Dell Alienware 15 R4 Repair

The Alienware 15 R4 is the fourth revision of the Alienware 15 series of gaming laptops. It has a 15-inch screen with a variety of configuration options—see the specifications section below for more details. The laptop was released in 2018 two years after its predecessor, the Alienware 15 R3. It uses the same design with a mostly black case with the back of the display covered in a lighter gray with an Alienware “alien logo” near the top edge.

Internally, the Alienware 15 R4 uses an 8th-generation Intel Core processor and a discrete graphics card ranging from the AMD Radeon RX 570 at the bottom end of the lineup to the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q at the top end. Removing the back cover of the device requires only a Phillips screwdriver—in fact all the screws in the laptop have Phillips heads—and allows you to make quick memory and storage replacements. The laptop has two slots for up to 32 GB of memory and a 2.5-inch drive bay for any standard SATA hard drive or SSD. You can add fast SSD storage to the machine via any of the three M.2 slots on the motherboard. These three slots are labelled as “SSD 1,” “SSD 2,“ and “SSD 3.” As you can see in the specifications section below, not all of the slots support both faster NVMe SSDs and SATA SSDs, so ensure you use the correct slot for your specific SSD.

You can identify this laptop by looking on the bottom for a sticker containing the device’s service tag and/or service code. Enter either of these numbers on the Dell support website to find your exact product.

Processor

• 8th-generation Intel Core i5/i7/i9

Memory

• From 8 GB to 32 GB total
• Two upgradeable SO-DIMM slots
• DDR4 at 2666 MHz

Storage

• 2.5-inch drive bay
  • SATA III (6 Gbit/s) interface
  • Supports either a hard drive or SSD
• SSD slot #1
  • M.2 slot
  • Supports either a SATA III drive or a PCIe/NVMe drive
  • 2242 form factor (half-size)
• SSD slot #2
  • M.2 slot
  • Supports only a PCIe/NVMe drive
  • 2280 form factor
• SSD slot #3
  • M.2 slot
  • Supports either a SATA III drive or a PCIe/NVMe drive
  • 2280 form factor

Graphics

• Intel UHD Graphics 630
• and a discrete graphics card
  • AMD Radeon RX 570
  • or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060
  • or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070
  • or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q

Display

• 15-inch (38.1 cm) TN display
  • 1920x1080 pixels
  • 60 Hz refresh rate or 120 Hz refresh rate
  • (Optional) G-sync support
• 15-inch (38.1 cm) IPS display
  • 3840x2160 pixels
  • 60 Hz refresh rate only
  • G-sync support

Connections

• Two USB Type-C ports (one with Thunderbolt 3 support)
• Two USB 3.0 ports
• HDMI 2.0 port
• Mini DisplayPort 1.3
• External graphics port
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• Two 3.5 mm headphone/microphone jacks

Wireless

• 802.11ac Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 4.1

Alienware laptops on Wikipedia

Alienware 15 R4 official support page

Alienware 15 R4 specifications

Alienware 15 R4 service manual

NotebookCheck review of the Alienware 15 R4