Alienware 15 R3 Review

Lisa Gade reviews the late 2016 Alienware 15 R3 with NVIDIA Pascal 10 series graphics. Both the NVIDIA GTX 1060 and GTX 1070 cards are available.

The Alienware is slim for a gaming laptop at 1” (25.4mm) but not terribly light at 7.7 lbs. (3.4kg). The laptop runs Windows 10 on the Intel Skylake 6th gen quad core 45 watt Core i7-6700HQ with up to 32 gigs of DDR4 RAM in two slots. It has an M.2 boot SSD (most configs are PCIe NVMe) and a 1TB 2.5 inch 7200 RPM HDD. It has Killer WiFi and Ethernet, a Windows Hello IR camera and Tobii eye tracking. AlienFX lighting is standard.

This gaming and pro apps laptop is available with 3 matte, non-touch displays. We have the base 300 nit IPS display and there’s a 120Hz TN panel with G-Sync and a 4K Sharp IGZO option. Our IPS model supports NVIDIA Optimus, but the G-Sync model does not. The laptop is available with a 99 Whr battery (which we have in our model) or a 68 Whr battery. It ships with a 240 watt charger. The starting price is $1,349 and a desirable configuration is $1,599. Our model with the GTX 1070, Core i7-6700HQ, 16 gigs RAM, 256 gig PCIe SSD, 1 TB HDD and the IPS display is $1,899 at retailers like Microcenter in the US.

[mikecast]

Everyone that complains about the price of Alienware computers are annoying, high quality stuff cost more. Extra features cost more. Companies work for a profit, don't like the price? Can't afford it? Just don't buy it.

[OSRS_KQs]

I have the mid 2013 alienware 14 and really enjoy it. The killer wireless has a common issue with restricted bandwidth I had to figure out a solution for, but it's a sweet laptop with minimal/no issues that would be typically be found on laptops or gaming laptops (i.e. keyboard ghosting, overheating, hot lap, bad airflow, inability to easily disable touchpad, BAD/quiet sound, unintentional power cord unplugging, difficulty accessing components for upgrades, cpu/gpu temp throttling, etc.). My laptop has none of those issues. The sound is so loud and clear that I finally found a laptop I could use without my soundbar. I can keep it on my lap for hours and it never overheats. I cant say enough good things about it.

I have personally fully disassembled probably 5+ laptops just to upgrade a cpu or reapply thermal paste in order to get acceptable temps, and this process essentially takes hours start to finish. However, my alienware 14 can have basically anything replaced just by removing 4 screws on a bottom panel. It's a beautiful thing in the laptop world. I recommend the 1080p resolution and the better gpu which is non-removable (765, not the 750). It's also possible to have a ssd in there, although it isn't the typical hdd slot ssd. It's one of the micro m.2 types of slots. I put a used 128gb in there for my more demanding games such as Path of Exile (free and highly recommended game on steam).

[darrenwang]

Love Lisa's reviews. Her voice is so relaxing, she does detailed, great reviews on tech and she remains totally unbiased

[Crisheight]

This is the exact model ive ordered in the dark and was waiting for a big review, thanks! Even on the AW subreddit we are all kind of anxious about how things are going over the release and these reviews help us out a lot.

[Top_Dawg]

Can you do a review of the Alienware 13 r3? litteraly, no one has done a review on that except for dave lee.

[skepticalmechanic]

With my Kaby Lake Alienware 15" R3 I am getting CPU temps under full load of 80c and GPU temps of 63c... pretty cool running machine.. received it on 1-18-17 with the GTX 1070 video card and 120khz panel

[yabloyoynk]

OMG.. thank you for the review!! I've been waiting for a professional review for this 15 R3 before deciding between it or the 13 inch.

[JonathanS]

I got the base model the cheapest one, i have a gaming desktop that i built with a gtx 1080 from evga, and didnt wanna spend to much on this but i did buy additional ram and an ssd from newegg. Thanks for the review lisa!

[jamieohjamie]

Just bought an Alienware 15 R2 earlier this year. It pains me that I'm still paying it off while the new version is released, but I have to say that I really enjoy this system. Barely a single issue, really responsive, and runs like a dream. My major heartache is that I purchased JUST before they stopped bothering with mobile GPUs, and apparently the cooling is better in the new systems. But, then again, I can always shell out for the graphics amplifier and get a cooling mat, so I guess it's not all bad. I love your reviews, by the way!

[samgardom]

First proper review I have seen of this laptop with some great insight into the specs and functionality! Keep it up Lisa!

[Knapid]

Love how she says- "We're gonna look at it now!" 1:12
with a small grin!

[Rageloner_]

Great review. I hope you review the Alienwear 13 R3 with the oled screen, I want to know your thoughts and opinions on that model.

[OWNORDISOWN]

I had the i7 6820 HQ version and my temps reached CPU 98-100 when really pushing games like Metro Last Light, Crysis 3. Looks like Alienware fixed the thermal paste issue...

[zeronine-eightyfour]

As an owner of the previous AW15 model, it already itches to buy the new model. Alienware really hit a homerun with this laptop, the craftmanship looks excellent.

[Iukrative]

Just ordered one yesterday so glad to hear such a positive review, wooo!

[timshipley]

Great review, I had ordered 2 Alienware 15 models (cancelled both) but both (4K and TN panels) reported having light bleed issues in multiple social media channels (minus the regular IPS 1080.. which this was) and I ended up with 17 R4.. I loved it, even at 10LBs but the screen they use (along with all 3 other companies with 17" 120Hz 1440P TN Gsync) has these awful lines on static images that I could not deal with.(AU Optronics makes it).  Ive also owned the 1070 ASUS in the video (3 days)and now ended up with new Razer Blade with less powerful 1060(arrives tomorrow)... which reportedly is under volted so... depending on results of testing it I may go back with the alienware.  Anyway thanks for the great review, love your channel..   The ASUS plastic feel was just to much for me and like Lisa said it actually drains battery while gaming even plugged in so that's an issue and the battery of ASUS is just not good.    Hey Lisa do a review of the new 1060 Razer... I have a feeling based on specs I'm seeing, as awesome looking and size as it is, its going back as that 1060 being under volted for cooling reasons is going to make it age quicker than most...

[donealable]

I watch a lot of reviews. This is really well done and very informative.

[Oscarfzs]

1. How are you able to overclock the display for higher refresh rates?

2. Have you had any CPU temperature issues during stress testing? I've read a lot of people posting on forums that one of the issues with the 15 R3 is that the CPU gets very hot, in the 80-90C range and some people have to undervolt the cpu or replace the stock thermal paste. Although your temperatures during gamign are pretty good.

[majortranka]

Please do this review Alienware 13 r3 and don't ignore the LCD display every review is OLED display this and that, thank you. Love your work, look forward to your reviews.

[wildprongs]

This laptop is awesome. I just wanted to point out that you said it has gtx 1070m in there. You may want to correct it because nvidia no longer manufactures "m" version if graphics card. It's just 1060, 1070 and 1080. Thanks! Awesome review btw!