Dell has unveiled its refreshed line of Alienware laptops for the second half of 2016. The company seems to have skipped the ongoing IFA conference in Berlin for the more gamer friendly PAX West convention; and that isn’t the only departure from the usual story.
The Alienware family still spans three models, the Alienware 17, 15, and 13; although the Alienware 17 has picked up some new technology over its siblings. The largest of Dell’s gaming laptops now includes the Tobii eye-tracking technology; the same that MSI already has in its own gaming machines. It does pretty much the same thing, meaning that it allows the laptop to converse battery life by dimming the display when people are not looking at it; while also allowing the user to log in using Windows Hello.
Aside from Tobii, the Alienware 17 will be sporting a sixth generation Intel Core processor – with options spanning up to an overclocked Intel Core i7-6820HK. Graphics cards have a similarly wide pool of options, with Dell offering a choice from the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, 1070, or 1060. AMD fans may also opt for a Radeon RX 470 card instead.
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Dell’s Alienware 15 doesn’t look like it’s changed much, although it may have shed some weight. Options go up to an overclocked sixth generation Intel Core i7-6820HK, and a choice from the GeForce GTX 1060, 1070, and the Radeon RX 470. It also features a built-in camera to support Windows Hello, although it doesn’t have the Tobii eye-tracking feature.
Interestingly, the specifications for the Alienware 13 are not being shared. It will apparently also hold Nvidia’s new Pascal graphics cards, and that is about as much as Dell has said about it. More information will apparently be shared when closer to the launch of the Alienware 13, as it isn’t going to be made available at the same time as the other two.
All three machines are supposedly VR-ready; which is a common claim for gaming laptops these days.While the mobile versions of the GeForce GTX 1080 and 1070 are easily capable of handling the demands of VR, we aren’t entirely convinced by the 1060 yet.
There is no pricing for the new line of Alienware laptops yet, but the Alienware 17 and 15 are scheduled to be ready to ship on 30 September. The Alienware 13 is coming along later, with a scheduled launch in November.
