It’s a Big Problem: An Alienware Laptop Will Include an AMD CPU for the First Time
If you want proof that AMD’s Ryzen 5000 laptop CPU has really pulled it off, look no further than the new Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 which, as the name implies, will feature an AMD CPU for the first time in the history.
The new Alienware m15 will include an 8-core Ryzen 7 5800H or an 8-core Ryzen 9 5900HX. Having covered Alienware gaming laptops from the start, we can tell you that AMD CPUs have never made it this far.
Sure, you can say that Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, and other gaming laptops would like to have a word, but in the world of “doing it,” getting an AMD Ryzen into such a high-profile brand as Alienware is an achievement. supreme for AMD Zen. 3 cores and its award-winning Ryzen 5000 chips.
Alienware, after all, is a brand endorsed by the megapc company Dell and one of the global brands synonymous with ‘gaming’ for the major audiences who have seen their computers in movie and TV show product placements throughout. of the years.
Those hoping for an AMD Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 won’t have their day today as the laptop will offer either a Nivida GeForce RTX 3060 laptop or a GeForce RTX 3070 laptop. Both GPUs have a TGP, or total graphics power, of 115 watts. With its support for Nvidia’s Dynamic Boost 2.0 technology, you can add another 10 watts to graphics power for those times when the CPU doesn’t need it. Both TGP ratings would place the laptop at the top of the scale rather than the bottom, which is as low as 80 watts for the RTX 3070 and 60 watts for the RTX 3060.
Those who have complained bitterly that the Alienware uses soldered main memory in earlier versions will be happy to know that the company has heard it and the R5 will feature a pair of SO-DIMM slots that can be user upgraded with DDR4 / 3200 RAM.
Display options for the 15.6-inch R15 will range from a 165Hz 1080p panel with 3ms response, to a 1080p panel with 1ms response and Nvidia’s G-Sync and Advanced Optimus. The last option is a 16: 9 third panel at 240Hz refresh rate, 1ms response, and G-Sync with Nvidia Advanced Optimus. Both 1080p panels are rated at 300 nits of brightness, while the 1440p panel is rated at 400 nits.
Advanced Optimus, if you don’t know, is a technology that allows you to seamlessly switch between using the power-saving MS hybrid graphics mode and Nvidia’s G-sync support for discrete graphics. Most gaming laptops chose battery life with MS Hybrid Graphics or G-Sync only mode. More recently, we’ve seen laptops that allow you to switch between them manually, requiring a reboot of the machine. With Advanced Optimus, you get the best of both worlds, automatically.
As well as being one of the few laptops to offer Advanced Optimus, the new Alienware m15 R5 will be the first with a Ryzen CPU that also supports the feature.
Depending on the options, the laptop will weigh from 5.3 pounds to 5.9 pounds and measures approximately 14 inches by 10 inches with a thickness that tapers from 0.9 inches to 0.5 inches. Keyboard options include 4-zone 1.7mm rubber dome switches or Cherry MX low-profile RGB per-key switches with n-key rollover. Alienware specifies the laptop with a 240-watt power brick to charge the laptop’s 86-watt-hour battery. Ports include a 2.5 GbE combo headphone jack, three USB-A ports, a full-size HDMI 2.1 connector, and a 10 Gbps USB-C port.
AlienwareGoodbye amplifier?
One glaring port missing from that list is the Alienware amplifier port. Alienware’s proprietary amplifiers allowed Alienware laptops manufactured in recent years to use external graphics. Many thought that Alienware would remove the amplifier port in favor of Thunderbolt 3’s eGPU adoption, but the company has vowed to support both in its laptops. Company officials, in fact, pointed to the amplifiers’ higher bandwidth as a huge advantage over Thunderbolt 3.
With the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5, the eGPU support actually goes to zero as it doesn’t include a Thunderbolt 3 port either. You’d think the amp port would be a standout feature for the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5, but that collides with one of the few weaknesses of Ryzen CPUs: the lack of PCIe bandwidth.
On Intel-based H-class CPUs, Alienware would split half of the x16 lanes to support the amplifier. Like the Ryzen 4000, the Ryzen 5000 is limited to x8 lanes of PCIe Gen 3.0 support, so Alienware probably can’t use the same amp design without a major reengineering of everything. The new laptop will go on sale on April 20 starting at $ 1,793.98.
AlienwareDell G15 Ryzen Edition: budget Ryzen gaming laptop
The new Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 sounds good, but that starting price obviously doesn’t help those on a bigger budget.
For those on a bigger budget, you may be looking at Dell’s new G15 Ryzen edition or Intel-based G15.
The Intel G15 features a 10th generation quad-core Core i5-10200H or a 10th generation six-core Core i7-10870H alongside a GeForce GTX 1650 or GeForce RTX 3060.
The Ryzen edition offers either a 6-core Ryzen 5 5600H or an 8-core Ryzen 7 5800H. The only GPU option listed is a GeForce RTX 3060.
The memory capacity for both ranges from 8GB to 32GB, although the Intel version maxes out at DDR4 / 2933, while the Ryzen version will clock up to DDR4 / 3200 RAM.
Both also vary slightly with port selections.
Both have three USB-A ports, a full-size HDMI port, and Gigabit Ethernet. The Intel GeForce GTX 1650 version and the Ryzen edition also feature USB-C ports, but Dell only lists DisplayPort support for the Ryzen version. However, the updated Intel version with the GeForce RTX 3060 converts the USB-C port into a Thunderbolt 4 port.
Both Intel and AMD laptops feature a smaller 56 watt hour battery or a higher capacity 86 watt hour battery as options. The display appears to be the same as well, both offering 1080p and 16: 9 displays rated at 120Hz with 250 nits of brightness or 165Hz with 300 nits of brightness. The Dell G15 Ryzen Edition will go on sale on May 4 starting at $ 900. The Intel version will arrive in early April with the same starting price as the Ryzen version.
Dell
