Alienware relaunches m17 gaming laptop with all-AMD inside

    
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    This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most incredible tech coming soon.
    

    When he reviewed the Intel version of the Alienware m17 R4?in June last year, CNET’s Josh Goldman said, “Regardless of what’s in it, the Alienware m17 R4 is a strong pick if you’re looking for an attractive, big-screen gaming experience, portable workstation or both,” but “too bad about the battery life.” Well, the new m17 R5 Ryzen Edition has a lot more in it this time. Based on the same chassis, albeit in gray rather than white, it comes with up to the freshly minted Ryzen 9 6980HX CPU and RX 6850M XT GPU, and it’ll be the first system to ship with AMD’s SmartAccess Graphics.
    Coming in March for $1,599, it’s one of the first partner systems to ship with the updated AMD Advantage specs. That means it uses all of AMD’s latest technologies, many of which are in service of increasing the battery life of gaming laptops, as well as boosting performance by directing more power where it’s needed when it’s needed. While battery life for 15-inch gaming laptops has improved over the past couple of years, 17-inch models have lagged; now it’s their turn.
    The company will update its m15?laptop to an R7 edition with the latest Intel components this spring as well. Alienware is also adding Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support spatial audio to all of its gaming systems.