Alienware's new Aurora gaming laptops have a surprising change — here's what's new
Alienware has launched a couple of new laptops called the Alienware 16 Aurora and Alienware 16X Aurora. These are a little thinner and less gaudy than the stereotypical gaming laptop. It's still a gaming laptop through and through, but it dials back some of the excess for which the company's high-end gaming laptops are known.
The design features a dark blue chassis that the company calls "interstellar indigo." The only visual element that stands out is the Alienware logo at the center of the case, but it's not as big and bright as some other Alienware models.
Alienware made the difficult decision to drop what is called a thermal shelf from the laptop's design. Usually, this large cooling feature sticks out of the back of the laptop on the bottom, and it adds a lot of extra girth. Instead, the company included a cooler on the bottom that sucks cool air in from under the laptop and pushes it from the back and sides.
This surprising change has allowed Alienware to make a thinner gaming laptop that's more portable than many of its other offerings. It's not going to be as small as one of the best MacBooks or another ultrabook, but it should be easier to carry around than a lot of other gaming devices.
Alienware 16 Aurora
Alienware 16X Aurora
CPU
Up to Intel Core 9 270H
Up to Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX
GPU
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050/4050/5060/5070
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060/5070 (up to 115 W)
Storage
Up to 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
Up to 2TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
Memory
Up to 32GB DDR5-5600
Up to 64GB DDR5-5600
Display
16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 120 Hz, G-Sync, 300 nit brightness
16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240 Hz, G-Sync, 500 nit brightness
Weight
5.49 pounds
5.86 pounds
Overall, Alienware is pushing solid specs for both the 16 Aurora and 16X Aurora. With up to Nvidia 5070 GPUs and Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processors, you should be able to play more or less any game you can imagine.
The weight is relatively light at 5.49 pounds for the 16 Aurora and 16X Aurora. Obviously, a 16-inch display means it'll be on the larger side, but the design tweaks make it smaller than some other gaming laptops with larger displays.
As gaming laptops with high-end specs, they also come with a fairly high price tag. The base configuration of the 16 Aurora is $1,149, but it packs specs that might not be sufficient for some gamers. The 4050 GPU and 16GB of RAM aren't enough to run most high-end games at higher settings, so demanding gamers might want to spring for the extras.
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For the 16X Aurora, the price starts at $1,949, and you get far more respectable specs with an RTX 5060 as the cheapest GPU available and 32GB of RAM.
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