Alienware m16 R1 review: QHD gaming machine with RTX 4060 and Thunderbolt 4

[Redaktion]

Alienware's gaming notebook provides an extremely flexible hardware configuration. Our test device offers lots of performance (Core i7-13700HX, GeForce RTX 4060) and a decent level of equipment. Battery runtimes, however, are unable to keep pace with the times.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-m16-R1-review-QHD-gaming-machine-with-RTX-4060-and-Thunderbolt-4.746945.0.html

[LL]

quiet when idling and under light load

Excellent. There is no justification that do  not happen in all PC's when a smartphone can do it.

[Neenyah]

Ehh, I agree that silent operation is something they all need to work on because there is just too few exceptions (as laptop models) in idle or under low workload, but phones are fanless though so they can't really make any noise apart from coil whine.

[NikoB]

Against the background of Asus laptops with 7945HX + 4060, which are literally 1.8 times faster in terms of processor for about the same money, and with a 17.3" screen with 100% DCI-P3 2.5k - this model looks just pathetic. Although the card reader is good, but nothing else interesting it doesn't.

The laptop is clearly not a gaming laptop - the performance of 4060 is simply shameful in 2022/2023 games - it produces less than 60fps, it is impossible to play with high quality graphics, and in fhd the buyer is guaranteed to get a muddy picture, because 2.5k cannot be divider by integer in fhd mode, this is only possible with 4k panels - where from 4 pixels of 4k resolution you get 1 pixel(2x2 from 4k) fhd.

At the same time, the 16" model has a completely flawed keyboard without a numpad - which excludes its use as a working or universal laptop. And in general, it is impossible to play on it without a numpad.

For a price of 1900 euros and such mediocre performance, there should already be at least 32GB RAM from the factory (and preferably with an XMP profile in overclocking to 5200-5600) and a 4TB SSD or 64Gb RAM+2Tb SSD.

Question to Dell - why the hell was this idiotic series made, and even with such an inflated price for such a miserable set of hardware?

[Neenyah]

The laptop is clearly not a gaming laptop - the performance of 4060 is simply shameful in 2022/2023 games - it produces less than 60fps, it is impossible to play with high quality graphics, and in fhd the buyer is guaranteed to get a muddy picture, because 2.5k cannot be divider by integer in fhd mode, this is only possible with 4k panels - where from 4 pixels of 4k resolution you get 1 pixel(2x2 from 4k) fhd.

And a priori, you can't play in 1080p mode on 2.5k panels, because. there is always a muddy picture, because 2.5k>fhd cannot be produced by integer aggregation of pixels. This should be clear even to an idiot, but with a school diploma.

Lol, someone is totally unfamiliar with DLSS and FSR/RSR. 1080p to 1440p with FSR 1.0 is between Ultra and Quality presets.

• Here is 1080p RSR vs 1440p native: imgur.com/a/WzUT26L
• Video in depth: "Radeon Super Resolution vs Nvidia Image Scaling - Who Has Better Driver Upscaling?" ( youtu.be/IL3QQmwRsIw )

There is also plenty of examples where DLSS quality have more details than native 4K and native 1440p. Example here and I recommend to watch the vid to anyone who believes that "you can't play in 1080p mode on 2.5k panels, because. there is always a muddy picture, because 2.5k>fhd cannot be produced by integer aggregation of pixels.":
"Is DLSS Really "Better Than Native"? - 24 Game Comparison, DLSS 2 vs FSR 2 vs Native" ( youtu.be/O5B_dqi_Syc )

6:14 in the last vid:

"A lot of the issues we talked about here are also present at 1440p using the quality mode but the biggest difference I spotted compared to testing at 4K is that the native presentation is a lot softer here and less detailed. Both DLSS and FSR are actually capable of producing a sharper and more detailed image at times..."

Ah yes, the numpad fetish and fascism goes on, now it's not possible to play games without it 🤣

And in general, it is impossible to play on it without a numpad.

🤡

[LL]

Numpad is important for a lot of applications like Blender, video editing, CAD etc. So if a manufacturer wants to broad the appeal of their product it should include it.

[Neenyah]

Numpad is important for a lot of applications like Blender, video editing, CAD etc. So if a manufacturer wants to broad the appeal of their product it should include it.

None of that is game/gaming. 🤡 said:

And in general, it is impossible to play on it without a numpad.

I legit wish to know about a game where numpad is so crucial to make it impossible to play if there is none. One game. Yet he expanded that to all games in general, lmao. I'm assuming PS5/Xbox are also impossible to use to game, no numpad on their gamepads. Oh well...

And about the usage you mentioned - I agree, especially for Blender. It's not that beneficial for video editing at all to be honest; I do that and graphic design for living and this is my main keyboard: https://imgur.com/a/zMkNvIG

I would never get one with numpad because it doesn't fit my workflow and it's slowing me down; I'm also getting laptops specifically without numpad. It's just about personal preference, some people need it, some people don't. Useful and important? Absolutely when your workflow and habits both rely on it.

[RobertJasiek]

I legit wish to know about a game where numpad is so crucial to make it impossible to play if there is none.

Your description addresses only part of the issue: to play. For me, to analyse is more important. In Go (yes, the game), play works with the mouse. However, analysis is impossible without ordinarily sized arrow keys and loses great amounts of time without ordinarily sized numpad and four ordinarily sized page navigation keys. (However, I do not need any media playback navigation keys.)

[Neenyah]

But that's not my description, Robert, those are his words - "And in general, it is impossible to play on it without a numpad." - so I'm just reacting to that binary comedy of his where everything in his eyes is always strictly 0 or 1. No numpad? Not even "more difficult to play" but straight up "impossible to play" 🙃

And don't get me wrong here please, I'm not saying that numpad is not extremely beneficial for many use cases, like yours as example with Go, because I know it is. You clearly and nicely described why you need it and you didn't even say how it's impossible to do the work you need without it, just that it's significantly more difficult. So normal civilized way to say things. 

Crappified arrow keys are always a valid concern with any keyboard, especially those where up and down together are as big as one regular key, but for numpads there are at least those external ones to buy for cheap if one wants to get a laptop without numpad on its keyboard but still need those keys.

And that's the beauty of having choice in general - we can get laptops with numpad and without, same as with separate keyboards, so everyone can get what they want and need. Except for one individual ("If I'm not hungry hunger does not exist in the world." way of thinking in all of his spams across this board, he even spams the same on German topics fully ignoring it's - in German) there is no right or wrong and having or not having something does not make that product unusable for everyone.

[RobertJasiek]

everyone can get what they want and need.

Not quite:) For my dGPU desktop, I wanted a modern AMD 8 core CPU with at most 15W. They do not sell such a thing. They think that people can buy notebooks instead. (Intel is worse.) I also wanted a particular CPU cooler but during the half year of my purchase, its manufacturer paused its production for product revision. At any time, one might have to make some compromise because one might not get exactly what one wants.

[Neenyah]

I meant for (types of) keyboards.

The rest is sadly true and it's pretty crazy that AMD chips of around 15W are either strictly in laptops or ih mini PCs without TB3/4/USB4 so no eGPU there. So Intel is the only option for eGPU, heh. Something like Beelink GTR7 (7840HS) would be perfect for you if it wasn't juicing 60W on CPU.

But then again you don't get full dGPU power in an eGPU setup. Normal desktops to use 15W are something that I was always hoping to see. I don't believe it will ever happen 🫤

Also wtf, that's some bad luck with that CPU cooler! 😐 Is it not possible to get it anywhere else if it's still in stock? I mean paying a bit of tax for non-EU import wouldn't be bad in that case, no?

[RobertJasiek]

First, the almost out of stock CPU cooler saw a price increase ca. from €55 to €110. Second, it was essentially unavailable everywhere. If I had bought it a year earlier, I might have ended up buying a notebook...

Actually, in early 2021, during the accelerating GPU crisis, matters for quality PSUs were even worse. Apparently, they all went into mining rigs or manufacturers could not buy essential tiny electronic pieces due to Corona shortages in China. So, if by chance, I would have got an RTX 3080, I would have had to buy a bad (loud, if not exploding!) PSU as a temporary emergency solution.

Not to mention graphics cards themselves from 2020-09 to 2023-04. Pay 2x - 4x or get nothing:)