There’s alot going on with Dell’s Alienware 13 R3, including upgrades from the Alienware 15, leaving it more portable, more skilled, and packing it all in with an impressive 13-inch system. Not only does it improve upon the 15-model by taking care of some temperature issues, but it also follows suit to the worldwide trend of smaller, more portable laptops and notebooks, whether it be business, school, or, in this case, lots of play.

The choices, when it comes to more portable machines with small dimensions (especially ones for gaming), usually don’t provide the option of anything less than the regular 14-16-inch size that we see today. We’ve seen it for a while, and there’s a reason. Gaming laptops, like gaming PC towers, are expected to fulfill the persona of both bulk and blaze. Both are lit up machines, with blowing fans, and some sort of bright color lighting up the rig. Gaming laptops, similarly, are usually hard and steady, built with a large, strong chassis, and a good-sized display screen. What else would you expect from a computer you are about to game on? One thing that the Alienware 13 is, is not too flashy, at all. It also accomplishes both a high-res QHD display, based on OLED tech, which may be outfitted with a 13.3-inch, 2,560 x 1,440 pixels and touch.

As far as better technology inside, Alienware welcomes the more conventional Intel Kaby Lake quad-core CPU species. In these new machines, users get the option of utilizing either the Core i7-7700HQ, or the Core i5-7300HQ CPU processors. The 13-inch Alienware R3 also sports updated graphics, not to say things were tough when users had a Maxwell GeForce GTX 1050 chip with 2GB of GDDR5 RAM. But the new Pascal series, depending on your SKU, welcomes the GeForce GTX 1050 with 2GB of GDDR5, or the GeForce GTX 1060 (one of the best around), alongside 6GB GDDR5. Storage options include up to a 512GB SSD, and 16GB DDR4 at 2,400MHz.

The new built features a size of 13 x 10.6 x 0.87 inches, and a weight of 5.8 pounds. With a 21 percent thinner chassis, Alienware did a nice job of making smart use of its size, including an extended supply of ports in the rear. These include 2 USB 3.0s, 1 USB Type-C, 1 Thunderbolt Gen 3, an HDMI 2.0, a DisplayPort 1.2, Alienware Graphics Amp port, Ethernet, headset jack, and microphone jack. Connectivity, per usual, includes both Bluetooth 4.1, and some killer 1435 802.11ac 2x2 Wi-Fi, because gamers are gonna need it. As far as portability, it’s not as easy for gamers to lug around, as the laptop’s build has actually been extended a bit, and nearly six pounds is a bit heavier than most larger 14 to 15-inch notebooks we see today. With that 10.6-inch depth and boxy body, perhaps shop for something larger than a 13-inch bag.

Other than that, there are few cons to the Alienware 13 R3, everything else provides pretty much all that a gamer desires- a slim chassis, an absolutely gorgeous OLED screen, and power, power, and more power (in the form of transfer speeds, and great graphics). Let’s not forget about a battery life that will please many. Shockingly, when most gaming notebooks die after about 3 hours of continuous use, this bad boy can last an impressive 7 hours. It’s safe to say, that you’re looking at here, is a darn good system.