Making a grandiose appearance
THERE are few gaming laptop makers out there that could make a gaming product that is both as refined and grandiose as Alienware.
This is especially apparent on the recent Alienware 15.
Even its packaging, which exudes the aura of a gaming device, makes it the easiest laptop that I have had the pleasure to pack and unpack this year.
Unboxed, the Alienware 15 is a beast, weighing in at a hair under 3.5kg. Its power brick is a large slab of black plastic, but I don’t mind it.
The Alienware 15 is technically portable, but it is not a laptop that I will lug around. It will not fit in a standard bag rated for a laptop with a 15in screen either.
That size affords Alienware 15 many luxuries such as a spacious keyboard, a generous touchpad, an extensive cooling system, and impressively good speakers.
Likemostkeyboards on Dell notebooks, the one on the Alienware 15 is a pleasure to use. The feel and feedback is just right for gaming and writing. As a bonus, it also looks good with its customisable coloured backlighting. All the lighting elements on the Alienware 15 are fully customisable. You can change its colours individually, make them pulse, or cycle through various effects. These lights are plentiful but tasteful. The Alienware 15 has just enough lighting to be identified as a gaming laptop, but not so much that it is tasteless. The combination of a graphics processor-enhanced full-definition display and a sizable speaker makes the Alienware 15 an excellent laptop for enjoying media, and playing games on. However, there is a catch. The Alienware 15 has a large cooling system protruding from the rear of the laptop. It is sizable, and I have expected it to be quiet, but it is not. Even the simplest of tasks, such as streaming videos online, make the laptop fire up like a jet engine. Still, this can be remedied by putting on a pair of headphones, a piece of gear any serious gamer will already have.
In addition to the headphone port, the Alienware 15 is decked with a type-A SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port, an RJ-45 Killer Networks e2500 Gigabit Ethernet Port, a MiniDisplay Port, an HDMI 2.0 Output, a Thunderbolt 3 Port, an Alienware Graphics Amplifier Port, a Power/ DC-in Jack, a Noble Lock port, a Type-C SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Port, a Type-A SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Port with PowerShare Technology, and an audio out port.
In other words, the Alienware 15 is fully equipped to handle all types of peripherals, including additional displays, a mouse, and more.
It could, of course, handle other computing-intensive, non-gaming tasks such as rendering graphics, video editing, and the like.
What sets Alienware 15 apart from its competitors is its after-sales service. If you pick up this laptop as your mission-critical device, you can rest assured that you can purchase it with an extended warranty, where a service-person will come to you the very next day to fix any problem you may have.
Alienware 15 is available for as low as RM6,229, depending on the configuration.
Visit the Dell website for availability and latest promotions. – Azizul Rahman Ismail