Alienware X17 R1 review: It's out of this world

(Pocket-lint) - The Alienware X17 R1 is, successful accepted Alienware fashion, a existent looker. It's portion of the brand's X-Series scope - notebooks which the institution likes to telephone "gaming masterpieces".

It's among the thinnest gaming machines ever produced, immoderate 5 per cent thinner than adjacent the M17 R4 - and that was already a svelte gaming laptop. It's besides enhanced with Alienware's exclusive thermal cooling material, Element 31, on with a fig of different charismatic specifications.

On paper, the X17 R1 is truly appealing - but what's it similar to really use? We've been moving gaming sessions to find retired the bully and bad.

Legend concern design

• Quad cooling instrumentality design; Element 31 encapsulated gallium-silicone thermal interface worldly for cooling
• Ports: 2x USB Type-C ports (one Thunderbolt), 2x USB 3.2 Type-A (Gen 1) with PowerShare
• Killer Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Wireless LAN, Killer E3100 RJ-45 2.5G Ethernet, Bluetooth 5.2
• Five powerfulness modes: Performance, Balanced, Battery Saver, Quiet, Full Speed
• microSD paper reader

There's nary denying that the Alienware X17 R1 is simply a visually striking laptop. Having taken it retired of the box, adjacent earlier turning it on, that overmuch is clear. That's acknowledgment to the tried and trusted Alienware plan aesthetic. This exemplary sports the 'Lunar Light' off-white decorativeness that we've seen and loved connected erstwhile Alienware laptops. 

It's noticeably thin, too, but not particularly lightweight - and that's due to the fact that of each the tech that's bristling nether the hood. But besides due to the fact that it sports a 17.3-inch surface that's frankly overmuch much immersive than lesser 15-inch laptops don.

We bask the subtle and the not-so-subtle styling accents of the X17 R1. The ample honeycomb-style cooling vents, for example, are dotted astir the assemblage - astir and supra the keyboard, down the sides of the chassis and astatine the rear - and surely assistance to support the instrumentality moving good erstwhile gaming. However, they surely don't assistance with sound erstwhile acceptable to show mode - but much connected that later. 

One unusual and somewhat frustrating facet of this laptop's plan is the larboard placement. Alienware has designed the X17 R1 with its connectivity astir the rear of the machine. So if you privation to plug successful a mouse, headset, outer show oregon so thing else, past you request to get to the backmost of the laptop. 

The 2nd insignificant ailment we person present is determination are conscionable 2 USB-A ports connected this machine, truthful you'll request a dock if you privation to usage aggregate devices. There are USB-C ports, but USB-C connections aren't cosmopolitan for peripherals conscionable yet, truthful this could beryllium frustrating depending connected what kit you have.

That said, you bash person the convenience of Ethernet, HDMI and Display Port connections, truthful plentifulness of accidental to link to aggregate devices. We hooked the X17 R1 up to the gargantuan Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 (with its 5120 x 1440 resolution) and had nary occupation driving gaming to that. 

Not got a large abstracted monitor? No problem. The prime of the Alienware's show is truly rather something. The exemplary reviewed present sports a 4K panel, but determination are different options with faster refresh rates astatine little Full HD resolution.

Though the laptop is thin, the surface is hardly bezel-less. This isn't needfully a atrocious thing, arsenic it means there's country for a sensible placement of the integrated webcam. But it'll possibly day quickly.

Glorious gaming and show options

• 17.3-inch show options
  • FHD (1920 x 1080) astatine 165Hz 3ms oregon 360Hz 1ms
  • UHD/4K (2160 x 3840) astatine 120Hz 4ms
• Nvidia G-Sync and Advanced Optimus
• Up to Intel Core i7-11800H CPU
• Up to 32GB DDR4 XMP 3466MHz RAM
• Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU
• Up to 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive

The X17 R1 comes with a fewer antithetic surface options, arsenic outlined above. On reappraisal present is the 4K/UHD panel. It's crisp, wonderfully colour rich, and mostly casual connected the eyes. We recovered assorted games looked fantastic connected this screen. 

One inevitable downside is that 4K gaming is reasonably hard to drive, adjacent with the RTX 3080 graphics paper this instrumentality sports.

We recovered that Control ran astatine astir 20fps connected max settings, for example, but managed implicit 50fps with DLSS turned on. The Battlefield 2042 beta ran astatine 40fps with everything acceptable to maximum and dynamic solution turned on. 

Rainbow Six Siege, maxed out, achieves astir 60-70fps. It looks large successful 4K, of course, but you'd get a higher and much accordant framework number with a Full HD sheet and little solution settings - you'd request that to marque the astir of the 120Hz refresh rate.

Synthetic benchmarks:

• Timespy - 9,560 
• Timespy Extreme - 5,806
• Port Royal - 7,353
• Firestrike - 18,154
• Firestrike Ultra - 7,855
• Firestrike Extreme - 13,620
• DLSS test
• PC Mark - 6,095

Gaming benchmarks:

• Rainbow Six Siege - 69fps max settings, ultra quality
• Watch Dogs Legion - 35fps max settings
• Red Dead Redemption 2 - 40fps max settings
• Far Cry New Dawn - 49fps precocious prime settings
• Dirt 5 - 57fps max settings

That's portion of the contented with 4K gaming: you're paying for the improved visuals but with paltry framework rates. This is wherefore the Full Hd versions of the X17 R1 mightiness beryllium preferable for competitory gamers, but if you enactment graphical prime archetypal past there's nary denying the 4K exemplary is glorious. 

The X17 R1 is nary slouch either, with aggregate show modes, and respective Nvidia technologies to assistance your gaming experiences. Those see Dynamic Boost 2.0 exertion - which automatically delivers powerfulness wherever it's needed (to the GPU) to assistance amended your framework rates. On a basal level, you tin conscionable property a fastener connected the keyboard to footwear the laptop into show mode and get the champion acquisition retired of it. It's bully to person that hassle-free option. 

If you privation to get a spot much hands-on, past you tin occurrence up Alienware Command Center and entree assorted overclocking options. This bundle lets you prime from respective overclocking profiles oregon tweak them manually to your preference. You tin besides tweak instrumentality curves successful present too. So it's a bully equilibrium of automated optimisation and manual overclocking controls.

One downside is show modes mean much noise. Fortunately, we recovered that the speakers are much than susceptible of overpowering this instrumentality noise, but erstwhile it's ramped up it truly gives disconnected immoderate obnoxious instrumentality noise.

When not gaming, the X17 R1 delivers the goods. It's got capable powerfulness to grip astir mundane tasks, adjacent down to video editing. For working, browsing and different productivity the surface is large and has different bonuses too. The 4K enactment boasts 500nits maximum brightness and has a colour gamut equivalent to a 100% Adobe RGB spectrum.To easiness the unit connected your eyes, the options see a ComfortView Plus exertion that's designed to trim bluish airy without reducing representation quality. 

Alas, arsenic with each the thin-and-compact gaming laptops we've tested, the artillery beingness is connected this Alienware laptop is 1 spot it falls down. We recovered we conscionable got a fewer hours of usage retired of it earlier it needed plugging in. 

The different contented is with the storage. The exemplary we reviewed came with 512GB M.2 NVMe retention arsenic standard. Plenty accelerated capable for booting up and for gaming, but acold excessively tiny for modern needs. We recovered we filled it up with conscionable a mates of games. Install Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty Warzone and you'll soon find it's nagging you astir retention space. 

Compact keyboard design

• Ultra-low illustration genuinely mechanical laptop keyboard
• CherryMX debased illustration switches, 1.8mm travel
• Per-key RGB LED lighting
• Backlit touchpad

The Alienware X17 R1 packs a compact, low-profile keyboard with Cherry MX switches. This means each the goodness you'd expect from a gaming keyboard, with N-key rollover technology, anti-ghosting, and either four-zone oregon per-key RGB illumination too. 

As you'll see, there's a batch of the accustomed keys you'd expect and the layout is surely bully capable to enactment on. There's nary numpad, but astir different keys are there. You besides person entree to measurement accommodation and relation keys with secondary actions for keyboard lighting adjustment, surface brightness and more. 

The different item is the trackpad, which is simply a bully size and pleasant capable to use, though people you'll privation a due gaming rodent for your gaming sessions. One quirk is this trackpad lights up erstwhile you're utilizing the laptop. The bluish hue it gives disconnected is bully looking, but you whitethorn conscionable find it distracting. Turning the keyboard lighting disconnected doesn't crook this disconnected by default either, which isn't ideal.

The trackpad's lighting is 1 of respective lighting accents that this laptop rocks. Other zones see the lighting barroom astir the rear cooling vents, the Alienware logo, and of people the keyboard. 

Writing by Adrian Willings. Editing by Mike Lowe. Originally published connected 14 October 2021.