Last year, we called the Alienware 16 Area-51 a "return to form" for weirdness, and this year's refresh is no different. It's packed with power, heavy, hot (in more than one way), and looks like it was beamed down to Earth, and that's everything I need to know about a gaming laptop.

The new OLED screen is fast and beautiful, and wisely kept at the same 2K(ish) resolution of the IPS panel for similar performance across the range. Those on a budget might want to look at the new Alienware 15, but those gamers who are fed up with the skinnification of gaming laptops will feel right at home with the Alienware 16 Area-51.

About this review: Dell provided the Alienware 16 Area-51 OLED for review. It had no input into the contents of the article.

Price, specs, and availability

Alienware 16 Area-51 was released in the summer of 2025. However, the OLED display and the Intel Core Ultra Plus CPUs are new to the range, and that's what we're looking at today. It now starts at $3,250, which underscores how much the SSD and RAM supply chain issues have affected MSRP as it started from $2,000 last year.

Dell sent me a configuration with the new Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, Nvidia RTX 5080, 32GB of DDR5 6400, 2TB of Gen5 NVMe SSD, and the new 16-inch 2560x1600 OLED display option, which currently tops the scale at $4,430 on the online configurator. The pre-configured option is on sale for $3,880 right now from Dell, and we all know how variable laptop pricing can be from the manufacturers, so it might vary when you look.

Buy it for the OLED

Stay for the rest

We didn't enjoy the standard IPS panel on the 16 Area-51 when it first launched, but the OLED is another story altogether. It's a 2560x1440 resolution 240Hz refresh rate, with a measured 444 nits of peak brightness in SDR. Uniformity of both luminance and color are good, and color accuracy measured well. And it covers 100% of P3 and sRGB, and 95% AdobeRGB.

In short, it's everything you'd expect from an OLED for gaming use. Alienware has put a matte coating on this screen, which cuts down reflections well, while not being overly dull and losing contrast in visuals. And it has G-Sync, for smooth frame rates and screen-tearing prevention.

The 16 Area-51 is Alienware at its best, design-wise. It looks like a spaceship, has a huge venting system at the back, and a quirky glass window underneath so you can see where the cooling fans are. This has no practical purpose whatsoever, but I adore it. Not everything on your laptop needs to make sense, and Alienware has always known this.

The rear has plenty of ports, with two Thunderbolt 5, three USB-A, HDMI 2.1, and the chunky power adapter. There's also an SD card slot on the left edge, next to a 3.5mm audio jack.

The keyboard grew on me

But the touchpad does not spark joy

I'm a mechanical keyboard lover, with dozens of custom keyboards at home. Not a single one is low-profile, however, which says a lot about my typing preferences. I like key travel, and I prefer a deeper sound signature, and neither of these are generally available in the space that laptops have to work with.

The Cherry MX ultra-low-profile switches on this model (an option at ordering over the squishy chiclet-style keyboard) are wonderful, with a pleasing amount of travel and a nice clacky sound. It's a little higher pitch, but is awesome to type on over a work day, and even better to press when gaming afterward.

I wish I could say the same for the glass RGB touchpad. I like the glow, and how it ties into the fans and the keyboard backlight, but the palm rejection was glitchy for me. It often stopped tracking my finger when the system was opening files or programs, and I resorted to adding an external gaming mouse (which I was using for gaming anyway, but it's frustrating that I needed it for browsing too).

Arrow Lake Refresh fails to impress

The laptop chips don't have the same uplift as the desktop ones

The components inside the Alienware 16 Area-51 are just as capable as last year's model, which is a problem. Apart from PCMark 10, every synthetic benchmark I ran was within margin of error, so the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus is on par with the Ultra 9 275HX. That's not to say it's bad, but it's not worth the few hundred dollar price premium.

The problem isn't the CPU, it's that the only way to get the OLED display (which is the one you want) is to upgrade to the Ultra 9 290HX. That's a $280 increase in price, but it is offset somewhat by the price of the OLED. You still want this version if you're going to buy the Area-51, but it's disappointing that the two components aren't separately available if you don't want the most expensive CPU.

Gaming performance is good, and it was a wise decision by Dell to keep the 2560x1600 resolution when switching to OLED, when many manufacturers are going to 4K. The 240Hz refresh rate keeps everything fluid, and I didn't have to turn down settings in any game to get a playable 60 fps.

Forza Horizon 6 is hot right now, and at extreme settings, without DLSS, I got 92 fps. That's at native resolution, as most users will stick to what the laptop was designed for. Similarly at native res, Cyberpunk 2077 managed 122 fps at RT low, with balanced DLSS enabled. That's a great score, and proves you don't need to lean on frame generation to play graphically intensive titles on this laptop.

Want some bad news? Powerful gaming laptops don't survive for long away from the wall, and the Alienware 16 Area-51 lasted two hours in our productivity test. Expect less time if you want to game on the go, and you'll want to carry the charger around, adding another two pounds of weight to your bag.

Oh, and some more bad news. The CPU got to 108C during testing, while the GPU stayed relatively frosty at 62C max. That was on the boosted performance profile inside the Alienware software, but it's still disappointing to see on a thick gaming laptop with large cooling fans and heatsinks.

Should you buy the Alienware 16 Area-51 OLED?

You should buy the Alienware 16 Area-51 OLED if:

• You want a gaming laptop that looks like a gaming laptop
• You want a mechanical keyboard on your laptop
• You want gaming performance that impresses

You should NOT buy the Alienware Area-51 OLED if:

• You value battery life in your laptop
• You want a quieter keyboard
• You need a touchpad that's more reliable

The Alienware 16 Area-51 now has the one thing that last year's release was missing: an OLED screen option. Whether you prefer that or IPS, island-style keys or mechanical switches, you have options to suit your needs. It's big, bold, and beautiful, and will turn heads as easily as it catches fingerprints.

The few issues I have with it are minor. I'm not sure anyone will use a gaming laptop without an external mouse, so the glitchy touchpad is less of a concern, and the weight is actually a plus point when you're gaming as you don't want it skating across the desk. And the cooling system is loud but effective, and again, you'll want to use a headset instead of using the speakers for gaming.