*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 R2 / m17 R2 Owner's Lounge

I couldn't find the answer to this clearly. I know they have said the only thing you can change is the M.2 SSDs but I was wondering is the RAM, 100% soldered on.
I saw places that said you can change them, and some said, there is a single vacant slot, and others said they are soldered on. Which one is it?

 

No SODIMMs for you!



If all the posts here in addition to Alienware's Bagman confirming this on twitter aren't clear enough, you could look at the service manual.

 

Alienware Japan on youtube has confirmed it will only have 16gb soldered.

Dell Japan selling
M17 R2
9980hk
16gb
512gb
2080maxq
1080p 144mhz tobi
AC 8265
76Wh battery

~$100 Amazon voucher
6% discount coupon promotion
Delivery ~ this month
----------

~$4000 Total cost of system


4yr premium support promotion $200 extra combo accidental damage $30






Similar offering for m15 r2 except price is $4150 but you get a 4k OLED HDR400 1ms 60hz screen.

 

The answer is right in the owner's manual and service manual, but to save you the time, YES it is CONFIRMED the RAMs are fully soldered with no way of upgrading it later down the line. There is no single vacant slot whatsover. read the opening thread.

 

I guess I just didn't want to believe it. Reason I asked is that they advertised it as 2x8GB.

Thanks anyway buddy. I'll look for something different.

 

Hi,
looking at the 2 models available in Canada, the only difference is the GPU, a model with the 2060 6GB and a model with 2070 8GB MaxQ which is 400$ more expensive. What is the catch? I thought the 2070 MaxQ version is ~ to the 2060 non MaxQ. Does the 2060 in this model have the same perf than a regular 2060?
Thanks,

 

2070 MQ is 10% faster than 2060 and has 33% more memory, however, IIRC with the m15 R1 the price difference was about 250 CAD not 400. The R2 is just ridiculous.

 

What a waste of an Alienware!

I'm using the AW15 R2 from 2015 right now, and have it upgraded to 32 GB Ram. I love it to bits but it's aging quite a bit.
I can't believe they went with a maximum of 16 GB soldered on this new one. They also removed the SD card slot and the speakers are no longer front firing either. I'm definitely not going to take this downgrade.

PS. I'm at a loss now about what to upgrade to...

 

Similar story. I upgraded to m15 R1, and I'm happy enough (2x faster than my old AW 15R2). The only other 15" option from Dell worth looking at is the new Precision 7540, however, the RTX 3000 GPU is a bit underwhelming.

 

I’m in the same situation as you.

The m15 R2 “legendary” design, with upgradable capability, non-inverted mobo and combine with Dell good support will be a perfect laptop. I wonder if Alienware will redesign m15 again in 2020? LOL

By the way, I’m really curious about m15 R2 thermal. I’m surprised that not even a single review available yet