ZDNET's key takeaways The Alienware 18 Area-51 normally retails for $3,199.
It is a gaming laptop that delivers an unbelievable performance thanks to its powerful hardware and equally powerful cooling system.
Traveling with the computer will prove difficult because of its weight; you'll also have to pay quite a bit for the system. View now at Dell View now at Best Buy more buying choices
On Dell's website, the Alienware 18 Area-51 Gaming Laptop with a GeForce RTX 5080 graphics card is on sale for $3,200, a $450 discount.
Alienware 18 Area-51 is a very fitting name for this computer because it is out of this world. It's a high-end gaming laptop that can double as a powerful work machine. It's like if the Alienware m16 R2 from 2024 hit the gym; this is a very beefy computer.
It sports an 18-inch WQXGA resolution (2,560 x 1,600 pixels) display. Although the lack of a 4K screen may be disappointing, I didn't mind it so much because it has an incredible refresh rate of 300Hz and a response time of 3ms for super smooth gameplay.
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Below the screen is a Cherry MX mechanical keyboard. I fell in love with it the moment I began typing. The key presses are responsive, the buttons are comfortable, and they even have a clicky feel that I enjoy. I didn't think it was possible to replicate mechanical keyboards on laptops because of their size, but it seems this was possible on the Alienware 18 since it's so big.
Powerful performance
My review unit contained an Intel Core Ultra 9 275Hx processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card, and 64GB of memory. This is technically the most powerful laptop I've tested all year, so it should deliver performance matching its high-end hardware. However, according to the benchmark tests, it performed at about the same level as the MSI Raider 18 HX. Below is a benchmark table comparing the best results of the two machines.
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