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The black areas, as they should, look extra deep and dark, creating a striking contrast with the colors. Thanks to the wonders of OLED, the colors do seem to pop out at you, looking incredibly vibrant and rich. And, as we've seen with the others, the screen is beautiful. As with the other laptops in this new wave of OLED displays, the panel is produced by Samsung, so they're all starting from the same point. So, with all of that said, we return to this particular screen. That doesn't come into play with laptops as dramatically as with TVs many OLED TVs are nearly razor-thin. All of this also allows the panels to be more efficient, and thus thinner. To display black, that area of the screen simply stops producing any light, so it is truly displaying nothing, which in turn provides better contrast and 'truer' blacks than blocking an ever-present LED backlight. That's the main difference from LCD screens, and what enables OLEDs to produce extra-brilliant colors and deep blacks. In a nutshell, OLED screens (the acronym stands for 'organic light-emitting diode') use a whole different display paradigm: a self-emissive organic compound, allowing each pixel in the panel to produce its own light when current is applied to it.

LED-lit LCD screens use a white backlight that's passed through a fast filter, which tints the light to provide the correct color. First, here's a quick primer on what makes OLED displays special.

#REAL ALIENWARE OS PORTABLE#

Despite the new look, the general footprint and heft haven't changed much, so this is still a relatively portable gaming laptop. It measures 0.8 by 14.2 by 10.9 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.75 pounds, which is almost exactly the same as the original m15 design. It's not quite the pure milled-aluminum construction of the Razer Blade 15, but it doesn't feel cheap. The lid and keyboard deck are magnesium alloy, with a smooth finish that feels nice to the touch. The R2, meanwhile, has premium parts inside, and it feels higher-quality, to boot. It's worth noting that the previous m15 design did get an OLED-screen option added late in its lifecycle, but it felt like a holdover with new design on the way. The previous-generation m15 was thin and relatively light, but it looked-in direct opposition to how I described the R2 above-safe, plain, and even a little boring. As I've said about the Area 51-m, and about this laptop in my preview of it, the m15 R2 wouldn't look out of place in Mass Effect or another sci-fi world. The m15 R2 shares its look with the hulking Alienware Area 51-m, but is the first slim laptop to adopt the look. The black portion is also ringed with an LED, another calling card of this new aesthetic. The chassis on our sample is a greyish white, with a black rear portion that houses ports and thermal hardware.

Our model is the white 'Lunar Light' option, but Alienware also offers a grey 'Dark Side of the Moon' scheme. To that end, Alienware's new design language is going for a clean look inspired by sci-fi and future tech. Many gaming laptops simply equate 'gaming' with 'garish.'

As long as that's done with a clear vision and some restraint, there's nothing inherently wrong with that.

Alienware is a premium gaming brand, so the design should stand out a little. No, it doesn't blend in anywhere-'subtle' is far from the first thing you'd call it-and yes, it signals that it's a gaming laptop, but it does so more tastefully than most. Design is largely a subjective thing, and while I could see the new look being divisive, I like it quite a bit. The from-the-ground-up redesign of the m15 is the main focal point of the R2, even more so than the OLED screen. The New m15 Design: I Come From the Future

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