Word to the RTX 3060-powered Alienware laptop going for $980

The Dell Alienware M15 R6 gaming laptop from behind.

(Image credit: Dell Alienware)

Imagine saving $720 on an entry-level gaming laptop, and still getting one of the most attractive-looking machines on the market today. Okay, that's just my opinion. People often see it as a bit chunky around the bezels, or they'll down-talk the funny-looking exhausts, but I've always had a thing for the rounded spacecraft look of these machines.

And that snazzy sci-fi look isn't all this portable machine has going for it. It's packing some nifty hardware inside, too.

Getting into the innards, this machine comes with a last-gen CPU that's a paragon of Intel's lower-end offerings. It's a 6-core 12-thread CPU, with 2.7GHz base blocks, and 4.5GHz turbo, which means it's no slouch when it comes to gaming.

Pairing with that 11th Gen processor, Dell has opted for Nvidia's RTX 3060 mobile graphics card, which will keep the frames flying at the laptop's native 1080p resolution. And topping it off, you get a 3ms response time on a 165Hz gaming monitor, complete with G-Sync, which will mean the frames it throws out are buttery smooth, and every move you make will matter.

The main drawback to this config is that it only comes with 8GB of DDR4 memory, running at 3,200MHz. Now, that should see you through in a basic gaming sense, but don't expect to be doing much multitasking on this one. RAM is evidently where Alienware has skimped to get the price down, but don't despair. It is entirely possible to get your own laptop-friendly RAM kit to jam in there, if you're feeling handy.

We'd peg this machine as great for low-level competitive gaming at medium resolutions, but definitely consider upping the RAM if you're going to go for it.

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Having been obsessed with game mechanics, computers and graphics for three decades, Katie took Game Art and Design up to Masters level at uni and has been writing about digital games, tabletop games and gaming technology for over five years since. She can be found facilitating board game design workshops and optimising everything in her path.