The Dell Alienware m18 has a gamer-oriented design. It has a dark gray chassis, relatively thin bezels, a power button shaped like the Alienware logo, and an RGB backlit keyboard. There's also RGB lighting on the lid and the back of the laptop. The grills above the keyboard are air vents; the speakers are on the bottom near the front. You can find additional air vents on the laptop's sides, back, and bottom. It's only available in this Dark Metallic Moon color.  The Dell m18's build quality is outstanding. Its metal and plastic construction feels very sturdy and hefty. There's some flex on the lid with the laptop closed; however, the display and keyboard deck are solid and exhibit almost no flex. The feet feel solid and stick firmly to the bottom. The finish doesn't scratch easily but picks up some fingerprints. Range 145° Stability Good One Finger Lift Yes The hinge is outstanding. It feels smooth when opening and closing the lid, and it's stable, so there's very little wobbling when touching the screen or typing aggressively. The hinge has a fair amount of resistance, but you can still open the lid with one hand, as the laptop's base is heavy enough to keep it in place. Size 18" Thickness 1.1" (2.9 cm) Width 16.2" (41.1 cm) Depth 12.6" (32.0 cm) Volume 232.8 in³ (3,814.8 cm³) Weight 8.6 lbs (3.9 kg) Charger Size 51.3 in³ (840.0 cm³) Charger Weight 3.7 lbs (1.7 kg) The Dell m18 is a large, bulky, and heavy laptop intended more as a desktop replacement than for on-the-go use. Its power adapter is also bulky and heavy. If you want a more compact gaming laptop, check out its smaller sibling, the Dell Alienware m16 R1 (2023). Ease Of Access RAM Slots 2 Storage Slots 3 Replaceable Battery Yes Replaceable Wireless Adapter Yes The Dell m18's serviceability is outstanding. Accessing the internals is straightforward; you only need to remove eight Philips screws and undo a few clips holding the bottom panel. The two front corner screws are captive; the rest come out fully. All the replaceable parts are easily accessible once you remove the panel. There are three SSD slots: two M.2 2280 and one M.2 2230. The latter is only on models with an NVIDIA Geforce RTX 4080, 4090, or AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT GPU. You can see the service manual here.
Display Resolution 1920 x 1200 Aspect Ratio 16:10 Pixel Density 126 PPI Panel Type IPS Touch Screen No Screen-To-Body Ratio 84% The Dell m18 is available with the following displays:
The choice of the display depends on your usage. The sharper QHD+ (2560 x 1600) is a better option if you play a lot of games in which you have the time to appreciate the graphics, like atmospheric games and RPGs. Its increased sharpness (167 PPI) also makes it better for productivity tasks and media consumption. The FHD+ (1920 x 1200) panel's sharpness is acceptable. Its pixel density may seem low if you're used to higher-resolution screens like the Retina displays on Apple MacBooks; however, it's still better than a 27-inch 1440p desktop monitor. The FHD+ display is better suited for fast-moving games like FPS and racing games due to its high refresh rate. Refresh Rate 480 Hz Variable Refresh Rate G-SYNC You can get the Dell m18 with a 165Hz or 480Hz display. The latter has a fast response time, resulting in a clear image with minimal ghosting in fast-moving scenes. The 165Hz display will likely perform similarly. Both displays support G-SYNC and FreeSync. To use VRR, you must set the display mode to 'NVIDIA GPU only' in the NVIDIA Control Panel application. Native Contrast 1,194 : 1 The FHD+ display's contrast ratio is decent and within the typical range of most IPS panels. However, it's still relatively low compared to other display technologies like VA and OLED. This contrast level makes blacks look gray in dim settings. The QHD+ display likely has the same contrast ratio. Maximum Brightness 343 cd/m² Minimum Brightness 2 cd/m² The FHD+ display gets bright enough for use in most indoor environments but not outdoors in broad daylight. It's very dim at the lowest brightness setting, which is great for dark room viewing, as it causes less eye strain. The QHD+ display has the same advertised brightness and likely performs similarly. Screen Finish Matte Total Reflections 5.71% Indirect Reflections 4.09% Calculated Direct Reflections 1.62% The display's reflection handling is decent. Reflections are only a problem when viewing dark-color content. Although its matte coating does a good job of diffusing and reducing the intensity of bright light sources, it causes a halo effect around the reflections, making other areas of the screen harder to see. Uniformity (Std. Dev.) 1.526% The FHD+ display's black uniformity is okay. There's some clouding here and there, as well as some backlight bleed along the edges of the screen. However, these uniformity issues are relatively minor and only visible when viewing dark-color content in a dim setting. Color Washout From Left 24° Color Washout From Right 24° Color Shift From Left 31° Color Shift From Right 37° Brightness Loss From Left 28° Brightness Loss From Right 28° Black Level Raise From Left 60° Black Level Raise From Right 60° Gamma Shift From Left 28° Gamma Shift From Right 27° The display's horizontal viewing angle is okay. The image dims and washes out relatively quickly as you move to the side, so you need to be more or less directly in front of the screen to get the best accuracy. Color Washout From Below 26° Color Washout From Above 27° Color Shift From Below 34° Color Shift From Above 37° Brightness Loss From Below 28° Brightness Loss From Above 29° Black Level Raise From Below 45° Black Level Raise From Above 45° Gamma Shift From Below 32° Gamma Shift From Above 34° The display's vertical viewing angle is okay. Like the horizontal viewing angle, the image dims and washes when viewing from above and below, so you need to look at the screen more or less straight on to see an accurate image. This can be challenging in tight places where you don't have much room to tilt the screen, like on a bus or airplane. Avg. White Balance dE 2.88 Avg. Gamma 2.33 Avg. Color dE 3.87 Avg. Color Temperature 6,590 K The FHD+ display's out-of-the-box accuracy is decent. The white balance is good; the inaccuracies are minor and hard to spot. The colors aren't as accurate, though that's mainly because the color profile is in DCI P3, resulting in oversaturated greens, yellows, reds, and cyan. The color temperature is very close to the standard 6500K target. The gamma does somewhat follow the curve, but everything looks too dark. sRGB xy 142.98% sRGB uv 139.44% Adobe RGB xy 91.08% Adobe RGB uv 96.14% DCI P3 xy 99.26% DCI P3 uv 99.65% Rec. 2020 xy 75.56% Rec. 2020 uv 80.59% The FHD+ display's color gamut is outstanding. It has full sRGB and DCI P3 coverage, as well as near-full Adobe RGB coverage, making it suitable for SDR and HDR content creation and print photography. The QHD+ display has the same advertised color gamut. Flicker-Free Yes Flicker Frequency No Flicker Flicker Active Below 0% The display is entirely flicker-free, which helps reduce eye strain. Interface Typing Quality Numpad Yes Backlighting Per-Key RGB Operating Force 70 gf Actuation Force 32 gf Pre-Travel 1.27 mm Total Travel 1.79 mm You can configure the Dell m18 with a scissor switch-based or a mechanical keyboard with ultra low-profile CherryMX switches. Our unit has a scissor-switch keyboard. It feels spacious and is easy to get used to. The plastic used for the keycaps feels okay in quality; it isn't particularly premium nor overly cheap. Key stability is good but a little inconsistent, as some keys wobble more than others. The scissor switches have a good amount of travel and provide satisfying tactile and audio feedback. They require a fair amount of force to actuate, which might cause fatigue if you aren't used to it. Due to the laptop's size and the keyboard's position, you may need to stretch your arms out further to type, which can also be tiring over time. You can customize the RGB backlighting via the Alienware Command Center app. The backlighting isn't very bright, and consistency is again an issue, as some keys look dimmer than the rest. The mechanical keyboard uses clicky switches, which will provide more distinct tactile and audio feedback. It has the same RGB backlighting. Tracking Quality Size 16.7 in² (108.0 cm²) Material Glass Dedicated Buttons No The Dell m18 has a great touchpad. The surface feels smooth, and tracking works well, even around the edges. There's no issue with palm rejection or accidental triggers. It's reasonably large but could be bigger, considering the amount of space available on the deck. Unfortunately, the buttons don't feel particularly tactile, and you can only click in the bottom half of the touchpad. Max Volume 78 dB SPL Standard Error @ Normal Vol. (65 dB) 4.2 dB Slope @ Normal Vol. (65 dB) 1.0 Bass Extension (Low-Frequency Ext.) 236 Hz Treble Extension (High-Frequency Ext.) 16 kHz Dynamic Range Compression @ Max Vol. 0.8 dB The Dell m18's speakers get very loud with minimal compression at max volume. They sound clear and natural, albeit slightly boxy and hollow. They have a decent amount of bass, not as much as something like an Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021), but more than most Windows laptops. Video Quality Resolution 1080p Position Top Center Privacy Cover No Face Unlock Yes The webcam's video quality is great. The image looks relatively sharp and well-exposed; however, some colors look slightly unnatural, and there's a bit of noise here and there, causing a loss of finer details. Voices sound pretty clear but a tad over-processed. Connectivity USB-A Ports 3 USB-C Ports 3 Thunderbolt No USB-C Charging Yes USB-C Display Out Yes HDMI 2.1 DisplayPort Mini DisplayPort 1.4 3.5mm Jack Combo mic/headphone Card Reader SD UHS 2 Ethernet Yes Proprietary Port Alienware Power Adapter Port Security Lock No The Dell m18 has an outstanding port selection. All three USB-A ports support USB 3.2 Gen 1 data transfer speed of up to 5Gbps. The USB-A closest to the Ethernet port supports PowerShare. This feature lets you set how much of the battery's charge a connected device can draw when charging. For example, if you set it to 25%, charging will stop when you've used 25% of the laptop battery's total charge. You can also turn off charging completely. The USB-C on the right supports USB 3.2 Gen 1 data transfer speed, while the two USB-Cs on the back support USB 3.2 Gen 2 (up to 10Gbps data transfer speed) and DisplayPort. Models with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 or 4070 GPU only have one USB-C on the back (two total). The Ethernet port supports up to 2.5Gbps data transfer speed. Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) Bluetooth 5.2 The Dell Alienware m18 R1's wireless adapter is a Qualcomm WCN685x. You can also configure the laptop with a MediaTek MT7922 wireless adapter. Wi-Fi 6E has faster speeds, lower latency, and less signal interference than previous Wi-Fi standards. However, you need a router that supports Wi-Fi 6E to benefit from these features. Configuration Brand AMD Model Ryzen 9 7845HX Core Count 12 Thread Count 24 The Dell m18 is available with the following CPUs:
All three are high-performance CPUs designed for mobile workstations and gaming laptops. These AMD Zen 4-based chips can handle general productivity tasks like text processing and web browsing, as well as more demanding workloads like video editing, programming, and gaming. The CPU choice depends on the GPU, as there are limitations to the CPU/GPU pairing. The base Ryzen 7 7745HX is only available with an RTX 4060, while the top-end Ryzen 9 7945HX is only available with an RTX 4090. The middle option, the Ryzen 9 7845HX, is the most flexible, as you can pair it with the Radeon 7600M XT, RTX 4070, or RTX 4080. Since most games are GPU-limited, it's best to choose based on the GPU. If you're specifically looking for CPU processing power, you can simply choose based on the specs. More cores, faster clock speeds, and a larger cache will give you better performance. Brand NVIDIA Model GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU Dedicated/Integrated Dedicated VRAM Size 12 GB The Dell m18 is available with the following GPUs:
The AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 are roughly similar in performance. They're better suited for 1080p gaming but can run most games at 1440p if you don't mind playing with low graphical settings. Choosing between the RX 7600M XT and the RTX 4060 will depend on the games you play, as some games will run better on the 7600M XT, while others will run better on the RTX 4060. The RTX 4070, 4080, and 4090 can all handle 1440p gaming; the 4080 and 4090 will simply give you more headroom to play with higher graphical settings or frame rates. The RTX 4080 runs at a TGP (Total Graphics Power) of 175W with Dynamic Boost, which is at the top end of its power spectrum. Both the AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT and the NVIDIA GPUs support ray tracing and have their respective upscaling feature (FSR and DLSS, respectively) to boost frame rates in supported games. The NVIDIA 40-series GPUs have a new feature called Frame Generation, which uses AI to insert artificially generated frames, resulting in higher frame rates and smoother gameplay in supported games. The number of games that support this feature is small for now but will likely grow quickly. The AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT doesn't have a similar feature. This laptop has a MUX (multiplexer) switch, a feature that allows the GPU to send information directly to the display without going through the integrated GPU. This means you'll see better performance than laptops without this feature. The performance difference can be anywhere from 10% to 25%, or more in some cases. Capacity 32 GB Modules 2 Type DDR5 Speed 4,800 MHz You can configure this laptop with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of RAM. The memory is user-replaceable. This laptop supports up to 5200MHz RAM. Advertised Capacity 512 GB Usable Capacity 392 GB Drive 1 Western Digital PC SN810 NVMe Drive 1 Type SSD Drive 2 No 2nd Drive Drive 2 Type No 2nd Drive You can configure this laptop with 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, or 8.5TB of storage. Except for the 512GB and 1TB storage options, the other configurations are available in a RAID 0 array, meaning the laptop will have two or three SSDs acting as a single unit. RAID 0 significantly boosts drive speeds by splitting the data evenly across multiple drives; however, the failure of one drive can cause data loss across all drives. The SSDs are user-replaceable. There are two M.2 2280 slots. Models with an RTX 4080, 4090, or Radeon RX 7600M XT GPU have an additional M.2 2230 slot. Performance CPU Single-Thread 2,011 points CPU Multi-Thread 16,625 points GPU Compute 202,907 points The Dell m18 with an AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX CPU has a superb overall score in Geekbench 5. The 7845HX has no problem handling general productivity tasks and demanding workloads like programming, music production, CAD, and video editing. These are results in the default Balanced mode. You can change the performance mode in the Alienware Command Center app. Switching to the Overdrive mode, which is the maximum performance setting, only increases the single-thread score by 0.73% and the multi-thread score by 2.51%. The Ryzen 7 7745HX will be slower, while the Ryzen 9 7945HX will be faster. For GPU-heavy workloads, all of the available discrete GPUs are suitable for demanding tasks, so it's really a matter of how smooth an experience you expect and how fast you want to complete tasks. If you work with extremely complex materials, getting a model with an RTX 4070, 4080, or 4090 is probably best. Single-Thread 1,875 points Multi-Thread 26,181 points The Dell m18 has a superb overall score in the Cinebench R23 benchmarks. The AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX has no problem handling demanding, multi-threaded applications and heavy multitasking. The Ryzen 7 7745HX is slower but still adequate for intensive tasks. The Ryzen 9 7945HX is the fastest and will give you the smoothest experience. Switching to the Overdrive mode has no impact on the performance. CPU Render Time 1.6 min GPU Render Time 0.2 min GPU Render Time (Optix) 7 s The performance in Blender is outstanding. While the CPU can render images quickly, it's significantly faster to render with the GPU, thanks to NVIDIA's Optix hardware acceleration. The AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT can get the job done but is slower than the RTX 4060. Overall Score 211,669 The Dell Alienware m18 R1 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU scores superbly in the Basemark GPU benchmark. The RTX 4080 can push high frame rates in demanding games at 1440p with minimal tweaks to the graphical settings. The RTX 4090 is even faster and can handle some games at 4k (with an external monitor), while the RTX 4070 is slower, meaning you'll have to lower the settings further to get smooth gameplay at 1440p. The AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT and the RTX 4060 are best suited for 1080p gaming and can handle some games at 1440p, albeit with low graphical settings. Sequential Write Speed 2,211.9 MB/s Sequential Read Speed 4,763.8 MB/s Random Write Speed 135.0 MB/s Random Read Speed 72.0 MB/s The 512GB SSD's performance is outstanding. Its fast read and write speeds allow the system to quickly boot up, launch apps, and transfer files. Its sequential read speed is particularly fast, which will help shorten game loading times. The larger capacity SSDs will likely perform better. You can get this laptop with two or three SSDs in a RAID 0 array, further improving performance. Capacity 97 Wh Battery Life (Web Browsing) 3.2 hrs Battery Life (Video Playback) 2.6 hrs Battery Life (Gaming) 0.8 hrs Charge Time 2.8 hrs The Dell m18's battery life is terrible. You'll have to use the laptop plugged in for the most part, especially when gaming. Avg. FPS 157 fps 1% Low 79 fps 0.1% Low 34 fps 1% Low Delta 6 ms 0.1% Low Delta 23 ms Avg. FPS On Very Low 259 fps Borderlands 3 runs well on the Dell Alienware m18 R1 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU. The gameplay is mostly smooth at 1080p with high settings. There are some stutters, but they don't happen often. Switching to the Overdrive mode only increases the performance by about 4%. You can play this and other similarly demanding games at 1440p without problems on models with an RTX 4070 and upwards. The AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT and the RTX 4060 can handle this game at 1440p, albeit with low graphical settings. We've run additional benchmarks in Red Dead Redemption 2 to give you a better idea of the performance on a Ryzen 9 7845HX and RTX 4080 configuration. Here are the results:
Avg. FPS 242 fps 1% Low 167 fps 0.1% Low 115 fps 1% Low Delta 2 ms 0.1% Low Delta 5 ms Avg. FPS On Minimum 362 fps Avg. Turn Time 6.2 s Every configuration of this laptop can provide smooth gameplay in Civilization VI and other similar titles, even at 1440p. The average turn time is good and among the best compared to other current-gen CPUs. Upgrading to the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX will only improve the turn time slightly. Avg. FPS 508 fps 1% Low 256 fps 0.1% Low 156 fps 1% Low Delta 2 ms 0.1% Low Delta 4 ms Avg. FPS On Low 622 fps Every configuration of the Dell m18 can provide a very smooth experience in CS:GO and other similar titles. You can even play this game at 1440p and still get very high, consistent frame rates. Avg. FPS 173 fps 1% Low 105 fps 0.1% Low 73 fps 1% Low Delta 4 ms 0.1% Low Delta 8 ms Avg. FPS On Lowest 181 fps Every configuration of the Dell Alienware m18 R1 can handle Shadow of the Tomb Raider and other similarly demanding games at 1080p. Again, most of the CPU/GPU combo can also run this game at 1440p; however, you'll have to tweak the settings a bit or rely on features like DLSS and FSR (in supported games) to get smooth gameplay on models with an AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT or RTX 4060. Keyboard Temp While Idle 30 °C (85 °F) Keyboard Temp Under Load 44 °C (111 °F) Fan Noise While Idle 25.5 dBA Fan Noise Under Load 54.0 dBA Power & Fan Control App Yes Although the keyboard gets warm under load, the hot spots are at the top of the keyboard deck, away from where most people rest their hands. Unfortunately, the fans get pretty loud under load and can be quite distracting. Switching to the Overdrive mode only increases the keyboard temperature by 1° C and the fan noise by 1 dBA. CPU Temp (Cinebench) 100 °C CPU Perf. Loss (Cinebench) 1% loss GPU Temp (Heaven) 73 °C GPU Perf. Loss (Heaven) 0% loss The Dell m18's performance over time is outstanding. Neither the CPU nor the GPU noticeably throttles under load. The results are the same in the Overdrive mode. Additional Features And Software Operating System Windows 11 Additional Software Yes The Dell m18 has many pre-installed applications, including:
RGB Illumination Yes Touch Pen No Secondary Display No Biometrics Face Recognition The Dell Alienware m18 laptop has a facial recognition IR camera. You can use it to log in quickly, authorize purchases in the Windows Store, and auto-fill saved passwords on supported websites. The keyboard has per-key RGB backlighting; you can customize it via the Alienware Command Center application. |
