Skip to main content

Dell adds OLED display option to its Alienware M15 gaming laptop

Alienware m15 Review
Rich Shibley/Digital Trends

Months after promising to make the option available to new laptop buyers, Dell has added an OLED display to its notebook configurator tool. It is only for the Alienware M15 Gaming laptop at this time, but the option is there. The 15.6-inch display has a 4K resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate. It joins a selection of other displays, including 240Hz 1080p screens, and a 4K LCD option too.

Dell first announced its intention to add OLED display options to its laptops during this year’s CES in January. At the time it detailed plans to add the OLED option to its XPS 15, Alienware M15, and Dell G7 15 laptops. The screens would support HDR, 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and a dynamic contrast ratio that could read 100,000:1. We were told these additional options would start rolling out at the start of March, but it’s taken until the start of April for the first to appear.

The Alienware M15 is the first laptop to gain this option, but it remains the only one for now. At the time of writing, the Dell G7 15 and the XPS 15 only have options for 1080p and 4K LCD screens, respectively, with no choice of an OLED display. NotebookCheck believes that that will change soon, however, citing Frank Azor, vice president and general manager of Alienware, Gaming & XP, who suggested in February that the OLED panels would arrive on various laptops in April. It may be that in the coming weeks those other laptops can also enjoy the new option.

The OLED display on the Alienware M15 enjoys the same specifications as the standard 4K IPS panel, including an anti-glare coating and 60Hz refresh rate, but the OLED implementation should improve its color clarity and deepen its whites and blacks. It remains one of many options for the entry-level and midrange Alienware M15s, including 1080p 60Hz, 1080p 144Hz, 1080p 240Hz, and 4K 60Hz. It is, however, the only option for the top-of-the-line model, which sports an Intel core i9-8950HK processor, 32GB of RAM, an Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics chip, and 2 terabytes of SSD storage.

If you’re looking for something else in a gaming laptop, though, have a look at our guide to the best ones available today.

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…
Alienware’s new second-gen QD-OLED monitors are stunning
The Alienware 32 4K QD-OLED on a table with a game on the screen.

The Alienware 34 QD-OLED took the world by storm. As the first really great OLED gaming monitor, it had little in the way of competition.

But in 2024, that's not true. And to keep its lead, Alienware has launched two new QD-OLED gaming monitors that take things even further. There is now a 32-inch 4K model (AW3225QF) and a 27-inch QHD model (AW2725DF), both of which use the second-generation QD-OLED tech from Samsung Display. I got to see both models in person at a preview event ahead of CES 2024, and I came away extremely excited for these new gaming monitors.

Read more
This is a first for Alienware gaming laptops
The back of the Alienware m16 R2 on a table.

The Alienware m16 is only on its second generation, but the company is already hitting the reset button on the design. The m16 R2, announced at CES 2024, has both a redesigned chassis and reengineered thermals, plus one very notable feature never seen in an Alienware gaming laptop.

Most Alienware laptops have proudly featured a "thermal shelf" on the back, which purportedly helped with air ventilation and positioned the ports out of the way. The problem with the thermal shelf is the extra size it adds to the footprint of the laptop. It also adds a rather large bottom chin and hinge under the screen -- and sometimes results in a small palm rest and touchpad.

Read more
HP takes on Alienware and Samsung with its 4K QD-OLED gaming monitor
Two HP Omen Transcend monitors, showing the back and front.

There’s a massive wave of monitors heading to CES 2024, and the newest one from HP is going to gain a lot of attention.

The Omen Transcend 32 is the company’s latest 4K gaming monitor, and features a 31.5-inch 4K QD-OLED panel, presumably the same next-gen variant that was recently teased by Samsung. This is HP's first QD-OLED monitor, and it has a striking new design to boot.

Read more