Dell Alienware m18 (2023) Laptop Review

The Dell Alienware m18 has a gamer-oriented design. It has a dark gray chassis, relatively thin bezels, a power button shaped like the Alienware logo, and an RGB backlit keyboard. There's also RGB lighting on the lid and the back of the laptop. The grills above the keyboard are air vents; the speakers are on the bottom near the front. You can find additional air vents on the laptop's sides, back, and bottom. It's only available in this Dark Metallic Moon color.

The Dell m18's build quality is outstanding. Its metal and plastic construction feels very sturdy and hefty. There's some flex on the lid with the laptop closed; however, the display and keyboard deck are solid and exhibit almost no flex. The feet feel solid and stick firmly to the bottom. The finish doesn't scratch easily but picks up some fingerprints.

The hinge is outstanding. It feels smooth when opening and closing the lid, and it's stable, so there's very little wobbling when touching the screen or typing aggressively. The hinge has a fair amount of resistance, but you can still open the lid with one hand, as the laptop's base is heavy enough to keep it in place.

The Dell m18 is a large, bulky, and heavy laptop intended more as a desktop replacement than for on-the-go use. Its power adapter is also bulky and heavy. If you want a more compact gaming laptop, check out its smaller sibling, the Dell Alienware m16 R1 (2023).

The Dell m18's serviceability is outstanding. Accessing the internals is straightforward; you only need to remove eight Philips screws and undo a few clips holding the bottom panel. The two front corner screws are captive; the rest come out fully. All the replaceable parts are easily accessible once you remove the panel. There are three SSD slots: two M.2 2280 and one M.2 2230. The latter is only on models with an NVIDIA Geforce RTX 4080, 4090, or AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT GPU.

You can see the service manual here.

• Dell m18 laptop
• 330W power adapter and cord
• Documentation
• Alienware stickers

The Dell m18 is available with the following displays:

• IPS 2560 x 1600 165Hz
• IPS 1920 x 1200 480Hz

The choice of the display depends on your usage. The sharper QHD+ (2560 x 1600) is a better option if you play a lot of games in which you have the time to appreciate the graphics, like atmospheric games and RPGs. Its increased sharpness (167 PPI) also makes it better for productivity tasks and media consumption. The FHD+ (1920 x 1200) panel's sharpness is acceptable. Its pixel density may seem low if you're used to higher-resolution screens like the Retina displays on Apple MacBooks; however, it's still better than a 27-inch 1440p desktop monitor. The FHD+ display is better suited for fast-moving games like FPS and racing games due to its high refresh rate.

You can get the Dell m18 with a 165Hz or 480Hz display. The latter has a fast response time, resulting in a clear image with minimal ghosting in fast-moving scenes. The 165Hz display will likely perform similarly. Both displays support G-SYNC and FreeSync. To use VRR, you must set the display mode to 'NVIDIA GPU only' in the NVIDIA Control Panel application.

The FHD+ display's contrast ratio is decent and within the typical range of most IPS panels. However, it's still relatively low compared to other display technologies like VA and OLED. This contrast level makes blacks look gray in dim settings. The QHD+ display likely has the same contrast ratio.

The FHD+ display gets bright enough for use in most indoor environments but not outdoors in broad daylight. It's very dim at the lowest brightness setting, which is great for dark room viewing, as it causes less eye strain. The QHD+ display has the same advertised brightness and likely performs similarly.

The display's reflection handling is decent. Reflections are only a problem when viewing dark-color content. Although its matte coating does a good job of diffusing and reducing the intensity of bright light sources, it causes a halo effect around the reflections, making other areas of the screen harder to see.

The FHD+ display's black uniformity is okay. There's some clouding here and there, as well as some backlight bleed along the edges of the screen. However, these uniformity issues are relatively minor and only visible when viewing dark-color content in a dim setting.

The display's horizontal viewing angle is okay. The image dims and washes out relatively quickly as you move to the side, so you need to be more or less directly in front of the screen to get the best accuracy.

The display's vertical viewing angle is okay. Like the horizontal viewing angle, the image dims and washes when viewing from above and below, so you need to look at the screen more or less straight on to see an accurate image. This can be challenging in tight places where you don't have much room to tilt the screen, like on a bus or airplane.

The FHD+ display's out-of-the-box accuracy is decent. The white balance is good; the inaccuracies are minor and hard to spot. The colors aren't as accurate, though that's mainly because the color profile is in DCI P3, resulting in oversaturated greens, yellows, reds, and cyan. The color temperature is very close to the standard 6500K target. The gamma does somewhat follow the curve, but everything looks too dark.

The FHD+ display's color gamut is outstanding. It has full sRGB and DCI P3 coverage, as well as near-full Adobe RGB coverage, making it suitable for SDR and HDR content creation and print photography. The QHD+ display has the same advertised color gamut.

The display is entirely flicker-free, which helps reduce eye strain.

You can configure the Dell m18 with a scissor switch-based or a mechanical keyboard with ultra low-profile CherryMX switches. Our unit has a scissor-switch keyboard. It feels spacious and is easy to get used to. The plastic used for the keycaps feels okay in quality; it isn't particularly premium nor overly cheap. Key stability is good but a little inconsistent, as some keys wobble more than others. The scissor switches have a good amount of travel and provide satisfying tactile and audio feedback. They require a fair amount of force to actuate, which might cause fatigue if you aren't used to it. Due to the laptop's size and the keyboard's position, you may need to stretch your arms out further to type, which can also be tiring over time. You can customize the RGB backlighting via the Alienware Command Center app. The backlighting isn't very bright, and consistency is again an issue, as some keys look dimmer than the rest.

The mechanical keyboard uses clicky switches, which will provide more distinct tactile and audio feedback. It has the same RGB backlighting.

The Dell m18 has a great touchpad. The surface feels smooth, and tracking works well, even around the edges. There's no issue with palm rejection or accidental triggers. It's reasonably large but could be bigger, considering the amount of space available on the deck. Unfortunately, the buttons don't feel particularly tactile, and you can only click in the bottom half of the touchpad.

The Dell m18's speakers get very loud with minimal compression at max volume. They sound clear and natural, albeit slightly boxy and hollow. They have a decent amount of bass, not as much as something like an Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021), but more than most Windows laptops.

The webcam's video quality is great. The image looks relatively sharp and well-exposed; however, some colors look slightly unnatural, and there's a bit of noise here and there, causing a loss of finer details. Voices sound pretty clear but a tad over-processed.

The Dell m18 has an outstanding port selection. All three USB-A ports support USB 3.2 Gen 1 data transfer speed of up to 5Gbps. The USB-A closest to the Ethernet port supports PowerShare. This feature lets you set how much of the battery's charge a connected device can draw when charging. For example, if you set it to 25%, charging will stop when you've used 25% of the laptop battery's total charge. You can also turn off charging completely. The USB-C on the right supports USB 3.2 Gen 1 data transfer speed, while the two USB-Cs on the back support USB 3.2 Gen 2 (up to 10Gbps data transfer speed) and DisplayPort. Models with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 or 4070 GPU only have one USB-C on the back (two total). The Ethernet port supports up to 2.5Gbps data transfer speed.

The Dell Alienware m18 R1's wireless adapter is a Qualcomm WCN685x. You can also configure the laptop with a MediaTek MT7922 wireless adapter. Wi-Fi 6E has faster speeds, lower latency, and less signal interference than previous Wi-Fi standards. However, you need a router that supports Wi-Fi 6E to benefit from these features.

The Dell m18 is available with the following CPUs:

• AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX (8 cores/16 threads, up to 5.10GHz, 32MB cache)
• AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (12 cores/24 threads, up to 5.20GHz, 64MB cache)
• AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX (16 cores/32 threads, up to 5.40GHz, 64 cache)

All three are high-performance CPUs designed for mobile workstations and gaming laptops. These AMD Zen 4-based chips can handle general productivity tasks like text processing and web browsing, as well as more demanding workloads like video editing, programming, and gaming. The CPU choice depends on the GPU, as there are limitations to the CPU/GPU pairing. The base Ryzen 7 7745HX is only available with an RTX 4060, while the top-end Ryzen 9 7945HX is only available with an RTX 4090. The middle option, the Ryzen 9 7845HX, is the most flexible, as you can pair it with the Radeon 7600M XT, RTX 4070, or RTX 4080. Since most games are GPU-limited, it's best to choose based on the GPU. If you're specifically looking for CPU processing power, you can simply choose based on the specs. More cores, faster clock speeds, and a larger cache will give you better performance.

The Dell m18 is available with the following GPUs:

• AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT 8GB GDDR6
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU 8GB GDDR6
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU 8GB GDDR6
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU 12GB GDDR6
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU 16GB GDDR6

The AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 are roughly similar in performance. They're better suited for 1080p gaming but can run most games at 1440p if you don't mind playing with low graphical settings. Choosing between the RX 7600M XT and the RTX 4060 will depend on the games you play, as some games will run better on the 7600M XT, while others will run better on the RTX 4060. The RTX 4070, 4080, and 4090 can all handle 1440p gaming; the 4080 and 4090 will simply give you more headroom to play with higher graphical settings or frame rates. The RTX 4080 runs at a TGP (Total Graphics Power) of 175W with Dynamic Boost, which is at the top end of its power spectrum. Both the AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT and the NVIDIA GPUs support ray tracing and have their respective upscaling feature (FSR and DLSS, respectively) to boost frame rates in supported games. The NVIDIA 40-series GPUs have a new feature called Frame Generation, which uses AI to insert artificially generated frames, resulting in higher frame rates and smoother gameplay in supported games. The number of games that support this feature is small for now but will likely grow quickly. The AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT doesn't have a similar feature.

This laptop has a MUX (multiplexer) switch, a feature that allows the GPU to send information directly to the display without going through the integrated GPU. This means you'll see better performance than laptops without this feature. The performance difference can be anywhere from 10% to 25%, or more in some cases.

You can configure this laptop with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of RAM. The memory is user-replaceable. This laptop supports up to 5200MHz RAM.

You can configure this laptop with 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, or 8.5TB of storage. Except for the 512GB and 1TB storage options, the other configurations are available in a RAID 0 array, meaning the laptop will have two or three SSDs acting as a single unit. RAID 0 significantly boosts drive speeds by splitting the data evenly across multiple drives; however, the failure of one drive can cause data loss across all drives. The SSDs are user-replaceable. There are two M.2 2280 slots. Models with an RTX 4080, 4090, or Radeon RX 7600M XT GPU have an additional M.2 2230 slot.

The Dell m18 with an AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX CPU has a superb overall score in Geekbench 5. The 7845HX has no problem handling general productivity tasks and demanding workloads like programming, music production, CAD, and video editing. These are results in the default Balanced mode. You can change the performance mode in the Alienware Command Center app. Switching to the Overdrive mode, which is the maximum performance setting, only increases the single-thread score by 0.73% and the multi-thread score by 2.51%. The Ryzen 7 7745HX will be slower, while the Ryzen 9 7945HX will be faster.

For GPU-heavy workloads, all of the available discrete GPUs are suitable for demanding tasks, so it's really a matter of how smooth an experience you expect and how fast you want to complete tasks. If you work with extremely complex materials, getting a model with an RTX 4070, 4080, or 4090 is probably best.

The Dell m18 has a superb overall score in the Cinebench R23 benchmarks. The AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX has no problem handling demanding, multi-threaded applications and heavy multitasking. The Ryzen 7 7745HX is slower but still adequate for intensive tasks. The Ryzen 9 7945HX is the fastest and will give you the smoothest experience. Switching to the Overdrive mode has no impact on the performance.

The performance in Blender is outstanding. While the CPU can render images quickly, it's significantly faster to render with the GPU, thanks to NVIDIA's Optix hardware acceleration. The AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT can get the job done but is slower than the RTX 4060.

The Dell Alienware m18 R1 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU scores superbly in the Basemark GPU benchmark. The RTX 4080 can push high frame rates in demanding games at 1440p with minimal tweaks to the graphical settings. The RTX 4090 is even faster and can handle some games at 4k (with an external monitor), while the RTX 4070 is slower, meaning you'll have to lower the settings further to get smooth gameplay at 1440p. The AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT and the RTX 4060 are best suited for 1080p gaming and can handle some games at 1440p, albeit with low graphical settings.

The 512GB SSD's performance is outstanding. Its fast read and write speeds allow the system to quickly boot up, launch apps, and transfer files. Its sequential read speed is particularly fast, which will help shorten game loading times. The larger capacity SSDs will likely perform better. You can get this laptop with two or three SSDs in a RAID 0 array, further improving performance.

The Dell m18's battery life is terrible. You'll have to use the laptop plugged in for the most part, especially when gaming.

Borderlands 3 runs well on the Dell Alienware m18 R1 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU. The gameplay is mostly smooth at 1080p with high settings. There are some stutters, but they don't happen often. Switching to the Overdrive mode only increases the performance by about 4%. You can play this and other similarly demanding games at 1440p without problems on models with an RTX 4070 and upwards. The AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT and the RTX 4060 can handle this game at 1440p, albeit with low graphical settings.

We've run additional benchmarks in Red Dead Redemption 2 to give you a better idea of the performance on a Ryzen 9 7845HX and RTX 4080 configuration. Here are the results:

• Avg FPS (1080p, high settings): 132 fps
• 1% Low: 61 fps
• 0.1% Low: 27 fps
• Avg FPS On Very Low: 161 fps

Every configuration of this laptop can provide smooth gameplay in Civilization VI and other similar titles, even at 1440p. The average turn time is good and among the best compared to other current-gen CPUs. Upgrading to the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX will only improve the turn time slightly.

Every configuration of the Dell m18 can provide a very smooth experience in CS:GO and other similar titles. You can even play this game at 1440p and still get very high, consistent frame rates.

Every configuration of the Dell Alienware m18 R1 can handle Shadow of the Tomb Raider and other similarly demanding games at 1080p. Again, most of the CPU/GPU combo can also run this game at 1440p; however, you'll have to tweak the settings a bit or rely on features like DLSS and FSR (in supported games) to get smooth gameplay on models with an AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT or RTX 4060.

Although the keyboard gets warm under load, the hot spots are at the top of the keyboard deck, away from where most people rest their hands. Unfortunately, the fans get pretty loud under load and can be quite distracting. Switching to the Overdrive mode only increases the keyboard temperature by 1° C and the fan noise by 1 dBA.

The Dell m18's performance over time is outstanding. Neither the CPU nor the GPU noticeably throttles under load. The results are the same in the Overdrive mode.

The Dell m18 has many pre-installed applications, including:

• Alienware Command Center: Lets you change the power and performance settings, launch games, customize the RGB lighting, and view system status like CPU/GPU usage and temperature.
• Alienware Customer Connect: Survey about the system's performance.
• Alienware Digital Delivery: Lets you download digital content purchased from Dell.
• Alienware Update: Keeps the BIOS, drivers, and firmware up to date.
• Dell SupportAssist: Scans your computer for firmware and driver updates.
• intelliGo Neptune: Noise cancellation software to reduce background noise on video calls.
• My Alienware: Shows your laptop's specifications, warranty, and other info.
• Spotify: App for the music streaming service.

The Dell Alienware m18 laptop has a facial recognition IR camera. You can use it to log in quickly, authorize purchases in the Windows Store, and auto-fill saved passwords on supported websites. The keyboard has per-key RGB backlighting; you can customize it via the Alienware Command Center application.