The hero of this review – gaming laptop Dell Alienware A15 – a model with the 15-inch screen, the heart of which – a processor Intel Core i5-4210H and graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M. Even the appearance of the device can be understood – in front of us a quality gadget that will give odds to many competitors!

Design

We begin, as usual, with the appearance. The housing is made of carbon fiber, extremely durable, because it is used even in the aerospace industry, and that says a lot. The cover is made in gray in the present design clear lines which divide the surface thereof into three segments. At the top of the cover – a small image of a stranger, which is more eloquent than any symbols and logos.

Front laptop no less conservative: the same chopped crisp lines and a hint of “pops”. The screen is surrounded by the frame, the size of which varies depending on the brink. For example, at the bottom of it is very broad and likely to engineers freely placed there the inscription «Alienware». At the top of the frame strongly narrowed and made in the form of a small house. There – a small peephole webcam.

Working surface features an ergonomic keyboard, which is located under the touchpad is very compact. The side faces gaming laptop Dell Alienware A15 – a massive and wide, but it only successfully completes the overall concept of the device. By the way, the backlight of the notebook segment – one of the many “chips”. When the gadget at the same time begins to glow alien on the cover, as well as two lines, which run from him like the rays. Lights inscription «Alienware», keyboard, power button, touchpad, as well as the entire perimeter of the bottom. See it all just amazing, that’s a little show before the big game.

At the bottom of a large amount of space set aside for the vents, which, in general, a good thing, given the focus of gaming devices. As for the build quality of the laptop, it is, as you’ve probably guessed, just on top! The laptop is made for the glory of his body does not flex without cracking and no backlash. The hinge mechanism is triggered clear, moderately tight.

Of course, count on the fact that the gaming laptop Dell Alienware is light and thin is not necessary, it is still not the case. Although, in fairness, we note that many manufacturers have already started work in this direction to take at least a 15-inch ASUS G501JW. If we talk about our model, its dimensions – 384h270h34 mm and weighs 3.2 kg. Yeah, away with such a device does not go, but it it not calculated.

Display, sound, and webcam

Screen gaming laptop Dell Alienware A15 is available in two versions: Full HD and Ultra HD 4K (3840h2160), which, moreover, still touch. The chosen equipment – more modest, in the number of its characteristics – 15.6-inch diagonal, resolution – 1920×1080 pixels, IPS-matrix, matte surface. The display will please its users with a wide viewing angle, which is not terrible inversion; rich and realistic images with high contrast and brightness (300 cd / m2). Another advantage is the anti-glare coating that allows you to play at the window without compromising the quality of the game.

The gaming laptop Dell Alienware uses technology Klipsch and Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi, to achieve a high level of sound. The two speakers located at the front of the gadget show excellent results because the sound of the output is clear and voluminous. With the volume and everything are in order, to the maximum sound does not deteriorate, wheezing observed. In general, listening to music or watching movies acoustics will be enough, but to make the game as realistic as possible for part of the musical accompaniment, it is better still to use headphones.

The device is provided and a webcam, where the same without her. The resolution is 2-megapixel webcam while conventional laptops – 0.3 or 1 megapixel. Thus, it allows you to not only communicate via Skype but also take pictures, of course, if the details are not very important.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Working surface of the notebook has a matte soft-touch coating that positively affects the work. Thus, even during intense gaming battles can not be afraid that your hands or fingers slip off at the most inopportune moment. The layout of the keys is sufficiently dense, the distance between them is minimal, gamepad missing. It is noteworthy that the button got rubberized anti-reflective surface, which is designed to hide fingerprints and protect against dust. Engineers added a vertical row of the keyboard keys to the left edge, which have a special mission. They are programmable, and at any time, the user can start a predetermined application or the designated macro.

Typically, gaming laptops Dell Alienware are equipped with lighting, and gaming laptop Dell Alienware A15 is no exception. Its keyboard conditionally divided into four zones, each of which can be illuminated separately. In addition, the area may throb and color – flow smoothly into each other. Thus, in the dark hard-core gamers will not be bored! Above the keyboard, you can see three small LEDs that indicate the hard drive, wireless module Wi-Fi, and Caps Lock. Finally, I would like to note the degree of usability of the keyboard: it is above all praise! Middle keystroke and fast response of the keyboard allowed to build gaming segment rank in the top, because typing on it – a pleasure.

Touchpad gaming laptop Dell Alienware engineers do not lack attention, giving its incredible functionality. Let’s start with the fact that at its disposal – colored lights. In addition, the laptop has a special tool, which is responsible for setting the manipulator. With it you can adjust the pressure sensitivity, the scroll display to select an option and more. Matte surface of the touch pad is ideal for positioning, perform multi-touch gestures: scroll, zoom, etc. In its lower part – two physical buttons. However, despite the pomposity of the appearance of the touchpad, for games it is unlikely to be useful only for daily work. Still, worth a special gamer mouse, otherwise the game can turn into defeat.

Performance

Gaming laptop Dell Alienware A15 (A15-8406) comes to market with a 64-bit operating system Windows 8.1. As the processor is a powerful dual-core Intel Core i5-4210H generation Haswell. It is made on 22nm process technology, a range of clock speeds ranging from 2.9 to 3.5 GHz, increasing by Turbo Boost. In addition, the chip multi-threading technology support Hyper-Threading, which involves processing four threads two cores simultaneously. TDP of the processor can not be called modest, quite the contrary, because the coefficient of energy consumption is 47 watts.

For gaming laptop is crucial schedule. In this device, the manufacturer provides two graphical components. In the role of an integrated graphics card acts as Intel HD Graphics 4600, which is designed for everyday tasks. It is made of 22-nm process technology, supports DirectX 11.1, Shader 5.0, the decoder is equipped to handle 4K video encoder and Quick Sync.

However, in order to start the game requires a stronger, in our case – an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M with 2GB of video memory standard GDDR5. Its frequency varies from 924 to 950 MHz, there is support for features such as Battery Boost (activated when the laptop is not connected to a wall outlet), ShadowPlay (writes the best game moments) and Games team. Of course, this allows you to start filling a variety of games: for example, released last year, for example, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Alien: Isolation and others, no problem will go high or maximum settings. As for toys this year, for example, Battlefield Hardline, Evolve, etc., then they also should not have any issues, but may have to choose a medium setting and reduce the resolution.

The device has 8 GB of RAM standard DDR3-1600 MHz out of a maximum of 16 GB. The data storage system provided a hybrid drive: hard drive 1 TB (spindle speed – 5400 rpm) and 128 GB SSD.

Ports and Communications

Of course, without a broad set of interfaces in the gaming laptop can not do. Let’s look closer: on the right side are located two port USB 3.0, network port RJ-45 and a card reader 9-in-1.

The left side is equipped with two additional ports USB 3.0, one of which supports PowerShare for charging external devices from the laptop. In addition, there are two: headphones with a microphone and a headphone jack; Finally, the socket for recharging a laptop and a slot for a Kensington lock.

But this was not limited to the manufacturer and added a number of ports and connectors on the back edge of the notebook. So, there you can see one port for docking Graphics Amplifier Alienware, which, by the way, need to be purchased separately ($ 299), Mini DisplayPort, video output HDMI.

As you can see, this feature gaming notebook is the optical drive in the Dell Alienware A15 is absent. With regard to wireless communications, they are presented Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n and Bluetooth 4.0.

Battery and heating

The battery in the Dell Alienware A15 – 8-cell lithium-ion battery of 7800 mAh (92 Wh). On the one hand, it is quite a powerful battery, and if it was in a normal laptop, the price would it was not. But we’re talking about a game device in which a screen Full HD, productive filling, and impressive lights, through which shines the entire laptop, not just a keyboard. Based on these data, it is no wonder that the battery is not able to demonstrate a good autonomy, however, and it is not a bad name. Opportunities battery will last for 3-4 hours daily tasks that include web surfing, watching movies, listening to music, working with documents, etc. Gameplay is, no doubt, put the battery faster, in about an hour and a half.

Heating in the gaming laptop Dell Alienware is an important factor, so it is also worth attention. Fortunately, in our gadget with him no problem, coolers cope well with stress, and to remove the warm air provides impressive air vents. So even during gaming battles overheating housing is not observed, but to play with the laptop on your lap, we still do not recommend, it is better to opt for this flat, hard surface.

Verdict of gaming laptop Dell Alienware

At that time, gaming laptop Dell Alienware pleases its customers, in this case – a gaming laptop Dell Alienware A15. This gadget turned out to be the best all: the bright and unique appearance that attracts attention, quality IPS-screen with a resolution of Full HD, ergonomically-designed keyboard with backlit detail. Above all praise and filling, which is represented by the processor 4th generation Intel Core i5-4210H and graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M. Such hardware components allow you to play in many of today’s toys, so the user will be satisfied.

Of course, count on the high-performance stand-alone devices such direction would be wrong, therefore, to refer to the shortcomings of weak vitality, we still will not. Unfortunately, the cost of the gaming laptop Dell Alienware like it is not all, because the price considered in the review of equipment is about $ 1,500. Yet for real fans “alien” theme this figure is unlikely to be a serious obstacle.

Source: Dell

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When the legendary title «Alienware» adherents playing style shudder. They are like no one else knows what adventures await them, should be involved in the process of playing on such a powerful laptop. Is not the first year, these truly terrible Soup occupy a leading position, and their competitors are the least productive laptops, for example, MSI or ASUS. By the way, despite the high cost, fans Alienware is not reduced.

At the time, we became acquainted with a number of laptops of this family, each left an indelible mark and did not disappoint. For example, the 18-inch Dell Alienware’s flagship is equipped with CPU Core i7-4800MQ and two powerful discrete graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M, working in mode SLI; a relatively small 14-inch displays high performance, thanks to the GeForce GTX 765M graphics and quad-core Intel Core i7-4700MQ. In no way inferior and Dell Alienware M17x, which has its undeniable advantages, including no less productive filling, supplemented by two terabyte hard drives in RAID 0.

Familiarity with Dell Alienware 17 Release 2014 promises to be no less interesting. It also uses the top-end graphics, works in conjunction with the processor Haswell, possibly gaming “alien” is as perfect as his brothers in the shop and on reason.

Design

On the power and uniqueness of this laptop can “see” even through the prism of his appearance. Militant and partly minimalistic look of the laptop Dell Alienware 17, as well as a recognizable face on the cover of a stranger produces, as before, an unforgettable experience. Sloping lid panel have a dark gray matte finish, they do not look rough, and with stripes backlight notebook on the contrary, quite original. Even seemingly massive elements like not only gamers, but also simple layman, indifferent to the entertainment.

Form laptop traditionally difficult to bring to a common denominator – exaggerated a rectangle, which is closer to the rear end has a sloping cut corners. Sidewall casing particularly noticeable due to the large insertion, but this merely adds to the overall ideas of designers. As a result, the appearance of this laptop is quite recognizable to the previous model, everything has finished appearance and uniform style.

The materials used in the building, complement the image of an unyielding laptop. Here live well brushed aluminum and magnesium alloy. All this protects the Dell Alienware A17 of random vibration, as well as small mechanical damage from the outside, inevitable in daily operation.

The bottom surface is half occupied vents. Of course, too powerful devices differently and should not be, because the heat dissipation must be in the case of high load is intense enough. Assembling the notebook is excellent, no squeaks, no flex. Hinges connecting the display to the base, stand the set of opening / closing. In general, in another way, and could not be, because requirements in this respect at least high.

It is unlikely that the choice of Dell Alienware A17 you a big worry for large size and considerable weight. However, this information should not be neglected. Thus, the size of the notebook 413.5h299h48-46 mm and weighs 4.15 kg. Definitely not a game, but an ordinary 17-inch laptop is often more compact than this.

Display, sound, webcam

The laptop is equipped with 17.3-inch Full HD-display with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. TFT-matrix has a matte surface, but not perfect visibility. But the size of the screen is easy to play, not to mention watching videos and other tasks. The display has excellent color and detail, as well as a sufficient level of brightness (an average of 260 – 270 cd / m2). In addition, thanks to the good contrast black really is as close to ideal.

Webcam Laptop Alienware 17 is much better than in many other laptops. It has a 2-megapixel resolution is complemented by two stereo microphones, in general, is ideal not only for Skype, but if you need to take pictures.

Also, do not fail speakers Dolby Home Theater v4 and Support Klipsch. For sound coming from the speakers will be characterized by saturation, frequency balance and volume. You can clearly hear the bass and do not strain your ears, because the volume is missing. In the games soundtrack is quite important, so do not once again explain how such speakers have in place. By the way, it will be more advantageous in comparison with Dynaudio, standing in gaming laptops MSI, and will maximize the plunge into what is happening on the screen. In the end, you can connect headphones to experience total immersion in the game and appreciate the sound close to ideal.

Keyboard and Touchpad

While using a laptop keyboard you will enjoy not only the standard mode, but you can tell the whole working surface, as used herein matte soft-touch coating. From that your fingers will not slip at the wrong time. In addition, the keypad is quite clear impact and a good move with a minimum of noise when pressed, is available nampad.

I would also like to note the interactive branded lighting AlienFX, which understood, will manage it easily. As a result, special settings can be highlighted not only the touchpad, power button, but the whole keyboard or its separate areas.

Additionally, you will be able to choose a favorite color for illumination or adjust the backlight so that the color will flow from one area to another. In general, in the darkness of a laptop with such a unique lighting will look simply spectacular, whereas without it more commonplace.

Above the keyboard, you can see only the power button, which is not distracting from the overall style. Although, if we compare, for example, Dell Alienware M17x, its design has changed. Now this diamond shape instead of alien head. Also out of the keyboard has three LED’s indicating the job storage, wireless, and Caps Lock.

As for the touch zones laptop, it dull, like the rest of the working area. However, the use of the touchpad convenient not only because of the slip surface, but because of high sensitivity. In addition, the area is perfect for medium-sized positioning performance of standard multi-touch gestures (scrolling, zooming). By the way, the touchpad is made traditionally, ending two classic physical keys. As the keyboard keys, they work is relatively quiet. However, hardly touch zone will use during the game, in this case, the advantage is on the side of the mouse.

Performance

Dell Alienware A17-9226 is not a top, but quite productive version. In it there is a 64-bit operating system Windows 8.1, as well as set fourth-generation processor Intel Core i7-4710MQ, built according to the norms 22-nm process technology. This is quite a powerful quad-core chip that easily cope with a lot of calculations, including gaming. It has a cache in the third level of 6 MB and a clock speed of 2.5 GHz, which can grow up to 3.5 GHz via Turbo Boost. Also in addition to this technology, there is support for Hyper-Threading, whereby Core i7-4710MQ will master up to eight data streams simultaneously. This will ensure a smooth and quick work regardless of the level of complexity of running applications. The maximum ratio of the processor TDP of 47 watts. I must say that depending on configuration can stand and other family processors Core i7, including: Core i7-4810MQ, 4910MQ or the most powerful – Core i7 Extreme 4940MX.

It is worth mentioning about AlienAdrenaline Accelerator. With this function, you can increase the performance of the device. Also, you will be able to customize the game to create multiple game profiles.

Another important component of the filling is RAM. Its volume in this configuration is 16 GB standard DDR3. For RAM has four slots, each of which is worth 4 GB strap. Of course, such a simple laptop too much capacity, while the gaming device is normal. By the way, the maximum amount of system memory that can be installed in a Dell Alienware 17 is 32 GB. In this case, each unit is placed on the 8 GB.

Knowing that laptop gaming, and high-level, all eyes will be not the built-in Intel HD Graphics 4600, and by the powerful discrete graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M. It has a capacity of 8 GB of internal memory standard GDDR5 and is responsible for visual computing laptop. Also, this accelerator may be used up to 3 GB of RAM allocated. The video card is built on 28-nm technology architecture Kepler, supports DirectX 11 and has 1536 CUDA cores and 128 units TMU. In fact, GeForce GTX 880M – it’s GTX 780M, but with more video memory and increasing the operating frequency. So she razrulit any modern games on high settings, perfectly show itself in a variety of complex tasks. By the way, using the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M can display the image simultaneously on four external display, of course with the appropriate number of ports.

It is clear that with the graphics performance in games everything is going well. Here are some examples of just a few of the great number of modern toys of 2014, in which you can play: Far Cry 4, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Alien: Isolation. Of course, all of them will go to the highest setting, Full HD-resolution and with a frequency of more than 40 fps.

The notebook for storing data selected hybrid drive. Firstly, it is a hard drive 1TB and 7200 rev / min. Secondly, there is provided SSD, the capacitance of which is – 80 GB. It is unlikely that the owner of Dell Alienware A17 will not be enough.

Filling laptop certainly impressive, it does include performance components. Given such a high power, we can not ignore the cooling system of the device. I must say that in this case it works effectively as a separate coolers cool the processor and graphics card to remove warm air provided large ventilation grilles. Even if you play demanding games, body Dell Alienware A17 does not become too hot, rather warm. In addition, you should not obsessing about the noise from the fans running, although they are not the quietest.

Ports and Communications

Interfaces in a laptop is more than enough. They are placed on the right and left side of the housing, wherein on their last longer. So, on the left you can see the slot for charging, Kensington lock slot, microphone input, including to connect audio system 5.1, a pair of audiodzhekov: separate headphone and earphone with microphone. This will significantly expand the capabilities of a notebook, making the process much more convenient operation. Moreover, on the left side there is Mini DisplayPort, combined HDMI (1.4 input, output HDMI 1.3), as well as two USB 3.0 standard, one of which supports PowerShare, allows you to charge multiple devices from the laptop. Of these can be called a rarity input HDMI, usually in laptops provided an outlet for broadcasting images on an external display.

The right side Alienware A17 is the optical drive DVD ± RW slot-loading, over it – card reader 9-in-1. Closer to the rear panel is a network RJ-45 connector and two more USB 3.0. Also there is a complete set, which are equipped with a Blu-ray-drive.

Wireless communications this notebook are Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n and Bluetooth 4.0. It is worth noting the presence of the network card Killer, providing high-speed connectivity and fast data transfer.

Battery

The device is equipped with 8-cell lithium-ion battery capacity of 7800 mAh (86 Wh). However, a strong pull stuffing with Full HD display will not be easy, even on the basis of such indicators. Therefore, the time from the battery and do not exceed more than three and a half hours, if engaged in a little of everything: watching videos, games, web browsing and so on. Of course, at full load Dell Alienware AA17 exhausted after hours of work. In general, high autonomy does not fit with this, as, indeed, any other productive gaming device.

Conclusion

Well, it looks like a laptop Dell Alienware A17 no less fantastic than its predecessors. The design has not changed, it is still very original and memorable. So at home will not look less impressive than any other gaming device.

Of course, this high-performance gaming machines can not be even a moment’s doubt that she can not cope with modern challenges. In addition display with Full HD-resolution and excellent acoustics is a great experience in the game, or watching videos. As for programmable backlit keyboard, then forget this is unlikely to succeed. Especially since it is not just beautiful, but also very convenient, because allows you to set different color zones, convenient for the player. If we talk about the ports, in addition to four USB, still has three connectors for microphones, headphones, and not only the output but also input HDMI – a rare phenomenon in the laptop. In addition, I want to praise the 2 MP webcam and excellent build quality.

Certainly count on high autonomy is not necessary, but this laptop will often be at home near an outlet, rather than traveling. In general, the laptop will not cause disapproval, and even considered the cost of equipment is about $ 1,900, will not reduce the army of fans of the game.

By the way, most recently at CES 2015 was presented once again updated Alienware 17. So fans of this series are waiting for new experiences and perhaps unexpected surprises.

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