The Alienware m16 R2 uses a 2560 X 1600 pixel resolution IPS display which is decent for its price but not particularly notable. The display lacks HDR support and instead opts for a basic sRGB color gamut. This isn’t a big deal, but when similarly priced laptops like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 include vibrant OLED panels, it’s hard to ignore.
It maxes out at 300 nits of brightness, which is slightly lower than some gaming laptops I’ve tested recently. Sitting next to a window during the day, I could still easily make out what was on the screen, but I started to struggle when I was outdoors in broad daylight.
The m16 R2’s display does have one advantage: it has a 240Hz refresh rate, which is especially welcome in fast-paced games that can take advantage of it. While playing eternal damnation At medium settings, I got in excess of 200 frames per second, which made jumping and shooting demons a smooth experience.
Many other gaming laptops at this price (like the Zephyrus G14) are limited to 120Hz, making the m16 R2 an attractive alternative if you’re looking for smoother gaming. It’s worth noting that refresh rate is only useful if games can take advantage of it, meaning you’ll need to carefully consider your spec options.
To work and play
The base model of the Alienware m16 R2 comes with an Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU, but it can be upgraded to an RTX 4070, which was in the model I tested. With the RTX 4070 I played supervision 2 on medium settings while reaching over 200 fps. In a competitive game where split-second decisions are important, this is a huge benefit.
In more modern, graphics-intensive single-player games like star fieldI reliably got between 50 and 60 fps in busy areas like New Atlantis, with higher frame rates in less demanding areas of the game. Cyberpunk 2077 It fared similarly, regularly maintaining 70 to 80 fps during combat, dropping to 50 to 60 fps while driving through busy areas of the city.
Photography: Eric Ravenscraft
All of these tests were done while plugged in, but it’s important to remember that if you plan to play on battery power, more frames means more power consumption. The m16 R2 has a substantial 90 watt-hour battery, which is among the largest you’ll find in a laptop. But putting the graphics settings to maximum will consume it so quickly. When performing normal tasks on the m16 R2, I achieved approximately nine to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge. Gaming reduced that number substantially, but I was able to enjoy an hour and a half to two hours of continuous gameplay if I was careful to optimize my graphics settings and not stress the machine too much.
Overall, the Alienware m16 R2 balances power with everyday needs. You can use this laptop as your daily driver for work and get a full day of battery life, then plug it into a dock at the end of the day for some pretty good gaming.
