- I almost titled this video,
the best gaming laptop money can buy,
but I just can't do that.
It's infuriating because the cooling, the screen,
the keyboard, and the build quality,
almost everything about this new Alienware x17
is exceptional except for one massive flaw
that makes it perform worse
than this Lenovo that's $600 cheaper.
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Side-by-side, it is hard to tell the difference
between the outgoing m17 and the new x17,
but the first couple of things I noticed weren't great.
The numpad is gone,
which isn't fantastic on a modern desktop replacement,
and the trackpad has become smaller.
I was in the process of angrily typing
about how Alienware is going backwards,
but then the fans on the m17 kicked in
while I was installing a program,
at which point I realized the x17 had yet to make a sound.
This is when I started to appreciate
just how much cooling there is in this laptop,
Like, look, there's vents, vents, vents, vents back here,
and vents down here.
Like, how else are you going to cool a 165 watt RTX 3080
in a laptop that's this thin
without starting a fission reaction?
I've said in previous videos
that because Turbo Boost has gotten so good,
if your laptop isn't thermal throttling,
you're leaving performance on the table.
But Alienware has done something incredible with this x17,
giving the RTX 3080 and the eight-core i7
every single watt it possibly could,
and we're still not seeing 100 degrees on the CPU.
Even more impressively, the x17 manages these temps
without sounding like an audio immersion mod
for flight simulators.
I can confidently say
that this is the best cool laptop on the market
that isn't as chunky as Thicken Nugget.
So it should be able to handily outperform
the identically specced Lenovo Legion 7, should.
In practice, it's more of a mixed bag,
with the Legion and the Alienware trading blows
in our gaming benchmarks.
Even more humiliating,
the x17 was unable to consistently beat the m17
it's supposed to be replacing.
Now, to be clear, it isn't like the x17 is slow.
The gaming experience on this thing is sublime,
but for the exact same spec, this one's $600 less.
And I want the performance
to be able to back up the price tag on this thing.
So why isn't this laptop that's clearly better cooled
and just running faster, not running faster in games?
Well, it all comes to a little doohickey
called a MUX switch.
See, in laptops with both a discrete GPU
and a CPU with integrated graphics,
the discrete GPU signal is routed through the IGPU
before being routed to the display.
This allows the CPU to decide whether or not
it needs high efficiency or high performance.
But while this is great for saving battery life,
it also results in a 5 to 10% performance hit.
A MUX switch performs the same basic function,
but without requiring the dedicated GPU
to be routed through the GPU,
eliminating that performance hit
while keeping the battery life benefits,
and also allowing you to use G-SYNC as a cherry on top.
Clearly, you want a MUX switch in your laptop.
Not so clearly, Alienware has only included one
in the 1080p 360 hertz screen option for the x17,
leaving the 165 hertz and 4K panel options high and dry.
Normally, the reason to not include a MUX switch is cost,
but Dell, this is a $3,600 laptop.
Give it a (beep) MUX switch.
I retested the games connected to an external display,
and yup, 5 to 10% more performance,
making the x17 the undisputed king.
By the way, if you want to look like a king,
check out our new dad hats.
They're brand new,
but they look like they were dropped in the ocean.
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Anyway, the main reason I'm so annoyed
about a relatively small amount of performance
is that everything else on this machine is nearly perfect.
The x17 is undeniably well-built.
Magnesium chassis is just incredibly stiff.
And their silky smooth finish?
Mm, it really lives up to its name,
even if it is a bit of a fingerprint magnet.
Sure, rigidity alone does not justify the premium,
but this keyboard just might.
In here, we have the optional Cherry mechanical keyboard
and it is fantastic.
Like, it is a $50 add on,
but if you're looking at this laptop,
you're clearly not concerned
with getting the most bang for your buck.
I've already done a full video on this keyboard,
so I won't rave about it for too long, but simply put,
this is the first mechanical keyboard in a laptop
that is actually good.
There's loads of travel, a very distinct, tactile bump,
and the keys are shockingly well supported.
Like, it's a gaming laptop,
but you could totally write a novel on it.
The trackpad on the other hand is just fine.
It's glass topped, RGB, the feel using it is credible,
but I just wish we had more of it.
I understand they had to do this for the sake of cooling,
but it just can't compare to the Zephyrus M16.
Another area I was concerned Alienware
had fallen behind the pack was the screen.
I absolutely love 16 by 10 displays for productivity,
especially on smaller laptops,
but the 17-inch size on here more than makes up for it.
And with a 4K 120 hertz panel,
it is possibly the most immersive gaming experience
I've ever had on a laptop.
There are only a handful of laptops out there
where this panel makes any sense.
You need the grunt from a proper 165 watt RTX 3080
to get modern games past 60 FPS at 4K in a laptop.
And if you plan on getting super sweaty,
just get the 360 hertz panel.
But man, with this GPU, this 4K panel,
ugh, it looks so good.
From here, we don't really have a script,
but I wanna do crab rave.
(lively music)
Yeah, it's not as good.
Yeah, that's way better.
Dell, just take the speakers from this one
and put it in this one.
What are you doing?
I honestly thought it'd be better.
Moving on, the IO that you get in this guy is very solid.
Like, there's nothing that I really want back here,
except for just knowing what is back here.
It's really difficult to reach around
and plug in your stuff.
And Lenovo has a really simple solution for this,
where they just simply have some text that lights up
that allows you to know exactly where to plug in your stuff.
Excellent solution.
I wanna take it apart now though.
I haven't, 'cause I'm a bit scared of the insides.
The first bit of disassembly is super easy,
eight Phillips head screws and boom, bottom panel comes off
and we have access to two RAM slots and two SSDs.
Awesome, love to see it.
That's realistically all that I'd expect
to be able to upgrade in something like this.
Oh, and the battery.
87 watt-hours,
which is good for maybe five hours if you're lucky.
I do wish that they had an AMD CPU option
'cause then you'd probably get like two,
maybe even three more hours.
And like nine hours of battery life
is way different feeling than five.
Let's disconnect the battery, speaking of that.
Dell was so proud of the cooling that they put in this.
Like, you can see these four fans,
the heat sinks go all the way along the side
and they're up here.
And apparently with some CFD stuff,
they optimized it so that the airflow
would not just go over these fins,
but also around all the components in here,
so your RAM and SSDs and VRMs and such
are also pretty well cooled.
Two more Phillips screws
and this comes off with a bit of effort.
If the laptop is not on in all of the B-roll shots,
you now know why.
That was in no way easy, but it is really convenient
that Dell has only two types of screws in here,
and it's M2X4 and M2X3 and all of them are marked.
(laughs) We have done it.
And oh, that's not what I was expecting at all,
but that is really impressive.
Holy frig, look at those heat pipes.
So I think that we have like vapor chamber, vapor chamber,
and then Big Chungus.
Maybe there's a reason, like 12 millimeter heat pipes.
One, two, three, four of them,
plus five, one on the other side for some,
probably VRMs.
This is why I'm so annoyed.
They have this beautiful cooling system, four fans,
12 phase VRMs for the GPU.
This is seriously impressive crap.
And then they just don't have a MUX switch on it.
Alienware, come on. (sighs)
So then, in almost every way,
the Alienware x17 is the best gaming laptop money can buy.
And you can tell your friends all about the keyboard
and the screen and the chassis and the cooling system.
But you'll have that one friend that watched this video
and knows that you paid a metric buttload of money
for a laptop
that could have easily been 10% more powerful
if Dell had just simply included a fricking MUX switch.
What would be even more embarrassing
is if this thing right here
ends up being more powerful.
It's a blatant Alienware rip-off,
but it does have a MUX switch and an AMD CPU.
So get subscribed.
I'm starting to work on this tomorrow.
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Thanks for watching this video.
If you're still unsure what laptop to get,
check the review of the Zephyrus G15.
It's not quite as powerful,
but it's way easier to live with every day.