Dell and Alienware have made some big changes to their 2023 gaming
laptop lineup! Here’s everything you need to know!
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Let’s start out with Alienware’s new m18, an 18 inch gaming laptop,
which is something I don’t think they’ve done since 2015, 8 years ago.
Alienware’s M series prioritizes power, so a larger 18 inch chassis like this should allow
it to maximize performance. It’s got 4 fans inside, a vapor chamber cooler and Alienware’s
Element 31 thermal interface material on both the CPU and GPU, aka liquid metal.
We’re looking at Intel’s top-end Core i9-13900HX here, with 24 cores and 32 threads,
but lower tier and less expensive i7 HX processors are also an option.
Next-Gen AMD Ryzen processors are also listed, unfortunately specifics weren’t provided by
Alienware, but given the Intel CPU I’d have to assume this would mean up to AMD’s Ryzen 9 7945HX,
their new top-end 16 core 32 thread chip - which is double the amount of cores and
threads compared to the best AMD laptop processors that they offered last year.
Similar deal for the graphics, the specific Nvidia RTX 40 series and Radeon RX 7000 GPUs
aren’t listed, but regardless, it’s still cool that they’re still offering both Nvidia and AMD
options. Given we’ve got a 330 watt power brick, I would expect up to RTX 4090 graphics here.
For the 18 inch screen we’ve got either 2560 by 1600 165Hz or 1920 by 1200 480Hz options,
both with G-Sync or FreeSync depending on whether it's got Nvidia or AMD graphics respectively.
They’re saying the 18” panel is 14.5% bigger compared to Alienware’s largest m17 last year.
Considering that I can notice the pixels on a 1080p screen at 17.3 inches, I think this’ll
only get more obvious at the larger 18 inch size, as a similar amount of pixels are stretched out
over a wider space. So I think most people will probably want to avoid that 1920 by 1200 screen,
unless the priority is playing eSports games with high FPS. Because a 480Hz screen on a
laptop is the fastest I’ve ever seen so far. Last year I think the best we had was 360Hz.
The m18 is a little bigger compared to last year’s m17 in order to fit that larger 18 inch screen in.
But that larger size provides enough space to allow for up to 4 M.2 storage drives,
as the spec sheet lists up to quad storage configurations, crazy stuff. We only saw
this in MSI’s GT77 last year, which was a bigger desktop replacement style machine.
Unlike the Titan, we’ve just got two memory slots rather than four,
but that still allows the m18 to go up to 64 gigs of RAM.
Bigger laptop also means more room for ports. The left side has 2.5 gigabit ethernet, two USB 3.2
Gen 1 Type-A ports, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack, while the right just has a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C
port. Most of the ports are on the back so cables stay out of the way. From left to right it’s got
two Type-C ports, Thunderbolt 4 or USB 4 Gen 2 here with DisplayPort support, a third USB 3.2
Gen 1 Type-A port, HDMI 2.1 and Mini DisplayPort outputs, an SD card slot, and the power input.
Like some previous Alienware models,
you’ve got the option of spending more for a CherryMX mechanical keyboard
If 18 inches is too big, don’t worry, Alienware are also announcing the new m16 this year,
which is a new design, it’s not just the m15 with a bigger 16 inch screen squeezed in.
Despite the smaller size compared to the larger m18,
the m16 still offers the same Intel CPU options.
Again, Ryzen CPUs as well as Nvidia and Radeon GPU options are unfortunately not specified just yet,
but I’m sure it would be able to go high end, as the m16 uses a 330 watt power brick as well.
The 16 inch screen options are similar to the bigger m18,
but there’s also a higher 240Hz refresh rate 2560 by 1600 option with higher color gamut.
According to Alienware, that new 16 inch screen size is 11% bigger compared to what
the m15 offered last year, but the m16 is also a little larger compared to the m15 to fit it,
so it’s a bit of a tradeoff. Bigger laptop for bigger screen.
That said, just like the bigger m18, the m16 is still somehow able to fit four M.2
storage slots inside. I’ve never heard of this being done in any other laptop below 17 inches,
so assuming this isn’t a mistake on the spec sheet, it’s quite impressive.
I know I said a bigger laptop usually means more ports, but the m16 still has the same ports as the
bigger m18, so again, it’s quite impressive what they’ve been able to fit into the 16 inch model.
And again, just like the bigger m18, the m16 also has 4 fans for cooling, a vapor chamber cooler,
and it uses Alienware’s element 31, aka liquid metal, on both the CPU and GPU. And
the CherryMX mechanical keyboard option is also available here too for a higher price.
They’ve “only” managed to fit an 86Wh battery in the smaller m16 though,
the bigger m18 goes up to a bigger 97Wh battery.
There weren’t any mentions of either the m15 or m17 gaming laptops being refreshed this
year at CES, so it’s looking like the new m16 and m18 are completely replacing those.
The new models do offer more features, but as mentioned they’re also a bit bigger too.
Fortunately if you’re after a smaller laptop, Alienware have also refreshed their X series
gaming laptops this year, with the all new x16 as well as updates to the existing x14.
The first thing that stands out with the x16 is the optional RGB touchpad,
something I don’t think Alienware has done for a few years now. If I recall, it was just one solid
color in the past, but now I guess RGB technology has evolved and it’s got an animated effect.
The touchpad in the x16 is meant to be 15% larger compared to last year’s even bigger x17 R2,
which is good as I found that one a little too small. The touchpad in
the x16 still doesn’t look that big though, but there does appear to be more air vents
at the back above the keyboard to improve cooling, so I suppose that’s the tradeoff.
Just like Alienware’s thicker m series, you’ve got the option of spending more
for a CherryMX mechanical keyboard, which provides both more key travel, but also
the option of per-key RGB lighting instead of one zone if you’re after more customization.
Unlike the thicker m16, the thinner x16 is using Intel’s 13th gen H and HK processors, rather
than the higher core and thread counts available with HX, and there aren’t any AMD options here.
Again the Nvidia graphics options aren’t specified yet,
but considering they’ve listed 5 options we can probably assume these are RTX 4090,
4080, 4070, 4060 and 4050, given we’ve seen other laptops at CES announce with these.
The maximum GPU power limit of the x16 was specified at 175 watts,
and while that’s probably with dynamic boost, that means that at least some of those higher
end GPU options should be able to offer max performance. Just like the thicker m16,
Alienware’s thinner x16 also uses a vapor chamber for cooling as well as their element
31 liquid metal on both the CPU and GPU. I think last year it might of just been the CPU,
but I wasn’t able to confirm that. They do note that it’s only available in some select
configurations, but they haven’t actually said which configurations do and don’t get it just
yet. In the past it has only been an option with higher specced laptop configurations.
Which makes sense as it’s those higher tier CPUs and GPUs that will need more cooling. I mean,
we probably don’t need to waste liquid metal on the RTX 4050 configuration, for example.
Like last year’s smaller x15, unfortunately the x16’s RAM is soldered to the motherboard
and cannot be upgraded. Based on this it also sounds like you’ve got to go for a
higher tier CPU if you want more RAM, which I think is kind of crap, because the higher tier
CPU cost is probably going to be way more money compared to the cost of the memory.
I’ve already shown last year that the performance difference between Intel’s
i7 and i9 laptop processors really isn’t that much. And I can’t imagine that that’s going
to change this year. Fact is, the cheaper i7-13700H is just going to offer better
value and not that much worse performance compared to the higher tier i9-13900HK. So
it just straight up sucks if you’re forced into spending more money to get the 13900HK
just because you might want more than 16 gigs of RAM. I really hope this changes!
As for storage, it looks like there’s at least two M.2 slots, as RAID 0 is an option.
It looks like we’ve got the same 16 inch screen options in the x16 as the m16,
however although the m16 had a MUX switch, a requirement for G-Sync to work,
it didn’t actually specify advanced optimus like the x16 does here. So it seems like this
might just be an extra feature that’s only present with the thinner x series models.
Despite being slightly smaller than the m16 in width and depth,
the x16 gets a slightly larger 90Wh battery.
The x16 doesn’t have any ports on the left or right sides,
so you’ll never have to worry about cables getting in the way of your mouse hand.
They’ve managed to squeeze all ports onto the back, which from left to right include a
3.5mm audio combo jack, MicroSD card slot, two Type-C ports, one which offers Thunderbolt 4
or USB 4, and the other USB 3.2 Gen 2. There’s a HDMI 2.1 output, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports,
Mini DisplayPort 1.4 output, and the power input, so it’s fairly crowded back there.
Just before we get into the new Dell gaming laptops, Alienware have also
refreshed their smaller ultra portable x14 with the new R2 version this year.
The GPU options last year were either RTX 3050, 3050 Ti, or 3060,
and this year the 3050 is still an option, but it’s using Nvidia’s refreshed version
with 6 gigs of VRAM rather than 4. The other two next gen options aren’t listed,
but I think it’s pretty safe to assume they’re RTX 4050 and RTX 4060 GPUs.
The maximum GPU power limit is also listed at 85 watts this generation,
which is a 10 watt or 13% boost compared to last year.
Interestingly the highest CPU listed is Intel’s Core i7-13620H with 10
cores. Last year’s x14 was available with either i5-12500H or i7-12700H,
12 core 16 thread and 14 core 20 thread parts respectively.
So I’m getting the impression that they’ve decided to limit CPU performance this year
in order to instead direct that extra power towards the GPU. Which honestly is probably
the way to go if the goal is to increase gaming performance. I’ve shown in plenty of my videos
that adding more cores and threads after a point doesn’t increase the gaming performance in most
games. So that new 13th gen 10 core processor is probably still going to be plenty. Even with
fewer cores and threads, other improvements like higher IPC and higher single core boost
are probably going to mean that the 13th gen CPU ends up beating the 12th gen i7 in games anyway.
The 14 inch screen still has G-Sync and advanced optimus like last year’s model,
but this year it’s using a 16:10 aspect ratio, so a little taller which should
mean a little less plastic chin on the bottom and more viewable screen space.
I think it’s a bit weird that they’ve increased from 1920 by 1080 pixels last year to 2560 by
1600 this year. More pixels just objectively need more GPU horsepower to run in games,
and yeah they have boosted the GPU power limit this year and they also have new RTX 40 series
GPUs which will be more powerful. But I still think a 1920 by 1200 screen would have been a
better fit for a smaller 14 inch device. At smaller screen sizes you really don’t
need a lot of pixels for a screen to still look good. And less pixels would also mean
higher FPS in games, as the games would be easier to run at that lower resolution.
Somewhere where more pixels do make sense
is the camera upgrade from last year’s 720p to this year’s 1080p.
Otherwise the size of the x14, its battery, its 130 watt Type-C charger, its ports, max
of 32 gigs of soldered memory and one M.2 slot are basically the same as last year’s x14 R1 version.
Alright now let’s get into the new Dell gaming laptops!
The popular G15 series gets a design refresh which looks more blocky than
before with a more angled design, and also with more color options too,
including some cool looking pastel options. I really like the look of the purple one.
Just in case the channel logo didn’t give you any hints, it’s my favorite color.
Like the Alienware laptops, specific RTX 40 series GPUs aren’t mentioned yet,
but I’d have to assume it would at least get the 4050, 4060 and 4070 based on last year’s G15.
We’ve only got Intel 13th gen CPUs listed here with the higher end HX processors,
but it wouldn’t surprise me if there will be more options later, or it might vary more in
different countries. I don’t know, the Dell G15 series is meant to be more mid-range,
so it seems strange that they’re going for Intel’s HX rather than the cheaper H series.
Specs for the AMD Ryzen version of the G15 and G16 haven’t been provided at this time,
but Dell have mentioned that the Intel configurations will be launching this
year in Q1 while the AMD versions will be coming later in Q2. So some time between April and June.
Screen options include 15.6” 1080p panels with a
lower quality 120Hz screen and brighter 165Hz option.
Next up is Dell’s G16, which is more or less the same as the G15,
except that it’s got a larger 16 inch 16:10 screen with a bigger 2560 by 1600 resolution,
with 165Hz or even faster 240Hz option here.
The laptop itself ends up being over a centimeter or half an inch deeper in
order to accommodate the taller 16:10 screen though, otherwise pretty much
all of the rest of the specs seem to be more or less the same as the G15.
Actually I’ve just noticed that the ethernet options seem to differ based on the GPU,
and Dell have actually listed RTX 4050, 4060 and 4070 options in the G16, despite
the graphics section just saying next gen, so it looks like my guess with the G15 might be right.
If you’ve seen any of my Dell or Alienware gaming laptop reviews over the last few years, you’ve
probably heard me complain about the management software, Alienware Command Center, or AWCC.
This year the software has finally been rebuilt with version 6.0, exactly what I’ve been asking
for for years. It looks much cleaner and easier to use from what they’ve demonstrated during
CES! As long as the actual functionality works well and it doesn’t have the same old problems
like taking forever to open after boot, or various bugs when it comes time to update,
then this will be a huge improvement. I really got the impression that last
gen AWCC just had way too much tech debt. It seemed like they were just adding stuff onto
it for years and the stability just continually got worse. So hopefully this is a fresh reset.
As for pricing and availability, we’re looking at a Q1 launch for the Intel and Nvidia options,
while the AMD configurations seem to be later in Q2, so somewhere between April
and June. Pricing will of course depend on how you spec the specific machine,
but they were still able to provide us with these price details. Again not
really too useful as we don’t know exactly what specs they refer to.
I’ll be testing all these new upcoming Dell and Alienware laptops in full reviews as
soon as possible, so make sure you’re subscribed!
Until then, you can find out more about all of the rest of the new
gaming laptops coming in 2023 over here, I’ll see you in one of those videos next!