For everyday tasks, the Acer Aspire Go 15 is a cost-effective choice with decent performance and a good quality screen, though it's not suitable for intensive gaming or demanding engineering tasks. It's also lightweight and has a long battery life, making it highly portable. However, if you need a powerful machine for gaming, 3D rendering, or machine learning, the Dell Alienware m15 R7 is the better option despite its higher price. It offers superior performance with its advanced GPU and CPU, a high-resolution display with excellent color accuracy, and a fast refresh rate, albeit with a shorter battery life and less portability due to its weight and size. The Alienware also has a better build quality and advanced features like facial recognition and hardware ray tracing, catering to a more professional or gaming-centric user. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Acer Aspire Go 15
Good portability
Good battery life
Very good speakers
Advantages of the Dell Alienware m15 R7
Good for general use
Very good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Very good overall display quality
Very good overall build quality
Very good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
6.8/10
7.5/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
284.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
300.0 nits
9.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
5.0 Hours
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
7.6/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.4/10
The Dell Alienware m15 R7 is good for general use, while the Acer Aspire Go 15 is only fair.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Gaming and AI
5.9/10
7.8/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.7/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
8.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.0/10
The Dell Alienware m15 R7 is good for gaming and AI, while the Acer Aspire Go 15 is poor.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Engineering and Design
6.4/10
8.2/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.7/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Dell Alienware m15 R7 is very good for engineering and design, while the Acer Aspire Go 15 is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Engineering and Design Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for graphic design and 3D rendering work.
Screen Quality
7.3/10
8.2/10
15.6in
SIZE
15.6in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
284.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
300.0 nits
The Dell Alienware m15 R7 has a better screen than the Acer Aspire Go 15 for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
PerfectRec’s screen quality scores take into account various important factors that are relevant for different use cases.
Battery
9.0 Hours
5.0 Hours
The Acer Aspire Go 15 has 9 hours of battery life. The Dell Alienware m15 R7 has 5 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Good
Fair
15.6in
SIZE
15.6in
3.8 lbs
WEIGHT
5.9 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
0.9in
The Acer Aspire Go 15 has good portability, while the Dell Alienware m15 R7 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
7.4/10
8.5/10
The Dell Alienware m15 R7 has very good build quality, while the Acer Aspire Go 15 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$299
$2,200
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
$3,500
The Acer Aspire Go 15 has a price of $299 and the Dell Alienware m15 R7 costs $2,200.
The Dell Alienware m15 R7 and Acer Aspire Go 15 are both good for content creation.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
7.1/10
7.3/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Dell Alienware m15 R7 and Acer Aspire Go 15 are both good for software development.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Give feedback
We’re constantly working to improve.
How the Acer Aspire Go 15 and the Dell Alienware m15 R7 compare to other laptops
"The Alienware M15 offers solid gaming and leading endurance. It makes the most of its CPU and GPU while delivering stellar battery life for a gaming laptop. Opening the lid presents a full-size keyboard with honeycomb cutouts above it on the deck. An oblong RBG lightning element surrounds the entire rear panel and can be color-synced with the other lights on the laptop. There’s not a lot to dislike about the M15 Its productivity performance lagged in some areas, particularly in the storage benchmark, and it’s a bit heavy. Alienware has a clear winner here with the M15 based on its strong overall performance and endurance."
Get a great deal on the Acer Aspire Go 15 or the Dell Alienware m15 R7
About Acer
Acer is a prominent Taiwanese electronics brand which makes a wide range of laptops, with multiple product lines catering to personal use, gaming, and business use. They are renowned for having exceptional value for money, as they frequently offer good specifications at a lower price than other manufacturers.
About Dell
Dell is a highly recognizable American technology company, and is one of the largest personal computer vendor by market share. Their laptops are very popular for both personal and professional use, and they also own the Alienware brand which makes mid to high end gaming laptops. Their premium XPS range of laptops offer great build quality and portability, while Latitude and Precision laptops are known for reliability, repairability and performance for business users.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Laptops Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Jason Lew
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
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Chandradeep Chowdhury
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
Craig Russell
Laptops Expert
Craig is a UK-based laptops expert. Craig works in IT, where he recommends and supports laptops and PCs for clients and has been recommending laptops on Reddit for five years.