Alienware is bringing back the gaming brand that made it a household name among gamers in the 1990s and early 2000s with the relaunch of the Area 51 gaming PC and Area 51 gaming laptops at CES 2025.
The resurrected line was last seen with the Alienware Area 51m gaming laptop, last updated in 2020, while the Area 51 desktop got its last update in 2017.
In addition to its Area 51 line, on the laptop side, Alienware has released several generations of Alienware X-series, M-series, and unbranded laptops, which come in sizes from 11.6 to 18 inches. Meanwhile, the Alienware Aurora line has been holding down the desktop portion for several years after the Area 51 desktop was discontinued.
Now, both laptops and desktops will simply be Area 51, with any R numbers to follow once the devices are updated with new hardware and designs in the coming years.
An iconic desktop line is back
The Area 51 desktop was last seen in 2017, when the Area 51 R4 was announced at E3, and the new Area 51 tower returns to its roots as a workspace-topping PC component, with a massive 80 liter capacity and upgradeability built into the chassis and component design.
The case will also feature a positive pressure airflow design that exhausts hot air through the back of the case without using an exhaust fan, helping to reduce noise while under load.
The PC will also use AIO liquid cooling for the CPU, which is sold with 360mm or 240mm radiators, with enough room to allow for a 420mm radiator if you decide to upgrade.
Available configurations will vary as they currently do with the Alienware Aurora line, but you’ll be able to configure it with up to 64GB of DDR5-6400 RAM, up to 8TB of storage, and up to an Nvidia RTX 5080 graphics card when the PC launches in Q1. 2025. A starting price has yet to be revealed, but the launch configuration is expected to cost around $4,500 (approximately £3,600/AU$ 6750).
Alienware Area 51 Laptops
On the mobile gaming front, the Alienware Area 51 gaming laptops will be available in two sizes, 16 and 18 inches, and can be configured with up to an Intel Core Ultra 285HX processor and an Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU, with a profile of total power. 280W.
All that power will generate ferocious heat, so the chassis has been redesigned to improve airflow over the components by up to 37% while being about 15% quieter (at least according to Alienware).
There are also some design and aesthetic highlights, such as the under-keyboard glow projected by the bottom RGB fan (this is in addition to the RGB lighting for the keys themselves).
The Area 51 laptops are also the first from Alienware to support PCIe 5.0 SSDs, configurable up to 12TB.
Area 51 laptops will go on sale later in Q1 2025 with some high-end configurations starting at $3,200 (around £2,560/AU$4,800), but will eventually hit a starting price of around $1,999 ( around £1600/AU$3000) one time. More entry-level laptop configurations are available.
