fansinside and tons of RGB lighting to boost performance.It comes with their lunar light finish, soa white exterior with the big 17 on the lid,just in case you forget you’ve got a 17inch laptop.The interior is all black, it’s smooth andkind of has a rubberised feel to it.There’s RGB lighting on the lid logo, thekeyboard, and of course the classic mark ofan Alienware laptop, the rear light ring,all of which can be controlled through theFX tab of the Command Center software.The build quality feels solid and there aren’tany sharp corners or edges where you touchduring normal use - more on that in a bit.There’s only a bit of flex to the keyboardand lid when pushing hard, it felt perfectlyfine during normal use.The hinge felt nice and sturdy, even whenquickly ripping open the lid, but the hingefelt a little stiff, so you might have toopen it with two hands to avoid the frontlifting up.There’s no dedicated spot on the front tohelp with opening the lid, and combined withthe stiff hinge it often felt harder to openthan it should.The screen goes back around 137 degrees, soplenty for normal viewing, and the screendidn’t wobble when typing hard, so that’san advantage of the tighter hinge.Although it’s not super thick for a powerful17” gaming laptop, it will still take upa fair bit of bag space as the back area sticksout for the ports and the all important RGBlight ring.It’s not very portable when walking withit either.If you hold it like this with the rear facingdown on your hand, it’s quite painful asthe back edge feels sharp.After less than 30 seconds it felt like itwas cutting off my fingers, but holding itthe other way was fine.The laptop alone is quite heavy too, at 3.1kgor 6.8lb, and then this increases to 4.1kgor 9.1lb with the 330 watt power brick andcables for charging, so yeah not exactly portabledespite being thin.I’ve got the maxed out configuration withIntel’s Core i9-12900HK CPU, Nvidia RTX3080 Ti graphics, 64 gigs of DDR5 memory anda 17.3” 4K 120Hz screen with advanced optimusand G-Sync.The lower specced options can cost half asmuch money though, you can customize the specsand see the differences with the link belowthe video.There’s a 720p camera above the screen inthe middle, and it has IR for Windows Helloface unlock.Here’s how both the camera and microphonelook and sound, and here’s how it soundswhile I’m typing on the keyboard.It’s worth noting that my model just hasthe standard keyboard, you can pay $50 USDmore to upgrade to the CherryMX mechanicalkeyboard.Both keyboards have per-key RGB backlighting,but unfortunately the secondary functionsdon’t get lit up.Brightness can be adjusted between two levelsor turned off with the F7 shortcut key.My standard keyboard has 1.5mm of key traveland I liked typing on it, but the mechanicalkeyboard has 1.8mm instead, but it would ofcourse sound louder than this one too.My right arrow key had to be pushed down extrahard to actually trigger, but hopefully that’sjust an issue with my unit and not a commonproblem.I didn’t notice it with any other keys.The glass touchpad feels nice and smooth andworks well.It clicks down anywhere and sometimes felta little narrow compared to the rest of themachine, which is a result of the air ventsabove the keyboard taking up space.The left side just has the power input rightat the back with a large air exhaust vent.The power cable sticks out quite a bit, soit would have been nice if they had room tofit this on the back.The right side has another big air exhaustvent, and the 3.5mm audio combo jack is rightat the back.The rest of the ports are on the back, fromleft to right there’s a Type-C Thunderbolt4 port with USB 3.2 Gen 2 support, a USB 3.2Gen 1 Type-A port, 2.5 gigabit ethernet facingthe preferred way so you don’t have to liftthe laptop to unplug, a second USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port, but no Thunderbolt on thisone, HDMI 2.1 output, a second USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A port, MicroSD card slot and MiniDisplayPort 1.4 output on the far right.It can actually be kind of hard to see whatyou’re plugging in with the backlight blastingyour eyes with RGB, it gets pretty bright.Both of those two Type-C ports can be usedto charge the laptop.Now with optimus off, both of those Type-Cports, the HDMI port and Mini DisplayPortall connect directly to the Nvidia graphics.But with optimus on, the Thunderbolt portdoes not offer any display output.The other three ports still connect directlyto the Nvidia graphics though.We also confirmed the HDMI port could runa 4K external screen at up to 120Hz 12-bitwith G-Sync, so variable refresh rate.Getting inside requires unscrewing 8 Phillipshead screws, but only the 2 down the backand 2 down the front in the middle come outof the panel.The screws are different sizes, so keep trackof them.I still needed pry tools to open it, eventhough this design is meant to make it easierto open.I’ll leave a link to the ones I use belowthe video.Inside we’ve got the battery down the front,two M.2 storage slots just above on the rightside and two memory slots to the left of that.Wi-Fi is soldered to the motherboard justabove the battery and cannot be upgraded,a bit strange for a 17 inch laptop, but atleast it’s using the latest 6E and it performsquite good compared to other laptops.The installed 1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSDwas performing quite well, and the secondM.2 slot supports faster Gen 4 drives too,though it doesn’t come with a heat shieldfor the 2nd drive.I take off a full point from the upgrade scorewhen Wi-Fi can’t be removed and upgradedwhich is why the score is lower compared toa number of other laptops.You would also need to do more work if youwanted to repaste too, because the CPU andGPU dies are on the other side of the motherboard.The memory is good stuff, dual rank x8, atleast with the 64 gig kit, this might be differentwith 16 or 32 gig options, I’m not sureas I don’t have those.There are front facing speakers on eitherside of the keyboard as well as down the fronttowards the left and right corners.I thought they sounded above average, butnot amazing.There’s some bass and they’re clear enoughat high volume levels, but I noticed the speakersvibrated a little with a bass heavy song.The latencymon results weren’t looking good.The x17 R2 is powered by a 6-cell 87Wh battery,however it wasn’t quite able to hit 5 hoursin my usual YouTube video playback test.This generally seems to be the case with Intelbased laptops, as we can see AMD Ryzen modelsare much higher up on the graph, includingAlienware’s own m15 R5.The Intel based m15 R6 on the other hand wasn’ttoo different compared to the x17 R2.Let’s check out thermals next.There are heatpipes shared between the CPUand GPU, but as mentioned on the other sideof the motherboard.The x17 R2 is unique in that it has a quadfan solution, and this is why the air ventson the sides are so large.We can see that there are holes directly aboveall 4 fans as well to help with air intake.The 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti configurations useAlienware’s Element 31 thermal interfacematerial, a combination of gallium and silicone,while I assume the lower tier 3060 optionuses a more standard thermal paste, but theydon’t specify.The Alienware Command Center software letsus change between these different performanceprofiles.From lowest to highest we’ve got quiet,balanced, performance and full speed modes.You also get the option to enable overclock1 or overclock 2 profiles, and we can seewhat these actually do through the Fusiontab.Overclock 1 undervolts the CPU by 25 millivoltswhile overclock 2 does 50 millivolts witha slightly higher voltage.Both profiles also apply overclocks to theGPU by these values too, but you can of coursecreate your own custom profile as well.You can also hold the function key and pressthe F2 shortcut to enable high performancemode, which maxes out the fans, but it needsthe Command Center software loaded in thebackground to work, so it doesn’t work inLinux.The internal temperatures were on the warmerside when just sitting there idle, but thisisn’t really a problem in practice unlessthe laptop feels hot - we’ll look at thatsoon.The rest of the results are from combinedCPU and GPU stress tests which aim to representa worst case full load scenario.Thermal throttling wasn’t being hit accordingto hardware info, and given most Alienwarelaptops I’ve tested tend to easily hit 100degrees Celsius, this wasn’t what I wasexpecting to see.Who knew that 4 fans were better than 2!I only tested the overclock modes with thehighest full speed profile, but didn’t findthis to change much, while the cooling padI test with, linked below the video, was ableto lower temperatures by about 9 degrees Celsius.These are the clock speeds being hit duringthe same tests.The speeds with full speed mode aren’t muchdifferent with or without the overclocks applied,and the cooling pad doesn’t improve performancebecause thermals weren’t a limit in thisworkload, but as we just saw it does insteadhelp by lowering temperatures further.Power limits were what was stopping the temperaturesfrom going higher.Full speed mode was limiting the CPU to a45 watt TDP, while the GPU was able to runaround 165 watts.The 3080 Ti can run up to 175 watts in thislaptop with dynamic boost if the CPU isn’tloaded up though, so even with the CPU underload the GPU power doesn’t change too muchfrom this maximum.Honestly considering the 4K screen my x17R2 has, this is probably for the best, butas we’ll see soon in the game benchmarks,it’s not ideal for 1080p gaming, and itis sold with 3 different 1080p panel options.Here’s how an actual game performs withthe different performance modes in use at1440p.Full speed mode was giving the best result,so this is what we’ve used for the upcominggame testing.The lowest quiet mode was still performingquite well though, and we’ll have a listento the fan noise difference in a moment.Although the CPU was limited to 45 watts withthe GPU active, like in a game for example,it was able to run much higher in a CPU onlyworkload like Cinebench, around 105 wattswhile instantly thermal throttling at around100 degrees Celsius in full speed mode.Those 4 fans can only do so much I suppose.Interestingly multicore performance got worsewith the overclock profiles, while singlecore scores increased.It’s not doing amazingly well for an i9-12900HKcompared to others.Both lower tier i9-12900H and even i7-12700Hlaptops that cost less money were able tooutperform it in terms of multicore performanceas some laptops with those are able to sustainhigher CPU power limits.I mean the multicore score is barely aheadof Dell’s far cheaper G15 with an i7, sothe x17 R2 isn’t exactly impressive here.To be fair, it is also thinner.Performance drops back when we unplug thecharger and instead run purely off of batterypower.It’s actually one of the better Intel resultsnow, though lower core options from both Appleand Ryzen are able to outperform it here.Most laptops I test are in the low 30 degreesCelsius range on the keyboard at idle, andthe x17 R2 was in line with this too.The back and sides were a bit warmer, butyou don’t need to touch there.With the stress tests running, the keyboardonly gets a little warmer in the middle andthe back is much hotter now, but again, noneed to touch it.Balanced mode isn’t much different, thefans get louder to compensate for the higherperformance.Performance mode wasn’t too different either.The WASD area you’d use while gaming iscool while the middle only feels a bit warm.The highest full speed mode was a little coolerin the center now, but the fans are loudertoo, let’s have a listen.It was mostly quiet when sitting there idle,but the fans would kick in with some verylight use.It then gets louder in the higher performancemodes as you’d expect, and although I’veonly tested with the default fan settingsfor the built in profiles, you do get a bitof customization over all 4 fans through software.Now that said, I have been sitting here forabout 10 or 15 minutes now recording, andthe fans have been audible to me the wholetime with the laptop sitting here completelyidle.It is now on battery though, so I supposethat varies.Just before we get into the game benchmarks,let’s check out the screen, given that’swhat you’re going to be staring at whenplaying games.As you can probably tell by the name, thex17 has a 17.3” screen with either three1080p options, 1440p 165Hz, or 4K 120Hz whichis what mine has.For some reason right now in the US the 1440poption isn’t available on Dell’s website,so I'm not sure if it’s just out of stockor not sold there.You can check the link below the video forupdates.All panel options get you Advanced Optimuswith G-Sync though.Advanced optimus is controlled through theNvidia control panel like normal, but if youwant to instead use the MUX switch then youcan only access this through the BIOS.The 4K 120Hz 10-bit screen has good colorgamut, but relatively low contrast comparedto other laptop screens.We measured it at 479 nits maxed out, so brightercompared to many other laptops, and it wouldn’tsurprise me if most of the 1080p alternativeswere dimmer than this.Dell advertises this screen as well as threeof their others with a 3ms response time,however I measured the 4K 120Hz panel withan average grey-to-grey response time of 5.6ms,though that’s still lower than the 8.3msneeded for transitions to occur within therefresh window.I couldn’t find any sort of screen overdrivemode and there wasn’t one applied by default,which is why it’s a little behind comparedto a number of other gaming laptops.Regardless, it’s a good result comparedto other 4K gaming laptops I’ve tested sofar.The total system latency is the amount oftime between a mouse click and when a gunshotfire appears on the screen in CS:GO.Having a MUX switch helps lower the latencyin games, but even with this and the relativelydecent screen response time score it’s stillbehind a number of other cheaper options,though not by too much.Backlight bleed was ok, I only had a coupleof light patches but these weren’t noticeableduring normal use outside of this worst casetest, though this will vary between panels.Now let’s find out how well the maxed outx17 R2 performs in games and see how it comparesagainst other laptops.The highest full speed mode with the overclock2 profile was tested for best results, asI figured if you’re buying this top-endspec configuration, then it makes sense totry and get the most out of it.But I didn’t do any custom tuning.Cyberpunk 2077 was tested the same on alllaptops, and I’ve got the x17 R2 shown bythe red highlight.It’s not doing that well at the lower 1080presolution considering the top end CPU andGPU combination.I mean MSI’s far cheaper GP66 with lowertier i7 processor and RTX 3070 Ti graphicswere performing better.Things turn around at the higher 1440p resolutionthough, with the x17 R2 only being beatenby the Zephyrus Duo 16, and higher tier desktopreplacement style machines including MSI’sTitan GT77 and the Scar 17 SE from ASUS.Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested with thegames benchmark tool.Again some lower tier i7 and 3070 Ti configurationswere coming out ahead at the lower 1080p resolution.Yeah the difference is very small at lessthan 1 FPS and absolutely not something you’dnotice when playing, but my point is thatyou can spend far less money to get a similarresult if 1080p is your priority.And considering the x17 R2 is available with360Hz or 480Hz 1080p screens, it might be.1440p is scoring close to a number of other3080 Ti laptops now, but still these aren’tthat much higher compared to laptops thathave the cheaper 3070 Ti.Control is a GPU heavy game, so the resultat the lower 1080p resolution is able to beatall of the lower tier 3070 Ti models now.Like the other games though, it’s not allthat different compared to other similarlyspecced machines.It’s one of the better results at the higher1440p resolution.The 3080 Ti really only seems worthwhile athigher resolutions like this where you startbecoming more GPU bound.The CPU usually matters more for lower resolutionslike 1080p, and as we saw earlier in the Cinebenchresults, the 12900HK isn’t exactly impressivecompared to other laptops when in the x17R2.Likely just a limit to have the thinner chassis.Here are the 3DMark results for those thatfind them useful, now for some content creatortests.Adobe Premiere was tested with the Puget Systemsbenchmark tool, and the score is looking betterhere compared to what we saw in most of thegame tests, with the x17 R2 performing closelyto other high specced laptops as you’d expect.Adobe Photoshop likes single threaded performance,and although the multi threaded performancewasn’t amazing in Cinebench, the singlecore score was still decent due to the i9chip, which is why again, the x17 R2 is doingquite well here compared to others.GPU power matters more in DaVinci Resolve,though there are both lower wattage 3080 Tiand lower tier 3070 Ti laptops scoring withinthe margin of error range.Nevertheless, this is a great result.We’re still building up the Blender data,but it’s one of the lower results out ofthe higher powered 3080 Ti laptops, thoughof course it’s ahead of smaller 3080 Tilaptops that have lower power limits.We’ve also tested SPECviewperf which testsout various professional 3D workloads.The BIOS is ancient looking compared to Dell’sown cheaper G15 gaming laptop which looksfar more modern.Regardless, there are still quite a few optionsthat you can change through here comparedto many other laptops out there.Linux support was tested with an Ubuntu 22.04live CD.By default the keyboard, touchpad, speakers,camera and ethernet worked, but Wi-Fi wasn’trecognized which seems to be the case withmany laptops, it probably needs additionaldrivers.The MicroSD card gets detected, and the keyboardshortcuts for volume adjustment, screen brightnessand keyboard brightness all work fine.Let’s discuss pricing and availability next.This will change over time, so refer to thelink below the video for current sales, asDell in particular are known to run salesall the time.At the time of recording, in the US the Alienwarex17 R2 gaming laptop starts at $2050 USD forthe lowest spec configuration with Intel corei7 processor and Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics.And just for brief comparison, it’s prettyeasy to get a 3070 Ti laptop from anotherbrand for less than this.The exact configuration I’ve tested herewith i9, 3080 Ti, 64 gigs of RAM, 1TB SSDand 4K 120Hz screen is double the price, soa similar sort of price to Razer’s Blade17 with similar specs, which is also meantto be a thinner designed laptop.But is it worth paying for?Honestly for most people, probably not, the3060 is still very capable, especially ifyou’re considering one with a 1080p screenoption.Remember the x17 R2 has 3 1080p screen choices,and given 1080p gaming generally depends moreon CPU performance than GPU performance, youcould absolutely save money and not get the3080 Ti.If eSports games are the goal, then it couldbe worth spending more money to get the i9processor instead of the i7, instead of wastingthat money on a 3080 Ti.Other than that, I don’t like that the secondarykey functions don’t get lit up, the lidfelt difficult to open up, Wi-Fi is solderedand can’t be upgraded despite it being alarger 17” machine, and as is always thecase with Alienware, it just costs more comparedto alternatives.The x17 tries to be thin, but why?At 17 inches with a deeper back and heavierweight it doesn’t end up being more portableanyway.Not to mention being harder to carry due tothe sharp edge on the back.I don’t know, I feel like it could havejust been a little thicker for a higher CPUpower limit which would make configurationswith a 1080p screen more justifiable.In addition to boosting the multicore CPUperformance, which was lower compared to cheaperlaptops.The quad fan design is pretty interestingthough, and with the way they’ve configuredit, out of the box it doesn’t thermal throttlein a combined CPU plus GPU workload.The battery life wasn’t impressive, butthe performance on battery was pretty goodfor an Intel laptop.The RGB lighting is definitely a unique point,but considering that you don’t even getto see the main ring on the back when sittingin front of it and using it, it’ll reallydepend on how much more money you want tospend just to flex on your friends.But yeah, most people shouldn’t spend moremoney on the RTX 3080 Ti configuration, andyou can find out more in this video over herenext where I’ve compared it fairly againstthe RTX 3070 Ti.Or if you’re an eSports player, check outthis one next.If you’re going for the 1080p screen option,it might be worth spending more money to getthe i9 over the i7 CPU instead of blowingthe budget on a 3080 Ti.So I’ll see you in one of those videos next!\n"