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Customer reviews

Rating 4.5 out of 5 stars with 304 reviews

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Rating by feature

  • Battery Life

    Rating 3.5 out of 5 stars

  • Speed

    Rating 4.7 out of 5 stars

  • Display

    Rating 4.6 out of 5 stars

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87%would recommend to a friend

Customers are saying

Customers often highlight the excellent performance and impressive graphics capabilities of the m17 R4 gaming laptop, along with its positive build quality and screen size. However, many reviews cite concerns regarding battery life, heat generation, and fan noise. Some users also mention limitations related to RAM upgradability and the high price point.

This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.

The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
Page 2 Showing 21-40 of 304 reviews
  • Pros mentioned:
    Keyboard, Performance
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Fan noise

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Highly Recommended & Premium

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    Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Overall excellent choice for gaming as well as productivity/work use so long as you don't need battery life. Pros; Great all around display - fairly bright, colorful, FAST FHD panel that looks nicer than most laptops i've used. Great Keyboard with RGB and macro keys. Very premium feeling, with a high quality trackpad as well. Great gaming performance. RTX 3070 (full tdp/non-max-q) + 360hz + G-sync display means all modern games are smooth. This is close to the limit of what current gen laptops are capable of (as of May 2021). Above average speakers for music and gaming. Good all around dependable, quality hardware - the RAM, SSD, webcam and mic, port selection, networking, etc are all good enough for most users and dont seem to have any major issues. One note: the RAM is non-upgradeable so make sure 16gb is enough for your use case before buying this model (16gb is more than enough for gaming and most work-from-home/productivity tasks). Cons: It does get hot, while about average for gaming laptops, can be uncomfortable on your lap. There is an option within the BIOS that allows you to limit CPU temps as low as 85°, so that helps at the cost of some performance. Keyboard stays cool to the touch though. Battery life is extremely short, even for a gaming laptop. The fans are high pitched, although quiet during normal use. Personally i don't mind them, but quieter machines are out there for those who prioritize that. Alienware Command Center software is difficult to use and inconsistent - features may stop working or disappear when installing updates, although typical gaming enthusiasts will have their own 3rd party software of choice for things like overclocking, so this may not be a big deal for everyone. The part that handles RGB control for the keyboard etc seems to work without issue though. Overall - this is a premium laptop that is expensive, but reasonable considering the quality. Recommended for those seeking a desktop replacement PC for both work and gaming.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Graphics
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Ram

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    An amazing machine

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    Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Coming from owning a Dell G3, this computer here is a beast of a machine. An amazing smooth crips looking display. A premium quality build. The machine can Handle any game you throw at it. I haven’t noticed any lag or drops in frame rates. Pros: great screen, fast, quality feel/ build quality, graphics are amazing. Cons: it appears the memory can’t be upgraded aside from the Q and A part of this, it had said that Dell said the ram could be upgraded however community boards suggests that it can’t as its soldered ram. So be cautious. Battery life. Overall Id say this is as close to a desktop experience as you can get with out spending over 3K+ this machine will definitely not disappoint. Even with the 3070 it has no hold backs what so ever. This machine will handle any games out there and future games to come. It is something to get use to that this machine is designed to run hot and will run anywhere from 76-100 Celsius, there options to set the fans, the fans are slightly noisy but considering how powerful the computer is. Overall I’d rate this laptop a 9/10 only a 9 as the ram doesn’t appear to be upgradable.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Fan noise, Heat

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Overboard Review but I hope it helps

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    Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I've been using this laptop for over a month. Everything was as I expected. The high refresh rate display is vibrant and preforms well. The CPU and GPU work well together. No lag in their performance. There is a-lot of Dell/Alienware software bloat. Some you can remove, others you may need. The Alienware Command Center is one you'll need. With it you change the modes of performance and adjust your lighting preference and fan profiles. In High Performance Load it does get loud. With the Overclock 2 option and the High Performance load it's loud! You'll defiantly need a good set of headphones and a noise canceling mic if you're going to play games or chat with people. First thing you should do after running this laptop is update everything from Dell/Alienware. There's a new BIOS update and a few others. Only issue I've had using their update feature is that it wants me to install an older NVIDA graphics driver. Go straight through the NVIDA site or use the G-Force Experience program to keep the video drivers up to date. Only issue I have is the number of USB ports. You can buy a USB hub to attach other devices if you need them. For example I'm using a Razor Black Widow keyboard, mouse and the Tartarus. Also using a powered laptop stand and cooler. So I needed the hub. This laptop can get warm/hot if you want to run this thing at full bore and not throttle down. There are 2 additional NVME slots available. I installed the Samsung 970 EVO Plus in the spare slot. I did get the Alienware heat shield from that large online retailer. Looks and fits like the original. Here are some numbers all tests done in High Performance Mode and Overclock 2 3DMark Timespy DX 12-10651 (better than 89%) Testing CPU/GPU Max Temp CPU 71.92 C. GPU 56.91 C. Frame rate Test 1 Low 64.56 FPS High 99.24 FPS. Test 2 Low 43.49 FPS High 80.98 FPS 3DMark CPU test all threads-16 threads 6213 8 Threads 4564 4 threads 2643 2 threads 1454 and 1 thread 744. The highest CPU temp was 69 degrees C. Note tested while using the stand/cooler. I hope this gives you some of the performance data to help you in your decision. TLDR: It's a very capable gaming laptop if you can stand the noise. It has some upgradeable capabilities. You can upgrade or add storage but not the RAM. When using a 1440 external display it looks great. It has handled everything I've played and work well. Not a big FPS player but I was getting 50+ FPS on Red Dead Redemption 2 and 130+ playing Battlefield 5. Only reason for the 4 stars was cost and all the bloatware they through on it. Battery life is horrendous if you're gaming.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    A REALLY BAD EXPERIENCE

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    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I was super excited to get a real gaming laptop and unfortunately since I turned it on the screen froze. I returned it the same day I received it.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
    • Brand response from YourDellTeam
      Posted .

      Hello,

      Thank you for taking the time to share your review. We are extremely sorry to hear that your Alienware froze when you first turned it on and we understand your concerns. There are typically a number of operating system, firmware, and BIOS updates that release between your Inspiron leaving the factory and it arriving in your hands. During the setup process, we recommend you proceed as it is critical these updates are installed so you have the best possible experience to date. If needed in the future, here is the link to the full article to assist with your freezing issue: https://dell.to/3rCCBpv.

      If you come across any questions, issues, or concerns, please contact our support team here: https://bit.ly/DellSupportTeam.

      Best,
      Wendy C.

      https://bit.ly/DellSupportTeam.
      Phone number to Dell: 1-800-264-9896. Dell

  • Pros mentioned:
    Keyboard, Performance
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Heat

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    A solid gaming laptop

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    Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I recently upgraded to this from a Alienware 17 R4 that had a GTX 1070 which served me well for over 3 years. After owning this for about a month I am very happy with this laptop. I run COD MW, RDR2 on max and Cyberpunk on mostly high settings and I'm very impressed with the RTX 3070 and i7 10th gen performance. The cooling fans do run a bit fast during some intense gaming but the noise is not as bad compared to my previous laptop. Keys and touchpad are very responsive and do get warm during intense gaming but compared to my previous laptop those got uncomfortably warm at times. I do prop the back of the laptop up to maximize airflow which seems to help. This laptop is noticeably lighter and slimmer compared to the older model that I came from. Some complaint I have is the touchpad does not light up which at times can be frustrating since it blends in with the chassis. Also the battery seems to have a shorter run time compared to my previous laptop with normal web surfing and video streaming with the Alienware lighting off. Overall I am happy with this laptop as mentioned earlier and have no regrets picking this one to continue fulfilling my high end gaming needs.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Graphics, Performance
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Heat, Price

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Blazing

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    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I like the laptop although it is pricey. It’s nice to have the 3070 on the go for gaming. I’ve played a few games on this like Last Oasis which runs great. My only gripe is the battery life is bad and it gets especially hot.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Graphics, Speed
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Freaking Awesome Laptop

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    Posted . Owned for 1.5 years when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Laptop Rock! It looks great and is super fast. I got it on sale and totally worth the buy! The only nit-picky thing is the battery drains quickly

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Performance
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Fan noise, Ram

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    It's worth it but be very observant of your unit.

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    Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I'll make it short and sweet: It can be loud, but not unbearably so (and still runs very well on silent.) The battery life is short, you know that. (It's worth the sheer performance.) Ram is soldered, that sucks. It's still worth it. Check to see if overclocking causes a crash before doing anything else. (While you can still have it replaced by BB.) If you think that you want it you're probably right. Go for it.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Keyboard
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Alienware + Good Thermals = Best Gaming Laptop

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    Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I have owned an MSI GS65 Stealth, the awesome 2019 Helios 300, and the 2018 Alienware m15 R1. And this one blows them all out of the water. Build quality is excellent, the keyboard is the best you'll find on any gaming laptop, and for once in a long time for Alienware, excellent thermal performance. I'm playing games on the display like Doom Eternal and Control at max settings and never getting above 80-82C, especially with a small undervolt of 85mv on the CPU core/cache. My only complaint with this configuration is the battery life. This model does NOT have Optimus with the 360 Hz panel, and the graphics card runs all of the time even on battery. With light usage, expect about 1.5 hours to 2 hours. If you need better battery life, opt for the 144 Hz panel configuration directly from Dell and I've heard it bumps up to 4.5-6 hours. At the end of the day, most people I imagine are buying this as a desktop replacement so battery life shouldn't be a huge concern. If you have to take it with you, bring the charger. While this is a fantastic laptop, I encourage those who are interested to check out Dell's website for other configurations, as you can get more RAM and the 3080 for only a few hundred dollars more. But for what I do, this Alienware fits the bill. If you want the best of the best, buy it.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Performance, Speed
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    What can I say? Its too fast i cant complain

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    Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I just upgraded my old laptop to 16gb, its core i7 4thgen, and i used it in designing in illustrator. I was happy but theres something missing, so i bought the ultimate laptop that i could find in best buy. I cant even compare the experience, first time i game in super high resolution without lag, i render vector in seconds, i do 3d vector in illustrator with super crisp image and in high definition without lag… its really worth the money… the battery sucks but its a high processor and it really used a lot of power to perform really well… its a downside but its reasonable…

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Performance
    Cons mentioned:
    Heat

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Alienware laptop

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    Posted . Owned for 1.5 years when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Fantastic laptop I bought it for engineering and it’s worked fantastic I also use it for gaming as well and it’s great however would suggest to get a cooling pad as it does get super hot

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Graphics
    Cons mentioned:
    Heat, Ram

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    A beast

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    Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    If you looking for a real 140W max-p RTX 3070 Graphic card and super high refresh rate monitor gaming laptop , what you are waiting for. The new Tcc setting from the BIOS can help you reduce some temperature when you are playing some heavy performance games, such as War Zone or COD 17. In addition, a cooling pad may help with the “hot” further. Con: the soldered Ram.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Graphics, Speed

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Gaming

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    Posted . Owned for 1.5 years when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    This computer works Awesome! Has really good Graphics and is really fast!!

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Keyboard
    Cons mentioned:
    Fan noise

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Solid performance, good thermals. Annoy high pitch

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    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    This thing is an absolute beast. The thermals are the best I've seen in a low profile laptop, the CPU temps hardly touch 90 C in intense gaming sessions. The screen is really nice, the keyboard is good and the overall package is solid. The one annoyance is the fans. This thing in general, is pretty quiet for a thin gaming laptop. It's quieter than my Razer Blade 15 for example. However, the fans make an annoying high pitch whistle (jet engine type sound) at low to medium speeds that can bug you if you're sensitive to that frequency. It's similar to coil whine but the pitch goes up and down with the fan. Once the fans ramp up, the jet noise turns into your typical woosh fan noise. It seems a lot of people have this similar noise in their R2, R3, R4 models but the noise only annoys certain people who are sensitive to that frequency. If it does annoy you, do a google search. There are ways to make the noise quieter, by taping up edges of your fan ports and whatnot but I haven't tired it.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Graphics, Keyboard, Speed

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Nice laptop

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    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Great laptop. It is Super fast and has all the bells and whistles that I was looking for in a computer. I love that most of the connections on the back of the computer. The laptop is nice looking with a light up keyboard and light up strip around the back. Beautiful computer all around. The folks at Best Buy were helpful, although there were not a lot of high end laptops to look at.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Speed

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Great laptop overall and very fast for gaming!

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    Posted . Owned for 2 months when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Bought for my 11 year old son who loves to play Minecraft and many other games. Very fast laptop computer and @ 41 years old I wish I had one of these! Definitely recommend getting the laptop fan that goes underneath because it does get hot. If you don’t get fan be sure not to use laptop on bed or table cloth. Make sure to use on a table or desk. Not exactly a laptop at 17.5 inches! this thing is a beast! Heavy too so recommend you have a bag to carry around etc. This was not 4K but images are bright, clear and processing fast. Overall very happy with purchase. First time buying an Alien product. Always bought HP and Microsoft computers for my self and kids so we’ll see how this goes and post updates in few months. As I write review now son has been using computer for 2 months and no issues. Like any computer be sure to allow updates when starting up so works as it should. If your a gamer need to buy one of these at Best Buy and the lights on keyboard are very cool can change colors or leave multi color. I don’t work for Best Buy or have any financial gain for company, just a customer who spends a lot of money here and I love their customer service all around pleased.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Speed
    Cons mentioned:
    Fan noise, Heat, Ram

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    Decent enough, but JUNK for the price.

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    Posted . Owned for 1 year when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    For the price, I don't think there was a worst value. I always said I would never own a Dellienware, but COVID had everything at a hard to get spot, so I decided to try it. Luckily I have totaltech, so not too concerned, hopefully Best Buy will make it right. Sound on this laptop NEVER worked, but I used a headset, so wasn;t a deal breaker. Using with VR it was marginal. The 3070TI card was nice, but the lame soldered on RAM was a complete surprise...what kind of gaming company would even cosider this as a thing! So ya get the PC and it's bricked outta the box for upgrade. That, and that alone is enough to label this laptop JUNK for gamers, as most game require 16-32GB to run well. 1TB SSD...meh not horrible, but comeon...in a $2k+ laptop, this should have been at least dual 1TB Raid 0 SSDs, or a single 2TB M2. Again, Alienware has been building budget rigs for Dell, not high end gaming rigs for decades now. First time I took this laptop on the road, in an Everki Titan backpack, the lid had a small piece of trim snag and break right off...construction and quality of materials...JUNK. Onto cooling... We all expect gaming laptops to run very warm, if ya don't, ya just don't know any better. This laptop runs hotter than a prom date. Fans have no self cleaning at all and require blowing out monthly, at 1 year 3 months, the fans are no longer able to be blown out an drequire disassembly and vacuuming, this laptop is NOT worth that kind of effort, and will be going back. The fans for the graphics card also have failing bushings, and shed shredded metal fragments which drop through the bottom case panel and are blown out the side vents. Pros: It is reasonably fast, but lacks enough memory to be viable, and that cannot be upgraded, so plan for poor performance in large games. I tried to do a factory restore on it prior to my visit tomorrow with Best Buy, and it bricked itself in the process, so made the right call planning on returning it.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Performance
    Cons mentioned:
    Heat

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    A true beauty

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    Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    If you want to buy a laptop to flex and have great performance, this is it. This laptop gets a lot of people’s attention with all the rgb lighting on. Laptop feels really solid and it feels and look amazing. The customization for rgb is confusing tho so you gotta get use to it. This laptop runs just a little hot that’s my only complain.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Performance
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Get one !!!

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    Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Excellent performance. Cooling system is perfect. I m so happy to buy it ! Battery life is disaster but its deskop replacement thats why ı dont care too much. I had short time msi gs76 i9 . That was terrible toucpad was so cheap. But alienware is build with real good quality !

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Cons mentioned:
    Fan noise

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Solid gaming laptop with a couple of small issues

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    Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Debating whether to keep it or return it for another unit while I still have a few days to do so. I'm unable to overclock (using the Alienware preset OC 1 and 2 settings) without immediately overheating and shutting down. Take that with a grain of salt as it's probably an isolated thing that a good unit won't have an issue with. My only other complaint would be the way these fans whistle even when not at full speed. If you're a fan of high-pitched sounds, you may want to crank one up and see what you think about the fan noise before buying. Other than that, it really is a well-built machine and can handle virtually anything you throw at it. Wattage is extremely important with these newer graphics cards or else they are underpowered and don't perform as well. That won't be an issue here.

    I would recommend this to a friend