Customer Ratings & Reviews

Did last one week before failing. Dell sent tech out to replace motherboard. That caused Windows to deactivate because the hardware changed (after the tech left). Called Microsoft tech and they could not fix the activation so they reinstalled the OS which failed to install and now the laptop is a brick.

battery dosn't stay mor then 50min , and the internal drive is bad

Every 6 days the entire taskbar quits working. I can’t find any solution short completely wiping the system and reinstalling windows from scratch. Windows 11 sucks and I am super frustrated. Wouldn’t recommend.

Power plug was really lose. Returned it. Going with a different brand

Within 3 hours, screen went black and the laptop emitted three beeps, indicating a hardware issue. Tech support has been worthless. Runs much slower than it should.

The specs on this seemed amazing but as soon as I tried playing any games (Fortnite, madden or even call of duty) it completely gave up. The frame rate was under 10 and the laptop was extremely loud. I returned it

Purchased The Alienware m16 laptop on Aug. 29th. Used two times since then and now it will not turn on. Error code that is given is a problem with the motherboard. Will be returning back to Best Buy.

I got to in a 3 day time every time I tried to turn on had to press 3 or 4 times to get to work other than that was a ok maybe I caught the bad batch but it’s a good computer besides that

The hardware is not performing upto the mark even after having the best gpu 4070 RTx, cannot even run cs2 game smoothly for which its already overkilling

OS became corrupted after a couple of weeks, so traded it for another one, only for the same issue to come up with that one.

The power cord came defective and now it is being sent to repair within 3 weeks of the purchase

Inside the box is the laptop with power adaptor, quick start guide, owners manual, warranty information, and complimentary Alienware vinyl stickers. First Impression - The power adapter is REALLY big and I love that the plugs are still on the back with additional plugs on the left side. (The power adaptor is rated for 110/220.) (I also love that the air vents have been changed to the majority of the lap part of the laptop and the bezel surrounds the vents and makes a complete square. (My previous 17 inch Alienware laptop has less vents on the lap side and the bezel is on the left and right of the vents.)   Design/Layout - The laptop itself has a stylish futuristic design, that is also functional so far to anything I've seen thus far.  Almost all of your cable access points are located directly in the back panel of the unit. In my opinion, this should be the industry standard, instead of having the wires coming out from every direction and this would also make for a cleaner desktop setup. There is a standard HDMI port, with an rg45 internet interface, 3 USB 3.0 ports and 2 USB-C ports. I added the laptop to my existing USB-C docking station and it worked flawlessly.   Initial Setup - Setup was a breeze, just press the Alienware logo button and the setup process begins. The speed is an understatement, 3.7 seconds from button press to boot really shows of the over- clocked I7 that the unit comes with. Once you completed, you are taken to the Home Screen with deep blacks and life like colors. One of the things that keeps me coming back to Alienware is the onboard Alienware software. I keep it set to the factory settings and it automatically updates and alerts me of the updates and changes when I sign back on after updates. There is also a great support page but to date, I haven’t really needed to use it; it is great to have that option. Performance - The laptop is equipped with 4070 graphics card that did an amazing job with the different types of games, from RPG to action MMO with max setting, I was able to play with no interrupts or screen lags. I keep the laptop on a stand with the vents uncovered and of course I keep it plugged in, so there were definitely no problems with overheating as well. I always keep the settings for the fans set to automatic as well, so I don’t have to keep switching the fans back and forth. So far, the only con for this product is the really large cord (but not a deal breaker) and the pros is definitely the design and the updated graphics card. I would definitely recommend this product to friends and family.

Excellent mid-tier gaming laptop. While I'm sure a top-of-the-line gaming laptop would blow my mind, for my needs the Alienware m16 is more than capable of handling my style of play. Now, I would consider myself a casual gamer, not much of a heavy-user. While I enjoy embarrassing myself in a e-sports level first person shooter, I'm much more attracted to solo adventures. A dad-of-young-kids-that-can-only-play-short-amounts-of-time-on-occasion. So, fair warning, this review is from a novice PC gamer. For this review I chose to play Red Dead Redemption 2. The game looks stunning. While I thought it looked great on my (slightly) older FHD laptop, the QHD+ display on the Alienware really blew me away. The screen is bright, the colors are vivid, and motion is smooth. The game's title screen alone is impressive with trees gently swaying and birds occasionally fluttering by. After setting up and fully charging the laptop, I thought I would see how long I could play using only the battery for power. I was able to get just under an hour of continuous game play. The game played well and didn't seem to degrade in quality. While playing, I sat next to my wife as she watched television. Afterward, I asked her if the fans were too loud, as I had been very aware of the noise. Her response was, "What noise?" To be thorough, I decided to try battery-only play again. This time wasn't so smooth. There were issues with the system recognizing my controller, unexpected restarting of the PC, and extremely slow and choppy game play. After the impromptu restart everything seemed to work better. Again, the battery lasted almost an hour before draining completely. I came away from this particular experience with three big takeaways; make sure all your software auto-updates are taken care of before gaming, it's probably better to game with the laptop plugged in, and lastly, the laptop should be on a hard surface. I half suspect my issue with the unexpected restart was due to overheating because I had the computer on a soft surface that did not allow enough airflow to the plethora of vents. Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't damage the laptop. It was extremely hot. Obviously enough, battery life is significantly longer when not gaming. I got more than 3 hours of battery life while doing some email-writing, online shopping, playing Spider Solitaire, and even watching the film, Dune. These activities are not what this computer is for though. It's meant for gaming. And it's meant to stay plugged in. Its massive VHS-sized power supply is clue enough that you're not likely to get very far on battery power. I feel like the computer actually performs better while plugged in, at least for game play. Red Dead seems to run a little smoother with better response. Also, to me it seems the laptop is much cooler to the touch when plugged in. I understand that frame rates are a statistic people look at when determining quality. I ran a couple of the game's benchmark tests just to see. Certainly, there is probably a 3rd party standard test somewhere on the internet, but I remind you: novice PC gamer review. My tests seemed to be all over. Lowest was 22 fps and highest was 120, averaging 75. I've put in quite a few hours of game play on this laptop and have only experienced slow or choppy play once, as mentioned above with the overheating. While not really my thing, the laptop does offer a backlit RGB keyboard. All customizable, of course. It has quite a cooling system, as well. The base of the laptop is deeper than a normal laptop, which allows room for a "large vapor chamber, quad-fans and six heat pipes to regulate internal temperatures," as stated on Best Buy's website. What I like: - Beautiful display. The game looks amazing. - Higher end graphics card and processor. - It's design. - its rounded edges are comfortable, the Dark Metallic Moon color is not flashy What I think could be improved: - Consistent quality. - a couple times the laptop has restarted itself out of the blue. this sometimes happens while turning the machine on, as well. I'll press the power button; it boots up to the PIN screen and then goes black. - I suppose this could be due to updates, but I feel like there's usually a "restart now?" prompt. - It'd be nice if it had a touch-screen

The Alienware m16 QHD+ 165Hz Gaming Laptop - Intel Core i7 is an excellent and powerful gaming laptop. The 4070 graphics card has more than enough power to drive just about anything you can throw at it. The build quality is great and is super solid. The picture quality is very good and everything about this laptop just flows. The RGB, Alienware branding and design are amazing. The keyboard feels good and overall comfort level is great. Setting this beast up will take some time. I had a ton of updates and 2 firmware flashes that needed to be done before I could actually use the computer. Once everything was updated I ran the Alienware Update tool and it found more updates. So plan on about an hour to get everything up and running. As far as gameplay goes, this laptop is buttery smooth. I am getting at least 120FPS on everything I have played on it at max settings. From Fortnite, Overwatch, Diablo 4 to some random Xbox game pass games, this computer doesn't skip a beat. I have had no performance issues so far and am very pleased. Some issues I did have was with the Alienware Command center. For some reason I just couldn't get it to function properly and it seemed to bog down the PC every time I would try to launch it. I uninstalled and reinstalled it a couple times but I eventually gave up on it and just uninstalled the software for now. Another thing to consider is the 1tb SSD size. It will get you by if you're just going to have a couple games installed, but you will most certainly want to add another m.2 or external drive. 1tb just doesn't seem to cut it these days. Overall, I am super happy with this gaming laptop. If you decide to pick this one up, you won't be disappointed.

Highly satisfied with my laptop. It exceeds my expectations with its performance, lightning responsiveness, vivid display, crisp definition, seamless video editing & streaming...I could go on but I won't know where to stop. It's a great purchase & I made the right choice.

The first thing I noticed upon receiving this box is, this thing is HEAVY! The charging block is obscenely large and harkens back to the days of old with laptops with 12” screens and no battery life. And while it does weigh a considerable amount compared to my other portable device chargers, the computer itself is pretty hefty as well. The packaging of the device was well done and unfortunately tested by the package carrier service that delivered it. Because even with a substantial crush to the outer box all of the insides were perfectly intact. As mentioned before, this thing is heavy! But this is my first gaming laptop, so in comparison with other gaming laptops I’ve seen, it’s relatively on par with its competition. Other that an audio port, USB port and an Ethernet port on the left side, everything else listed in the description is on the back. The underneath has an approximate ¼” bezel to elevate the computer off the surface it is sitting on to aid with ventilation. This device contains a full sized keyboard, however it is missing a numeric keypad, which is a major downer for me. You can obviously attach a USB numeric keypad, but I’m not into having another piece of. The backlit, RGB keyboard is a great feature. I would never by a laptop without this feature available. The screen is huge and gorgeous! It’s 2560x1600 165Hz QHD+ display is amazing not only when playing games, but streaming movies and videos! Pairing the 13700HX Processor with 16GB of DDR5 RAM along with the 1TB SSD, this thing rips! And the RAM is easily upgradable from the bottom of the laptop. This would be my first upgrade recommendation for this device to immediately help its already stellar performance. This device does not have a built in DVD/CD drive. As for performance, which I already alluded to, it’s what you expect from Alienware/Dell. This is a true gaming laptop. And with its power, you are easily able to complete all sorts of other computer activities with ease. Any large video or audio editing applications would easily run on this machine. But since it is meant for high performance gaming, it is a little heftier than a normal laptop, which does affect its portability. As for gaming, I am new to PC gaming. I have been a console guy for many years. I have used steam in the past to access my games, and that is what I’ve done here. You can read all of the number and gibberish about FPS and what not. That doesn’t do it for me. For me, it’s the eye test. And my eyes do not deceive me. This machine burns! There were no lags or degradation of quality during any usage. Pair it with a good Bluetooth headset, and you can immerse yourself in the game of your choice. And although the fans can be a little loud since they’re trying to blast out all of the performance induced heat, the white noise they create fades from my mind fairly quickly. And if I have my headset one, it goes completely unnoticed. In all, I think this is a solid device with high quality performance. I wish it were lighter and had a numeric keypad, but if I had to look at it as it is, I would recommend this to anyone looking for a high performing laptop that isn’t worried about a little extra weight.

When I was little, I *dreamed* of owning an Alienware computer. Every lawn mown, every weed pulled, every paid errand, every movie skipped with friends was a dollar closer to my goal. I had so many games that ran so-so on my DIY kitbash tower and those Alienware maxed out hardware with lights and cooling systems and non-beige-boxy decor.... c'mon, it'd open up a whole new world for me. That was a young gamer's dream. Fast forward to my grown self checking out this Alienware m16 and giving it a 3 star review. Let's start with the bad, to get it out of the way: - the m16 is unwieldy, somehow managing to be both slick and cumbersome at the same time. It has rounded edges (no boxes here) but the only logical places to grip it are right over the venting. It's ridiculously heavy, has a ruberized "boot" on the bottom to help keep it elevated with some airflow. Meaning: this is a laptop that is meant to stay put somewhere, ideally docked with a display (although the laptop's QHD+ display itself is VERY nice). - the power brick could literally be used to build houses. Or a nice driveway. It's literally a brick - as heavy, as wide, as tall, and as long as an actual brick. It has a massive power cord, a ridiculous circular power port which connects to the back of the laptop (again: not meant to be portable. It's meant to stay in ONE place). - the docking and layout of the ports: on the side, there's one USB-A, one headphone dock adjacent, and (this is the weird part) the network port for high-speed wired internet. On the back: ONE HDMI port, one USB-A, two USB-C, a DVI port, an SD card reader, and the large power port. - the front-facing webcam is nothing to write home about and you won't be able to use face recognition to unlock the laptop (there are also no other biometrics on the laptop). - the volume up/down/mute/mic mute buttons are all located along the right-hand side of the keyboard, making it stupidly easy for a klutz like me to accidentally mute the game while reaching for right shift or enter or backspace. - the trackpad is on the smaller size for a laptop this size, which makes me think palm rejection and/or longevity is something they have concerns about. - this laptop doesn't come with a cable lock spot. That's a must for any laptop that has a stationary home either in the dorms or an apartment. Now for the good: - the laptop is perfectly powerful for most modern games. I was able to run max specs for a number of my favs without kicking up the fans. MechWarrior + BattleTech maxed out with particle effects did just fine. The laptop doesn't seem to get hot quickly, which is a great thing. - The graphics card is a heavy lifter, to be sure, and doesn't overburden the laptop with too much heat for the dazzle it provides. Alienware laptops tend to be really well balanced between GPU and CPU power vs heat... and they even have on-unit software to help manage + regulate + balance with good presets that work behind the scenes to make the laptop perform pretty much exactly as you want. - the battery life is also pretty good, even with all the RGB-LED zones lit up and playing games at the same time. - the wireless networking seemed to be very speedy. This is an area where costs sometimes get cut on gaming laptops, and so having a modern-specification WiFi card is a must. - the RGB-LED zones are: keyboard, power button, WSAD, front alien icon, and the back port area, meaning: there are a lot of really cool effects you could pull off if you're a streamer with an external cam setup, JUST with the laptop itself. - the keyboard is responsive and has a nice feel to it, the key presses feel substantial. The trackpad (though I dunno why you'd use it for gaming) is OK and decently responsive. - the display (QHD+ 165Hz) is really good with great brightness. The bezel is reasonably small, and I'm wondering why they packed a webcam in at all. Per Alienware's design, the screen sits forward from the back of the laptop a smidge, which is a good thing for stability. - the design, if you plan to have it stationary, is slick enough - but half the fun of the Alienware laptop is showing off all the cool lights and design. - the heat dissipation - there's a ton of airflow for this laptop, so even if it does heat up it has lots of ways to move the heat away from the unit. When the fans kick up, the internal audio is still sufficient and the fans are not obnoxiously loud, especially compared to similarly sized models. You'll still want your headset, but it's nice to not HAVE to have it. - the battery life is good for a 16" gaming laptop, and it does tend to charge quickly thanks to the ridiculous power pack they ship it with. - 1TB of SSD storage out of the box. If only they'd shipped it with 32GB ram for that same price point this would be a 4/5 laptop... they DO have 32GB if you customize OR if you size-up to the 18" model. All in all: this is a nifty gaming laptop with good power, good storage, good heat dissipation, and really cool lighting. It's a great starting point if you don't plan to go anywhere with it because it's so freaking heavy and the power brick and cord basically require their own bag. For the most part, it'll serve well as a gaming computer for a stationary streamer. It looks really cool, assuming you can put it somewhere you can see all the LEDs. Alienware makes really good laptops and the internals are fantastic here.

Fast, powerful, responsive. Can be a little noisy when all the fans kick up into full blast, but that's expected cramming this much into such a compact space.

The first one has a terrible screen problem so BB replaced it without any trouble. The second one (and maybe the first) has terrible wifi reception. My other laptops sitting next to it get "five bars" of wifi power and this computer gets 1 or maybe 2 at best. There is no external antenna like older models seem to have, so maybe it's a deign flaw. Maybe it's just a crappy computer. Other than the powerful GPU, it's not as good as my other similar priced laptops.

Laptop is great and can run triple A games very well.