We all know Alienware are not renowned for their slimness or subtlety, yet the company wants to start working around those edges and the new Alienware 15 is proof of that. Though not differing in a major sense in terms of weight and size, the new Alienware 15 brings some improvements.
The Alienware 15 unveiled at CES 2015 is the lightest of its kind, weighing in at 3.2 kg. The encasing is full aluminum and carbon-fiber filling, conferring the machine a strong build without any extra weight. The Aliewanre 15 is also remarkably thin (for an Alienware), at just 1.3 inches thick it is the thinnest out of the 14 or 15 inch variants.
As any Alienware product, it is packed with all sorts of lights, programmable through the AlienFx software at your own discretion. The Alienware 15 can be outfitted, optionally, with a 4k display, which can give it an extra kick. But then again it is hard even for most desktops to perform a decent frame rate at that resolution.
The Alienware 15 can be packed with either AMD Radeon or Nvidia GeForce GPUs, that are backed by either a Core i5 or Core i7, fourth generation chips. Even though the new Intel Broadwell series are the bunker-buster at CES 2015, don’t expect to see them on any gaming machine until later this year, when the quad-cores are coming out. The memory package on this device features a maximum of 16 GB of RAM DDR3L. The basic storage on the Alienware 15 variant is a slow-ish 1TB HDD at 5.400 RPM. If you want more speed, an extra SSD maybe, you will have to pull out some extra gold from your stash.
As for any gaming machine, you shouldn’t expect much battery life. The company advertises a run-time of up to 7 hours on the Alienware 15, though exactly how much it will last remains to be seen.
And here comes Santa… in a BIG way! We get to see the Alienware Graphics Amplifier port on display. The first peek at this new feature was on the Alienware 13 in October; this one-of-a-kind port allows you to pair your gaming station with a box that hosts a desktop GPU, thus allowing for a significant boost in gaming power. The amplifier will also provide automated over-clocking for the laptops that are fitted with an Intel Core i7.
The cost for such an amplifier can vary from $200 to $500 for a high end GPU. The Alienware 15 on its own is a good deal, even without the extra power on the graphics amplifier, but it all comes down to what you need and like. The Alienware 15 was made available as of yesterday in the US for a starting price of $1.199. The international availability and pricing patterns have not yet been announced.