Alienware m16 R2 Review: A Gaming Laptop That You Can Use Daily

y first gaming laptop, which I bought in 2011, was an Alienware M11x R2, and I replaced it with an Alienware 14. Both were great machines, and I have fond memories of playing some incredible games on them. Alienware laptops have always been great, but they've almost always been bulky, big, and alien-like. However, a couple of years ago, Dell decided to change things up and make sleeker and less alien-like Alienware laptops. The Alienware m16 R2 is a gaming laptop with nothing much alien about it in terms of design.

It's still a good gaming laptop with enough oomph to play all AAA titles. It comes with up to Intel Core Ultra 9 chipset and supports AI features. But has the weight reduction and design change cost the laptop its performance value? Can it be used as a daily driver? You'll have to read till the end to find out.

The Alienware m16 R2 is priced at around Rs. 1,55,000 in India for the base option with an Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU. Our review unit was the top-end variant with the Intel Core Ultra 9 chipset and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, priced at Rs. 1,96,990.

Alienware m16 R2 Design: Keeping it simple

• Dimensions - 363.9 mm(width) x 249.4mm (depth) x 23.5mm (height)
• Weight - 2.61 kg
• Colours - Dark Metallic Moon

The new Alienware m16 R2 is a total departure from the R1. The thermal shelf is gone right off the bat, or rather, the back. The metal lid has a matte finish, and the number 16 is carved onto the corner, but not in a nice way. It's big and in your face. I could've just been happy with the Alien head logo. The bottom is made from aluminium and fairly minimal but has hexagonally shaped intake grilles. The exhaust vents are at the back and the sides. There are a lot of hexagonal design elements all over the laptop, and you'll also find them when you open the lid and look above the keyboard. There's an Alien head-shaped power button above the keyboard as well.
The area around the keyboard and the touchpad features a soft finish, making it very comfortable to lay your hands on. It does like fingerprints, though. As for ports, the right side has two USB Type-A ports and a microSD card reader. You'll find an RJ45 Ethernet port and a headphone jack on the right, whereas the back houses two USB Type-C ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a DC port.

While Dell has shed some weight and dimensions, the Alienware m16 R2 is still heavy at 2.61 kg, but it fits much better inside backpacks. It's well built, the hinges seem durable and can open at 180 degrees, and there's hardly any flex.

Alienware m16 R2 Display: Very good with room for improvement

• Size - 16-inch IPS panel
• Resolution - QHD+ (2560x1600)
• Refresh rate - 240Hz

You get a nice 16-inch anti-glare IPS display on the laptop. The panel offers a 240Hz refresh rate, a 3ms response time, and a QHD+ resolution. It also supports Nvidia G-Sync and Dolby Vision HDR. Watching movies and playing games on the display is really nice, but I wish it were brighter. The panel offers 300 nits of brightness, which is lower than other laptops in the price range. The display has slim bezels on either side, but you get a nice thick chin and a slightly thinner top bezel that houses the web camera.