{"id":439586,"date":"2026-01-27T00:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T00:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/439586\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T00:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T00:30:11","slug":"the-alienware-18-area-51-gaming-laptop-is-one-of-the-most-powerful-options-in-the-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/439586\/","title":{"rendered":"The Alienware 18 Area-51 Gaming Laptop is one of the most powerful options in the market"},"content":{"rendered":"

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While we\u2019ve done heaps of reviews on Alienware<\/a> in the past, it\u2019s been a hot minute since we were able to review a gaming laptop.<\/p>\n

I have to admit that I am, for the most part, a console gamer, but after getting to play around with the Alienware 18 Area-51 Gaming Laptop over the Christmas break, I might just switch sides.<\/p>\n

Design<\/p>\n

I know I should\u2019ve been thinking more about the look and design as a whole, but as mentioned, predominantly being a console gamer, the first thing that honestly that ran through my mind when I picked up the gaming laptop was how bulky and heavy it was, with a weight of 4.34kgs, not including the 1kg power adaptor. Seemingly the heftiest gaming laptop in recent years and not a device that\u2019s easily portable (if at all).<\/p>\n

The design of the gaming laptop itself is a lot sleeker and cleaner than the quirkier designs they\u2019ve had in the past; coloured in an anodized aluminium deep Liquid Teal lid (that is just subtle enough if the colour isn\u2019t your cup of tea), a black plastic interior, the classic LED lighting on the touchpad, keyboard, and exterior that is a staple with Alienware products, and a Clear Gorilla Glass window the underneath the laptop gives sneak peak of the impressive hardware.<\/p>\n

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I did find that fingerprints were easily transferable on the exterior of the laptop, which can be an issue to some, but can quickly be removed with a microfibre cloth.<\/p>\n

Display & Sound<\/p>\n

The Alienware 18 Area-51 Gaming Laptop doesn\u2019t come with an OLED or mini-LED display option, but instead has an 18 inch IPS display with a 300Hz refresh rate.<\/p>\n

Some people have mentioned seeing a negative difference, but I personally didn\u2019t find it disrupting towards any of my gameplay at all. The picture and the colours were clear and high quality enough that the lack of an OLED or mini-LED didn\u2019t cross my mind.<\/p>\n

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In terms of the speakers, at 100% they were no doubt loud, but sometimes loud doesn\u2019t always warrant the quality to be good, particularly when playing music. At times the audio felt a bit staticky at 100%, but luckily it wasn\u2019t too much of an issue while playing games. If anything, the quality of the sound while playing games helped the worlds in the games feel so much more immersive.<\/p>\n

Performance<\/p>\n

I mainly used the laptop to play a couple of RPGs, FPS games, some chill and cosy games, and for a few admin things here and there. Mainly playing Starfield, Counter Strike 2, Overwatch 2 and 2019\u2019s Call of Duty Modern Warfare\u00a0all over 250fps to truly test the limits of this device (the max being 300fps for this device), which to no one\u2019s surprise, runs perfectly.<\/p>\n

With the NVIDIA\u00ae GeForce RTX\u2122 5090 with 24 GB of GDDR7 VRAM being one of the most powerful graphics cards in the market, there\u2019re no doubt helps the gameplay for the FPS games in particular to run really smoothly and boosting the quality of the frame rates.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s mentioned that the laptop would work 15% quieter due to the new thermal architecture, the fans still ran quite loudly but not enough to notice if you were playing a game, more-so a noticeable sound when just using the laptop for regular admin tasks.<\/p>\n

But it is of note that during the peak of Australian summer, I never felt like the laptop was ever running too hot, even after hours of gameplay, which is a plus if you end up wanting to play games in bed (like I tend to do).<\/p>\n

The gaming laptop is also packed with ports, with the rear holding the bulk. The left side of the laptop has a headset jack and SD card slot, where the rear has three USB-A ports, two Thunderbolt 5 ports, one HDMI, and one Ethernet port.<\/p>\n

It can be a bit of a play around plugging everything in because of the size of the laptop, and I think the design would benefit from a few ports on the side of the laptop for ease of access.<\/p>\n

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Battery Life<\/p>\n

One of the more annoying problems with the Alienware 18 Area-51 Gaming Laptop was to do with the battery life. Obviously there aren\u2019t any issues when it\u2019s connected to the power adapter, but I found that playing competitive games, or RPGs drained the battery in around 80 minutes.<\/p>\n

Which is another reason why this gaming laptop wouldn\u2019t really work as a portable laptop, unless you were using it for lighter tasks like admin or streaming. But again, because of the weight, it\u2019s not practical to be carrying it around either way.<\/p>\n

Verdict & Value<\/p>\n

Alienware has one of the most recognisable logos in the game, and there are so many reasons why the brand is so well regarded \u2013 mainly due to their high performing hardware and aesthetic designs, which we most definitely see with this device.<\/p>\n

With the high price point, the Alienware 18 Area-51 is no doubt an investment, but if you\u2019re looking for a gaming laptop that is strong, reliable, and powerful, then it might be worth it.<\/p>\n

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FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)<\/p>\n

Highlights: Incredibly powerful laptop with the ability to run content heavy games at ease
Lowlights: Very high price point; the battery life when not plugged in is poor; the device itself is quite heavy so it isn\u2019t a good portable gaming laptop
Manufacturer: Dell
Price: Starting off at A$5,699.10 depending on your particular configurations
Available: Now on the Dell website HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

Review based on loan unit provided by Dell.<\/p>\n


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