Alienware announced a redesign of its m16 gaming laptop at CES 2024 that makes it more travel-friendly and appealing to buyers who want solid gaming performance but a toned-down design. From the front, it doesn’t look all too different from the original from last year. Close the lid and you’ll see the difference, though: Alienware lopped off the thermal shelf, helping make it 15% smaller.
The m16, available in January starting at $1,650, has a 16:10-ratio display, and combined with the thermal shelf, it made the laptop unusually wide. Like “this won’t fit in my backpack’s laptop sleeve” wide. Getting rid of the thermal shelf gives the m16 R2 more ordinary dimensions, so it can now slip into a regular laptop backpack.Â
Losing the thermal shelf does limit graphic options, though, since that’s what was keeping it cool. While Alienware did develop a new, more efficient cooling system for the m16 R2, it can’t handle the heat from the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 available for the original m16; the m16 R2 tops out at an RTX 4070. It can be configured with up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, 64GB of DDR5-5600 memory and 8TB of storage. The 16-inch display has a 2,560×1,600-pixel resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate.Â
Watch this: Dell Overhauls Its XPS Laptops and Redesigns the Alienware m16 for CES 2024
So it can certainly be configured for high-quality gameplay. And its smaller, more portable size makes it a little easier to carry and blend in at work or school. (It still weighs 5.6 pounds, or 2.6 kilograms, though.) Alienware also added a Stealth mode hotkey that instantly kills the RGB lighting and turns the keyboard backlight to white.
Speaking of lighting, the loss of the thermal shelf also meant losing the RGB stadium loop lighting that goes around the…
Read the full article here