By Matt McGowan, Alienware General Manager
Alienware is entering new arenas at CES 2024 with the debut of notebooks, peripherals and monitors that were inspired by our community and developed to appeal to all gamers. Whether you play to compete, play to get immersed in the game or play to socialize, Alienware can outfit your gaming needs. From the beginning, Alienware has offered high-performance hardware and software to the most demanding gamers. And here’s what I can tell you: our focus on the enthusiast gamer hasn’t changed. At the same time, the gaming landscape has evolved and is becoming more diverse than ever.
That’s why we’re eager to introduce products designed for wider audiences, from students who play dorm room sessions with friends, to working professionals who wind down the evening with a relaxing indie title, and pro athletes who game for a living. While these products reach new audiences, their DNA remains distinctly Alien, meaning they deliver the latest innovations in technology, performance and design. Meet Alienware’s latest product portfolio:
- Three new gaming notebooks debut — the redesigned Alienware m16 R2, the ultra-premium x16 R2, and our performance juggernaut, the m18 R2.
- We’ve doubled our QD-OLED family by adding the Alienware AW3225QF and AW2725DF – two first of their kind QD-OLED monitors. Learn more about these groundbreaking monitors here.
- Built in collaboration with 100+ esports athletes, our new Alienware Pro Wireless Keyboard and Pro Wireless Mouse mark our breakthrough into the pro gaming peripherals space. Learn more about the Pro Line peripherals .
Alienware m16 R2 – performance to adapt to wherever life takes you
Our product launches last year were met with overwhelming praise but also suggestions from our community of how to make the m16 even better. At their core, the requests were to create a powerful notebook that could run the most demanding games yet be portable and discreet enough to take from destination to destination with ease.
Our engineers and designers challenged themselves to craft a product that fulfills those requirements and introduces new features to the market. Meet the m16 R2, a redesigned gaming laptop that prioritizes performance, flexibility and portability, while preserving the Alienware advantages our customers have come to love.
Striking this balance required us to make bold changes. Let’s start with the most visible update. We knew to make our notebook more travel friendly that we needed to bid adieu to the thermal shelf. But doing so was no simple task — after all, it housed the components that kept the previous model running cool.
Our engineers were up for the challenge — they completely redesigned and optimized a new thermal solution for the m16 R2 by adapting our Cryo-tech cooling to be more efficient in a smaller package[i]. This ultimately resulted in 43% more efficient airflow compared to the previous model[ii], and though we can’t divulge all the alien technology behind these thermal gains, you can rest assured the m16 R2 won’t break a sweat when playing the latest games.
Then there is the size benefit. Removing the thermal shelf reduced the depth of the laptop, resulting in a 15% smaller overall footprint[iii] compared to the previous generation. With a 14% smaller Y dimension, the new 16” notebook easily fits into a small backpack and saves precious desk space for your gaming mouse, keyboard and monitor.
Not only is the m16 R2 more compact, but it also has a larger palm rest and touchpad[iv]. How did we pull this off? By designing a slim yet sturdy 180-degree hinge and positioning it on the back edge of the notebook. Placing the hinge where the thermal shelf once resided gave us space to push up the keyboard and expand both the palm rest and touchpad. We know people rarely – and, if we’re being honest, shouldn’t – use a touchpad when gaming, but a larger surface for controlling your cursor is a luxury when navigating Discord chats or browsing the web. You’ll notice something else about the touchpad: it’s bordered by our RGB stadium loop lighting which was moved from the rear to a more visible area. Now you can easily identify the touchpad’s boundaries in dark environments.
Lighting is a core element of our design language, but our community requested the option to tone things down when appropriate. That’s why we added a hotkey that cloaks the m16 R2, allowing it to blend into its surroundings. Let me introduce you to Stealth Mode. This handy new feature was inspired by customers who found lighting effects to be distracting in certain spaces, like a library, café or classroom. Now a quick tap of the F2 shortcut key turns the keyboard backlighting white, switches off all other AlienFX lighting zones, and shifts performance mode to Quiet to reduce fan noise.
Tap the key again to disable Stealth Mode when it’s time to game and get the full force of the m16 R2’s Intel® Core™ Ultra H Series processors and NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 40 Series mobile graphics (up-to an RTX 4070) which pack enough power to run the latest titles at high frame rates. Need every possible frame for competitive gaming? NVIDIA’s DLSS 3.5 AI upscaling technology and NVIDIA Reflex latency reduction gives you faster frame rates, better image quality and the lowest latency without demanding more power.
Dolby Atmos support adds another layer of immersion — the m16 R2’s upgraded dual speakers envelop you in spatial sound so you can hear every footstep, explosion, or whisper with depth and realism.
Silky gameplay is showcased on a QHD+, 240Hz display with a 16:10 aspect ratio that delivers gorgeous visuals with sharp detail and rich, accurate colors. Competitive gamers will benefit from the high refresh rate that ensures smooth, tear-free gameplay. To summarize, these are some of the key upgrades we brought to the m16 R2:
- Redesigned with Smaller Footprint by ditching the thermal shelf on the back, ensuring the m16 R2 slips effortlessly into your backpack for on-the-go travel.
- Equipped with Stealth Mode Hotkey so users can quickly go dark without the distraction of RGB lighting.
- Large 90Whr battery with NVIDIA Advanced Optimus for intelligent powershifting to optimize power balance between CPU and GPU, so you don’t have to worry about finding the nearest outlet. When it’s time to plug in, the m16 R2 can charge to 80% in just 35 minutes via Express Charge 2.0[v].
- Intel® Core™ Ultra H Series processors provide efficient power while NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 40 Series mobile GPUs enable ample performance to run both modern games at fast frame rates and demanding AI workloads.