Dell has announced a new Alienware m15 gaming laptop powered by AMD Ryzen 5000, alongside the Dell G15 Ryzen Edition notebook, plus some tasty gaming monitors to boot.
The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 is the big news, being the first Alienware portable to use an AMD processor since 2007 (when the Aurora mALX came out). It was rumored that Dell would switch away from Intel with the new m15, and this has proven to be the case.
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Depending on the exact configuration you go for, the laptop can pack either the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX or Ryzen 7 5800H, and one of Nvidia’s Ampere laptop GPUs, either the RTX 3060 or RTX 3070.
This gaming laptop also comes with 8GB to 32GB of 3200MHz DDR4 system RAM, and in another first for the 15-inch notebook, the owner will be able to upgrade this memory (the m15 has a pair of SO-DIMM slots to work with). That’s a potentially useful extra bit of future-proofing.
Storage is provided in the form of up to a 2TB PCIe M.2 SSD, or you can run with dual-drive options (with a pair of those making 4TB of total storage capacity).
While we’re talking about firsts, the Ryzen Edition R5 is also an Alienware pioneer in being equipped with a new ‘high endurance’ paint which is more stain-resistant, and offers a smooth finish for a premium feel.
The 15-inch screen can be either a 240Hz panel (1440p resolution) or a 360Hz screen (with a Full HD resolution), both of which offer Nvidia G-Sync and a 1ms response time. There’s also a plain 165Hz display for a cheaper option (3ms, no G-Sync).
Finally, Dell has equipped the Ryzen Edition R5 with an ultra-low profile mechanical keyboard which has been fashioned in conjunction with Cherry MX, and offers per-key RGB lighting to match the fanciness of the rest of this gaming machine.
The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 goes on sale in the US come April 20, with the base configuration starting at $1,794 (around £1,300, AU$2,350).
Dell G15 Ryzen Edition
As well as the Alienware machine, there’s another new 15-inch contender on the gaming laptop scene in the form of the Dell G15 Ryzen Edition, which follows suit with much of the above.
In other words, the G15 Ryzen Edition also runs with Ryzen 5000 CPUs – though it offers models which are a step down from the m15, namely the Ryzen 7 5800H (8-core) and Ryzen 5 5600H (6-core). It also has an Ampere GPU, though only one option in the form of Nvidia’s RTX 3060.
Again, there’s user-upgradable 3200MHz DDR4 system RAM, with 8GB at the minimum, up to a maximum loadout of 32GB.
The 15-inch screen has a Full HD resolution and can be had in 120Hz or 165Hz options, with a 360Hz panel set to be made available for G15 buyers later in the spring, Dell says.
The G15 Ryzen Edition also has a ‘game shift’ key which whacks the cooling up to help in situations where you’re really pushing the CPU and/or GPU.
The Dell G15 Ryzen Edition will be out on May 4 in the US, starting at $900 (around £655, AU$1,180), with the 360Hz panel option presumably arriving later in May.
There will also be a refreshed Dell G15 with an Intel 10th-gen processor, and that will be out on April 13, starting at the same baseline price of $900 (around £655, AU$1,180).
Monitors aplenty
Dell also revealed a quartet of new gaming monitors which will be on sale from late May.
The Dell 25 Gaming Monitor (S2522HG) is a 25-inch IPS panel with Nvidia G-Sync and a 1ms (gray-to-gray) response time, along with a 240Hz refresh rate.
Then we have the Dell 34 Curved Gaming Monitor (S3422DWG), a 34-inch ultra-wide display with a 3,440 x 1,440 resolution and 1800R curvature, plus a 144Hz refresh rate, with AMD FreeSync Premium. This monitor offers 90% DCI-P3 color coverage, and will be out on May 27, as will the above 25-inch screen – pricing is still to be confirmed on these.
Finally, arriving the following month on June 22 will be the Dell 27 and 32 Curved Gaming Monitors (S2722DGM and S3222DGM). Both will offer a 165Hz refresh rate and 2ms response time, with a 1440p resolution – the larger screen will have a 1800R curve, with the 27-inch display using a 1500R curve. Again, pricing is still to be confirmed.
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