DellA¢a,¬a,,¢s Alienware gaming laptops can be a very mixed bag. With an almost ridiculously huge range of models available, thereA¢a,¬a,,¢s always going to be some chaff that needs to be separated from the (admittedly more plentiful) wheat. Thankfully, the new Alienware M15 R7 sits firmly in the cereal grain category - a well-rounded 1080p gaming machine with a shiny 12th-gen Intel processor at its core.
At first glance, the M15 R7 is the same as almost every other Alienware laptop released in recent years; an indented screen hinge, a long ring of RGB lighting along the rear edge, and that iconic alien-head logo illuminated in vivid blue. ItA¢a,¬a,,¢s a tried-and-tested design that we canA¢a,¬a,,¢t blame Dell for sticking with - after all, if it ainA¢a,¬a,,¢t broke, donA¢a,¬a,,¢t fix it.
That being said, at first glance thereA¢a,¬a,,¢s perhaps one area Dell couldA¢a,¬a,,¢ve improved things here - and itA¢a,¬a,,¢s not actually on the laptop itself. The main chassis weighs about two and a half kilograms and its 15.6A¢a,¬A display means that itA¢a,¬a,,¢s not the most portable laptop out there, but our real beef is with the huge, heavy power adaptor. Since the battery life is unimpressive, youA¢a,¬a,,¢ll need to lug this brick around with you in addition to the laptop itself, rendering the Alienware M15 R7 decidedly less-than-lightweight.