Alienware reveals new gaming laptop with groundbreaking 480Hz display

Alienware has announced a refresh to their 17-inch laptops with the M17 R5, and the X17 R2 gaming laptops, which feature a blisteringly-fast 480Hz display and brand-new RX 6850M GPU.

Today, Alienware has revealed that two revisions in their laptop lineup, the M17 R5, and the X17 R2 will both be receiving a refresh. However, it has an additional gimmick under the hood that esports gamers will definitely be interested in.

Both laptops will have an option to configure up to a 480Hz refresh rate display, which is around 33% faster than other 360Hz options on the market. This will be the fastest display on a gaming monitor, once the laptops are released.

However, the speedy 1080p panels will not feature an industry-leading response time. The laptops will both have a 3ms gray to gray response time. This is still incredibly quick and smells a little bit like it’s still fairly new technology, as a 3ms response time will still be a deal-breaker for some.

Of course, the speedy 480Hz panel would not be complete without a PC that’s actually good enough to drive the framerate required to capitalize on it. Luckily enough, the laptops manage to deliver this in droves.

The Alienware M17 R5 manages to pack in a brand-new Radeon RX 6850M graphics card, which will happily eat most esports titles like CS:GO or League of Legends for lunch, and will also manage to run just about anything that you throw at it. It remains to be seen exactly who a portable 480Hz panel actually appeals to, considering that most gamers would much prefer a full-fat desktop system for competitive gaming.

Despite the glittery specs of the 480Hz gaming panel, we can’t say that the laptop actually manages to deliver much to the user. That refresh rate is bound to have a significant impact on your battery, even before considering other things like the power usage of the higher-end components.

Remember, although the specifications do tell one tale, actual usage is a different story entirely. It certainly is an impressive piece of tech, but it remains to be seen if the laptop will make it onto our best gaming laptops page.