If you’re looking into high end gaming laptops, the best gaming laptop for school and gaming is the Alienware M15 Gaming Laptop. Under the hood is a 6GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, an Intel Core i7, with 16GB of RAM. You get the best of both worlds: multi-tasking and having the recommended specs for Cyberpunk 2077. You ready to use one of the best gaming laptops for beginners, samurai?
Why We Like It – Alienware M15 Gaming Laptop
Well-equipped to handle the likes of Cyberpunk 2077, the Alienware M15 Gaming Laptop puts its 120Hz refresh rate to the test, powered by a GTX 1060 (6GB) and Intel Core i7 CPU.
- 120Hz refresh rate
- Up to 11 hours of battery life
- 1TB HDD + 128GB SSD
- Screen size is a bit on the smaller side
Power & Performance
Obviously the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB isn’t anything like, say, a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, like what’s in the Gigabyte Aero 15 RTX, but if you’re looking to play Cyberpunk 2077, it’s smack-dab in the recommended specs. This also includes the CPU, an Intel Core i7-6700HQ 3.5Ghz and 16GB of RAM to boot. That translates to about 30+ frames per second, which is solid gaming performance. It also helps that the LCD screen has a 120Hz refresh rate and G-Sync for smooth transition, just 22Hz below the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S Ultra Slim Gaming Laptop. In that case, read our ASUS ROG Zephyrus S ultra slim review.
Battery, Ports & Expandability
Battery life also gets a thumbs up from us. You can pull about 11 hours of battery life out of the Alienware M15 R3, a step in the right direction compared to an Alienware M15 R2. Along the sides you get Ethernet, Thunderbolt, Type-C, HDMI, and so on. You get the works, in addition to Wi-Fi. Under the hood is a 128GB SSD (boot) and 1TB 7200RPM HDD. There is expandability with the RAM, which can go up to 32GB. Another powerful 17.3-inch gaming laptop with 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 8GB is featured in our Alienware M17 review.
Build Quality
The Alienware M15 Gaming Laptop isn’t a Razer Blade with Max Q design, but it sure is sturdy. Copper has been lined along the most important features, while the outside is a tough magnesium alloy. It’s certainly built sturdier than the Lenovo IdeaPad I340 Gaming Laptop.
Value
There are a wide variety of Alienware laptops, and while this may not have the latest and greatest NVIDIA RTX, it may earn its place at your command center. The value of the GTX 1060 6GB should not be overlooked, considering it’s a big boost of the 3GB model, and it puts you right in line for playing Cyberpunk 2077. However, we would’ve loved to see a bigger screen size, and maybe an OLED screen instead of LCD.
Alienware M15 Gaming Laptop Wrap Up
Of course not everyone will play Cyberpunk 2077, but it at least gives you a benchmark for what to expect from the Alienware M15 Gaming Laptop. If you can run that, there’s dozens of modern games you’ll be able to play too. After all, a GTX 1060 6GB, Intel Core i7 and 16GB is one nasty combination.
