Customer Ratings & Reviews

Alienware - m17 R5 17.3" FHD Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 9 - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti - 1TB SSD - Dark Side of the Moon Summary: Hefty yet sleek and capable gaming laptop. Pros: * Svelte. No mistaking this for any other brand of gaming laptop. Alienware through and through. * Packed with Power. Sure, this isn't a 3080 chipset, but it is close enough for my budget. * Adequate connectivity and options: webcam, USB-C, RJ-45, HDMI, etc. * Command Center custimization works great. * Great cooling. This unit seems to disappate the head quite well. I played several games at max settings for a while and my wrists remained comfortable. Sometimes, on smaller 15" units, the heat can be a bit much. * Though this is 3070, I get usable frame rates for my games at max settings with ease. * This is a 17" laptop. It is heavier than their 15" offering - not a con - but certainly something to think about. It really makes good use of form factor. Cons: * Command Center can be a little intrusive. I suggest they create a tutorial to explain what it is and how to use it/disable it. Use: My partner has an Alienware x15. The unit gets really hot, but plays games quite well. Same GPU, different CPU. I needed something just a bit larger for my needs. So I figured this unit might be a good fit. I'm glad I gave this AMD proce a try, because it has performed quite well so far. I've played the following games on this unit so far. I'm including frame rates in open/ motion areas at max settings. World of Warcraft: 150 FPS+ Destiny 2: 177 FPS+ Doom Eternal: 134-200 FPS+ Additionally, this unit features Dolby Vision plus Atmos. I can't share videos that would do justice, but the images and sound actually look and sound great.

Right from the unboxing, the new M17 just oozes beauty and power. The Dark Side of the Moon finish is one of the best I've seen on a laptop device. Take it out of the box and you're immediately impressed with the fit, finish, and heft of the device. Open the lid and feel the smooth, solid hinge mechanism without the slightest hint of flex from the display frame. I just need to get one thing out of the way; my only disappointment with the M17 - where's the numeric keypad? Ok, it's a gaming laptop, but there are many titles which can make use of the pad. I'm already missing it just for the simple purpose of punching in a pin number! So if the lack of a keypad is a deal buster for you, then read no further. Still reading? Ok, well if you decided to walk away from the M17, what you'd be missing out on is arguably the most powerfully performing laptop on the market today. Well, maybe there's one other that edges it out, but you'd be talking about double the price - not insignificant since the M17 is not exactly an econobox to begin with. Recognizing that Alienware has a loyal & avid following; it's natural to assume that this is the group that would be most likely to be looking into this new model. As a previous M17 owner, I thought it would be helpful to compare my well-worn 5 year old M17 to the new one, and have included side by side photos below. The first thing you might notice is that yes, it's certainly prettier, mostly due to the thinner bezel around the display. One might think this would lead to a smaller, more compact unit, but the fact is, the new M17 will take up slightly more real estate on your desk. Looking at the keyboard, by deleting the numeric keypad there is more open space to the left and right, what they did with some of this is stretch out the width and spacing of the alpha keys by 1/2". The result to me is I've had quite a few keystrike errors while getting used to the new layout. I don't know what it is about Dell (yes, this is a Dell if you weren't aware), my wife (an expert typist) has a new Dell laptop, and the key spacing is just off - I thought she was nuts when she first mentioned it, but when I tried it I was making errors as well - it just didn't feel right. It's as if they're trying to redesign the keyboard. In any case, the omission of the numeric pad was the primary (in fact, only) reason for me to drop a star on the review. The other thing to note is the increase in the size of the touchpad; which I appreciated. You might also notice the size & shape of the speaker grill and vents have been redesigned. I would imagine this has something to do with improving cooling, I will say that in my use so far, the new M17 runs noticeably cooler than its elder in comparable situations. When it does go into high gear, the tone of the fans is more pleasant; my old M17 sounded like it was forcing air out of the vents, the new M17 breathes a lot easier. As far as the audio, the improved grills and addition of Dolby Atmos has improved the sound; still not anywhere near the quality of desktop speakers, but an improvement nonetheless. One thing that hasn't improved is the Alienware Command Center; it's still out to lunch. It's clunkly, slow to respond, unintuitive, and has poor customer support. I know this as I've previously communicated problems to no resolve. One is, I keep getting messages that ACC "needs to install additional components", which I allow, only to have the same message repeat on subsequent usage. Another issue I brought to them was the integration with Civilization 6, not exactly an unpopular title. Upon entering the game, the keyboard would begin to blink once a second; forcing me to turn off keyboard lighting when playing that title. Others had the same issue, emails to tech support went unanswered. If I seem to be overly negative, I'm picking at the corners here, the things that annoy me. This is one fabulous machine; its predecessor served me well over the past 5 years, and if anything, the new one seems even more solidly constructed. I'll just try to get used to the lack of numeric keypad - or maybe I'll go to facial recognition ID instead of a pin number! You hear that Dell? Put the keypad back into this beautiful piece of work!

This laptop is incredible, but that doesnt mean it has no flaws.. Ive had this laptop for close to a month now, and I have had no problems at all. So far with my experiences the only problems are the battery life and lack of mobility. Youre gonna need a backpack specifically for this laptop. The screen size is impressive but the weight that comes with it is a bit of an issue. Other than this, there are infinite possibilites with this laptop. Playing games on here I feel like im using a desktop. I highly recommend this laptop to people who dont move around much.

Runs amazing it hasnt had any issues. It did run kinda crappy at first but u gotta update drivers and add some things to really get her running swell. My only issue is ive babied this thing and not even 2 weeks in the touchpad clicker statrted clicking off like its rough and i gotta take it to get it fixed. And also the outer like shell the plastic outskirt is super easy to scratch. Like i said i baby it but i also take it portably so it does move around in a laptop backback and ive dropped it once. But it looks like ive abused the dsrn thing on the bottom of it and its got big deep scrstched on the screen backing( not the actual screen) like so if i wanna resell it its lost alot of value since it looks so like thrown around and crap. And the amount of storage aint enough. But other than that its amazing and i can always upgrade the storage. Also vattery life sucks. Always gotta keep it plugged in. Even when not gaming judt watching videos idk maybe its really good for gaming laptops as im not very knowledged on them but thats it.

Tested this laptop for about 1 week on COD and it was better than expected, I couldn’t really tell the difference between the refresh rates options, they all look good. Command center wasn’t as bad as people paint it, I just think you need to research a little on updating drivers in general. Price is the star taken away.

TLDR: (that’s Too Long, Didn’t Read) This Alienware gaming laptop is crazy fast, relatively thin and has a large 17” screen. Windows 11 is preinstalled and works well enough for many games and normal stuff, but hardcore gamers might prefer to tweak and customize this great hardware. Pros: * Large bright screen with fast refresh. * Multicolor keyboard backlighting. * Multicolor accent lighting. * Lots of customization options. * Support for Windows Hello makes login and passwords easy (within Windows 11). * Relatively thin. * FAST! Cons: * HUGE power adapter (240W). * Mediocre battery life (2.5 hrs max). * A higher resolution (like QHD or UHD) would befit this 17” screen better. * Heavy to lug around. * Cooling fans run a lot and are not terribly quiet. * Could use more ports. Setup: It’s a Windows 11 laptop, so there’s not much to say that isn’t typical for Windows 11 setup. Plug it the HUGE power adapter (240W) and run the initial setup for Windows. This laptop supports Windows Hello so you can use quasi-facial recognition for logging in and entering passwords in supported applications. There’s also an Alienware utility for customizing the accent lighting (keyboard, back, etc.), and another for warranty, system details, etc. The large 17” screen is not touch-enabled, so you’ll need to use the keyboard and touchpad (or a separate mouse), but at least you won’t have to deal with fingerprints on your screen. After the typically brief Windows setup and some other small stuff, you’re ready to install your games of choice and start having fun. Usage: Like most Alienware laptops, the keyboard is enhanced for gaming. There are the usual bumps (raised horizontal lines) on the F and J keys to align your fingers for QWERTY touch typing, but being a gaming-focused laptop, there is are also bumps on the ESC and S keys for faster finger alignment of keys using frequently for gaming. There are also special gaming-focused shortcut keys for things like “Turbo” mode to run the laptop at the fastest specs it can handle and a mute button for the microphone, among other things. There is no numeric keypad, but the keys are full-size and the trackpad is large. The huge 17” screen is really sharp and has a really fast refresh rate that enables buttery-smooth gaming. It’s only FHD (1920x1080) which seems a bit low for such a large panel, but that’s not a surprise. A higher resolution panel might haver more pixels, but it also requires a lot more oomph to drive that panel at a fast refresh rate, so it would probably negatively impact its gaming performance. The built-in speakers are loud and clear, but don’t sound really “full” because there isn’t a ton of bass. You can get by with them in a pinch, but headphones or external speakers will provide much more immersive audio. I connected my Oculus Rift S (using a USB C-to-DP adapter) and while it worked and the image was was clear, there was substantial video tearing that perhaps can be attributed to Windows 11 display drivers. As it is, I wouldn’t try to do any Oculus VR with this laptop. This laptop ate up all other games that I threw at it. The cooling fans did power up frequently but the laptop still ran the games beautifully. When closed, this is a relatively thin laptop for a 17” gaming beast. It isn’t terribly light, and when bundled with the HUGE 240W power adapter, it is a lot to carry, but still smaller than many competing gaming laptops with these capabilities. The port complement is basic with wired Ethernet, 1x HDMI, 3x USB-A and 1x USB-C/DP and 1x headphone. If those meet your needs, then you’re all set. Otherwise, an external port replicator might be worth adding to your setup. Battery life was as expected for such a powerful beast with such a thin body. Windows estimates about 2.5hrs under typical load, but expect a lot less when used for hardcore gaming. The Passmark rating of 6821 puts this laptop in the 80% percentile which isn’t bad. Its 2D Graphics and Memory ratings were the main contributors to that score not being higher. Faster memory would help, but overall it’s pretty good for a gaming laptop. Conclusion: The huge 17” screen (as the m17 name suggests), roomy keyboard and relatively thin profile allows you to take your games with you. Alienware always makes a dependable and well-crafted notebook with dependable service and this one is no exception. For those who want a gaming-oriented laptop for easy transport, you can’t go wrong with this Alienware m17.

This is an all-around great laptop! Speed of this laptop is far more that I have ever had before. Functional and practical. Battery life (unplugged) would be the only aspect that I wish would be better but after research on the matter is up to par with what to expect with a gaming laptop and its specs. Love the custom lighting and premium build and quality. I highly recommend this product and brand of products by Alienware that deliver quality and consistent excellence

Now that I’ve had the Alienware M17 R5 for about a week, I can confidently say this laptop is an incredible machine. My partner and I are big gamers and spend most of our time gaming at home in the evenings during the work week. However, we also do a fair amount of traveling for fun and to visit friends and family. I wanted something that would provide as close to a desktop experience as possible while on the go. I think I overshot! My current home desktop gaming rig is set up with an Intel i9 CPU, Nvidea GeForce RTX 2080 Super, 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 1 TB HDD with an additional 480 GB SSD. While it’s only fair to mention that my home rig is a few years old, the Alienware M17 R5 blows it out of the water in terms of performance. It boggles my mind that such incredible hardware (Ryzen 9 CPU, Nvidea GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, 16 GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1 TB M.2 PCIe NVME SSD) fits in a laptop chassis. The 17” 1080p screen is gorgeous and is perfect for FPS games with its 360 Hz refresh rate. I’ve been putting a lot of hours into Warzone and Halo Infinite recently. If the laptop can cut through poorly optimized (unfortunate, but true) games like Warzone without batting an eye, I’m confident it will do the same for just about anything else you throw at it. This includes any potential work as well. Just wouldn’t be very discreet with the big Alienware logo and RGB lighting on the lid. Aside from specs and performance, the other main selling point for me was aesthetics. The dark side of the moon color is gorgeous and I love having RGB lighting both for the keyboard and the lid. Another nice thing is plenty of ports for accessories. There are three USB-As, one USB-C, one HDMI out, an ethernet port, headphone jack, and of course power in. Facial recognition can be used to log in and I have found this feature to be accurate and quick. Something that I discovered quite quickly while gaming is how well the cooling works on the laptop. Normally I recommend a cooling mat beneath gaming laptops because they run so hot, but I was impressed with the M17 R5 after multiple hours of gaming. I was able to touch the output grates without issue, which is not something I can say for other gaming laptops that I’ve used. So is there anything not to like about this laptop? Well, there’s the price. It’s definitely spendy, but you get incredible hardware, performance, and the Alienware name/ branding in the form of a portable package. I do wish a sleeve was included, but I guess there aren’t many laptops out there that come with one. And there are plenty out there to choose from, including Alienware branded ones. There is a webcam on the lid, but it’s pretty terrible to be honest. Given the price of the laptop and the simple fact that it is 2022, I feel like we should be seeing at least 1080p resolution, not 720p. That being said, it will get the job done in a pinch. Lastly, this laptop is definitely big enough to support a num pad, but it doesn’t. Looks like previous models of this laptop had one and I’m not the only person that wishes they kept it. Alas. All in all, I love this machine and will be using it like crazy over the coming years anytime I want my games with me on the go. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to game on the go without compromising performance.

When I chose the Alienware m17 r5 I had incredibly high hopes for the device, especially as a current owner of the x17 r1, and I have to say I am very pleasantly surprised! The build quality is very solid with generous cooling and slim bezels, good sized trackpad and a phenomenal fully addressable RGB keyboard! The I/O is nicely thought out and reasonably well equipped, though some decisions (mostly due to the AMD chip inside) seem haphazard at this price range, like the lack of power delivery via USB-C or even a second DP capable USB-C port on the back I/O panel to complement the HDMI port and/or the other USB ports. The webcam is okay to stream on, with pretty good color reproduction and video quality that will look more than fine on a game stream's small window showing you and on programs such as Teams and Zoom. I wouldn't necessary place this laptop in the "school first, games second" category of gaming laptops, but it's sleek appearance (especially in the all black "dark side of the moon" coloring and a low-key RGB mode) will definitely allow you to blend in the classroom or office without immediately screaming "gaming laptop." The trackpad is nice, but not glass, so smoothness takes a little use to get going. Internally, there are two DDR5 DIMMS, both populated out of the box (8GBx2) and both replaceable! There is also a second PCIe 4.0 NVMe slot that, after some complaints on prior Dell/AW laptops, comes with the mounting slider! It also comes with a heatsink ready to use for the second storage drive and the main SSD is fully replaceable, as well. The cooling system is the same with most of the newer Dell/AW gaming systems, with the CPU, GPU and heat pipes all on top of the board (facing toward the keyboard and you) for better thermal performance and longevity of the chips at the low cost of having to dismantle most of the laptop when it comes time to change the thermal past in a few years. All around, very well built machine with future upgradeability options and an easy to access chassis (with the right experience and comfort level, not comfortable, then go to a professional). This laptop proves itself when it comes to gaming, I was able to average around 120 FPS in GTA V and around 200 in a competitive setting (all high, no RTX) and 140 FPS in a more cinematic setting (Maxed settings, RTX & DLSS set to quality) in COD:BOCW and Warzone! For more productivity tasks, this thing rocks for rendering and is a streaming beast! While streaming at 1080P, recording, AND playing games all through this system and OBS Streamlabs onboard, there were no quality slips, no lag, stuttering or audio issues and the gaming performance lost may 5% in heavy activity section of the map (COD). All the while, the laptop was still reasonably quiet (for a gaming laptop) and very cool, the keyboard never even got close to being "warm" to the touch around the WASD keys! The only drawbacks I would say are that you may have to play with the settings a bit to truly unlock the full performance of the system, but the BIOS settings and NVIDIA Control Panel both allow you to select the preferred GPU you would like to use, I set mine to the RTX 3070 Ti full-time as I am usually using the system as a portable workstation and am rarely away from an outlet for more that 2 hours. Which brings me to battery life... using the auto-optimize settings will net you around 7-8 hours streaming 1080P video over wifi and closer to 5ish hours in actual light browsing and productivity before being alerted to find an outlet, not bad at all for a gaming first laptop with this amount of power and the light productivity would be very akin to something you would expect for general school/college or office type work. Gaming on battery is like most other powerhouse laptops, using the RTX 3070 Ti in AAA or graphics intensive games will get you maybe an hour, two if you're lucky with a dim screen and lighter gaming can double those numbers. This is where the ability to control which GPU you use really comes in handy, as you can still get close to 60 FPS in GTA V off the onboard Radeon graphics with some playing around with the quality (mostly high/med in 1080P) and still get close to 3ish hours off a charge. Dimming the screen and turning off that sweet addressable RGB will be the key to that, but bring a charger. The charge in the box is the standard Dell 240 watt behemoth, not the newer GaN one that is 1/4 the weight and size. The inability to charge over USB-C hinders this as well, since the x17 can function as a "normal" laptop pretty well at 65 or 90 watts in an emergency, but the big adapter is a necessity on this unit for any power, much less the full 150 watt cap for the RTX 3070 Ti onboard! Luckily the Dell GaN charger can be purchased separately and functions perfectly with the m17 r5. I would definitely recommend this system for anyone looking for a gaming, streaming, editing, and productivity powerhouse laptop that can easily work for school/college, and last through the day of courses with little fear of being away from an outlet. The power, build, performance, and capabilities definitely justify the cost, but look around at the x17 range if the prices are close, the gap is usually a little more than the Dell 240w GaN charger and the Thunderbolt4/USB4 PD capabilities might be worth the price jump, but for a very similarly performing laptop. All things considered, this is an excellent machine at a slightly more approachable price than the x17 series!

the performance seems to be lacking on this model I feel like it could have been a lot better in gaming but it was held back by the battery aka only a hour of battery life. I love the design and the cooling is some of the best Ive seen but if you put this thing in high performance or balanced performance you'll notice this weird lag that happens I don't know if this was my model only but anytime I wasn't in power efficiency mode it would seem to lag a lot but as long as I didn't do that that I got like 80 to 100 fps in most titles at high settings so if you get it on sale then id say worth.

It is very fast, but you are going to want to stay next to an outlet and it is extremely heavy for Portability.

Best bang for the buck, AMD gives you the flexibility and power to do high computational process while also allow you to dial down to extend battery life. I play all kinds of games FPS, RTS, and Turn based games this does well in all. This is a very well performing pc, its a desktop in a pc. Sports two gpus, 3070 Ti and an AMD gpu. Allows you to pick either one and which again supports the battery life or full on performance with Ultra Graphics. 3D rendering is great with blender and other graphics heavy programs. The alienware apps can be better but once you set up the laptop this is a smooth machine. Make sure to remove all start up programs but keep all secuirty apps on to maximize battery and performance. Again, this is a great performance laptop.

The laptop looks solid, Nice design, this however may look a bit bulky to some individuals, the keyboard feels good, but sadly the secondary key functions don’t light up, the trim light on the back is a good Alienware design singnature, the display is 1080p that on the 17inch screen the pixels can be seen on windows icons and maybe small text, but I think for gaming this isn’t going to be an issue.

This is genuinely one of the worst laptops I’ve ever owned. I would not recommended at all. It crashed 24/7, not even exaggerating. I feel as if I need to download new drivers for it every time I turn it on or I blue screen. I heard that you should avoid Alienware because it’s high price point, but you should avoid Alienware because of everything. This thing does have nice components and the screen is huge, but with a huge screen has its downside. This thing is HEAVY. I am a college student and it weighs more than my textbooks. With it being so heavy, you would assume it has a big and long lasting battery life, nope. I turn off all the RGB, switch the frame rate down to 60 and lower the brightness, and I get not even an hour of use before it dies. I cannot express how much you should avoid this at all cost.

Great build quality, high end specs 480hz monitor, Gtx 3070ti. Ryzen 9 Series. What more do you need? I picked this up for $800 off crazy! Love alienware always have.

This laptop is a powerhouse. That being said, the battery life is awful and the laptop really bogs down while getting low battery. When that happens while playing something, the frames drop below 10. However, this laptop is pretty much dedicated to being a "portable" desktop. Great laptop nonetheless.

I am happing. It is Gaming is very beautiful. and efficient. It has a good design. It fast processor and velocity.

Replaced a laptop with 3060 gpu. This 3070ti gpu is significantly faster. It's also better in thermals. The rubberized material where you rest your palms is nice and premium-feeling. The battery life is 8 hours if you reduce the refresh rate to 60Hz--very good for a gaming laptop. The entire laptop is built sturdy. I got this at a big discount.

Excellent Alienware AMD 6900HX laptop. Runs faster and cooler than prior generation Alienware laptops that I have (2). I currently use it with an additional monitor. Windows 11 is ok but I still prefer Microsoft Windows 10. I upgraded to 32 gig of memory using Best Buy Totaltech plan. Best Buy Technician doing upgrade was very helpful and setup my BIOS settings afterwards for how I use my laptop, which is not for gamimg but home business.

The Alienware m17 R5 is a top-of-the-line gaming laptop that delivers an exceptional gaming experience. The 360Hz FHD display is incredibly smooth and responsive, and the AMD Ryzen 9 processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics card provide plenty of power for even the most demanding games. The 16GB of memory and 1TB SSD ensure that games load quickly and run smoothly, and the dark side of the moon design gives the laptop a sleek and stylish look. One of the biggest pros of this laptop is the SupportAssist feature that makes updating the drivers easy. Additionally, Alienware support has widely published support forums that can be helpful in troubleshoot the issues. It is also fast and very responsive. However, the laptop is quite heavy, making it difficult to carry around. The battery life is also quite short, and it has had issues that frequently needed driver updates, one of which was needed due to the keyboard going to sleep when a button was not being pressed after a few seconds. Overall, while this laptop is a great option for serious gamers, it may not be the best choice for those looking for a more portable or long-lasting device.