CES 2023 | Dell revives Alienware m18 with Intel Raptor Lake-HX/Nvidia RTX 40 and next-gen all-AMD options together with FHD+ 480 Hz display and CherryMX mechanical keyboard

The last time we saw an 18-inch Alienware was back in 2015. So far, Dell has been offering the Alienware m15 and Alienware m17 options. Now, at CES 2023, Dell's iconic gaming sub-brand is reviving the 18-inch form factor with the introduction of the Alienware m18.

The 2023 Alienware m18 brings forth a new Legend 3.0 Dark Metallic Moon chassis design complete with an aluminum lid and bottom cover. Dell said that the aluminum die-cast inner frame and improved hinges support the 18-inch form factor. Dell does not explicitly mention the weight of the laptop in the spec sheet. 

The Alienware m18 offers Dolby Vision display choices including 18-inch QHD+ (2560 x 1600) 165 Hz G-Sync and 18-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200) 480 Hz G-Sync panels, both of which support Dynamic Display Switching or Advanced Optimus. Both panels are rated for 300 nits brightness and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage. They offer a 3 ms grey-to-grey response time with overdrive enabled and 7 ms with overdrive off.

Although the spec sheet indicates a 720p webcam, Dell did note that the Alienware m18 will offer an FHD webcam with IR for Windows Hello-based logins.

Internally, the Alienware m18 offers a variety of Intel Raptor Lake-HX processor options from the Core i7-13650HX to the Core i9-13980HX. The laptop also offers Ryzen 7000 APUs and next-gen Nvidia and AMD GPU options, but details of these are not yet available.

Once again, Dell is using its Element 31 thermal interface material combined with a vapor chamber and four fans and seven heatpipes to keep the innards working cool.

Memory is user-replaceable, and the laptop can be fitted with up to 64 GB of DDR5-4800 RAM. There are four M.2 NVMe slots available that can take quad-storage configurations up to 9 TB.

Buyers can also configure the Alienware m18 with the standard M series keyboard or a CherryMX ultra-low profile mechanical keyboard, both with AlienFX per-key RGB lighting.

A Killer Wi-Fi 6E 1675 or 1690i WLAN card with Bluetooth 5.2 along with Gigabit Ethernet enable networking. Given the large chassis, there's no dearth of ports on the Alienware m18 including Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1-out, and SD card reader among others.

The Alienware m18 will first launch in Q1 2023 with Intel and Nvidia options starting from US$2,899. A lower-priced entry-level variant starting from US$2,099 will be made available later. 

AMD-based variants of the Alienware m18 will be coming in Q2 2023. Pricing and availability information will be made available closer to launch.

Buy the Alienware m15 R7 with Core i7-12700H and RTX 3070 Ti on Amazon