Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

This is the best Alienware gaming laptop you can buy

The world of the best gaming laptops is constantly evolving, presenting enthusiasts with an ever-expanding array of powerful, sleek, and innovative choices. Among these, Alienware stands out as a popular brand name renowned for its cutting-edge technology, performance-driven hardware, and futuristic design.

As gaming becomes increasingly immersive and demanding, choosing the right gaming laptop can significantly impact your experience. In this article, we delve into what we think is the best Alienware gaming laptop that you can buy today, the Alienware x16.

Diablo 4 running on the Alienware x16.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

First showcased at CES 2023, the Alienware x16 is sort of an alternative to the x17. It features a sleek and futuristic design that the company calls Legend 3 and is available in a Lunar Silver color scheme. The lid and bottom chassis are now made out of solid metal with a silver finish that looks really clean, while the inside (keyboard deck and bezels) is all black. It almost seems like Alienware parent Dell wanted to add a hint of its XPS lineup, but at the same time didn’t want to wander away from Alienware’s well-known space age-inspired design language. There’s also a neat-looking loop of RGB lights powered by 100 micro-LEDs surrounding the rear ports.

Recommended Videos

Despite being a 16-inch power-packed gaming laptop, the Alienware x16 has a pretty slim profile, making it one of the thinnest in its category. It has a thickness of 0.73 inches and weighs around 5.9 pounds, which makes it easier to carry around in a backpack.

Alienware x16 hanging out of the backpack.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends / Digital Trends

Like the previous-gen X-series laptops, the Alienware x16 continues to have all of its I/O ports at the rear. While that is great to manage cables, it can be cumbersome in certain situations. There’s a headphone jack, microSD card slot, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4, a HDMI 2.1, and a mini-DisplayPort 1.4 connector. Notably, there is no Ethernet jack, but you do get Wi-Fi 6E for fast internet connectivity.

In terms of display, Dell is offering three configurations on the Alienware x16. You can get the laptop with a 1200p 480Hz refresh rate, but there is also the option of 2560 x 1600 resolution available with either 165Hz or 240Hz, which is probably the better choice if you are looking for a sharper gaming experience. All three display options incorporate both Nvidia G-Sync and Advanced Optimus, enabling the system to seamlessly alternate between discrete and integrated GPUs automatically.

The Alienware x16 boasts a sizable touchpad, while the compact palm rest is intentionally designed to create additional space above the keyboard for improved ventilation. The touchpad is equipped with customizable RGB lighting, allowing users to personalize it to illuminate in their preferred pattern or color scheme.

Keyboard and trackpad on the Alienware x16.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends / Digital Trends

The Alienware x16 comes with a comfortable keyboard featuring 1.8mm key travel and top-tier functionalities such as N-Key rollover, anti-ghosting, and per-key RGB backlighting. For those seeking a more tactile experience, there’s also the choice of a Cherry MX ultra-low-profile mechanical keyboard.

As for performance, the Alienware x16 comes with Intel’s 13th-gen mobile CPUs ranging from the Core i7-13620H all the way to the powerful Core i9-13900HK. It can be configured with up to 32GB of LPDDR5 6000 MT/s memory and dual 2TB PCIe Gen 4 SSDs in RAID configuration. Graphics duties are handled by Nvidia’s latest GeForce RTX 40-series mobile GPUs and can be configured up to the RTX 4090, with 175 watts of graphics power. The RTX 4050, 4060, 4070, or 4080 are also options.

Dell continues to use its Alienware Cryo-tech cooling technology, which includes a special Thermal 31 thermal compound on the CPU and GPU for enhanced cooling. There’s also a vapor chamber and dual cooling fans that have been improved to deliver better airflow. Do note that the special thermal compound is available in a few select configurations.

Pricing starts at $1,799 for the base configuration, while the top-end model is going to set you back $3,799.

While the Alienware x16 is the sweet spot for most, there are two other laptops in the lineup that are worth considering before pulling the trigger. First, there’s the Alienware x14. This 14-inch gaming laptop is remarkably smaller than the 16-inch model, and though its performance is more limited, the compact size of this device is incredible.

On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the Alienware m18, which is currently the most powerful offering from the company. It can be configured with the latest Intel or AMD mobile CPUs, the RTX 4090, up to 8TB of storage, and 64GB of DDR5 memory.

Kunal Khullar
Kunal is a Computing writer contributing content around PC hardware, laptops, monitors, and more for Digital Trends. Having…
Nvidia just hinted at AI that can play games for you
A screenshot from Nvidia's G-Assist April Fool's video.

"The future is never far away." That's the comment Nvidia made yesterday on social media about an old April Fool's joke about AI in games.

Here's the context: In 2017, Nvidia made a silly April Fool's joke video about something called GTX G-Assist, a dongle that could add some outlandish AI features to gaming. Then again, what was outlandish in 2017 feels possible seven years later.

Read more
Whatever you do, don’t buy the Asus ROG Ally right now
A man plays High on Life on an Asus ROG Ally.

The Asus ROG Ally is undoubtedly one of the best handheld gaming PCs you can buy, but right now is easily the worst time to buy one. Asus has already teased that a new handheld is on the way, and it sounds like a massive upgrade. On top of that, the cost of the ROG Ally is holding steady at list price, and it likely won't stay that way for long.

If you're in the market for Asus' handheld, you should wait just a bit longer. In a few weeks from now, you'll not only have more options but you'll also probably save some money.
X is on the way

Read more
The 5 best things you can do with Copilot Pro right now
Microsoft Copilot Pro.

Copilot Pro is Microsoft’s AI subscription service that costs $20 per month for individuals and is integrated into the brand’s Microsoft 365 suite. The paid service offers unique features to Microsoft users, provides faster and more consistent AI performance with priority access to the GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo large language models (LLM) during peak times, and also brings the AI technology to the brand’s most popular PC applications -- and that's where things get really interesting.

Here are some of the best features on Copilot Pro and how they work.
Create custom GPTs

Read more