Alienware AW720M: Two-minute review

The Alienware AW720M, like most from its product line, is a premium quality and premium-priced gaming mouse. This is a mouse for serious gamers, with its sleek and lightweight body and high-end specs coupled with solid software that lets you fully customize your button layout. 

The body is simple, opting to focus on keeping the mouse relatively lightweight at 0.19 lbs (86g). It features seven programmable buttons including the scrolling wheel, a respectable amount for a general-use gaming mouse.

It comes in two colors, Dark Side of the Moon and Lunar Light, both of which are equally stunning. The choice simply depends on your preferred aesthetics. Though there’s no true RGB lighting, the Alien logo on the body lights up in different colors, which makes it stand out even more against the pretty color palette. Its form factor may be lightweight but it, like any other best gaming mouse, has a solid feel to it that tells you that you can drop it on the floor several times without any real consequences.

In terms of specs, the Alienware AW720M sports a ridiculously high movement resolution of 26,000 DPI, which alone would make it an attractive mouse for hardcore and professional gamers. It also features a 1000Hz wireless polling rate and 1ms response, which, when combined with the high DPI, means you have a wireless mouse with low latency. It also boasts tracking of up to 650 IPS and sensors that can handle up to 50G of max acceleration. You can adjust the DPI settings on-the-fly, thanks to a button at the bottom of the mouse, and all other settings can be fully optimized through the excellent Alienware Command Center software.

Its ergonomics are well-suited for both claw and palm grips, thanks to the large right and left buttons on top. Best of all, it has a completely symmetrical design, meaning that it’s one of the few gaming mice on the market that’s actually ambidextrous. Left-handed gamers can finally rejoice at not having to adjust to their non-dominant hand, which is a boon for those who are professional or hardcore players that see their performance suffer otherwise. 

Both sides have 3D-sculpted thumb grips which, while not as robust as the MSI Clutch GM51, have equally-sized divots and are still great for keeping your thumbs firmly in place. The PTFE skates are smooth and work well with most surfaces including wooden and metal desks. It makes moving the mouse around a breeze. Paired with the lightweight body and specs, and you got yourself a mouse that’s super easy to control even during the most intense of matches.

According to Dell, battery life is up to 140 on wireless mode. And while that’s a difficult claim to fully test out, I’ve found that I can go nearly a full week without charging it and longer if I’m not gaming at all. Bluetooth lasts far longer at up to 420 hours, but latency is worse so that’s an option for those who aren’t super hardcore gamers. You can get 20 hours of playtime off a five-minute charge, which is very impressive. 

There are also multiple adapters that come with the mouse, including one for magnetic charging. It’s simple and lets you charge quickly and easily, taking far less time than fiddling with a USB Type-C charge in the middle of a session.

But these features and specs come at a very steep price; even on sale, it’s $129.99 / £124.99 / AU$151.80, which prices out a lot of gamers right off the bat. Though that price matches or is superior to many other premium mouse options, it’s still quite expensive compared to some other mid-range options that offer most of those features for a much more reasonable price point.

Alienware AW720M: Price & availability

• How much does it cost? $129.99 / £124.99 / AU$151.80
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

The Alienware AW720M gaming mouse normally retails at $149.99, but as of this writing is currently on sale for $129.99 / £124.99 / AU$151.80 at Dell’s online storefront. Funny enough, the sale does beat out other premium offerings like the Razer Deathadder V3 Pro. 

While it is excellent quality, it doesn’t change the fact that you can still purchase a similar gaming mouse like the MSI Clutch GM51 or even the Cougar Airblader Tournament if you don’t mind a super budget mouse. 

Availability is quite good, as it’s in both the UK and Australia directly from the Dell online store. So if some of the other premium offerings are out of stock, you can reliably purchase this mouse outside the US.

Alienware AW720M: Specs

Should you buy the Alienware AW720M?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Alienware AW720M: Also consider

How I tested the Alienware AW720M

• I used the Alienware AW720M for about two weeks
• I tested it out using first-person shooters as well as for work
• I used the Alienware software to test out various settings

I used the Alienware AW720M in my home office for extended periods of time. I tested out various settings like DPI and customizing button layouts, as well as how well the mouse's ergonomics felt using it in both claw and palm grips and how it held up in right and left-handed use.

To further test out its gaming capabilities, I tested it with first-person shooters like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Cyberpunk 2077 in order to see how quickly and efficiently I can move or shoot. Third-person shooters and action games were also played to test how flexible this mouse was.

I've reviewed a number of mice, both gaming and productivity, in my career. This allows me to know what to look for on an individual basis as well as compare the performance of this mouse to other ones I reviewed in the past.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed March 2023

Video editing directly from your browser is getting more and more traction. What felt at most like a gimmick a few years ago, is slowly evolving, with a rise in feature-rich online video editors. With that in mind, we’ve taken a look at Animoto to see how versatile this service is. 

Animoto: Pricing & plans

• A free video maker with tiered subscription plans for additional features (but it does substantially rise in price) 

You’ll be pleased to learn that despite the fact this is a subscription-based service, there’s a free version that lets you see what Animoto has to offer. Videos are capped at 720p resolution, and you’ll get access to 50 music tracks, 3 fonts, and 30 color swashes. There’s a free screen recorder to capture your desktop or webcam, too. Your videos, however, will be watermarked.

The Basic plan removes watermarks from your videos and increases resolution of your project to 1080p. This is priced at £12 a month (approx. $15 / AU$22) or £72 a year (approx. $89 / AU$132).

The Professional tier lets you insert your company’s logo into videos, includes thousands of music tracks, 40 fonts, and over a million stock videos and images from Getty, It also lets you record voice-overs and capture webcam and screen footage at the same time - ideal for webinars and presentations. This tier costs £24 a month (approx. $30 / AU$44) or £144 a year (approx. $178 / AU$264). 

The Professional Plus subscription increases the stock photos and videos - you can now choose from over 100 million of them. It also unlocks font uploads - good for when your organization absolutely needs brand consistency. There’s even a 30-minute consultation with a video expert. Prices run to £59 a month (approx. $73 / AU$109) or £348 a year (approx. $429 / AU$638).  

• Pricing & plans: 3/5 

Animoto: Getting started

• Many templates to choose from, link to Getty images, and access to the most popular online storage solutions to upload your footage 

Once you’ve logged in, you’re offered a choice of two services: Animoto and Animoto Memories. 

Animoto Memories is a simplified interface to turn your photos and videos into slideshows. But Animoto is where you’ll find the real video maker tools. Click on it, and you’ll be greeted with a vast list of hundreds of templates, broken down by category. Some have an animated thumbnail when you mouse over them, but most don’t. If you’re not a fan of templates, you’ve also got the option of starting with a blank canvas.

Choose any template to get a description, suggestion for use, and a larger preview of how the template is made. It even comes complete with a music track. If that’s the one you wish to use, click on Choose Template.

Animoto allows you to upload video clips and photos from your computer, or cloud storage providers such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and Box. You can also access Getty stock footage directly from that interface. 

• Getting started: 4/5 

Animoto: Interface

• Simple interface, with a few interesting options including themes, music tracks and webcam recording 

You’ll find Animoto’s main interface clean and simple, with a series of minimalist wireframe buttons, although it suffers from a strong early millennium feel (in other words, it feels a bit antiquated). 

Still, all the tools you need are displayed on the screen at all times. To the right is a sidebar, showing the clips you’ve imported, along with a link to Getty Images. At the bottom is your timeline, with footage represented by blocks. So, a thumbnail doesn’t represent a clip’s length, only that it’s been added to the project. 

The canvas takes up most of the space above the timeline. The three icons to its left are where you can change the block’s layout, color, or add and customize text. The top of the screen is where you get to make alterations to your project as a whole, like selecting a theme (under Design), finding a music sample track (under Audio), and changing the project’s aspect from landscape, square, or vertical (under Ratio).

For the tool’s screen recorder, locate the Record button and you’ll be able to record straight from your webcam - it really is as simple as that, with no additional setup required. All you need to do is choose Camera and you’re good to go. The experience certainly makes a change from some of similar online video makers we’ve encountered. 

It’s also possible to record your desktop under the option called Screen. But we sadly encountered a glitch while trying it out: we couldn’t stop the recording, no matter what we clicked on. The only thing that fixed it was reloading the page. 

• Interface: 3.5/5 

Animoto: Editing

• Very limited and basic editing options, but still gets simple jobs done 

Adding footage is a simple matter of dragging any clips from the right sidebar to the timeline. You build up your edit that way. There is a single layer of video and each clip is added one after another. 

Thankfully, it’s possible to reorder these clips by dragging them left or right to a new position. You also have the ability to trim footage or mute the audio, but that’s pretty much it.

The Layout button top left of the canvas was especially interesting. This offers you a series of styles, where the main video is cropped or framed in some way, to give the block a different look. It’s a way to insert multiple clips in a single block to create a picture-in-picture effect. 

However, although one such layout offers you nine sections for you to drag different media onto, Animoto only supports two video clips in such a configuration, relegating the rest to photos, which does limit its functionality. You can’t even pan and zoom into a photo over time.

• Editing: 3/5 

Animoto: Sharing

• No download options for free accounts, but easy to share the link to your finished product regardless 

Once you’re happy with your design, it’s time to share it with the world. Your project is automatically saved to Animoto’s website, where you can share the link to friends, family and social media. 

That’s pretty much the extent of what you can do with the free version. Bear in mind that videos will be watermarked with a ‘Made with Animoto’ text, lower right of the frame. Subscribers lose that watermark and are also able to download their work to the desktop.

• Sharing: 2.5/5 

Animoto: Scorecard

Should I buy?

Buy it if...

Your want a simple video maker that lets you quickly create and edit videos in your browser.

Don't buy it if...

You need more tools and control over the video editing process, and realize you can buy an excellent professional alternative for what you’d pay Animoto per year. 

Animoto: Alternatives

We've tested, reviewed, and rated a range of video makers and video editors, including the best Premiere Pro alternatives and the best video editing software for beginners. 

For alternatives to Animoto, we recommend checking out Vimeo Create, Clipchamp, and FlexClip.