Overnight, you may have noticed that AMD-powered laptops are popping up all over the place, with the Ryzen 5000H series CPUs steadily dominating Intel offerings, a big reason why companies like Alienware are releasing AMD systems again. In this case, Alienware is trying to revive AMD after more than a decade of Intel dominance with its sleek m15 Ryzen Edition R5 gaming laptop.

The m15's new Legend 2.0 design is more understated than one might expect from an Alienware product. The stadium loop lighting on the back of the laptop is one of my favorite details I've seen on a gaming laptop. It gives the m15 character without distracting the user. If you decide not to use stadium loop lighting in public, or in situations that don't require an eye-catching (but cool looking) halo of light, it can make the laptop look more professional.

This configuration of the m15 Ryzen Edition R5 is a more affordable option, albeit with a $1,649 price tag. However, it could be a laptop with RTX 3070 and QHD (240Hz) or FHD (360Hz), but expect to spend considerably more. However, the stock 1080p 165Hz display was a perfect fit for the RTX 3060; there is no point in paying 360Hz prices for anything less than an RTX 3080.

Beyond pricing, there is one main problem that has plagued Alienware laptops for years, and that is laptop heat; Alienware laptops get hot, and this laptop is no exception. After a few rounds of Resident Evil Village's Mercenaries (an action-focused score attack mode), you can hear the fans working at full power; the GPU's maximum temperature is 84°C and the CPU's maximum temperature is 98°C, making it one of the hottest gaming laptops.

This level of temperature was expected for playing games. What I did not expect was how hot the m15 Ryzen Edition R5 got as I typed up this review on my lap. It took about 20 minutes before my thighs couldn't take the heat anymore, and to Alienware's credit, the surface temperature of the m15 didn't get that hot, so I didn't feel much hot air blowing off the system while operating the keyboard in any setting other than lap. [The m15 Ryzen Edition's gaming performance makes me wonder why the Alienware/AMD partnership didn't happen sooner; the RTX 3060 is not the most powerful GPU, but it does the job as well as other lower-priced Intel/RTX 3070 laptops It does the job just as well as other lower-priced Intel/RTX 3070 laptops. The Alienware m15 R5 in this configuration averaged over 60 fps at 1080p in nearly all gaming benchmarks, with the only exception being Ultra's Metro Exodus with RTX on, which averaged around 56 fps. This is because the m15 R5 is the first gaming laptop with RTX 3060. Therefore, we compared it to other gaming laptops in a similar price range. For this reason, we included several Intel systems with RTX 3070 and one AMD-powered machine with RTX 3070 and a Ryzen 5800H CPU.

I am completely obsessed with getting SS rankings in the Mercenaries mode of Resident Evil Village. So I started playing a few rounds on m15 outside of my usual benchmark suite. With the graphics settings balanced and ray tracing turned off, I averaged 45 fps, but there was a noticeable drop of 10-15 frames/second. Nevertheless, we were surprised that some scores were close. m15 R5 was in the mid-low end of the range compared to other RTX 3070-equipped systems.

The 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD filled up quickly, but very quickly. Once more people are able to play games on NVMe SSDs, we are confident that they will never go back. The only drawback is that these defective products are expensive. So while I can see why this configuration has only 512GB (although up to 2TB is available with configuration options), it won't bump the price of the system beyond most people's budgets.

Again, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H continues to impress, delivering the productivity and gaming performance required of a gaming laptop. Combine this with the modest RTX 3060 and the m15 turns into a great professional laptop and an entry to mid-range gaming laptop. The real problem is that you can easily find other laptops with RTX 3070 and better displays in the same price range. Machines like the Asus TUG Gaming A15, which costs only $100 more, or the Intel-powered Asus Dash 15.

The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 is a sleek looking and powerful system, but it suffers from many of the same problems we have encountered with previous Alienware laptops. This RTX 3060 model costs about the same as some RTX 3070 gaming laptops, which will be a major bottleneck for many PC gamers. However, if you are sticking with Alienware gaming laptops, consider waiting for the new X Series machines the company has announced. Along with design upgrades, they promise better thermal solutions.