The Alienware 16X is a surprisingly discreet laptop with a lot of value for the price.
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Credit: Dell, Zain Awais
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Alienware gaming laptops are known for their performance, but until recently, they were also a bit intimidating. Living up to their UFO-themed name, they looked a little out-of-this-world, and were priced like a starship. Now, though, Dell’s given its most recent Alienware laptop a more approachable rebrand, packing strong specs into a humble design while keeping the price just below the stratosphere. For Labor Day, that price has come down even further, and as much as my colleague Alan Bradley liked this laptop in his review, it’s an even better deal now.
The Alienware Aurora 16X starts off with an Intel Core Ultra 7 chip, an RTX 5060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and a generous 1TB of storage at its base tier, which is currently $1,350 (down from $1,550). That’s a lot of respectable mid-level oomph for that price point, although if you want a bit more power, you could also upgrade to an Intel Core Ultra 9, an RTX 5070, 64GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage for $1,849 (was $2,249). Those are top of the line specs on everything but the graphics card, which according to Alan’s testing, is still strong enough to run games like Black Myth Wukong at 145 fps with settings and raytracing set to Very High. For the price, it’s an understandable compromise, even if I do wish there were models with higher-tier GPUs available.
As for those graphics, you’ll be seeing them on a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution screen with a 240Hz refresh rate. OLED isn’t an option, but if you prefer speed, that’s more than you might get on even more expensive competition, which often tops out closer to 144Hz or 165Hz.
Maybe the most noteworthy thing about these laptops, though, is their humble looks. All models mentioned here come in a nondescript black shell that you could easily take into a coffee shop or even office without getting too many stares, which you couldn’t say of previous Alienware devices. While some might miss the more distinctive look, it’s an upgrade for those of us who want a bit more power from our laptops, but don’t necessarily need to brag about it.
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