Alienware Unleashes the Ultimate AMD Advantage Laptop and Industry-First 480Hz Display Technology

[TheLostSwede]

Today, Alienware reaches new milestones with the launch of the most powerful 17" AMD Advantage laptop, introduction of the standard-defying 480 Hz panel technology for the first time, and unveiling of our first-ever 16-inch Dell G Series laptop. We continue to hold true to the Alienware ethos of creating the apex gaming experience. These advancements are dedicated to making your images sharper, your gameplay smoother, and your experience more immersive through a perfect storm of industry leading gaming technology and iconic design.

For those who value raw power, the Alienware m17 R5 is the laptop for you. It claims the throne as the world's most powerful 17" AMD Advantage laptop, delivering truly remarkable performance. The m17 R5 is forged from a partnership with AMD that features AMD Ryzen 6000 series processors, AMD Radeon RX 6000 series graphics, and new AMD Smart Technologies. Today's update welcomes the new AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT 12 GB GDDR6 GPU to the configuration lineup.




Here's a refresher on all the AMD Smart Technologies we proudly offer with Alienware m17 R5 on select configurations:

• AMD SmartShift Max: Dynamic power shifting between a Radeon GPU and APU boosts performance for gaming, rendering and content creation.
• AMD SmartAccess Graphics: Improve frame rates, reduce latency and save battery by enabling discrete Radeon graphics or Ryzen graphics to handle rendering and presentation while maintaining AMD FreeSync. Only available with select models.
• AMD Smart Access Memory: Get an extra edge when your Ryzen processors are able to harness the full potential of the Radeon graphics card memory.
• AMD FreeSync Premium: Put an end to choppy gameplay with fluid, artifact-free performance at virtually any framerate. This adaptive sync technology matches the refresh rate of your graphics and your display for buttery smooth gameplay.

The Alienware m17 R5 delivers extreme speeds and response times so you can play your favorite titles with smooth gameplay, it will feel like the game's become an extension of your senses. The m17 R5 is also stacked with Alienware Cryo-tech cooling technology with a built-in graphics vapor chamber to sustain high-performance when playing graphically intensive games.

480 Hz displays make soft landing in Alienware m17 R5 and x17 R2
Now available with Alienware m17 R5 and Alienware x17 R2 gaming laptops, gamers will make first contact with a brand-new display technology. Our FHD (1920 x 1080) 480 Hz 3 ms panels bring a multitude of gameplay benefits including: animation smoothness for easier target tracking, ghosting reduction which minimizes distracting effects, and lower system latency making it easier for you to spot other players earlier.

While any gamer can benefit from the smooth frame rates this 480 Hz panel provides, competitive gamers that play fast paced games will notice the advantages of the high-refresh rates immediately. These panels are enabled for both, AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-SYNC with Advanced Optimus. Within this current graphics generation, any gamer who plays popular esports game titles can unlock the full advantages of 480 Hz displays.

Our first 480 Hz is purpose built with premium experiences such as:

• Advanced Optimus: Automatically controls the built-in hardware MUX to disable the iGPU and use the system's more powerful dGPU, which gives additional control over game performance and battery life.
• ComfortView Plus: A built-in, always-on, hardware-based low blue light solution that doesn't compromise true-to-life color accuracy.
• Dolby Vision: Brings optimal color profiles and contrast that goes well beyond the capabilities of traditional high dynamic range (HDR).

Alternatively, we offer UHD (3840 x 2160) 120 Hz 3 ms displays on m17 R5 and x17 R2 laptops for those more interested in a higher-resolution panel over faster refresh rates.

Our first-ever 16-inch gaming panel in a 15-inch chassis, introducing the Dell G16
The new Dell G16 is designed for PC gamers who need the essential gaming features and want mobility and performance without sacrificing screen size.

The G16 offers a sleek gaming-inspired design with a smooth, modern aluminium cover available in Obsidian Black with an iridescent logo. The laptop also features a 16-inch panel in a 15-inch chassis with a 16:10 aspect ratio to provide gamers 11% more screen than the G15's 16:9 display, netting a larger gaming and cinematic experience. The larger viewing area is complimented by 3-sided narrow bezels and fitted with a QHD+ (2560x1600) 165 Hz display that hits a sweet spot between high resolution and high frame rates. Advanced Optimus allows the G16 to switch between the integrated GPU and the discrete NVIDIA RTX graphics card as needed, which can help improve battery life and deliver a smooth gaming experience.

Under the hood, the G16 is equipped with Alienware-inspired thermals such as copper pipes, four vents and ultra-thin fan blades to optimize cooling and maximize airflow for consistent high-end gaming performance. It's armed with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H 14-core processor and up to a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU. To ensure your machine is running optimally during intense raids and boss encounters, activate the "Game Shift" key in the F9 position which instantly cranks up cooling performance.

G16 takes a few other pages from the Alienware playbook including:

• Alienware Command Center: Provides easy access to game settings, peripheral lighting settings, Dolby Audio, and a game library for seamless customization.
• New Keyboard options including CherryMX: Option for one zone, per-key RGB, or CherryMX ultra-low profile mechanical keyboard, all options full-sized with completely customizable layouts.

Pricing & Availability

• The Alienware m17 R5 is available now.
• The Alienware x17 R2 is available now.
• The Dell G16 is available on July 21 at a starting price of USD $1,399 or CAD $1,799.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[dgianstefani]

Almost pointless, past 240hz IPS can't keep up. If it's TN then it just looks shit.

 

[BlaezaLite]

They always put the same "Never before seen" cack on stuff and well, we're older and cleverer now and we have seen that line so much your brain just turns off and doesn't care about said product, unless your 15 and have so many stiff socks your mum thinks your entire sock draw has been robbed.

 

[dgianstefani]

A 240hz OLED at 1440p/4k is where it's at. No point having ultra high refresh without ultra low response times.

 

[Tropick]

"unlock the full advantages of 480 Hz displays."

Yeah like needlessly increased power consumption, reduced image quality, and higher heat output from the display components. Seriously, where's the market for stuff like this? Who's sitting at their desk thinking "Hmm yes 1440p/240Hz is nice but what I REALLY need is a resolution downgrade for a completely imperceptible increase in refresh rate "

 

[natr0n]

Only way to enjoy that high refresh rate is with older games...On top of that it has to support modern windows and have resolution adjustments...and then you prob have to tweak inis and shit.

 

[dgianstefani]

Only way to enjoy that high refresh rate is with older games...On top of that it has to support modern windows and have resolution adjustments...and then you prob have to tweak inis and shit.

It's irrelevant, pixel ghosting and smearing doesn't keep up with the refresh rate. Even at 240hz it's noticeable, at 480hz it's pointless.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Gaming laptops are pants. Always nobbled to keep them cool, and run for 3 seconds gaming on battery most likely with lowered settings anyway.

 

[dgianstefani]

Gaming laptops are pants. Always nobbled to keep them cool, and run for 3 seconds gaming on battery most likely with lowered settings anyway.

Not quite true, i've had quite good experiences with Razer laptops.

Would happily sit at monitor cap of 240fps in games, and used the laptop for Uni lectures on campus too.

2019 advanced model I had is still being used by my friend for valheim and other games every day.

 

[Tomorrow]

Yeah like needlessly increased power consumption, reduced image quality, and higher heat output from the display components. Seriously, where's the market for stuff like this? Who's sitting at their desk thinking "Hmm yes 1440p/240Hz is nice but what I REALLY need is a resolution downgrade for a completely imperceptible increase in refresh rate "

Probably those who REALLY need 4K in their 14" laptop lol.

 

[LabRat 891]

Admittedly, I'm absolutely staggered that Dell-Alienware actually has made an AMD high-end laptop. Even more so that they're actually advertising it!
AMD-model Dells are typically marketed like an unwanted child.

 

[R-T-B]

Gaming laptops are pants. Always nobbled to keep them cool, and run for 3 seconds gaming on battery most likely with lowered settings anyway.

Wait, my pants have batteries?

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

Wait, my pants have batteries?

Only jackets (Milwaukee heated jacket)

Admittedly, I'm absolutely staggered that Dell-Alienware actually has made an AMD high-end laptop. Even more so that they're actually advertising it!
AMD-model Dells are typically marketed like an unwanted child.

It seems to be improving now that Dell is not making more money from Intel's partner program than selling computers...
I think the gov't got after them a bit too.

 

[watzupken]

480hz is really for marketing. There are not that many games that can keep up on a laptop due to limited power and cooling capability. At 1080p, it is going to be very CPU bound.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

To put this into perspective, we are getting a laptop with a DDR5 5800x and 6700 xt with a 480hz screen. The only game in W1zzard's testing for the 5800x that approached 480hz was Wolfenstein II, but he did not include any of the competitive FPS games such as CS:GO. Not sure a 6700xt would push it that much anyway.

 

[Mussels]

Freesync miiiiiight make this have some benefits with LFC depending on the default values, but i'm with the rest of you - panel types that arent OLED just cant keep up.

VA is decent, but only samsung have VA that do above 120Hz well (And they've still got quality control issues)
IPS has some great 1ms variants, but i'm still not sure i've seen any that do above 165Hz without some form of ghosting or smearing, even if its mild (and greatly reduced vs VA)

 

[Chrispy_]

Freesync miiiiiight make this have some benefits with LFC depending on the default values, but i'm with the rest of you - panel types that arent OLED just cant keep up.

VA is decent, but only samsung have VA that do above 120Hz well (And they've still got quality control issues)
IPS has some great 1ms variants, but i'm still not sure i've seen any that do above 165Hz without some form of ghosting or smearing, even if its mild (and greatly reduced vs VA)

Despite being my personal preference for gaming/movies at home in an environment with controlled lighting and no glare, VA really isn't a good fit for laptops;

Laptops need viewing angles to be far better than desktop monitors, and the standout advantage of VA (low black levels) is far less relevant on a laptop that will likely be all over the place in bright spaces, possibly outside, and almost certainly with overhead lighting or sun glare. Per Watt of energy fed to a display, IPS can also produce a brighter image than VA.

As for refresh rate, the reduction in laptop GPU performance over desktop GPU performance, added to the constraints of cooling and battery runtime mean that if you're getting more than 120Hz on a laptop you really are well into the point of diminishing returns. At the very least, panel overdrive to get refresh rates low like on desktop gaming monitors is far worse. Few sites test gaming laptop screens' pixel response to the same level that gaming monitors are tested, but you can expect response rates to be 2-3x higher, even on good laptop displays.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

@TheLostSwede your font seems to have caused an issue with

graphics vapor chamberiii

does the forum not support superscript?

 

[TheLostSwede]

@TheLostSwede your font seems to have caused an issue with

does the forum not support superscript?

Not a font issue, but rather me missing the fact that Dell had some notes and used things that the backend didn't pick up on enough for me to notice when I threw this up. Fixed now.
Some formatting appears slightly different in the forums compared to the front page though.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

Not a font issue, but rather me missing the fact that Dell had some notes and used things that the backend didn't pick up on enough for me to notice when I threw this up. Fixed now.
Some formatting appears slightly different in the forums compared to the front page though.

Ok great. The other site I looked at had the iii as superscript and it looked like some sort of brand name, guess it was just Latin.

 

[Batailleuse]

Only way to enjoy that high refresh rate is with older games...On top of that it has to support modern windows and have resolution adjustments...and then you prob have to tweak inis and shit.

even older games... i dont see what would run a whopping 480 fps.

i mean even on a good computer CS 1.6 with a 5950x+3090 gets 1400-1500fps, but you need servers with unlocked fps because over 1000 it just bugs out.

and cs 1.6 is not old... its old AS FUCK

even with my 5600x+6800xt some older games don't go super high in fps.

like i replayed Dragon Age origins a few weeks ago which is a 2009 game, and i had what ... 160-180fps ? using Rashade with raytracing i had 60fps, same-ish for Mass Effect.

in reality you have very little games capable or reaching that much fps in game even with the best hardware available 20 years later.

 

[Chrispy_]

even older games... i dont see what would run a whopping 480 fps.

i mean even on a good computer CS 1.6 with a 5950x+3090 gets 1400-1500fps, but you need servers with unlocked fps because over 1000 it just bugs out.

and cs 1.6 is not old... its old AS FUCK

even with my 5600x+6800xt some older games don't go super high in fps.

like i replayed Dragon Age origins a few weeks ago which is a 2009 game, and i had what ... 160-180fps ? using Rashade with raytracing i had 60fps, same-ish for Mass Effect.

in reality you have very little games capable or reaching that much fps in game even with the best hardware available 20 years later.

Plenty of games have engine limits and I can name half a dozen or so that are just plain incompatible with higher framerates or offer a completely ruined, broken experience.

For a lot of them there's a 60/120/200fps physics/engine cap where additional framerate doesn't actually add anything meaningful to the experience, other than generating more GPU+CPU heat and wasting effort, and that's if you're lucky. What often happens is that the uncapped framerate actually introduces jitter and frame-pacing problems so even 240fps on a 240Hz display can look choppy and uneven.

 

[medi01]

Summary from the review I've seen:

trades blows with 3080Ti
$500-600 cheaper than blue-green version
produces less heat
lasts 8 hours on battery (light usage), which is exceptional for 17".

 

[5 o'clock Charlie]

Just curious, does anyone know if Alienware still makes laptops that have full board replacement upgrades using the same shell? Thanks.

 

[Chrispy_]

produces less heat
lasts 8 hours on battery (light usage), which is exceptional for 17".

TSMC > Samsung or Intel.
AMD have had the power efficiency advantage for quite some time now.