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00:00All right, so this is the Alienware X17, I've been wanting to get this device in for a really
00:11long time.
00:12A couple months ago, I reached out to Dell, I'm like, hey, can you send a review unit
00:15over?
00:16They're like, yeah, sure.
00:17I waited, it never came.
00:18I started seeing it appear in stores, I started seeing people buy it in retail locations.
00:21I'm like, where's the review unit?
00:24And I started to get a little suspicious because companies do this thing where they don't send
00:29me devices when they know I'm going to take a steaming dump on it.
00:32It's happened before in the past with other brands, and I'm like, maybe this is it.
00:36Maybe this is one of those products.
00:37So I go and buy it.
00:38I order one online, and then a week and a half after I order it, my order gets canceled.
00:43The reason is it's damaged in shipping or whatever, and they're going to start a new
00:47order.
00:48I'm like, what is going on?
00:49Right?
00:50It honestly felt like they were trying to hide something.
00:52So I get this thing, and finally, and my review on this thing was very thorough, more thorough
00:57than a regular device because I just felt like something had to be, something had to
01:02be up.
01:03Right?
01:04Okay.
01:05So Alienware X17, brand new product, like new design, new chassis, new thermal system,
01:11new everything.
01:12But it only comes in this white color on the exterior.
01:15It's a color that I like, and anytime I've ever picked up an Alienware device over the
01:18past few years, I've gone for this color, but it's not for everyone.
01:21I do think it does show the kind of curvature and design language of a laptop better, with
01:26like a lighter color.
01:27It does show the details a little bit better, but the interior also only comes in one color,
01:30and it is a dark, I want to say black, but it's not quite black.
01:35It's like this really, really dark gray that's got this speckled pattern to it, and this
01:39material is very prone to fingerprints.
01:41Now I do like the look of it, but I am surprised that they only offer it in one color.
01:46Like in the past, Alienware's top end devices have had two, sometimes even three color options
01:50for the exterior, and it's just strange that they only offer one right now.
01:54This might change in the future.
01:55Could be because of manufacturing during the pandemic, but it is a little strange to me.
01:59Now the tail end of the device still has that iconic Alienware look, so it's got that RGB
02:04trim light, as well as the hexagonal grid for the exhaust.
02:07They have upgraded the trim light this year, so you can extensively customize the lighting
02:11on the rear of the device, if you so choose.
02:14Okay, so when they first announced the X product, one of the first features they talked about
02:18was how thin this was going to be.
02:20It was like this, I think it was the thinnest product Alienware has ever put out.
02:24I think that was like the marketing terminology they used.
02:27And my initial reaction was like, that can't be good, right?
02:31Because Alienware devices have never been about thin.
02:33They've always been thicker, but they've been really, really well built.
02:36These things are super solid, right?
02:39And I thought that by going this thin, they would lose a lot of that structural tankiness,
02:43but it's super solid.
02:45This thing feels like a tank, and I'm actually surprised that they've been able to keep that
02:48structural rigidity while making it so thin.
02:52It is heavy.
02:53It's a 17-inch device, but it's built well.
02:55I think that's the most important thing when it comes to any bigger device.
02:58Good build quality, and they've done a good job in that front.
03:01Now, to get inside, the back panel comes off quite easily, but there's some good things,
03:05and there's some less good things.
03:07So there's two NVMe slots, one of them being PCIe 4, so it can go super fast.
03:11The other one's just PCIe 3.
03:12But here's the weird stuff.
03:13So the X17 comes with a Wi-Fi card that's baked on, but removable RAM.
03:19The X15 is flipped.
03:21It's the reverse of that.
03:22It's got removable Wi-Fi, but the RAM is baked on.
03:26Now, neither of these cases are ideal, right?
03:28For the user, we want removable everything.
03:31It's strange to me that they did that.
03:32The X17 in particular, baked Wi-Fi is never good, and the Wi-Fi card they went with, killer.
03:38Like, I would've swapped this out for just the regular stock Intel, but you can't.
03:42Now, the X17 is running four fans, two big ones, and then two smaller ones.
03:47And in addition to these fans, they're also running a new thermal compound.
03:49It's a phase-change material that's gallium-based.
03:52Now, I've never used this stuff, I've never seen this stuff outside of the X17,
03:55so I can't really comment on previous applications of it,
03:58but they've done a really fantastic job with this new thermal system on the X17.
04:05It cools incredibly well.
04:07Now, I don't know how much of that is due to the phase-change material,
04:10or if it's just because there's four fans in there just pulling out heat, doing work,
04:14but it's good, better than I would've expected for Alienware,
04:17because in their past, their devices have usually run hot.
04:19But it's not just compared to Alienware devices.
04:22Like, this is better than the competition.
04:25When it comes to 17-inch gaming devices, they're usually thicker and louder,
04:29but the X17 is able to keep up with some of the best stuff out there.
04:32Now, when it comes to overclocking,
04:34so if you look at any of my Alienware reviews I've done over the past few years,
04:37I tend not to even touch the overclocking options,
04:40because the devices are usually at their thermal limit.
04:43If they're not overheating, they're close to it, so why push it even harder, right?
04:47But this year, because the X17's, it had so much potential,
04:51I wanted to see how far this thing can go.
04:52So, I bumped up the clock, threw in a bit of an undervolt,
04:55and I was getting some very impressive numbers.
04:57Now, one thing to keep in mind, if you're someone who wants to repaste it,
05:00or you just want to take a look at the thermal interface material,
05:02it is a flipped motherboard, so you have to do a fairly extensive disassembly
05:06if you want access to the CPU and GPU side.
05:10Okay, the battery.
05:11So, this is a pretty big battery,
05:13and I got around four and a half hours of battery life with my regular testing,
05:16but this is with the 4K panel.
05:18If you get one of the lower-res screens, like out of the 1080p options,
05:21you'll probably get 10, maybe 15% more battery life on the device.
05:25The keyboard uses the same Cherry MX mechanical switches
05:28that we saw a few months ago on the last iteration of the 17-inch device.
05:32I really like these keys. They're not for everyone.
05:34It's got that, like, ping sound if you type super fast on it.
05:40I really like the feel of it, but it's something that,
05:43if, for one, if you're noise-sensitive, like if you don't want a loud keyboard,
05:46this ain't the move.
05:47But I also think that if you don't like that type of tactility,
05:50like there's people out there that just don't like that type of clickiness to their keyboard,
05:56then you won't like this either.
05:57But I think most people will enjoy the typing experience,
05:59and especially the gaming experience.
06:01This is a really nice keyboard to game on.
06:04It does not have a number pad.
06:05If you remember the last mechanical keyboard I showed you from these guys,
06:08they had a number pad on the 17-inch device.
06:10It's gone.
06:11I like that. I don't use number pads, but I feel like most people would prefer it to be on.
06:16I don't know.
06:17Okay, the one thing I do not like about this keyboard
06:21is the lack of backlighting on many of the secondary functions of these keys.
06:24So any of the F keys or even, like, the numerics,
06:27like if you want to use, like, the ampersand or the money sign,
06:30like if you're using any of those functions in the dark
06:33and you don't know it off the top of your head, it's impossible to see.
06:37You actually have to, like, tilt the screen,
06:38look at it with the glow from the screen.
06:40It's a thing.
06:41This needs to be fixed.
06:42But aside from that, keyboard is great.
06:44Okay, trackpad.
06:46This lights up.
06:47Now, if I'm not mistaken, this only lights up with the highest configurations,
06:52like the RTX 3080 configurations.
06:54It's cool, but I think they should have put it on the lower-end configurations as well.
06:58Now, in terms of the screens, they have three options right now.
07:01They have a 4K panel and two 1080p options.
07:03This one's the 4K panel, and it looks awesome.
07:06It's bright, it's very color accurate, and it's super fast.
07:09It's a nice screen.
07:10However, it doesn't have Advanced Optimus or any kind of MUX switch.
07:13So if you're playing certain games at certain resolutions with the built-in display,
07:17you can be losing some frames.
07:18Now, personally, for the stuff that I play, it doesn't matter at all,
07:20but that's not the point.
07:22If you're buying a device with this caliber, right, this kind of price point,
07:26it should have it.
07:27And if, like, everyone else is doing it, all the competitors are capable of doing it,
07:31this doesn't have it.
07:32Now, there is a mid-tier option, like a 1080p 360Hz panel.
07:35It does support Advanced Optimus, which is great,
07:38but the 4K panel, as well as the entry-level screen,
07:41do not support the ability to connect it directly to the video card
07:45for the best possible performance.
07:47One thing else that I noticed, the panel, it's got reasonably thin bezels and whatever,
07:52but this cannot support one of those newer 16x10 aspect ratio screens.
07:57So down the line, if Alienware wants to stick in a taller screen,
08:00they'd have to redesign the whole front panel, which is a bit unfortunate.
08:05Okay, I just want to close off this video with the ports.
08:07So, there's no ports on the side.
08:09Well, there's a power plug on the left and a headphone jack on the right,
08:12but all of the ports are on the back of the device.
08:14And I like it, but there's a couple things.
08:17Number one, the microSD is in a really bad spot.
08:20You got to reach the back of the device to plug it in and pull it out,
08:22so if you're transferring files frequently, it's a pain in the butt.
08:26But overall, the port selection is pretty good.
08:28Now, the AC adapter it comes with on the high-end model
08:31is a 330-watt AC adapter that is very big and very heavy.
08:36Now, if you get one of the lower-spec X17s, like a 3060 or a 3070-equipped one,
08:41you get a smaller adapter.
08:42It's 240 watts, but it's also using the new gallium nitrate-based technology, right?
08:46So it's a thinner, smaller, more portable package.
08:49I really would have liked to seen that tech in the 330-watt adapter as well.
08:53But you know what? Speaking of things I don't like about the X17,
08:56another big one for me is the software.
08:58I do not like Alienware's command center.
09:00It's cluttered. It's confusing. It's not intuitive.
09:04The lighting system is annoying to change.
09:05The software isn't great.
09:07If I'm being honest, I feel like Alienware has the worst software in the gaming laptop market right now.
09:11It's really bad.
09:13The other thing are the speakers.
09:14So, if you notice, I didn't even mention them, right?
09:17You don't even need to hear them. They're trash.
09:18But I will say this.
09:20It is strange to me that Alienware spent the time and the money and the resources
09:23to give you a rainbow trackpad, but they couldn't give you good speakers.
09:29Like, MacBooks and like some Huawei devices, some Xiaomi devices have great speakers.
09:34How are they putting this stuff?
09:36Like, everyone's got the same kind of trash speakers.
09:39They're all junk.
09:40It just kills me that this is what is appearing in a new device from Alienware,
09:45where they had the opportunity to give you something brand new, right?
09:48But they give you the expected terrible gaming laptop speakers.
09:53Okay, so overall, I like this device.
09:57A lot more than I ever thought I would.
10:00The pricing on it.
10:01So, this is about $250 or $300 more than a competing product.
10:07Whether or not that's worth it to you, it's entirely up to your budget, right?
10:11But I will say this.
10:12This is hard to compare to other products because it's got such a unique look,
10:15such a unique thermal system, a unique design, unique lighting system.
10:19This is hard to compare, like in the traditional sense when it comes to comparing laptops,
10:24But, I like it.
10:25I like what I'm seeing.
10:27And when I thought that Alienware was trying to hide something, no way.
10:30The X17 is powerful, it's thin, it's capable, properly cooled.
10:34It's something that I just never would have expected to come out from Alienware,
10:37if I'm being completely honest.
10:38But, it's here.
10:40Okay, hope you guys enjoyed this video.
10:41Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it.
10:43See you guys next time.