Alienware is bringing OLED panels to a significant portion of its gaming laptops for the first time, following in the footsteps of brands like Asus and Lenovo that have introduced OLED displays to gaming laptops over the past 12 months. Alienware was actually a pioneer in this space, offering OLED panels on models here and there, going as far back as 2016. But now the Alienware 16 Area-51 and Alienware 16X Aurora are getting updated with 240Hz anti-glare OLED displays.
For now, Alienware is only updating its 16-inch laptops with an OLED panel. Dell claims the display has a 0.2ms response time, 620-nit peak HDR brightness, and 120% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. It also comes with certifications from VESA, including DisplayHDR True Black 500 and ClearMR 9000. The displays come with an anti-glare coating, which Alienware claims reduces “gloss by 32%.” That number comes from internal testing from Samsung Display, so add a bit of salt.
The Alienware 18 Area-51 isn’t getting an OLED upgrade, instead sporting the same 18-inch IPS panel, with a 300Hz refresh over the previous generation.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 |
18 Area-51 |
16 Area-51 |
16X Aurora |
|
CPU |
“New” Intel Core Ultra 200HX |
“New” Intel Core Ultra 200HX |
Up to Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX (24 cores, 5.4GHz boost) |
|
GPU |
Up to Nvidia RTX 5090 mobile |
Up to Nvidia RTX 5090 mobile |
Up to Nvidia RTX 5070 mobile |
|
Memory |
Up to 64GB DDR5-6400 |
Up to 64GB DDR5-6400 |
Up to 64GB DDR5-5600 |
|
Storage |
Up to 12TB PCIe Gen 4 (3x 4TB in RAID 0) |
Up to 12TB PCIe Gen 4 (3x 4TB in RAID 0) |
Up to 2TB PCIe Gen 4 |
|
Display |
IPS, 2560 x 1600, 300Hz, 3ms |
OLED, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz, 0.2ms |
OLED, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz, 0.2ms |
|
Battery |
96Whr |
96Whr |
90Whr |
|
Webcam |
Up to 8MP 4K HDR w/ Windows Hello |
Up to 8MP 4K HDR w/ Windows Hello |
1080p HDR w/ Windows Hello |
|
Ports |
3x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 2x Thunderbolt 5, HDMI 2.1, SD card reader, combo headphone jack, 2.5G Ethernet |
3x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 2x Thunderbolt 5, HDMI 2.1, SD card reader, combo headphone jack |
2x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, 2x USB-A 3.1 Gen 1, HDMI 2.1, combo headphone jack, 1G Ethernet |
|
Wireless Connectivity |
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
|
Size |
12.6 x 16.1 x 1.2 inches (320 x 410 x 30.5 mm) |
11.41 x 14.37 x 1.12 inches (290 x 365 x 28.5 mm) |
10.45 x 14.05 x 0.92 inches (265 x 357 x 24 mm) |
|
Weight |
9.56 pounds (4.34 kg) |
7.49 pounds (3.4 kg) |
5.86 pounds (2.66 kg) |
All three laptops remain unchanged aesthetically, still sporting Alienware’s AW30 design language that it rolled out last year; you can read our thoughts on them in our Alienware 16 Area-51 review and Alienware 16 Aurora review. The 18-inch and 16-inch Area-51 models have a slight spec adjustment, however. Alienware says they’ll pack “new” Intel Core Ultra 200HX processors. These laptops already go up to a Core Ultra 9 275HX, which is one step below the highest-end mobile Arrow Lake offering Intel has. Dell wasn’t able to share model names or specs.
Outside of the CPU updates (and the OLED display on the 16-inch model), the two Area-51 designs remain unchanged. You can configure them with an RTX 5070 Ti up to an RTX 5090, as well as up to 64GB of DDR5-6400 memory and a total of 12TB of storage, split across three M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSDs in RAID 0.
The lower-end Alienware 16X Aurora remains unchanged, outside of its OLED update. You can configure it with up to a Core Ultra 9 275HX — it isn’t getting whatever new HX models Intel has, it seems — along with up to an RTX 5070 mobile running at a 115W TGP. You can also configure it with up to 64GB of DDR5-5600 memory, as well as 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage.
All three updates will be available in the first quarter of 2026, but Alienware hasn’t shared any pricing details yet. Given the current crisis in RAM availability, there’s a good chance prices will rise compared to last year’s models.
Alienware Ultra-Slim and Entry-Level concepts
Alienware is updating its range of Area-51 and Aurora laptops at the beginning of the year, but it teased two new models that will arrive later in 2026. Currently, they’re just called the Ultra-Slim and Entry-Level laptops. These laptops will round out Alienware’s laptop offerings, as it moved away from designs like the slim Alienware x14 R2 during Dell’s larger rebranding efforts.
First, Dell says the Ultra-Slim design is around 17mm thin, or around 0.66 inches. For context, the MacBook Air M4 is about 0.45 inches thick, while the 2024 and 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is around 0.64 inches. For specs, Alienware says the laptop will come with a discrete Nvidia GPU and “new highly efficient CPUs.” It’ll be available in a 14-inch and 16-inch variant, and Alienware claims the 16-inch model is nearly 50% smaller in volume compared to the Alienware 16 Area-51.
Alienware hasn’t shared any details about the Entry-Level laptop yet, short of the render you can see above. Alienware says those interested should “stay stunned for more this spring,” suggesting the laptop is closer than the lack of details would let on.
Alienware Area-51 Desktop, now with the Ryzen 7 9850X3D
Starting in February, Alienware plans to offer its flagship Area-51 Desktop with AMD’s new Ryzen 7 9850X3D. The souped-up X3D chip comes with an average 7% improvement compared to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, says AMD, though even Team Red’s official benchmarks show minor improvements in most games, with some games posting identical results.
The Ryzen 7 9850X3D is identical to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, short of the clock speed. The updated CPU can climb up to 5.6GHz, while the original model topped out at 5.2GHz. Nothing else is different. Both CPUs carry the same 120W TDP, and they both carry 104MB of combined L2 and L3 cache. The 96MB SRAM chunk is placed under the compute die on both models, giving them more thermal headroom for overclocking. AMD supports multiplier-based overclocking (along with PBO) on both chips.
Alienware originally launched the Area-51 Desktop exclusively with Intel’s Core Ultra 200S ‘Arrow Lake’ CPUs before bringing AMD’s Ryzen 7 9700X, Ryzen 7 9800X3D, and Ryzen 9 9950X3D to the desktop in November of 2025. Alienware hasn’t said if the Ryzen 7 9850X3D will replace the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, but AMD claims both CPUs will live in the Zen 5 X3D lineup moving forward.
Outside of the new CPU, the specs of the Area-51 remain unchanged. You can pack in up to an Nvidia RTX 5090, 64GB of DDR5-6400 memory, and 12TB of total SSD storage split across three 4TB PCIe Gen4 drives. Neither Alienware nor AMD has shared pricing details on the Ryzen 7 9850X3D yet, but the configuration will reportedly arrive in February.
Follow Tom’s Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
