Alienware’s Thinnest Laptop Yet Balances Power, Price, and Portability Nicely

All of a sudden , it seems like almost no one is making laptop like Alienware makes laptops : beefy , loud , and fast . Most of the top gaming laptop computer maker have embraced the design style popularized by Razer and digest by Nvidia ’s Max - Q design ethos : thin and give a little king for portability . But not Alienware man . This troupe is still making laptops that are lap in name only , and the Alienware m15 , in particular , tolerate out , because it ’s really big , it ’s really powerful . And as it turns out , it ’s amazingly portable .

Alienware m15

What is it ?

Photo: Alex Cranz

Despite the depth this laptop still has Ethernet.Photo: Alex Cranz (Gizmodo)

Alienware ’s thin gaming laptop ever .

Leontyne Price

Starts at $ 1,380 ; reviewed at $ 1,950

The vents on the back put out a lot of heat.

The vents on the back put out a lot of heat.Photo: Alex Cranz (Gizmodo)

It ’s libertine , and amazingly light for the amount of major power within .

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The keyboard has 4 zones of lighting, but it’s pretty dim compared to what Razer offers.

The keyboard has 4 zones of lighting, but it’s pretty dim compared to what Razer offers.Photo: Alex Cranz (Gizmodo)

It ’s tatty , and the battery life could be better .

Portable for a supremely herculean laptop that is . The m15 is a 15 - inch laptop , which means it ’s already pretty dang big , and it ’s a gambling laptop computer , which means it ’s get a fortune more fans and heatsinks to keep things coolheaded , and a sinewy battery to keep it power for more than an hour . All versions of the Alienware m15 come fit out with an Intel i7 - 8750H CPU . The cheapest rendering , at $ 1,380 , has 8 GB of RAM , a 1 TB HDD , a 60Hz 15 - in display , and a Nvidia GTX 1060 . But all other versions add up with 16 GB of RAM and at least a 256 GB SSD on top of the 1 TB HDD . There ’s also a Nvidia GTX 1070 choice , and the choice of a 144Hz 1080p display , or a 60Hz 4 kibibyte display — the latter of which will only be uncommitted in a laptop that retails for $ 2,250 . The build review here has a 1070 , 16 GB of RAM , and the 144Hz display . It ’s presently uncommitted for $ 1,950 , which is cheaper than the thinner and lighter$2,200 Razer Blade I reviewed this year , that was spec’d most the same ( though it opts for a 1060 instead of the 1070 ) .

That ’s a big production to equate the Alienware m15 to because the computer are representative of two very different philosophy of gaming laptop computer design . Razer think in streamlined lines , and portability , with its gambling program line made via the RGB lighting in the keyboard . But Alienware prefer for something a piffling less portable and a lot flashier . Yeah , it ’s father an RGB keyboard too , but it also comes in undimmed silver or vivacious red , and possess a supercar like design that marks it unmistakably as a gaming laptop . In a dimly lit way , the Razer could mute the sparkle on the keyboard and wait like any old 15 - inch laptop computer . That ’s not the case for the Alienware . It shout gaming , and you ’ll need to make your peace with that declaration if you desire to buy it .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

Your shoulder wo n’t take to make peace though . Alienware laptops be given to weigh 5 Pound or more , and they ’re often very thick — as thick as a unspoilt book . But the m15 weighs just 4.78 pounds , only .12 pounds heavy than the Razer Blade , and 2.91 pounds lighter than the previous generation of Alienware ’s 15 - inch laptop . That amount courtesy of a new design that gets rid of all the aluminum in the gimmick and replace with lighter atomic number 12 .

But lighter does n’t stand for smaller in every way . Yes , at .705 inches , it ’s thinner than last year ’s 15 - incher ( 1 inch ) and the Razer Blade ( .78 inch ) , but it will continue to take up a stack of quad on a desk . Alienware necessitate to pack in a heat sink and a lot of extra cooling elements to keep the guts from overheat , that means room , and rather than increase the thickness Alienware opted to increase the depth of the laptop . It has a profoundness of 10.8 - inch , which means it takes up more than an inch more on your desk compared to something like the less knock-down Razer Blade , which is 9.25 - inches deep . That ’s important because it mean you may not use this laptop in the cramped confines of an airplane cabin ( unless you hit a seats in first class ) , and you ’ll come up yourself balance things a little awkwardly if you bring it to a deep brown firm and set up it on one of those tiny tables .

But look , all this weight and sizing ? It ’s the cost you ’re paying to have a very flying laptop . It ’s not the fastest . MSI made a 10 - pound behemoththat smoke the m15 in benchmarks . But compare to the Razer Blade , which costs more and weigh only a little less , the m15 is fast . In older game like boost of the Tomb Raider , the gap in carrying into action was n’t awfully meaning ; the m15 averaged 78 frames per second versus the Blade ’s 70 at 1080p with scope on Very gamy . But in Far Cry 5 , a more demanding game released this class , it average out 79 fps , while the Razer Blade averaged just 61 . That ’s at 1080p and with nontextual matter set to ultra . Dropping the performance down to high and you start to appreciate that 144Hz video display , with rednecks and mountain Leo the Lion of the game ’s version of Montana moving across the screen with almost lifelike speed .

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unluckily , all that speed intend the laptop computer needs to give up on its sports fan to keep coolheaded , and those rooter are noisy . You ’ll want to play with a headset . You ’ll also want to avoid playing in bed . Alienware has told Gizmodo many times that it builds its laptop computer to be play on a desk . So the machines bank on ventilate heat out of the bottom of the laptop . When I measured the temperature after running back to back benchmarks of Far Cry 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider , I find it was only a scantily fair to middling 129 degrees Fahrenheit at the warmest positioning on the bottom . That ’s too live to keep on your circuit for long .

And as for battery life ? Do n’t wait 10 hours or more . This might be one of the light and thin laptops Alienware has ever made , but it ’s still a gaming laptop computer , and in our battery test , where we stream a YouTube video with the display ’s luminousness gear up to 200 nit , the Alienware m15 break after 6 hour and 35 minutes . The Razer Blade endure nearly an hr more ( 7 hour and 21 minute ) , but the Razer Blade also ca n’t go as hard in video games , and it does n’t yell its purpose quite as trashy through unmixed design — it ’s also a fortune more expensive !

There are much cheaper gaming laptops . Samsung , HP , and even Alienware ’s parent troupe Dell , all make laptop computer that game and price under $ 1,000 . But the Alienware m15 , much like the Razer Blade , is n’t for gage in a tweak . These are machines that are going to play the latest game damn well , and they ’ll be able to play next year ’s games , and the ones the year after that well too . More importantly , these systems are actually portable now , and if you ’re look for one that marry portability and performance than I guess the Alienware m15 is the best one you’re able to bribe . It might scream “ gamer ” a piddling louder than the Razer Blade , but it ’s also faster in the best games , and gimcrack too .

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