One of the best reviews I have seen on this unit to date. Did my own (all be it much more amateur than this) on the UHD equipped version here about a month ago. For me it is 80% for work where I am teaching myself video editing for some product and facility guides and tours here in Korea. Glad to hear you guys had good things to say as well. I ended up dropping about $1400 in NVmE (Envy-Me haha) drives into this unit, and must say that compared the Razer Blade Pro disaster I was amazed how user friendly this is to upgrade. Anyway great review, keep up the good work!
Brian Sun thank you. Can u help with another question. If I have a 120hz panel and g-sync is enabled and I can see the FPS in the upper corner. How come the FPS can show over 120FPS at times. R the frames actually going over 120 or is it just claiming that as I thought 120hz means a maximum of 120 frames per second.
120 Hz only indicates the max amount of frames a display can show. You can have framerates that go way above that, but it will look the same as if you only had 120 fps because that is the maximum the display can render. Performance of a computer is independent of the display, so if you were to have a display with a higher refresh rate like 144 Hz or 240 Hz it would be able to show up to 144 fps and 240 fps, respectively
Brian Sun so is there away I can set it up that it doesn't go over the 120 since it can't see it. Plus wouldn't it cause the other parts to work less like the cpu and gpu if it doesn't go over the 120
I'm not entirely clear on how to do that, although some games do have the option of framerate capping. If you go into nVidia control panel you will likely find the settings you want to change. good luck
OrganicFarmer Sounds like the P5000 is more suited to professional tasks like CAD so definitely the P70. The GTX 1080 on the other hand is meant for squeezing out those frame rates
There are some pretty good deals on this model right now because of the new Coffee Lake chips that came out. I got a great price on the 1070 version with 1080p ips config. I really didn't feel like spending the extra $450 for the UHD version. Is the 1080p 60hz ips g-sync panel good?
Good point! I'm trying to decide which screen to go for! The IPS costs another £150! It only has a measly 60 hz compared to the 120hz of the TN panel. Which would you go for?
Probably because no one wants to sink 2.5k~ in to a gaming laptop and put a non-gaming screen on it, the qhd (I here) is the sweet spot, 120hz and a clearer screen than the fhd, the gtx has to power more pixles meaning it runs hotter, makes the battery worse and I have seen reviews where games are running on ultra settings 30-40 fps as opposed to 70-80fps on qhd.
@hothardware I was thinking about getting in on this, would you stick with qhd or go with uhd? Also for gaming is this the best bang for your buck? Thank you in advance
I went with the TN 120Hz with color boost & love it the viewing angles arent bad either. IPS provides better veiwing angles & is the more costly of the two to produce.
I recently ordered this laptop from dell but I went with the 17.3 inch UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS Anti-Glare 300-nits, Enabled with Tobii Eye-tracking... I wanted the best they had to offer so I opted for the UHD rather than the QHD.. did I make a mistake in doing that? The only game I plan on playing on this machine is World of Warcraft... after ordering the UHD version I have since heard about screen tearing. Am I going to regret going with the UHD...? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!
No, that's a beautiful panel. And you likely won't see screen tearing while gaming, even if it doesn't have G-Sync. Just play with V-Sync on in the game settings and you'll be fine. G-Sync is a nice feature to deliver completely perfect, jitter and tear-free gaming but you don't absolutely need it.
So the UHD is fine for playing World of Warcraft? Thank you! I was a bit worried because so many people have said UHD is more for video editing and picture editing and not for gaming. People say there is screen tearing issues or colors bleeding, saying that FPS is really bad with the UHD so I was freaked out that I made a mistake in getting the UHD because I will be using it solely for playing World of Warcraft. Anyway, thanks for reassuring me.
Assume you're not just playing WoW on this machine, but that might be the only game you're running on it. Anyway, the panel also scales well to 1080p, so if you can't get frame rates you like at UHD res, you can always drop down. That said, with a GeForce GTX 1080 on board, 4K (UHD) gaming in WoW should be buttery smooth too.
Quite literally WoW will be the only game I play on it. I've been playing WoW since the old vanilla days back in 2004. I've honestly had no desire to play anything else. It's still very enjoyable for me even after all these years. So yeah, if the frame rates aren't that great, I can scale down with no problems? Cool, that is actually very reassuring. I appreciate you letting me know that the UHD is ok. I honestly was really freaked out when I saw many people saying do not go for the UHD if you're a gamer.
Anyone know if you can use the Nvidia 3D vision with the 120 Hz display? I don't see why you wouldn't be able to, but I haven't heard about that for a while now and it's something I do on my desktop.
Nice review.. Could any one advice me on buying the right laptop? I have Dell XPS 15-9560 and Alienware 17 R4 in my mind. I am comparing Dell XPS 15-9560 with UHD 4k touch which supports up to 1 TB SSD, 32GB RAMx2400Hz and 4GB VDDR5 GTX 1050 Graphics and Alienware 17 R4 UHD that supports up to 3TB SSD+HDD, 32GB RAMx2400Hz and 8GB VDDR5 GTX 1080 graphics. I hardly game.. I am looking for a power horse that can basically serve these purposes: 1) Render 4k videos in Adobe Premier pro, After effects, Davinci Resolve and Avid Media Composer with ease. 2) 3D modelling in Blender and Cinema 4d 3) Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom The challenges in front of me for the Dell XPS 15-9560 is limited SSD storage (only up to 1TB) and a max of 4GB GTX 1050 VDDR5 graphics, where as Alienware offers up to 3TB and 8GB GTX 1080 VDDR5 graphics while both offers up to 32GB DDR4 RAM x 2400Hz. I am not concerned with the heaviness of Alienware (5Kg), but care for ultimate performance. I would appreciate your suggestions. Thank you !
I will give you a not-rude reply here: Alienware 17 R4. If you are not concerned about the weight of the device then there is nothing holding you back. :) Plus, the Alienware Graphics Amp means that if you ever for some reason find a GTX 1080 unsatisfactory, you can just slot in a desktop GPU into the AGA down the line. So... there you have it :)
Just got this laptop brand new with a 4K screen and it's stuttering on me running benchmarks. Overall great build but after 10 minutes of Heaven + OCCT it starts to drop voltage to the GPU and stutter for 2 to 3 seconds then picks back up. It repeats the stutter every 15 to 20 seconds. Wondering if you have any experience with this in your unit. If not, would you mind firing up OCCT and Heaven and seeing if you can run it for an hour without stuttering? Curious if I got a lemon or if this is a widespread issue. Thanks!
That's odd. Are you running it at 4K resolution? Maybe in Heaven you're clipping the frame buffer limit at that res with certain settings. I know it's a very demanding benchmark. We tested the 1440p panel version and didn't see any such anomaly.
Hey guys, I really need your help. I have an Alienware 17 QHD 120hz Display with GTX 1070. My problem is that the Gsync option is no longer showing on Nvidia control pannel as the display is now being handled by the integrated graphics somehow. Pressing fn+f7 gives a ''not supported with GSYNC LCD panel"" error. I've updated to all the latest drivers but nothing helps, The system is essencially running on optimus and all the nvidia options have dissapeared as it is not the primary display. Hope that makes sense, I have searched all over the internet and it seems I'm the only one facing this issue.
Yamir Gonzalez I would definitely call Dell tech support on that one. They manage driver updates and it sounds to me like you just have a driver issue going on there. It may even be a firmware update that's required on the graphics switching side of things. Good luck
I have updated to all the latest drivers, dell support is a joke, I called them up and the guy on the phone had no idea what G Sync even was, he asked for my email and sent me a stupid guide with gsync information, nothing regarding my issue so I knew I was wasting my time. My laptop has just run out of warranty last month, and dell cannot help me. :(
HotHardware would you think it’s worth it now in getting this laptop? I’ve heard rumours of a new refresh on the 17 R4. Maybe with a new 8th gen cpu. However would you think the current setup is enough for maybe 3 years of future gaming
Dev Kumar Depends on whether you get a G-Sync screen, since those disable Optimus. W/o G-Sync screen: 5-7 hr With G-Sync screen: 2-4 hr When you are gaming, it wont matter; it will only last an hr give or take on battery power
ZILL NIAZI remove the bottom panel to reveal 2 m.2 2280 length slots and 1 2260. the Samsung 950 / 960 Pros are typically the fastest, but the 960 Evo is no slouch either.
If you say so but 16GB is more than plenty for most folks, with negligible benefit at a 32GB configuration in most apps and games. If you came here to troll, you succeeded. :)
I use Creative Suite professionally, and the difference between 16 and 32 GB is substantial. 64 GB is often required. How is it trolling pointing out a fact? 16 GB is not, and never will be, "top shelf", sorry if that offends you.
One of the best reviews I have seen on this unit to date. Did my own (all be it much more amateur than this) on the UHD equipped version here about a month ago. For me it is 80% for work where I am teaching myself video editing for some product and facility guides and tours here in Korea. Glad to hear you guys had good things to say as well. I ended up dropping about $1400 in NVmE (Envy-Me haha) drives into this unit, and must say that compared the Razer Blade Pro disaster I was amazed how user friendly this is to upgrade. Anyway great review, keep up the good work!
Thumbs up for Dell to start marketing this config as the "Urban Assault Vehicle Setup" :D
Stanley Steamer Tbh if you throw this thing hard enough at a tank itll probably penetrate xDDDD
Thing is very well built.
I've got one coming. I think the Tobii eye tracking will work well in Elite Dangerous.
If only someone can be so kind and bless me with this beast 😀
I have the Alienware 17 with a GTX 1060, works great now,
You know what motherboards are used in the Alienware laptops?
Not the 1080? What's wrong with the motherboards?
What type of the display did you get? Is the FHD okay? Or should go for the QHD 120Hz?
If this Tobii technology worked together with Nvidia's 3D Vision it would be a pretty good experience
This machine is amazing. Way better than anything else out there.
great vid. this thing is a beast!
Thanks James! And agreed. :)
Is g-sync naturaly enabled or does it have to be done manually. Awesome vid. Keep up the good work.
Mike Lascelle Naturally enabled
Brian Sun thank you. Can u help with another question. If I have a 120hz panel and g-sync is enabled and I can see the FPS in the upper corner. How come the FPS can show over 120FPS at times. R the frames actually going over 120 or is it just claiming that as I thought 120hz means a maximum of 120 frames per second.
120 Hz only indicates the max amount of frames a display can show. You can have framerates that go way above that, but it will look the same as if you only had 120 fps because that is the maximum the display can render. Performance of a computer is independent of the display, so if you were to have a display with a higher refresh rate like 144 Hz or 240 Hz it would be able to show up to 144 fps and 240 fps, respectively
Brian Sun so is there away I can set it up that it doesn't go over the 120 since it can't see it. Plus wouldn't it cause the other parts to work less like the cpu and gpu if it doesn't go over the 120
I'm not entirely clear on how to do that, although some games do have the option of framerate capping. If you go into nVidia control panel you will likely find the settings you want to change.
good luck
Would you take this or a Lenovo Thinkpad P70 with Quadro P5000 (16GB VRAM) for architectural 3D design and V-ray rendering (both with a 4K display)?
OrganicFarmer Sounds like the P5000 is more suited to professional tasks like CAD so definitely the P70. The GTX 1080 on the other hand is meant for squeezing out those frame rates
What happens if you hook up 1080ti amp does it bottleneck?
Does this laptop throttle when gaming on it for a long time?
There are some pretty good deals on this model right now because of the new Coffee Lake chips that came out. I got a great price on the 1070 version with 1080p ips config. I really didn't feel like spending the extra $450 for the UHD version. Is the 1080p 60hz ips g-sync panel good?
Yes, it's pretty solid and once you've played on G-Sync (or FreeSync for that matter) you'll wonder how you lived with out it.
Ok cool thanks. Should be here soon. I can't wait =D
Has you laptop been OC ? I only got 8400 in this test. Our laptop are same one
why dont somebody review this laptop with newly launched 4K IPS screen with G Sync. Please somebody review that also
Good point! I'm trying to decide which screen to go for! The IPS costs another £150! It only has a measly 60 hz compared to the 120hz of the TN panel. Which would you go for?
Probably because no one wants to sink 2.5k~ in to a gaming laptop and put a non-gaming screen on it, the qhd (I here) is the sweet spot, 120hz and a clearer screen than the fhd, the gtx has to power more pixles meaning it runs hotter, makes the battery worse and I have seen reviews where games are running on ultra settings 30-40 fps as opposed to 70-80fps on qhd.
SHREY K 1440p at 120 Hz is just superior for gaming until they release 4k at 120hz but it'll need a boost for performance to really support that.
I could play Dota 2 on 4k on a consistent 60fps GSync IPS panel, im good ☺️
Does the 15 with the 1080 graphics card perform the same
@hothardware I was thinking about getting in on this, would you stick with qhd or go with uhd? Also for gaming is this the best bang for your buck? Thank you in advance
I would go with QHD and G-Sync. It's a good value yes, though there are cheaper, less well made machines with similar specs out there.
Is the 5ms response time blurry ? Is it distracting with the ghosting ?
It wasn't for me, no.
@@Hothardware what game did you test ?
amazing review!!!
Thanks!
I have this unit same in the video and works great on cities skylines with tons of mods
Clevo 17" -G Sync, i7, GTX1070, crucial ddr4(2 x 16GB) and 1TB crucial MX300 M.2 is the best build and price in the world.
Great review champ.
Greedy1408 thank you very much!
would this laptop have ANY issues with streaming at 1080p 60fps?without stream lag and and so???
Full Pay Gaming that would depend on your internet but an i7 plus 1080 would mean you could even play 4k games well
So is the TN panel the one to go for? The other UHD IPS panel costs £150 more and only has 60hz so I'm mighty confused!
I went with the TN 120Hz with color boost & love it the viewing angles arent bad either.
IPS provides better veiwing angles & is the more costly of the two to produce.
waiting 11days for mine to arrive 😑😑
Nice! Enjoy!
Pre data I am getting mine Some time next week I recommend you get the Alienware vindicator bag 2.0 cause it was made for the Alienware 17
I recently ordered this laptop from dell but I went with the 17.3 inch UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS Anti-Glare 300-nits, Enabled with Tobii Eye-tracking... I wanted the best they had to offer so I opted for the UHD rather than the QHD.. did I make a mistake in doing that? The only game I plan on playing on this machine is World of Warcraft... after ordering the UHD version I have since heard about screen tearing. Am I going to regret going with the UHD...? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!
No, that's a beautiful panel. And you likely won't see screen tearing while gaming, even if it doesn't have G-Sync. Just play with V-Sync on in the game settings and you'll be fine. G-Sync is a nice feature to deliver completely perfect, jitter and tear-free gaming but you don't absolutely need it.
So the UHD is fine for playing World of Warcraft? Thank you! I was a bit worried because so many people have said UHD is more for video editing and picture editing and not for gaming. People say there is screen tearing issues or colors bleeding, saying that FPS is really bad with the UHD so I was freaked out that I made a mistake in getting the UHD because I will be using it solely for playing World of Warcraft. Anyway, thanks for reassuring me.
Assume you're not just playing WoW on this machine, but that might be the only game you're running on it. Anyway, the panel also scales well to 1080p, so if you can't get frame rates you like at UHD res, you can always drop down. That said, with a GeForce GTX 1080 on board, 4K (UHD) gaming in WoW should be buttery smooth too.
Quite literally WoW will be the only game I play on it. I've been playing WoW since the old vanilla days back in 2004. I've honestly had no desire to play anything else. It's still very enjoyable for me even after all these years. So yeah, if the frame rates aren't that great, I can scale down with no problems? Cool, that is actually very reassuring. I appreciate you letting me know that the UHD is ok. I honestly was really freaked out when I saw many people saying do not go for the UHD if you're a gamer.
hi.. can u post a video of your gameplay. i am also considering uhd with G Sync. newly launched. and i play a lot of games
Anyone know what motherboards are used in the Alienware laptops?
Anyone know if you can use the Nvidia 3D vision with the 120 Hz display? I don't see why you wouldn't be able to, but I haven't heard about that for a while now and it's something I do on my desktop.
Nice review.. Could any one advice me on buying the right laptop? I have Dell XPS 15-9560 and Alienware 17 R4 in my mind.
I am comparing Dell XPS 15-9560 with UHD 4k touch which supports up to 1 TB SSD, 32GB RAMx2400Hz and 4GB VDDR5 GTX 1050 Graphics and Alienware 17 R4 UHD that supports up to 3TB SSD+HDD, 32GB RAMx2400Hz and 8GB VDDR5 GTX 1080 graphics. I hardly game..
I am looking for a power horse that can basically serve these purposes:
1) Render 4k videos in Adobe Premier pro, After effects, Davinci Resolve and Avid Media Composer with ease.
2) 3D modelling in Blender and Cinema 4d
3) Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom
The challenges in front of me for the Dell XPS 15-9560 is limited SSD storage (only up to 1TB) and a max of 4GB GTX 1050 VDDR5 graphics, where as Alienware offers up to 3TB and 8GB GTX 1080 VDDR5 graphics while both offers up to 32GB DDR4 RAM x 2400Hz. I am not concerned with the heaviness of Alienware (5Kg), but care for ultimate performance. I would appreciate your suggestions. Thank you !
I will give you a not-rude reply here: Alienware 17 R4. If you are not concerned about the weight of the device then there is nothing holding you back. :) Plus, the Alienware Graphics Amp means that if you ever for some reason find a GTX 1080 unsatisfactory, you can just slot in a desktop GPU into the AGA down the line.
So... there you have it :)
Just got this laptop brand new with a 4K screen and it's stuttering on me running benchmarks. Overall great build but after 10 minutes of Heaven + OCCT it starts to drop voltage to the GPU and stutter for 2 to 3 seconds then picks back up. It repeats the stutter every 15 to 20 seconds.
Wondering if you have any experience with this in your unit. If not, would you mind firing up OCCT and Heaven and seeing if you can run it for an hour without stuttering? Curious if I got a lemon or if this is a widespread issue.
Thanks!
That's odd. Are you running it at 4K resolution? Maybe in Heaven you're clipping the frame buffer limit at that res with certain settings. I know it's a very demanding benchmark. We tested the 1440p panel version and didn't see any such anomaly.
Jjj Kkk ive been seeing reviews about the gpu overheating and stuttering. you might want to put more thermal paste on the gpu
Id recommend a repaste. There are plenty of guides on how to do it online.
I wanted to know the temps of the CPU and GPU.
CPU:
GTA V; Ultra = around 70 - 85 degree c
gpu:
65 - 75+
Hey guys, I really need your help. I have an Alienware 17 QHD 120hz Display with GTX 1070. My problem is that the Gsync option is no longer showing on Nvidia control pannel as the display is now being handled by the integrated graphics somehow. Pressing fn+f7 gives a ''not supported with GSYNC LCD panel"" error. I've updated to all the latest drivers but nothing helps, The system is essencially running on optimus and all the nvidia options have dissapeared as it is not the primary display. Hope that makes sense, I have searched all over the internet and it seems I'm the only one facing this issue.
Yamir Gonzalez I would definitely call Dell tech support on that one. They manage driver updates and it sounds to me like you just have a driver issue going on there. It may even be a firmware update that's required on the graphics switching side of things. Good luck
I have updated to all the latest drivers, dell support is a joke, I called them up and the guy on the phone had no idea what G Sync even was, he asked for my email and sent me a stupid guide with gsync information, nothing regarding my issue so I knew I was wasting my time. My laptop has just run out of warranty last month, and dell cannot help me. :(
It tracks your eyes not your head btw
It tracks both, actually.
HotHardware would you think it’s worth it now in getting this laptop? I’ve heard rumours of a new refresh on the 17 R4. Maybe with a new 8th gen cpu.
However would you think the current setup is enough for maybe 3 years of future gaming
Battery life?
Dev Kumar Depends on whether you get a G-Sync screen, since those disable Optimus.
W/o G-Sync screen: 5-7 hr
With G-Sync screen: 2-4 hr
When you are gaming, it wont matter; it will only last an hr give or take on battery power
How can I upgrade mine with the SSDs? What type would it support and which is the recommended brand?
ZILL NIAZI remove the bottom panel to reveal 2 m.2 2280 length slots and 1 2260. the Samsung 950 / 960 Pros are typically the fastest, but the 960 Evo is no slouch either.
May I ask, what is the sRGB and ARGB color space.
No laptop yet has a perfect 100% aRGB screen, if that helps.
omg! gotta change my undies
Ummm, 16GB of memory is not "top shelf" dude, especially when its only half what the unit is capable of. 16Gb is average frankly.
If you say so but 16GB is more than plenty for most folks, with negligible benefit at a 32GB configuration in most apps and games. If you came here to troll, you succeeded. :)
I use Creative Suite professionally, and the difference between 16 and 32 GB is substantial. 64 GB is often required. How is it trolling pointing out a fact? 16 GB is not, and never will be, "top shelf", sorry if that offends you.
R u able to put more GB of RAM?
That's not the point. I was just pointing out that 16GB of RAM is not Top Shelf, nothing more.
N.I. Your a fking moron lmao most computers have 4-8 16 is top shelf u piece of fking shit