Alienware Levels Up: First Look at the Redesigned 2019 m15 and m17

From PC Mag: Among Dell's many Computex announcements today come two completely redesigned Alienware laptops. The m15 and m17 have been offered in years past as more portable, but still powerful, gaming options, and now they've been rebuilt from the ground up.

The new "m"-machines match Alienware's new design language, first debuted on the Alienware Area-51m earlier this year, and indeed look like smaller versions of the flagship behemoth. There's more to these than just a fresh coat of paint, however, including cutting-edge components and features. (That said, these machines do not feature the socketed desktop-grade CPU of the Area-51m.) Both will be available July 1, and both machines will have a $1,499.99 starting price. Below you'll find plenty more detail and impressions from a preview event in New York, where I got to see the new machines for myself.

These two laptops look very similar (and, in turn, look a lot like the Area-51m); we'll start with the 15-inch model. Pictured here is the Lunar Light color option, but it also comes in the grey-toned Dark Side of the Moon color scheme. The previous m15 model was trim, but the design was fairly simple and generally unexciting. For better or worse, this design is busier, but I think it's largely for the better. I prefer the Lunar Light myself, and I think it looks clean and modern.

As with the Area-51m, the rear features a ringed LED around the ports and vents that makes the machine look more high-tech. The honeycomb design on the vents (and in the area forward of the keyboard), combined with the LED and the font of the lid logo, give the new m15 a distinct sci-fi vibe. It's perhaps too much for some, but for those fine with the fact that their gaming machine looks like a gaming machine, it's tastefully done. The redesign clearly aimed for a more futuristic aesthetic, and Alienware pulled it off—and I like it more on this smaller model than on the m17 or the Area-51m, personally.

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