Alienware has rolled out a new 480Hz gaming laptop in the m17 R5, whilst also bringing a 480Hz option to the existing x17 R2.
Both laptops can now be configured with a 4K display in the US (no news on a UK rollout as yet), but more interesting is the fresh option of a 1080p panel with a whopping 480Hz refresh rate.
Alienware owner Dell states that this elevated frame rate will yield smooth animation, lower latency, and reduced ghosting. Of course, whether a particular game will be able to utilize that extra smoothness is another thing altogether. It’ll also depend on the rest of the laptop’s hardware.
First announced at CES 2022, the Alienware m17 R5 and Alienware M15 R7 were the first gaming laptops we’d seen in some time to use AMD, rather than Intel, CPUs. Our editor Alastair Stevenson noted that this was an exciting development in the otherwise staid world of PC gaming.
In terms of specifications, the Alienware m17 R5 can be fitted out with an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX processor and an AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT GPU at the top end. You can also specify up to 64GB of RAM and a 4TB SSD
The updated Alienware x17 R2, meanwhile, comes with Intel’s 12th Gen processors and can be specced out with Nvidia’s RTX 3080 Ti GPU, with up to 64GB of RAM and a 4TB SSD.
The Alienware m17 R5 is available now in North America, with prices starting from $2,299.99 if you want that sweet new 480Hz display. You also can now specify the x17 R2 with a 480Hz LCD from $2,549.99.