Alienware m15 R4 (2021) review
Our Verdict
The Alienware m15 R4 (2021) looks cute and runs games wonderfully. Its powerful hardware should make this gaming laptop relatively futurity-proof.
For
- Sleek blueprint
- Potent functioning
- Decent keyboard and touchpad
- Highly customizable
Against
- Fan gets very loud
- Short battery life
Tom's Guide Verdict
The Alienware m15 R4 (2021) looks beautiful and runs games wonderfully. Its powerful hardware should make this gaming laptop relatively future-proof.
Pros
- +
Sleek design
- +
Strong performance
- +
Decent keyboard and touchpad
- +
Highly customizable
Cons
- -
Fan gets very loud
- -
Short battery life
Alienware m15 R4: Specs
CPU: Intel Core i7-10870H CPU @ 2.20GHz, 2.21 GHz
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070
Brandish: 15 inches, 4K OLED
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: 1 TB SSD
Dimensions: 15.iii x 12.0 ten 1.0 inches
Weight: 5.3 pounds
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Alienware m15 R4 won a "highly recommended" honor for all-time gaming laptop at the Tom's Guide Awards 2021 for gaming.
The Alienware m15 R4 is what gaming laptops should aspire to be. That's not to say that this $2,500 machine is perfect. But it does deliver everything you lot need for a delightful, portable gaming experience, and very piffling that you don't. From its powerful components, to its tasteful white chassis, to its comfortable keyboard, the m15 R4 will permit you play all of your favorite games – in full 4K, if desired – no matter where you want to set.
Admittedly, there are a few things that I wish the m15 R4 had done differently. Past default, the fan is extraordinarily loud, merely quieter fan settings also result in a hotter machine. Some features, like eye-tracking, add a lot of money to the asking price, in exchange for pretty niche functionality. The port placement is likewise non as forrard-looking as it could be, particularly when it comes to USB-C functionality.
Still, taken every bit a whole, I enjoyed just about everything I did with the m15 R4. If you're looking to spend more than than $2,000 (and, to be fair, not everyone is), it'southward easily one of the best Windows laptops for gaming and one of the best gaming laptops yous can get, particularly since the state-of-the-art hardware should last you a long time. Its powerful components also make information technology well suited as one of the all-time laptops for applied science students. Read on for our full Alienware m15 R4 review.
Alienware m15 R4 review: Price and availability
The Alienware m15 R4 is bachelor right at present from Dell, and takes about two weeks to ship.
In terms of pricing, the accented cheapest model we could customize costs $2,150. This configuration includes an Intel Core i7-10870H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, 16 GB RAM, a 256 GB SSD, a 1080p display with a 300 Hz refresh charge per unit and a four-zone RGB keyboard.
At the other end of the spectrum, you could customize a $4,140 behemoth. This version of the m15 R4 includes an Intel Core i9-10980HK CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, 32 GB RAM, iv TB + 512 GB SSDs, a 4K OLED display with a 60 Hz refresh rate and Tobii heart-tracking, and a per-key RGB keyboard. It'southward difficult to call back of a more powerful gaming laptop on the marketplace at the moment.
The version we tested retails for $2,500, and its specs are somewhere in the middle. Our model includes an Intel Core i7-10870H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, 16 GB RAM, a 1 TB SSD, a 4K OLED brandish with a 60 Hz refresh rate and Tobii middle-tracking and a four-zone RGB keyboard. This seems like a reasonable middle ground, although honestly, the specs for the $2,150 model are not bad at all – particularly if you prefer faster frame rates over college resolutions.
Alienware m15 R4 review: Blueprint
Gaming laptops tend to range from "evidently" to "overdesigned," but the Alienware m15 R4 manages to find a comfortable sweet spot. Our review unit had an elegant white chassis, with hexagonal vents on top, a colorful Alienware ability button, a tasteful geometric pattern on the lid and just a modest protrusion for vents in the rear. The m15 R4 doesn't look like a traditional work laptop, just information technology wouldn't look out of place in a slightly futuristic office, either.
I also appreciated the laptop's size and weight: 15.3 ten 12.0 10 1.0 inches, and v.iii pounds. Every bit 15-inch gaming laptops go, that'due south a pretty modest profile, and the laptop should fit easily in about numberless and backpacks. The power brick is pretty large and heavy in its ain right, of course, but that's hardly unique to the m15 R4.
Aesthetics aside, the ports merit some praise and some criticism. The selection itself is above reproach. On the right, you'll find 2 USB-A ports and a microSD slot. On the left, at that place'due south an Ethernet port, a USB-A port and a 3.five mm audio jack. These are all well and good.
The back is where things get a little less optimized. In improver to a rather inconvenient power port (slightly left-of-center on the dorsum – merely far enough from anything to comfortably achieve), there's an Alienware Graphics Amplifier connexion, a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 support, a mini-DisplayPort and a full-size HDMI port.
On the one hand, the USB-C port is an integral part of Alienware'due south eGPU setup, and then there needs to be 1 on the dorsum of the m15 R4. On the other manus, USB-C is already a common style to charge phones and connect peripherals. Giving users only a single port, then hiding it abroad on the back of the car, makes the laptop feel much less future-proof than it should.
Alienware m15 R4 review: Keyboard and touchpad
While some gaming laptops contain full mechanical keyboards (with mixed results), the Alienware m15 R4 keeps things simple with an elegant membrane setup. Each key feels pretty decent, with short travel, fast actuation and a rapid spring-back. While I was very happy to go dorsum to a full-size mechanical model after I was done testing the m15 R4, the keyboard felt perfectly comfy while I was working with it.
Absolutely, the keys tin be a little cramped, and exchange errors were more common than I would have liked. Furthermore, there'southward a ton of bezel space around the keyboard, which makes me wonder whether the keys could have been spaced out a little better – or even if it might accept been possible to include a few programmable keys. On the other hand, I was reasonably pleased with the four-zone RGB options, which sent a gentle rainbow wave beyond the keys every bit I typed. (You can alter colors or deactivate the RGB entirely in the Alienware software.)
The m15 R4's touchpad, on the other hand, earns the highest praise I accept ever bestowed upon a gaming laptop's touchpad: "pretty decent." Dissimilar the vast majority of laptop touchpads, this one never got in the way, even when I rested my hands on either side of information technology while typing. It'due south positioned in such a way to avert errant palm inputs, and tracks purposeful movements accurately. I still recommend a mouse – especially for gaming – but I wish more than gaming laptop touchpads were similar the m15 R4'due south.
Alienware m15 R4 review: Display and audio
The Alienware m15 R4 that nosotros reviewed came with a 4K, 60 Hz screen; you could also get it with a 1080p, 300 Hz screen, if you prefer higher frame rates. While I can't comment on the 1080p screen, I tin say that the 4K screen is extremely brilliant, and offers a rich color palette – not surprising, perhaps, since it's an OLED display.
The screen offers an average of 460 nits of brightness, which can feel downright overwhelming, especially at nighttime. Compare and dissimilarity to the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 at 323 nits, or the Acer Predator Helios 300 at but 276 nits. After I set up the m15 R4, the very first thing I did was turn downwards the brightness, and now I understand why.
In terms of color, the m15 R4 tin display a whopping 211% of the sRGB spectrum, with a delta-East color accuracy of 0.32. (Closer to null is better; this is a very good score.) The G14 scored 117% on sRGB gamut and the Helios 300, just 106%. Whatsoever you display on the m15 R4's screen, information technology'due south probably going to await gorgeous.
From a qualitative perspective, I take only a handful of issues, and none of them is a dealbreaker. First, the screen is highly reflective, especially if you sit with your back to a window, as I often do. There's really no way effectually this issue, except to wear dark article of clothing, or to change where you sit. 2nd, the webcam is a 720p model that produces fuzzy, washed-out pictures. This feels underpowered for a laptop that uses such powerful hardware otherwise.
Finally, if you desire the 4K screen, you lot accept to go a secondary Tobii heart-tracking webcam as well, which I couldn't find a use for. Getting into the pros and cons of center-tracking for gaming and streaming is across the scope of this review, simply I don't think information technology's too controversial to say that the number of people who want eye-tracking is probably a lot smaller than the number of people who want a 4K screen.
The m15 R4's born speakers get the task done, although I didn't have much occasion to utilize them. That'south because even during productivity tasks, the fan blasts loud streams of air well-nigh constantly at default settings. In order to hear music, motion picture, Goggle box show and game audio, I had to turn the volume way up, and the speakers can distort sound adequately hands. "Just get a gaming headset" is a cliche when it comes to gaming laptops, simply you actually should simply get a gaming headset.
Alienware m15 R4 review: Operation
The Alienware m15 R4 delivers where it counts well-nigh: gaming performance. This machine is a powerhouse at 1080p, and even holds its own at 4K with graphical settings cranked all the way up. (To save y'all some suspense: It can't practice 4K/threescore fps, unless you turn down a lot of the secondary graphical settings. But I can't think of many laptops that tin.)
Tom's Guide put the m15 R4 through its paces with Assassin's Creed Valhalla (70 fps at 1080p; 35 fps at 4K), Grand Theft Auto V (108 fps at 1080p; 35 fps at 4K), Blood-red Dead Redemption ii (68 fps at 1080p; 27 fps at 4K) and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (77 fps at 1080p; 33 fps at 4K). Of those games, only Red Expressionless Redemption ii fell below our threshold for a comfortably playable 4K feel – and you could always compromise with a QHD resolution.
Compare and contrast this to the Zephyrus G14, equipped with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060: GTAV scored 115 fps at 1080p and Shadow of the Tomb Raider scored 49 fps at 1080p. The similarly 2060-equipped Helios 300 scored 55 fps at 1080p for Assassin'south Creed Odyssey (the Odyssey/Valhalla benchmarks are comparable), and 81 fps at 1080p for GTAV. Neither the G14 nor the Helios 300 had 4K displays, and so the m15 R4's versatility already gives it a leg up over the competition.
Qualitatively speaking, I got similar results with Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition, Doom Eternal, Control and Final Fantasy XIV. Since the 4K screen maxes out at a 60 Hz anyway, I generally turned up the resolution and didn't sweat the frame rate. All of the games ran smoothly, even at Ultra settings – with the exception of Control, with ray-tracing turned on. This acquired the frame rate to drop into the 20s, and forced me to choose between QHD resolution and gorgeous lighting effects. If games with ray tracing running at total 4K is a requirement, you'll probably want to go with one of the m15 R4'due south more than expensive configurations.
Given the m15 R4'due south powerful hardware, I wasn't surprised that it ran games beautifully, whether I was exploring populous cities in Eorzea, or building upwards Dutch armies in the New Earth. What did impress me, though, was just how rich the colors looked, peculiarly in Doom Eternal's rocky red landscapes. The OLED screen supports a gorgeous, vibrant palette (call back: 211% of the sRGB spectrum), and no other medium shows this off equally beautifully as gaming does.
In terms of bogus benchmarks, the m15 R4 earned a Geekbench five.3 score of seven,636 — quite high, in a vacuum, although nosotros haven't run the test on any other gaming laptops merely even so. Instead, compare and contrast the m15 R4'due south score on Geekbench 4.3: 30,043. This is simply shy of the G14 Zephyrus' 30,181 points, although it's admittedly odd that a newer, more powerful automobile would earn a lower score.
Information technology's likewise worth mentioning the Alienware suite of software, which lets you set up fan, lighting and performance profiles for various games and apps. The software tin likewise keep your system up to date, and connect yous with customer support representatives. As built-in software goes, it's inoffensive, and it actually works better here than it does on Alienware'southward R11 desktop. Once I installed all the requisite hardware updates, however, I didn't encounter much need to use it once again.
Alienware m15 R4 review: Heat
1 of my biggest complaints about the Alienware m15 R4 has to practice with how the laptop manages heat. In terms of raw temperatures, information technology's non then bad: I rarely saw the GPU exceed 60 degrees Celsius. While running productivity software, the touchpad hovers around 81 degrees Fahrenheit, and the keyboard seldom exceeds 96 degrees Fahrenheit, which is just a hair north of our 95-degree comfort threshold.
While gaming, however, the keyboard can reach temperatures exceeding 108 degrees Fahrenheit, which tin be troublesome if you rest your fingers on the keyboard in-between actions. (The touchpad does non get very hot, but I besides don't know many people who game with a touchpad.)
The bigger event is that the fan, which does an admirable task of cooling the system off, makes a huge, constant racket. My domestic partner was sitting next to me at our dining room table while I tested the machine, and asked why her papers kept getting diddled effectually. The fan was also loud to hear music or Netflix audio tracks, to say nothing of games. It wasn't until I discovered the "Repose" fan profile in the Alienware software that I was able to restore a modicum of peace in my apartment.
I realize that a loud fan is very much the bottom of two evils when it comes to gaming laptops. Afterward all, a GPU overheating is a much worse outcome than a lot of unwanted noise. But even by gaming laptop standards, the m15 R4 is an incredibly loud device, and its default settings are non good at finding a residuum between noise and temperature.
Alienware m15 R4 review: Bombardment life
If the Alienware m15 R4 has one pregnant weakness, it'southward in the production's battery life. While our general laptop battery exam – surfing the Web constantly in Microsoft Edge – rated the m15 R4 at iv hours and 1 minute, I was never able to get anything close to this, even just working with Microsoft Word and Google Chrome. With medium effulgence and a stable Internet connexion, the laptop had, at best, about ii hours of life in it.
While gaming, the situation is even bleaker at one hour and xiv minutes, according to our lab tests. In exercise, I got about 45 minutes. It'due south amend than nil, but the m15 R4 is not a very skilful companion for taking long trips – unless yous're seated next to a power outlet.
Alienware m15 R4 review: Verdict
The Alienware m15 R4 is easily one of the best gaming laptops I've ever reviewed. And, to be off-white, for $2,150 (at least!), information technology really should be. You practice indeed go what yous pay for, between a powerful GPU, a fast SSD, a gorgeous design and a vibrant screen.
While I wish the fan were a little quieter, and the battery lasted a little longer, these are ultimately acceptable sacrifices in a machine that's designed primarily with home gaming in heed. If you decide to invest in an Alienware Graphics Amplifier and utilise the m15 R4 equally an ersatz desktop, so much the better.
In terms of competitors, the Zephyrus G14 is still worth considering, although since that computer has a last-gen GPU, it'southward a tougher sell at present than it was a yr ago. Stay tuned while we review some more laptops with 30-series GPUs – or pick up the m15 R4, which should serve you lot well for the next few years.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/alienware-m15-r4-2021
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