Brief Description of the Alienware 17in laptop
Alienware 17in laptop: When it comes to no-nonsense gaming with unrivaled visual appeal, only Alienware can be trusted. Take a look at the latest 17.3-inch gaming behemoth’s specs: Intel Core i7-4710MQ quad-core processor, 16GB RAM, 2TB mSATA disc + 256GB SSD, and a massive NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M with 8GB GDDR5 memory. This will send every game worth its salt to its knees, kicking and screaming! That, too, with fabulous bling. The Alien is the best gaming laptop money can buy.
Alienware 17in laptop Product Information
- Operating System: Windows
- screen size: 17-inch
Available with Windows 10 Home: Gaming on Windows 10 is better than ever, with 4K games, DirectX 12, and the ability to stream your gameplay.
TRAVEL LIGHT. WIN BIG.
The new Alienware 17in laptop is more than just the latest in mobile gaming technology. It’s our thinnest 17-inch gaming laptop, measuring only 23 mm and weighing 5.79 pounds. It also includes the most recent NVIDIA® graphics for exceptional performance.
In addition to exceptional power, the m17 is designed for extraordinary battery life, with a 60WHr battery and a possible 90WHr upgrade.
DELIBERATELY SLIM. DECIDEDLY SAVAGE.
Survival of the thinnest: Destroy your opponents with a computer designed to be our thinnest and lightest 17″ gaming notebooks yet. It is built with stringent specifications and high-end materials to provide optimal performance without losing power.
More prominent visuals: The m17 is built for absolute immersion and portability, with a larger 17.3-inch display that immerses you even further in the game.
Affordably priced gaming: The Alienware 17in laptop is precisely built for a performance-driven user experience, using high-end industrial materials such as magnesium alloy, one of the lightest structural metals in the world. The use of magnesium alloy promotes stiffness, steel improves tactile comfort, and copper in the thermal module keeps the graphics and processor cool.
When the stakes are high, seamless fast-motion visuals are essential. That’s why we designed a gorgeous and immersive in-game experience with an FHD (1920 x 1080) display option and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz.
COMMANDING PERFORMANCE
Maintain your cool: An excellent cooling system with Cryo-Tech v2.0 thermal technology allows you to overclock your CPU while keeping your system cool as the action heats up.
Increase performance: Engineered with up to an 8th Gen Intel® CoreTM i9k series processor for CPU overclocking capabilities, the latest NVIDIA® graphics, and up to 32GB of 2666Mhz DDR4 memory, the Alienware 17in laptop has powerful performance for continuous gameplay and other activities.
Optimal storage experience: With several storage options, including PCIe M.2 SSDs and high-capacity hybrid HDDs with 8GB solid-state memory, you may enjoy faster load times and a quieter system.
ALIENWARE CRYO-TECH V2.0
Alienware Cryo-Tech v2.0, our innovative thermal technology, optimizes component cooling, maximizing overall performance and keeping your laptop cool to the touch. Here’s a closer look at our novel cooling system.
Twin-Intake, Dual-Exhaust Airflow Design: For optimal cooling of the essential components, our thin and light chassis prioritizes performance with a dual fan design that sucks in cool air from the bottom and top vents while exhaling exhaust out the rear and side vents.
High Voltage Driving Fan: The fire-resistant, liquid-crystal polymer fan includes 0.2mm blades, sleeve bearings, and 3-phase fan control to reduce friction and efficiently circulate air. Furthermore, the Alienware 17in laptop boasts 60% bigger fan blades on the graphics-side fan than the Alienware m15.
Load-balancing Heat Pipes: The thermal activity of important components such as the GPU and CPU is intelligently discharged via a network of dedicated and shared 8mm and 6mm copper-composite heat pipes.
Copper Fin Stacks: The surface temperatures of the Alienware 17in laptop are best-in-class in the performance category. Heat is directed away from the most vital components using a thermal module with four copper fin stacks, comprising individual 0.15mm thin fins, to prioritize system performance and lifetime.
Alienware 17in laptop: Display
Alienware is known for producing high-quality screens, and the Alienware 17in laptop is no exception. The 17.3-inch matte anti-glare display offers vibrant color and unparalleled brightness, as well as wide viewing angles. Unfortunately, unlike its 13-inch cousin, this 2560 x 1440 panel isn’t available in OLED (sigh, one day), but it still managed to offer show-stopping reds during the BlacKkKlansman teaser.
Adam Driver owned the dusty, forest-green pool hall in his crimson-and-black flannel, as yellow-and-orange flames ferociously engulfed a white cross. The fine texture of the paper John David Washington was reading from, as well as the tightly curled coils of his well-coiffed Afro, were both visible.
In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Geralt’s bone-white tresses whirled around realistically as I dodged the punches of a band of bandits while returning my own. Despite the constant motion, Nvidia G-Sync technology managed to prevent image tearing by syncing the GPU with the display at up to 144 hertz.
When it comes to color reproduction, the Alienware 17in laptop achieved 110 percent of the sRGB color gamut, which is higher than the minimum of 100 percent, and the Eon17-X’s 104 percent. However, it falls short of the 131-percentage-point premium gaming laptop average, as well as the Aorus X9 and Titan.
Although it is not the most colorful screen on the market, the Alienware 17in laptop is unquestionably one of the brightest. The panel outperformed the 283-nit average, hitting 352 nits. Its nearest competitors failed to reach 300 nits.
Alienware 17in laptop: Audio
Returning with a vengeance, and louder than ever. The hinge-forward design of Alienware allows for a significantly enhanced audio system. The design now features a couple of internal smart amplifiers that monitor audio waveforms (a graph that indicates amplitude or level changes over time), which the system utilizes to better manage the speaker thermals for improved sound.
As a result, when I turned up the volume in our office’s largest conference room, the room was blasted with loud, clean audio. Rapsody’s “Sassy” had a broad soundscape with plenty of instrumental separation. Among the bass, keyboards, and strings, I had no trouble distinguishing the snare from the high hat. And the artist’s vocal shifted between deep, throaty raps and a sweet mezzo-soprano that lingered in the air.
I scoured the lonely woodland for a rare goat in Witcher 3 with only the persistent whoosh of the wind sweeping through the thick undergrowth as a company. After a time, a lone, mournful violin joined my journey, accentuating every snap of a twig or Geralt’s thoughtful grunt.
Alienware 17in laptop: Touchpad and Keyboard
While everyone else has gone island-style with their gaming keyboards, Alienware has held true to its classic layout – and for good reason. The Alienware 17in laptop’s steel-reinforced TactX keyboard well exceeds our baseline criteria, with 2.2 millimetres of key travel and 79 grams of actuation (1.5 mm, 60 grams). On the 10fastfingers typing test, it seemed like my fingers were typing on small, springy mattresses, bouncing my way to 78 words per minute. That’s far faster than my average 70 wpm.
The big 4 x 2.1-inch touchpad provided plenty of room for my fingertips to glide along and explore websites and documents – or invoke Cortana with a three-finger tap. I also had no trouble shuffle among open programmes with a two-finger scroll or a three-finger flick.
The way Alienware touchpads light up when you touch them is my favorite feature. It’s similar to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” lighting effects, but for your fingers. The two distinct mouse buttons were springy and gave a satisfying click when pressed.
Alienware 17in laptop: Gaming, graphics, and virtual reality
I am powerful!!! I expected nothing less than the highest frame rates from the Alienware, which was outfitted with an overclocked Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU and 8GB of VRAM.
Alienware 17in laptop: Design and characteristics
Even though the screen sizes of the Alienware 17in laptop and Alienware 18 are only one inch off, the overall physical difference between the two systems is significant, since the larger Alienware 18 can accommodate dual video cards and multiple hard drives at the same time. The 17-inch chassis measures 1.8 inches thick, while the 18-inch chassis measures up to 2.5 inches deep. That’s especially essential because the keyboard on the 18-inch Alienware stands higher above your desktop, and I encountered some ergonomic issues with it. The 18-inch model weighs a whopping 12.3 pounds without its bricklike power cable and 15.5 pounds with it, but the Alienware 17in laptop weighs 9.4 pounds without it and 11.4 pounds with it – still substantial but noticeably lighter.
Aside from the size difference, the two Alienwares appear to be practically identical. The most recent Alienware design upgrade depicts the machine as a large, matte black slab, with just Alienware’s typical goofy light show interrupting the monochromatic color. When closed, it absorbs light, not quite blending in, but nonetheless unassuming for a thick, hefty, black laptop with colored lights and an alien head emblem on the rear of the lid. The robust build feels really high-end in the hand, and I particularly like the soft-touch finish.
The 17-inch model offers a significant advantage over the 18-inch model in terms of comfort. The keyboard tray on the larger Alienware is 1.75 inches above the desk due to its thickness. For gamers who spend a lot of time with their fingers poised on the WASD keys, this can result in your arm and wrist being lifted at an unnatural angle, which is worsened by the system’s sharp-angled front lip and how far the keyboard is set back from the edge.
The keyboard tray on the Alienware 17in laptop is only 1.25 inches high (in the front, rising slightly in the back), which makes a considerable impact. The keyboard is also closer to the front lip, so I had less trouble reaching my hands on the crucial WASD keys.
Aside from that, anyone who has seen the current-generation 14-inch and 18-inch Alienware computers would recognize the keyboard and touchpad. To prevent accidental typing, the big keys are somewhat tapered at the top. They have a nice depth to them, and the huge Shift, Control, and other keys commonly used in PC gaming are perfectly situated for in-game use. A full number pad is on the right, however, this model lacks the row of user-definable macro buttons present on the Alienware 18.
The lighted touchpad is a reasonable size, and instead of a modern clickpad-style surface, it retains separate physical left and right mouse buttons. However, for gamers, it’s probably a moot concern because you’ll be using an external mouse for all real gaming.
The chassis lights up in a variety of intriguing ways, as expected from Alienware, with a backlit keyboard, the Alienware logo, a light-up alien head on the rear of the lid, and a few more zones. All of this is managed by the Alien FX control panel, a software interface that lets you choose from pre-set themes or create your own, with various colors for each lighted zone. It’s nothing more than a great party trick, but I appreciate how the touchpad is fully illuminated, can glow in a couple of dozen different colours, and lights up when touched.
The display of every large-screen gaming laptop makes or breaks it. This 17.3-inch screen offers a native resolution of 1,920×1,080-pixels, as you’d expect from a gaming laptop. Smaller, less expensive systems, such as the MacBook Pro, Lenovo Yoga 2, and Toshiba Kirabook, all feature greater resolutions, up to 3,200×1,800 pixels, and it’s not unrealistic to expect forward-thinking gaming laptops to follow suit.
The matte panels on the 14-inch and 17-inch Alienware laptops are shared, but the glossy display on the previously reviewed Alienware 18 is unique (all with the same 1080p resolution). Personally, I prefer the matte look because it reduces brightness and strain on the eyes, but it’s not a deal breaker either way. The Alienware 17in laptop looks excellent while playing games, but I’ll admit that using it so soon after the 18-inch version gave me screen-size envy.
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Alienware 17in laptop: Connectivity, performance, and battery life
Despite its smaller size, the Alienware 17in laptop includes the same ports and connections as the Alienware 18. Although the system has HDMI and Mini DisplayPort outputs, I doubt you’ll ever wish to connect it to an external display. There are also additional audio outputs capable of handling 5.1 audio. Because there are just three USB ports, a gaming keyboard, mouse, and possibly an Xbox 360 game pad will quickly consume them.
Dell now offers four pre-configured Alienware 17in laptop starting points, each with various customizable options. The $1,499 base model is adequate but uninspiring, with a single GeForce 765M GPU, a 750GB platter hard drive, and 8GB of RAM. It is worth noting that the lowest-cost model has a display resolution of only 1,600×900. For $2,699, we offer a superior Intel Core i7-4800MQ CPU, a single GeForce 780M GPU, 16GB of RAM, a BD-ROM drive, and a 256GB SSD combined with a 750GB HDD. If I had to choose only two upgrades, I’d go with the 1080p monitor and the Nvidia GeForce 780M graphics card.
Non-gaming application performance of the Alienware 17in laptop is comparable to, or slightly better than, that of the Alienware 18, which has a 4900MQ Core i7, but it falls short of the Origin PC Eon 17-SLX, which has a 4930MX Core i7. However, the variations are not big enough to influence most users, and the Alienware 17in laptop offers more than enough computing power for your day, especially if you’re a strong multitasker.
It’s gaming performance that truly matters here, and it’s where we find a clear difference between a single-card and dual-card system. But they cost around $2,000 more, the Alienware 18 and Origin PC Eon 17-SLX both show off their GeForce 780M SLI configurations, while this Alienware 17in laptop still performs admirably for just a single 780M card.
Our BioShock Infinite test (high settings, 1,920×1,080) ran at 71 frames per second on the Alienware 17in laptop. The Alienware 18 with dual GPUs completed the same test at 141 frames per second, while the Eon 17-SLX completed it at 117 frames per second. The extremely difficult Metro: Last Light test ran at 18.7fps, compared to 35.3fps on the Alienware 18 and 41.7fps on the Eon 17-SLX at high-quality/high-resolution settings.
The hands-on conclusion is that the 17-inch, single-card system will generally play new games at medium-to-high settings at full resolution. In the new game Battlefield 4, for example, I used “extreme” settings on Alienware 18 and only “high” settings on the Alienware 17in laptop.
Because the Alienware 17in laptop is substantially thinner and lighter than the 18-inch model, it should have adequate battery life for LAN parties, right? Continue to fantasize. While it performed better than comparable desktop replacements in our movie playback battery drain test, running for 3:40 without any energy-taxing gameplay isn’t ideal. Nonetheless, it is more over an hour faster than the 18-inch version.
Life of the Battery
Despite its impressive hardware, the Alienware 17in laptop is the last laptop standing in our battery test. It outlasted the 3:26 premium gaming laptop average of 3 hours and 47 minutes of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. The Titan, Aorus, and Eon17-X finished in 2:54, 2:20, and 1:52 seconds, respectively.
Alienware 17in laptop: Heat
The Alienware 17in laptop stays relatively cool while gaming or watching videos, due to a new cooling technology known as Alienware Cryo-Tech v2.0. To keep things cool, the company managed to cut the width of its fan blades by half and installed a vapor chamber on top of the CPU. Even when you’re gaming, their narrower fan blades are rather quiet. After 45 minutes of playing Witcher 3, the most I heard was a mild buzzing that I had to pause the game to notice.
But, before I listened for the fans, I monitored the temperature of the system after 15 minutes of beating a cave troll in Witcher 3. The touchpad measured 76 degrees Fahrenheit, but the center of the keyboard measured 98 degrees, which is somewhat higher than our 95-degree comfort criterion. The middle of the bottom vent was considerably hotter, at 109 degrees, but you’re not going to be sitting on this beast anyhow.
We let the laptop cool down before playing a 15-minute HD video and doing another thermal measurement. The touchpad remained at 76 degrees, but the temperatures in the centre of the keyboard and undercarriage decreased to 88 and 96 degrees, respectively.
Alienware 17in laptop: Webcam
The inbuilt 1080p webcam on the Alienware 17in laptop captures some really sharp stills. Individual strands of hair at the top of my hair and the fabric texture of my bright-orange shirt can be seen in the test images I took at the office. (The strands shift from black to orangey-blonde to deep purple, indicating that another hair visit is in order.) While there was some graininess, it was considerably less severe than I’d seen from other cameras.
Alienware 17in laptop: Warranty and Software
Nothing is more annoying than loading up your new gaming system and having to delete a slew of bloatware. Thankfully, Alienware has a light hand when it comes to unnecessary preinstalled software. But don’t get me wrong: there are still a few bits of flotsam in Windows 10, such as Dolby Access, Skype, and a link to purchase Adobe Photoshop via the Windows Store.
The majority of the remaining preinstalled programs on the Alienware 17in laptop are intended to improve your gaming experience or keep your system in good working order. For example, you can use Alienware Digital Delivery to keep your software up to current. There’s also Dell SupportAssist, which monitors laptop diagnostics and allows you to modify performance, optimize your network, and scan for viruses with the press of a button.
Aside from Alien Command Center, the Alienware 17in laptop includes Nvidia GeForce Experience, a gamer-centric software suite that includes BatteryBoost and Game Optimization. There’s also the Killer Control Center, which allows you to prioritize network traffic and verify its speed and strength.
The Alienware 17in laptop comes with a one-year limited warranty as well as a year of hardware support. See how Alienware performed in our Tech Support Showdown, Best and Worst Brands, and Best and Worst Gaming Brands rankings.
Alienware 17in laptop: Configurations
I reviewed the Alienware 17in laptop’s “baller-ass configuration,” and with a $3,974 price tag, it had better be. The price includes an overclockable 2.9-GHz Intel Core i9-8950HK processor, 32GB of RAM, a 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD with a 1TB, 7,200-rpm hard drive, an overclocked Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, and a 2560 x 1400 display.
At $1,399, the base model has a 2.2-GHz Intel Core i7-8750H processor with 8GB of RAM, a 1TB with 8GB SSD, 1TB hybrid drive, an overclocked Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU with 6GB of VRAM, and a 1920 x 1080 display.
If you want to split the baby, the $1,699 configuration contains a 2.2-GHz Intel Core i7-8750H processor with 16GB of RAM, a 256GB PCIe M.2 SSD with a 1TB, 7,200-rpm hard drive, an overclocked Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, and a 1920 x 1080 display.
Alienware 17in laptop: Upgradability
If the baller-ass config or any of the other Alienware 17in laptop configurations don’t tickle your fancy, you can swap out the SSD and RAM for something a little more powerful. Simply turn the system over and remove the bottom access panel.
Alienware 17in laptop Conclusion
When compared to this 17-inch model, the enormous Alienware 18 we tested is the more spectacular and pricey machine. However, the (slightly) less expensive Alienware 17in laptop is likely to be the more practical choice for most buyers, packing nearly all of the same features and much of the performance into a thinner, lighter body.