Dell's Alienware Area 51 lineup is back for 2025: here's what you need to know
The ultra-premium desktops and laptops cost a lot, but they pack a big punch
👽 Alienware has brought back its fabled Area-51 lineup of laptops and desktops with beefy performance, available from Dell directly
💪 The desktop starts at $3,749.99 and can be specced with up to a Core Ultra 9 285K, an RTX 5090, 64GB of DDR5 RAM and a 4TB NVMe SSD for north of $6,000
✌️ The laptops come in two sizes, with a 16-inch and 18-inch model available
🤯 Both can have up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU, and Nvidia's RTX 50-series laptop chips, 64GB of RAM and lots of storage
After what feels like many years, Alienware has revived its top-spec Area-51 laptops and desktops for PC gamers who are rolling in it.
Dell announced three products — two laptops and a desktop — at CES 2025 a couple of months ago, and they're now finally available to purchase. Let's dive in and take a look at what's new and important about these otherworldly products.
Alienware Area-51 Gaming Desktop
The Area-51 Gaming Desktop is available with Intel's Core Ultra 2 processors and Nvidia's RTX 50-series GPUs, with prices starting at $3,749.99 for a spec sheet that boasts a 14 core/20 thread Intel Core Ultra 7 265 processor, as well as a beefy Nvidia RTX 5080 GPU, 32GB of fast DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD.
Moving further up the ladder yields a 2TB model with the same specs for $100 more. You can also push to the unlocked (and therefore overclockable) Intel Core Ultra 7 265K chip for an extra $250 over the standard model.
Over and above the $4,000 mark moves you to Intel's Core Ultra 9 285 chip, with its 24 cores and 24 threads, complete with an RTX 5080, 32GB of RAM and a 2TB NVMe SSD. You can also get this model with the unlocked chip, as well as with 64GB of RAM if you need more headroom.
For those wanting a top-spec model, you can kit this Area-51 desktop out with a Core Ultra 9 285K and an RTX 5090 for $5,499.99, depending on your storage and RAM requirements.
With the updated Area-51, Dell has made upgradeability a priority. Prebuilt PCs are often a sea of proprietary components that can't be swapped out, or upgrading has been more difficult than it should have been. The large 80L case this desktop comes in features quick-release side panels for easy access, as well as lots of space inside for convenient upgrades and repairs.
In addition, the motherboard conforms to a standard ATX shape, but only comes with two DIMM slots. This makes adding more RAM a tad more difficult than with a fully custom PC.
Alienware Area-51 Gaming Laptop
The Area-51 laptops are available in 16-inch or 18-inch screen sizes, making them suitable for gamers who want a larger screen with lots of real estate. They also both come with a rounded aluminium chassis regardless of size, with an improved thermal design and sleek looks. A glass panel on the underside lets you see the internals when they're busy at work, which is a pleasing touch.
The new laptops can be specced with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX laptop chip with 24 cores and 24 threads. In addition, they can be specced with Nvidia's new RTX 50-series laptop GPUs. You can also get up to 64GB of fast DDR5-6400 RAM and up to a total of 12TB (3 x 4TB) NVMe storage if you need to store lots of local files, such as games, high-res media, and more. Base storage comes with a 2TB NVMe SSD.
Both models come with large 96Whr batteries, as well as a formidable port selection with two Thunderbolt 5-capable USB-Cs and an HDMI 2.1 port, as well as three USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, an SD card reader and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Where the two models differ predictably is in their displays. The 16-inch option features a QHD+ (2560x1600) resolution screen for solid detail, as well as a 240Hz refresh rate for super-smooth motion. It's also quoted to have a 3ms response time, as well as 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space and up to 500 nits of peak brightness for punchy visuals.
By contrast, the 18-inch model provides two extra inches of screen size, with the same resolution, quoted response time, colour accuracy and brightness figures, but ups the refresh rate to 300Hz.
Prices start at $3,199.99 for the 16-inch model, with the maximum specification option sitting at $3,599.99. As for the 18-inch laptop, it starts at $3,399.99 and goes up to $3,799.99.
Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.