CES 2021: Harness The Power With Alienware

Alienware has been around for quite a long time and the brand has always been synonymous with high-end PC gaming. Here at CES 2021, the entire Alienware lineup is getting their much-needed refresh with more options than ever before.

Alienware m15 & m17 R4

If you are familiar with the design of the Alienware m15/m17 R2 or the R3, you can expect pretty much the same design with this new refresh in the R4. Both laptops are still based on Alienware’s Legend industrial design language, and the chassis is constructed using magnesium alloy. Just like before, both will also be available in either white or black which Alienware affectionately calls Lunar Light and Dark Side of the Moon respectively.

With the m15 R4, you can expect a 15.6-inch display from which you have two options to choose from: an IPS FHD (1920 x 1080) 300Hz panel with a 3ms response time that can get up to about 300 nits in brightness and covers 100% sRGB or an OLED UHD (3840 x 2160) 60Hz panel with a 1ms response time that can get up to about 400 nits in brightness, covers 100% DCI-P3 and has support for HDR500. The latter option will also include Tobii Eyetracking technology, which can be found on the hinge.

As for the m17 R4, you can choose from three 17.3-inch display panel options, all of which are of the IPS variety. The first would be an FHD (1920 x 1080) 144Hz panel with a 7ms response time, up to 300 nits in brightness, covers 72% NTSC and is NVIDIA G-Sync capable. The second would be an FHD (1920 x 1080) 360Hz panel with a 5ms response time, up to 300 nits in brightness, covers 100% sRGB and is NVIDIA G-Sync capable. The third and last option will be a UHD (3840 x 2160) 60Hz panel with a 25ms response time, up to 500 nits in brightness and covers 100% AdobeRGB. The last option will also include Tobii Eyetracking technology.

As for the rest of the specifications, you’ll be able to configure either laptop with up to an Intel Core i9-10980HK for the CPU, up to 32GB of 2933MHz DDR4 RAM, as well as up to 4TB of PCIe SSD storage in Raid 0 with an additional 512B PCIe SSD for storage. Graphics-wise, we do not have any clear confirmation as of the time of this article, but if we were to reference the previous R3 model, the new refresh should be able to be kitted out with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, Max-Q or not.

Alienware’s Cryo-Tech Cooling technology is back again to maintain and cool that amount of performance and keep thermals well within check. The fans are now physically larger, include more fan blades, and the copper-alloy heat pipes have gotten bigger as well. The balance between thermals, noise and performance can all be controlled via the Alienware Command Centre app. Alienware also claims that with the new revamped thermal design, the m17 R4 is actually able to achieve a 198W TDP which will be able to power both the CPU and GPU effortlessly.

The new revision for both laptops does retain the same layout of the ports as before, but it comes with an upgrade, specifically for HDMI. The HDMI port is now 2.1 capable, and thus it will be able to output up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 120Hz. Other features include Killer Wi-Fi 6 as standard, as well as the option for per-key RGB with the AlienFX RGB keyboard.

Availability for both the Alienware m15 R4 and m17 R4 will be known at a later date, and options for features and specification will vary from region to region.

Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R10

The Alienware Aurora is arguably one of the most iconic Alienware systems of all time and it is now back with a new refresh that will appeal to not just gamers, but even creatives as well.

Just like the laptops, the Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 doesn’t look very different from its predecessor. It still features the same Alienware Legend industrial design language, which gives it a really clean and futuristic look. But a desktop is mostly about the internals and the ability to mix and match almost anything you might want. Well… Alienware certainly delivers.

CPU options start from a simple AMD Ryzen 5 3500 all the way up to the latest and greatest, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X. RAM is in abundance as well, with a base kit of 8GB running at 3200MHz and you can spec it up to 128GB running at 3400MHz. One thing to note is that Alienware is only using HyperX Fury DDR4 for the RAM, so rest assured that it’s quality RAM. As for the GPU, there are options from both the red and the green camp. Choose anything from an AMD Radeon RX 5300 all the way to the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT if you would like AMD. For NVIDIA fans, you can get anything from an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super all the way to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090.

Depending on your configuration of choice, the Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 will come equipped with either a 550W power supply or a 1000W power supply and depending on your CPU choice, will come with either a standard air cooler or a 120mm liquid cooler.

There will also be options for single or dual storage drive options, with the simplest being a standard 1TB 7200RPM HDD or go ham with up to 4TB of NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD in a boot + storage configuration.

Availability for both the Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 will be known at a later date, and options for features and specification will vary from region to region.

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Written by Soon Kai Hong