So in our recent video on the Alienware 15
We concluded that
bigger was, not in fact necessarily better.
But what about...
Bigger-er?
The Alienware 17 is large and loves to flaunt it
But can it possibly be good enough to make up for how
Freaking
heavy it is?
Only one way to find out
EK Water Blocks' all-aluminium
Fluid gaming lineup offers great
custom grade water cooling performance, for an affordable price.
Learn more at the link in the video description.
At 9.6 pounds (4.35 kilogram) the Alienware 17
is heavy, but since I obviously wasn't expecting
portability to be a strong point for
a 17" laptop, I'll accept the added weight
in exchange for its excellent build quality.
In typical alienware fashion
the 17 is exceptionally rigid
with virtually no chassis flex,
and sports a screen hinge that is so weighty
it could probably be used as an exercise machine.
Aesthetically, it maintains the
gamer-esque look and RGB edge lighting
from its little brother the 15, but I feel like
this styling works even better on the 17
'cause like, I mean if you're going to be the size of a small
aircraft, then you might as well look like one.
You would think though, with all of that added space
that they might have been able to fit in a bit more I/O,
but nothing has changed for the big guy
versus even the 13-inch model.
In fairness, it has basically
everything you'd need, but come on Dell!
This has to be the world's loneliest
USB slot right here.
So our model rocks a top of the line
Intel Core i7 7820HK that,
boosting up to 4.4 GHz,
is a CPU that has, time and time again,
bested the cooling solutions
of the laptops that dare try to contain its fury,
even water cooled ones.
Now, admirably, the Alienware 17 is
able to keep this processor and its accompanying
GPU - none other than the also top-of-the-line
GTX 1080 - from overheating,
but, the 7820HK wasn't quite
able to maintain its full boost speed
the whole time, which I guess brings us to the noise.
Under full load, I'd consider it perfectly acceptable.
it isn't high pitched, and
it makes sense, given the hardware, it's packing.
The problem though, is that it doesn't really quiet down,
while performing less intense tasks,
Like Installing programs, or
surfing the Internet. So some additional tuning to the fan curve,
might help with this, not to mention the less than
stellar battery life.
After the noisy installation though, we finally got to boot up some games,
And this thing really came to its own, with the really high live of the
Experience- being the display. Our version of the
Alienware 17 comes with a 1440p,
G-Sync panel, that runs at
A 120Hz, which we managed to overclock,
To a 130Hz, before it decided that
It had enough. Now it is a TN panel,
But it's a good one, and in my opinion,
1440p really is
The sweet spot for running the latest triple-A titles
Smoothly on the GTX 1080 with high
Details at high framerates. So I'm willing to look the other
Way on the TN- ness for the frames,
And pixels that it has to offer. I mean plus,
Speaking of looking the other way,
It's got a solid webcam on top, and Tobii eye
Tracking down below, if you are really into
the handful of games with meaningful support
For that technology. Now, I know I always say this
About higher refresh rate displays, but on this one-
Especially. Playing Doom- freakin' fantastic
Getting over 120FPS on Ultra,
At 1440p made the experience feel
Metal as all hell.
And if you are looking to play frantic games on a laptop
You will be hard pressed to do better than this one
Of course, with a 1080, it will smash through any game, frantic
or not, with it absolutely tearing
through our test suite, not that you'll experience
any tearing. G-Sync variable refresh rate technology
takes care of that. And where the screen
pulls you into the gaming experience
the keyboard keeps you connected. It's standard fare
for Alienware, but that's a good thing. And the inclusion of a
numpad, makes this keyboard feel at home with a bigger screen
The throw of the keys has a smooth feel that
was excellent for both gaming and typing. Well
excellent for typing once you disable the trackpad
In a move that frankly feels a bit lazy, Dell reused
the same RGB trackpad from the Alienware
13, so there is basically an
ocean of empty space around it
And it got moved a bit further away from the keyboard to a
position where my palm always seemed to hit it
while typing, sending the cursor off to never never land
After this happened enough times
it was enough, and I plugged in a mouse never
to use it again, which is a bit of shame because other than that
it's not bad. What is bad though
are the speakers. Bad Ass that is
don't even think about
grabbing a Bluetooth speaker to throw on some tunes
because the speakers on the 17 are dank AF
They are not loud enough to hurt your ears or anything, but pack a solid punch
easily enough to fill the average apartment
and this continues to be a really strong point
for the Alienware lineup. Opening up the Alienware 17
reveals another strong point. It just takes
a couple of screws, which is great news
for the mad ballers that weren't paying attention as
they breezed through the shopping cart
missing the buttons to reveal the rest of the laptop lineup
and selecting the GTX
1080 config for over $2500
without realizing that it doesn't come with a
freaking SSD. So once you are in there, there are two M.2
drive slots along with a 2.5"
drive bay
which should pretty much cover you for future storage upgrades
At $3000, our
build-out is darn expensive. But honestly
I wouldn't really change anything
If you were willing to accept GTX 1070
performance to save a buck, well, there are a lot of
thinner, lighter gaming laptops out there
And if you need to save more than a buck, the Alienware 13
is a great choice in a more practical
package at closer to $2000
So I guess the conclusion here then is
if you are going to go for the Alienware 17
Go big or go home
Blue Apron lets you create delicious
chef designed meals at home
They deliver all the farm fresh ingredients you need right
to your doorstep in exactly the right proportions
No trips to the grocery store, no waste
from unused ingredients. And because they
are shipped in a refrigerated box, the ingredients stay fresh
even if you are not at home when your package arrives
Their whole vision is to develop a more sustainable food system
through sustainable fishing, responsible farming
and reducing food waste
So, they source their ingredients from quality suppliers and
they offer two types of plans, the two person plan and the
family plan. There is no commitment, you can skip or cancel any time
and each meal is from 500 to 800 calories per person
and is able to be prepared
in 40 minutes or less. They're always
adding new dishes every week, so there is tons
of variety. So stop making the same old dishes
because the first 100 people will get free free meals
on their first Blue Apron order
by using the link in the video description
So thanks for watching. If you guys disliked this video, dislike it
if you liked it, hit the like button, get subscribed, maybe consider checking out where
to but the stuff we featured at the links in the description
Down there, we got our merch store as well as
our community forum which you should totally join