Shrinking the ‘Big Butt’: Alienware's New Laptop Compact Design

[Uncrowned Guard]

Just caught wind of Alienware's latest move with their M16 R2 laptop, and it's pretty interesting – they're going for a more streamlined design. The big news? It's way slimmer than their usual models. This got me thinking, this could be a game changer for Alienware fans as by "slimmer" I actually mean the depth of the device and not the thickness. I mean, now it might actually fit in a standard laptop bag! No more lugging around a bulky case just because of that notorious 'big butt' design, right?

So, they've cut down the depth by about 14% compared to the M16 R1. But they did have to scale back a bit on the GPU to make this happen – it tops out at Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 now. Do you think the sleeker size makes up for that slight dip in power? They've also introduced this 'Stealth Mode' feature. With just a couple of key presses, you can tone down the keyboard lights and quieten things down. Seems like they're really pushing for a laptop that's not just for gaming sessions but can blend into more everyday scenarios. Granted, it still screams Alienware to anyone who looks at it.

Even though they're slimming down the M16 R2, Alienware isn't completely ditching the bigger models. The X16 R2 keeps the traditional larger design. It feels like they're trying to cover all bases – offering both portability and performance, depending on what you're after.

With a starting price of about $1,649.99 (and a cheaper model in the pipeline), what are your thoughts on the value here? And what do you think this means for the future of their gaming laptops? Are we going to see more Alienware laptops out in the wild, or should they just fix their cooling issues so they don't need all that bulk to fit a bigger GPU?

I'm really curious to hear your take on all this. Drop your thoughts and let's chat about it! 

Personally, I have always liked the Alienware design and cosmetics but never owned any due to pricing, cooling, and size issues with their devices.  A full Alienware desktop setup has always been a dream of mine, but sadly it often seems like a nightmare when I look into what is needed to achieve that and the ergonomics of carrying around their laptops, and that is coming from someone who gladly carries around a 17" laptop.