You can now put your orders in for some of the first gaming laptops powered by Intel's 12th-generation Alder Lake processors and NVIDIA's latest RTX graphics. A few of these laptops were announced at this year's CES, and orders are opening today, so if you want to be the first to get the latest and greatest, you can jump right into it now.
One of the companies launching its laptops today is Dell's Alienware brand, which is launching the Alienware x15 R2 and Alienware x17 R2 today. These are the second-generation models of Alienware's thin gaming laptops, and they come in 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch variants, as the names suggest. Both are powered by up to an Intel Core i9-12900H processor with 14 cores (6P + 8E) and 20 threads, with the P cores able to boost up to 5GHz. They also come with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU, which has 16GB of GDDR6 memory and is significantly more powerful than the standard RTX 3080.
All of this is cooled by Alienware's custom-developed thermal interface, which it calls Element 31. This solution offers improved heat transfer and it allows the laptops to be as thin as they are, despite their specs.
The Alienware x15 R2 is available with up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM at 5200MHz and up to 2TB of PCIe SSD storage. It's also available with either a Full HD (1920 x 1080) panel at 360Hz or a Quad HD (2560 x 1440) at 240Hz. More models may become available later, but you can see them all below, starting at $2,199.99.
Dell Alienware x15 R2
The Alienware x15 R2 has the latest hardware from Intel and NVIDIA and is cooled by Dell's Element 31.
As for the Alienware x17, it comes with up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM, but a slightly slower 4800MHz speed, plus the same 2TB of SSD storage. Right now, only Full HD 360Hz display options are available, but more options should show up in the future. You can get your order in below, with prices starting at $2,299.99.
Dell Alienware x17 R2
The Alienware x17 R2 has similarly powerful specs to the 15-inch model but with a larger display amd more ports, including Ethernet.
Razer's latest Blade 15 and Blade 17 gaming laptops, also powered by Intel Alder Lake processors and NVIDIA's latest GPUs, are available to pre-order today as well. They both have pretty much the same specs: Up to an Intel Core i9-12900H processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics, 16GB of RAM (upgradeable) and 1TB of storage (also upgradeable). The GPUs are different, though, since they can only reach 105W of power on the Blade 15, while they go up to 130W on the Blade 17.
Aside from the size, most of the display options are also the same: Full HD 360Hz, Quad HD 240Hz, or Ultra HD 144Hz. The Razer Blade 17 does have an additional option, which is a more affordable Quad HD panel at 165Hz to go along with the weaker GeForce RTX 3060 GPU. It's also worth noting that the Ultra HD panel option on the Razer Blade 17 isn't available for pre-order yet, though it is available on the Blade 15.
If you want the Razer Blade 15, it's available starting at $2,499.99, while the Razer Blade 17 starts at $2,699. You can pre-order your preferred model below, and they'll begin shipping on February 22nd.
Razer Blade 15 (2022)
The Razer Blade 15 has Intel 12th-generation processors and up to RTX 3080 Ti graphics with 105W of power. Plus, it has various display options.
Razer Blade 17 (2022)
The Razer Blade 17 has the same Intel processors as its smaller sibling and even more powerful GPUs with up to 130W of power. It includes the same display options, aside from the size.