Products You May Like
Dell took the opportunity at CES to announce a major branding refresh. The Inspiron, Latitude, and XPS lines are out, and Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max lines are in. On the other hand, Alienware, Dell’s high-end gaming brand, survived the changes. In fact, Dell breathed new life into Alienware, reviving the Area-51 brand for its gaming desktop PCs and gaming laptops, all of which have slick new cases.
If you’re hoping for another case that looks like it might be the skull of an alien, you’re out of luck, but we’re glad the alien resurrection takes on a new form. The 2025 Area-51’s case gives off alien industrial tech vibes without taking things to the extreme. The backlit Alien head logo on the front of the Area-51, along with the A51 embossed on the side panel, leave no doubt as to whether you have an Alienware rig. And as our colleagues at PCMag point out, the Area-51 shares design similarities with the Alienware Aurora R16. The front of either system includes a long, LED ring for plenty of bling while staying classy.
Credit: Joseph Maldonado
But the Area-51 is a different creature, for sure. It is expected to be much quieter and cooler, according to Engadget. The desktop PC has front-mounted fans to create positive air pressure in the case. Dell also made the PC fully upgradeable. That’s right; you should be able to swap out any part. If you’re having painful memories of a somewhat-upgradeable Area-51M laptop from several years ago, take heart: The Area-51 is in a full ATX chassis. There’s no reason the system wouldn’t be as upgradeable as advertised—though you could be forgiven for waiting until reviewers get a chance to test that theory.
It’s worth noting that Alienware designed the Intel Z890 motherboard inside the Area-51, but you should be able to replace it with a third-party board when you upgrade the system down the road. Naturally, the desktop will need to be able to handle the GPUs that are launching at CES alongside it, so Dell has PSU options up to a 1500W Plus Platinum, which should be more than enough.
Credit: Joseph Maldonado
The new Alienware Area-51 laptop also has an alien tech aesthetic, including an LED ring similar to the ring on the desktop PC. (Not to mention, the alien head on the top panel.) One of the most interesting new features, at least as far as the laptop body goes, is the Gorilla Glass panel at the bottom that lets you see the hardware inside while providing better airflow.
The Area-51 laptops will have Intel CPUs and Nvidia graphics and will launch this quarter for $3,199, though a less expensive model is on the horizon for 2025.