Products
Dell XPS 13 (2021)
Dell Alienware m15 R3 (2020)
Tested using Methodology v0.8.2
Updated Oct 29, 2025 03:01 PM
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Tested using Methodology v0.8
Updated Oct 29, 2025 02:52 PM
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Size
13.4"
Operating System
Windows 11
Size
15"
Operating System
Windows 10
Our Verdict
Dell XPS 13 (2021)
Dell Alienware m15 R3 (2020)
The Dell XPS 13 (2021) and the Dell Alienware m15 R3 (2020) are very different laptops. The XPS 13 is an ultraportable designed for light productivity tasks, while the Alienware is a bulky high-end gaming laptop. The XPS 13 offers a better user experience overall with a sharper and brighter display, a larger touchpad with better tracking, and better-sounding speakers. It also has longer battery life and doesn't get as loud under load. If you need processing power for demanding workloads, it's best to go with the Alienware because it has significantly more powerful CPU and GPU options.
Variants
- XPS 13 (XPS9310-7412WHT-PUS) (Frost White - OLED/i7-1185G7/16GB/512GB)
- XPS 13 (XPS9310-7439WHT-PUS) (Frost White - OLED/i7-1185G7/16GB/512GB)
- XPS 13 (XPS9310-5024SLV-SUS) (Platinum Silver - 4K/i5/8GB/512GB)
- XPS 13 (XPS9310-7375SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - 4K/i7-1185G7/16GB/1TB)
- XPS 13 (XPS9310-7795SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - 4K/i7-1185G7/32GB/2TB)
- XPS 13 (XPS9310-7085SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - FHD/i7-1165G7/8GB/512GB)
- XPS 13 (XPS9310-7368SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - FHD/i7-1185G7/16GB/512GB)
- XPS 13 (XPS9310-7198SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - FHD/i7-1185G7/16GB/512GB)
- XPS 13 (XPS9310-7825SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - OLED/i7-1185G7/16GB/1TB)
- XPS 13 (XPS9310-7788SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - OLED/i7-1185G7/32GB/1TB)
- XPS 13 (XPS9310-7477SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - OLED/i7-1195G7/16GB/1TB)
- XPS 13 (XPS9310) (Platinum Silver - FHD/i3/8GB/256GB)
- XPS 13 (XPS9310-7392SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - FHD/i7-1165G7/8GB/512GB)
- XPS 13 (XPS9310-7422SLV-PUS) (Platinum Silver - FHD/i7-1195G7/16GB/512GB)
- Alienware m15 R3 (ALW15M-D5510B) (Dark Side of the Moon - FHD/144Hz/i5/GTX 1650Ti/8GB/512GB)
- Alienware m15 R3 (ALW15M-D5715B) (Dark Side of the Moon - FHD/144Hz/i7-10750H/GTX 1650Ti/16GBG/512GB)
- Alienware m15 R3 (AWM15-7593BLK-PUS) (Dark Side of the Moon - FHD/300Hz/i7-10750H/RTX 2070/16GB/512GB)
- Alienware m15 R3 (ALW15M-D5725W) (Lunar Light - FHD/144Hz/i7-10750H/GTX 1660Ti/16GB/512GB)
- Alienware m15 R3 (AWM15-7272WHT-PUS) (Lunar Light - FHD/144Hz/i7-10750H/RTX 2060/16GB/512GB)
- Alienware m15 R3 (AWM15-7302WHT-PUS) (Lunar Light - FHD/144Hz/i7-10750H/RTX 2070/16GB/1TB)
- Alienware m15 R3 (AWM15-7418WHT-PUS) (Lunar Light - FHD/300Hz/i7-10750H/RTX 2070/16GB/1TB)
- Alienware m15 R3 (ALW15M-D5746W) (Lunar Light - FHD/300Hz/i7-10750H/RTX 2070/16GB/1TB)
- Alienware m15 R3 (ALW15M-D5758W) (Lunar Light - FHD/300Hz/i7-10750H/RTX 2070/32GB/1TB)
- Alienware m15 R3 (ALW15M-D5858W) (Lunar Light - FHD/300Hz/i7-10875H/RTX 2070/32GB/1TB)
- Alienware m15 R3 (AWM15-7590WHT-PUS) (Lunar Light - FHD/300Hz/i7-10875H/RTX 2080/32GB/1TB)
Main Differences for
School
School
Threshold
School
8.0
6.6
Battery
7.9
2.9
Portability
9.1
5.6
Ports
5.0
9.5
Vertical Viewing Angle
6.3
9.3
Full Comparison
Design
Style
Style Photo
Form Factor
Traditional (Clamshell)
Traditional (Clamshell)
Build Quality
8.5
8.5
Build Quality Photo
Hinge
9.1
9.1
Hinge Photo
Range
140°
135°
Stability
Good
Good
One Finger Lift
Yes
Yes
Portability
9.1
5.6
Dimensions Photo
Size
13.4"
15"
Thickness
0.6" (1.6 cm)
0.9" (2.2 cm)
Width
11.7" (29.6 cm)
14.2" (36.1 cm)
Depth
7.8" (19.7 cm)
10.7" (27.2 cm)
Volume
56.9 in³ (933.0 cm³)
131.8 in³ (2,160.2 cm³)
Weight
2.7 lbs (1.2 kg)
4.9 lbs (2.2 kg)
Charger Size
4.0 in³ (65.5 cm³)
32.3 in³ (529.3 cm³)
Charger Weight
0.5 lbs (0.2 kg)
2.2 lbs (1.0 kg)
Serviceability
5.8
7.8
Internals Photo
Ease Of Access
7.5
9.5
RAM Slots
0
0
Storage Slots
1
3
Replaceable Battery
Yes
Yes
Replaceable Wireless Adapter
No
Yes
In The Box
In The Box Photo
Display
Screen Specs
Display Photo
Resolution
1920 x 1200
1920 x 1080
Aspect Ratio
16:10
16:9
Pixel Density
169 PPI
142 PPI
Panel Type
IPS
IPS
Touch Screen
Yes
No
Screen-To-Body Ratio
90%
83%
Refresh Rate
5.9
8.6
Motion Blur
Refresh Rate
60 Hz
300 Hz
Variable Refresh Rate
No
No
Contrast
8.0
7.0
Contrast Photo
Native Contrast
1,804 : 1
1,123 : 1
Brightness
8.5
6.6
Maximum Brightness
475 cd/m²
267 cd/m²
Minimum Brightness
27 cd/m²
13 cd/m²
Reflections
8.3
7.0
Reflections Photo Off
Reflections Photo Max
Screen Finish
Glossy
Matte
Total Reflections
2.86%
5.97%
Indirect Reflections
0.87%
4.31%
Calculated Direct Reflections
1.99%
1.66%
Black Uniformity
6.4
6.6
Black Uniformity Photo
Uniformity (Std. Dev.)
1.696%
1.591%
Horizontal Viewing Angle
7.3
7.3
Horizontal Viewing Angle Video
Horizontal Chroma Picture
Color Washout From Left
31°
27°
Color Washout From Right
34°
28°
Horizontal Hue Picture
Color Shift From Left
51°
60°
Color Shift From Right
57°
60°
Horizontal Lightness Picture
Brightness Loss From Left
31°
30°
Brightness Loss From Right
35°
32°
Black Level Raise From Left
60°
60°
Black Level Raise From Right
60°
60°
Gamma Shift From Left
36°
30°
Gamma Shift From Right
40°
30°
Vertical Viewing Angle
6.3
9.3
Vertical Viewing Angle Video
Vertical Chroma Picture
Color Washout From Below
22°
45°
Color Washout From Above
21°
45°
Vertical Hue Picture
Color Shift From Below
35°
45°
Color Shift From Above
40°
45°
Vertical Lightness Picture
Brightness Loss From Below
25°
42°
Brightness Loss From Above
26°
40°
Black Level Raise From Below
45°
45°
Black Level Raise From Above
45°
45°
Gamma Shift From Below
20°
45°
Gamma Shift From Above
22°
45°
Out-Of-The-Box Color Accuracy
8.4
6.7
White Balance Screencap
Gamma Curve Screencap
Color Screencap
Avg. White Balance dE
2.93
4.2
Avg. Gamma
2.17
2.33
Avg. Color dE
1.87
3.119
Avg. Color Temperature
6,466.5 K
6,192 K
Color Gamut
8.5
8.6
Gamut SDR
sRGB xy
99.81%
99.87%
sRGB uv
99.24%
99.58%
Adobe RGB xy
77.37%
78.09%
Adobe RGB uv
87.92%
87.08%
Gamut HDR
DCI P3 xy
78.13%
79.94%
DCI P3 uv
83.48%
85.84%
Rec. 2020 xy
56.11%
57.56%
Rec. 2020 uv
61.02%
63.51%
Flicker
10
10
Flicker Graph
Flicker-Free
No
Yes
Flicker Frequency
> 1000Hz
No Flicker
Flicker Active Below
1%
0%
Interface
Keyboard
8.0
8.8
Keyboard Photo
Typing Quality
8.0
8.5
Numpad
No
No
Backlighting
Adjustable
Per-Key RGB
Key Switch Actuation Graph
Operating Force
70 gf
69 gf
Actuation Force
37 gf
33 gf
Pre-Travel
0.79 mm
1.22 mm
Total Travel
0.91 mm
1.84 mm
Touchpad
8.4
7.6
Touchpad Photo
Tracking Quality
9.0
8.0
Size
11.2 in² (72.1 cm²)
9.7 in² (62.8 cm²)
Material
Glass
Glass
Dedicated Buttons
No
No
Speakers
8.4
7.8
Frequency Response Plot
Max Volume
79 dB SPL
76 dB SPL
Standard Error @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
5.5 dB
6.1 dB
Slope @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
1.7
1.5
Bass Extension (Low-Frequency Ext.)
298 Hz
217 Hz
Treble Extension (High-Frequency Ext.)
8 kHz
19 kHz
Dynamic Range Compression @ Max Vol.
0.7 dB
0.7 dB
Webcam & Microphone
7.0
7.0
Webcam Video Sample
Video Quality
7.0
7.0
Resolution
720p
720p
Position
Top Center
Top Center
Privacy Cover
No
No
Face Unlock
Yes
No
Connectivity
Ports
5.0
9.5
Ports Photo
USB-A Ports
0
3
USB-C Ports
2
1
Thunderbolt
Thunderbolt 4
Thunderbolt 3
USB-C Charging
Yes
Yes
USB-C Display Out
Yes
Yes
HDMI
No
2.0
DisplayPort
No
Mini DisplayPort 1.4
3.5mm Jack
Combo mic/headphone
Combo mic/headphone
Card Reader
MicroSD UHS 1
MicroSD UHS 2
Ethernet
No
Yes
Proprietary Port
No
Alienware Graphics Amplifier
Security Lock
No
Yes
Wireless Communication
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
Bluetooth
5.2
5.1
Configuration
CPU
Brand
Intel
Intel
Model
Core i3-1115G4
Core i7-10750H
Core Count
2
6
Thread Count
4
12
GPU
Brand
Intel
NVIDIA
Model
UHD Graphics G4
GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER Max-Q
Dedicated/Integrated
Integrated
Dedicated
VRAM Size
N/A
8 GB
RAM
Capacity
8 GB
32 GB
Modules
8 (Soldered)
2 (Soldered)
Type
LP-DDR4X
DDR4
Speed
4,267 MHz
2,666 MHz
Storage
Advertised Capacity
256 GB
1,000 GB
Usable Capacity
180 GB
950 GB
Drive 1
Western Digital PC SN530
PC611 NVMe SK Hynix 1TB
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)
6.9
9.0
Geekbench Image
CPU Single-Thread
1,329 points
1,263 points
CPU Multi-Thread
2,937 points
6,122 points
GPU Compute
10,417 points
109,357 points
Cinebench R23 (CPU Rendering)
7.2
8.7
Cinebench R23 Photo
Single-Thread
1,282 points
1,202 points
Multi-Thread
2,526 points
7,328 points
Blender (3D Rendering)
0.9
8.6
Blender Image
CPU Render Time
17.8 min
4.6 min
GPU Render Time
18.1 min
1.1 min
GPU Render Time (Optix)
N/A
34 s
Basemark GPU (Game Scene)
4.2
9.5
Basemark Image
Overall Score
10,928
101,365
Storage Drive Performance
9.0
9.2
Storage Performance Image
Sequential Write Speed
738.7 MB/s
1,639.2 MB/s
Sequential Read Speed
1,836.1 MB/s
2,584.1 MB/s
Random Write Speed
111.0 MB/s
85.3 MB/s
Random Read Speed
46.6 MB/s
46.1 MB/s
Battery
7.9
2.9
Capacity
52 Wh
86 Wh
Battery Life (Web Browsing)
10.2 hrs
3.1 hrs
Battery Life (Video Playback)
5.2 hrs
2.4 hrs
Battery Life (Gaming)
2.9 hrs
0.9 hrs
Charge Time
2.0 hrs
3.0 hrs
Borderlands 3
0.0
7.6
Borderlands 3 Graph
Avg. FPS
N/A
92 fps
1% Low
N/A
54 fps
0.1% Low
N/A
36 fps
1% Low Delta
N/A
8 ms
0.1% Low Delta
N/A
17 ms
Avg. FPS On Very Low
N/A
177 fps
Civilization VI
2.6
8.1
Civilization VI Graph
Avg. FPS
11 fps
145 fps
1% Low
8 fps
79 fps
0.1% Low
8 fps
57 fps
1% Low Delta
32 ms
6 ms
0.1% Low Delta
40 ms
11 ms
Avg. FPS On Minimum
41 fps
208 fps
Avg. Turn Time
12.07 s
8.63 s
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
5.0
9.5
CS:GO graph
Avg. FPS
41 fps
361 fps
1% Low
22 fps
177 fps
0.1% Low
16 fps
96 fps
1% Low Delta
21 ms
3 ms
0.1% Low Delta
38 ms
8 ms
Avg. FPS On Low
75 fps
524 fps
Counter-Strike 2
CS2 Graph
Avg. FPS
1% Low
0.1% Low
1% Low Delta
0.1% Low Delta
Avg. FPS On Low
Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
0.0
8.1
SOTTR Graph
Avg. FPS
N/A
108 fps
1% Low
N/A
68 fps
0.1% Low
N/A
41 fps
1% Low Delta
N/A
5 ms
0.1% Low Delta
N/A
15 ms
Avg. FPS On Lowest
N/A
120 fps
Thermals And Noise
7.2
6.7
Keyboard Temps Picture
Keyboard Temp While Idle
34 °C (93 °F)
37 °C (99 °F)
Keyboard Temp Under Load
50 °C (121 °F)
44 °C (111 °F)
Fan Noise While Idle
25.0 dBA
25.0 dBA
Fan Noise Under Load
40.0 dBA
51.5 dBA
Power & Fan Control App
No
Yes
Performance Over Time
7.9
9.8
Performance Over Time Graph
Performance Over Time Image
CPU Temp (Cinebench)
73 °C
98 °C
CPU Perf. Loss (Cinebench)
8% loss
1% loss
GPU Temp (Heaven)
72 °C
71 °C
GPU Perf. Loss (Heaven)
5% loss
0% loss
Additional Features And Software
Software
Operating System
Windows 11
Windows 10
Additional Software
Yes
Yes
Extra Features
RGB Illumination
No
Yes
Touch Pen
No
No
Secondary Display
No
No
Biometrics
Face Recognition and Fingerprint Sensor
No
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Dell XPS 13 (2021)
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Dell XPS 13 (2021) vs Dell Alienware m15 R3 (2020): Main Discussion
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