Alienware m16 R2 Gaming Laptop Review: A Sensible Option for 1440p Play

8.3/ 10
SCORE

Alienware m16 R2

$1,849 at Alienware

Pros

• Decent performance for its class
• Dual-refresh display
• Not as much of a performance drop on battery compared to older CPU generations

Cons

• Display has just-OK image quality
• Keyboard feels a little stiff
• Side vents can get quite hot
• Comparatively heavy
• Has a little trouble with weak wireless signals

For its second-gen midrange gaming laptop, Alienware rejiggered its midrange 16-inch m16 to fit more comfortably into its place in the company's gaming laptop universe. That meant lowering its configurations and redesigning it to meet the lower price target buyer. That puts the m16 R2 in competition with Dell's own G series, which is a lot cheaper for configurations with similar power, but also clunkier with last-generation components.

There's a good set of options available for the m16 R2 line -- you can run the price up to $3,795. I wouldn't recommend that, though, since that's a lot to pay to get stuck with the meh display, unless you typically plan to use it connected to an external monitor. 

The line starts at $1,499 with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, GeForce RTX 4050, 16GB DDR5-5600, 1TB SSD and the basic single-zone RGB keyboard. The only display available is the sRGB 16-inch, 2,560x1,600, 120Hz/240Hz dynamically switchable model. Bumping to an RTX 4060 costs $100 and to the RTX 4070 another $200. 32GB of RAM adds $150, or $250 over that for 64GB.   

You can opt for 2TB through 8TB of storage, all of which are also available in a RAID 0 configuration for the same prices: 2TB for an additional $200, 4TB $350 over that and 8TB for yet another $500. Upgrading from the single-zone RGB keyboard to the per key RGB runs $50. Models with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H start at $1,750, the base model equipped with the GeForce RTX 4060. Upgrading from Windows 11 Home to Pro costs $145.

There are a lot of competitors across the range of prices covered by the m16 configurations, but this is the first gaming system we've tested with an Intel Core Ultra H-series processor, so it's not clear yet how performance generally lines up against models with 13th- or 14th-gen Core H-series processors. Potential competitors on the lower end that we've tested recently include the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16. Even at the base configuration, the m16 R2 has a faster, higher-resolution screen than most of them, but the more closely configured version may be cheaper, depending upon how you catch them.

The configuration we tested, with the Core Ultra 7, 16GB RAM, RTX 4070 and 1TB SSD, nominally costs $1,850, though at the moment it's $1,650 on Dell's site -- a much more agreeable price that we're likely to see again, and cheaper than some similarly equipped competitors like those from HP (both Omen 16 and Victus 16) or more than others, like the $1,475 Lenovo Legion Pro 5i Gen 8; we don't have a price for the Asus' as-yet unshipped TUF A16). Keep in mind that systems using the Intel HX-series processors won't have nearly as good battery life as either the Core Ultra or Core HS processors, and might be bigger, but they'll also likely outperform all the others.

Design and features

R2 has a significantly different design from the first generation. It's lighter, with a more compact footprint thanks to the elimination of the forward hinge in favor of a more conventional clamshell. It's got a different set of ports, exchanging the mini DisplayPort and SD card slot in favor of a Thunderbolt 4 and mini SD slot. The USB-A and card slot are on the right side, with the HDMI and USB-C connections on the back, as is the power connector. Overall, it's a functional arrangement.

The new design also means Alienware was able to put in a hinge that allows the laptop to open flat. That ability can make a big difference in some circumstances, like using it propped against your knees sitting up in bed or on a couch.

Lighter doesn't mean lightweight, though. At 5.8 pounds (2.6 kilograms) it's still fairly heavy, though the power adapter isn't as large as is typical for comparable systems. And the laptop is thick at 0.9 inches (24mm). That's not unusual for a mainstream gaming laptop, but worth knowing if that's important to you.

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The membrane keyboard has a little more travel than many laptops, 1.8mm, and the combination of the membrane switches and deeper travel give it a stiffer feel than you may be used to and depending upon what and how you play it may not be responsive enough for fast actuation. 

Alienware Command Center lets you rebind F3 through F6 to keystrokes and custom macros as well as easily customize the per-key RGB lighting. Volume and mic mute keys sit in a column down the right side, there's a preset key for Stealth Mode, which drops the system to quieter operation and turns off all the lighting. You can also set the touchpad with an RGB outline, a still-uncommon feature which I like because I work in the dark. 

Performance and screen

This is one of the first laptops to ship incorporating Wi-Fi 7. I've learned from experience with other first-time implementations of new tech that there may be some bugs to iron out. There were no issues connecting to Wi-Fi 6E 5 or 6GHz bands when the signal was good, but it had trouble acquiring and sustaining the 6GHz connection, or throughput dropped substantially on both bands, when the signal was on the weak side. I've had the issue before (which is why I know to check for it), but this was a bit worse than average. Not necessarily a deal breaker, but something to keep in mind depending upon your Wi-Fi needs and the obstructions or crowded channels you usually encounter.

The screen's a mix. On one hand, the switchable 120Hz/240Hz refresh is handy, if only to keep from tanking the battery life more than necessary if you forget to lower it before unplugging; going from 60Hz to 120Hz shaved 1.5 hours or more off the length it lasted under our low-stress video streaming tests, and 240Hz would exacerbate that. Plus, 240Hz is a good match for the RTX 4070 GPU.

The display is factory calibrated, but seems to be for Rec. 709, the HD video spec -- that's the same color space as sRGB, but with a 5500K white point, which is a lot more red-yellow than we've become accustomed to (6500K). That makes it look overly warm with a the smallish sRGB color gamut -- good compared to screens several years older, and not as bad as some low-end gaming laptop screens I've seen, but still somewhat flat-looking for gaming and video. (I'm waiting for comment from Dell on these results.) 

The same goes for the webcam. It's 1080/30fps and serviceable; not standout, but not terrible, with a decent mic array.

There are five presets -- Battery saver, Quiet, Balanced, Performance and Overdrive -- for juggling performance, heat, battery life and fan volume. But there's no manual overclocking. Performance boosts GPU over the default Balanced mode, but decreases CPU speed, which surprised me; to boost both, you need Overdrive. 

Both Performance and Overdrive can get loud and hot. Though the air blowing out the sides can get warm, the metal on the side vents nearest the screen seems to store the heat and they can end up feeling hot. Since the laptop pulls air through the bottom, it doesn't get as hot as some older laptops, which is nice. The laptop supports Nvidia's Advanced Optimus and allows you to force discrete or integrated GPU-only modes for when letting the laptop autoselect doesn't provide the desired result.

While you don't get a huge increase in those modes across the board, they do deliver an incremental jump over Balanced in some cases. For example, I saw roughly a 10% boost on multicore CPU and 13% on GPU performance. That didn't raise it to the top of the class for RTX 4070 implementations, but it kept to the middle of the pack without instability. In general, with the 4070 you'll be able to play many games at reasonable frame rates -- at 1600p it delivered120fps on Guardians of the Galaxy and 96fps on Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmarks using our standard test settings -- for the display. Extrapolating from our results, dropping down to the RTX 4060 should give you solid 1080p performance. I've also included the Core i9 HX/RTX 4080-equipped Asus ROG Strix Scar to give a sense of how stepping up to those higher-level components looks.

I also saw a relatively wide performance range for the Core Ultra 155H -- 64% between a low-ish power implementation in the smaller Lenovo Slim 7i 14 and the m16's Overdrive -- which means you won't be able to judge simply based on specs. Similarly, the Core Ultra, at least in the m16, shows a far less dramatic performance drop over older Core H series chips when it's running on battery. And while the battery life isn't terrific, it's decent enough at about 9 to 10 hours under low-stress conditions, and didn't drop nearly as fast as I'm used to while working, even with the refresh rate at 120Hz.

Overall, the Alienware m16 R2 is a highly recommendable system, at least until we've had a chance to test more comparably equipped 16-inch models. It's not the best buy or the best performer, but it's a better than average performer with all the essentials and reasonably priced for the sum of its parts.