Alienware X17 review: pretty pixels for a pretty penny

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Alienware did it. Its latest 17.3-inch X17 gaming laptop can actually deliver an pleasant 4K gaming experience.

The last time I checked in on how laptops were faring with 4K gaming in 2019, things weren't looking so hot. Nvidia's ultimate-gen RTX 20-series transferable chips couldn't body of work hard enough to smoothly run demanding games at 4K without several compromises to visual faithfulness. Fortunately, things have changed for the better this year with the RTX 3080 — specifically, for the X17's high-energy 16GB VRAM variant.

The X17's 3080 has a maximum graphics power level of 165W and a boost clock speed of 1,545MHz. That's really powerful for a ambulant GPU and roughly the highest amount of king that Nvidia allows for its mobile graphics chips. IT's certainly the most graphically equal to laptop that I've tested yet.

I'll get to the performance numbers in a sec, but it's important to note near the whirligig that this is one of Alienware's best gaming laptops yet, and not but because information technology whips at gaming. Its X-series design is new for 2021, resulting in a slimmer and sleeker look that balances form and function better than most other models that have synonymous power levels without foregoing ports (more happening that later). For gaming and other intensive tasks, its cooling system is efficient, keeping this 17.3-inch 4K beast both cool and surprisingly quiet. And even when you're doing past gorge, the clicky Cherry ultra-low-profile mechanical switches are fun to type on. Information technology's a laboured laptop that you probably won't want to lug around to numerous places, but functionally, the X17 is almost as good for act as it is for gaming.

Despite these glowing remarks, if you were to ask me if you should grease one's palms this specific gaming laptop, I would advise against information technology unless you're deathlike-set on acquiring a powerful 17.3-inch gaming laptop. It's a tough sell at its $3,680 selling price, Eastern Samoa designed. (I will note that this similar MSI GS76 Stealing configuration costs hundreds much the X17, just has twice the amount of RAM. Razer's latest Blade 17 costs $3,699 and has a 4K/120Hz touchscreen and a more capable processor, just has fewer reposition, as designed, and its GPU isn't as mighty.) Likewise, since I received this unit for review, Alienware has paused on accepting new orders because it needs to catch up with its furnish Ernst Boris Chain backlog. A spokesperson said Alienware intends to offer it for sale again at some point in the near forthcoming.

To test X17's gambling performance, I ran some titles that have tried to be demanding at their highest graphical settings, starting with Red Dead Redemption 2. At native 4K without Nvidia's recondite-learning supersampling (DLSS) technical school that tends to give games a noticeable boost in frame rate (by lowering the render resolution and using Three-toed sloth to straighten out the image), it ran at 46 frames per second. With DLSS set to car and no other settings adjusted, the human body rate in 4K went capable 60 frames per s. Personally, I always lean on DLSS as a good deal as any stake will allow me to for those few special free frames.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider's bench mark registered an average of 55 frames per second without shaft of light trace. When I turned on ray trace, DLSS born it slightly to 49 frames per second. On the other hand, DLSS running without the taxing ray tracing bumped it adequate to 64 frames per second.

The X17 delivered similarly bright results with Doom Endless and Deathloop. Both averaged just about 55 to 70 frames per second with every possible background switched to their highest option. With each game's respective ray trace settings on, performance was closer to around 50 frames per second, which is still phenomenal at this resolution. The best playacting of the bunch at 4K was Doom Eternal without shaft tracing, which sometimes sailed ended 100 frames per ordinal in small corridors, dropping to a steady 75 frames per second during frantic fights in larger environments.

These are totally very playable systema skeletale rates, whether you decide to go the ray trace route operating theatre take advantage of DLSS in games that support it. Also, since the X17 can run these demanding AAA games at 4K/60 without much of a struggle, many a other games that aren't as demanding should be able to take riddled advantage of its 120Hz freshen up rate presentation in native 4K.

I North Korean won't lie: I wasn't expecting this kind of reliable performance with this system, let exclusively with any else kinda spiritless-ish gaming laptop. I've seen similar specs in action before in new models, and I was less than impressed. While Alienware International Relations and Security Network't the first to use a 4K 120Hz display in a play laptop computer, operating theater the said RTX 3080, it earns credit for cramming information technology complete in a small chassis that's much more all-powerful, yet somehow quieter and cooler than some of the rivalry.

Alienware X17 — *The optional Blood-red MX immoderate-low profile machinelike switches are a worthy addition, since you're already spending a ton of this laptop.*

Digging more into what the X17 can do with its powerful components, its operation in Adobe Premiere Pro is as impressive as you might await. During our test where we insure how long-term it takes to churn exterior a 5-minute, 33-s 4K television, the X17 took three proceedings, 22 seconds to get through the export process. For a more than qualifier benchmark, the PugetBench for Premiere Pro scored competitively with likewise specced gaming desktops, which is both to be expected (and that price) and fulgurant. Funnily plenty, Apple's M1 Pro and M1 Max-well-appointed MacBook Pros each handily beat Alienware's score, as we noted in our review. Those outliers aside, you'll be in a bad way to find this kind of performance in many new gaming laptops retired right at present.

It goes without saying, then, that the X17 didn't visualize my habitual workload arsenic much of an obstacle. I typically hightail it about 20 tabs in Microsoft Edge, on with Spotify, Slack, and Kinship Pic, and the X17 didn't miss a all in. I realized one time that I incidentally had around 40 tabs open in minimized Edge windows, but not eventide that caused a noticeable gimp or slowdown.

The Windows Hello Iridium webcam here is good for logging in work force-free, but if you expect doing lots of telecasting calls, the image quality is mediocre. The video feed looks passable if you're in thoroughly light, merely it established incapable to compensate for organism set up-lit.

Battery life history doesn't seem to have been a piping priority for Alienware since the X17 is primarily aimed at faithful screen background-class 4K gaming performance while plugged in. But information technology's not the rack up we've seen, averaging almost four hours of mixed use with the workload that I mentioned to a higher place. Information technology'd be tough for ME to regain a justification for lugging this fleshy laptop away from its charger, though. IT weighs about heptad pounds, and its 330W charger is well-nig the size and weight of a erratum brick. The good news about the baron furnish is that it recharges the X17 quickly, taking conscionable over an hour to die out from about 10 percent to full mental ability.

This X-series chassis is new for 2021, as I mentioned before, and it's generally a positive phylogeny of the bulkier M-series invention. It has the company's signature Alienware alien logo as its power clit, and its rear, where you'll now discover nearly all of the ports instead of just some of them, looks like the exhaust of a futuristic spaceship. That's where most of the flaming aerial from the X17's quad-fan engine cooling system and the plentiful fuzz heatsinks is dispelled.

In slimming down, Alienware didn't make any star omissions in terms of ports. In that location are two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports with PD charging (5V/3A), unitary of which is Bolt of lightning 4. You also have ii USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, a 2.5-gigabit Ethernet port, an HDMI 2.1 port, a little SD expansion slot, and a miniskirt DisplayPort 1.4. On the right lateral, on that point's a only headphone Jack, and on the left, there's a nag for the power cable. Just just in case you were curious, the X-series gaming laptops, along with the M15 R5 and R6 models, don't have Alienware's graphics amplifier port, though it should support Thunderbolt GPU enclosures — not that this X17 needs whatsoever help in the nontextual matter department.

The ii-toned dead body design is a small just appreciated pinch, as are a few areas around the laptop where Alienware softened its look. It rounded off the laptop's corners that were previously angular and, frankly, lean a trifle excessively hard into the "alien" aesthetic. Though if you didn't like the look before, your feelings may not be changed here.

You john usually count on gaming laptops to bring up the power, a squeamish display, and maybe ports, likewise, but you terminate't always depend connected getting a good keyboard to belong with it. This version of the X17 includes the ultra-double-bass-profile Carmine mechanized key switches that were outset introduced on the M-series, and they feel fantastic to type on. They'rhenium quiet for mechanical keys, but they receive a much more satisfying "thock" feel than membrane laptop keyboards. I'm affected aside how some powerful components Alienware was able to get up into the thinnest section of its flesh, which is just under 16mm thick (its rear section shoots busy 22mm), with room to spare for a mechanical keyboard.

The key layout is intuitive, though both may be upset that the numpad is absent. I did encounter the casual issue with the keyboard's reactivity. Sometimes, my first key fourth estate wouldn't show, so I'd need to test again. IT didn't feel like an n-key rollover issue — just roughly strange reaction time with accepting the first input here and in that location. There were other multiplication when the keyboard would suddenly stop accepting any stimulation whatsoever, requiring a resume. It felt like the kind of thing that can be addressed with a patch, but it's not an encouraging sign that I'm experiencing it several months afterwards this laptop computer became available.

One weird cellular inclusion with the RTX 3080 is the luminousnes-up trackpad that illuminates when you touch it, though the light goes out after a some seconds of inertia. It's barely for show, merely nevertheless, information technology's a basic trackpad with support for Windows Preciseness drivers and gesture customization in Windows. I'd like to see Alienware pursue in Razer and MSI's footsteps and implement bigger trackpads instead of redundant features look-alike trackpad backlighting. This current one is a little too small, almost seeming to signal that you should use a dedicated mouse instead, which is usually my advice with most gaming laptops anyway. Speaking of accessories, grab a play headset, arsenic the made-up-in speakers aren't anything special.

To begin with this yr, I heralded the arrival of QHD screens equally "the world-class thing to happen to gaming laptops" because I felt a tense where 4K gaming on a laptop was commonplace still seemed far soured. I was stirred up because letting down the resolution from 4K to 1440p would mean that games would still look identical good, yet more somewhat priced components would be capable to footrace them, thus driving down the total cost of laptops. We nowadays have a growing amount of powerful, amply conspicuous QHD options that are cheaper than 4K laptops and well worth the cost.

That leaves the Alienware X17 in a tough spot. On the one hand, there's nothing like play on a big 17.3-column inch screen. The slightly smaller 16-inch 16:10 aspect ratio QHD screens that we'rhenium thankfully seeing more of come close but put on't quite feel as immersive. In that way, there's certainly a great deal of fun to be had with the excessive screen real estate and power offered by the X17.

Furthermore, information technology easily proves its power to play 4K games with discreetness and that Alienware's a little many serious about improving its chassis invention. All of that onward motion is important, and if you've been wait for a big, well-designed gaming laptop that delivers on the anticipat of 4K gaming on the go, this is it.

But for near people, it's at last exactly too expensive. Plus, for the massive amount of power and cooling required to power 4K games, I just get into't think it offers that much better of an experience to warrant the cost versus more affordable, withal no inferior competently designed, laptops with chisel-like QHD displays. Pocket the rest of your money for games, a headset, a shiner, or a gambling reminder.