Alienware Area-51 Gaming Desktop The Alienware Area 51 is the ultimate pre-built gaming PC for anyone who wants top-tier performance without the headaches of building their own. It’s pricey and massive, but if you’ve got the space and budget, it delivers a plug-and-play experience that’s both powerful and future-proof.
Don’t get me wrong, building a PC from scratch is fun. I’ve built over five computers at this point, and each one has taught me something new. But not everyone wants to go through the hassle of troubleshooting or hunting down parts. Sometimes you want to skip that part and start with top-tier specs with the ability to upgrade. That’s who the Alienware Area 51 is for: people who want a jump-start on the PC enthusiast experience, without the effort of building a PC. No need to figure out what parts fit together, no need to assemble it yourself, no need to realize that the operating system, aka Windows, doesn’t come pre-installed on the computer (that last one got me on my first build). These are just all the best specs that work right out of the box.
The Area 51 Desktop was made to help people become PC enthusiasts, and after using it as my daily driver, I’m starting to think Alienware is onto something. Heck, I may never go back to building my own.
About this Alienware Area 51 Desktop review: We tested the Area 51 Desktop for over a month. Our review unit is the $5,499.99 configuration with Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card, 32 GB of DDR5 XMP RAM, and a 2 TB SSD — one of the highest-spec options Alienware offers. The Area 51 line also comes in multiple configurations with different CPUs, GPUs, memory, and storage capacities. Alienware provided the PC for this review.
For the lurking PC enthusiast
The power button is a giant light-up Alienware logo. There's a lot of Alienware branding.
The Alienware Area 51 is a fully pre-built powerhouse of a computer that leaves the door open with a big welcome sign to going the PC enthusiast route. The tower itself is absolutely massive, measuring 22 inches tall, 9 inches wide, 24 inches deep, and weighing a whopping 76 pounds. In other words, you will need a lot of desk space to place it and a second pair of hands to lift it. The side of the case features airplane window-grade plastic (yes, the same material you see the clouds through from a window aisle seat), giving you a view into all the flashy internals. It’s undeniably a showcase PC, just like the original Alienware PCs.
The Area 51 is undeniably a showcase PC.
However, unlike previous generations, the new case doesn’t rely on proprietary parts. The motherboard and power supply unit have the regular ATX layout. That means you can replace them down the road if you love the sleek case’s look and want to upgrade the internals. For instance, the included AIO is mounted on a bracket that can support up to 420mm radiators, allowing you to upgrade to the highest tier of water cooling short of a custom loop. And you won’t need to search for YouTube tutorials either, thanks to the QR codes all over the inside of the case. Simply scan them for step-by-step instructions on replacing or maintaining the most common parts you’re likely to pay attention to, such as cleaning the filters, upgrading the memory, graphics card, and power supply unit. It’s a nice quality of life improvement for people who aren’t comfortable opening a computer but believe that they will one day.
Cool under pressure
... continue reading