They nailed the X15 this year, last year it was too expensive for something not as powerful. With the new 125W TDP, it's now a great option, and it also manages to run that CPU very well without throttling. Well done Alienware.
I just wanted to thank you for helping me through the process of choosing a new laptop. In the end I've gone for the x15r2 with 3070ti, qhd screen and 32gb of ram. I was able to get 15% off with the student discount, and looking at the prices of the competition I think it has a great value considering the amazing build quality. So again, thank you so much for your help.
@@dalatesthits3849 on the Dell website there's a deal section, you can find there the page for student discounts. You just have to insert your institutional mail and they'll send you the coupons. However it might change depending on which country you're in.
Damnit... I wasn't trying to buy one of these but.... lol I loved the x17 r1 but it was too big for me. The x15 looks sexier and your tests show how cool it runs and I am impressed
yes, I think the much improved thermals and that amazing display have really allowed me to enjoy the laptop more than I was expecting where as the x17 was just more of the same, it needed QHD! 3080ti is 140w so lower than the x17 but still 30w more than last year
@@MashITTech Excellent thermals are always appreciated. I agree that the x17 needed a QHD option to bring something new to the table, other companies are offering that with their 17 inch devices.... I used the QHD panel on the m15 r5 and r6 and it was fantastic.
I’ve had mine since Wednesday. Went for i9, 32Gb RAM, 2Tb SSD and QHD screen. Basically maxed out. Overall impression of the actual unit is that it is a thing of beauty. Not misaligned panel tat you get with the XPS laptops. I’m using this primarily as a software development machine. The fact it does gaming so well is a big bonus. However, there are issues with thermals. Running development software with no GPU, it is silent. I’m yet to hear the fans even kick in. But, and this is a big but for the target gaming audience - the fans when gaming are pretty much maxed out 100% of the time, and temps of 100 degrees are “normal”. So it is noisy. That may be a deal breaker for some. I am not sure how the X17 compares on this front. Perhaps our trusty reviewer could advise on that? So, overall, pleased with performance on all fronts. But the constant noise. Not so pleased about that I’m afraid.
The x17 is pretty similar but I didn’t find the fans that bad. If it’s on balanced it is quieter but the system is throttled which most gamers won’t want. You have the i9 which notoriously runs hotter but you get the amazing performance that comes with it. At least this year it is quiet on idle, last year the fans would keep kicking in which annoyed me
Wow, The jump compared to r1 seem really significant! Shame there is no 2nd USB 3.2..... haha... Really happy that Dell / Alienware have improved the series soo much. Gives me confidence for the future revisions hehe. I am really happy with my x15 r1... (If I could have waited another 8 months, I would have gotten the x15 r2 instead hehe). I just bought a cheap £15.00 USB-C to 4 USB 3.0 port dongle :) I got the basic screen, i9, 32GB RAM, 3070, 1TB. Its been great so far. Took me a bit of time to get used to the fans (as I am sensitive to their high pitch noise which thankfully few people can hear). The machine is so "silent" even on full load. From time to time I do use headsets but most of the time, I don't feel the need to when playing games / programming / watching. IF Dell / Alienware can lightly shrink the size and keep the same performance so that it can fit better in my bag.... Maybe by max 0.5cm hehe.
@@elrafas2366 Really love my x15 r1. Keyboard - All good. Its great to type on Windows 11 - for the most part, no problems. There were very few weird periods though. Like recently there was an update and it kinda mess up the sound. Only mono sound worked for some reason otherwise everything was mute. Thankfully after a week, there was another update and it fixed it.
Great review, as always. Will you be getting a new M15 R7 to review? I’m interested to see how it compares to the X series, considering they’ve upgraded the cooling system this year.
Thank you so much for making this video. I have been waiting for this video. I have been constantly jumping back and forth between whether to get the X15 R1 or R2. I ended up getting the R2 with: i7 3080 Ti 32GB ram 1TB ssd QHD --- My biggest concern was whether the laptop fans and performance were actually better than the last generation. There's no doubt that the CPU was going to be better but I was not so sure about the GPU. As of writing this, I have not received the laptop yet (which is why I've been waiting desperately for your video). I'm very happy that you discussed some of the small details about how the laptop fans operate when switched to optimus. I'm so happy that the fans are better this year. I'm also super happy that even though the processors got stronger this year, the X15 ended up not throttling as much as last year's!!! --- Do you (or anyone) know whether the 3080 Ti of this year's will perform at least as good as the 3070 in the X17 R1? I hope it would be "almost" as good as the 3080 in the X17 R1. --- Thank you for this video! I eagerly wait for your videos showing us how to overclock and any other interesting details about the laptop compared to last generation and other competitors!
This years 3080ti in the x15r2 is 140w so should actually perform better than the x17r1 3070 and almost on par with the 3080! I will be getting a 3080ti version in soon myself as I was so impressed with the r2. Glad you enjoyed the video and I will certainly be doing more content on the laptop soon 👍
Hi Mash, Thanks for the Video. What program would you recommend for setting up fan profiles? just MSI Afterburner or do you have another one you've tested and preferred?
Let’s see what I think about the r1 when it gets here. I’ve always been a console player so this laptop scene is new to me. Chose the x15 r1 with the 3080 only for the rgb track pad and the heavy discount I got. I work on a cargo ship now and bringing a series x along with me is a pain in the ass plus tv is limited. Hoping the r1 will satisfy my needs with it.
@@MashITTech well got my laptop in after waiting a few weeks. I was having problems downloading even after I did all my updates. I was getting really slow downloading speeds of less than 1mb per second. When my series x was downloading just fine. Then my mother board got fried or something. I was getting 3 red and 5 blue flashing lights on the power button. Contacted dell and they are gonna send me another one or something better in a few weeks.
Thanks you very much! You have done an incredible job again! It's settle, I'm going to buy the x15 r2 with an 3080ti. I will ad a thunderbolt 4 dock to get more ports. The qhd seems to be magnificent! Do you think that it will perform well plugged in 34inch qhd? Thx again! 💪👍🤘
Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed it. The 3080ti will be fine with the 34”, I run a 165w 3080 on my 3800x1600 38” ultrawide. When I get the 3080ti version in I will test it in my 34” and 38” screens
I haven’t managed to get my hands on a 3070ti yet but it is very similar to a 3070. I would imagine it will still do fine at 3440x1440 on most titles but you may need to drop some settings or play with dlss to get the framerate to where you require 👍
Given that I bought an x15 R1 with the same specs, I probably wouldn’t shell out an extra 200+ dollars for this machine, and probably would have just upgraded the ram on my R1. That being said The fan noise improvements seem really appealing.
Dear friend please help me. I will have Allienware X15 R2 during this coming week. I watched many videos today, but you were the only good explainer and presenter. Since childhood, I have dreamed of having a powerful gaming computer or laptop, but since I am also studying at the same time, there was no opportunity to buy a large computer. I will get x15r2 with i9-12900H, rtx 3080, 32gb ram, 2tb ssd and 2k screen. I know that this laptop has some drawbacks like CPU overheating and only one USB port, but I have already solved these problems. I bought cooling pad with 6 small coolers and also will use another cooler, so overheating should not be a problem... This laptop is also very convenient because I also have to take it with me. The only thing is that I don't know what kind of performance it will give me. I want to play AAA games and first game will be Red dead redemption 2. Will the computer meet all the high gaming requirements? Please help me if You can.
RDR is very demanding, it should work at high-ish settings at 1440p but you may not get crazy high fps. Hope you enjoy the x15, it’s an amazing looking laptop 😀
You just mentioned something I am sad about :/ which is that I would like to close the lip of the laptop and connect it to external monitors..but you're saying that it will affect the air flow system and create heat problems in the long run? Even if it is not a big issue but i used to use all my laptops in this mode and put them in a vertical laptop stand to maintain a clean setup and have more space on my desk.
I only got my 3070ti yesterday, I can't give you a full answer yet. I can say that the 3070ti is pretty impressive giving me a time spy GPU score of about 11500 so not far off last years 3080
Is the i9 have significant change in overall performance than i7? Also I'm planning to get it thru main site of Dell. Or any recommendations where I can get it online delivery to home with better deal?
I don't recommend the i9, its a lot of money for very little extra performance. I don't know where else you can buy it from, in the UK it is currently only available from Dell
i am planning to order one, but have no idea what to get between the 3060 and 3070Ti.... i usually play games like horizon5 ..resident Evil.... and some MMO like lost ark.
Hello. I'm looking from Japan. I'm thinking of buying this computer. Can you hear the fan's sound just by watching youtube or using chrome? Is it possible to prevent the fans from turning by controlling it when not playing the game?
I don’t use chrome but I can test. By switching it to quiet mode I have been using it for video and a little work without hearing the fans, this has been a big improvement. This year!
All the features that used to define alienware laptops are no longer present and despite the new hardware all the new models seem like a downgrade using them due to less expandability and customization. Even the speakers are trash while my 5 ... 6 year old alienware still has the best speakers compared to everything that released after....
Can you charge the laptop with usb c cable?? Poor battery life is a bummer but it would be great if you can charge it with a usb c cable. That QHD screen is really enticing. I would've had a bit of a dilemma between the x17 and x15 if x17 also offered QHD but I'm definitely gearing towards the x15 with that sween QHD screen.
@@pierrefeisthauer4927 I'm using Anker 726 65W charger and it works well. I haven't used it while gaming so I'm not sure if the battery will drain while gaming, but for anything else, like watching youtube, websites, etc, it charges well.
Does anyone know if the 15inch over the 17inch models have different GPU Watts? I cant find any information or does this machine with a 3080 ti use the same Watt Gpu as for the 17inch? Hope someone has found out.
Yes it does. I am actually doing a video on the x15 vs x17 which I will hopefully release today but in the mean time the X15 3080ti is 140w but in benchmarks wasn't that far behind the x17's 3080ti
@@MashITTech Thanks for the reply, I think I will go the 17inch, but dying to see how the GPU and i9 12900hk fare in titles like Total War Warhammer 2-3 and Crusader Kings 3, more heavy CPU dependent games.
Still only one USB slot at the back. Ridiculous! You plug a mouse in and that's it, you're done. No room for anything else. This was the reason I didn't the the X15 R1. I ended up with the Lenovo Legion 7i. Has a crazy amount of ports! Including ethernet.
I can't argue with that! The legion 7 has got to be one of the best all round laptops. That said it is a lot bigger than the X15, Dell tried too hard to make it slim IMHO
Just got an x15 R2 with an i9, 3070ti, 32gb RAM, 1TB M.2 SSD, and FHD 360hz display for 1350$. Open box from Best Buy excellent condition looks unopened and untouched. It’s the best laptop I’ve ever bought and also the least I’ve spent on one, I’m so fired up about it lol
@@7.62x51mm I think mine was technically “good” condition but it was just dirty with some smudge marks on the top of the lid. I went and checked it out in person and realized I could just use a magic eraser and it would look brand new. That’s exactly what I did and you can’t tell there was ever a mark. Just check it out and make sure there is no damage or missing parts
Mine as well 3 weeks ago but mine was way better deal than yours. Don’t worry about the 100c temperature, is normal that working temperature but i recommend you a good fan pad for laptop
I was seriously debating going with the Razer blade 15 from this year, but now I'm torn, as this looks like a heck of a machine. Only thing that makes me think Razer is the RAM is fully upgradeable and I use Cisco Modeling Labs, among other tools which can use a fully 64 gb of RAM, however, I don't use it all that often, and 32gb is pretty solid. Given the non-discounted price of this one is about $400 Canadian less than t he Razer blade, I'm starting to think this might be the better choice. I was looking at the 3070 for the GPU
Yes the ram is a bit of a shame but it is a solid laptop other than that and will perform better than the Razer Blade 15 and have much better warranty options. I love Razer blades but man if they go wrong you are in a world of pain
@@MashITTech Running Performance Profile, and getting temps above 125 degrees. Keyboard and track pad are freaking hot. I think I might move to the M15 R7 for better air movement and it only weighs a little bit more.
mate, tha125f or c? something doesn't sound right if the keyboard or touchpad is hot. I just a m15r7 in, will try and get a review out for you ASAP but I would get your one sent back or replaced because it sounds faulty
Great review. Definitely the X15 is now on my list. X15 vs X17 same spec would be very interesting to see especially the 4800 RAM vs the X15's 5200 and how that affects performance as well
Great review, the x15 r2 12700h with 32gb ram, rtx3080 ti, 1 tb nvme and QHD config is only selling for around £2700+ in my country, I was surprised to find out how expensive it is in the UK for the same specs.
Hey! Thank you for your review. You helped me decide to get this laptop and I finally got it last week, it is amazing and exceeded all my expectations so far. Thank you for making these videos and helping us make our decisions!
I am planning to buy it too..but can you tell me what are you mainly using it for? + With intensive usage did you notice heat problems? And how many hours does your battery last? (No need for precise numbers just tell me approximately). I'd appreciate it..thanks🙏🏽
@@ahmedfarrag17 Sorry for replying late. I use it for work, connecting to a virtual desktop and gaming with light productivity tasks such as excel. No heat problems for me, works very well. Fans are barely noticeable when doing light work though that changes obviously when gaming. I've gotten the battery to last about 4 hours. 2 months in and I am loving it.
Just a tip. There are many channels that review gaming/workstation laptops. If you want to stick out from the rest, talk about the warranties and customer care programs of the manufacturer. Nobody else does that, but to me it is essential. Dell are very good, but also very expensive.
I’m not sure - I think the x15 is the best portable gaming laptop but x17 isn’t much bigger and offers more cooling. But I think if you’re like me and work on these gaming laptops as well then the x15 is the Best Buy bc you get QHD and plenty of gaming power at a lower cost
This is how I feel, that qhd display is one of the best screens on the market if you game and work! Also with the improved performance and tgp this year they have closed the gap in performance between them over the r1, I was quite disappointed with last years x15
Lack of ports and upgradability was a no go for me which is why I got the M15 R7 with the i7 127000H, RTX 3070ti, and the 1440p 240hz 2ms screen. You're absolutely right the 1440p screen is really bright and vibrant and is the best screen option for video and photo editing as well as gaming. Great review, keep them coming and I'll keep watching.
@@sohosoon1553 I'm really liking it. I made a few videos about it already on my TH-cam channel @TheWorkoutGeek. The main thing I chose the M15 over the X15 is Upgradability. You can upgrade the ram on the M15 but you can't on the X15.
Exactly! That's why I'm more inclined to m15r7, because for the same money on x15ar2 I get only less weight and power supply (and of course a beautiful white color), BUT the configuration is worse.
The X15 R2 has a 140W 3070 Ti and a 145W 3080 Ti GPU. Do you think for rendering high resolution files, will it be better to get the 3080 Ti for that extra 5 Watts and double the memory (16GB)?
True but I wanted the 3060 in to test against last years 3060. I think the 3070ti will be the sweet spot for most. Will get a 3080ti version in soon to test that 👍
Great review. Glad you mentioned the coupons codes because I was able to purchase an i7 x15 R2, 3070ti, 32GB of memory, 1TB SSD, and QHD panel for $2,252.85US before taxes. The coupons code are stackable. Also, I received an additional 5% off using Dell Financing with 0% interest for 12 months. Currently in the states you can receive 10% off by signing up to Dells newsletter with an email address. Car club AAA also provides 10% off codes.
@@shoon3711 By being a Dell member, I received $78 off the price off the computer. I also applied a 10% coupon and received an additional 5% off by using Dell Financing which has 0% interest for 12 months. Initially I had ordered the x15 R2 i7 with the Nvidia 3060 because that GPU and the 3080Ti was only available at the time of purchase. Two days later Alienware released the Nvidia 3070Ti GPU, so I canceled my ordered and a Alienware/Dell salesperson offered me the price of $2252 for the 3070Ti upgrade. AAA Auto club or signing up for Dells newsletter with an email address will provide you with 10% discount coupon code. I think the Dell Financing 5% off special has expired. I purchased my X15 R2 during President's Day holiday February 21 in the United States.
The great thing is that I'm getting one of these as a replacement for my m15r2, and it has an even more bonkers configuration. So that's incredible. Dell support and extended warranty is sweet!
So, due to several blue screen errors, insane temps and the fact the X17 R2 became available with 4K, I returned my X15 R2 and now have a shiny 4K X17 R2. Coupled to new Alienware 34” OLED monitor. So I am able to do a fair comparison myself. My points relate to me as a casual gamer, but full time software developer… Firstly, temps. X17 rarely gets above 85 degrees and 50% fan speed, whereas the x15 was ALWAYS above this when gaming with 100% fan speed “the norm”. Noise: as related to temps, x17 bordering on silent. Screen: well 4K is just better and most stuff runs well over 100FPS. If you want to turn it down, you can. Memory: now at 64Gb which suits my software development needs. And to be honest the 32Gb soldered RAM was a big concern to me as Windows 11 is greedy and I typically use at least 16GB at idle during my working day. Size: well the box it came in is the same size as the 15. I thought another x15 had been sent. The machine is negligibly bigger than the x15. Not much between them at all. Performance: maybe placebo but everything seems quicker and smoother. Price: £400 difference between x17 and x15 for double screen resolution, double RAM, Cherry MX keyboard, many more ports, and bigger screen. I had vouchers and rewards so went for fully maxed out machine. Summary (just my opinion of course): you would be mad going for the X15 R2 now that the X17 has 4k screen option. But each to their own.
Are you still happy with the 4K X17 R2 over your X15 R2? I'm torn between the two. I think I'm leaning X17 but worried about how big it is compared to the X15 and other 15" laptops. I've also never had 4K on a laptop but it seems nice.
I wonder if some of the improvement between the R1 and R2 is just driver updates. It would be interesting to crack out your R1 now and see if there is really that much difference besides the 12th gen CPU being awesome.
I just got an x15 r1 in and the noise from the fans while downloading.... very annoying. I might actually keep the x15 r2 when it arrives lol. I was hoping to save money
Dell are driving me mad right now! Every product they sell seems to have one vital thing missing. For this one, soldered RAM. If it was 64GB then that’s ok (providing it doesn’t fail and brick the machine). For the X17 R2, crappy FHD screen. Same problems exist (in U.K.) for XPS desktops. Not one preconfigured machine makes any sense - such as top i9 processor, with max 16GB RAM. And so on. And we have zero configuration options. Dell won’t state if or when the X17 R2 will get UHD screens. I’m a software developer doing a fair bit of creative work that may need to be done on the move. So I need max pixels and high RAM. Plus I want to game on it. Don’t think I’m asking for too much for nearly £5000, once warranty added. Come on Dell, get a grip with what your customers actually want, versus what you think they want.
Disappointing. They should have made it thicker with more ports, and proper TDP, and upgradable RAM. Weight is what matters, not how thick it is. Also that is a really tiny trackpad, and bad speakers. It is a gimmped expensive laptop, that just looks nice.
Agree with most of your points except the TDP. They massively improved the TGP this year and the CPU TDP gets the same wattage as the bigger X17 which is impressive for how thin it is. But like you said, I would also much prefer a thicker, quieter laptop with more ports which is why I own the area 51m r2 🤣
I have had non stop issues with mine the past 10 monthes. It crashes during gameplay, stops recognizing the gpu; stops recognizing the key board and now the keyboard doesn’t work. I have had two guys tell me they don’t know what to do with it and that they see this a lot in these laptops.
Upgrading from my Omen to the X17 R2 after watching your review on it. Just have to wait a little over 2 weeks now...lol. Love the reviews, keep up the great work!
@@MashITTech When you review the R7: It seemed like every reviewer got this wrong about the R6 (not the reviewers' faults, but Alienware's for not communicating how it worked). All the reviews I saw complained that the press the power button had to be pressed twice to get the machine to start, and assumed a later update might "fix" this. In fact, the BIOS is set to Power On When Lid Opened, but of course most (all?) Windows laptops are slow to boot from a cold Off state, and it's quite a wait where you're just looking at blackness until the Alienware splash appears and eventually Win11 itself. So what was happening is that people were turning the machine off and on again without realising, when it just requires some patience. Anyway, perhaps thanks to this and a few other perfectly correct quibbles that reviewers indentified on launch, some of which were corrected later, I got a 3070 M15 R6 for a massive discount (over a thousand dollars off, plus the QHD 240Hz option was mysteriously cheaper than the FHD panels). I was able to replace the RAM with 32GB of higher speed, lower CL sticks and add a 2TB 980 Pro in slot #2 for less than the UK price of the new X15, so I'm very happy.
@@joechapman8208 hi Joe, I reviewed the r6 and had no issue with this! The power on lid open was added to the m15/17r4 so totally used to it! Thanks for the heads up though 😀👍
@@MashITTech so every profile, i tested balanced, performance, and performance mode, the f1 key. on throttlestop running numbers, i constantly hit 100c doing 980m or something and hwinfo said i was throttling, i would get 41 multipliers for a second then go down to 36 or 37 because it throttled. how are your numbers in the high 80s? my finest score was 11500 using max fan speed, mux switch on, performance mode enabled on windows and no external displays or things connected and on a cooling pad raised up. my room is 60 degrees f too. my cine bench was 16800 with the same settings. but i have been throttling a lot too.
I switched advanced Optimus to gsync and put the system is performance mode, that’s it! The new CPU’s boost higher allowing the gpu to become the bottleneck hence the high gpu usage 👍
Loving your reviews! I'm actually contemplating whether I should pick up the R1 model with the 3070 or the R2 model with the 3060.... I'll mainly use it to game so I'm not sure which one to pick up....
Thank you mate. That is a really tough question! The r1 even with a 110w 3070 will probably be slightly better than a 125w 3060 but the cpu is massively better than on the r1. You also get the added benefit of improved thermals and idle fan noise
Alienware X15 R2 with QHD, RTX 3060 , 1TB HD is $2300 in the US. Alienware M15R5 with QHD, RTX 3070, 1TB HD is $1700. This is a $600 difference for a worse graphics card, but a better CPU. M15R5 also has 1 more USB port and RJ45 port. An extra USB port is essential for anyone who wants to plug in external keyboard, mouse, controller, throttle and joystick (MS Flight SIM and DCS World). That missing RJ45 port will take up another USB port for Ethernet dongle. You are down 2 USB ports now. One might need to use those missing USB ports for wireless mouse dongle for 2.4Hz connection. No serious gamer plays Counterstiike via Bluetooth connection or on WIFI for that matter. Wired headphones also need a USB connection. Sure, you can use USB C to USB A converter, but its a hassle. You do not need USB C aside for external hard drivers, phones and external displays. HDMI 2.1 will take care of the external display connection. Alienware X15R2 does not make any sense whatsoever. You can use that $600 difference to make an early upgrade to RTX 4000 when it becomes available. Besides, most games are GPU rather than CPU intensive anyway. I would take RTX 3070 over RTX 3060 any day and save $600 as a bonus and have 2 additional USB A ports to plug in my mouse and for 2.4Hz transmitter for my Xbox controller and/or joystick for MS Flight Sim. I am also positive that RTX 3070 will be superior to RTX 3060 in most games. I say , get M15R5 with RTX 3070 for $1700 while you still can, or wait for RTX 4000 series laptops. PS I literally bought Alienware M15R5 with RTX 3070 for my friend 2 weeks ago. It is not available anymore. Only one configuration for $1049 with RTX 3050 and no QHD remains as well as one configuration for $1350 for RTX 3050Ti and No QHD. Dell must have figured that it did not make any sense to get X15R2 over M15R5 as it was before (with QHD and RTX 3070)
For someone looking into Alienware 2022 gaming laptops, your channel has provided great insight! Any idea on when the 2022 Alienware m15 R7 Ryzen will be available and if you'll be getting a review unit? Much appreciated!
@@MashITTech You are AWESOME!! Subbed, liked and notified to your great Alienware channel. Could you provide long term reliability or future updates if possible? I worry since reading the reviews on Dell's website that a small number of owners are reporting quality control issues like Blue Screen of Death and other worrisome items. Cheers!
I have started doing long term reviews (my alienware 51m r2 long term review) and this is something I am going to keep doing. And I often create videos as Dell introduce new features or important BIOS updates. also I am very active on the Alienware reddit sub so you can catch me there too (saw a couple of display issues on there). But at least with Alienware you get onsite warranty which is worth its weight in Gold
@@MashITTech No I absolutely understand! You're ding awesome with all the videos you've been doing. One question that could help me, with the 12th Gen CPU on the R2 am I able to still use throttlestop?
Thanks mate, it certainly keeps me busy 😂 with regards to throttlestop I have managed to get a version that allowed me to adjust multipliers and also the tdp but you can’t undervolt 👍
@@MashITTech Man no undervolting is unfortunate, but I think the temps seems pretty solid regardless. Thank you for the quick replies and hope all is great with you and yours! Cheers
Thank you for the review Dave. Purchased x15r2 based on your review. Love all the details you presented. A few questions though, my 12700H does throttle in every mode, including full-fan mode. It also does not sustain 115W, it will drop to about 100W on full-fan mode, about 60-80W on balance mode. Also, the 3070ti seems only running at 115W max at full-fan mode, at 90W at other mod (at least in 3dmark), although it listed as 140W. I thought it was a bios issue, but reinstalling the newest bios does not resolve the issue. Does your test machine thermal throttling during CinebenchR23 multicore run? Does your test machine sustain 115W during CinebenchR23, or it drop? Does your 3060 test machine still run at 125W TGP? Thanks!
Something is not sounding right with your machine! Can you give me your cine r23 score in both balanced and the F1 performance mode? Depending on what it is we may need to do some trouble shooting together if you have the time
@@MashITTech That would be great! So, Full fan mode, R23 multi is 16674 @ 95-100W. Balance mode, R23 multi is 16257 @ about 89-93W. Both running at 100C CPU package temperature. For R23 single core, both Full fan and balance mode are about 1745. GPU wise, no matter what, it will run at 115W max at full fan mode. GPU temperature rarely pass 80C. Maximum i have seen is about 82C.
@@MashITTech Hi Dave, I have figured out the GPU power issue. Seems Turbo Max Boost 3.0 and newer AWCC are causing the issue (at least one of them). It is for sure 140W max power for 3070ti. Surprisingly, at 140W, it is running below 80C for my machine during the stress test. To me, this is amazing for such a thin 15in gaming laptop! The GPU perfomance is astonishing. What is your thoughts on the CPU performance? I do see the thermal throttle, though the performance is still very good, espeically single core performance.
@@Eagle-vy5mg so have you turned off boost 3 to improve gpu performance? I haven’t tried that. I have had 2 x15r2s in now and both scored about 17k on cine r23 and whilst a little lower than the x17r2 it’s still amazing performance for its size
@@MashITTech Yes, I have turned off boost 3. But I also installed an older version of AWCC. I am not 100% sure which is the decisive factor yet. But with these 2 touches, 3070ti runs at 140W smoothly. Mine R23 score is about 16.5-16.8k. Not as high as 17K, but close enough and still amazing for the size and thickness. I would think the difference between our score is due to the silicon or slightly small built difference. What do you think?
Does this laptop have high-res audio through the headphone jack? I currently have an MSI GE66 raider with 2070 super. The audio quality is exceptional through the headphone jack. However, I want to upgrade to a laptop with a bright QHD screen with G-sync. Currently my laptop has full HD which I don't enjoy as much.
helllo, I'm currently considering the macbook pro 16 base model and this x15 with 32gb, 1tb ssd and 3070. With apple, I can only get the applecare which covers the macbok for a max of 3 years. Dell actually provides 5 years warranty option. For investing in these expensive laptop, I think getting warranty is essential. What do you think? p.s I have used both ios and windows, dont mind using either systems.
This keyboard layout (arrows) is not...the best, because pressing right arrow you usually press wrong key (sound) and because those volume control keys are custom keys, they cannot be remapped in Windows/Linux. In the end, you get angry when using those cursors and decide to use a separate keyboard. TIP: gaming laptop doesn't mean it is only for gaming. Writing short notes, replying to email etc etc usually requires using arrow keys. For me - I wait for R3 :)
I have a macbook pro and there is no way it lasts 4 hours on battery when browsing, not sure how people test them, just using Google Chrome drains the battery really fast.
Upgrading my current laptop later this year. At the top of my list, is this one you with a RTX 3070ti or a Razer 15 Advanced model. I like the port options on the Razer. But only time will tell what I can afford. Thanks
One thing that I noticed while playing MW2 on this laptop, even with full speed performance mode, was that the 3070 Ti struggled to even hit 100W during gameplay. I don’t understand why as this should be boosting up to 140. I tested the same game with the Helios 300 (2022) with the 3070 Ti and I was consistently hitting right up against 150W which was very impressive. Anyone else have this issue of low wattage and was there a fix? Side note, I think you could do a great review of the Helios 300. It’s an impressive value.
Thanks for your review! I am considering this machine but heard people say it got faint whistle noise from the fans during normal use. Do you have that issue with your X15? Thanks!
They nailed the X15 this year, last year it was too expensive for something not as powerful. With the new 125W TDP, it's now a great option, and it also manages to run that CPU very well without throttling. Well done Alienware.
Yep, I am really impressed this year, last year it was quite lacklustre! Getting the 3080ri in next as I am so impressed with it
@@MashITTech Will there be a comparison video between R1 and R2?
@@Bats2023 I am going to try and fit it in, got so many videos and laptops to get through at the moment though
@@MashITTech I see, take ur time no rush. 👍
@@Bats2023 bruhh my 130W RTX 3060 run games at QHD just fine.
I really liked this review. So, I'm gonna hit the sub button again.
Haha 😂 thanks mate
I just wanted to thank you for helping me through the process of choosing a new laptop. In the end I've gone for the x15r2 with 3070ti, qhd screen and 32gb of ram. I was able to get 15% off with the student discount, and looking at the prices of the competition I think it has a great value considering the amazing build quality. So again, thank you so much for your help.
wow well done, 15% off is amazing! hope you enjoy the laptop
how did you get the student discount? I am a student too and Id like to purchase this laptop. That 15 percent will greatly help!
@@dalatesthits3849 on the Dell website there's a deal section, you can find there the page for student discounts. You just have to insert your institutional mail and they'll send you the coupons. However it might change depending on which country you're in.
@@ivanameruoso ahh okay thanks are you in the uk by any chance?
i’m in america and i couldn’t find it😭
Damnit... I wasn't trying to buy one of these but.... lol I loved the x17 r1 but it was too big for me. The x15 looks sexier and your tests show how cool it runs and I am impressed
Yep, was quite disappointed last year but this year it is a big improvement in the thermals! I am so impressed I am getting the 3080ti in next!
@@MashITTech That's quite the huge praise! Do you have any idea what the TGP is on the 3080 Ti version of the x15 R2?
yes, I think the much improved thermals and that amazing display have really allowed me to enjoy the laptop more than I was expecting where as the x17 was just more of the same, it needed QHD! 3080ti is 140w so lower than the x17 but still 30w more than last year
@@MashITTech Excellent thermals are always appreciated. I agree that the x17 needed a QHD option to bring something new to the table, other companies are offering that with their 17 inch devices.... I used the QHD panel on the m15 r5 and r6 and it was fantastic.
I’ve had mine since Wednesday. Went for i9, 32Gb RAM, 2Tb SSD and QHD screen. Basically maxed out.
Overall impression of the actual unit is that it is a thing of beauty. Not misaligned panel tat you get with the XPS laptops.
I’m using this primarily as a software development machine. The fact it does gaming so well is a big bonus. However, there are issues with thermals. Running development software with no GPU, it is silent. I’m yet to hear the fans even kick in. But, and this is a big but for the target gaming audience - the fans when gaming are pretty much maxed out 100% of the time, and temps of 100 degrees are “normal”. So it is noisy. That may be a deal breaker for some. I am not sure how the X17 compares on this front. Perhaps our trusty reviewer could advise on that?
So, overall, pleased with performance on all fronts. But the constant noise. Not so pleased about that I’m afraid.
The x17 is pretty similar but I didn’t find the fans that bad. If it’s on balanced it is quieter but the system is throttled which most gamers won’t want. You have the i9 which notoriously runs hotter but you get the amazing performance that comes with it. At least this year it is quiet on idle, last year the fans would keep kicking in which annoyed me
Hey bro can this run rpcs3?
Probably because of thinness
Had any issues with the Keyboard or Windows Justin?
Wow, The jump compared to r1 seem really significant! Shame there is no 2nd USB 3.2..... haha... Really happy that Dell / Alienware have improved the series soo much. Gives me confidence for the future revisions hehe. I am really happy with my x15 r1... (If I could have waited another 8 months, I would have gotten the x15 r2 instead hehe). I just bought a cheap £15.00 USB-C to 4 USB 3.0 port dongle :)
I got the basic screen, i9, 32GB RAM, 3070, 1TB. Its been great so far. Took me a bit of time to get used to the fans (as I am sensitive to their high pitch noise which thankfully few people can hear). The machine is so "silent" even on full load. From time to time I do use headsets but most of the time, I don't feel the need to when playing games / programming / watching.
IF Dell / Alienware can lightly shrink the size and keep the same performance so that it can fit better in my bag.... Maybe by max 0.5cm hehe.
Any issues with the Keyboard or Windows?
@@elrafas2366 Really love my x15 r1. Keyboard - All good. Its great to type on Windows 11 - for the most part, no problems. There were very few weird periods though. Like recently there was an update and it kinda mess up the sound. Only mono sound worked for some reason otherwise everything was mute. Thankfully after a week, there was another update and it fixed it.
Just purchased the X15 R2 on Amazon. So happy they upped the TGP this year
Hope you enjoy it! Didn’t realise they had the x15 r2 on amazon already
@@MashITTech yes they do with 1 day free shipping and a couple hundred dollars below what Dell lists it for. Great review btw!
Thank you. Do you mind me asking what country that is? I can’t see it on Amazon USA
@@MashITTech I’m in the US. For some reason it wont let me post the link
Thanks a lot mate, may Googlefu must have let me down, only saw r1’s but will check again
Great review, as always. Will you be getting a new M15 R7 to review? I’m interested to see how it compares to the X series, considering they’ve upgraded the cooling system this year.
I sure will be, have the x14 coming next then the r7
Looking forward to the R7 review.
Thank you so much for making this video. I have been waiting for this video. I have been constantly jumping back and forth between whether to get the X15 R1 or R2. I ended up getting the R2 with:
i7
3080 Ti
32GB ram
1TB ssd
QHD
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My biggest concern was whether the laptop fans and performance were actually better than the last generation. There's no doubt that the CPU was going to be better but I was not so sure about the GPU.
As of writing this, I have not received the laptop yet (which is why I've been waiting desperately for your video).
I'm very happy that you discussed some of the small details about how the laptop fans operate when switched to optimus. I'm so happy that the fans are better this year.
I'm also super happy that even though the processors got stronger this year, the X15 ended up not throttling as much as last year's!!!
---
Do you (or anyone) know whether the 3080 Ti of this year's will perform at least as good as the 3070 in the X17 R1? I hope it would be "almost" as good as the 3080 in the X17 R1.
---
Thank you for this video! I eagerly wait for your videos showing us how to overclock and any other interesting details about the laptop compared to last generation and other competitors!
This years 3080ti in the x15r2 is 140w so should actually perform better than the x17r1 3070 and almost on par with the 3080! I will be getting a 3080ti version in soon myself as I was so impressed with the r2. Glad you enjoyed the video and I will certainly be doing more content on the laptop soon 👍
Awsome Video! Thank you so much!
Glad you enjoyed it 😀
Hi Mash, Thanks for the Video. What program would you recommend for setting up fan profiles? just MSI Afterburner or do you have another one you've tested and preferred?
Let’s see what I think about the r1 when it gets here. I’ve always been a console player so this laptop scene is new to me. Chose the x15 r1 with the 3080 only for the rgb track pad and the heavy discount I got. I work on a cargo ship now and bringing a series x along with me is a pain in the ass plus tv is limited. Hoping the r1 will satisfy my needs with it.
looking forward to hearing your thoughts 👍
@@MashITTech well got my laptop in after waiting a few weeks. I was having problems downloading even after I did all my updates. I was getting really slow downloading speeds of less than 1mb per second. When my series x was downloading just fine. Then my mother board got fried or something. I was getting 3 red and 5 blue flashing lights on the power button. Contacted dell and they are gonna send me another one or something better in a few weeks.
Thanks you very much! You have done an incredible job again!
It's settle, I'm going to buy the x15 r2 with an 3080ti. I will ad a thunderbolt 4 dock to get more ports.
The qhd seems to be magnificent!
Do you think that it will perform well plugged in 34inch qhd?
Thx again! 💪👍🤘
Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed it. The 3080ti will be fine with the 34”, I run a 165w 3080 on my 3800x1600 38” ultrawide. When I get the 3080ti version in I will test it in my 34” and 38” screens
@@MashITTech what do you think about the 3070ti? The TDP seems to be the same between the three gpu available. And the price is much lower!
I haven’t managed to get my hands on a 3070ti yet but it is very similar to a 3070. I would imagine it will still do fine at 3440x1440 on most titles but you may need to drop some settings or play with dlss to get the framerate to where you require 👍
@@MashITTech thanks again for your answers.
It's helping me a lot.
Amazing Review!
Thanks, this made my decision. I'm using a Chase portal link to get points so have a tip in lieu of your Amazon link.
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy yours when it arrives :)
Given that I bought an x15 R1 with the same specs, I probably wouldn’t shell out an extra 200+ dollars for this machine, and probably would have just upgraded the ram on my R1. That being said The fan noise improvements seem really appealing.
Ram in any X15 is not upgradeable or swappable
Dear friend please help me. I will have Allienware X15 R2 during this coming week. I watched many videos today, but you were the only good explainer and presenter. Since childhood, I have dreamed of having a powerful gaming computer or laptop, but since I am also studying at the same time, there was no opportunity to buy a large computer. I will get x15r2 with i9-12900H, rtx 3080, 32gb ram, 2tb ssd and 2k screen. I know that this laptop has some drawbacks like CPU overheating and only one USB port, but I have already solved these problems. I bought cooling pad with 6 small coolers and also will use another cooler, so overheating should not be a problem... This laptop is also very convenient because I also have to take it with me. The only thing is that I don't know what kind of performance it will give me. I want to play AAA games and first game will be Red dead redemption 2. Will the computer meet all the high gaming requirements? Please help me if You can.
RDR is very demanding, it should work at high-ish settings at 1440p but you may not get crazy high fps. Hope you enjoy the x15, it’s an amazing looking laptop 😀
@@MashITTech thank you very much, I will make you know about laptop and first impressions with Rdr2🙂
can't wait for the 3080ti review. could you also please compare it to a razer 15 in terms of size. thanks.
I am doing a x15 vs razer blade video. It will be an 11th gen razer though as I am not paying the crazy U.K. 12th gen prices!
You just mentioned something I am sad about :/ which is that I would like to close the lip of the laptop and connect it to external monitors..but you're saying that it will affect the air flow system and create heat problems in the long run?
Even if it is not a big issue but i used to use all my laptops in this mode and put them in a vertical laptop stand to maintain a clean setup and have more space on my desk.
How did you get the temperatures so good? CPU on my X15 R2 is 100 degrees on any game ..
hello have you heard of the thunderbolt 4 contorrler issue not in divice manager on windows 11 with the intel 12 gen cpu on the x17 r2?
When do you expect your 3080Ti will arrive? Curious to see if yours is capped at 125Watts like mine.
not even in production yet :(
How are the speakers compare to last year model?
What brand of memory are they using now? Im seeing to many crappy micro ssds
Please compare x15 r2 vs razer blade advanced 15 2022 and suggest which one would be best
@Mash IT
Is it better to get 3080ti or 3070ti version for gaming , will there be a good increase in fps with 3080ti compared to the 3070ti version
I only got my 3070ti yesterday, I can't give you a full answer yet. I can say that the 3070ti is pretty impressive giving me a time spy GPU score of about 11500 so not far off last years 3080
Is the i9 have significant change in overall performance than i7?
Also I'm planning to get it thru main site of Dell. Or any recommendations where I can get it online delivery to home with better deal?
I don't recommend the i9, its a lot of money for very little extra performance. I don't know where else you can buy it from, in the UK it is currently only available from Dell
If coupled with the i7 CPU, Do you recommend 3080Ti or 3070Ti for content creators?
I would suggest the 3070ti, it’s the best cost to performance ratio
Hey can you tell how much battery life one can get with setting on low...
i am planning to order one, but have no idea what to get between the 3060 and 3070Ti.... i usually play games like horizon5 ..resident Evil.... and some MMO like lost ark.
If you can afford it get the 3070ti. It’s a massive boost over the 3060 and ensure the laptop lasts a few years for gaming
Please review Alienware M15 r7 and did you ordered it (you said you are going to order it soon) ???
Yes I did, it is in production now :)
@@MashITTech ohh ok nice to hear that i didn't thought you will respond
@@Myaseen321 I do always try and get back to people, sometimes it takes me a while as I get a lot of questions 😀
Hello. I'm looking from Japan. I'm thinking of buying this computer. Can you hear the fan's sound just by watching youtube or using chrome?
Is it possible to prevent the fans from turning by controlling it when not playing the game?
I don’t use chrome but I can test. By switching it to quiet mode I have been using it for video and a little work without hearing the fans, this has been a big improvement. This year!
@@MashITTech I'm looking for a laptop that fans won't spin when not playing games. thank you.
All the features that used to define alienware laptops are no longer present and despite the new hardware all the new models seem like a downgrade using them due to less expandability and customization. Even the speakers are trash while my 5 ... 6 year old alienware still has the best speakers compared to everything that released after....
just got one now 2024 for $900 ,base model 165hz 3060 ,was good price?
Yeah, that’s a really good price
The most sexiest laptop 2022.
Can you charge the laptop with usb c cable?? Poor battery life is a bummer but it would be great if you can charge it with a usb c cable. That QHD screen is really enticing. I would've had a bit of a dilemma between the x17 and x15 if x17 also offered QHD but I'm definitely gearing towards the x15 with that sween QHD screen.
Yes you sure can, sorry I meant to mention that! Works fine from a 60w pd dock, power bank or charger
@@MashITTech Sold! Thank you!
@mash it could you please test the USB-C charging with the Anker 737 powerbank to see how much power it can get from it ?
@@pierrefeisthauer4927 I'm using Anker 726 65W charger and it works well. I haven't used it while gaming so I'm not sure if the battery will drain while gaming, but for anything else, like watching youtube, websites, etc, it charges well.
@@pjango thank you ! I wonder if it would accept more power than 65W via USB-C for heavy processing tasks in the field.
How many fps can this base model run for Fortnite?
No do port?
Does anyone know if the 15inch over the 17inch models have different GPU Watts? I cant find any information or does this machine with a 3080 ti use the same Watt Gpu as for the 17inch?
Hope someone has found out.
Yes it does. I am actually doing a video on the x15 vs x17 which I will hopefully release today but in the mean time the X15 3080ti is 140w but in benchmarks wasn't that far behind the x17's 3080ti
@@MashITTech Thanks for the reply, I think I will go the 17inch, but dying to see how the GPU and i9 12900hk fare in titles like Total War Warhammer 2-3 and Crusader Kings 3, more heavy CPU dependent games.
quiet mode, battery?
I am going to do more battery testing on different profiles and with/without RGB, leave it with me
Still only one USB slot at the back. Ridiculous! You plug a mouse in and that's it, you're done. No room for anything else. This was the reason I didn't the the X15 R1. I ended up with the Lenovo Legion 7i. Has a crazy amount of ports! Including ethernet.
I can't argue with that! The legion 7 has got to be one of the best all round laptops. That said it is a lot bigger than the X15, Dell tried too hard to make it slim IMHO
Does someone have a reference of a plug dongle Usb 3.2 A to Hub Usb 3.2 or Thunderbolt to Usb 3.2 A? I am thinking about a dongle without any cable.
15:21 Out of interest, what are you working on?
A top down boat game in unity 👍 will probably take me about 10 years to ever get it to a point it’s ready 😂
Make review on m15 r7
Its on order 👍
"USB 3" is meaningless.. you meant to say "USB Type A".. this is the term that refers to the connector form factor.
1 USB-A for a High-End laptop 💀
I need at least 3…
Agreed, that’s my biggest gripe
Yep! Or more usb c ports
Eww QHD on a 15”
So basically, a scam, and go with 17 inch model? Got it.
Haha some people need the portability of 15” laptops. The 17” is certainly better value imho but the 15” is a lot closer than it was last year
Just got an x15 R2 with an i9, 3070ti, 32gb RAM, 1TB M.2 SSD, and FHD 360hz display for 1350$. Open box from Best Buy excellent condition looks unopened and untouched. It’s the best laptop I’ve ever bought and also the least I’ve spent on one, I’m so fired up about it lol
My Best Buy has one in “Good” condition open box, what do you think would be wrong with it for them to mark it as “good” instead of excellent?
@@7.62x51mm I think mine was technically “good” condition but it was just dirty with some smudge marks on the top of the lid. I went and checked it out in person and realized I could just use a magic eraser and it would look brand new. That’s exactly what I did and you can’t tell there was ever a mark. Just check it out and make sure there is no damage or missing parts
@@7.62x51mmhurry up, I have bought many Laptops from Best Buy and most of good computers looks like new and work. Even fair computers.
Mine as well 3 weeks ago but mine was way better deal than yours. Don’t worry about the 100c temperature, is normal that working temperature but i recommend you a good fan pad for laptop
@@chrisjimenez5255well what was the deal my bro? 😊
I was seriously debating going with the Razer blade 15 from this year, but now I'm torn, as this looks like a heck of a machine. Only thing that makes me think Razer is the RAM is fully upgradeable and I use Cisco Modeling Labs, among other tools which can use a fully 64 gb of RAM, however, I don't use it all that often, and 32gb is pretty solid. Given the non-discounted price of this one is about $400 Canadian less than t he Razer blade, I'm starting to think this might be the better choice. I was looking at the 3070 for the GPU
Yes the ram is a bit of a shame but it is a solid laptop other than that and will perform better than the Razer Blade 15 and have much better warranty options. I love Razer blades but man if they go wrong you are in a world of pain
Has anyone else had over heating issues with there X15 r2? Keeps over heating 15 min into playing game.
no, my temps are well controlled. What do you mean by overheating? and what profile are you running?
@@MashITTech Running Performance Profile, and getting temps above 125 degrees. Keyboard and track pad are freaking hot. I think I might move to the M15 R7 for better air movement and it only weighs a little bit more.
mate, tha125f or c? something doesn't sound right if the keyboard or touchpad is hot. I just a m15r7 in, will try and get a review out for you ASAP but I would get your one sent back or replaced because it sounds faulty
Great review. Definitely the X15 is now on my list. X15 vs X17 same spec would be very interesting to see especially the 4800 RAM vs the X15's 5200 and how that affects performance as well
I will be doing a vs video soon
Actually slowly becoming my favourite review channel, explaining things clearly, simply, and practically to end users like me. Thank you
Thanks so much, that’s really kind of you to say 😀👍
Great review, the x15 r2 12700h with 32gb ram, rtx3080 ti, 1 tb nvme and QHD config is only selling for around £2700+ in my country, I was surprised to find out how expensive it is in the UK for the same specs.
Hey! Thank you for your review. You helped me decide to get this laptop and I finally got it last week, it is amazing and exceeded all my expectations so far. Thank you for making these videos and helping us make our decisions!
So glad I was able to help you. It is an amazing machine
I am planning to buy it too..but can you tell me what are you mainly using it for? + With intensive usage did you notice heat problems? And how many hours does your battery last? (No need for precise numbers just tell me approximately). I'd appreciate it..thanks🙏🏽
@@ahmedfarrag17 Sorry for replying late. I use it for work, connecting to a virtual desktop and gaming with light productivity tasks such as excel. No heat problems for me, works very well. Fans are barely noticeable when doing light work though that changes obviously when gaming. I've gotten the battery to last about 4 hours. 2 months in and I am loving it.
Any issues with the Windows or keyboard Philip?
Just a tip. There are many channels that review gaming/workstation laptops. If you want to stick out from the rest, talk about the warranties and customer care programs of the manufacturer. Nobody else does that, but to me it is essential. Dell are very good, but also very expensive.
Thanks Henrik, I will see what I can do
I’m not sure - I think the x15 is the best portable gaming laptop but x17 isn’t much bigger and offers more cooling. But I think if you’re like me and work on these gaming laptops as well then the x15 is the Best Buy bc you get QHD and plenty of gaming power at a lower cost
This is how I feel, that qhd display is one of the best screens on the market if you game and work! Also with the improved performance and tgp this year they have closed the gap in performance between them over the r1, I was quite disappointed with last years x15
Fantastic channel, deserves more views and subs for the effort and quality of the video for sure
Lack of ports and upgradability was a no go for me which is why I got the M15 R7 with the i7 127000H, RTX 3070ti, and the 1440p 240hz 2ms screen. You're absolutely right the 1440p screen is really bright and vibrant and is the best screen option for video and photo editing as well as gaming. Great review, keep them coming and I'll keep watching.
And how do you like your new laptop? I am now stuck in the process of choosing between x15 and m15ar7
@@sohosoon1553 I'm really liking it. I made a few videos about it already on my TH-cam channel @TheWorkoutGeek. The main thing I chose the M15 over the X15 is Upgradability. You can upgrade the ram on the M15 but you can't on the X15.
Exactly! That's why I'm more inclined to m15r7, because for the same money on x15ar2 I get only less weight and power supply (and of course a beautiful white color), BUT the configuration is worse.
The X15 R2 has a 140W 3070 Ti and a 145W 3080 Ti GPU. Do you think for rendering high resolution files, will it be better to get the 3080 Ti for that extra 5 Watts and double the memory (16GB)?
Which is better? X15 R2 or M15 R7???
Looks stunning but I would be more concerned at the 3060's lack of 8GB of VRAM
True but I wanted the 3060 in to test against last years 3060. I think the 3070ti will be the sweet spot for most. Will get a 3080ti version in soon to test that 👍
@@MashITTech Yeah 70's are always the way to go :)
Great review. Glad you mentioned the coupons codes because I was able to purchase an i7 x15 R2, 3070ti, 32GB of memory, 1TB SSD, and QHD panel for $2,252.85US before taxes. The coupons code are stackable. Also, I received an additional 5% off using Dell Financing with 0% interest for 12 months.
Currently in the states you can receive 10% off by signing up to Dells newsletter with an email address. Car club AAA also provides 10% off codes.
Wow you got a bargain there! I always manage to stack codes in the U.K. too and have never paid full price for a dell 👍
what are the coupon codes that you used
Wow how did you get it at that price? I tried your configuration but I got $2799.99
@@shoon3711 By being a Dell member, I received $78 off the price off the computer. I also applied a 10% coupon and received an additional 5% off by using Dell Financing which has 0% interest for 12 months. Initially I had ordered the x15 R2 i7 with the Nvidia 3060 because that GPU and the 3080Ti was only available at the time of purchase. Two days later Alienware released the Nvidia 3070Ti GPU, so I canceled my ordered and a Alienware/Dell salesperson offered me the price of $2252 for the 3070Ti upgrade.
AAA Auto club or signing up for Dells newsletter with an email address will provide you with 10% discount coupon code. I think the Dell Financing 5% off special has expired. I purchased my X15 R2 during President's Day holiday February 21 in the United States.
@@mauricem8460 oh wow, that really great, thanks a lot for the tips!
The great thing is that I'm getting one of these as a replacement for my m15r2, and it has an even more bonkers configuration. So that's incredible. Dell support and extended warranty is sweet!
So, due to several blue screen errors, insane temps and the fact the X17 R2 became available with 4K, I returned my X15 R2 and now have a shiny 4K X17 R2. Coupled to new Alienware 34” OLED monitor. So I am able to do a fair comparison myself. My points relate to me as a casual gamer, but full time software developer…
Firstly, temps. X17 rarely gets above 85 degrees and 50% fan speed, whereas the x15 was ALWAYS above this when gaming with 100% fan speed “the norm”.
Noise: as related to temps, x17 bordering on silent.
Screen: well 4K is just better and most stuff runs well over 100FPS. If you want to turn it down, you can.
Memory: now at 64Gb which suits my software development needs. And to be honest the 32Gb soldered RAM was a big concern to me as Windows 11 is greedy and I typically use at least 16GB at idle during my working day.
Size: well the box it came in is the same size as the 15. I thought another x15 had been sent. The machine is negligibly bigger than the x15. Not much between them at all.
Performance: maybe placebo but everything seems quicker and smoother.
Price: £400 difference between x17 and x15 for double screen resolution, double RAM, Cherry MX keyboard, many more ports, and bigger screen. I had vouchers and rewards so went for fully maxed out machine.
Summary (just my opinion of course): you would be mad going for the X15 R2 now that the X17 has 4k screen option. But each to their own.
Are you still happy with the 4K X17 R2 over your X15 R2? I'm torn between the two. I think I'm leaning X17 but worried about how big it is compared to the X15 and other 15" laptops. I've also never had 4K on a laptop but it seems nice.
I wonder if some of the improvement between the R1 and R2 is just driver updates. It would be interesting to crack out your R1 now and see if there is really that much difference besides the 12th gen CPU being awesome.
12th gen is entirely a new thing.
Still waiting for the i9-12900h with rtx 3080ti for x15 r2😶🌫️
Thank you so much! Very helpful review!
I just got an x15 r1 in and the noise from the fans while downloading.... very annoying. I might actually keep the x15 r2 when it arrives lol. I was hoping to save money
Yeah the idle noise was a real pain on the r1, the r2 is mostly silent on idle, it’s reason alone to buy it 😂
@@MashITTech 🤣🤣🤣
Dell are driving me mad right now! Every product they sell seems to have one vital thing missing. For this one, soldered RAM. If it was 64GB then that’s ok (providing it doesn’t fail and brick the machine). For the X17 R2, crappy FHD screen. Same problems exist (in U.K.) for XPS desktops. Not one preconfigured machine makes any sense - such as top i9 processor, with max 16GB RAM. And so on. And we have zero configuration options.
Dell won’t state if or when the X17 R2 will get UHD screens. I’m a software developer doing a fair bit of creative work that may need to be done on the move. So I need max pixels and high RAM. Plus I want to game on it. Don’t think I’m asking for too much for nearly £5000, once warranty added. Come on Dell, get a grip with what your customers actually want, versus what you think they want.
Yep, I know how you feel! if only they would add the QHD on the 17
Can you benchmark the RAM in the x15 R2 and X17 R2 to show the difference between the 5200MHz LPDDR5 in the X15 and the 4800MHz DDR5 in the X17?
This is in my list of videos to do 👍
Disappointing. They should have made it thicker with more ports, and proper TDP, and upgradable RAM. Weight is what matters, not how thick it is.
Also that is a really tiny trackpad, and bad speakers. It is a gimmped expensive laptop, that just looks nice.
Agree with most of your points except the TDP. They massively improved the TGP this year and the CPU TDP gets the same wattage as the bigger X17 which is impressive for how thin it is. But like you said, I would also much prefer a thicker, quieter laptop with more ports which is why I own the area 51m r2 🤣
I have had non stop issues with mine the past 10 monthes. It crashes during gameplay, stops recognizing the gpu; stops recognizing the key board and now the keyboard doesn’t work. I have had two guys tell me they don’t know what to do with it and that they see this a lot in these laptops.
Upgrading from my Omen to the X17 R2 after watching your review on it. Just have to wait a little over 2 weeks now...lol. Love the reviews, keep up the great work!
Thanks a lot mate and I hope you enjoy your r2 👍
Great review once again! I’m looking forward to your M15 r7 review to see how it compares to this model.
Thanks mate, got to do the x14 next when it finally arrives then will jump on the r7 👍
@@MashITTech When you review the R7: It seemed like every reviewer got this wrong about the R6 (not the reviewers' faults, but Alienware's for not communicating how it worked). All the reviews I saw complained that the press the power button had to be pressed twice to get the machine to start, and assumed a later update might "fix" this. In fact, the BIOS is set to Power On When Lid Opened, but of course most (all?) Windows laptops are slow to boot from a cold Off state, and it's quite a wait where you're just looking at blackness until the Alienware splash appears and eventually Win11 itself. So what was happening is that people were turning the machine off and on again without realising, when it just requires some patience.
Anyway, perhaps thanks to this and a few other perfectly correct quibbles that reviewers indentified on launch, some of which were corrected later, I got a 3070 M15 R6 for a massive discount (over a thousand dollars off, plus the QHD 240Hz option was mysteriously cheaper than the FHD panels). I was able to replace the RAM with 32GB of higher speed, lower CL sticks and add a 2TB 980 Pro in slot #2 for less than the UK price of the new X15, so I'm very happy.
@@joechapman8208 hi Joe, I reviewed the r6 and had no issue with this! The power on lid open was added to the m15/17r4 so totally used to it! Thanks for the heads up though 😀👍
@@MashITTech Ah, I'm sorry! I watched far too many reviews in making my choices, so I must have got confused between you and one of the others
That’s alright mate, didn’t even expect you to 😀
Ive always wanted this, just never had the money for a gaming laptop, not even an old one, great video
I have Alienware x15 r2 I have fan issue I hear some worst noise
how can you undervolt the i7 12700h for better cooling. my x15 r2 does thermal throttle
You can’t undervolt the i7 is locked 😢
@@MashITTech darn, so how can i reduce the thermals, i am thermal throttling
@@dalatesthits3849 can you explain where you are thermal throttling? have you benchmarked the machine? what profile are you using?
@@MashITTech so every profile, i tested balanced, performance, and performance mode, the f1 key. on throttlestop running numbers, i constantly hit 100c doing 980m or something and hwinfo said i was throttling, i would get 41 multipliers for a second then go down to 36 or 37 because it throttled. how are your numbers in the high 80s? my finest score was 11500 using max fan speed, mux switch on, performance mode enabled on windows and no external displays or things connected and on a cooling pad raised up. my room is 60 degrees f too. my cine bench was 16800 with the same settings. but i have been throttling a lot too.
@@MashITTech sorry i am new to the laptop stuff haha, please let me know if i can provide any more info, and thanks for helping me
Great video! Have a X15 3070 model but csgo only like 200fps. Can you please share how you manage to make the GPU usage 90%+? Thank you!
I switched advanced Optimus to gsync and put the system is performance mode, that’s it! The new CPU’s boost higher allowing the gpu to become the bottleneck hence the high gpu usage 👍
@@MashITTech thanks mate!
Earned a sub!
Thank you mate 😀
You went for the most reasonable specs and explained everything in detail. That's good content👌
Loving your reviews! I'm actually contemplating whether I should pick up the R1 model with the 3070 or the R2 model with the 3060.... I'll mainly use it to game so I'm not sure which one to pick up....
Thank you mate. That is a really tough question! The r1 even with a 110w 3070 will probably be slightly better than a 125w 3060 but the cpu is massively better than on the r1. You also get the added benefit of improved thermals and idle fan noise
What's the heat sink part number for this laptop ?
Alienware X15 R2 with QHD, RTX 3060 , 1TB HD is $2300 in the US. Alienware M15R5 with QHD, RTX 3070, 1TB HD is $1700. This is a $600 difference for a worse graphics card, but a better CPU. M15R5 also has 1 more USB port and RJ45 port. An extra USB port is essential for anyone who wants to plug in external keyboard, mouse, controller, throttle and joystick (MS Flight SIM and DCS World). That missing RJ45 port will take up another USB port for Ethernet dongle. You are down 2 USB ports now. One might need to use those missing USB ports for wireless mouse dongle for 2.4Hz connection. No serious gamer plays Counterstiike via Bluetooth connection or on WIFI for that matter. Wired headphones also need a USB connection. Sure, you can use USB C to USB A converter, but its a hassle. You do not need USB C aside for external hard drivers, phones and external displays. HDMI 2.1 will take care of the external display connection. Alienware X15R2 does not make any sense whatsoever. You can use that $600 difference to make an early upgrade to RTX 4000 when it becomes available. Besides, most games are GPU rather than CPU intensive anyway. I would take RTX 3070 over RTX 3060 any day and save $600 as a bonus and have 2 additional USB A ports to plug in my mouse and for 2.4Hz transmitter for my Xbox controller and/or joystick for MS Flight Sim. I am also positive that RTX 3070 will be superior to RTX 3060 in most games. I say , get M15R5 with RTX 3070 for $1700 while you still can, or wait for RTX 4000 series laptops.
PS I literally bought Alienware M15R5 with RTX 3070 for my friend 2 weeks ago. It is not available anymore. Only one configuration for $1049 with RTX 3050 and no QHD remains as well as one configuration for $1350 for RTX 3050Ti and No QHD. Dell must have figured that it did not make any sense to get X15R2 over M15R5 as it was before (with QHD and RTX 3070)
Hello, Does it get really hot while while editing 4k videos? I would be making 1 hour to 3hours ambient 4k videos, buying for that purpose only.
x17 r2 is it more heavy than M1 Pro 16"?
For someone looking into Alienware 2022 gaming laptops, your channel has provided great insight! Any idea on when the 2022 Alienware m15 R7 Ryzen will be available and if you'll be getting a review unit? Much appreciated!
Have the m15r7 on my desk at the moment! review in a few days, just finishing off my X14 review first :)
@@MashITTech You are AWESOME!! Subbed, liked and notified to your great Alienware channel. Could you provide long term reliability or future updates if possible? I worry since reading the reviews on Dell's website that a small number of owners are reporting quality control issues like Blue Screen of Death and other worrisome items. Cheers!
I have started doing long term reviews (my alienware 51m r2 long term review) and this is something I am going to keep doing. And I often create videos as Dell introduce new features or important BIOS updates. also I am very active on the Alienware reddit sub so you can catch me there too (saw a couple of display issues on there). But at least with Alienware you get onsite warranty which is worth its weight in Gold
@@MashITTech Wonderful - thanks for the info!
Hey Dave, will you be doing the x15 R1 vs R2?
Hi Joe, I certainly want to do that video but I am just so backed up with videos at the moment! When I clear my backlog I will try and do this for you
@@MashITTech No I absolutely understand! You're ding awesome with all the videos you've been doing.
One question that could help me, with the 12th Gen CPU on the R2 am I able to still use throttlestop?
Thanks mate, it certainly keeps me busy 😂 with regards to throttlestop I have managed to get a version that allowed me to adjust multipliers and also the tdp but you can’t undervolt 👍
@@MashITTech Man no undervolting is unfortunate, but I think the temps seems pretty solid regardless. Thank you for the quick replies and hope all is great with you and yours! Cheers
Thank you mate and the same to you.
ram soldered to the board, yikes.
I would really appreciate a dedicated video on comparing the x15 r1 and the x15 r2 both with the 3080ti
Thank you for the review Dave. Purchased x15r2 based on your review. Love all the details you presented. A few questions though, my 12700H does throttle in every mode, including full-fan mode. It also does not sustain 115W, it will drop to about 100W on full-fan mode, about 60-80W on balance mode. Also, the 3070ti seems only running at 115W max at full-fan mode, at 90W at other mod (at least in 3dmark), although it listed as 140W. I thought it was a bios issue, but reinstalling the newest bios does not resolve the issue. Does your test machine thermal throttling during CinebenchR23 multicore run? Does your test machine sustain 115W during CinebenchR23, or it drop? Does your 3060 test machine still run at 125W TGP? Thanks!
Something is not sounding right with your machine! Can you give me your cine r23 score in both balanced and the F1 performance mode? Depending on what it is we may need to do some trouble shooting together if you have the time
@@MashITTech That would be great! So, Full fan mode, R23 multi is 16674 @ 95-100W. Balance mode, R23 multi is 16257 @ about 89-93W. Both running at 100C CPU package temperature. For R23 single core, both Full fan and balance mode are about 1745.
GPU wise, no matter what, it will run at 115W max at full fan mode. GPU temperature rarely pass 80C. Maximum i have seen is about 82C.
@@MashITTech Hi Dave, I have figured out the GPU power issue. Seems Turbo Max Boost 3.0 and newer AWCC are causing the issue (at least one of them). It is for sure 140W max power for 3070ti. Surprisingly, at 140W, it is running below 80C for my machine during the stress test. To me, this is amazing for such a thin 15in gaming laptop! The GPU perfomance is astonishing.
What is your thoughts on the CPU performance? I do see the thermal throttle, though the performance is still very good, espeically single core performance.
@@Eagle-vy5mg so have you turned off boost 3 to improve gpu performance? I haven’t tried that. I have had 2 x15r2s in now and both scored about 17k on cine r23 and whilst a little lower than the x17r2 it’s still amazing performance for its size
@@MashITTech Yes, I have turned off boost 3. But I also installed an older version of AWCC. I am not 100% sure which is the decisive factor yet. But with these 2 touches, 3070ti runs at 140W smoothly. Mine R23 score is about 16.5-16.8k. Not as high as 17K, but close enough and still amazing for the size and thickness. I would think the difference between our score is due to the silicon or slightly small built difference. What do you think?
Mash IT coming in with another great review 🙌🏽🙌🏽💥
haha thanks mate 😂
Does this laptop have high-res audio through the headphone jack? I currently have an MSI GE66 raider with 2070 super. The audio quality is exceptional through the headphone jack. However, I want to upgrade to a laptop with a bright QHD screen with G-sync. Currently my laptop has full HD which I don't enjoy as much.
helllo, I'm currently considering the macbook pro 16 base model and this x15 with 32gb, 1tb ssd and 3070. With apple, I can only get the applecare which covers the macbok for a max of 3 years. Dell actually provides 5 years warranty option. For investing in these expensive laptop, I think getting warranty is essential. What do you think? p.s I have used both ios and windows, dont mind using either systems.
This keyboard layout (arrows) is not...the best, because pressing right arrow you usually press wrong key (sound) and because those volume control keys are custom keys, they cannot be remapped in Windows/Linux. In the end, you get angry when using those cursors and decide to use a separate keyboard.
TIP: gaming laptop doesn't mean it is only for gaming. Writing short notes, replying to email etc etc usually requires using arrow keys. For me - I wait for R3 :)
I have a macbook pro and there is no way it lasts 4 hours on battery when browsing, not sure how people test them, just using Google Chrome drains the battery really fast.
Upgrading my current laptop later this year. At the top of my list, is this one you with a RTX 3070ti or a Razer 15 Advanced model. I like the port options on the Razer. But only time will tell what I can afford. Thanks
Hello can you tell me should I get this with rtx 3070ti or alienware m15 r7 rtx 3070ti
Which is better in your opinion
One thing that I noticed while playing MW2 on this laptop, even with full speed performance mode, was that the 3070 Ti struggled to even hit 100W during gameplay. I don’t understand why as this should be boosting up to 140. I tested the same game with the Helios 300 (2022) with the 3070 Ti and I was consistently hitting right up against 150W which was very impressive.
Anyone else have this issue of low wattage and was there a fix? Side note, I think you could do a great review of the Helios 300. It’s an impressive value.
What kind of contrast do you get with this panel? Apparently the alienware x14 can get a .25 black level which is impressive for IPS.
Hi! Does anyone have an idea how to clean the upper ventilation? :)
Thanks for your review! I am considering this machine but heard people say it got faint whistle noise from the fans during normal use. Do you have that issue with your X15? Thanks!