Alienware's M15 and Dell's G15 gaming laptops are getting AMD Ryzen CPUs

AMD chips are finally headed back to Dell's gaming laptops. Today, the company announced Ryzen 5000 editions of its G15 notebook and Alienware's slim M15, giving gamers a solid alternative to Intel's CPUs. The timing makes sense: AMD's hardware made a strong showing in notebooks like ASUS's Zephyrus G14 last year, and its latest batch of chips seem incredibly compelling. (How does potentially 20 hours of battery life sound?) The news is also another knock against Intel, which hasn't announced 11th-gen chips for beefy gaming laptops yet (the current H-series CPUs top out at 4 cores). Consequently, Alienware's latest M15 Intel models only feature 10th-gen processors.

Both "Ryzen Editions" of the Alienware M15 and Dell G15 will feature NVIDIA's RTX 30-series GPUs, as you'd expect. They'll also look a bit different than their Intel counterparts. The Ryzen M15 features a sleek black design with a "silky-smooth high-endurance paint formula," which Dell says makes it more stain resistant and feel more "premium" (that sounds like a strange knock against the Intel models, to be honest). It'll also be able to darken its interior a bit with a feature called "Dark Core," which will supposedly help you focus more on your gameplay. The G15 (below) sports a new paint job and case that looks a bit more classy than the previous models.

Just like the Intel version of the Alienware M15, the Ryzen version will also have an optional Cherry MX mechanical keyboard. There are several screen choices too, including up to a quad-HD (1440p) 240Hz panel or a 360Hz 1080p screen. Dell says it's also the first Alienware notebook to feature user-upgradeable DDR4 3,200MHz, which could be helpful as memory prices fall over the next few years. The G15, due to its budget nature, only has 120Hz and 165Hz 1080p screen options.

While I'm most excited about seeing the new Ryzen-equipped Alienware M15 in action, it won't be cheap, starting at an (oddly specific) $1793.98 when it launches on April 20th. The G15 should be more appealing to gamers aiming for value, starting at $900 on May 4th. Dell unceremoniously revealed there will also be updated G15 models with 10th-gen Intel processors for the same price on April 13th.

You can also expect to see some new gaming monitors later this year: The Dell 25 features a 24.5-inch 1080p screen with a fast 240hz refresh rate, as well as NVIDIA GSYNC and AMD FreeSync support. That'll be the ideal model for twitch gamers, with its low 2ms response time. The Dell 27 and 32, meanwhile, are QHD screens running up to 165Hz. Most intriguing is the Dell 34 Curved Gaming Monitor, with an ultrawide WQHD resolution, DisplayHDR 400 support and 144Hz refresh rate. We don't have any pricing details yet, but you can expect the Dell 25 to arrive on May 27th, the QHD models on June 22nd, and the 34 ultrawide on May 27th.