Alienware M15 R5 vs. Surface Duo 2: Which is better?

Here is a side by side comparison between Alienware M15 R5 and Surface Duo 2 specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.

Alienware M15 R5 Pros

Reasons that Alienware M15 R5 is better than Surface Duo 2.

Supports larger memory

Alienware M15 R5 supports a larger memory capacity than the Surface Duo 2. It supports up to 32GB versus 8GB of system memory on the Surface Duo 2.

Max system memory size
Alienware M15 R5
32 GB
Surface Duo 2
8 GB
Supports discrete graphics

Configurable up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 8GB GDDR6 vs. integrated

87% larger display

Alienware M15 R5 has a 15.6-inch screen size 87% larger than the 8.3-inch Surface Duo 2.

Display size
Alienware M15 R5
15.6-inch
Surface Duo 2
8.3-inch

Surface Duo 2 Pros

Reasons that Surface Duo 2 is better than Alienware M15 R5.

About 89% lighter

Surface Duo 2 weighed 0.62 pounds, 89% lighter than the 5.34 pounds Alienware M15 R5.

WeightAlienware M15 R5Surface Duo 2
Pound
5.34 lbs.
0.62 lbs.
Kilogram
2.42 kg
0.28 kg

Prices

Here are the latest price updates and offers for both devices.

Alienware M15 R5 AMD Ryzen Price
Alienware M15 R5 Gaming Laptop, 15.6 inch FHD 360Hz 1ms G-SYNC Display, AMD Ryzen R9 5900HX, GeForce RTX 3070, 64GB RAM, 2TB NVMe SSD, Killer WiFi, RGB Keyboard, Windows 11, Dark Side of The Moon
Alienware M15 R5 Gaming Laptop, 15.6 inch FHD 360Hz 1ms G-SYNC Display, AMD Ryzen R9 5900HX, GeForce RTX 3070, 64GB RAM, 2TB NVMe SSD, Killer WiFi, RGB Keyboard, Windows 11, Dark Side of The Moon
By Dell
$2,659.00
Dell Alienware m15 R5 Ryzen Edition Gaming Laptop (2021) | 15.6" FHD | Core Ryzen 9-1TB SSD - 32GB RAM - RTX 3070 | 12 Cores @ 4.7 GHz - 8GB GDDR6
Dell Alienware m15 R5 Ryzen Edition Gaming Laptop (2021) | 15.6" FHD | Core Ryzen 9-1TB SSD - 32GB RAM - RTX 3070 | 12 Cores @ 4.7 GHz - 8GB GDDR6
By Dell
$2,584.00
Dell Alienware m15 R5 Ryzen Edition Gaming Laptop (2021) | 15.6" 360Hz FHD | Core Ryzen 7-512GB SSD Hard Drive - 16GB RAM - RTX 3070 | 8 Cores @ 4.4 GHz - 8GB GDDR6 Win 11 Home (Renewed)
Dell Alienware m15 R5 Ryzen Edition Gaming Laptop (2021) | 15.6" 360Hz FHD | Core Ryzen 7-512GB SSD Hard Drive - 16GB RAM - RTX 3070 | 8 Cores @ 4.4 GHz - 8GB GDDR6 Win 11 Home (Renewed)
By Dell
$1,756.70
Surface Duo 2 Price
Microsoft Surface Duo 256GB (Unlocked) - Glacier
Microsoft Surface Duo 256GB (Unlocked) - Glacier
By Microsoft
$750.00
$1,094.99 32% OFF
Microsoft Surface Duo 128GB AT&T Locked, Glacier
Microsoft Surface Duo 128GB AT&T Locked, Glacier
By Microsoft
$349.99
Microsoft Surface Duo Bumper 2 - Tangerine
Microsoft Surface Duo Bumper 2 - Tangerine
By Microsoft
$24.73
$29.95 17% OFF

Availability

Alienware M15 R5Surface Duo 2
Released20212021
Release DateAnnounced on April 20, 2021
  • Introduced: September 22, 2021
  • Pre-ordered: September 22, 2021
  • Released: October 21, 2021
Pricing-
  • $1,499
    8GB 128 GB
  • $1,599
    8GB 256 GB
  • $1,799
    8GB 512 GB
    Obsidian only.
Generations-

Exterior

Alienware M15 R5Surface Duo 2
Dimensions14.02” x 10.73” x 0.47 - 0.76” (356.20 x 272.50 x 12 - 19.25 mm)
  • 7.26 x 5.71 x 0.21 (184.5 mm x 145.2 mm x 5.50 mm)
    Open
  • 3.62 x 5.71 x 0.43 (92.1 mm x 145.2 mm x 11.0 mm) 
    Closed
Weight5.34 - 5.93 lbs (2.42 - 2.69 kg)0.62 lbs (284 g)
ColorsDark Side of the Moon with High Endurance Clear Coat and Silky Smooth Finish
Obsidian Glacier
Keyboard and Trackpad
  • Keyboard
    • Alienware mSeries 4-Zone AlienFX RGB keyboard.
    • RGB per-key backlit Cherry mechanical keyboard.
    • AlienFX lighting
    • Includes anti-ghosting and N-key rollover technology
    • 1.8mm key travel
    • 0.2mm-dish concave key design
  • Touchpad
    • 4.13 x 2.36 in (105 mm x 80 mm) precision touchpad with multi-touch gesture support.
-

Display

Alienware M15 R5Surface Duo 2
Size15.6 Inches8.3 Inches
Info
  • 15.6” FHD with 165Hz
    1920 x 1080 141 PPI 9ms response time 300 nits 16:9 100% sRGB color gamut 1000:1 Anti-glare WVA 6W
  • 15.6” FHD with 360Hz
    1920 x 1080 141 PPI 5ms response time 300 nits 16:9 100% sRGB color gamut 1000:1 Anti-glare WVA 8W
  • 15.6” QHD with 240Hz
    2560 x 1440 188 PPI 9ms response time 400 nits 16:9 99% DCI-P3 color gamut 1000:1 Anti-glare WVA 10W
  • Dual PixelSense™ Fusion Displays open: 8.3” AMOLED, 2688x1892
  • Single PixelSense™ Screen: 5.8” AMOLED 1344x1892 (13:9)
  • 401 PPI
  • HDR
  • Wide color 100% SRGB, DCI-P3
  • Dual displays with 90Hz adaptive refresh rate
  • 800 nits max brightness
  • Display Material: Corning® Gorilla® Glass Victus™

Ports

Alienware M15 R5Surface Duo 2
Alienware M15 R5 Ports
Image Source: Dell
  • 1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 with DisplayPort
  • 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 Port
  • 1 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port with PowerShare
  • 1 x RJ-45
  • 1 x HDMI 2.1
    Supports up to 4K@120Hz display out.
  • 1 x Headset port
  • 1 x Power/DC-in Port
Surface Duo 2 Ports
Image Source: Microsoft
  • 1 x USB Type-C 
    USB 3.2 Gen 2.
  • 1 x SIM card slot

Internal Specs

Alienware M15 R5Surface Duo 2
Processor
  1. AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800H
    8 cores, 16 threads, 3.20 → 4.40 GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 16MB L3 Cache, 45W
  2. AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX
    8 cores, 16 threads, 3.30 → 4.60 GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 16MB L3 Cache, 45W
  1. Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 888
    8 cores, 8 threads, 1.80 → 2.84 GHz, 5MB Cache, 5W
Integrated Graphics
  1. AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800H
    AMD Radeon™ Graphics
    8 Graphics Cores, 2000 MHz
  2. AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX
    AMD Radeon™ Graphics
    8 Graphics Cores, 2100 MHz
  1. Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 888
    Qualcomm® Adreno™ 660 GPU
Memory
8 GB 16 GB 32 GB
3200MHz Dual-channel DDR4 SDRAM.
2 x SO-DIMM slots.
8GB DRAM LPDDR5 memory
Discrete Graphics
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050 Ti
    4GB GDDR6 VRAM.
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060
    6GB GDDR6 VRAM.
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3070
    8GB GDDR6 VRAM.
-
Storage2 x M.2 2230/2280 slots (Up to 2TB each)
128GB 256GB 512GB
UFS 3.0 of internal storage

Connectivity

Alienware M15 R5Surface Duo 2
Wi-FiRivet Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650x
Dual Band 2.4 GHz/5 GHz Up to 2400 Mbps WiFi 6 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax
Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax (2.4/5GHz)
BluetoothBluetooth 5.2Bluetooth Wireless 5.1 technology
EthernetGigabit Ethernet Controller
Transfer rate: 10/100/1000/2500 Mbps
-
More-
  • NFC for payments and provisioning
  • 5G-NR NSA (mmWave): Release 15 DL 64 QAM up to 6 Gbps, 8xDL CA (800MHz), 2x2 MIMO
  • 5G-NR NSA (mmWave): Release 15 UL 64 QAM, 2xUL CA (200MHz), 2x2 MIMO
  • 5G-NR NSA (mmWave) Bands: n257, n260, n261
  • 5G-NR NSA (Sub-6): Release 15 DL 256 QAM up to 3.2 Gbps, 2xDL CA (TDD+TDD), 4x4 MIMO
  • 5G-NR NSA (Sub-6): Release 15 UL 256 QAM
  • 5G-NR NSA (Sub-6) Bands: n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n20, n25, n28, n38, n41, n66, n71, n77, n78, n79
  • Gigabit LTE - A Pro Release 15 with 4x4 MIMO and LAA
  • LTE DL Cat 20, 256 QAM up to 2Gbps, 5xDL CA
  • LTE UL Cat 13, 64 QAM Contiguous 2X ULCA
  • LTE Bands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 46, 48, 66, 71
  • WCDMA: 1,2,5,8
  • GSM/GPRS: GSM-850, E-GSM-900, DCS-1800, PCS-1900
  • Location: GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou, QZSS

Battery

Alienware M15 R5Surface Duo 2
Size
  • 56 WHr, 3-cell smart lithium-ion battery
  • 86 WHr, 6-cell smart lithium-ion battery
  • 4,449 mAh
    Typical dual battery capacity.
  • 4,340 mAh
    Minimum dual battery capacity.
Battery Life-
  • Up to 15.5 hours of Local Video Playback
  • Up to 28 hours of Talk Time
Power Supply
180W 240W
power adapter.
23W USB-C PD charger
Supports Fast Charging.

Software

Alienware M15 R5Surface Duo 2
OS
Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Pro
Upgradable to Windows 11
Android™ 11
3-years of software updates.
Built-in Apps
  • Alienware Command Center
    Supports AlienFX lighting, Game
    Library with auto-tune game profile functionality.
  • Alienware Adrenalin
  • Alienware Mobile Connect
  • Microsoft Office 365 (30-day trial)
  • Microsoft built-in applications:
    • Intune Company Portal
    • LinkedIn
    • Microsoft Authenticator
    • Microsoft Bing Search
    • Microsoft Edge
    • Microsoft Lens - PDF Scanner
    • Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint & More
    • Microsoft OneDrive
    • Microsoft OneNote
    • Microsoft Outlook
    • Microsoft Start
    • Microsoft Teams
    • Microsoft To Do
    • Surface
    • Tips
    • Xbox Game Pass
  • Microsoft Surface Duo 2 UI core features:
    • App Groups
    • Dual screen windowing
    • Dynamic Dock
    • Dynamic Triple-Lens Camera
    • Microsoft 365 Feed
    • Span apps automatically
    • Surface Duo Glance Bar
    • SwiftKey Adaptive Keyboard
    • Universal Search
    • Your Phone Companion - Link to Windows
  • Other preinstalled apps:
    • Calculator
    • Chrome
    • Clock
    • Contacts
    • Files
    • Gmail
    • Google Assistant
    • Google Calendar
    • Google Drive
    • Google Duo
    • Google Maps
    • Google Photos
    • Google Play Movies & TV
    • Google Play Store
    • Google Search
    • Messages
    • Phone
    • Sound recorder
    • YouTube
    • YouTube Music

Camera & Audio

Alienware M15 R5Surface Duo 2
CameraFront-facing camera
Alienware HD (1280x720 resolution) camera.
  • Dynamic triple-lens rear-facing camera:
    • Wide 
      12MP f/1.7 aperture 27 mm 1.4µm dual pixel PDAF OIS
    • Telephoto
      12MP f/2.4 aperture 51 mm 1.0µm PDAF OIS 2X optical zoom
    • Ultra-Wide
      16MP f/2.2 aperture 13 mm 1.0µm 110o diagonal field of view with distortion correction
  • Front-facing Camera:
    12MP f/2.0 24 mm 1.0µm Dual color LED flash
  • Photos:
    • Auto mode with low-light & HDR multi-frame photo capture and dynamic range scene detection
    • Dedicated night photography mode
    • Smooth Zoom between all 3 Rear Facing Camera combined with digital super zoom up to 10x
    • Portrait mode with adjustable depth control. Portrait mode supported for wide and tele camera. Machine learning used for portrait mode
    • Panorama mode with wide dynamic range
    • Capture short video during photo capture with a long press
    • Capture photos during video recording
  • Video recording:
    • HDR Video
    • 4K video recording at 30 fps and 60 fps
    • 1080p video recording at 30 fps and 60 fps
    • Slow-motion video at 120 or 240fps
    • HEVC and H.264 video recording formats
  • Microsoft Teams and Skype video conferencing up to 1080p at 30fps
Audio
  • Controller: Realtek ALC3254
    • 7.1 Digital Audio out using HDMI out connection
    • Alienware Sound Center via Alienware Command Center
  • Speakers:
    • 2 x 2W speakers
  • Microphone:
    • Dual-array microphones
  • Stereo speakers
  • Dual Mic AI-based noise suppression and acoustic echo cancellation optimized for productive use in all postures
  • Best-in-class Full Duplex communication for voice calls in hands-free mode, receiver, and LRA
  • Audio formats supported: 3GP, MP3, MP4, MKV, WAV, OGG, M4A, AAC, TS, AMR, FLAC, MID, MIDI, RTTL, RTX, OTA, IMY
  • Qualcomm® aptX™ Classic, HD and TWS
  • Hearing aid compatibility: M4/T3
  • Wake on Voice using Google Assistant

Misc

Alienware M15 R5Surface Duo 2
Inking-Supports all in market generations of Surface Slim Pen, Surface Pen and Surface Hub 2 Pen
4096 levels of pressure Tilt sensing Best in class latency Paper feel 0.1mm precision magnetic storage
Sensors-
  • Dual Accelerometer
  • Dual Gyroscope
  • Dual Magnetometer
  • Dual Ambient Light Sensor
  • Dual Proximity Sensor
  • Hall Sensor
  • Fingerprint Sensor
Security-
  • Biometric lock type: Fingerprint reader with enterprise-grade security
  • Lock type: Swipe, PIN, password
  • Security applications pre-loaded on the device: Microsoft Authenticator
In the box-
  • Surface Duo 2
  • Surface Duo 2 (Color: Glacier or Obsidian)
  • Surface Duo 2 USB-C Cable
  • Quick Start Guide
  • Warranty and Compliance Guide
  • SIM Ejector tool
Warranty-
  • One-year limited hardware warranty
More-
  • Exterior Material: Corning® Gorilla® Glass
  • Video Playback Formats:
    • MKV, MOV, MP4, H.265(HEVC), AVI, WMV, TS, 3GP, FLV, 3G2, AVI, FLV, TS/M2TS, MKV, WEBM, 3GP/MPEG-4,HEIC/HEIF,ASF/WMV, MOV
  • Wireless
    • Chromecast and Miracast support
  • Wired:
    • DisplayPort over USB-C®. Supports video out when connecting via HDMI Adapter7
    • 4K video out over USB-C when connecting via DisplayPort cable or HDMI Adaptor to an external monitor
      Wireless dependent on the TV/monitor support.

Key Features

Alienware M15 R5Surface Duo 2
At Glance
Released in Early
2021
16:9 QHD
15.6”
1440p 240Hz
Weight
5.34 lb
2.42 kg
Up to
AMD Ryzen 9-5900HX
8C/16T, 3.30 → 4.60 GHz
Geekbench 5
1,416
Single Core
Geekbench 5
7,663
Multi-Core
With integrated
AMD Radeon™ Graphics
8 Graphics Cores, 2100 MHz
Upgradable up to
32GB
3200 MHz DDR4
Alienware M15 R5 Ports
Nvidia GeForce
RTX 3070
8GB GDDR6
Released in
2021
13:9 2.6K
8.3”
1892p 90Hz ARR
Weight
0.62 lb
0.28 kg
Powered By
Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 888
8C/8T, 1.80 → 2.84 GHz
With integrated
Qualcomm® Adreno™ 660 GPU
8GB
LPDDR5 Memory
Surface Duo 2 Ports

Comparison Summary

Alienware M15 R5 vs. Surface Duo 2

Dell has released the Alienware M15 R5, a 15.6-inch machine, in early-2021. It is powered by up to an octa-core AMD Ryzen 9-5900HX with a boost clock speed up to 4.60 GHz. The laptop has a dedicated GPU option up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 with 8GB GDDR6.

On the other hand, we have the 8.3-inch Surface Duo 2 was introduced by Microsoft around the same year in 2021. It comes with an octa-core Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 888 with a boost clock speed up to 2.84 GHz. It has an integrated graphics option up to Qualcomm® Adreno™ 660 GPU ().

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Alienware M15 R51
AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800H1,33494.21%
2
AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX1,416100.00%
Surface Duo 201,416

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Alienware M15 R51
AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800H7,09892.63%
2
AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX7,663100.00%
Surface Duo 207,663

The Alienware M15 R5 has a 15.6-inch display which is way larger than the 8.3-inch Surface Duo 2. In addition, the Alienware M15 R5 weighs 5.34 lbs. about 761% heavier than the 0.62 lbs. Surface Duo 2. Moreover, measured at 14.02” x 10.73” x 0.76”, the Alienware M15 R5 is much bulkier than the Surface Duo 2 at 7.26” x 5.71” x 0.21”.

Alienware M15 R5Surface Duo 2

Moving over to upgradability, Dell claims that the Alienware M15 R5 supports up to 32GB 3200 MHz DDR4 memory that you can upgrade with two memory module slots on the motherboard. It also comes with two M.2 slots that users can easily upgrade and install an additional SSD to expand the storage on the device.

For Surface Duo 2, it supports 8GB LPDDR5 memory.

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