Yes, gaming laptops are getting thinner than ever. So much so that a bulky gaming laptop just isn’t acceptable anymore. You know it’s a trend that’s absolutely here to stay when gaming hardware stalwarts, Alienware, are getting in on the ultra-slim bandwagon. That’s right, Dell’s gaming subsidiary is dropping one of the thinnest gaming laptops in the market in the form of the Alienware X15.
The outfit’s thinnest gaming laptop to date, the rig measures a whopping 15.9mm at its thickest section, making it just a hair bigger than the Razer Blade 15’s 15.8mm shell. At this size, you can absolutely squeeze it even in the slimmer laptop sleeves out there. That’s impressive for a company that doesn’t usually compete in the size department, making it a highly desirable pickup for anyone in the market for a gaming laptop, considering Alienware’s pedigree when it comes to quality performance.
The Alienware X15 has two options for its 15.6-inch display. You can go either with a 1080p panel, which comes with a 165Hz refresh rate, 3ms response time, 100 percent support for the sRGB color gamut, and 300 nits of brightness, or a QHD panel, which gets a 240Hz refresh rate, 2ms response time, 99 percent support for the DCI-P3 color gamut, and 400 nits of brightness. Basically, you’ve got yourself a great gaming display, regardless of which screen you opt for, making it one of those laptops you want to play directly on, instead of hooking up to an external monitor. Both panels, by the way, come with hardware-based low blue light technology that will allow you to game without needing those blue light glasses you’re always rocking on your desktop.
At the high-end, it can be equipped with an 8-core Core i9-11900H CPU, an RTX 3080 GPU (8GB, 110W, and 930MHz base clock speed), up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 4TB of SSD storage. Obviously, there’s a smattering of options below that if you want a more affordably-priced machine, but that full complement sounds like the kind of gaming PC you can keep around for the next three to five years without upgrading.
The Alienware X15 gets the outfit’s Cryo-Tech cooling system, which uses a gallium-silicone thermal interface material to post 25 percent improvement in thermal resistance, as well as a quartet of fans, similar to what was implemented in the company’s X-Series of laptops. Suffice to say, they were able to inject some pretty sweet cooling tech in here, despite the laptop’s attractively lithe frame. Along with the cooling, it gets eight-phase graphics voltage regulation and four-phase processor voltage regulation that, the outfit claims, will enable the kind of marathon gaming competitive players will need to build up their skills in their game of choice.
Naturally, the rest of the system is tuned for gaming. The keyboard, for instance, boasts 1.5mm travel, N-key rollover, and anti-ghosting, while multiple high-speed Wi-Fi channels ensure you’re always connected to your network, no matter how many signals are flying around in your area. Other features include an 87Wh battery with a new small form factor 240W power adapter, a generous selection of ports (HDMI 2.1, Thunderbolt 4, USB-C, and more), and multiple lighting zones (because it’s not a gaming accessory without fancy lights).
The Alienware X15 is available now, priced starting at $1,999.