When you're plunking down more than $4,000 on a portable gaming rig, two of your top priorities are likely to be cutting-edge top-end components and stunning aesthetics. The former will make sure your frame rates stay butter-smooth for years to come, while the latter will make you want to use your machine more often, whether you're streaming at home or out and about in the world.

On both of those counts, Alienware's updated x17 R2 excels. Externally, it's the same sleek, 0.84-inch thick extraterrestrial beast that we looked at last fall . The design's still a stunner, and the optional mechanical Cherry MX keyboard feels as satisfying to type on as some of the best gaming keyboards we've used. The only real downside of the design, as far as I'm concerned, is that all the ports are at the back. But hey, some people like that.

It's on the inside, though, is where things get exciting. The company has updated its configuration options for the x17, adding both Intel's new top-of-the-line 12th Gen Core i9-12900HK , as well as Nvidia's new flagship mobile RTX 3080 Ti . The company sent our review unit with those parts, plus 64GB of DDR5 RAM and a pair of 2TB Samsung 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 SSDs in RAID, delivering possibly the fastest boot drive we've seen to date among the best gaming laptops . (Note though that Dell doesn't guarantee you'll get these drives; the company says it use multiple drive companies, but that any buyer who chooses a 512GB or higher SSD will get a PCIe 4.0 drive or drives.)

Of course, all that cutting-edge high-end hardware adds up. Alienware says our configuration will sell for $4,799. You can save some money by opting for half the RAM (32GB is plenty for gaming) and nixing the mechanical keyboard option. That drops the price down to $4,499. And if you can live with a single 1TB SSD, the price drops to $3,849. Personally, while we aren't sure we'd pay extra for all that RAM and storage, the $50 upgrade for the mechanical keyboard is worth it. The Cherry MX switches on our review unit feel excellent, although there is a fair amount of metallic ping noise on some of the keys.

We're still working on a full review, but in the interest of timeliness, we thought we'd give you a look at the laptop's performance below, compared to MSI's similarly equipped Raider , as well as the x17 R1 we looked at last year, with an RTX 3080 (sans Ti) and an 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11800H. As you might guess, the fresh silicon Alienware has packed in here impresses. But first, he's a look at the system's full specs.

Alienware x17 R2 Specifications

Productivity Performance of the Alienware x17 R2

To get a sense of how Alienware's latest 17-incher performs compared to other laptops, we pitted it against MSI's GE76 Raider, which shares the same Core i9-12900HK CPU and RTX 3080 Ti as our Alienware review unit. And to get a sense of how it stacks up against previous systems, we also tossed performance numbers from the x17 R1 we tested in 2021 (Core i7-11800H, RTX 3080) and the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733 (AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, RTX 3080). We expect to see the most difference in CPU performance, so we started with our productivity tests first.

On Geekbench 5, a synthetic test that aims to track general performance, the 12900HK-packing Alienware x17 delivered a single-core score of 1,842 and a multi-core result of 13,710. That's slightly ahead of the MSI's showing of 1,833 (single) and 13,456 (multi), but much further ahead of the previous-gen x17, with its single-core score of 1,539 and all-core showing of just 9,024. That's a whopping 52% increase from last year's model, though we also jumped from an 11th Gen i7 to a 12th Gen i9. The Ryzen-based Asus G733 had the worst showing here, managing just 1,487 (single-core) and 8,231 (multi-core).

The pair of Samsung 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 SSDs in the new Alienware trounced the competition in our 25GB file transfer test, taking just 11.8 seconds to move the mixed collection of files, for a speed of 2,268 MBps. The 1,774.47 MBps showing of the MSI machine was the next closest. And last year's x17 was over 1 GBps slower, delivering a speed of 1,227.

On our Handbrake test, in which computers transcode a 4K video to 1080p, the Alienware again impressed. As we'd expect, its 4 minutes, 45 second showing was basically even with the MSI (4:44), which has the same CPU and GPU. But the next-closest competitor was last year's x17, which was more than a minute slower (5:51).

Gaming and Graphics Performance on the Alienware X17 R2

We don't expect massive gains between the RTX 3080 performance (as we saw it in the Asus and last-gen Alienware laptops) and the RTX 3080 Ti performance from the x17 R2 we're looking at here as well as in the MSI GE76 Raider. The new GPU should deliver some advantage at high resolutions, and the new CPU should help at 1080p. But since the panel that Alienware shipped with this laptop is 1080p, we'll only get a chance to see its advantages at the lower resolution.

On the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark on its highest settings at 1080p resolution, the new Alienware x17 R2 turned in a score of 107 frames per second (fps). That's five frames behind the MSI, but 13 fps ahead of the previous-gen Alienware (94 fps) and 20 fps ahead of the Asus (87 fps) at the same resolution and settings.

Grand Theft Auto V saw the new x17 R2 deliver 129 fps. That's the poorest showing so far for Alienware, as the MSI delivered 10 fps better (139 fps) at the same resolution and settings. Even the last-gen x17 R1 tied the new model, with the same 129 fps.

On Far Cry New Dawn (ultra settings, 1080p), the Alienware x17 R2 and its 3080 Ti made up some ground, delivering a 117 fps that bested both the MSI (113 fps), and everything else here. The Asus with its AMD CPU brought up the rear with a still-smooth 90 fps on the same test and resolution.

Switching to Borderlands 3 on "badass" settings at 1080p, the x17's score of 97 fps was again 10 fps behind the MSI (106 fps), but ahead of the last-gen systems. Again the Asus brought up last place with 87 fps.

The Alienware x17 R2 again took a loss to the MSI in our Red Dead Redemption 2 test (1080p, medium), where its 78.3 fps was eclipsed by the MSI's 82 fps. Interestingly, even the previous-generation Alienware x17 did better here, with an 81 fps result.

On gaming notebooks, we stress test the system by running the Metro Exodus benchmark on RTX settings 15 times, simulating about half an hour of gameplay. The game ran at an average of 75.98 frames per second across the runs, starting off at 80.41 fps, before dropping into the 75 range after the first three runs.

The performance cores on the Alder Lake processor ran at an average of 2.9 GHz on the stress test, while the efficiency cores hit an average of 2.25 GHz. The CPU package temperature measured an average of 81.4 degrees Celsius (178.5 degrees Fahrenheit). Interestingly, while the Alienware x17 R2's CPU temperature was lower than the similarly equipped MSI on the same test (81 vs 85 degrees), the MSI laptop's Performance cores ran a full GHz higher (2.9 GHz for the Alienware vs 3.94 GHz for the MSI). And the MSI ran the game faster as well, delivering an average of nearly 84 fps, versus the Alienware's 76 fps. Perhaps Alienware is implementing some power limits to avoid the thermal throttling we saw on the MSI.

Oddly, HWinfo, which we use to measure the above data, also failed to show any GPU info in our Alienware review unit. So we can't at this point post the GPU clock speed or temperatures, though we are still investigating why this is happening.

Display on the Alienware x17

The Alienware's 1080p display delivered 107% of the sRGB color gamut and 76% of DCI-P3. That puts it just slightly better than the MSI and Asus displays in terms of color. But with an average brightness of 325 nits, the new Alienware is a fair bit brighter.

Note that the previous Alienware x17 we tested with a 4K 120 Hz panel delivered better color and even more brightness (438 nits). If you aren't after maximum refresh rate over everything else, we'd opt for the 4K panel when configuring the system from Alienware.

Upgradeability of the Alienware x17

Some engineer at Alienware deserves an award for just how easy the x17's internals are to access. There are eight standard Philips head screws on the bottom of the laptop. After removing all but the two that are captive (one on each side), the bottom pops off so easily that I didn't even have to think about finding a spudger or an old credit card for prying purposes.

Inside, both the two SO-DIMM slots and two M.2 SSDs are accessible. All four upgradable slots were occupied in our review unit. The SSDs are housed under heat spreaders with thermal pads, but they are easy enough to get to and remove – you just need to remove yet another small screw for each drive.

Also note the Alienware x17's 87 WHr battery on the bottom; it isn't quite as beefy as the 99 WHr power box that the MSI Raider sports. As you might expect, that leads to differences in unplugged run time between the two systems that sport very similar components.

Also visible here is the x17's four-fan cooling system, which often kicked on even when the machine was idling at the desktop. Expect fan noise to be a constant companion when gaming (and most of the rest of the time too). That said, the fan noise on the R2, while prominent when gaming, isn't close to the loudest or deepest I've heard from a high-end gaming laptop.

Battery Life on the Alienware x17

You'll want to keep the x17 R2's power brick handy whenever using you're using the system. No high-end gaming laptop sports stellar battery life, but the x17 R2 with its top-end components is only likely to last a few hours under the best of circumstances.

On our battery test, in which laptops continuously browse the web, stream video and run OpenGL graphics tests in the browser, all while connected to Wi-Fi with the screen at 150 nits, the x17 R2 conked out at the 3 hour and 7 minute mark. That's not awful as far as powerful gaming laptops go, but the MSI lasted nearly an hour longer (4:05), last year's x17 R1 lasted almost 90 mins longer (4:31), and the AMD-powered Asus held on for 3:44.

Webcam on the Alienware x17 R2

The good news about the Alienware x17 R2's webcam is that it includes Windows Hello support. But its 720p sensor produces fuzzy images under the best conditions. And in anything much below mid-day level sunlight, its colors were subdued and dull. Sure the camera here will get you through the occasional work meeting or virtual event just fine. But if you expect more than that you'll want to invest in one of the best webcams .

Audio on the Alienware x17 R2

I listened to the 20th Anniversary remastered edition of Assemblage 23's album "Failure," and the pair of 4-watt speakers did an OK job when I was sitting in front of the laptop. But stepping a few feet away, the low-end of the audio dropped off dramatically, leading to a thin, muddy sound. I tried to see if software could help here. But the pre-installed Realtek Audio console software only let me adjust the balance from left to right and the volume. And I did not spot an equalizer in Alienware's Command Center Software.

Still, this is going to be less of an issue for gaming. During my rounds of Borderlands 3 , I had no major complaints. But if you often use your laptop for music while you aren't sitting right in front of it, you'll want to invest in some kind of speakers, whether they be of the desktop or Bluetooth variety.

Bottom Line

While it's certainly expensive in our review configuration, the Alienware x17 is a powerful system considering its sub-1-inch thickness. It bested the similarly equipped MSI in our CPU benchmarks, though it was often behind that competing machine (though ahead of the older competition) in our gaming benchmarks. It's unclear why the MSI laptop did better in gaming, since both sport the same CPU and GPU, and both are rated to a maximum of 175W graphics power. Perhaps the slightly thicker chassis of the MSI helped it here, although we are still investigating and hope to have more definitive answers in our full review.

That said, the Alienware's CPU performance leads anything we've seen from a laptop so far, and its gaming performance still bests 3080-based laptops we've tested in the past. Combine that with an excellent mechanical keyboard and a stunning-looking thin chassis and there's a lot to like with the Alienware x17 R2.

Some won't like the fact that all its ports (save for the power plug and headphone jack) are in the back. But if that's an issue for you, MSI's Raider GE76 is an excellent alternative, with more ports on all three sides. It also weighs about a half pound less and has a bigger battery. To our eyes, the Alienware looks nicer, but the MSI has a flashy RGB light strip up front while the Alienware hides its oval light ring at the back.