After a long absence, Dell has officially brought the Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition to greet gamers. This is Alienware’s first 15-inch gaming laptop to feature a 240Hz QHD display.
Curious about the performance of the Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition? Come on , just take a look at the reviews!
Premium futuristic design
That said, Alienware has always been a dream laptop brand for gamers, including me. Besides the specifications, one of the things that always fascinates me is the futuristic design, like a device from outer space. The Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition still carries similar DNA.
This laptop looks premium. The gaming feel is so pronounced, but not too much. The color is called Dark Side of the Moon, with a Silky Smooth finish and a High Endurance Clear Coat. The combination that I think is cool and feels comfortable when in contact with the skin. The paint itself is promised to be more stain-resistant, so you don’t have to worry about your laptop getting dirty easily by finger marks.
The build quality is quite good. On the back there is a large ventilation hole to dissipate heat, which is surrounded by RGB lights. In addition, you can also find RGB lighting effects on the iconic Alienware logo.
Once the screen is opened you will again find a row of ventilation holes for the entry of air, which is located between the keyboard and the hinge. With air in and out vents like this, you can expect the Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition to have good temperature management.
Keyboard is also a sector that I like. According to Alienware, they buried an ultra-low profile mechanical keyboard developed by Cherry. This keyboard has a travel distance of 1.8mm, N-key rollover technology, and the AlienFX feature to make it easy to customize the lighting effects on each key. During testing, I found the Alienware M15 R5 keyboard quite pleasant for both playing games and typing.
Please note that the Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition is not a slim gaming laptop. It weighs almost 2.5 kilograms with a maximum thickness of 22.85mm. The size of the power adapter is also large (240W) with a weight of about 780 grams. To take it traveling, you must prepare a large bag as well.
About the availability of ports, on the left side you will only find an Ethernet port and a 3.5mm audio jack. While on the right side there are two USB-A 3.2 Gen1 ports. The rest is on the back, such as the charging port, HDMI 2.1 for gaming at 4K/120fps using an external screen, Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery, and USB-A 3.2 Gen 1.
Laying some important ports on the back in my opinion deserves a thumbs up, because the position of the cable will not bother you later. Finally, for the sake of connectivity, this laptop is equipped with Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650.
QHD 240Hz screen
The Alienware M15 R5 comes with 3 screen options. What I review in this article is a model with a 15.6-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) screen that has a 1ms response time, and a steady 240Hz refresh rate for competitive gaming. In addition, Alienware has also provided it with ComfortView Plus technology, Nvidia G- SYNC, and Advanced Optimus.
The display offers up to 400-nits brightness and 100 percent DCI-P3 color gamut. Yes, besides being fun for gaming and enjoying other entertainment content, Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition is also ideal for supporting the needs of creators such as photo and video editing.
How about audio? I can say: satisfying. The stereo speakers on the Alienware M15 R5 are capable of producing clear, loud, and powerful sound.
Fast gaming performance
The Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition is equipped with an 8-core 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor. In addition to the type we reviewed, there are also other models with AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processors which are more expensive.
Graphics matters are entrusted to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6 GPU. It must be underlined, the Maximum Graphic Power is 125W. The Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition is also the first 15-inch Alienware laptop to carry 3200MHz DDR4 memory. There are two SO-DIMM slots (2x16GB in the sample review). Meanwhile, for storage, it offers 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.
Here are some test results using the benchmark application:
What about its gaming capabilities? Just take a look at the test results when running some popular games:
1. Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Romb Raider can be played smoothly without any problems, even at 1440p resolution and Ray Tracing is on. With the help of Nvidia RTX DLSS, the average FSP obtained is at 93. Yes, the key is to take advantage of DLSS.
2. Red Dead Redemption 2
RDR 2 can also be played with a fairly high and stable frame rate even at high graphics settings.
3. Gears 5
Then I tried to play Gears 5 again at 1440p resolution. You can see the graphic settings I used in the screenshot below. As a result, you can get an average FPS of 77.
4. Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition
Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition I tried to play with 1080p resolution and ultra graphics quality and normal Ray Tracing. But sorry, I forgot to enable DLSS. Even without DLSS, it’s still okay with an average frame rate of 56. If DLSS is active, the FPS is definitely higher.
5. Rainbow Six Siege
Competitive games like Rainbow Six Siege are also very smooth to play on the Alienware M15 R5. You can also maximize the 240Hz refresh rate on this laptop, although with right-aligned graphics settings, the resulting frame rate cannot exceed 200.
6. Valuing
Valorant certainly can be run without problems on the graphics settings stuck right. But because I’m a big fan of this game and often play it for hours, I prefer to lock the FPS at 144 to keep the laptop temperature cool.
Cooling system and Alienware Command Center apps
The Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition relies on a Cryo-Tech cooling system to control heat. While playing games with high graphics settings that require heavy performance, I can feel the temperature rise, including the keyboard area. Sometimes, the temperature becomes warm and slightly disturbing the comfort of hands that are in direct contact with the keyboard. Fortunately it has no effect on performance.
But don’t worry, because you can maximize fan work through the Alienware Command Center. When I set it at full speed, the temperature did drop faster. But as a consequence, the fan becomes very noisy.
Through the Alienware Command Center application you can also change several settings, such as power, overclock, RGB illumination effects, to audio.
Conclusion
The return of the Alienware brand through the Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition laptop will further enrich the choices of gamers in Indonesia. Moreover, I believe that Alienware products will often be your dream laptop, who has admired this brand for a long time.
As one of the first products since returning to the country, the Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition is quite able to meet my expectations. The design is cool, the performance is steady and can crush various AAA game titles, and is supported by premium after-sales service from Dell.
But you have to remember, asking for Alienware means you have to spend quite a bit. Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition is sold at prices starting from 38 million rupiah.
Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition is suitable for:
- Casual gamers: Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition is able to run the latest AAA games smoothly. Suitable for those of you who make gaming as entertainment and unwind after activities.
- Competitive gamers: Those of you who often play competitive games such as Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege, and DOTA 2 can also rely on the Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition. In addition to fast performance, this laptop has a 240Hz screen.
- Content creators: With a 100 percent DCI-P3 color gamut display, the Alienware M15 R5 is ideal for content creators who need tools for photo and video editing.
Pros of Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition:
- Cool and premium design
- Not easy to get dirty
- QHD 240Hz display 100 percent DCI-P3 color gamut
- Fast gaming performance
- Comfortable keyboard
- Audio is quite powerful
- Still equipped with a webcam
- Captivating RGB illumination effects
- Alienware Command Center makes easy access to various features
Disadvantages of Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition:
- The temperature is a bit hot during heavy gaming, including in the keyboard area
- Noisy fan at full speed
- No card reader
- The dimensions/weight of the laptop and charger are less practical to carry around
