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Products
Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023)
Tested using Methodology v0.8.3
Updated May 02, 2025 02:56 PM
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Amazon.comTested using Methodology v0.8.3
Updated May 02, 2025 03:05 PM
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Amazon.com
Size18"
Operating SystemWindows 11
Size16"
Operating SystemmacOS
Our Verdict
Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023)
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023) and the Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024) are very different. The MacBook is a premium mobile workstation designed for demanding tasks like 3D modeling, video editing, and scientific simulations, while the Dell is an upper mid-range gaming model. You can perform intensive tasks and get even better performance on the Dell, as it's available with up to an Intel Core i9-14900HX CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU; however, the overall user experience isn't as good as on the MacBook. Also, the Dell laptop's Intel CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs can't match Apple's M3 Pro/Max SoCs' power efficiency, leading to significantly shorter battery life.
Variants
- Alienware m18 R2 (AWM18R) (Dark Metallic Moon - FHD/480Hz/i9-14900HX/RTX 4080/32GB/1TB)
- Alienware m18 R2 (AWM18R-9494BLK-PUS) (Dark Metallic Moon - QHD/165Hz/i9-14900HX/RTX 4070/32GB/1TB)
- Alienware m18 R2 (AWM18R-9583BLK-PUS) (Dark Metallic Moon - QHD/165Hz/i9-14900HX/RTX 4080/32GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MRW73LL/A) (Silver - M3 Max/14-core CPU/36GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MUW73LL/A) (Silver - M3 Max/16-core CPU/48GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MRW43LL/A) (Silver - M3 Pro/12-core CPU/18GB/512GB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MRW63LL/A) (Silver - M3 Pro/12-core CPU/36GB/512GB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MRW33LL/A) (Space Black - M3 Max/14-core CPU/36GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MUW63LL/A) (Space Black - M3 Max/16-core CPU/48GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MRW13LL/A) (Space Black - M3 Pro/12-core CPU/18GB/512GB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MRW23LL/A) (Space Black - M3 Pro/12-core CPU/36GB/512GB)
Main Differences forSchool
School
Threshold
School
6.2
8.8
Battery
3.8
9.4
Portability
3.0
7.2
Touchpad
8.2
9.7
Keyboard
9.2
8.0
Brightness
6.6
9.1
Full Comparison
Design
Style
Style Photo
Form Factor
Traditional (Clamshell)
Traditional (Clamshell)
Build Quality
9.0
9.5
Build Quality Photo
Hinge
9.2
9.1
Hinge Photo
Range
145°
135°
Stability
Good
Good
One Finger Lift
Yes
Yes
Portability
3.0
7.2
Dimensions Photo
Size
18"
16"
Thickness
1.1" (2.7 cm)
0.7" (1.7 cm)
Width
16.2" (41.2 cm)
14.0" (35.5 cm)
Depth
12.6" (32.0 cm)
9.8" (24.8 cm)
Volume
217.2 in³ (3,559.7 cm³)
91.3 in³ (1,496.7 cm³)
Weight
8.7 lbs (3.9 kg)
4.8 lbs (2.2 kg)
Charger Size
25.2 in³ (412.8 cm³)
13.3 in³ (218.3 cm³)
Charger Weight
2.3 lbs (1.0 kg)
1.1 lbs (0.5 kg)
Serviceability
9.1
3.5
Internals Photo
Ease Of Access
9.0
6.0
RAM Slots
2
0
Storage Slots
4
0
Replaceable Battery
Yes
Yes
Replaceable Wireless Adapter
Yes
No
In The Box
In The Box Photo
Display
Screen Specs
Display Photo
Resolution
1920 x 1200
3456 x 2234
Aspect Ratio
16:10
16:10
Pixel Density
125 PPI
254 PPI
Panel Type
IPS
IPS
Touch Screen
No
No
Screen-To-Body Ratio
86%
91%
Refresh Rate
9.8
8.7
Motion Blur
Refresh Rate
480 Hz
120 Hz
Variable Refresh Rate
G-SYNC
Apple ProMotion
Contrast
6.9
10
Contrast Photo
Native Contrast
1,080 : 1
51,150 : 1
Brightness
6.6
9.1
Maximum Brightness
266 cd/m²
601 cd/m²
Minimum Brightness
14 cd/m²
3 cd/m²
Reflections
7.5
8.8
Reflections Photo Off
Reflections Photo Max
Screen Finish
Matte
Glossy
Total Reflections
5.37%
1.83%
Indirect Reflections
4.74%
0.16%
Calculated Direct Reflections
0.63%
1.67%
Black Uniformity
5.7
10
Black Uniformity Photo
Uniformity (Std. Dev.)
2.180%
0.179%
Out-Of-The-Box Color Accuracy
4.0
9.9
White Balance Screencap
Gamma Curve Screencap
Color Screencap
Avg. White Balance dE
5.99
1.45
Avg. Gamma
2.1
2.24
Avg. Color dE
5.28
0.94
Avg. Color Temperature
5,908 K
6,718.9 K
Color Gamut
9.4
9.5
Gamut SDR
sRGB xy
99.9%
99.94%
sRGB uv
99.58%
99.76%
Adobe RGB xy
88.8%
89.32%
Adobe RGB uv
94.83%
94.31%
Gamut HDR
DCI P3 xy
99.26%
99.81%
DCI P3 uv
98.86%
99.59%
Rec. 2020 xy
73.22%
73.15%
Rec. 2020 uv
75.49%
74.31%
Flicker
10
9.0
Flicker Graph
Flicker-Free
Yes
No
Flicker Frequency
No Flicker
> 1000Hz
Flicker Active Below
0%
100%
Interface
Keyboard
9.2
8.0
Keyboard Photo
Typing Quality
9.0
8.0
Numpad
Yes
No
Backlighting
Per-Key RGB
Adjustable
Key Switch Actuation Graph
Operating Force
61 gf
62 gf
Actuation Force
38 gf
38 gf
Pre-Travel
1.14 mm
0.78 mm
Total Travel
1.76 mm
0.85 mm
Touchpad
8.2
9.7
Touchpad Photo
Tracking Quality
8.0
9.5
Size
16.7 in² (108.0 cm²)
24.8 in² (160.0 cm²)
Material
Glass
Glass
Dedicated Buttons
No
No
Speakers
7.6
9.1
Frequency Response Plot
Max Volume
76 dB SPL
78 dB SPL
Standard Error @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
5.4 dB
3.9 dB
Slope @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
0.7
0.6
Bass Extension (Low-Frequency Ext.)
364 Hz
112 Hz
Treble Extension (High-Frequency Ext.)
16 kHz
20 kHz
Dynamic Range Compression @ Max Vol.
0.7 dB
2.6 dB
Webcam & Microphone
7.4
9.1
Webcam Video Sample
Video Quality
7.5
9.5
Resolution
1080p
1080p
Position
Top Center
Top Center
Privacy Cover
No
No
Face Unlock
Yes
No
Connectivity
Ports
9.5
8.5
Ports Photo
USB-A Ports
3
0
USB-C Ports
3
3
Thunderbolt
Thunderbolt 4
Thunderbolt 4
USB-C Charging
Yes
Yes
USB-C Display Out
Yes
Yes
HDMI
2.1
2.1
DisplayPort
Mini DisplayPort 1.4
No
3.5mm Jack
Combo mic/headphone
Combo mic/headphone
Card Reader
SD UHS 2
SD UHS 2
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 i9-14900HX
M3 Max
Core Count
24
16
Thread Count
32
16
GPU
Brand
NVIDIA
Apple
Model
GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU
M3 Max
Dedicated/Integrated
Dedicated
Integrated
VRAM Size
12 GB
N/A
GPU Total Graphics Power (TGP)
175W
N/A
RAM
Capacity
32 GB
48 GB
Modules
2
Unknown
Type
DDR5
LP-DDR5
Speed
5,600 MHz
6,400 MHz
Storage
Advertised Capacity
1,000 GB
1,000 GB
Usable Capacity
919 GB
966 GB
Drive 1
Western Digital PC SN810 NVMe
Apple SSD AP1024Z
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)
10
9.9
Geekbench Image
CPU Single-Thread
2,039 points
2,354 points
CPU Multi-Thread
18,807 points
22,973 points
GPU Compute
203,416 points
99,702 points
Cinebench R23 (CPU Rendering)
10
10
Cinebench R23 Photo
Single-Thread
2,004 points
1,915 points
Multi-Thread
27,346 points
24,046 points
Blender (3D Rendering)
9.6
9.3
Blender Image
CPU Render Time
1.5 min
1.5 min
GPU Render Time
0.2 min
N/A
GPU Render Time (Optix)
6 s
N/A
Basemark GPU (Game Scene)
10
9.5
Basemark Image
Overall Score
220,316
99,985
Storage Drive Performance
9.7
9.2
Storage Performance Image
Sequential Write Speed
2,713.0 MB/s
5,626.4 MB/s
Sequential Read Speed
5,222.0 MB/s
2,652.1 MB/s
Random Write Speed
116.9 MB/s
47.1 MB/s
Random Read Speed
69.0 MB/s
47.5 MB/s
Battery
3.8
9.4
Capacity
97 Wh
100 Wh
Battery Life (Web Browsing)
4.1 hrs
13.2 hrs
Battery Life (Video Playback)
3.1 hrs
12.8 hrs
Battery Life (Gaming)
1.2 hrs
1.9 hrs
Charge Time
2.8 hrs
2.0 hrs
Borderlands 3
8.9
6.5
Borderlands 3 Graph
Avg. FPS
207 fps
65 fps
1% Low
108 fps
38 fps
0.1% Low
47 fps
21 fps
1% Low Delta
4 ms
11 ms
0.1% Low Delta
17 ms
32 ms
Avg. FPS On Very Low
290 fps
72 fps
Civilization VI
9.1
7.3
Civilization VI Graph
Avg. FPS
312 fps
66 fps
1% Low
180 fps
47 fps
0.1% Low
116 fps
43 fps
1% Low Delta
2 ms
6 ms
0.1% Low Delta
5 ms
8 ms
Avg. FPS On Minimum
405 fps
120 fps
Avg. Turn Time
6.5 s
8.65 s
Counter-Strike 2
9.1
0.0
CS2 Graph
Avg. FPS
304fps
N/A
1% Low
121fps
N/A
0.1% Low
66fps
N/A
1% Low Delta
5 ms
N/A
0.1% Low Delta
12 ms
N/A
Avg. FPS On Low
427fps
N/A
Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
9.6
9.0
SOTTR Graph
Avg. FPS
221 fps
134 fps
1% Low
135 fps
96 fps
0.1% Low
97 fps
73 fps
1% Low Delta
3 ms
3 ms
0.1% Low Delta
6 ms
6 ms
Avg. FPS On Lowest
237 fps
157 fps
Thermals And Noise
5.4
8.2
Keyboard Temps Picture
Keyboard Temp While Idle
46 °C (115 °F)
25 °C (77 °F)
Keyboard Temp Under Load
50 °C (122 °F)
38 °C (100 °F)
Fan Noise While Idle
25.0 dBA
25.0 dBA
Fan Noise Under Load
55.0 dBA
45.5 dBA
Power & Fan Control App
Yes
No
Performance Over Time
9.9
10
Performance Over Time Graph
CPU Temp (Cinebench)
99 °C
93 °C
CPU Perf. Loss (Cinebench)
1% loss
0% loss
GPU Temp (Heaven)
68 °C
74 °C
GPU Perf. Loss (Heaven)
0% loss
0% 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
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Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023)
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Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023) vs Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024): Main Discussion
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