Products
Dell Alienware m16 R2 (2024)
Apple MacBook Air 15 (M3, 2024)
Tested using Methodology v0.8.3
Updated Jun 04, 2025 02:46 PM
SEE PRICE
BestBuy.com
Tested using Methodology v0.8.3
Updated Oct 29, 2025 03:02 PM
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
Size
16"
Operating System
Windows 11
Size
15.3"
Operating System
macOS
Our Verdict
Dell Alienware m16 R2 (2024)
Apple MacBook Air 15 (M3, 2024)
The Dell Alienware m16 R2 (2024) and the Apple MacBook Air 15 (M3, 2024) are entirely different laptops. The Dell is a Windows gaming laptop, while the MacBook Air is a general productivity ultraportable model. Go with the Dell model if you want to game or perform CPU/GPU-intensive tasks. The MacBook Air is mainly for light tasks like web browsing and text processing. It can handle some demanding tasks like video editing, thanks to its M3 SoC's dedicated video encoders and decoders. However, you're still better off with the Dell for tasks that primarily tax the GPU. As for the user experience, the MacBook Air is better. It has a sturdier build, a much better haptic touchpad, better-sounding speakers, a higher-quality webcam, and a longer battery life. Port selection is where it lags behind the Dell, as it only has two USB-C ports.
Variants
- Alienware m16 R2 (AWM16) (Dark Metallic Moon - Ultra 7 155H/RTX 4060/16GB/1TB)
- Alienware m16 R2 (AWM16-7032BLK-PUS) (Dark Metallic Moon - Ultra 7 155H/RTX 4060/16GB/1TB)
- Alienware m16 R2 (AWM16-7025BLK-PUS) (Dark Metallic Moon - Ultra 7 155H/RTX 4070/16GB/1TB)
- Alienware m16 R2 (AWM16-9487BLK-PUS) (Dark Metallic Moon - Ultra 9 185H/RTX 4070/32GB/1TB)
- MacBook Air 15 (MXD43LL/A) (Midnight - M3/16GB/512GB)
- MacBook Air 15 (MRYU3LL/A) (Midnight - M3/8GB/256GB)
- MacBook Air 15 (MRYV3LL/A) (Midnight - M3/8GB/512GB)
- MacBook Air 15 (MXD23LL/A) (Silver - M3/16GB/512GB)
- MacBook Air 15 (MRYP3LL/A) (Silver - M3/8GB/256GB)
- MacBook Air 15 (MRYQ3LL/A) (Silver - M3/8GB/512GB)
- MacBook Air 15 (MXD13LL/A) (Space Gray - M3/16GB/512GB)
- MacBook Air 15 (MRYM3LL/A) (Space Gray - M3/8GB/256GB)
- MacBook Air 15 (MRYN3LL/A) (Space Gray - M3/8GB/512GB)
- MacBook Air 15 (MXD33LL/A) (Starlight - M3/16GB/512GB)
- MacBook Air 15 (MRYR3LL/A) (Starlight - M3/8GB/256GB)
- MacBook Air 15 (MRYT3LL/A) (Starlight - M3/8GB/512GB)
Main Differences for
School
School
Threshold
School
7.1
8.8
Battery
6.4
9.1
Portability
5.5
8.7
Touchpad
6.8
9.6
Ports
9.0
5.0
Full Comparison
Design
Style
Style Photo
Form Factor
Traditional (Clamshell)
Traditional (Clamshell)
Build Quality
9.0
9.5
Build Quality Photo
Hinge
9.4
9.1
Hinge Photo
Range
180°
135°
Stability
Good
Good
One Finger Lift
Yes
Yes
Portability
5.5
8.7
Dimensions Photo
Size
16"
15.3"
Thickness
0.9" (2.3 cm)
0.6" (1.4 cm)
Width
14.4" (36.5 cm)
13.4" (34.0 cm)
Depth
9.8" (25.0 cm)
9.3" (23.7 cm)
Volume
128.1 in³ (2,098.8 cm³)
68.8 in³ (1,128.1 cm³)
Weight
6.4 lbs (2.9 kg)
3.3 lbs (1.5 kg)
Charger Size
12.4 in³ (204.0 cm³)
4.2 in³ (68.6 cm³)
Charger Weight
2.0 lbs (0.9 kg)
0.4 lbs (0.2 kg)
Serviceability
9.1
3.5
Internals Photo
Ease Of Access
9.0
6.0
RAM Slots
2
0
Storage Slots
2
0
Replaceable Battery
Yes
Yes
Replaceable Wireless Adapter
Yes
No
In The Box
In The Box Photo
Display
Screen Specs
Display Photo
Resolution
2560 x 1600
2880 x 1864
Aspect Ratio
16:10
16:10
Pixel Density
188 PPI
226 PPI
Panel Type
IPS
IPS
Touch Screen
No
No
Screen-To-Body Ratio
82%
87%
Refresh Rate
9.6
5.9
Motion Blur
Refresh Rate
240 Hz
60 Hz
Variable Refresh Rate
G-SYNC
No
Contrast
7.3
7.5
Contrast Photo
Native Contrast
1,300 : 1
1,412 : 1
Brightness
6.9
8.7
Maximum Brightness
296 cd/m²
494 cd/m²
Minimum Brightness
15 cd/m²
2 cd/m²
Reflections
7.1
9.1
Reflections Photo Off
Reflections Photo Max
Screen Finish
Matte
Glossy
Total Reflections
5.69%
1.47%
Indirect Reflections
3.97%
0.38%
Calculated Direct Reflections
1.72%
1.09%
Black Uniformity
7.0
7.3
Black Uniformity Photo
Uniformity (Std. Dev.)
1.348%
1.103%
Out-Of-The-Box Color Accuracy
5.1
9.9
White Balance Screencap
Gamma Curve Screencap
Color Screencap
Avg. White Balance dE
5.29
1.47
Avg. Gamma
2.31
2.24
Avg. Color dE
4.36
0.98
Avg. Color Temperature
5,675.9 K
6,742.3 K
Color Gamut
8.8
9.4
Gamut SDR
sRGB xy
99.96%
99.93%
sRGB uv
99.85%
99.72%
Adobe RGB xy
81.04%
87.43%
Adobe RGB uv
91.01%
92.34%
Gamut HDR
DCI P3 xy
83.58%
99.05%
DCI P3 uv
89.01%
98.72%
Rec. 2020 xy
60.1%
71.83%
Rec. 2020 uv
65.41%
73.49%
Flicker
10
9.0
Flicker Graph
Flicker-Free
Yes
No
Flicker Frequency
No Flicker
> 1000Hz
Flicker Active Below
0%
100%
Interface
Keyboard
8.8
8.0
Keyboard Photo
Typing Quality
8.5
8.0
Numpad
No
No
Backlighting
Per-Key RGB
Adjustable
Key Switch Actuation Graph
Operating Force
75 gf
62 gf
Actuation Force
38 gf
40 gf
Pre-Travel
1.29 mm
0.80 mm
Total Travel
1.74 mm
0.91 mm
Touchpad
6.8
9.6
Touchpad Photo
Tracking Quality
6.5
9.5
Size
12.5 in² (80.5 cm²)
21.4 in² (138.0 cm²)
Material
Glass
Glass
Dedicated Buttons
No
No
Speakers
8.3
8.9
Frequency Response Plot
Max Volume
76 dB SPL
81 dB SPL
Standard Error @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
4.4 dB
5.9 dB
Slope @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
0.4
2.2
Bass Extension (Low-Frequency Ext.)
236 Hz
155 Hz
Treble Extension (High-Frequency Ext.)
20 kHz
20 kHz
Dynamic Range Compression @ Max Vol.
0.7 dB
2.3 dB
Webcam & Microphone
7.0
8.7
Webcam Video Sample
Video Quality
7.0
9.0
Resolution
1080p
1080p
Position
Top Center
Top Center
Privacy Cover
No
No
Face Unlock
Yes
No
Connectivity
Ports
9.0
5.0
Ports Photo
USB-A Ports
2
0
USB-C Ports
2
2
Thunderbolt
Thunderbolt 4
Thunderbolt 3
USB-C Charging
Yes
Yes
USB-C Display Out
Yes
Yes
HDMI
2.1
No
DisplayPort
No
No
3.5mm Jack
Combo mic/headphone
Combo mic/headphone
Card Reader
MicroSD UHS 2
No
Ethernet
Yes
No
Proprietary Port
Alienware Power Adapter Port
Apple MagSafe 3
Security Lock
No
No
Wireless Communication
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be)
Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)
Bluetooth
5.4
5.3
Configuration
CPU
Brand
Intel
Apple
Model
Core Ultra 7 155H
M3
Core Count
16
8
Thread Count
22
8
GPU
Brand
NVIDIA
Apple
Model
GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
M3
Dedicated/Integrated
Dedicated
Integrated
VRAM Size
8 GB
N/A
GPU Total Graphics Power (TGP)
135W
N/A
RAM
Capacity
16 GB
8 GB
Modules
2
Unknown
Type
DDR5
LP-DDR5
Speed
5,600 MHz
6,400 MHz
Storage
Advertised Capacity
1,000 GB
256 GB
Usable Capacity
921 GB
214 GB
Drive 1
Samsung PM9A1 NVMe 1024GB
Apple SSD AP0256Z
Drive 1 Type
SSD
SSD
Drive 2
No 2nd Drive
No 2nd Drive
Drive 2 Type
No 2nd Drive
No 2nd Drive
Performance
Geekbench 5 (Synthetics)
9.9
9.4
Geekbench Image
CPU Single-Thread
1,770 points
2,322 points
CPU Multi-Thread
16,673 points
10,501 points
GPU Compute
108,092 points
33,403 points
Cinebench R23 (CPU Rendering)
10
9.7
Cinebench R23 Photo
Single-Thread
1,807 points
1,892 points
Multi-Thread
18,673 points
9,179 points
Blender (3D Rendering)
9.4
8.7
Blender Image
CPU Render Time
2.2 min
4.0 min
GPU Render Time
0.4 min
1.6 min
GPU Render Time (Optix)
9 s
N/A
Basemark GPU (Game Scene)
9.8
7.4
Basemark Image
Overall Score
120,228
44,950
Storage Drive Performance
9.6
9.2
Storage Performance Image
Sequential Write Speed
2,108.1 MB/s
2,738.0 MB/s
Sequential Read Speed
2,705.8 MB/s
2,834.7 MB/s
Random Write Speed
129.5 MB/s
41.1 MB/s
Random Read Speed
77.2 MB/s
62.5 MB/s
Battery
6.4
9.1
Capacity
90 Wh
67 Wh
Battery Life (Web Browsing)
6.9 hrs
12.7 hrs
Battery Life (Video Playback)
7.8 hrs
12.0 hrs
Battery Life (Gaming)
1.9 hrs
3.5 hrs
Charge Time
2.8 hrs
2.8 hrs
Borderlands 3
7.8
3.1
Borderlands 3 Graph
Avg. FPS
101 fps
20 fps
1% Low
60 fps
7 fps
0.1% Low
35 fps
4 fps
1% Low Delta
7 ms
89 ms
0.1% Low Delta
18 ms
230 ms
Avg. FPS On Very Low
130 fps
37 fps
Civilization VI
9.0
5.6
Civilization VI Graph
Avg. FPS
168 fps
41 fps
1% Low
109 fps
26 fps
0.1% Low
102 fps
17 fps
1% Low Delta
3 ms
14 ms
0.1% Low Delta
4 ms
33 ms
Avg. FPS On Minimum
330 fps
93 fps
Avg. Turn Time
5.99 s
10.24 s
Counter-Strike 2
9.1
0.0
CS2 Graph
Avg. FPS
227fps
N/A
1% Low
99fps
N/A
0.1% Low
61fps
N/A
1% Low Delta
6 ms
N/A
0.1% Low Delta
12 ms
N/A
Avg. FPS On Low
324fps
N/A
Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
8.4
4.3
SOTTR Graph
Avg. FPS
133 fps
32 fps
1% Low
80 fps
15 fps
0.1% Low
44 fps
8 fps
1% Low Delta
5 ms
36 ms
0.1% Low Delta
15 ms
90 ms
Avg. FPS On Lowest
155 fps
44 fps
Thermals And Noise
5.8
8.1
Keyboard Temps Picture
Keyboard Temp While Idle
38 °C (100 °F)
27 °C (81 °F)
Keyboard Temp Under Load
51 °C (124 °F)
50 °C (121 °F)
Fan Noise While Idle
25.0 dBA
N/A
Fan Noise Under Load
53.0 dBA
N/A
Power & Fan Control App
Yes
No
Performance Over Time
8.0
7.1
Performance Over Time Graph
CPU Temp (Cinebench)
100 °C
90 °C
CPU Perf. Loss (Cinebench)
13% loss
6% loss
GPU Temp (Heaven)
62 °C
90 °C
GPU Perf. Loss (Heaven)
0% loss
12% loss
Additional Features And Software
Software
Operating System
Windows 11
macOS
Additional Software
Yes
None
Extra Features
Biometrics
Face Recognition
Fingerprint Sensor
RGB Illumination
Yes
No
Touch Pen Support
No Stylus Support
No Stylus Support
Secondary Display
No
No
To access
and
Become an Insider
unlimited full product reviews,
product prices
other exclusive site features
Dell Alienware m16 R2 (2024)
Apple MacBook Air 15 (M3, 2024)
Comments
Dell Alienware m16 R2 (2024) vs Apple MacBook Air 15 (M3, 2024): Main Discussion
What do you think of these products? Let us know below.
Looking for a personalized buying advice from the RTINGS.com experts? Insiders have direct access to buying advice on our insider forum.