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Dell · Alienware
Alienware 18 Area-51 AA18250 Released March 2025
The Alienware 18 Area-51 is Dell's flagship 18-inch gaming laptop, with Intel Core Ultra HX processors, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series graphics up to the RTX 5090 and a 300 Hz QHD+ screen, suited to gamers who want a desktop replacement and rarely carry it.
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Size 18″
Display IPS LCD, 300 Hz
Processor Intel Core Ultra 9 or 7
Memory 32 GB – 64 GB
Weight 4.12 kg
Battery – What reviewers say Reviewers agree it is among the fastest gaming laptops, with effective cooling and a sturdy, striking chassis. All four found battery life short or unplugged performance weak, and most found it very expensive; Notebookcheck, PC Gamer and PCMag wanted HDR or mini-LED screen options, and PC Gamer found the mechanical keyboard cheap-feeling where the others rated it highly.
From notebookcheck.net , pcgamer.com , pcmag.com and trustedreviews.com
Display
Screen size 18″
Resolution 2560 × 1600
Panel IPS LCD
Refresh rate 300 Hz
Brightness 500 nits
Touchscreen No
Display type 18-inch WQXGA (2560 × 1600) anti-glare IPS-type (WVA), 300 Hz, NVIDIA G-SYNC and Advanced Optimus
Pixel density 168 ppi
Colour range 100% DCI-P3
Screen finish Anti-glare
Display features 1200:1 typical contrast; 3 ms typical response; ComfortView Plus low blue light
Processor Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, Intel Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus or Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus
CPU cores 20 or 24
CPU threads 20 or 24
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
AI engine (NPU) 13 TOPS
Memory 32 GB or 64 GB
Storage 1 TB to 4 TB
CPU Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX or Core Ultra 9 275HX (2025); Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus or Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus (2026); 20 or 24 cores, 55 W base
GPU NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (8 GB), RTX 5070 (8 GB), RTX 5070 Ti (12 GB), RTX 5080 (16 GB) or RTX 5090 (24 GB), all GDDR7; up to 280 W combined CPU and GPU power
AI engine Intel AI Boost NPU, 13 TOPS
Memory type DDR5, two SODIMM slots; 16 to 64 GB at 6400 MT/s, or 32 GB at 7200 MT/s with XMP
Storage type Three M.2 slots (one 2230 or 2280, two 2280), PCIe Gen 4 or Gen 5 NVMe; 1 TB to 12 TB (RAID 0) Battery and size
Battery capacity 96 Wh
Weight 4.12 kg
Thickness 30.5 mm
Width × depth 410 × 320 mm
Battery life detail 96 Wh 6-cell lithium-ion
Charger 280 W or 360 W barrel-plug adapter; also charges over USB-C Power Delivery
Fast charging ExpressCharge 2 (ExpressCharge only in the EU)
Colours Liquid Teal Connections
Ports 2 × Thunderbolt 4, 3 × USB-A, HDMI, Ethernet, SD card slot, headphone jack
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 7
Bluetooth 5.4
Webcam 1080p with IR, or 4K HDR with IR
Operating system Windows
Port detail 2 × Thunderbolt 4 (RTX 5070 and below) or 2 × Thunderbolt 5 (RTX 5070 Ti and above) USB-C with DisplayPort, USB4 and Power Delivery; 3 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 USB-A (one with PowerShare); HDMI 2.1; RJ45 5 Gbps Ethernet; SD card reader; 3.5 mm headset jack; 7.4 mm barrel power port
Keyboard AlienFX per-key RGB keyboard, or optional CHERRY MX ultra-low-profile mechanical keyboard
Trackpad Glass precision touchpad, 131 × 80 mm, with optional RGB AlienFX lighting
Speakers Quad speakers (two tweeters, two woofers), 2 W each (2.5 W peak)
Microphones Digital-array microphones
Biometrics IR camera for Windows Hello face recognition Configurations Processor Memory Storage Graphics Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX 32 GB 1 TB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Intel Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus 32 GB 1 TB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus 64 GB 4 TB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
Pros and cons Pros + GeForce RTX 5060 to RTX 5090 graphics, with Thunderbolt 5 on RTX 5070 Ti and above+ 2560 × 1600 300 Hz screen with 100% DCI-P3 and 500 nits+ 5 Gbps Ethernet, two SODIMM slots and three M.2 SSD slotsCons − Extremely heavy, at 4.12–4.40 kg plus a 280 W or 360 W power brick− 30.5 mm thick at its peak− Dell publishes no battery-life figure
