Alienware M18 R2 Gaming Laptop – 18 QHD+ 165Hz 3ms Display, Intel Core i9-14900HX, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB GDDR6, Windows 11 Home, Onsite Service – Dark Metallic Moon Electronics

4.0 out of 5 stars

Good for dorm (Heavy, bulky and short battery life)

I got this “Alienware M18 R2 Gaming Laptop – 18 QHD+ 165Hz 3ms Display” for my son who’s going to college this summer. He is going to study computer science and also a heavy gamer. Thus, he wanted a Windows PC where he could write homework, do some coding as well as play games.I was deciding between a laptop and a desktop but chose to go with a laptop. My son is going to an out-of-state college which is a 10-hour drive away. So having a laptop makes it easy for transportation. However, this “Alienware M18 R2” is not very portable, due to its heavy weight, bulky size, and poor battery. This is understandable due to the GPU and the power it needs. So we decided to have this laptop as a “dorm computer”, and I got another more portable Chromebook for him for class.Regarding the performance, this M18 is a beast. The 32-thread i9 CPU + 32GB can handle multi-tasking well. Another important thing is it compiles code at a very impressive speed. Gaming performance is limited to its power limit but it still handles any game we throw at it in a reasonable graphical setting. 165HZ display is important for a competitive gaming experience (my son plays Valeront competitively). The RTX 4080 mobile version is still slower than my desktop version 4070 ti.In terms of expandability, I added an extra 1TB NVME SSD. The installation is a little painful since 8+ screws need to be accessed. There are multiple ports at the back of this laptop, including a mini display and HDMI ports. The laptop can be connected to more monitors if the extra USB-C ports are leveraged.This laptop uses a large 330w/19.5v power adapter, which is heavy by itself. For these reasons, this laptop is not a good option if you want to take it on the go during a trip.In summary, this is a powerful and power-hungry gaming laptop that replaces the functionality of a desktop. Compared to a desktop, it is more expensive, but much smaller in size. In our case, it is perfect to be used as my son’s college stationary dorm PC.I would recommend it if you have a college-aged kid who needs a high-performance computer to be transported once every couple of months. In most other scenarios, I still prefer a desktop.

11 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Great overall but with shortcomings

– Much bigger and heavier than you realize (no surprise here)- Power brick is also huge but it’s good for 360 watts- Dell / Alienware doesn’t offer a docking station for this since USB-C tops out at 240 watts- The four cooling fans will go full blast for most games, and it’s a bit loud- The speakers can get relatively loud, but the bass levels are really lacking- The screen brightness is acceptable for indoor settings, but not next to a window with bright sunlight- Certain areas of the laptop can get really hot and become uncomfortable to the touch during full performance- The power button, in the shape of an Alienware logo, is to the upper right of the keyboard and is not readily accessible if you plan to keep the laptop stored out of the way to use as a desktop computer- Standard keyboard and touchpad are responsive and more than sufficient- Only the top lid is aluminum while the rest of the body is made of plastic- UserBenchmarks report: CPU @ 120.7%; GPU @ 9.5%; SSD @ 271.3%; and RAM @ 166.7%

2 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Top of the line, with a premium. Make sure you leverage all the benefits

After alot of testing, and weighing thoughts about other similar performance builds, other laptops, and even desktops- these are my thoughts after using Alienware’s newest large offering for the last month:Performance wise- its an utter beast. Even the modest options per Dell’s site- the screen clarity and resolution is still great and latency is very good. Under load, it can keep up, but it gets incredibly loud. This is both when editing video, doing some lite fusion360 work, or gaming. The large chassis helps with cooling, but please note- this is not the average laptop or even the average large laptop- this is very much a desktop replacement level laptop. Its crazy heavy- it can get loud and hot, but it can take a beating usage-wise. Pro tip- the custom F1 key can be used for overclocking. Even with it off- the unit can get pretty hot after prolonged use. Its recommended that a custom fan curve be used along with setting CPU and GPU usage via power plan’s advanced settings. Its still very good stock, but leveraging some settings will get you the most out of this beast. Also, get it registered and utilize any of premium support benefits available while you have it- its included with the cost.Price wise- its VERY expensive. If you want the most bang for your buck, you don’t want to tweak anything, you don’t plan on utilizing Dell’s extra benefits or supports- You’re losing value and its just going to seem overpriced with no justification. If you do take into account everything included, its not bad at all. Considering its pretty much top of the line-Its a solid package then.

6 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Excellent machine but be aware

Killer laptop with no problems so far. Be aware it defaults with the integrated GPU. You have to go into the alien Command Center and put it into performance mode before the dedicated GPU kicks in. Runs warm but that’s fully expected.

4.0 out of 5 stars

Wonderful Wonderful laptop

i Bought this laptop and it made me cry tears of how good it is, sure the 4080 isn’t 4080 desktop level ( the performance of this gem is is more like 4070 level) but it’s a wonderful gem of art that is worth the pricepoint, it keeps up with all your games, the durability is good, the speed is amazing, sound is also incrediable, and the battery life is very good

5.0 out of 5 stars

Fast and awesome looking

Fast to the point it’s overkill for most tasks and that’s just what I was looking for. Camera is amazing for a laptop. Expensive but you get what you pay for and it’s a beast of a laptop. I love it so far and have had about 6 months.

5.0 out of 5 stars

excelente

excelente

2.0 out of 5 stars

Major hiccups in it

Too many drivers to update and bios and still not working right

5.0 out of 5 stars

Beautiful powerful laptop

Beautiful powerful laptop.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Dare with alienware

Quality, quantity and entertaining.Go nicely with my alienware mouse and keyboard

5.0 out of 5 stars

Talk about fast

This is by far the fastest computer I’ve ever used in my life. It’s incredible in so many ways. All of the specs on this are mindblowing for a laptop. I’ve enjoyed every minute so far of using this. It took a while to get everything set up and all of the updates put in, but once you get going it’s unreal. Coming from a slower laptop (which was close to cutting edge ~10 years ago), the speed difference is huge. Every program, every game I’ve played, literally everything feels like warp speed on this laptop. It’s been a game changer in my life. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Yes, it’s very expensive, but if you want the best, it is what it is. I can now play games on here I could only dream of before. And using regular apps like Office and photo/video editing programs are equally incredible. I would recommend this laptop 100% if you’re looking for something to take you to the next level. 5/5 stars 100% for my experience thus far.

4 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Works great

So far I love this laptop. I needed to replace my old one so tried this one. I don’t use it for gaming but I do have some big programs and I love how smoothly they run. The battery does die faster than some laptops, but I have been told that most gaming laptops do. I will update occasionally as I use more features.

One person found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Detailed review from an Overwatch 2 gamer (and former IT Admin)

I will start by saying this laptop is amazing! I love it and am extremely happy with how good it is overall. It has improved my Overwatch 2 gameplay, especially with aim, and the system I was using before was no slouch. While I’ve built gaming desktops, that’s nearly impossible for laptops. Gamers are reliant on the manufacturers to do it for them and to do a good job. Overall, that’s what Alienware did with this M18 Gaming Laptop.The version I got is:Core i9-14900HXRAM Size: 32 GBCapacity: 18.0 QHD+Style: RTX 4080I cannot speak to the other variations, but this one has been good for me overall. I have put in many hours of Overwatch 2 gameplay, sometimes more than 3 hours at a time (in over a month) with no hardware failures. It turns on and off without issue. That said, there are a few things that make this system short of perfection. I list them out below:1) As one might expect, this laptop gets hot. I measured an average of 110 degrees near the vents. What I like least about this is that the side vent blows hot air right onto my mouse hand, which is uncomfortable and makes my hand sweaty. The fans can be loud, too, especially when the system kicks into high gear during gameplay.To counter this, I put the laptop on a stand so that it’s higher off the desk. This way it does not blow directly on my hand. And since I use headphones to hear footsteps inside the game, I don’t notice the fan noise that much while playing.2) It’s heavy. I weighed it at just under 9 pounds (8 lbs 10 oz). This isn’t something you want sitting on your lap for long periods (heat + weight = unhappy lap). I have it at my desk and don’t move it around much, so this isn’t a problem for me. But could be for some people.3) Short battery life. Only lasts about an hour for gaming. Plus, the FPS drops drastically when the battery starts getting low. To counter this, I keep it plugged in when using it. ¯_(ツ)_/¯4) WiFi issues. I have 1 Gig (1000 Mbps) optical internet. The WiFi card in this laptop has given me average speeds of 337 Mbps download / 181 Mbps upload, sometimes even hitting over 400 Mbps. That’s pretty good for wireless, but the problem I had is with intermittent lag. I would be in a game where my latency suddenly skyrocketed into the 100s. I would face a wall or walk off the map before realizing what was happening. Which is extremely bad for competitive play and even gave me a time suspension due to getting kicked.To counter this, I tried several things: (1) Update drivers, (2) reboot the computer, (3) switch between 5 GHz WiFi and 2.4 GHz, and (4) power cycle my router. Doing 1-3 had little effect, while #3 did fix the problem for a time, but it would come back after a while. Thankfully, short of running ethernet cable through my walls, there was one other option I tried that worked decently. It was to create a separate WiFi network channel on my router where I only connected this computer to it. That way it didn’t share a channel with other devices (such as smart TV, iPhone, PS5, etc.) like it did before. This seems to have cleared up the lag 95% of the time; I get much longer periods before needing to power cycle the router. I’m still considering running Cat8 cable throughout my house since the laptop does have an ethernet port, but that would be a huge undertaking. I also may end up updating my router because the one I have came from the internet provider and is very basic. But so far running on an independent channel has made things better, so I’m not in a rush to do so. Plus, I’m hoping a future driver update will improve things.5) There are not many case options on the market for this size laptop. Most fit up to a 17” screen, whereas this one is 18”. It is even bigger if you include the entire diagonal measurement of the laptop body, which is 20.25” closed. Width is 16” and depth is 12.5”. This limits your options for cases and backpacks.6) The keyboard. It’s not bad for a laptop gaming solution and even lights up with different RGB styles. The keys respond well, and I won several matches with them, but I found I didn’t like the flat profile and missed having mechanical functionality. Plus, there are limitations with the Alienware Command Center (ACC). For example, I wanted to have my Caps Lock remapped to Right Control (Ctrl), but there wasn’t a way to do this. The ACC software lets me create macros and change the lighting on individual keys, but not remap it.To counter this, I could use AutoHotkey. However, I decided to purchase the Redragon K585 DITI One-Handed RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. Since I have the laptop raised, the stand gets in the way of a traditional keyboard, so I went with a one-handed solution. The Redragon was spot on. The software it uses lets me remap the keys, I can twist it without the monitor also turning, and I like the larger spacebar for my thumb. Plus, it’s mechanical with the regular-sized keys I’m used to (some of which I swapped out with PBT keycaps).7) Webcam is decent quality, but not as good as my iMac. There isn’t a tab to cover the face camera, and the area is so small you can’t fit a third-party one on.8) I had an issue with Overwatch 2 randomly closing out of Fullscreen and going to Windowed. I figured out that setting it to “NVIDIA GPU only” under “Display Mode” in the NVIDIA Control Panel solved this.### Conclusion ###That may sound like a lot of negatives, but I wanted to dig into the weeds so you know what you are getting into. IMHO the positives outweigh the negatives. I love the 165 Hz refresh rate. It has considerably improved my aim. I play Soldier 76 a lot more now, easily knocking Pharah out of the sky when she swaps to counter my Junkrat pick. I get an average of 165 FPS and the overall game feels so much cleaner and smoother now. It leveled up my game. While the Overwatch 2 settings defaulted to 2560×1900 83 Hz, I was able to set it to 165 Hz without any issues, plus it set my overall Graphics Quality to Ultra. I almost feel bad for the other players now because it gives me an advantage . . . almost.

10 people found this helpful