STACK #162 April 2018

GAMES FEATURE

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As part of the upfront price, Dell includes 12 months of its highly valued premium support services on all Alienware gaming devices in all channels, including: access to 24/7 telephone support for a range of hardware and software issues

17” is, in this reviewer’s humble opinion, the perfect size for a gaming laptop screen. It just so happens that the Alienware 17 packs a punch power-wise, too.

Words Alesha Kolbe

On-site tech support after

remote diagnosis

W e were given an Alienware 17 6th Gen laptop to play with for a bit, and we’ve come away more than impressed. You likely will too – provided you’ve got the coin to spare. Alienware doesn’t come cheap. Our test unit featured an Intel Core i7- 7700HQ processor, and comes pre-loaded with Windows 10 Home. It’s got 32GB of DDR4 memory (2 x 16GB), and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card with 8GB of DDR5. You’ll also get to play with a 256GB SSD for boot and a 1TB HDD to store all your games and movies. All those numbers add up to one of the most powerful gaming

laptops on the market. Of course, it’s also got a headphone jack, a few USB ports (including one USB type C), and a spot for an Alienware Graphics amp if you really want to go all out. Alienware claim their PCs are ‘engineered to wreak havoc’, and there’s really not much point in arguing. The 17 boots up incredibly fast, and the 17.3” full HD screen does look very nice. Anti-glare helps keep any outside sun or bright lights away, preventing them from interfering with your games. However, the laptop does get quite warm quite quickly; worth noting if you’re prone to gaming on your lap. Additionally, they’re pretty bulky and heavy (4.42kg to be exact) as far as laptops are concerned, so you’ll probably want to keep this one in one place for a while. You’ll be able to get your hands

Proactively finds issues and contacts Dell whilst notifying you

International support when you

take your device overseas

Inbuilt software allows you to customise 13 different lighting zones all over the computer (including the touch pad) for a combination of 80 quadrillion different colour options. After all – it’s not a gaming laptop without fancy lighting effects. Another point Alienware wish to make with this new laptop is that it is fully VR capable – given you provide your own virtual reality unit, of course. There’s no doubt that the processing power of this thing packs a punch, and so it games on the Alienware 17 – one of which being League of Legends . When played on the highest possible graphics settings, the laptop barely broke a sweat, there was no lag, and the N-key rollover came in handy in some of the more intense teamfights. If you’ve got the cash, and want a reliable, sturdy, powerful gaming laptop, you should definitely consider Alienware. could end up being a good alternative to a desktop PC if you’re keen on getting down with some VR. We tried out a few

on the Alienware 17 in ‘Epic Silver’, but you’ll really want to pay attention to the AlienFX lighting system.

All those numbers add up to one of the most powerful gaming laptops on the market

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APRIL 2018

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