Alienware is introducing a pair of latest, extra reasonably priced gaming laptops: the Aurora 16 and 16X, beginning at $1,149 and $1,949, respectively. Not like the flagship Space-51 laptops introduced again at CES, the Auroras are supposed to be a little bit extra versatile, transportable, and comfy for basic laptop computer use. They change the older Alienware M, X, and cheaper Dell G traces — which shall be slowly phased out as a part of Dell’s streamlining of its product traces.
Some configurations of the Aurora 16 and 16X are launching as we speak in North America, with extra fashions arriving later.
The duo of indigo-colored 16-inch laptops are lighter, smaller, and cheaper than the 16- and 18-inch Space-51 fashions. They’re nonetheless fairly hefty at round 5.5 to five.86 kilos, however a lot lighter in comparison with the 7.6 to 10 kilos of the Space-51. And the brand new fashions also have a stealth mode button that switches the RGB lighting to an easier white mild and tones down the followers. The Auroras get their title from one in every of Alienware’s desktop traces, however they’re meant to be taken locations, because the 16 and 16X have been designed to slot in a backpack because of an absence of thermal shelf (the large butt behind the hinge many gaming laptops have). As an alternative, the Auroras have a protruding bump beneath their chassis the place their followers pull in air.
Spec-wise, each laptops have 16-inch shows, however the Aurora 16 begins has a 300-nit 120Hz 2560 x 1600 IPS panel, whereas the 16X has the identical decision however will get as much as 500 nits and 240Hz refresh charge. The Auroras have two USB-A, two USB-C, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, a 3.5mm combo audio jack, a proprietary energy plug, and Wi-Fi 7. Every has its ports on the left and rear, liberating up the best facet for unhindered mouse actions whereas gaming. One of many USB-C ports on the 16X will get sooner Thunderbolt 4 and DisplayPort 2.1 as an alternative of simply USB 3.2 Gen 2.
Each laptops might be outfitted with as much as an Nvidia RTX 5070 GPU, however for CPUs, the 16 will get Intel “Raptor Lake Refresh” chips — based on architecture from 2022 — whereas the 16X has the most recent Intel “Arrow Lake” configurations as much as the Core Extremely 9 275HX. Whereas the Aurora 16 begins at a really low worth that’s extra akin to a MacBook Air, its beginning config has a two-generations-old RTX 3050 GPU and simply 8GB of RAM. That’s a reasonably outdated GPU for a brand new laptop computer in mid-2025 and an incredibly low quantity of RAM for any Home windows pocket book above $1,000, not to mention a gaming laptop computer. Even Apple’s base fashions now provide you with extra. The Aurora 16 can in fact be bought with extra RAM than that, and the 16X begins with a extra respectable 16GB and RTX 5060.
Dell-owned Alienware is angling these new fashions at players on a finances or those that can solely justify one machine for each play and work (or faculty). I simply can’t assist discovering it humorous that, between Alienware and its dad or mum firm Dell, it’s truly Alienware with the clearer and extra pleasant-sounding naming scheme. Someway, the try-hard gaming model with an alien head brand understands that names are higher than a mish-mash of Plus, Premium, Professional, and Max.