Alienware has long been associated with high-end gaming, bringing the most cutting-edge hardware to the forefront. Alienware gaming laptops have always been designed to provide the best possible experience for both casual and competitive gamers. In this post, we present you with the Alienware M15 R6 review that you must see if you’re planning on buying this beast.
The company’s M15 models, on the other hand, haven’t quite delivered, with the first two generations falling short of performance expectations and the following unable to find a good price-performance balance. The Lenovo Legion 7 might be a better choice for true performance hounds. With that line, you’ll get a considerably sharper screen and a quicker RTX 3080.
Price
The Alienware M15 R6 has a starting price of around Rs 1,60,000, whereas the 11th Gen Core i7 / RTX 3080 combo was priced at Rs 2,40,000. While the base model is more expensive, the RTX 3080 variation is comparable to the majority of competitors.
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Design
For the M15 R6, Alienware has kept the same futuristic look as the previous two versions. With the large heat vents on the back that resemble the exhaust on the back of a cruiser, the M15 seems more like a spacecraft than a laptop. The LED ring that surrounds the vents’ border adds to the machine’s visual appeal.
The Alienware logo on the lid, as well as the power button directly over the keyboard, are also illuminated. The laptop’s Dark Side of the Moon finish is black on black, with a “15” decal softly painted on the lid.
The M15 R6’s build, unlike its aesthetic, isn’t the best, with Alienware opting for a mix of aluminum, magnesium alloy, and plastic. The keyboard is primarily made of plastic, and I did notice some flex when pressing down hard on it, but this was not an issue during normal use. The lid flexes a little as well, but the hinge is solid.
The M15 R6 is roughly 2.5 kg in weight, which is about average for a gaming laptop. Despite the fact that Alienware chose a partially plastic construction, the overall surface was smooth and comfortable to the touch. Overall, we liked the new M15 R6’s look, but the build quality is lacking.
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Display
The screen on this Alienware M15 R6 is 1080p. If you want, you can purchase it with a QHD resolution panel, which a laptop this powerful truly deserves. Ultra-high-resolution gaming laptops seemed pointless a few years ago, but with an RTX 3080, this machine packs a punch.
We’d like to see Alienware’s high-end gaming laptops start using a 1440p resolution screen at some point in the near future. Pixelation is apparent at 1080p in games that don’t use anti-aliasing well, and in games that don’t use anti-aliasing well. The contrast on the screen is also not great; it’s relatively ordinary for an LCD.
This isn’t your typical laptop display, either. It boasts a maximum refresh rate of 360Hz and excellent color reproduction. That’s insanely fast, enabling for the accurate presentation of frame rates so high they must be beyond human comprehension. The Alienware M15 R6’s maximum brightness is adequate, and the screen is matte rather than glossy, as is practically every other gaming laptop.
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Keyboard and Touchpad
The Alienware M15 laptop comes with a 4-zone RGB illuminated keyboard that can be customized via the Alienware Command Center. The keys here also have a great 1.8mm travel distance.
Moreover, despite the huge keycaps, the key spacing is perfect. Aside from the standard keys, the right side of the keyboard has dedicated media keys, but no Numpad, which didn’t seem to be an issue.
A keyboard with Cherry MX low-profile mechanical keys is also available from Alienware, which should be even better for gaming and typing than the default one, but it comes at a premium. The default keyboard, on the other hand, was wonderful for both gaming and typing.
Unfortunately, Alienware hasn’t lavished the same attention on the touchpad, which is constructed of plastic instead of glass. While the precision touchpad was nice to the touch, the buttons were difficult to operate. It’s adequate for browsing, but Alienware doesn’t appear to be trying to hide the fact that they’d rather you use a mouse.
Audio and Webcam
The Alienware M15 has some of the most powerful speakers you’ll find on a gaming laptop. The speakers are also pretty loud, although they lack bass. While watching movies in a reasonably large room with some ambient noise in the background, I found the audio to be more than adequate, but don’t bother with music.
And, as loud as the speakers are, they won’t be adequate to drown out the fan noise in Performance mode, so you’ll probably want to use headphones while gaming. Windows Hello Face Unlock is supported by the 720p webcam on the top of the screen, which is really convenient.
If you’re concerned about hearing yourself over the noisy fans, you’ll be relieved to learn that in Quiet mode, the microphone picks up very little of the fan noise. Overall, the speakers are loud but of mediocre sound quality, but they’re still adequate for a gaming laptop, and the webcam is more than adequate for everyday use.
Performance
Our edition of the M15 R6 was equipped with an 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11800H CPU and 32GB of RAM for performance. For storage, the Alienware M15 R6 comes with a 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD. You get integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics and a dedicated Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 mobile GPU for graphics.
In terms of gameplay, the M15 R6 delivered on all fronts, whether it was competitive multiplayer or AAA titles. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested at its top settings and averaged 122 frames per second.
Battlefield V was tested in campaign mode on high settings with DLSS and ray tracing turned on, with frame rates ranging from 60 to 90 fps, with an average of roughly 75 fps. On the highest settings, Apex Legends averaged 180 frames per second, whereas Call of Duty: Warzone averaged 165 frames per second.
The notebook achieved a single-core score of 1524 and a multi-core score of 8834 points in Geekbench 5. The single-score plummeted to 948 points, while the multi-core score dropped to 7517 points when the power was turned off. The laptop achieved a single-core score of 1395 points and a multi-core score of 10702 points in Cinebench R23.
The CPU temperature rarely exceeded 90 degrees Celsius while gaming in performance mode, instead hovering between 85 and 90 degrees. On the other hand, GPU temperatures rarely exceeded 75 degrees. This indicates that the cooling mechanism is quite effective, as previous Alienware M15 machines have been known to run hot, reaching temperatures of around 95 to 100 degrees Celsius.
Thermal throttling wasn’t an issue for the most part, and the keyboard’s surface remained pretty cool thanks to the cooling system. It’s worth noting that in performance mode, the fans can get pretty noisy. These are easily the loudest fans I’ve ever heard, and they sounded more like an engine starting up than laptop fans. When gaming, though, the noise won’t annoy you as much if you’re using headphones, and when the laptop is in Quiet mode, the speakers become loud enough to drown out the fan noise.
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Battery Life
The Alienware M15 R6 comes with a 240W power adaptor and an 86Wh battery. With MS Word open and five tabs in Google Chrome open at the same time, the M15 R6 offered roughly 3.5 to 4 hours of battery life on a single charge in my everyday usage.
However, by lowering the brightness to 30% and the resolution to 1080p while placing the laptop in power-saving mode, you can earn an extra hour. We found the M15 R6’s battery life to be disappointing, especially considering that some of the latest AMD gaming laptops easily hit the eight-hour mark. On the positive side, Dell has managed to create a 240W adaptor that is relatively portable.
Verdict
The Alienware m15 R6 is without a doubt one of the greatest premium gaming laptops currently on the market, with performance levels that are usually reserved for the most powerful gaming PCs.
Given the amount of power at its core, it does, however, suffer from some noticeable downsides, particularly how hot it gets and how loud it operates. But, with games that look and operate this well on the tablet, it’s a trade-off worth making for those who can afford it.
Despite the new Ryzen CPUs’ attractiveness due to their multitasking capabilities, Intel retains its single-core dominance, which appears to be a better fit for gaming. With the launch of the new 12th Gen Intel laptops, Team Blue’s future appears to be bright. Hope you liked this Alienware M15 R6 review. Let us know your thoughts on this beast in the comment section below.
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