Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5: An Appealing Midrange Laptop

REVIEWS/HARDWARE

- MATTHEW BUZZI

The modern Alienware m15 design is well-trodden interplanetary soil for us, after having reviewed several annual iterations of the slim gaming laptop. The latest, the m15 Ryzen Edition R5, does what it says on the box: It brings AMD’s latest Ryzen processors to bear for both gaming and media editing. The CPU is notably quicker than its Intel competition, and it teams well with the machine’s Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU to approach the frame rates of more expensive systems. As a whole, this is an appealing midrange package at a very fair price, with a nice supporting feature set, including a 165Hz display and long battery life. It doesn’t quite earn an Editors’ Choice award among gaming laptops. We like the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE and the Razer Blade 15 Advanced Edition, somewhat south and north of the Alienware’s price, respectively. But it’s one of the best options you’ll find between the two.

WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE (OF THE MOON)

While the internals are the exciting new draw in this edition, the exterior, as mentioned, is one we’re quite familiar with. This current iteration of Alienware laptop design has been around only since 2019, starting with the m15 R2, but we’ve already seen quite a few 15- and 17-inch laptops pass through our labs with this look.