Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 Gaming Laptop Review: Polished Gaming Machine

Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 Specifications

• CPU: AMD Ryzen R7 5800H
• Display: 15.6-inch IPS LCD 1920 x 1080 165Hz
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6
• Memory: 16GB DDR4 3200MHz
• Storage: 500GB PCIe SSD
• Battery: 86WHr
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 64-bit

Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 Design: Keeps Up With The Tradition

The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 retains the brand's DNA when it comes to design. One can easily identify this as a gaming laptop by Alienware from a distance. The ports are spread across the laptop, which is also something that Alienware does on most of its laptops.

The unit that we tested came in a greyish-black color (Dark Side of the Moon), which gives the laptop a stealth look. Again, the RGB lighting across the device is also reminiscent of the brand Alienware and gives it a character and helps differentiate it from the competition. On the back panel, the m15 branding, and the Alienware skull logo is also interesting design choice.

Despite the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 being a 15-inch gaming laptop, it felt more compact than the competition. Not just that, the laptop weighs 2.42KG, which might not be the lightest gaming laptop, but it is not the heaviest either. I also liked the fact that the laptop had a matte finish paint job, which gives a silky smooth texture to the external panel.

We have tested several gaming laptops in 2021, and the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 stands separate from most of the competition, mainly for the design. You can definitely get a laptop with similar performance at a slightly lower price. However, this combination of design, performance, and build quality is a rarity, and the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 is one of those laptops that balances everything and offers a neat package.

Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 Display: Above Average

The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 comes with a 15.6-inch thin-bezel IPS LCD screen with 1920x1080p resolution and a peak refresh rate of 165Hz. The panel has a response time of 3s, and it also comes with ComfortView Plus technology. The display uses a LowBlue LED technology, which also maintains 99 percent sRGB color space.

Again, this is an 8bit panel that comes with a matte finish that reduces light reflections. The display looked vibrant and color accurate, where both gamers and content consumers will enjoy consuming content on the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5.

Before testing the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5, I was testing a 15-inch laptop 1440p screen, which made the m15's display look slightly pixelated. However, this should not be an issue for those who are currently using a gaming laptop with a 1080p panel. And 165Hz refresh rate should also help the device to deliver a great gaming experience.

Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5: Trackpad And Keyboard

Alienware laptop has never disappointed when it comes to the keyboard, and the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 is no different. The laptop has an RGB backlit keyboard with variable brightness along with 1.8mm key travel. The trackpad seemed to be on the smaller side. However, it was pretty accurate in tracking all the gestures on Windows 11 OS.

Even while continues gaming, the WASD key region didn't get that hot. This proves that fans inside the laptop are smartly located to keep these keys cool. Overall, the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 has a nice keyboard for both content creators and gamers.

Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 CPU And GPU

The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5, as the name suggests is based on an AMD CPU -- Ryzen R7 5800H, which is the second most powerful laptop CPU from AMD. This is an octa-core CPU with a base clock speed of 3.2GHz and a boost clock speed of 4.4GHz. It also comes with built-in Radeon graphics.

The CPU comes with a variable TDP of 35W to 54W and it is based on 7nm fabrication, which makes it an efficient processor. Coming to the GPU, the mobile version of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU offers 6GB of video memory, which is more than capable of handling 1080p gaming which can take up to 120W of power.

The laptop also offers 16GB DDR4 3200MHz RAM along with 1TB PCIe M.2 storage with best-in-class read and write speeds. In terms of connectivity, the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 does offer Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. We ran multiple benchmarks and played several games to test the performance of the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 and here are the results.

Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 CPU-Z And Geekbench 5 Performance

To judge the performance of the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 we ran several benchmarking apps. On CPU-Z, the laptop posted 553.3 points on single-thread and 5107.3 points on multi-thread CPU performance. Similarly, on Geekbench 5, the laptop posted 1327 points on the single-core CPU test and 7284 points on the multi-core CPU benchmark.

Though the single-core CPU performance of the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 is slightly lower than the Asus TUF Gaming F15, powered by the Intel Core i9-11900H. The m15 gains a huge lead in multi-core CPU performance, making this a great machine for content creators such as video editors. Similarly, on Geekbench 5 OpenCL test, the RTX 3060 posted 99571 points.

Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 Cinebench R23 Performance

On Cinebench R23, which is again a CPU-bound benchmark, the laptop posted 1397 points on single-core performance and 11707 points on multi-core performance with an MP ratio of 8.38. Again, the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 shows a clear dominance over Intel Core i7/Core i9 powered gaming laptops in multi-core performance.

Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 Superposition Benchmark Performance

Superposition Benchmark gives us an indication of the real-world gaming performance of a PC at various resolutions and graphics settings. At 1080p medium graphics settings, the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 obtained an average FPS of 112 and at 1080p high graphics settings, the laptop offered an average FPS of 83. Lastly, at 4K resolution and medium graphics settings, we got an average FPS of 50.

These numbers clearly suggest that the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 can easily handle most games at 1080p resolution and offer around 80 fps even with the high graphics settings. Similarly, you can also get over 60fps at 1440p when you connect the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 to an external monitor.

Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 3D Mark Performance

The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 posted 8290 points on the 3D Mark Time Spy benchmark test. The benchmark also confirmed that the laptop can offer over 80fps on Battlefield V at 1440p resolution and you can get over 100fps on Battlefield V at 1080p resolution.

While running the benchmark, the GPU went up to 83 degrees centigrade while the CPU went up to 86 degrees centigrade with a peak GPU load of 100 percent. Again, these are pretty good numbers when compared to laptops with similar specs sheet.

Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 Gaming Performance

We played several games on the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5. To begin with the Bright Memory: Infinite RTX, which is a real-time ray-tracing benchmark, we obtained an average FPS of 78 at 1080p with high-quality RTX settings. This indicates that the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 3D can handle most games with ray-tracing at 1080p and offer around 80fps with high graphics settings.

On The Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, we got an average FPS of 102 when the ray tracing was set to high. Similarly, when the ray tracing was turned off, we got an average FPS of 111. Then we played GTA: V, which offered an average FPS of 122 which is pretty good for a laptop that costs around Rs. 1,50,000.

Lastly, on Far Cry 6, we obtained an average FPS of 74 at 1080p resolution and high graphics settings. All these games give us an idea about the real-world gaming capabilities of the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5. These numbers clearly indicate that the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 is more than capable of offering over 75fps on modern AAA titles without any issue.

Verdict: Well Rounded Package

There is no denying the fact that the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 is slightly on the expensive side when compared to its contemporaries with the RTX 3060 GPU and the Ryzen 5800H CPU. However, when you look at the device as a whole package, it makes for a great deal.

If you want a gaming laptop that is compact in its category, offers great gaming performance with a premium look, then the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 is a great pick. It definitely has everything that one looks for on mid-range gaming 1080p-class gaming laptop.