At the beginning of 2016, Dell's Alienware installed the new sixth generation Core i7 CPU and Nvidia's GTX980M GPU into their 17 inch flagship game notebook. It is still the landmark Alienware family history design, which is similar to the shell of a spaceship, rich in personalized lighting and comfortable keyboard. Alienware's 17 inch machine has set a benchmark for the game notebook, and when you connect Alienware 17 with his external graphics card box (the GPU inside needs to be purchased by yourself), your game experience will definitely be upgraded to a new height. In addition, although there are many game laptops on the market with particularly strong performance, few of them can provide a satisfactory endurance. Alienware 17 gives us some surprises in this regard.

Appearance design

The appearance of Alienware 17 R3 still continues the family style design. The smooth and tidy shell, like the design of a spaceship, can definitely stand out in the sea of aircraft. Especially when the computer light is turned on, it is absolutely eye-catching. However, you can't distinguish the appearance of AW 17 R3 from that of its predecessor, but the Display interface on the back side of Alienware 17 R2 has been canceled, and a Thunderbolt 3 interface has been added on the right side of 17 R3. The two are too similar. Although the design is really great, it is time to update the appearance of this flagship notebook. There are also few internal changes. The 17 R3 uses DDR4 memory, while the old model is DDR3.

(Belief lights are everywhere, which can be customized)

The body size is 16.93 x 11.49 x 1.35 inches, weighs 3.71kg, and the power adapter weighs 810g. In fact, the AW 17 is thinner than flagship game laptops of the same kind. For example, Acer's Predator 17 is 1.52 inches thick.

screen

You can buy 1080P or 4K resolution screens at different prices, while this one in our hands is a 17.3-inch screen with 3840 x 2160 resolution. There is nothing to say about this level of screen. It has a good look, high brightness and rich colors. It is absolutely enjoyable when playing games. In our test, the brightness is 318 nits, the sRGB color saturation is 173.5%, the color accuracy is also very accurate, and the Delta-E value is 0.89.

Interface

AW 17 R3 has three USB 3.0 interfaces, HDMI 2.0, SD card reader, Ethernet interface, headset interface, and a USB Type-C (Thunderbolt 3 supported) interface, which can be used to connect multiple devices in series, and the transmission speed is up to 40GBps.

(SD card reader Thunderbolt 3、USB3.0、 Ethernet interface)

(Power interface, anti-theft lock, 2 x USB3.0, microphone interface, headset interface

There is an external video card interface and HDMI 2.0 on the rear side of the fuselage)

Games and graphics cards

The GPU of AW 17 is Nvidia GeForce GTX980M, which is equipped with 8GB video memory. It may be a little less interesting than some desktop video cards, but it is only a notebook after all. The experience of playing games at 1080P resolution is great, but if you want to adjust the resolution of the game picture to 4K, you may be disappointed.

In the 3DMark's Fire Strike Ultra image test, AW 17 scored 2270, and Acer Predator 17, also known as GTX980M, scored 2312. When we run the game "Metro: Return" at 1080P resolution and adjust it to the highest special effect, the frame rate of AW 17 is 37.17, but if the resolution is adjusted to native 4K, the frame rate drops to 11.92, which is impossible to play. But don't worry, Alienware still has a big move.

Alienware external graphics card

In order to give you a better gaming experience, Alienware has introduced an external graphics card box, but you need to choose to purchase the GPU inside. Alienware's external video card box sells for $200. It may be a better choice to connect an external video card instead of putting a super powerful video card into a notebook, There is an interface on the back side of AW 17 to connect it with the external video card box, and the frame rate will be greatly improved when playing games.

The AW 17 connected to the external graphics card box (we inserted the GTX980Ti into it) scored 3865 points in the 3DMark's Fire Strike Ultra image test, which is higher than some highly configured desktop hosts. When the Metro: Return is run again, the frame rate is also higher. The frame rate is 62 at 1080P resolution, nearly twice as high as before the external video card is connected.

Obviously, the advantage of an external graphics card is convenience. When you need to perform very complex image processing, you can easily connect with it to provide you with more powerful image performance. If a manufacturer launches a more powerful external graphics card in the future, you can buy it back. Don't worry that your notebook's graphics card this year will fall behind next year, Although there are few choices on the market at present, in addition to Alienware's own, there is Razer Core of Razer. However, it is believed that ASUS, Acer and other manufacturers will also launch their own external video cards within a period of time.

performance

As for performance, you don't have to worry too much. AW laptops are always performance monsters, not to mention the flagship product AW 17 R3. It is equipped with an Intel Core i7-6820HK processor, 16GB DDR4 memory, 512GB SSD 1TB@7200 Turn to hard disk to handle daily work and light vehicles.

Let's look at a set of performance tests

(3DMark Fire Strike test * The higher the value, the better)

(The lower the color standard * value, the better)

(Screen brightness, in nits * The higher the value, the better)

(The higher the color gamut * value, the better)

(Image performance test/3DMark * The higher the value, the better)

(The higher the Geekbench 3 * value, the better)

*The following is the AW 17 R3 test of another foreign media website using the Core i7-6700HQ processor

CrystalDiskMark 3.0 hard disk test

*The hard disk model is Samsung PM951 NVMe 512GB

*The above is an AW 17 R3 test conducted by another foreign media website using the Core i7-6700HQ processor

Keyboard and touchpad

The 2.6 mm long key stroke (1.6 mm for ordinary keys) and 65 grams of pressure can give you a very good gaming experience. Even when typing, you feel comfortable. The keyboard backlight system has always been a feature of Alienware notebooks, The AW 17 has a total of ten adjustable backlight colors, which are highly customized. Although there is no flash mode like the Razor Blade, the keyboard lights of the AW 17 are cool enough for ordinary users.

(Faith lamp of touchpad)

The 3.8 x 2.8 inch touchpad area is very comfortable to use, and when the back of the touchpad brightens up (it also supports adjusting the light color), my whole person is fascinated by it, and I am almost full of faith. The touchpad has a smooth surface and is very comfortable to touch. It has a good experience whether using some two finger gestures or ordinary clicks, and it responds quickly. The sound of pressing the two physical keys below the touchpad is very clear. On the whole, this touchpad is very satisfactory to me.

Battery life

Even if the AW17 R3 is a performance monster, its endurance level is still good. In our test (browsing the web in the WiFi environment until it is turned off), its performance is 6 hours and 7 minutes.

• Idle state (no WiFi connection, medium brightness): 12 hours and 38 minutes

• Web browsing in WiFi environment: 6 hours and 7 minutes

• Full load operation state (maximum brightness): 1h 45min

fever

In terms of heat dissipation, AW 17 can only be described as average. After running Tomb Raider for about 15 minutes, the temperature in several places has risen to about 43 ℃, which is hot. The temperature in the power key has reached 48 ℃. The only cool place in the whole body is the touch pad. Although it's good for me, because I play games with external keyboards and mice, if you run the game directly with AW17, your hands may not be comfortable on the fuselage.

(* Full load operation status. Temperature area distribution diagram. Left: front of fuselage; right: bottom of fuselage)

(* Idle running status. Temperature area distribution diagram. Left: front of fuselage; right: bottom of fuselage)

to configure

The starting price of Alienware 17 R3 is 1500 dollars (about 10617 yuan). The configuration of this price is Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor, 8GB memory, 1TB hard disk and GeForce GTX970M (3GB video memory). The price of this one in our hands is 2750 dollars (about 18263 yuan).

summary

In general, Alienware 17 R3 is a good choice. Its 4K resolution display has a great look and feel, and its endurance is enough for daily use. Although it weighs 3.7kg, you may not want to take it out for use. With rich interfaces and various external devices, it can easily create a perfect playing environment. What's more, it can also connect external video cards, which can upgrade your gaming experience to a higher level. It is also easier to handle complex image and video editing, which is comparable to desktop computers.

Bonus points

√ High overall workmanship quality

√ External video card can be connected

√ Good battery life

√ The lighting system is very dazzling

√ With Thunderbolt 3 interface

√ Great screen appearance

√ Rich interfaces

√ Attractive appearance design

√ NVMe SSD

Negative equinox

× The body is too heavy

× Play the game and get very hot

× Only two hard disk card slots

× Poor endurance under full load operation

Parameter list

• CPU: 2.7GHz Intel Core i7-6820HK processor

• System: Windows 10 Pro
  

• Memory: 16GB
  

• Screen: 3840 x 2160 resolution, 17.3 inches
  

• GPU： Nvidia GeForce GTX980M

• Unique memory: 8GB

• a main board: Intel Sunrise Point HM170
  

• WiFi：802.11 b/g/n/ac

• Bluetooth: 4.1

• Camera: 2 million pixels

• Touch pad size: 3.75 x 2.75 inches
  

• Body size: 16.93 x 11.49 x 1.35 inches

• Weight: 3.7kg

Related reading: Razer Blade  &  Dell Alienware 13 OLED

The above pictures and texts are translated and arranged from &