Skip to main content

Alienware teases a monster new 18-inch laptop ahead of CES

Alienware just dropped a short trailer teasing a new 18-inch gaming laptop. While this is very exciting news indeed, the video creates more questions than it leaves answers.

Alienware is trying to create a splash before CES 2023 in Las Vegas. Not since the original Alienware 18 (technically 17.3-inch) have we seen the company try to play up this 18-inch laptop with terms like “unmatched performance” and “performance juggernaut.”

Recommended Videos

The signs are all around you, something big is coming soon. pic.twitter.com/EyU8BvdYIF

— ALIENWARE (@Alienware) December 5, 2022

Please enable Javascript to view this content

If this new machine is as powerful and all-out as the outrageous original, which had two GPUs under the hood and a top-of-the-line CPU with multiple cooling fans to keep it all in check, then we could be in for a treat. More recently, Alienware had the Area-51m, a chunky 17-inch laptop with a desktop-class processor inside that was fully upgradeable.

The trailer for this new 18-inch laptop, unfortunately, doesn’t yet reveal the design or any pertinent specs that could help whet our appetites. The video begins with a bunch of people doing various activities in a park. The video cuts to, “When something this big and powerful arrives.” Suddenly the sky becomes overcast and people begin staring up as something vaguely rectangular flies over, its flight path creating an imprint in the field below.

The screen flashes a message, “It leaves a mark.” And then we get a drone view where the number “18” has formed on the field. Cue more people ooh-ing and aah-ing.

While Alienware currently makes some of the best gaming laptops available, such as its M- and X-series, these machines show the mature and refined side of the company. We think it’s about time the company shows us that it still can have fun creating crazy and bonkers machines just like it did years ago. Could this 18-inch laptop be it? Could we get two RTX 40-series GPUs? Or twin CPUs? Maybe a 600Hz display? We’ll have to wait and find out.

Aaron Leong
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Aaron enjoys all manner of tech - from mobile (phones/smartwear), audio (headphones/earbuds), computing (gaming/Chromebooks)…
AMD brings back 3D V-Cache chips for gaming laptops
The AMD Fire Range laptop CPU announced at CES 2025.

AMD just announced over a dozen new laptop CPUs, which will appear in over 150 new laptops being announced at CES 2025 and later this year, including a new 3D V-Cache chip for gaming laptops and some really impressive graphics in its new Ryzen AI Max+ halo chips.

Let's start with Fire Range. These chips are for high-end gaming laptops, a successor to Dragon Range line, catering to enthusiast gamers and, so far, only enthusiasts are going to be happy, as those laptops likely be quite expensive. On the other hand, the CPUs sound mighty powerful. The lineup includes, first and foremost, the next big 3D V-Cache chip, dubbed the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D.

Read more
Intel’s new 24-core CPU proves it hasn’t forgotten about gaming laptops
intels new 24 core cpu proves it hasnt forgotten about gaming laptops intel ultra 200hx announcement

With the big Copilot+ push last year and Intel's radically new Lunar Lake range, it'd be easy to assume Intel forgot about gaming laptops. CES 2025 proves the company didn't.

Several months after the original Lunar Lake CPUs launched, which Intel calls Core Ultra 200V CPUs, the company is launching 200U, 200H, and 200HX processors. The latter two ranges are angled toward gaming laptops, with HX-series processors specifically targeting gaming laptops with a discrete graphics card. The flagship Core Ultra 9 285HX packs a total of 24 cores, and it can boost as high as 5.5GHz.

Read more
The real reason so many laptops have moved to soldered RAM
The Intel 12th-gen Mainboard upgrade for the Framework Laptop.

The completely redesigned Dell XPS 14 and 16 came out this year as two of the most divisive laptops in recent memory. No, it wasn't just the capacitive touch buttons or invisible trackpad that caused an uproar -- it also moved to soldered RAM. This was a big change from the past, where the XPS 15 and 17 were both celebrated for their upgradability.

Of course, Dell isn't the first to make the transition. In fact, they're one of the last, which is what makes the decision so much tougher to swallow. Where soldered RAM was previously limited to just MacBooks and ultrabooks, it's now affecting most high-performance laptops for gaming as well. Even the fantastic ROG Zephyrus G14 moved to soldered memory this year.

Read more