Dell has taken one of its most popular Alienware gaming laptops in one of its most powerful configurations and stuck a fantastic $800 discount on it this week. That brings it down to an unprecedented sales price, especially considering the hefty components under the hood.
You'll find the Alienware M15 R7 available for just $1,799.99 right now, down from an original $2,599.99, via the official Dell store. Packing an i9-12900H processor, 32GB DDR5 RAM, and a 1440p 240Hz display, you're certainly not sacrificing any other specs to pick up that RTX 3080 graphics card for such a great rate. That's particularly impressive - the vast majority of gaming laptop deals we see offering these kinds of rates are limited in at least one of these areas. In the past, this build has generally stuck at a $2,000+ price point, dipping to $1,999 every now and then in recent weeks.
This is a high-end configuration at an upper mid-range price, perfect for those looking to reach around 80-150fps in High settings and 70-100fps in Ultra - and those are conservative numbers. We took an RTX 3070 Ti / Intel i7-12700H configuration out for a spin and recorded those framerates in our benchmarks, so the 3080 and an i9 processor will be able to push those boundaries even further. Considering this is still one of the best gaming laptops we've had our hands on, at a price we were celebrating on far weaker machines just a few months ago, the value for money here is stunning.
You'll find more information on the offer below, and plenty more of the latest gaming laptop deals further down the page.
Should you buy the Alienware M15 R7?
We were seriously impressed by the performance of our test unit when we completed our Alienware M15 R7 review last summer. Our configuration offered up some excellent numbers, with the RTX 3070 Ti model beating a 2022 Razer Blade 15 with a boosted RTX 3080 Ti GPU under the hood. You'll find the full breakdown of this incredible power just below (with in-game benchmarks taken at 1080p), proving just how much grunt is hiding in the innards of this machine.
| Benchmark | Alienware M15 R7 | Razer Blade 15 |
|---|---|---|
| Fire Strike | 24,894 | 20,171 |
| Time Spy | 10,722 | 9,690 |
| The Division 2 | High: 124fps | Ultra: 97fps | High: 107fps | Ultra: 86fps |
| Metro Exodus | High: 98fps | Ultra: 72fps | High: 87fps | Ultra: 67fps |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | High: 79fps | Ultra: 76fps | High: 84fps | Ultra: 67fps |
| Total War: Three Kingdoms | High: 120fps | Ultra: 83fps | High: 107fps | Ultra: 79fps |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | High: 148fps | Highest: 129fps | High: 101fps | Ultra: 97fps |
Of course, those numbers don't tell the whole story. The Blade 15 is undeniably a more attractive machine for those looking to travel, and the 4K display available is certainly a draw as well. The Alienware laptop is certainly bulky, and we did notice it kicking up a fuss with its fans in our testing. That means it's better geared towards a player who won't need to take it on the road too often, ideally as a PC replacement with the option for transport should the need arise. The cheaper plastic chassis does work hard to keep that cost down as well, and still feels solid in the hand, but won't serve the tastes of those after a more luxurious device.
Still, for the price to performance you're getting with today's offer there's undeniably good value up for grabs here. Gaming laptop deals rarely offer this kind of performance, and you certainly won't see this kind of discount on a 40-Series device any time soon.
More of today's best gaming laptop deals
Whether you're after something a little cheaper, or the larger chassis of the Alienware M15 R7 won't fit into your playstyle, you'll find plenty more gaming laptop deals on the shelves right now. The comparison chart below rounds up all our favorite machines and updates with the lowest prices on the web every half hour.
Of course, we're also rounding up all the best Razer laptops and the best Asus gaming laptops if you're on the fence about brand. Or, take a look at the best gaming PCs on the market for a more permanent setup.
