If you are the one who wants to get an immersive and hi-fi gaming experience, then Dell Alienware 15 R4 is the right choice for you. This Laptop will not only give you a 15.6 high-definition display with a 60 Hz refresh rate, but it also gives very fast and smooth processing speed with its 8th Generation processor. You can also perform multitasking very easily with its 16GB DDR4 RAM, which gets support from 8GB of Cache memory.
You will also get a large space to save almost everything you want with it, 1 terabyte (1TB) of Hard Disk Drive (HDD). Along with other features, this Laptop also has speed ports that are very important for time-saving. Dell includes a high-definition camera and also includes a “Gigabit Ethernet Port” for wired and high-speed internet connectivity.
This article will describe a comprehensive overview of the Alienware 15 R4 gaming notebook, which will help you choose the best gaming machine for yourself or your loved ones.
Dell Alienware 15 R4: Key features and specifications
Dell Alienware 15 R4 is the best Laptop for gaming enthusiasts. If you are in search of a high-end gaming machine, you are at the right place to analyze this Laptop in the maximum possible way.
Performance and gaming capabilities
Before choosing any laptop for your next project or gaming experience, you must know its performance capabilities. Dell Alienware 15 R4 has a very good processor, which is Core-i7-8750H. To enhance the performance capabilities of this Laptop, this processor has the support of 16 gigabytes of RAM, which helps you to perform multitasking.
Additionally, 256 GB of PCIe m.2 ultrafast SSD also increases the overall performance of Alienware 15 R4. All the component mentioned above gives you high performance with ease. For example, this Laptop will perform absolutely well under the following high-load conditions:
- Surfing on 25 tabs of Google Chrome.
- A full HD video streaming.
However, if you compare its Geekbench 4 performance test results with similar or high-end gaming notebooks, then you will notice that its score is less than other gaming notebooks. Geekbech 4 test results comparison is as follows:
- Dell Alienware 15 R4 16981
- MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 17184
- Razer Blade 15 19011
- Asus ROG Zephyrus M GM501 23636
- PowerSpec 1510 14223
In this comparison report, the score of Alienware 15 R4 is quite low compared to Razer Blade and Zephyrus gaming notebooks. Both of these Laptop have the same CPUs as Dell Alienware 15 R4.
The second parameter that is used to check the performance of any laptop is its file transfer rate speed. Unfortunately, Dell Alienware 15 R4 is also lagging in this area. It took 25 seconds for Alienware 15 R4 to transfer a file of 5 GBs. The file transfer rate of this Laptop is 221 MB/sec. This speed is very low as compared to similar Laptops like Zephyrus, which has a file transfer speed of 509 MB/sec, and Razer Blade 15 has a 424 MB/sec file transfer rate.
So, overall, the performance of this Laptop is good, but if you compare its performance, then you will find that its performance is lagging in many areas.
Design and build quality
The maker of Alienware 15 R4 chooses an epic black theme as compared to its predecessor’s silver theme. However, you will still get a feel of the spaceship by watching its aesthetics.
You will also get a sleek body as compared to other Alienware models. This Laptop has a one-inch thick body, and the weight of this Laptop is only 7.8 pounds.
To make this Laptop more aesthetically pleasing, four extra RGB lights are included in this model, which are present on both sides of the screen and base of this Laptop.
RGB lighting can be customized on the keyboard and touchpad. In addition, there are macro keys on this laptop that you can program. The area around the keyboard and touchpad is made with soft-touch material, which gives you comfort during long typing sessions.
On the lid of this Laptop, this Laptop has an alien head shape, which can also be illuminated with RGB lights.
This Laptop has a lot of ports, which are present on the back, left, and right sides of this Laptop.
Ports on the backside of Alienware 15 R4
Most of the ports present on the back side of this Laptop are:
- HDMI Output port
- Ethernet Jack
- Thunderbolt 3 port
- Graphics Amplifier Port
- Mini Display Port
Ports that are present on the left side of the Laptop
The second largest number of ports are present on the left side of this Laptop, which are as follows:
- USB Type-C Port
- USB 3.0 Port
- Jack for microphone and headphone
- Noble lock slot.
Display and audio experience
When it comes to display, the Dell Alienware 15 R4 has unmatched display characteristics. This laptop has a 15.6-inch widescreen, which has a 1920×1080 pixels resolution. Its screen is made with a matte panel, which is good to use in daylight conditions.
Alienware 15 R4 gives you vivid color and an extra level of brightness. You can clearly distinguish between very few details while watching movies or playing games due to the extra brightness, sharpness, and contrast level of this laptop.
In the basic variants of Alienware 15 R4, you will not get the G-Sync technology. However, you can avail of this technology in the most advanced variant of this Laptop.
The audio output of this Laptop is clear and loud, which you can hear from its front-firing speakers. The sound of this Laptop is good to hear from a small to medium size room. Along with the loud sound, you will also get the following audio perks from the built-in speakers of Dell Alienware 15 R4:
- Sharp Percussion
- Deep Bass
The speakers of this Laptop do a good job at low to medium-high frequencies; however, you can get some noise while listening to high-frequency music.
User interface and software
Alienware command center is the best software that will help you in customizing many things on your Laptop. For example, you can easily customize the following things with the help of the command center:
- Customize the lights that are present on your keyboard, touchpad, and sides of your screen and base of Alienware 15.
- You can also customize the programming macros with the help of a command center.
- The first thing that you can change is power management plans for your laptops.
- Multiple desktop shortcuts can also be created with the help of the Alienware command center.
Although the customization options mentioned above are available in all Dell Alienware models, the following two additional settings are introduced in the Alienware 15 R5 model of this Laptop:
- With the help of the command center, you can access all the games from the “Home Tab” of your PC. Additionally you can, you can also customize the performance settings of the games.
- In the latest version of the command center, you can also change the background of any software from light mode to dark mode and vice versa.
Cooling and thermal management
Although, Dell Alienware 15 R4 has a very good thermal management system. But despite an efficient thermal management system, you can still experience high temperatures on different internal or external parts of the Laptop.
Idle temperature:
Suppose you are not doing anything on this Laptop. In that case, the surface temperature of this Laptop will remain between 35 degrees centigrade and 39 degrees centigrade, which is slightly higher for a gaming notebook. Additionally, the cooling fan of this Laptop creates reasonably high noises.
Temperature at maximum load:
The temperature of this Laptop with extensive use for one hour is quite high. You can feel a temperature of 43 degrees centigrade on the top surface of the Laptop.
On the bottom side, the temperature can go up to 50 to 70 degrees centigrade. The internal components’ temperature at full load can go up to 90 degrees for GPU and 100 degrees centigrade for CPU.
This temperature reading shows that you can’t play games or do intensive tasks for a long time by keeping this Laptop on your lap.
Battery life and portability
The battery life of this Laptop is good compared to other gaming notebooks in this range. With above-average tasks like browsing, video playing, and graphical use, its battery can easily give you a backup of up to 5 hours and 30 minutes while fully charged.
Pricing and availability
Dell Alienware 15 R4 has different variants. So, according to the configuration, the price of this laptop model will change. You will get a basic variant of this Laptop with the following specs at the price of only $1700.
- Processor: Inter Core i5-8300H
- RAM: 8GB
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
- Storage: SSD 256 GB
The most advanced variant of this model can cost you only approximately $3000. This variant has the following specifications:
- Processor: Inter Core i9-8950HK
- RAM: 16GB
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
- Storage: SSD 256 GB, HDD 1 TB
One thing that you must keep in mind is that Alienware 15 R4 is available in the market with only one year of warranty.
Upgradability
If you buy a basic variant of this Laptop and later you want to upgrade your Laptop, then there is good news for you. You can easily upgrade the RAM and SSD or storage drive of your Laptop by following some simple steps. The RAM of this Laptop can be enhanced for up to 32 GB.
Conclusion
Despite its shortcomings, the Alienware 15 is a solid gaming notebook. In addition to the powerful Intel Core i7 CPU, the GTX 1070 video card is overclocked. You receive a comfortable keyboard, an impressive display, and almost six hours of battery life in this price range.
The faster SSD and NVidia’s G-Sync technology would have been nice additions for the money, however. There is also room for improvement in terms of cooling.
Apart from this informative piece, visit our Technology Category if you want to know about Alienware Aurora 2019.
