Refreshed Alienware m17 R4 gaming laptop powered up with latest NVIDIA GPUs at CES 2021
This year’s CES may be completely virtual, and we’ll miss the live experience that the show has to offer in Las Vegas but Alienware certainly hasn’t taken things lying down and revealed quite a number of show stoppers for their virtual preview with their gaming line-up led by their refreshed Alienware m17 R4 gaming laptop alongside their revamped Aurora Ryzen Edition 10 gaming desktop.
In the Dell Technologies CES 2021 preview, the Alienware m17 R4 was revealed to be available in a variety of configurations depending on how deep your pockets go.
Externally, the Alienware m17 R4 isn’t much different from the m17 R3 that we saw last year at CES 2020 but has upgraded hardware all around with improved 10th Gen Intel Core processors, better, higher refresh displays and ‘next-generation NVIDIA graphics’.
Nothing much has changed on the outside and the Alienware m17 r4 retails the same slim looking aesthetics and distinctive Alienware ‘industrial design’ language silhouette in its magnesium alloy hewn chassis with the distinctive extended rear chassis for better ventilation.
Alienware m17 R4 Ports and Connectivity
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You get a pair of USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A ports on the right with a microSD card reader while the left side gives you the DC-IN power jack, a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port, a Mini DisplayPort 1.4 and a HDMI 2.1 port. Colour choices are similar too with a white looking Lunar Light with a matte coat while the darker, and we feel posher looking Dark Side of the Moon finish is also back for another round. Connectivity options are up to par with Killer Ethernet E3100x with up to 2.5Gbps NIC and WiFi 6 as standard.
Alienware m17 R4 Keyboard
The keyboard of the Alienware m17 r4 also comes in two possible variants depending on region with the upper tier version offering per-key Alien FX RGB lighting, 1.7mm key travel and anti-ghosting and N-key rollover for precision typing and better macros when gaming. Alternatively, you can also score a more affordable keyboard which has 4-zone AlienFX RGB lighting instead rather than per-key lighting.
Alienware m17 R4 Display
For 2021, the Alienware m17 R4 has your choice of up to a 17.3-inch 4K display (3,840 x 2,160) pixels with Tobii Eyetracking tech and a 60Hz refresh rate along with your choice of a 17.3-inch Full HD display with a much faster 360Hz refresh rate and a 5ms response time. Assuming you’re going in on the ground floor, you can get a 17.3-inch panel with a 144Hz refresh rate and 5ms response time panel.
Alienware m17 R4 Processor, RAM and GPU
The processors running on the Alienware m17 R4 are still 10th gen but are the higher end H variants that appeared near the tail end of last year with your choice of either an i9-10980HK with up to 5.3GHz processor Max Turbo Frequency or an i7-10870H processor with up to 5.0GHz Max Turbo Frequency.
The other hardware looks very beefy indeed with up to 32GB GDDR4 2,933MHz RAM, up to a 4TB SSD in RAID 0 configuration as the primary boot drive with a 512GB SSD for storage though you can dial this down all the way to a single 256GB SSD if you’re looking to save on cash. In terms of graphics cards, they haven’t stated exact models that will see service in the m17 R4 save for the fact that they are GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards so you will be assured that you will have significant pixel crunching grunt to tackle problematic games like Cyberpunk 2077 with confidence.
Alienware m17 R4 price and Alienware m15 R4 Prices in Malaysia
The Alienware m17 R4 will retail at prices starting from US$2,149 which is about RM8,727 in Malaysian ringgit. The slightly more compact Alienware m15 R4 will also be making an appearance alongside its larger m17 R4 sibling.
The Alienware m15 R4 has similar configuration options save for the smaller display and a pared down keyboard on account of its size that lacks the m17 R4’s numeric keypad.
Display options consist of a 15.6-inch OLED UHD 60Hz variant with 1ms and 100% DCI-P3 colour compliance with Tobii Eyetracking, a version with HDR500 ‘True Black’ compliance and a standard 15.6-inch 300Hz 3ms non-touch panel.
CPU options are similar to the m17 R4 with the choice of a 10th Gen i7-10870H or i9-1098HK, up to 32GB DDR4, 2933MHz RAM, a 4TB SSD in RAID 0 and a 512GB SSD for storage and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30-series graphics. It will also come at similar prices too with prices starting US$2,149. Both gaming laptops are slated to be available in the US market from January 26th 2021 onwards.
Based on the latest updates, the Alienware M17 R4 will retail for RM10,799 while the Alienware M15 R4 will retail for RM10,999 with both laptops arriving in Malaysia this month in January 2021 with the following specifications.
For more details stay tuned to www.dell.com.my