So, in our recent video on the Alienware 15, we concluded that bigger was not in
fact necessarily better. But what about
bigger? The Alienware 17 is large and
loves to flaunt it, but can it possibly be good enough to make up for how
freaking heavy it is? Only one way to
find out.
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in the video description. At 9.6 lb, the Alienware 17
is heavy. But since I obviously wasn't expecting portability to be a strong
point for a 17-in laptop, I'll accept the added weight in exchange for its
excellent build quality. In typical Alienware fashion, the 17 is
exceptionally rigid with virtually no chassis flex and sports a screen hinge
that is so weighty it could probably be used as an exercise machine.
Aesthetically, it maintains the gameesque look and RGB edge lighting
from its little brother, the 15. But I feel like this styling works even better
on the 17 cuz like I mean if you're going to be the size of a small
aircraft, then you might as well look like one. You would think though with
all of that added space that they might have been able to fit in a bit more
I/IO, but nothing has changed for the
big guy versus even the 13-in model. In
fairness, it has basically everything you'd need. But come on, Dell, this has
to be the world's loneliest USB slot
right here. So, our model rocks a top-of-the-line Intel Core i7 7820HK
that boosting up to 4.4 4 GHz is a CPU
that has time and time again bested the
cooling solutions of the laptops that dare try to contain its fury, even water
cooled ones. Now, admirably, the Alienware 17 is able to keep this
processor and its accompanying GPU, none other than the also top-of-the-line GTX
1080, from overheating. But the 7820HK
wasn't quite able to maintain its full boost speed the whole time, which I
guess brings us to the noise. Under full load, I consider it perfectly
acceptable. It isn't high-pitched, and it makes sense given the hardware it's
packing. The problem, though, is that it doesn't really quiet down while
performing less intensive tasks like installing programs or surfing the
internet. So, some additional tuning to the fan curve might help with this, not
to mention the less than stellar battery life. After the noisy installation,
though, we finally got to boot up some games, and this thing really came into
its own, with the real highlight of the experience being the display. Our
version of the Alienware 17 comes with a 1440p G-Sync panel that runs at 120 Hz,
which we managed to overclock to 130 Hz
before it decided it had had enough. Now, it is a TN panel, but it's a good
one. And in my opinion, 1440p really is
the sweet spot for running the latest AAA titles smoothly on the GTX 1080 with
high details at high frame rates. So, I'm willing to look the other way on the
TNness for the frames and pixels that it
has to offer. I mean, plus speaking of looking the other way, it's got a solid
webcam up top and Toby tracking down below if you're really into the handful
of games with meaningful support for that technology. Now, I know I always
say this about higher refresh rate displays, but on this one especially
playing Doom, freaking fantastic. getting over 120 FPS on ultra at 1440p
made the experience feel metal as all hell. And if you're looking to play
frantic games on a laptop, you will be hardressed to do better than this one.
Of course, with a 1080, it'll smash through any game, frantic or not, with
it absolutely tearing through our test suite. Not that you'll experience any
tearing. G-Sync variable refresh rate technology takes care of that. And where
the screen pulls you into the gaming experience, the keyboard keeps you
connected. It's standard fair for Alienware, but that's a good thing. And
the inclusion of a numpad makes this keyboard feel at home with the bigger
screen. The throw of the keys has a smooth feel that was excellent for both
gaming and typing. Well, excellent for
typing once you disable the trackpad. In a move that frankly feels a bit lazy,
Dell reused the same RGB trackpad from
the Alienware 13. So, there's basically an ocean of empty space around it, and
it got moved a bit further away from the keyboard to a position where my palm
always seemed to hit it while typing, sending the cursor off to Never
Neverland. After this happened enough times, yeah, it was enough. And I
plugged in a mouse never to use it again, which is a bit of a shame because
other than that, it's not bad. What is bad though are the speakers. Badass,
that is. Don't even think about grabbing
a Bluetooth speaker to throw on some tunes, cuz the speakers on the 17 are
dank AF. They're not loud enough to hurt your ears or anything, but they pack a
solid punch, easily enough to fill the average apartment, and this continues to
be a really strong point for the Alienware lineup. Opening up the
Alienware 17 reveals another strong point. It just takes a couple of screws,
which is great news for the mad ballers
that weren't paying attention as they breezed through the shopping cart,
missing the buttons to reveal the rest of the laptop lineup and selecting the
GTX 1080 config for over
$2500 without realizing that it doesn't come with a freaking SSD. So, once
you're in there, there are two M.2 two drive slots along with a 2 and 1/2 in
drive bay which should pretty much cover you for future storage upgrades. At
$3,000, our buildout is darn expensive,
but honestly, I wouldn't really change anything. If you were willing to accept
GTX 1070 performance to save a buck,
well, there are a lot of thinner, lighter gaming laptops out there. And if
you need to save more than a buck, the Alienware 13 is a great choice in a more
practical package at closer to
$2,000. So, I guess the conclusion here then is if you're going to go for the
Alienware 17, go big or go home. Blue
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