Alienware’s m17 R3 gaming laptop ($1,549.99 to start, $3,529.99 as tested) will cost you as much as some cars, which makes sense for how fast it can run. It’s able to keep up with the best gaming laptops out there thanks to its optional 10th Gen Intel Core i9 10980HK CPU and Nvidia Geforce RTX 2080 Super GPU, both of which sit at the top of their respective product stacks.

When it comes time to game, this Alien-themed laptop delivers stellar performance and beautiful images in an attractive chassis with a very-snappy keyboard. As you might expect from a 17-inch laptop with high-end components, the laptop gets weak battery life, has fans that run loud under load and gets minimal battery life.

However, if you can afford to pay the premium, the Alienware m17 R3 will elevate your gaming experience even more than a UFO tractor-beaming up cattle.

Alienware m17 R3 Specifications



Design of Alienware m17 R3

If you love RGB, prominent branding and hexagons, the Alienware m17 R3 has the look for you. Out of the box, this laptop is pure gamer premium. Encased in a white shell with a stylized “17” and an Alienware logo printed on the back, the most noticeable feature from the outside is the sheer amount of room for air intake and exhaust, nearly all of which features grills in an unusual shape.

Aside from two small diagonal grills on either of the laptop’s sides, these cutouts decorate the machine’s back and underside in honeycomb patterns. Opening the laptop reveals another set of honeycombs above the keyboard, which features 4-zone RGB (or per-key RGB as an optional add-on), a minimal font and a tenkey design. A reflective bezel also surrounds the display, where “Alienware'' is printed along the bottom. True to the brand’s reputation, all of these features come together with a clever combination of curves and angles to lend the Alienware m17 R3 a feeling akin to a spaceship.

Like a spaceship, then, the Alienware m17 R3 is a large machine, coming in at 15.7 x 11.6 x 0.9 inches and 6.6 pounds. That puts it an inch longer and thicker as well as a pound heavier than competitors like the Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR XB from earlier this year (15.6 x 10.6 x 0.8 inches and 5.5 pounds) as well as several inches and pounds over this year’s more discrete MSI GS66 Stealth (14.2 x 9.7 x 0.7 inches and 4.6 pounds). Those designs, however, used Nvidia’s Max-Q graphics cards, while this larger machine can use one at full power.

Coming in a sturdy magnesium alloy shell, the Alienware m17 R3 is a well made laptop with durability to match its heft. Solid throughout, the inside of the laptop feels thick, well-protected and comfortable to rest your hands on, while the back of the display doesn’t flex inwards under pressure. It almost feels like it could survive a drop, though I wouldn’t recommend it.

Ports on the Alienware m17 R3 are abundant and varied. Starting on the laptop’s left side, you'll find an RJ-45 Ethernet connection, one USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A port and one 3.5mm combination headphone and microphone jack. The right side has two additional USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports as well as a microSD card reader. That alone isn’t necessarily impressive, but the m17 R3 also has several ports along its back, including an HDMI 2.0b port, a Mini-Display port, a Thunderbolt 3 port and a proprietary connector for Alienware’s external graphics amplifier boxes.

Gaming Performance on Alienware m17 R3

Our Alienware m17 R3 review configuration came decked out with a 10th generation Intel Core i9-10980HK processor, an Nvidia Geforce RTX 2080 Super and 32GB of DDR4 memory.


The Alienware m17 R3 impressed in our Far Cry: New Dawn (ultra) benchmark, where it scored an average 89 fps at 1080p and 53 fps at 4K. That’s about 15 fps over the Aero (with its RTX 2070 Super Max-Q) on both resolutions, with the competitor only hitting 76 fps at 1080p and 39 fps at 4K. The Stealth, with an RTX 2080 Super Max-Q, earned an average 86 fps at 1080p (it doesn’t have a 4K screen).