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.
Swipe to scroll horizontally 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.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
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.
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