Can it really be well over four years since Alienware rolled out the AW3423DW, the first mainstream OLED gaming monitor? The AW3423DW wasn't perfect, but by many important gaming metrics, it absolutely monstered every LCD-based display. That model, of course, was a 34-inch ultrawide and now Alienware has released its most significant update yet for that form factor, the Alienware 34 AW3426DW.

So, what does four years of OLED gaming monitor development buy you? In really simple terms, some new threads, a bit more brightness, and a higher refresh rate. But when you dig down into the details, there's way more going on here.

Most importantly, Alienware has upgraded to Samsung's very latest QD-OLED panel tech, known as Penta Tandem. In terms of headline specs, that means a bump from 250 nits full-screen and 1,000 nits peak HDR brightness of that OG Alienware OLED, to 300 nits and 1,300 nits respectively. You also get an upgrade from VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black to 500 True Black certification, again highlighting the punchier panel.

The refresh rate is up, too, from 175 Hz four years ago to 280 Hz today, albeit there was an interim Alienware 34-inch ultrawide OLED, the Alienware 34 AW3425DW, that upped the refresh to 240 Hz while keeping most of the other specs the same.

It's also worth noting that there are versions of this Samsung-sourced new-gen 34-inch QD-OLED panel with yet higher refresh, most obviously the MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 which I reviewed earlier this year. Apart from the higher refresh, the MSI's panel specs are largely the same.

The MSI kicked off at $1,099 when I reviewed it back in January. Now it's available for $899. So, it's still $100 more expensive than the Alienware's $799 launch price. But let's park that value comparison for now and come back to the Alienware's overall value proposition later.

As with the MSI, the new-gen QD-OLED panel used here has plenty going for it beyond the simple brightness upgrade. The Penta Tandem emissive layer doesn't just produce more light. It makes the panel more resistant to burn-in. On that note, you get the usual Alienware three-year warranty including burn-in cover. So, you at least know burn-in isn't a worry for three years.

Next up is the RGB-stripe subpixel structure. Previous Samsung 34-inch ultrawide QD-OLED panels have used variations of a triangular subpixel structure. That can cause problems when the rendering pipeline is assuming the presence of a standard LCD-type RGB subpixel structure, where each pixel is composed of red, green and then blue vertical stripe subpixels.

The most obvious example is font smoothing technology like Microsoft's ClearType. The coloured text fringing that triangular subpixel structures can result in with ClearType enabled is most obvious with relatively low pixel density panels like this monitor, which comes in at 110 DPI. It's never really been an issue for gaming and, honestly, it was never that bad on the Windows desktop. But, in any case, it's now effectively a solved problem with the introduction of a true RGB-stripe subpixel structure.

Arguably more important are a couple of other panel tweaks. First, the characteristic purple tint that QD-OLEDs suffer from in bright ambient light has been reduced, albeit not actually removed entirely. That's welcome if, for instance, you position your monitor near a large window. In that scenario, this generation of QD-OLED maintains better contrast and black levels.

The glossy panel surface has also been revised with a tougher, more scratch-resistant surface. Owners of earlier QD-OLEDs with glossy coatings, which was nearly all of them, often reported that the screen scratched easily and extensively, for instance when cleaning the panel. This new gen panel should be more durable in that regard.

Elsewhere, this new Alienware AW3426DW looks pretty similar to its interim update sibling, the Alienware 34 AW3425DW. It uses the same AW30 design ethic with its rounded forms and deep-blue plastics. It's well enough slung together, though I actually preferred the slightly retro "Storm Trooper" vibe of the AW3423DW and its swooping white and black plastics.

Whatever, as with previous 34-inch Alienware OLEDs, connectivity is decent but not comprehensive. Along with a couple of HDMI 2.1 ports and a DisplayPort 1.4 interface, there's a USB hub that includes USB-A and USB-C data ports on the lower bezel.

However, there's no primary USB-C input and thus no option for single-cable connectivity to a laptop and likewise no KVM switch. Notably, the more expensive MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 includes both of those features. So, you'd want to factor that in with the higher refresh into your value calculations.

Of course, what really matters is image quality and here the news is almost all good. Out of the box, the new Alienware 34 AW3426DW immediately has that little bit more pop that the OG Alienware OLED. It's not a life-changing difference in terms of full-screen brightness. But as with the MSI MPG 341CQR X36, it's getting awfully close to the point where it's hard to imagine anyone demanding more day-to-day punch from an OLED panel.

The reduced purple tint in bright ambient light is really welcome, too. This is a somewhat subjective call. But I'd say it will no longer be a nuisance for most users. It's also likely that whatever changes Samsung made to reduce the purple tint also contribute to improved colour balance. Previously generations of QD-OLED panels suffered a pretty obviously overly warm colour temp. This new panel is better, though again it still tilts a little warm.

If that all applies to regular SDR running, the HDR sizzle on offer is something special. On paper, LG's latest Tandem WOLED panel tech is brighter. But only because it includes an extra white subpixel to boost brightness. In terms of colour brightness and the subjective look of the panel, this new QD-OLED generation is absolutely competitive. It may even look more vibrant in some scenarios.

Alienware has also included just about every HDR mode you could wish for. Along with the standard VESA True Black 500 mode and the panel's Peak 1300 mode, there's a Peak 1300 Bright mode.

It's essentially the same idea as MSI's EOTF Boost mode. In both cases, it's an attempt to combine maximum full screen brightness, as per the True Black 500 mode, with the highest peak HDR brightness for small details. For the most part, it's very successful.

The monitor looks absolutely superb in contrasty HDR game scenes, the type where there's a mix of small bright details punctuating a dark overall vista. Nighttime sequences in Cyberpunk 2077 is the obvious example, here, and this panel absolutely rocks for that kind of play. It's so much better than any LCD monitor, it's not even funny. Once you're used to the vibrant, contrasty OLED experience, going back to the watery, light-bleedy LCD look is a bit of a bummer, that's for sure.

It's pretty darn good for daytime game scenes, too. I only hesitate slightly because full-screen brightness is still a slight limitation, even with this latest Penta Tandem QD-OLED generation. Would you really want the desert sun brighter than this panel can render it? It would feel a bit more realistic, but then you'd also be flirting with an uncomfortable level of brightness.

One thing that's for sure is that the SDR calibration in the Peak 1300 Bright mode is a little off. That's a pity, because it's very good in the other two main HDR modes and were it as good in Peak 1300 Bright, you could plausibly leave the panel in that mode for all kinds of content, all the time, rather than having to switch modes between SDR and HDR.

Unusually, Alienware has also included support for Dolby Vision. That's an HDR standard distinct from the HDR10 used by default by Windows. In truth, Dolby Vision is more relevant for video and movies than games, but it's a nice little extra.

Overall, the HDR implementation is really very good. But the deeper we get into these latest OLED panels, the more complicated the HDR proposition becomes in practical usage terms. Should most PC gamers really have to worry about things like multiple HDR modes, EOTF curves and all that stuff? Having options is great, but it's about time one of the major monitor brands had the confidence to work out an optimal HDR setup and make that a very clear default. And then perhaps bury all the other options in a submenu.

What else can I tell you? Well, there's good panel uniformity and none of the banding or "dirty screen" effect that some LG-based OLED monitors can suffer from. And as with pretty much every OLED, the pixel speed is fairly ludicrous. It's easy to gloss over pixel response given all OLEDs are so fast, but as the quoted 0.03ms response time implies, this panel is getting on for two orders of magnitude faster than any LCD monitor. It's a huge advantage in terms of in-game motion clarity.

While we're talking speed, Alienware has included an "Esports Mode" that will compress whatever signal you're sending to the display into a 25-inch 16:9 window. Obviously, the idea here is to mimic the typical 24-inch to 25-inch panels favoured for serious online shooter play.

LG offers a similar feature on its own monitors and while it works okay in both cases, I do struggle to entirely believe that anyone who is truly serious about esports is going to choose an ultrawide like this. Pretty obviously for the $800 launch price, you could have something running at well, well beyond the 280 Hz this Alienware offers, too.

More broadly, with this category of gaming monitor, you are making a trade off. The 110 DPI pixel density is relatively low. Even with the RGB-stripe subpixel technology, you're not getting super-sharp image detail and nice, crispy fonts. You could very much argue that a 32-inch 4K panel, like the Asus ROG Strix XG32UQWMS and its LG Tandem OLED panel, is a better overall compromise between gaming and general-purpose computing. It's certainly a lot sharper and clearer.

But then the immersion of a 34-inch ultrawide is something special, while the added pixel density of 4K comes with a lot more GPU load. For pure gaming, 34-inch ultrawide would be my pick. For a broader remit, it's a very close call, it really is.

So, this new Alienware is undoubtedly a very nice implementation of Samsung's new Penta Tandem QD-OLED tech. It's also cheaper than the 360 Hz versions of essentially the same panel, such as the MSI MPG 341CQR X36.

Personally, were I buying today, I'd still try to find the extra $100 for the MSI. The superior 360 Hz refresh isn't exactly critical, but it wouldn't hurt. And I'd want the USB-C connectivity and KVM switch for maximum utility and flexibility.

The thing is, the gap is only $100 because the MSI has dropped substantially from its $1,099 launch price to $899 of late. I doubt it will be very long before the new AW3426DW is offered at some kind of discount over its $799 launch price by Alienware. And it wouldn't take much of a haircut before it looked like the better deal versus the slightly better specified MSI.

Then again, if you think 280 Hz is plenty, and it probably is for most gamers, most of the time, and you don't care about USB-C, why pay more? Right now, and without any kind of discount, this is easily one of the most compelling gaming monitors on the market. It's seriously good.

For PC hardware enthusiasts, the good news has been awfully slim pickings of late. What with the ongoing RAMpocalypse, new GPU generations apparently delayed indefinitely and the seeming inevitability of ever more expensive computer chips, it's nearly all gloom and doom.

Nearly, that is, but not quite. The glimmer of hope in the barren wasteland that used to be affordable PC gaming? That'll be monitors. They keep getting cheaper and better at the same time, a bit like computer chips used to. In fact, in the last few months I've reviewed the most affordable examples yet of two cutting-edge display technologies, mini-LED and OLED.

Both can now be had for under $350 in 27-inch 1440p format. Representing mini-LED is the remarkable KTC M27T6S, a monitor so good it actually shifted my view on mini-LED technology in general.

Stepping up for OLED is the Alienware AW2726DM. Alienware has form when it comes to bringing OLED display technology in at a lower price than the competition and the AW2726DM makes what many gamers see as the ultimate display technology more accessible than ever before.

We're not quite at price parity, of course. The mini-LED KTC monitor comes in around $290 to the Alienware OLED's $350. But they're close enough for cross shopping to be pretty plausible. So the question is, should you make budget mini-LED or budget OLED your PC gaming panel of choice?

What are OLED and mini-LED?

First up, it's worth understanding just how dramatically different these two display technologies are despite the fact that they both exist for essentially the same reason. The name of the game for both mini-LED and OLED, after all, is improved lighting control.

What you might call traditional PC monitors in the flat-panel era have typically used LCD technology with a big, dumb monolithic backlight. OK, you could vary the brightness of that backlight. But that isn't much help if you want to display both bright and dark image elements at the same time.

Mini-LED is actually still an LCD-based display tech. But it attempts to fix the lighting issue courtesy of an array of individually addressable backlight zones allowing different brightness levels across the screen. Current mini-LED monitors usually have in the order of 1,000 to 2,000 such zones, enabling much better lighting control.

Of course, the ultimate in lighting control would be on a literally per-pixel basis, with each pixel acting as its own light source. And that's exactly what OLED panels deliver. Indeed, it's worth noting just how much more precise OLED is than mini-LED in that regard.

While the KTC M27T6S's 1,152 mini-LED dimming zones might sound like a lot, the fundamental resolution of the backlight is extremely low, something in the order of 40 by 25 zones. With a native image resolution of 2,560 by 1,440, the result is over 3,000 pixels in each zone. But with OLED, each of a 1440p panel's 3.7 million pixels has individual lighting control. That's a huge difference.

OLED panel tech comes with other fringe benefits, too. They have much faster pixel response, not far off two orders of magnitude faster. LCD panels generally come in at about 1 ms claimed response, while OLED is typically rated at 0.03 ms. OLED also has better viewing angles.

Not everything goes OLEDs way, however. Full-screen brightness is a notable weakness and it just so happens that's something mini-LED does very well. Even the very latest OLED monitors top out under 350 nits full-screen, while some mini-LED monitors can exceed 1,000 nits.

OLED also comes with the worry of burn-in. The evidence is building that OLED burn-in is something that the vast majority of users won't have to worry about for many years. But it is a real problem and something you don't have to think about at all with mini-LED.

What's better for gaming, budget mini-LED or budget OLED?

On paper, the Alienware AW2726DM looks like the faster, more responsive monitor. It's got a slight edge when it comes to refresh, hitting 240 Hz to the KTC M27T6S's 200 Hz, or 210 Hz if you want to use the slightly silly "overclocking" feature.

The Alienware's Samsung-supplied QD-OLED panel also offers massively faster 0.03 ms claimed pixel response. The KTC's IPS panel is only good for 1 ms, and even that's only for the less demanding MPRT metric as opposed to the Alienware's grey-to-grey rating.

In practice, the subjective gap isn't nearly as big as the objective specifications. Yes, the Alienware is faster. But the difference isn't nearly as dramatic as 1 ms versus 0.03 ms would have you expect. That says a lot about how far IPS panel tech has come and the fact that the KTC has sourced a pretty nippy example of the IPS panel breed.

Put it this way. If the KTC M27T6S was superior in most other ways, you wouldn't take the Alienware AW2726DM just for its speed. It is faster, but that speed isn't a killer blow. A possible exception here is esports, where refresh is king in terms of latency. But then if competitive online shooters are your absolute priority, you don't want either of these monitors. You're better off with the fastest 1080p panel you can find for this kind of money, and it's probably going to be a TN.

Instead, where the Alienware really delivers is HDR visuals, albeit with some caveats. The Alienware AW2726DM is actually only rated at 400 nits for peak HDR brightness, where the KTC will hit 1,000 nits. But the way we dumb humans perceive brightness isn't as simple as comparing specs.

Contrast matters just as much for perceived brightness as outright brightness. And the Alienware absolutely nails contrast. It can do a single pixel hitting 400 nits right next to another putting out basically zero nits. That means it's far, far better at achieving precision lighting across the whole image and a subjective sense of contrast. Small, bright details actually look brighter because they are surrounded by greater contrast.

In other words, OLED black levels are actually, well, black. The go-to test that really emphasises the difference here is a starfield panning across the display. The Alienware's OLED panel has no problem perfectly lighting individual stars as they scan across the sky.

Mini-LED monitors always involve some kind of compromise with that kind of image. The KTC M27T6S actually does the starfield test better than any other mini-LED monitor I've seen, which is pretty remarkable when you consider it's a budget model. KTC has done a really nice job on the M27T6S's backlight algorithm, that's for sure. But it's still nowhere near as good as OLED.

If all that seems a little abstract, what this all translates into is a much more natural and immersive game world using an OLED panel. There's no backlight bleed, no glowing at the edges of the screen, just what feels like a window into a stunning game world.

The Alienware's glossy panel coating actually heightens that sense, it's so clear and crisp. KTC has gone for a fairly coarse matte anti-glare coating and it both slightly softens the image and further compromises perceived black levels and contrast. In darker game scenes, the Alienware QD-OLED therefore absolutely hammers the KTC mini-LED.

However, ramp up the brightness and the tables are somewhat turned. There are some desert scenes in Cyberpunk 2077 that really show what mini-LED can do with HDR enabled. The KTC M27T6S absolutely pops, it renders the afternoon so bright that it almost hurts your eyes.

Running the two monitors side-by-side, the Alienware OLED looks awfully dull by comparison, it simply runs out of pop when you try to light up a large proportion of the panel. Meanwhile, the KTC never looks anything but retina-searingly bright.

The thing is, however, the QD-OLED panel's deficiencies are much less obvious in isolation than they are when you've got the super-bright mini-LED monitor sitting right next to it. Your eyes adjust to the light levels, to at least some degree cancelling out the objective brightness advantage of the KTC. On the other hand, you never stop seeing the washed out black tones, the lack of contrast, the glow at the edges of the panel, with an IPS panel, even one with a mini-LED backlight.

What's better for daily computing?

First, let's square away something that is often overstated. Just as OLED's speed isn't quite as massive an advantage in the real world as you might expect, the mini-LED KTC M27T6S's font rendering is not, in truth, dramatically better than the QD-OLED Alienware AW2726DM.

Yes, that QD-OLED panel has a suboptimal triangular subpixel structure, as opposed to conventional RGB-stripe. And yes the KTC's fonts are clearer, but only marginally. The bottom line is that neither monitor has particularly good pixel density and even the KTC doesn't render terribly nice fonts. If that's what you care about, you need something like a 27-inch 4K panel or even a 5K model.

For daily computing, both monitors are likewise plenty fast enough. So, it's more the static image quality where the differences lie. As ever, the QD-OLED Alienware has much better black levels and contrast, the mini-LED KTC can run brighter.

There are caveats to all that, however. For starters, there's the question of how bright you actually want a monitor, day-to-day. Arguably, the KTC is too bright for daily comfort in SDR content when set to full reheat.

But what if you do tend to prefer a really punchy looking monitor? Does the QD-OLED Alienware fall short? The simple answer is yes, but it can be mitigated. In SDR mode, the Alienware only hits 200 nits. However, if you switch to HDR mode and then max out the SDR content brightness in the Windows Display Settings menu, you can get pretty good results.

It works best if you prefer to run apps and view websites in dark mode. As with pretty much all OLEDs, the more of the screen you light up in HDR mode, the lower the peak brightness you can achieve. With both monitors running Windows in dark mode, HDR enabled and SDR brightness maxed out, the brightness gap is substantially closed and the Alienware feels really very punchy. And at the same time, it retains its contrast and black level advantage.

The exception to that involves the characteristic purple tint of QD-OLED panels in bright ambient light. This can be problematic during the day, if you, for instance, situate the Alienware right near a big window that lets in lots of natural light. In that scenario, the QD-OLED will also look a little overly warm in terms of colour temperature, while the KTC's IPS panel looks more neutral.

So, what's the best budget panel technology overall?

This is going to sound like a massive cop out, but much of this comes down to personal preference. No question, there are some objective pros and cons. The Alienware and its QD-OLED panel is definitely faster, it has better black levels and contrast, plus superior viewing angles.

The mini-LED KTC, on the other hand, is clearly the brighter of the two and renders fonts more precisely thanks to its RGB-stripe subpixel structure. But what you, personally, make of those pros and cons will be another matter.

The fact that it's not an absolute slam dunk for one or other of the two options is in itself telling. But if you absolutely twisted my arm for a verdict, it would go something like this. It all comes down to brightness.

The QD-OLED option is better in almost every other way, so the question is what you make of its outright brightness. In standard SDR mode, I'd say the brightness of the Alienware AW2726DM is problematic. If I had to use it in that mode all the time, I'd still take it over the KTC M27T6S because of the far superior contrast, black levels, speed and viewing angles. But it would be a close run thing.

On the other hand, if I am allowed to switch on HDR mode, ramp up the SDR brightness in Windows and view basically all my apps in dark mode, then it's a much clearer win for the Alienware and thus for cheap OLED tech. But there would be times in games when it looked just a little bit dull and I'd know, deep down, the KTC and its sizzling mini-LED backlight would have given a more vibrant experience in that moment. As ever, you pays your money and you takes your choice. Good luck!

I won't bore you with another rant about the exorbitant cost of PC gaming in 2026. Buying RAM and storage is for the rich, browsing gaming laptops is wince-inducing, and don't get me started on pre-builds. I've been covering big sales events for PC Gamer for nearly a decade now and buying gear from any of these categories has never been more expensive. There's such a dearth of good deals, that these categories don't even exist on our Prime Day live blog.

Oops: that's a rant.

One thing this Prime Day has been good for is gaming monitors, especially if your budget is under AU$300, and especially if you're after a 1440p display.

The highlight is probably the Alienware AW2725DM 27-incher, at least in terms of the amount you're saving. The QHD display has a Fast IPS panel, a 180Hz refresh rate (more than adequate for mere mortals) and the usual adaptive sync compatibilities. It's usually AU$449.90, but Amazon is flogging it for AU$284.05. That's a good price for an Alienware display with these specs.

If that's still a touch pricey, you can pay around AU$70 less for the KTC H27T22C-3, which has comparable specs. Again, it's QHD, but the refresh rate gets pushed upwards to 210Hz.

I know what you're thinking: KT-huh? They're a Chinese monitor company who you may not have heard of, but this particular model is something PC Gamer can vouch for: it wins best budget 1440p display in our list of the best gaming monitors. You can read more in our full review, but the short of it? "This isn't a perfect display, but it is pretty nice by any reasonable metric. And in the context of the price, it's pretty darn brilliant."

Anyway, the already budget AU$289.99 price has been cut to AU$216.50 for Amazon Prime Day.

If you have less than AU$200 to spare, amazingly, there's an option just for you. The Lenovo LOQ 27Q-10 is, as the name kinda implies, another 27-incher with a QHD resolution. Like the Alienware above it has a 180Hz refresh rate on a Fast IPS panel.

This screen, usually bearing an RRP of AU$299, is currently AU$170 for Amazon Prime Day.

If you're looking for more expensive discounted monitors or, indeed, anything else going cheap during Amazon Prime Day, check out our rolling live blog.

This is the monitor that showed me you really don't have to spend an extortionate amount to get a leg up for competitive FPS gaming these days. That's no doubt thanks to the fact that monitors in general are being priced particularly generously lately, especially compared to the wider PC gaming hardware market. For $230 at Newegg, I'd definitely give it a look if you're into competitive shooters.

$20 isn't the biggest discount ever, but when you're looking at a decent price even at retail, it's good enough for me. As I argued in my review of the Alienware AW2525HM as well as elsewhere, this kind of refresh rate and low latency offering here is a sweet spot for competitive gaming.

• We're keeping track of all the Amazon Prime Day PC gaming deals here

When you push up beyond 360 Hz, you do enter the territory of diminishing returns in my experience. So 320 Hz for just north of $200 sounds about right to me. So right, in fact, that I can say if I didn't already have a fast refresh rate monitor in front of me, I'd be considering spending my own money on this Alienware.

Moving up from 240 Hz, and certainly from 144 Hz, the improvement is noticeable, with flicks, quick peeks, and so on feeling much snappier and easier to perform at the higher refresh rate. I even measured a noticeable improvement in end-to-end latency when stepping up from 144 Hz.

One benefit of this one compared to some others designed for esports—say, the Zowie XL2586X+—is that it's an IPS panel, not TN. That's mainly a benefit for uses outside of competitive shooters, such as for casual gaming and general day-to-day use.

One thing the Alienware panel really impresses me with on this front is its HDR experience, which is lovely. Playing Doom Eternal with HDR on, I can easily notice the wider gamut and richer colour space, with dark contrast seeming genuinely and naturally contrasting.

That being said, a 1440p panel will still look nicer for casual gaming thanks to the increased pixel density. The main reason to get the AW2525HM is for playing competitive shooters like Counter-Strike, Valorant, Apex Legends, and so on. Assuming, of course, you have a computer that can pump out 300+ fps and make the most of that refresh rate.

👉Check out all Newegg's gaming monitor deals👈

It's rare that I review something that I would actually buy right at this moment in time. Even if it's a good product that I recommend, it's usually out of my own budget or just not quite at the top of my PC priority list compared to other upgrades. But with the Alienware AW2525HM, I can say that I would 100%, for reals, be considering hitting the purchase button right now if I didn't already have this review model in front of me.

That's because it seems designed for people exactly like me: people who are into competitive FPS gaming more than anything else, but who are also on a strict budget.

Not too long ago, I tried out the 600 Hz Zowie XL2586X+. That monitor is perfect for serious tactical FPS players like me, but it also costs *gulp* $1,000. This Alienware is a much more sensible proposition: $250 for a 320 Hz panel. Plus, here you're getting an IPS rather than a TN panel, and some pretty nice HDR to boot. That's irrelevant for competitive FPS gaming, but even if you only very occasionally dabble in casual games, it's nice to have.

Make no mistake, though, both the Zowie and the Alienware here are for a particular market, and that is the competitive FPS gamer. While most similarly priced panels are 1440p, 27-inch deals, monitors for this market skim off a couple of inches and drop down to 1080p resolution.

That's great for giving a full view of a tactical FPS scene and permitting split-second reactions, and it can help boost your FPS a little, but for other games, higher pixel density and a wider view are probably where it's at, even if you have to sacrifice some smoothness by dropping the refresh rate.

Jumping into Counter-Strike 2 with the Alienware AW2525HM after gaming on a 144 Hz IPS monitor for so long was a surreal experience: I couldn't quite believe just how much of a difference doubling my refresh rate could make. Flicking my aim felt incredibly smooth, and I felt like I was seeing animations—including, importantly, enemy movements—in more detail and more quickly than I had seen them before. It's hard to convey just how much better 320 Hz feels than 144 Hz if you're a competitive FPS gamer; all I can say is the difference is more than noticeable.

That being said, there's more to smooth and snappy gameplay than just the refresh rate, and this monitor isn't perfect in at least one other area. That area is motion clarity, which shouldn't be overlooked for competitive shooters. Unfortunately, the Alienware has significantly more noticeable blur—caused by pixels taking a long time to change colour—than a monitor like the Zowie one, which uses backlight strobing to keep motion very clear. I checked how the Alienware performs in the UFO test, and there's a definite blur behind the friendly green creature's flying machine.

Swapping from something as smooth and clear as the $1,000 Zowie, I certainly noticed the difference, even with the Alienware's overdrive settings enabled and on their highest. (Side note: I noticed little contrast between the three overdrive options, so I kept the middle one selected just in the name of caution, given the 'extreme' option would be the most likely to cause inverse ghosting.)

Saying all this, coming from another 144 Hz IPS—as I swapped back and forth between the two for comparison—I didn't really spot any additional blur in practice. The only thing I noticed was the buttery smooth, increased refresh rate. My brain simply doesn't register any perceived blur in the face of such a step up in refresh rate. If I had the choice between a 144/165 Hz panel with great motion clarity or this 320 Hz Alienware panel, I'd choose the latter without a doubt.

There is some competition in this budget, high refresh rate space, such as the 210 Hz KTC H27T22C-3, for instance, which our Jeremy rated pretty highly after testing. But we're talking 320 Hz here, and while going from 210–320 isn't going to be as big of a jump as from 144 or 165, it's still noticeable, and every little helps if you're playing competitive FPS games.

Going from 144 Hz to 320 Hz gives a night and day difference in terms of how enjoyable the gameplay is, and it can even improve your personal performance. Using Nvidia's Latency and Display Analysis Tool (LDAT), I witnessed an end-to-end response time of 7.9 ms at 144 Hz, but a noticeable decrease to 6.1 ms at 320 Hz, tested over 150+ runs each.

It's also worth noting that this kind of response time matches—in fact, even beats—the response time I saw with the Zowie monitor. It's as snappy as you could want for competitive gaming, and you'll only really get better if you opt for an OLED, but even then, any extra you gain won't be perceptible.

I should also note that I found the darkness stabilisation feature (on its lower setting) genuinely beneficial, which I didn't expect. This essentially boosts darker areas, which can help you spot enemies more easily in shadowy parts of the map. I now only play CS2 when this is enabled, although I do turn it off when I play casual games, to make sure I'm getting the fully contrasted experience.

Given all this, I'd say this monitor is aimed at, and is ideal for, competitive FPS gamers looking to upgrade from a 144 Hz or 165 Hz monitor on a budget. Assuming their PCs can churn out the 300+ fps needed to make the most of the Alienware AW2525HM, it will be well worth it.

If this doesn't describe you, it might still be worth it if you're setting your sights on 1080p gaming. Setting aside the main 320 Hz appeal, the monitor itself looks lovely, with nice thin bezels and an understated but nevertheless distinctly Alien-like adjustable stand. It also has two USB ports with pass-through and a handy shoot-out headphone hook on the left side.

From a casual gaming perspective, one thing I'm pleasantly surprised by is the HDR experience. I didn't expect much, but actually, after calibrating everything, playing Doom Eternal with HDR on is wonderful. Everything just feels that much more immersive and realistic with it enabled, thanks to the improved colour space and contrast. It's not advertised as being full-blown HDR, and it doesn't even seem to have a VESA certification for it, but the colour gamut seems to be wide enough to make for a very eye-pleasing experience.

In fact, the panel is pretty nice in general, too, even without HDR enabled. Brightness seems very uniform to my eyes, and colours seem accurate enough once greens are toned down ever so slightly. But I suppose the question is whether all this is enough in the face of 1440p monitors, which definitely do look sharper thanks to increased pixel density. Given the monitor isn't bad in respect to colour and brightness, if you think you can crank out the frames to make the most of the refresh rate at 1080p, I'd certainly not rule it out even for casual gaming.

That being said, for casual gaming, I'd still lean towards a 1440p panel. My 1440p BenQ monitor, which is now pretty old, looks better in terms of clarity and vibrancy than this Alienware, and I'd prefer using it for non-HDR games that I can't hit 200+ fps on—which will presumably be a lot of games for a lot of people.

So, that brings me back to the primary use case: competitive FPS gaming. If that's your jam and you're on a budget, the Alienware AW2525HM is ideal. It even works fine for some casual gaming and movie watching on the side. But if the latter are your primary use cases, I'd say steer clear.

This is it, unambiguously my Computex highlight and also a genuine surprise. I give you the Alienware AW3926QW in all its 39-inch OLED, 5K2K, RGB-stripe, remarkably priced glory.

This isn't actually the first 39-inch 5K2K OLED on the market. Actually, I've already reviewed one, the LG Ultragear 45GX950A, and it actually disappointed a little.

That was a pity because the fundamental form factor of 39 inches and 5K2K is just so fantastic. It's basically a 32-inch 4K monitor widened out to 21:9. So, that's epic ultrawide immersion with proper pixel density.

But this Alienware ain't quite the same as that LG, and for several good reasons. Firstly, that LG was a $2,000 beast at launch and still goes for about $1,700. Alienware isn't listing a price just yet. But multiple high-quality sources are reporting that the AW3926QW could come in at $1,099 MSRP.

Next up, while this Alienware uses an LG WOLED panel, it's not the same one as the Ultragear 45GX950A, which has an additional white subpixel to boost peak luminance but comes with several downsides, including slightly fuzzy font rendering and less vibrant colours.

In my subjective experience, LG's WOLED panels with the added white subpixel actually look a bit dull next to Samsung's QD-OLED tech, even when they have brighter on-paper specs.

Alienware is rating this new panel at 300 nits full-screen and 1,300 nits peak HDR, so it's very much comparable with the latest RGB Samsung QD-OLEDs.

The 300 nits rating is also slightly brighter than the LG monitor, which is odd given the whole point of the added white subpixel is to boost measured brightness. Oh, well!

But wait, there's more. The Alienware AW3926QW also has a much more gentle 1500R panel curve, where the LG Ultragear 45GX950A has been saddled with a silly 800R bend.

That really is far too curved, and this Alienware fixes that problem in a jiffy. Oh, and it also has a glossy anti-glare coating. The LG model is matte. Another win.

On paper, then, this new Alienware is a killer; it addresses all the issues with that initial 5K2K panel. It also won't suffer QD-OLED's purple tint problem in bright ambient light.

That's been reduced with the latest QD-OLED panels, including the one in the MSI MPG 322UR X24. But it has not been entirely solved.

Overall, I'm very excited at the same time as not quite believing this new Alienware will actually be the one. Thus far, I've found LG's WOLED tech to be underwhelming. But this new panel certainly has the claimed specs to fix that.

Here's hoping, although my wallet will be hoping it doesn't. Because if this Alienware delivers, it's going to be taking a hammering.

We got our first look at Alienware's first budget gaming laptop at CES earlier this year, and now, nearly half a year later, the Alienware 15 is here, and you can go buy it over at Dell.com right now.

But before you go rushing off to throw your money at one, there are some things you ought to know about. I'm not necessarily blaming Dell here, but the specifics of this new machine tell you all you need to know about the PC gaming hardware market. In short, it's in real trouble.

For a start, the Alienware 15 is not a new mega value proposition in the same way the new Alienware AW2726DM OLED gaming monitor is. That's a brand new OLED gaming monitor, using a quality Samsung panel that is still very competitive with the current generation of OLED gaming displays, but for an affordable price brand new that you'll only otherwise see from OLEDs on special offer.

That's not the case with the Alienware 15 laptop. This is a brand new gaming laptop that Dell is determined to point out is still sporting the Alienware DNA and build quality, just with some judicious cuts here and there, and a potentially dubious specs sheet.

One thing to note is maybe a little trite, but this looks far more like a Dell Gaming laptop (a brand now seemingly defunct) than anything with the traditional style and aesthetic of an Alienware machine. It sure does look like a corporate slab. But that's not necessarily a terrible thing.

What kinda might be is that it's 2026 and this is a gaming laptop that is launching with an RTX 3050 configuration from the off. Now, that config is not available in every territory—in the US, the bottom rung will be the RTX 4050, and only RTX 5050 and RTX 5060 options are available today—but in the UK, we're treated to the full last-last-gen horrors. It's not even that cheap; the RTX 3050 system is still £979 😱

It's also restricting its GPUs to a total graphics power (TGP) of 85 W, which is going to hold back your new RTX Blackwell graphics chips if you can stretch your wallet that far. Given the impressively thin chassis, that's maybe okay, and the same as the Alienware 16 Aurora machines.

What I struggle with a little more is the way Dell is resolutely going with single channel memory across the board for its new machine. I predicted we'd see more vendors doing this very thing with the RAMpocalypse forcing manufacturers' hands in terms of dealing with ludicrous memory pricing, and lo, it has come to pass.

But it's not just at the bottom end of the configuration scale, because despite having a pair of SODIMM slots in the back of the Alienware 15, the 8 GB, 16 GB, and 32 GB configurations include just one single stick of RAM. Alienware said "we're doing our best to hold to" its pricing in the face of memory volatility, and that meant that "out of the box it was best for us to go with single channel."

Sure, you're getting the same raw capacity, but going with single channel over standard dual channel memory (basically using two discrete sticks) means you are halving your memory bandwidth. I will say, that doesn't make a whole lot of difference in most games—Alienware estimates about a 5% performance hit—but in general use, it does affect what you can do with your system.

None of this would be that painful if it weren't for the price. I will say again, this is not a cheap laptop, even if Dell wants to call this an entry-level Alienware machine. The RTX 4050 version in the US, with an AMD CPU, is going to start at $1,300, and right now, you're looking at $1,500 for the RTX 5050 system with 16 GB single channel memory and a 512 GB SSD. Worse still, you cannot configure an Alienware 15 with an RTX 5060 for less than $2,290, with 32 GB of single channel memory and a 1 TB SSD.

For comparison, you can buy an RTX 5050 version of the Alienware 16 Aurora for $1,200 with 16 GB of dual channel DDR5 memory and a 512 GB SSD. Or, y'know, you could buy an actual budget gaming laptop with an RTX 5050 inside it for $799 instead.

It's not all bad, because the Alienware 15 will be a genuinely good machine, just not a budget option. At least not until the sales really bite into it. The rounded chassis looks good, it has ditched the big bum of the Area-51 machines, and it comes with a full numpad. Dell has also ensured that its 15-inch screen is still a 16:10, 1200p option, not the more traditional 15-inch 16:9 panel.

So, it'll be a quality machine, though it's not really the super-affordable, entry-level Alienware you might have hoped for post-MacBook Neo.

It just so happens I've been daily driving an old school VA panel this week. It's a budget 34-inch ultrawide and, funnily enough, it provides the perfect foil for Alienware's new 27-inch QD-OLED monitor, the Alienware AW2726DM.

This, too, is a budget offering, albeit in the loftier context of OLED gaming monitors. Yours for $349.99 from Dell's website, this is one of the cheapest gaming OLEDs yet from a big brand. And it does a pretty definitive job of highlighting just how far gaming monitor tech has come in the last few years. Because this Alienware mostly blows that budget VA panel away.

Hold that thought while we cover off some speeds and feeds. This is a 27-inch QD-OLED 1440p panel with a native resolution of 2,560 by 1,440 pixels and 240 Hz refresh. Notably, it's also based on older QD-OLED panel tech from Samsung. That's part of how Alienware hits that low price point.

For the record, this isn't the very oldest QD-OLED monitor panel tech. Strictly speaking, it's Gen 3 QD-OLED circa 2024. There's a guide to all the QD-OLED generations here, but Gen 3 panels brought various refinements including improved lifespan and durability, reducing the risk of burn-in, and revised subpixel structure to improve font rendering. Just note, this generation of panel still has a triangular subpixel structure as opposed to the preferable true RGB-stripe setup of the very latest Gen 5 QD-OLEDs, such as the MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36.

One area that wasn't really improved with Gen 3 is brightness. This is a slightly complicated subject, but most Gen 3 QD-OLED panels are rated at 250 nits full-screen, 1,000 nits peak in a small 2% window and have HDR 400 True Black certification. Somewhat surprisingly, Alienware rates this particular model at 200 nits full screen. We'll see how that translates into the viewing experience in a sec.

Apart from the older generation QD-OLED panel, there's further evidence of cost savings with the Alienware AW2726DM. The main chassis screws rather than clips into the stand (only really of significance during initial setup), there's no USB-C (not a big deal unless you were planning to, say, tag team with a work laptop), no USB-A hub (more of a pity given the added cable clutter it implies) and a less comprehensive OSD menu that's missing some features.

By implication, then, connectivity is limited to HDMI and DisplayPort. And for most of us, that's just fine, especially if it enables a lower price point and makes OLED thrills more more accessible. All that said, the Alienware AW2726DM doesn't look cheap. It has a slick, slim bezel look and a fully adjustable stand, including rotation into portrait mode.

Fire it up and, sure enough, it's that familiar QD-OLED experience. The downsides include an overly warm colour temp and the usual purple tint to the panel in bright ambient light that slightly undermines the whole per-pixel-lighting, infinite-contrast OLED thing. But only slightly.

The positives, on the other hand, well, there are plenty of those. This is a really punchy, pleasing panel, even with that notional 200 nits rating. The caveat to that is the need to set this monitor up correctly.

For starters, its default SDR mode isn't terribly well calibrated. I had to resort to an alternative colour profile in the Windows Color Management tool to get the SDR colours looking right, which is probably too much to ask of most casual PC users.

Still, it looks really super once you get it set up. What's more, the SDR calibration in HDR mode is actually pretty good. So, were this my display, I'd just enable HDR, tweak the SDR brightness in the Windows Display Properties menu, and leave it like that forever.

Running this display thusly also has the benefit of higher peak SDR brightness. There's a price to pay for that in terms of more brightness variability depending on how much of the screen you are lighting up. But if, like me, you end up using dark mode with as many apps and website as possible, it's a very nice solution.

Of course, that's all desktop larks. What about games? Really, there's not much to report and that's definitely good news. By that I mean this budget QD-OLED looks just like any other Gen 3 QD-OLED.

In other words, it's absolutely stellar when it comes to HDR performance compared to any LCD panel. The way this monitor can render, for instance, a searingly bright neon bar light on a totally black background totally confounds any LCD monitor, including that budget VA I've been running of late. In part thanks to a glossy panel coating that really accentuates the lighting control and contrast, it really is an eye-popping experience on a totally different level.

Then there's the speed. That old school VA panel I've been playing with of late looks blurry and smeary enough in isolation. But compared to the lightning fast 0.03 ms response of this QD-OLED, it's just hopelessly outclassed.

As I've mentioned in several recent monitor reviews, I've more or less hung up my Counter-Strike boots. But I'm still just about qualified to say the combination of 240 Hz refresh and 0.03 ms response offered here will be a revelation for most gamers used to LCD panels. Yes, there are much higher refresh OLEDs now available. But the benefits do diminish above 240 Hz unless you are an awfully capable esports type.

This monitor isn't perfect, of course. At this price point, you could have a 27-inch 4K IPS panel with a decent refresh rate and far better pixel density. It would probably be brighter in outdoor game scenes too. So, yeah, full screen brightness in games is still a bit of a weakness.

However, it's definitely worth understanding how this older QD-OLED panel compares with similar vintage WOLED panels made by LG. LG's WOLED tech includes a white subpixel that boosts full-screen brightness, which is measured with the display showing pure white.

The thing is, most of the stuff you look at in practice is coloured and, in that context, the extra white subpixel often isn't a help. Long story short, QD-OLED has better colour brightness. And that means the subjective experience with this QD-OLED rated at 200 nits is brighter and punchier and more vibrant than a WOLED panel rated at 250 nits or even 275 nits.

Put it this way. I would absolutely take this Alienware over the Gigabyte GO27Q24G I reviewed a few weeks ago with its early-gen WOLED panel. The Gigabyte is brighter on paper, but feels a bit dingy in reality.

Alienware has skimped a bit on the OSD menu and the OLED panel care features. The only option in the OLED panel maintenance sub menu is pixel refresh. But you still get a three-year warranty, so you have a pretty decent window before you have to worry about burn-in.

Anywho, the upshot of all this is that, were I in the market for a new monitor at roughly this price point, this panel would pose quite the conundrum. The HDR performance, the contrast, the light control, the speed, it's all so much better than any LCD monitor. I'd struggle to settle for even a good IPS panel.

On the other hand, the 1440p resolution on a 27-inch monitor does make for quite chunky pixels, though is easier on the GPU. For gaming, that's fine, there's plenty of detail on offer. But for daily driving, I'd prefer a bit more detail, sharper fonts, all that good stuff.

That's just me, of course. Thanks to our recent survey, however, we know that 27-inch 1440p is still the most popular monitor form factor among you lot. And if you are looking to stick with that setup but want a dramatically better gaming experience by several metrics and without spending absolute megabucks, well, the Alienware AW2726DM should absolutely be on your relatively affordable OLED shortlist. It's really very good.

The unshakable presence of AI has been an unwelcome companion of my job for the past few years, but it sure feels like longer. It's not even like it's some excitingly malevolent artificial mind with tendrils of influence weaving its way throughout my world. That would at least be satisfying from a sci-fi perspective. No, what I've had to deal with can barely write, definitely cannot count, and has only just figured out what fingers are.

Yet it's been something that has pervading every product announcement, presentation, or pre-briefing I've been a part of in recent times from any company even tangentially related to tech. To the point where I now have a bullshit AI bingo card I fill out just to distract myself from the barely resistible desire to stab a pen through my own hand just to feel something real.

Every new piece of technology, whether that's a laptop, graphics card, mouse, keyboard, BBQ, whatever, is now presented as being powered by AI or comes with an AI assistant, or just has an 'AI' sticker on the box.

So thank you, Dell, for making your CES 2026 pre-briefing so blessedly free of effusive AI chat that I just had to mention it.

It started off with Dell vice chairman and COO, Jeff Clarke, taking to a small stage to talk about the state of the industry and where Dell and its Alienware sub-brand is going this year. He talks tariffs, the slow transitioning of the industry (he says CPU, but I'm presuming he meant OS and Windows 10 → 11), and then "we have this un-met promise of AI, and the expectation of AI driving end user demand," as well as the fact that "we're about ready to enter 2026 with a memory shortage that is pretty significant."

Clarke and his co-presenters then go on to introduce the return of the XPS laptop lineup, some new high-end ultraslim Alienware laptops, as well as some entry-level Alienware laptops (cheap Alienwares? Really?), new spins of its Area-51 desktops, and a handful of new monitors.

All of this is very "consumer-first" and aimed at dialling in to both expand the numbers of people using Dell/Alienware tech and the areas in which it operates. And the only mention of AI in the entire thing is Jeff's little line at the beginning. It's clear, concise, focused on the tech and, in the Q&A that followed, refreshingly honest.

"One thing you'll notice is the message we delivered around our products was not AI-first," Dell head of product, Kevin Terwilliger says with a smile. "So, a bit of a shift from a year ago where we were all about the AI PC."

It's not that Dell doesn't care about AI or AI PCs anymore, it's just that over the past year or so it's come to realise that the consumer doesn't.

"We're very focused on delivering upon the AI capabilities of a device—in fact everything that we're announcing has an NPU in it—but what we've learned over the course of this year, especially from a consumer perspective, is they're not buying based on AI," Terwilliger says bluntly. "In fact I think AI probably confuses them more than it helps them understand a specific outcome."

In a way, you could argue that's tantamount to dumbing down the technology for the end user. But this isn't like withholding information about the core counts of the chips inside your machine, or the TGP of the mobile GPU at its heart for fear of confusing some fictitious customer. There are people who care about the hardware inside these devices, but it's becoming clear there are precious few who care about the AI components or theoretical capabilities of those machines.

The fact that a huge PC brand such as Dell/Alienware has decided to ditch the AI-first marketing that seems to otherwise permeate everything—and honestly still permeates—is entirely welcome, very refreshing, and hopefully the mark of things to come.

Because, until AI becomes a valid, useful technology for the end user of these devices, and not just some marketing check box or buzzword for investors, every company ought to take a leaf out of Dell's book and just keep schtum. And that's honestly not something I've said many times about the big PC box shifter in the past.

As well as teasing a new ultraslim Alienware gaming laptop design Dell has also given us an early look at its new entry-level gaming laptops aimed at "ensuring that really there is a product for everyone" in its Alienware range.

Dell's COO, Jeff Clarke, spoke at the start of our CES 2026 pre-briefing in December about the company wanting to get back to its roots and also broaden its horizons. "It's a scale business, all 280 million units matter… You can't succeed if you're treating a portion of it like a distant relative... If I give you one thing to walk away with, it's the following: the consumer business is important to Dell."

The whole briefing felt very much like a mea culpa from the massive PC box shifter, but it looks like the company is putting its product where its marketing mouth is, what with the return of the XPS brand, reining back its effusive AI marketing, and throwing cheaper Alienware notebooks out into the wild.

The words 'Alienware' and 'entry-level' are not normally associated with each other, and it's perhaps a measure of where Dell finds itself right now that its traditionally premium-focused gaming brand is looking for a new market.

"This is an entry-level laptop that brings Alienware to that broader audience," says Alienware's head of product, Matt McGowan, introducing the new machine. He notes the system is still in development, and the fact that, like its new ultraslim design, it has no sub-brand name as yet suggests it hasn't been in development for that long, either.

"We aim to deliver the most bang for the buck with this new product," says McGowan. "Our goal is to hit price points hundreds of dollars cheaper than where we are today. And really the intent here is to bring more people into the Alienware family."

Given the RAMpocalypse is going to be spiking prices across the board when it comes to gaming PCs and laptops throughout 2026, offering a more affordable alternative actually within its premium brand could be a smart move for both Alienware and Dell itself. Especially as PC gaming remains a growing segment of the market.

"More and more people want gaming PCs, but there's a lot of technology in here," says McGowan. "It's expensive to deliver a product that plays games well, but we wanted to attack that problem head-on.

"Now, this product isn't at the level of an Area-51, of course, but it's still built to our standards. So, we're being smart about where we make investments, we're not cutting corners on the things that matter the most, like build quality, thermals, performance."

From the brief look we've had so far, it looks… like a laptop.

It's interesting to see that Alienware has decided to make sure there's a numpad on the device, and I'd suggest we're probably looking at something that will follow more or less the same design notes as Lenovo's entry-level LOQ range. Though that at least makes sure to offer high TGPs on its mobile graphics cards, while Alienware's more affordable Aurora laptops have been suffering with bottom-end 80 W RTX 5060 chips, for example.

Whether Dell can resist the urge to artificially hobble its entry-level range to encourage upselling will potentially be the thing that makes or breaks this cheaper Alienware project. We'll supposedly know more in the Spring as development continues.

It wouldn't be CES without someone trying to outdo the current creator of the best compact gaming laptop. At CES 2024 that was Asus, updating its Zephyrus G14 machines to blow Razer's Blade 14 out of the water. At CES 2025 it was Razer's turn to hit back with an updated Blade 14, and at CES 2026 it's Alienware's turn to try and commit regicide.

This is just a CES tease, however, so we don't even know what Alienware is going to call its new range of ultraslim gaming laptops, but at the Dell CES 2026 pre-briefing it showed off the new ~17 mm thin design. The idea being to create a "jack of all trades" that will appeal to gamers and creators alike; for people who don't want to have a machine that screams 'I AM A GAMER' while still delivering on performance.

"We focused on two main details: performance density and design versatility," Matt McGowan, head of product at Alienware, tells us. "We wanted to pack as much performance as possible into the most compact design we could engineer.

"It's a 16-inch laptop that's roughly 50% smaller than our 16-inch Area-51. Now, it doesn't aim for that same performance ceiling as the Area-51, but it delivers some serious gaming performance."

So, that's the performance density side, but what about that design? I'm going to be honest, the renders and the machine that McGowan showed off on-stage don't have me feeling inspired. I get the idea of going for what it's calling a "timeless" design, but this is one more Alienware product where the hand of Dell is obvious.

"We wanted a laptop that has incredible build quality," says McGowan, "premium materials, incredible battery life, and a timeless aesthetic that performs in any environment. This doesn't look like your traditional Alienware; so it's a little more covert, but just as iconic."

It remains to be seen just how 'iconic' this little fella is in the flesh/brushed aluminium, but it's going to have to be something special to get ahead of Razer and Asus in the premium compact gaming laptop race. It's slim, but is still thicker than either the current Blade 14 or Zephyrus G14 designs, though that could translate to better relative gaming performance if the TGPs and cooling are handled correctly.

There will both 14- and 16-inch designs of the new Alienware gaming laptop, so its possible the smaller machine will have a slightly different Z-height, and could end up closer to the Razer and Asus 14-inchers.

I asked the question, but McGowan wouldn't be drawn on which mobile GPUs the new ultraslim gaming laptop would use, nor on the TGP levels its cooling would allow those chips to run at. These will be key questions we're going to need answered when we finally get our hands on the new machines later in 2026.

Dell has acknowledge an inalienable truth about its Area-51 gaming desktop, it was sorely missing an AMD Ryzen option from its config choices. At CES it has revealed the new Area-51 now comes with AMD Ryzen X3D processors, including the brand-new Ryzen 7 9850X3D.

I was as surprised as anyone at just how good Alienware's Area-51 gaming PC actually turned out to be. Its promise of an endlessly upgradeable Area-51 machine might be predicated on a supplemental $35 upgrade kit to allow you to use non-Dell parts in the future, but it had built a speedy, cool, and quiet gaming desktop.

I would have certainly preferred it had shipped with an AMD 3D V-Cache enabled processor from the off, instead of its purely Intel outlook. That was one of my few issues with its new premium PC (beside it's inevitable cost), but that flaw can now be crossed out from the cons column.

Now, I just need Alienware to package that $35 upgrade kit in the box gratis. It's really only needed to facilitate a motherboard's connection with the front panel and RGB illumination of the massive Area-51 chassis, so it'd be a neat thing to include from the off. Though I would guess precious few Area-51 machines will be upgraded down the line anyways…

Anyways, Matt McGowan, head of product at Alienware, introduced the new config at Dell's CES 2026 pre-briefing in December. Referring to the Area-51 itself, he calls it, "the king of performance in our portfolio… designed for enthusiasts who demand unwavering performance and the ability to make serious upgrades for years to come with ATX compatibility."

"But quite frankly it was missing one thing: it was missing AMD X3D processors."

The new configuration features an industry standard ATX Alienware X870E motherboard, with the option for either a Ryzen 7 9700X, Ryzen 7 9800X3D, or Ryzen 9 9950X3D chip. There will also be the option for the new Ryzen 7 9850X3D when that properly launches, with its 5.6 GHz boost clock and… er, not much change from the OG chip.

Otherwise, it's all still the same Area-51 goodness, with Nvidia GPUs from RTX 5070 to RTX 5090 options, and a determination that positive pressure airflow (where all the fans point inwards) is where it's at. Hey, it works on the Area-51, so maybe Dell knows a thing or two about PC building.

The sales events are finally over, and I can hear both the sighs of relief at no longer being bombarded with deals (until January, ofc.) and the sighs of regret at having missed out on some great deals. If the latter's you, though, and if you were looking for a new gaming PC, fear not because two of the best discounts we saw on gaming PCs over Black Friday and Cyber Monday (Week) are somehow still live.

Also perhaps more strangely is that these deals are on Alienware rigs, which usually aren't the cheapest gaming PCs. Somehow, though, these two rigs pipped pretty much every other gaming PC I spotted over this year's winter sales events—and I've been checking through the offers every single day.

Both are Alienware Aurora gaming PCs, but the first has an RTX 5070 Ti and is going for $1,630 at Dell, while the latter has an RTX 5080 and is going for $1,900 at Dell. The only slight catch is you have to configure these builds yourself to get them matching the specs and prices I've listed below, which I reckon are the best bang for you buck.

Quick links

• Alienware Aurora | RTX 5070 Ti | $1,630 @ Dell
• Alienware Aurora | RTX 5080 | $1,900 @ Dell

If you can't stretch to $2,000 for the RTX 5080 rig below, this is the gaming PC I'd be going for, without a doubt. Pretty much every other RTX 5070 Ti build is going for far north of $1,800 right now, and most of them are far worse than this one when it comes to the rest of the specs. For one as good as this, you're looking at above $2,000 in most cases at the moment.

Which isn't to say that this is an absolutely stellar gaming PC in all respects, of course. Its Core Ultra 7 CPU lacks integrated graphics, and it isn't the best current-gen processor you can get. For gaming, an AMD 3D V-Cache chip would be nice, but you can't have it all, and the 265F is fine for gaming. It's the best one to get for your money out of the Core Ultra 200 series, anyway.

In addition to the midrange-and-practically-high-end RTX 5070 Ti, You're also getting 2 TB of storage and 32 GB of DDR5 RAM, here, neither of which is to be sniffed at. Especially the latter, given we're in a memory shortage that's making RAM prices skyrocket. The only real downside to this rig is that it'll come with all of Alienware's usual proprietary gubbins, which means it will be more difficult to upgrade certain elements down the line, such as the CPU cooler for example.

Just remember to configure the PC to the specs outlined above.

This is, I'm pretty sure, the first RTX 5080 gaming PC I saw this year going for under $2,000. And with the market being as it is, I'm starting to think it might be the last one we see for a while.

The RTX 5080, of course, is one of the best graphics cards on the market today. Apart from the prohibitively expensive RTX 5090, the RTX 5080 is as good as you'll get for a card that includes all the absolute latest consumer graphics technologies such as Multi Frame Gen.

Excluding the GPU and PSU, the rest of the build is the same as the one above, which means it shares all its pros and cons: a healthy dollop of memory and storage, a middle-of-the-road Core Ultra 7 CPU, and the potential drawback of bespoke Alienware parts. I say 'potential' drawback because some folks like all that Alienware branding, and I can't deny that the chassis, representing Alienware's new and more understated design ethos, looks rather nice.

As with the above rig, just make sure you configure all the specs to how I've listed them above.

👉 Check out all of Dell's gaming PC deals 👈

Alienware has picked up a bit of a name for itself for being, well, kinda expensive and hard to upgrade. Though that latter point is still partly true of its Aurora rigs, it's hard not to ignore how reasonably priced they are this Cyber Week.

For $1,900 at Dell, you can pick up an Alienware rig with an RTX 5080, Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, and 32 GB of DDR5 RAM. That's a huge amount of gaming hardware for the cash, all wrapped up in an Alienware chassis.

• We're curating all the Cyber Monday PC gaming deals right here

Starting off with the most important part, the RTX 5080 is a powerful card, and Multi Frame Gen is excellent, too. It's only a 15% bump over the RTX 4080 in raw performance, and MFG isn't universal, but it's hard to argue that it's not a powerful high-end GPU. And given you will pay $1,000 for one by itself, getting a full rig for under $2,000 is a solid saving.

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265F CPU has 20 cores (8 Performance and 12 Efficient) and a max boost frequency of 5.3 GHz. Launched earlier this year, you're getting good productivity performance, though AMD's offerings beat out this range for gaming. Intel being lumped with Alienware's rig (with no options to swap to AMD) still remains a bit of a disappointment, but you're still getting a fast CPU here.

What makes this deal so good isn't just the base price but how cheap it is to upgrade via Dell's site. You can double the RAM up to 32 GB, which is what I've done above, and it's entirely free to bump that SSD from 1 TB to 2 TB.

As far as I can see right now, the closest rig to this one out there is Lenovo's Legion Tower 7i, at $2,200. You're getting a similar CPU, the same graphics card, the same capacity of memory, and the Legion has its 2 TB of storage split between two drives, where the Alienware uses just the one. All this is to say, my money would be going on the Aurora.

A caveat worth mentioning with the Aurora is that, despite being easier to upgrade than the previous model, it still contains proprietary components, and that makes it harder to upgrade than a pre-built made out of stock parts. As well as that, AMD CPU rigs offer the best gaming performance right now, so you'll take a hit to your frames when compared to some other rigs.

However, what is undeniable is that getting such a beefy GPU (worth more than half the price of the rig by itself) paired with all those other components for under $2,000 makes this one of the standout deals of Cyber Week. And with memory shortages threatening the supply of all manner of PC components going forward, it's a solid time to make that investment.

👉Check out all of Alienware's gaming PC deals here👈

While it was a hard truth to accept while wistfully fiddling with build configurations in my younger years, Alienware and affordability don't often go hand in hand. For this year's Cyber Monday festivities, however, Dell's offering some uncharacteristically respectable discounts on its gaming line, bringing a pair of prebuilt PCs at the lowest prices we've seen on rigs packing the same Nvidia GPUs.

• We're curating all the Cyber Monday PC gaming deals right here

You'll need to tweak some of the available configuration options to ensure you're getting the best bang for your buck, but we've got suggested specs listed below for you to follow. With either of these prebuilt deals, you'll be setting yourself up with a potent gaming PC at best-in-class prices.

Quick list

• Alienware Aurora Gaming Desktop (Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti config) | $1,630 (save $700)
• Alienware Aurora Gaming Desktop (Nvidia RTX 5080 config) | $1,900 (save $880)

The deals

Our first suggested Alienware Aurora offering boasts the midrange favorite 5070 Ti at a better price than you'll see on comparable competitors during this Cyber Monday season. As mentioned above, you'll need to do the configuring yourself.

Here are the options you'll want to choose:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 265F
• Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
• Memory: 32GB Dual Channel DDR5 (2 x 16GB - Green) 5200 MT/s
• Storage: 2 TB M.2 PCIE NVMe SSD
• Chassis Options/PSU: 750W platinum rated PSU & liquid cooler

Aside from selecting the 5070 Ti and a 750W PSU to provide the necessary juice, we're also suggesting that you invest in some RAM and SSD upgrades at a relatively cheap $150 added to your total.

Those selections won't provide top-of-the-line speeds, but the specs are plenty for a comfortable gaming experience at 1440p. Depending on the game and your willingness to toggle on frame gen, you can probably pull off 4K in a lot of cases, too.

Our second suggested Alienware Aurora setup will net you a bit more performance by jumping up to an RTX 5080 while still clocking in at less than $2,000—typically tough to find even during sales season, especially with Alienware branding. As with the 5070 Ti setup, you'll need to do the configuring yourself.

Here are the specs we recommend:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 265F
• Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080
• Memory: 32GB Dual Channel DDR5 (2 x 16GB - Green) 5200 MT/s
• Storage: 2 TB M.2 PCIE NVMe SSD
• Chassis Options/PSU: 1000W platinum rated PSU & liquid cooler

Like we did for the less expensive config, we've opted for spending an extra $150 here to double both the RAM and SSD storage. In an age where we're all trembling beneath the looming specter of ballooning RAM prices, it's wise to take an affordable upgrade when you can find it.

👉 All of Newegg's gaming PC deals 👈

👉 All of Best Buy's gaming PC deals 👈

I've got very little against Alienware desktop PCs, but you have to admit, they often come with a price premium over their competitors. Brand recognition, and all that. Plus, DIY upgradeability is still limited on the Aurora designs. Nevertheless, I'd still happily pick up this RTX 5070 Ti Aurora gaming PC for $1,680 this Cyber Monday, as it represents a huge whack of gaming performance for the money.

And once you take into account the free 2 TB SSD upgrade? It's the best RTX 5070 Ti gaming PC deal I've found so far, among many candidates.

• We're curating all the Cyber Monday PC gaming deals right here

With an RTX 5070 Ti in the GPU slot and a 20-core Intel chip in the CPU socket, this PC should deliver excellent frame rates in even the most demanding of games. I've got a lot of experience with the RTX 5070 Ti at this point, and can confirm that it's a screamingly-fast GPU at 1080p and 1440p—and can even hold its own at 4K, as long as you don't mind a dose of DLSS 4.

And as for the CPU? While we usually recommend AMD chips for DIY builders thanks to their gaming performance lead and overall value this generation, it's important to remember that Intel's Arrow Lake chips (as found here) are far from slow. This one's got eight Performance cores and 12 smaller, Efficient versions, and a max boost clock of 5.3 GHz. Yeah, that's a rocking gaming CPU alright, and it should be brilliant for all your productivity needs, too.

Plus, you're getting 32 GB of DDR5-5200. It's not the fastest stuff in the world, but memory speeds don't often make a huge difference to your gaming performance, anyway. Plus, there's a memory pricing crisis right now, so we're expecting 32 GB gaming PC deals to disappear (or get a lot more expensive) in the months to come. You should be all set here for a while to come, at least.

Finishing off, how about a 2 TB SSD for no extra cost? Yep, you need to select the NVME drive upgrade for yourself in the configurator, but swapping in a 2 TB model over the default 1 TB unit costs... $0. Make sure you don't miss it if you're picking this machine up for yourself.

It's an excellent deal overall, and one of the best on our Cyber Monday gaming PC deals page at the moment, alongside this RTX 5080 version for $1,916, which is also a bit of a bargain. That being said, I wouldn't be doing my job properly if I didn't point out that upgrades on the Aurora line can be a pain in the posterior.

The RAM, SSD, CPU, and GPU can all be upgraded later on, but the motherboard is bespoke, so you'd need a new case if you were looking to switch platforms. The PSU is a custom unit, too, and while this 750 W model is fine for the hardware you receive, if you wanted to put something monstrous in later on like the RTX 5080 or RTX 5090, you're stuck with Alienware PSUs or a major shift in components.

Yep, that's a real shame. Still, if you have no interest in upgrading this machine yourself, and you simply want a huge dose of gaming performance out of the box, this Alienware makes a whole lot of sense. It's beamed in from the heavens above to make our Cyber Monday deal hunting a whole lot easier, and I for one welcome our new alien overlords. Well, these two, anyway.

👉Shop all the Alienware desktop gaming PC deals here👈

As the Cyber Monday gaming laptop deals roll in, a word of caution—be careful to research the specs sheet carefully before you lay down your cash. Many manufacturers are less than forthcoming about the power rating of the GPUs inside their mobile machines, and it can make a significant difference to your gaming performance.

• We're curating all the best Cyber Monday PC gaming deals over here

I was reminded of this principle when I was checking out this Alienware gaming laptop deal this morning. It's a single cent under $1,000, which makes it a great deal on an RTX 5060 gaming laptop, no matter the wattage. That being said, the variant here appears to be an 80-85 W version, and that's a little low to be paired with a 1600p display.

I've placed it in here for your consideration—but I've also found a Lenovo machine with a 115 W RTX 5060 for $1,000 as a comparison, and it's even got an OLED display.

While the Alienware is still a deal worth talking about, when it comes to my cash? It's the second machine I'd be buying with my own money. Let's have a compare and contrast session, shall we?

The contender

Phew, you wouldn't believe the time I'd had trying to confirm the exact TGP figures for this laptop since its release, as many different outlets say many different things and we haven't had one in to test ourselves.

The consensus, however, seems to be that the RTX 5060 mobile here is limited to 80-85 W at top whack, which puts it significantly under the 115 W top rating for this particular mobile graphics chip.

On a sub-$1,000 lappy? That's not really a bad thing, as the RTX 5060 is still capable of decent performance even with the power turned down. What gives me pause, though, is the 1600p display.

That's quite a lot of pixels for any RTX 5060 to push, especially one that's been power limited. Now, that's not to say this isn't a good deal. With DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation being very well supported these days, you'll still be able to push the frame rates up to reasonable levels in most games if you don't mind some heavy upscaling involvement. Plus, you're getting 32 GB of DDR5, which is darn expensive in its own right these days, along with a 1 TB SSD.

However, despite the value on offer here, the real fly in the ointment comes in the form of the Lenovo Legion 5 below...

The one I'd rather have

Yep, it's still a machine with an RTX 5060 mobile, paired with a 1600p display. This one's got a proper OLED panel, though, which is pretty astonishing to find for $1,000 at Walmart. And the RTX 5060 is the full 115 W variant, which is better equipped to take advantage of that lovely screen and its 165 Hz refresh rate.

OLED screen tech is pretty much the best you can find in a gaming laptop at the moment, and the difference is pretty massive when you put it side by side with even a good IPS display, like the one in the Alienware above.

There are caveats to be aware of compared to the Alienware lappy, though. For a start, this Lenovo has 16 GB of DDR5, not 32. That's still a fine amount for gaming, but it does mean you'll need to keep an eye on your background apps if you're going to play something really demanding.

Plus, it's got a 512 GB SSD. That is, if I'm honest, far too small for most gamers, as it'll only take a few big games to max it out alongside a Windows 11 install and a smattering of productivity apps. Thankfully, the Legion 5 has a second M.2 slot, which means sticking a cheap SSD drive in alongside the existing one is child's play.

If you're the sort of child that knows which end of a screwdriver to hold, anyway. Still, despite the lower RAM and the smaller SSD, I'd opt for the more powerful GPU and the OLED display of the Legion over the Alienware. Should the Lenovo rise in price again, it might swing things back in the Alienware's favor—but for now, I'd say the second machine is more worthy of your cash.

👉Shop all the Best Buy gaming laptop deals👈

👉Take a look at all the Walmart gaming laptop deals👈

Cyber Monday is nearly here. Well, actually it's arguably here already, as while it's only Saturday, most retailers give up on Black Friday the moment the clock strikes midnight.

These two Alienware ultrawide gaming monitors have been on sale over Black Friday and now they're continuing through the weekend. They're both absolute beauties, and have already dropped to prices that make either a very tempting proposition. I've got a good feeling about the Cyber Monday gaming monitor this year, haven't you?

👉We're curating all the best Cyber Monday PC gaming deals over here👈

Both are 34-inch QD-OLED displays, and both are worthy of gracing the desk of any gamer with a chunk of cash to drop on a fabulous screen. Really, the choice here mostly comes down to whether you're prepared to pay more for a very high refresh rate, or whether simply "high" is more than good enough for you. Let's have a look together, shall we?

Quick links

• Alienware AW3423DWF | 34-inch 165 Hz QD-OLED | $500 @ Dell (save $400)
• Alienware AW3425DW | 34-inch 240 Hz QD-OLED | $649 @ Dell (save $150)

Alienware AW3423DWF

This display has been part of our best gaming monitor lineup for so long now, it may as well have its own plaque on the wall. It's the glossy variant of a 34-inch ultrawide we've loved from the first iteration, and this one's even better, as we found in our review.

Sure, there are higher refresh rate options out there these days (look below to see its successor with just such a spec), and a 3440 x 1440p resolution might not be as wow-inducing as it once was. But this gloriously vivid display still looks great, is plenty speedy for most users at 165 Hz, and will work brilliantly for gaming.

It's perhaps not the best productivity-focussed panel, by virtue of its pixel density being a touch on the low side, but otherwise? It's a wonderful thing, and at $500, a brilliant value proposition, too.

Alienware AW3425DW

Should speed be what you need, I'd consider picking up this Alienware AW3425DW instead. It's very similar to the monitor above, with two major differences—the refresh rate, and the stand and surround.

Ignore the latter for a second, as while it's perhaps a nice visual upgrade, it's not the reason you should be paying more for this display than the one above. It's the 240 Hz refresh rate that should pique your interest here, as it can make all the difference for esports-style multiplayer gaming.

Us singleplayer peasants probably won't gain much from such a lofty rate, but if your idea of a good time is clicking on heads in something like Valorant or Counter-Strike 2, you may well feel the benefit. A 240 Hz refresh rate is genuinely quick, and while the 165 Hz older model above is no slouch, this one's got a distinct speed advantage along with a $150 discount at Dell right now.

Whichever of these 34-inch beauties you pick, you'll be getting a great price on a fabulous QD-OLED display.

👉Shop all the Dell gaming monitor deals right here👈

The best gaming laptop can mean different things to different people, but it's something we spend a lot of time thinking about and testing ourselves on PC Gamer. In fact, of all the hundreds of products we prod, poke, and benchmark throughout the year, gaming laptops make up around 10% of the total we test.

So, we know our silicon onions when it comes to mobile machines for making good with the gaming. Each and every gaming laptop that crosses our path gets put through the same rigorous process, where we test gaming and productivity performance with a curated set of benchmarks, and monitor power and thermals, too. And, because we test a ton of them, we can compare each against all the gaming laptops that have gone before.

In this list right here are all the highest-rated machines we've scored over 80% so far this year, with links to their full reviews, and all the benchmarking data you could wish for. And we'll keep adding them as they keep on making good ones.

Best gaming laptop deals today

• Amazon: All the gaming laptop deals at Amazon.
• Best Buy: Asus RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop for $1,600
• Razer: Our best 14-inch gaming laptop pick for $2,100
• Lenovo: Up to $700 off Legion gaming laptops
• Newegg: Lenovo Legion 5 OLED RTX 5060 gaming laptop for $1,100
• Dell: Up to $500 off Alienware laptops

💻 RTX 5050 - Acer Nitro V 16 AI | $629 at Walmart
💻 RTX 5060 - Lenovo Legion 5 | $1,000 @ Walmart
💻 RTX 5070 - Gigabyte Gaming A16 | $1,180 @ Newegg
💻 RTX 5070 Ti - MSI Vector 16 HX | $1,299 @ Walmart
💻 RTX 5080 - MSI Vector 16 HX AI | $1,900 @ Best Buy

The laptop low-down

Simply the best

Dave's verdict: 90%

"This is the first gaming laptop that has been able to deliver the sort of all-round PC experience that would have me consider ditching both my work laptop and my desktop gaming PC. And that is saying something. The Blade 16 is a genuinely lovely device, that can deliver whether plugged into a wall socket or running on its battery."

Read our full Razer Blade 16 (2025) review.

A little surprise

Jacob's verdict: 89%

"This gaming laptop is ideal for those who want to be able to take their laptop around with them and use it for more than just gaming. Its subtle design and form factor make it very portable, and its RTX 5060 GPU has surprisingly strong gaming chops, especially with frame gen enabled. You can probably get a little better performance for cheaper, but probably not in such a great form factor and premium chassis."

Read our full Asus TUF Gaming A14 review.

Fastest around

Dave's verdict: 87%

"The new Legion chassis looks good, and the performance is absolutely top-notch. But it's the level of customisation that sings to me, allowing you to create a gaming profile that at once delivers the frame rates and the noise level you desire. Just a shame the battery life is still so weak."

Read our full Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 review.

Object of desire

Dave's verdict: 86%

"Razer's "aggressively priced" Blade still manages to be frustratingly pricey, especially in the face of cheaper, more powerful competition. But when it comes to actual use, it's a huge improvement over last year's model and there's now no other gaming laptop I'd want to have my digits on or spend my money on."

Read our full Razer Blade 14 (2025) review.

A classic

Dave's verdict: 83%

"A classic gaming laptop, that makes up for its lack of battery performance or pencil-thin chassis design with serious gaming frame rates even outside of its cacophonous Extreme Performance mode."

Read our full MSI Vector 16 HX AI gaming laptop review.

Second best

Dave's verdict: 83%

"The strangely inconsistent fan noise really takes the shine of this generation's G14, despite it still being a delicious device, with a beautiful OLED screen, and decent gaming performance. But with a new Blade 14 rectifying all the issues Razer's compact machine has had over the past couple of years, it certainly suffers by comparison."

Read our full Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) review.

Sturdy

Ian's verdict: 81%

"A relative bargain among today's top-end gaming laptops, the 2025 Acer Predator Helios 16 offers solid performance and exceptional screen brightness with the usual drawbacks of running hot and having almost no battery life."

Read our full Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI review.

Budget boi

Zak's verdict: 81%

"Lenovo's hit the mark just right on three things in particular. The graphics card. The screen. The build quality. It's exceptional in those elements and delivers excellent 1080p gaming performance. Sadly, however, due to what are assumedly cost-cutting measures on the RAM and SSD front, it doesn't quite nail the landing with its entry-level model."

Read our full Lenovo LOQ 15 Gen 10 review.

That chassis

Jacob's verdict: 80%

"The Alienware 16 Area-51 is a great pick for someone looking to game primarily on a laptop and still have some semblance of portability. It lacks an OLED panel, which is its biggest miss, and performance is a touch slower than some we've seen. But it more than makes up for these with a price tag lower than others offering the same level of quality."

Read our full Alienware 16 Area-51 review.

Chonker

Nick's verdict: 80%

"With such a high price tag, you'd expect Alienware to pack this laptop with all the best goodies. For the most part, it has, and the performance and general experience are great. But the screen is disappointing, the unplugged performance isn't great, and the keyboard feels cheap. At least this gives Dell plenty of scope to make next year's version better."

Read the full Alienware 18 Area-51 review.

Our experts

The best gaming monitor is an incredibly important piece of a PC gamer's setup. Why spend lots of money on a gaming PC if you're going to play it through a tiny, 20-year-old workstation monitor? Fortunately, there are many great gaming monitors available today, including those offering ultra-high-refresh 1080p, zippy 1440p options, high-fidelity 4K, and a slew of ultrawide panels.

We got some killer panels in 2026, and the best we've tried is the MSI MPG 322UR X24 QD-OLED. It's got a stunning OLED panel, it's super snappy, and HDR performance is top-notch. Check out our guide to the best OLED gaming monitors for even more options.

You need to match your monitor choice with your PC specs to get the most for your money. A 4K monitor with a high refresh rate would likely be overkill if your rig has an older graphics card, and in those cases, the AOC Gaming C27G4ZXE is the best 1080p monitor at the moment.

Best gaming monitor

Though you can get OLED panels for cheaper, the MSI MPG 322UR X24 is our pick for the best gaming monitor, because it's just that good. Rocking the latest OLED technology, it looks uber good, comes with a super bright screen, and it's wicked fast too.

Being an OLED, it's got response times that make other monitors blush. With a 240 Hz refresh rate and a stated 0.03ms response time, it's about as speedy as you'll get without opting for an esports-focused mega-refresh rate display, and most of those focus on 1080p resolution. Here, you get the full 4K shebang.

And what a panel. The color reproduction is sumptuous, thanks to an excellent glossy coating and all that OLED goodness, and the blacks are great, too. Of course, being an OLED display, there's always burn-in to worry about, but the MSI does its darndest to mitigate that with plenty of built-in tech. And the three-year burn-in warranty should take some of the anxiety out of the equation.

This is a staggeringly good display that is packed with the latest OLED technology, and as a result, it's the best gaming monitor you can buy right now. Unfortunately, that does mean it's likely to be undercut by something else at a later date, but it's still a top-notch performer.

If you still want OLED fun but don't need the 4K resolution, the MSI MPG 271QRX is well worth a look, or if you want something more budget, then the IPS Gigabyte M28U is our top pick. Still, the MSI MPG 322UR X24 is an OLED display that is simply unbeatable at its price right now.

Best budget 4K gaming monitor

Two monitors in one. This is the promise of the dual-mode Asus ROG Strix XG27UCG. It kinda gets there, but for our money it deserves a place as the best budget 4K gaming monitor whatever its pseudo 1080p mode can deliver.

That's an added win when you already have an 4K IPS panel, which is capable of a 160 Hz refresh rate at its native resolution already. Sure, it's not the brightest screen out there, but with basic HDR support in the form HDR10 processing and rated peak of 400 nits as standard, it still delivers a decent image in games.

In those situations this becomes a very sweet and punchy display, and in our testing subjectively looks brighter than its listed 400 nits rating. And, because it's a 27-inch panel rocking 8.3 million pixels, the resulting pixel density is excellent. That makes it sharp on the desktop, with crisp font rendering, and detailed in game.

Where things fall off a little is in that dual-mode dance. Asus is using some sort of interpolation algorithm here and on the desktop that makes the 1080p mode look a little soft. In a game, however, it actually looks pretty good and the 320 Hz refresh rate also has a little higher pixel response, too.

A nice extra feature, but the real sell of the Asus is in its affordable 4K chops.

Best Budget OLED gaming monitor

27-inch Alienware QD-OLED for $350 at full price. There, you have the headline feature here. Okay, I'll keep talking, but you get the point. If you need an OLED monitor on a budget, this pick is the absolute best, thanks to that truly great price point.

And it helps that this Alienware monitor is very solid too. Our Jeremy got hands-on and was impressed by its HDR performance and the speed of OLED. You get a super speedy 240 Hz refresh rate here and a 0.03 ms response time.

Unfortunately, for an OLED at this price point, you have to make a handful of compromises, and Alienware has picked an older QD-OLED technology. It still makes colour pop, and offers super deep blacks. It's also not the absolute oldest generation, with its sporting the 2024 Gen 3 QD-OLED technology. That means improved font rendering, reduced risk of burn-in, and better durability, but you aren't getting the true RGB-stripe setup of the 5th generation technology.

We also spotted that the monitor needs a little fine-tuning out of the box. Its default SDR mode can do with a little tweaking in the Windows Color Management tool, but SDR calibrations in HDR mode are pretty good. As our Jeremy puts it, "were this my display, I'd just enable HDR, tweak the SDR brightness in the Windows Display Properties menu, and leave it like that forever."

Also, at 1440p, you aren't getting the highest pixel density in the 27-inch size, and the 200 nits of brightness is a little low. Still, the benefits of OLED are obvious, and this Alienware pick absolutely sings with a little tweaking.

Best 1440p gaming monitor

The best 1440p gaming monitor is the KTC M27T6S. Yes, it's not an OLED, so its contrasts aren't quite as lush, but this mini-LED monitor is bright and plenty punchy.

The panel within this KTC monitor is strong in its response time and refresh rate, but its HDR performance is the thing that truly shines.

Our Jeremy went into his review sceptical of mini-LED and walked away surprised, saying "this budget-priced 1440p panel from KTC does it [full-array dimming] better than many far more expensive gaming monitors and delivers excellent HDR performance."

There's a good reason for OLED instead, with OLED providing super-punchy colours and true blacks, but mini-LED throws plenty of punches back thanks to its unique lighting setup. And the benefit of a mini-LED monitor is that there are no burn-in concerns.

If you want something reasonably priced, with strong specs, and sizzingly bright bulbs, this KTC is well worth your time.

Best budget 1440p gaming monitor

The best budget 1440p gaming monitor is the KTC H27T22C-3 because it nails all the fundamentals while keeping its price very low. It might be scary to opt for a lesser-known brand, but we've done the testing with this one and can confirm it's on par with other decent 1440p monitors from bigger brands, only it's cheaper.

To be more specific, this 27-inch monitor offers a very generous—albeit somewhat peculiar—210 Hz refresh rate, a 1 ms response time, and 450 nits of peak brightness. And although IPS panels like this one can't match an OLED's deep blacks and contrast, that 450 nits is higher than even the latest OLEDs can offer, which is a benefit of the panel tech in at least some gaming scenarios.

Colours tend to be well-represented by IPS panels, too, and this KTC is no exception. During his testing, our Jeremy found colours to look pretty great: "The factory calibration isn't perfect. But it's far from horrendous. For the most part, this is just a vibrant, enjoyable gaming panel."

HDR is similarly wonderful with the KTC H27T22C-3, at least for the price. You can't expect the world here for such a low cost, and you're only getting not-quite-real-HDR DisplayHDR 400, but it works well and in fact even makes things look better in SDR mode, which isn't often the case with HDR.

Put all of this together, and you have a very well-rounded monitor for a very reasonable price. You're not getting USB passthrough or any of those nice little extras, but that's about all you're sacrificing for the price here. The actual performance and visuals are certainly up to the competition.

Best 1080p gaming monitor

The best budget 1080p gaming monitor is the AOC Gaming C27G4ZXE. Not only is this a great 1080p gaming monitor for the price, but it's a curved gaming monitor, a feature that's usually reserved for slightly more expensive, higher-res panels. Sure, it doesn't have much of a curve at just 1500R, but it's not nothing.

Notwithstanding its slight curvature, the primary draw to this monitor is its whopping 280 Hz refresh rate. This makes for some incredibly smooth and snappy gameplay and is seriously impressive for the price. Of course, for a monitor so cheap, there must be a drawback, and in this case, it's the fact that it's a 27-inch monitor with a max resolution of 1080p. 27-inch monitors, after all, are usually 1440p ones. So don't expect the best pixel density with this AOC.

Despite its 1080p resolution, the C27G4ZXE can push out some lovely visuals thanks to its VA panel, which makes colours pop, as VAs often do. This, despite only being rated up to 300 nits of peak brightness. Everything's calibrated nicely out the door, but don't expect miracles in HDR mode—in fact, despite it technically being able to display some kind of HDR, the experience is generally so poor that it's probably best to think of this as just an SDR monitor.

Another area where the monitor suffers is in its pixel response. Unfortunately, blurring and smearing is visible, and the only way to get rid of this is to crank the overdrive up, which causes the opposing problems of overshoot and inverse ghosting.

Nonetheless, if you want to save money on a 1080p monitor that produces a cracking image, is curved, and can refresh those on-screen frames at a mighty fast rate, this AOC is where it's at. A 1440p or IPS panel might be better if you can stretch your budget, but for such a cheap price tag, you really can't complain here. For budget 1080p gaming, this AOC Gaming C27G4ZXE is where it's at.

The best ultrawide gaming monitor

The Gigabyte MO34WQC2 is the best ultrawide gaming monitor in our minds, as it packs in both a slick, speedy QD-OLED panel and delivers the sort of feature-set that puts it at the top of the stack.

The LG WOLED ultrawide panels can be a touch brighter, but only by a relatively small amount and will generally come in at a lot more expensive than you will find the Gigabyte screen for now. Once its $1,000 MSRP made it a bit of a tougher recommendation, but now we're regularly finding it below the $700 mark that has changed.

For that you're getting the QD-OLED image quality, 240 Hz refresh rate, and that 0.03 response time that makes this panel technology so good for gaming. You're also getting a level of HDR gaming that really takes advantage of the true blacks OLED can deliver.

There is a gentle 1800R curve to the panel, which might put some people off—maybe content creators—but bringing the edges of the display in a little actually gives that little bit of extra immersion for games on an ultrawide monitor.

In terms of that feature-set, one of the biggies is the KVM switch that allows you to swap between desktop and laptop while still using the same peripherals connected to the Gigabyte screeen. I will say, it's not the most exciting gaming monitor, but it delivers on the promise of those original Alienware AW3423DWF ultrawides, and gives that little bit more on top.

Best budget ultrawide gaming monitor

The best budget ultrawide is the Koorui 34E6UC, and I know that might sound rather strange given that this isn't a brand you would normally associate with gaming screens, but its latest displays have given gamers great affordable options at different resolutions.

If the big boi OLED is too rich for your wallet, then Koorui's 34-incher will still deliver in all the ways that are important for an ultrawide. Obviously, you're getting that 21:9 aspect ratio, along with a 3440 x 1440 native resolution.

You're also getting a pretty big 1000R curve, which give that little bit of extra immersion for ultrawide gaming monitors.

It's not the brightest panel, however, and that will be a slight downside on a screen that's otherwise pretty solid. Still, at a typical brightness of 350 nits it's not going to be a problem in all but the brightest of gaming caves.

It does have a strong refresh rate, however, at 165 Hz and a 1 ms response time. That's the sort of level where a modern GPU will be able to get close to that refresh rate with its own frame rate in the sorts of games where that really counts.

Best competitive gaming monitor

The KTC 25M1 is the best competitive gaming monitor, primarily thanks to its whopping 400 Hz refresh rate and its very reasonable price tag. If you're looking to forego the absolute shiniest visuals for a snappy, responsive, and incredibly smooth gaming experience in a competitive shooter, this is the best bang for your buck right now.

Its TN panel doesn't hold up against a great IPS or OLED when it comes to colour accuracy and so on, but if you're happy losing out a little on that front, what you gain in refresh rate and motion clarity here is simply wonderful. Our Jacob uses this monitor all the time for his late-night Counter-Strike 2 excursions and now won't settle for less.

This refresh rate is kind of a sweet spot, too, as there are diminishing returns beyond around the 360 Hz mark (or 400 Hz, in this case), meaning here you're getting near the top of the performance curve before prices start to skyrocket. Response times are fantastic, too, with real-world, in-game, end-to-end latency tested to under 7 ms, just like the 3x more expensive 600 Hz Zowie XL2586+ our Jacob also tested.

Perhaps most surprising, the TN panel also does pretty well in the colour department, especially when switched into sRGB mode. It's not as accurate as a good IPS—we can't expect that from a TN—but it's far from the washed-out TN panels of yore. It's still probably not a monitor of choice for mainstream gaming, but for competitive gaming with some mainstream on the side, the KTC 25M1 is a fantastic choice.

How we test gaming monitors

Where to buy a gaming monitor

Best gaming monitor FAQ

Jargon buster - gaming monitor terminology

Curved Panels
Curved panels can make games feel more immersive and the amount of curvature is given by a number such as 1500R or 1800R. The smaller the number, the more tightly curved the screen will be.

IPS
In-plane switching panels offer the best contrast and color despite having weaker blacks. IPS panels also tend to be more expensive and have higher response times.

Ghosting
When movement on your display leaves behind a trail of pixels when watching a movie or playing a game, this is often a result of a monitor having slow response times.

G-Sync
Nvidia's frame synching tech for Nvidia GPUs. It basically allows the monitor to sync up with the GPU. It does this by showing a new frame as soon as the GPU has one ready.

FreeSync
AMD's take on frame synching uses a similar technique as G-Sync, with the biggest difference being that it uses DisplayPort's Adaptive-Sync technology which doesn't cost monitor manufacturers anything.

HDR
High Dynamic Range. HDR provides a wider color range than normal SDR panels and offers increased brightness. The result is more vivid colors, deeper blacks, and a brighter picture.

OLED
Organic Light Emitting Diode. A type of display where the pixels directly emit light, rather than using LEDs as a backlight. OLED panels have the best color reproduction and the fastest response, as well as provide true black colors.

Peak Brightness
This refers to the maximum brightness of a monitor or television and is measured in nits. For decent HDR gaming, you want more than 400 nits, ideally near the 1000 mark.

Refresh Rate (Hz)
The speed at which the screen refreshes. For example, 144Hz means the display refreshes 144 times a second. The higher the number, the smoother the screen will appear when you play games.

Resolution
The number of pixels that make up a monitor's display, indicated by height and width. For example: 1920 x 1080 (aka 1080p), 2560 x 1440 (2K or 1440p), and 3840 x 2160 (4K).

Response Time
The amount of time it takes a pixel to transition to a new color and back. Often referenced as G2G or Grey-to-Grey. Slow response times can lead to ghosting. A suitable range for a gaming monitor is between 1 to 4 milliseconds.

TN Panels
Twisted-nematic is the most common (and cheapest) gaming panel. TN panels tend to have poorer viewing angles and color reproduction but have higher refresh rates and response times.

Ultrawide
Shorthand for monitors with aspect wider aspect ratios like 32:9 or 21:9

VA
Vertical Alignment panels provide good viewing angles and have better contrast than even IPS but are still slower than TN panels. They are often a compromise between a TN and IPS panel.

V-Sync
Graphics tech synchronizes a game's framerate with your monitor's refresh rate to help prevent screen tearing by syncing your GPU frame rate to the display's maximum refresh rate. Turn V-Sync on in your games for a smoother experience, but you'll lose information, so turn it off for fast-paced shooters (and live with the tearing). Useful if you have an older model display that can't keep up with a new GPU.

We're getting towards the end of Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days now. Or is it October Prime Day? Whatever, Dell has its own sales event with a staggering $1,000 off this Alienware 18 Area-51 gaming laptop, and that's a seriously hefty saving on... well, a seriously hefty 18-inch lappy.

Our Nick reviewed the RTX 5090 version of this particular machine and came away very impressed with its performance. It's not like the RTX 5080 version will be a slouch, either, as it's the full 175 W spec of Nvidia's second-fastest mobile GPU—and one we've tested extensively in many other models.

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Cliff notes? It's fast. Very, very fast. While you'll still need some DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation help to take advantage of the refresh rate of this 1600p panel (it's a whopping 300 Hz, for goodness sake), I reckon you'll have a grand old time seeing your games blown up on an 18-inch screen and running like water.

And while this beast looks like pain to transport (although I have been known to hump a 17-inch laptop around on my back, so it's certainly do-able), the trade off is serious cooling performance for the high-spec components inside. It's going to need it, too, as not only does it have to cool an RTX 5080 mobile going at full pelt, it's also got to contend with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU.

For the uninitiated, that's a 24-core (eight Performance, 16 Efficient) mobile chip, and one we've also tested extensively in the past. It's massively quick at both gaming and productivity tasks, but it also runs rather hot—so sticking one in a large-and-in-charge chassis with mega cooling is a clever move on Alienware's part.

You also get 32 GB of decently-speedy DDR5-6400, and... oh, a 1 TB SSD. That's the only thing I'd consider upgrading, to be honest, as 1 TB feels a little tight on a $2,000+ laptop. It's fine to get started with, but I'd take advantage of the two extra M2 sockets and stick at least one 2 TB drive in there. Should I mention that we're also finding tons of cheap SSD drives during this Prime Day sales period?

I know, my segues are impeccable. Anyway, this is a hugely powerful machine, and while the price tag isn't exactly budget-range (even with a $1,000 discount), this laptop is currently coming in cheaper than a lot of other RTX 5080 machines right now.

And if you don't mind a chonky form factor, I reckon this monster should make for a magnificent desktop replacement. Just don't feed it after midnight, yes?

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If you're over the age of 30, you likely remember the Area 51-M. The progenitor of the gaming laptop I'm looking at today, the Area 51-M is unabashed in its appearance. It curved generously towards its front-facing controls and was offered in a truly garish colourway: fluorescent green. It shouldn't be appealing, but it is—I wanted one as a kid and I still want one now.

Alienware has made many attempts to recapture the Area 51-M's style. Often with more muted, and more Dell, trappings. It's had some decent-looking laptops over the years, but nothing to spark joy in me like the original unit. I dare say we'll never see Alienware brave enough to bring out the tins of fluorescent green paint again, but with the new Alienware 16 Area-51, it's closer than it's ever been to capturing the original's essence.

It's not just the metallic turquoise finish on the review unit in front of me that does it, though that helps. It's an anodised aluminium "carapace" in "Liquid Teal". The chassis slopes towards the edges on three out of four sides, and the rear-end juts out from behind the screen in translucent plastic, housing most of the IO, with vents very reminiscent of the original Alienware laptops and desktop PCs. The rear, fans and trackpad are all emblazoned with RGB lighting, and the screen protrudes from its hinge in a satisfyingly retro way.

On the trackpad, the RGB lighting here isn't a favourite of mine, but I have to say Alienware has managed to get it looking very consistent across the entirety of the pad. It's a smaller pad than many on the market today, however, and while very responsive, the mechanical left and right mouse button clicks are quite loud. The mechanical keyboard is pretty much the same deal—responsive but sounds and feels a little underwhelming. I'd rather mechanical Cherry switches than slimmer laptop switches, though.

The Area-51 sports a thick chassis at 28.5 x 365 x 290 mm (1.12 x 14.37 x 11.41 inches). Notably larger than, say, a Zephyrus G16, though Asus knocks back the performance to get to that slim profile, which Alienware hasn't had to do here. It weighs in at 3.4 kg, though I wouldn't say it's any less portable for its heft compared to others in this price/performance category. The Alienware 16 Area-51 comes in at $3,150/£2,949, which is actually a touch more affordable than others we've tested.

There's little about this laptop that's old-fashioned under the hood. The screen is a 16-inch, 240 Hz IPS panel. It's a vibrant panel with a matte coating, which keeps glare to a minimum, though this does enunciate the lack of OLED panel, which would offer deeper tones and a more impressive picture quality—the kind we've rated highly on competing laptops in this price range, such as the Razer Blade 16 (2025), Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025), and Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10. There's also no HDR support for this 500-nit panel. Despite this omission, the screen is a good fit for the laptop's components, which can make good use of the refresh rate with DLSS and Frame Generation enabled, or in less demanding games.

This review unit houses an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, with eight P-cores, 16 E-cores, and a top speed of 5.4 GHz. At 55 W base power and 160 W max, it pales only in comparison to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile GPU alongside it, with a thirst of up to 175 W. Though for the high demands on the power and thermal solution in this laptop, Nvidia has rolled out some new features with the RTX 50-series for improved efficiency, which work a treat.

It's also possible to run only the Intel-provided iGPU when the dGPU isn't required, saving some power, which the system will do for you automatically using Nvidia Advanced Optimus technology. This dynamic switching with Optimus causes the system to visibly hang for a couple of seconds when switching between a game and the desktop, though once you get used to it, it saves some hassle manually switching or setting up preferences in the Windows settings on a per-application basis.

From the 96 Wh battery in the Area-51, it managed to run PCMark's gaming battery life test (a loop of the Firestrike benchmark) for 73 minutes. That's a decent amount of time away from the outlet, equalling the Legion Pro 7i Gen10.

This unit comes with 32 GB of removable SO-DIMM DDR5 memory, rated to 6400 MT/s, provided by SK hynix. The storage is a single 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD from Micron, the 3500 NVMe SED. The Alienware does something I'm yet to see many others do, however, in providing not one but two spare NVMe slots. That's excellent for easy upgrades or for cloning to a larger boot drive if required. Though 2 TB is pretty good going out of the box—I wouldn't want any less than that at this price—and it is enclosed in a copper heatsink as standard, with the other two spare slots ideally using thermal pads that aren't provided.

The rear comes off with a handful of surprisingly chunky Philips-head 1 screws and only light prying at the edges. Underneath sit four fans. Yes, four! All told, I'm very impressed with the innards of the Area-51. It's very well put together and everything is clearly marked, which we like to see, with some components such as the headphone jack and SD card reader on separate PCBs to the mainboard.

Comparing to other RTX 5080-powered gaming laptops at 1080p, the Area-51 easily outperforms the 120 W models, though underperforms by a touch other 175 W models. There's not too much in it, but it's a little more restricted and clock speeds suffer a little more than with other laptops. It's not necessarily a power budget issue, either, and I'd suspect thermals play a role here, as we've largely only tested high-end models with similar Intel HX-series processors that better keep temperatures in check.

The Area-51 hit 78 °C on average and a maximum of 80 °C during three runs of the Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition benchmark, with an average GPU clock of 2297 MHz. The Lenovo Legion 7i Pro Gen10 reached only 74 °C with a maximum of 79 °C, with an average GPU clock of 2375 MHz—a 78 MHz improvement on the Area-51. This just goes to show there's a little more you can get out of the RTX 5080 with the right cooling solution, and that's reflected in the in-game results.

Both the Area-51 and the Legion 7i Pro use the Core Ultra 9 275HX and both allowed it to reach a maximum temperature of 105 °C, the point when thermal throttling will occur to keep the temperature from going any higher. Though the Area-51 scores a point on the Lenovo here for keeping the average temperature of its chip down at 84 °C. The Legion 7i Pro only managed 94 °C.

In productivity benchmarks, I was seeing as much as 41% thermal throttling (the amount the core clock is being restricted after reaching the maximum junction temperature) as registered in HWInfo. In essence, yes, this Core Ultra 9 chip is being held back by high temps. That's not totally abnormal, but again, we've seen lower average temperatures for this same chip on other laptop models and that's reflected in the slightly higher scores elsewhere.

The laptop's native 1600p resolution isn't too demanding, at least, and seems a good pairing with the silicon inside. With DLSS and Frame Gen enabled, too, it's possible to reach up to lofty frame rates closing in on the screen's rated 240 Hz refresh rate, though not in any of our games for benchmarking—you'll have to play it smart in the settings to get that sort of fps out of any modern game.

As for noise levels when this thing is bearing down on 240 Hz in the latest games, it's not too loud. Well, considering how loud gaming laptops can get. I measured it at roughly user distance away with a sound meter and it hit 52 dB, which is roughly analogous to the noise produced by a good liquid cooler or air cooler at 100%. So, not particularly quiet, but it's a tone that I don't find particularly offensive, either. It's a steady whoosh, and as such, it's easily removed by any good noise cancelling headphones or earbuds. I'd recommend a pair with most gaming laptops, to be honest.

As for the extras, Alienware suggests two models of webcam are available on this machine, a 2 MP 1080p unit and an 8 MP 4K unit. It's tough to tell which you've got, or which you're buying, as the specs sheet often just refers to both, even on the store page. I managed to check Alienware support and found one small mention of this review unit having a 4K camera, within the screen specifications, but I have to say I thought it looked more like 1080p. Either way, it looks clear enough for meetings, but would fall short for streaming. It does offer Windows Hello support, at least, which is a feature I wish we saw a lot more of on gaming products.

Alienware might not have nailed world-beating performance here, and the lack of an OLED screen is a bit of a miss, but I find myself liking the Alienware 16 Area-51 regardless. The positives outweigh the negatives: the design is great, something just different enough to stand out without going overboard, and it has maintained a very high quality throughout. Any laptop that stuffs three NVMe ports under the hood has an easier time getting in my good books. While the price tag remains mighty at $3,150/£2,949, it is more affordable than the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10, and it's a fair bit cheaper than rival 18-inch laptops with similar specs. All told, I'd be happy with the Alienware 16 Area-51 if I had purchased it myself.

While this is nothing more than a guess, I'm pretty sure that the average Alienware buyer isn't interested in a gaming laptop that's discreet, understated, or like any other model they could buy. They want that alien logo glowing away, promising unearthly performance, and getting exactly that when they flip the lid open and fire up a game.

Well, that's certainly what you're getting with the new Alienware 18 Area-51 gaming laptop, although to be fair, it's not quite a lurid and ridiculous-looking as some of Alienware's older models. The chassis is really quite classy, and what looks like high-quality plastic is actually anodised aluminium, top and bottom.

It's a little hard to tell from the pictures, but the colour is a deep teal-green and in the right light, it's almost iridescent. The shell does pick up finger marks and grease rather easily, but that just gives you more opportunities to spend long hours carefully polishing your beloved new Alienware laptop. And given that this one costs $4,000, you'll certainly want to be very precious about it.

That's obviously a huge sum of money to spend on a laptop, and while portable PCs always carry a mobility tax, the Area-51 sits very much at the extreme end of that spectrum. For a similar level of cash, you could buy an RTX 5080 desktop gaming PC and an RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop, so you'd expect the Alienware to be packing the very best hardware around.

It does and it doesn't. Starting with the good stuff, you've got an RTX 5090 mobile GPU, with a 175 W TGP, plus 64 GB of DDR5-6400, and a 2 TB PCIe 5.0 SSD. The RAM isn't super-fast, unfortunately, as it has timings of 52-51-51-102, but the storage is, and the capacities of both are very nice indeed.

The Area-51 has a top-tier price tag, and yet it doesn't pack Intel's very best mobile CPU. That would be a Core Ultra 9 285HX, but here you're 'only' getting the 275HX; however, given that there is just a 100 MHz difference between the two, it's more than good enough.

No, the main disappointments are the screen and keyboard. The former is an 18-inch IPS panel, with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 (16:10 aspect ratio) and a maximum refresh rate of 300 Hz. Peak brightness is a retina-searing 500 nits and yet it has no HDR support. That refresh rate can only be reached via the dGPU, as it's capped to 144 Hz via the iGPU in the Intel chip.

By default, the Alienware 18 Area-51 uses Nvidia's Advanced Optimus system to switch between the two GPUs, depending on whether you're running a game or not. It works fine, but if you were hoping for 300 Hz while spending all day working on the laptop, you'll need to switch it off in the Alienware Control Center app.

At this kind of money, I'd expect to see an OLED screen, but instead, you've got something that's actually too bright. While the colours in games are fine, dark areas are quite washed out, and the panel itself is overly reflective.

The review sample's keyboard is the optional Cherry MX ultra low-profile kit, and I have to say that while it looks very nice, the keys themselves clatter and squeak as you type, and the overall rattly nature to it feels decidedly cheap and cheerful.

If you plan on buying an Area-51 directly from Alienware, I strongly recommend that you save a bit of money and choose the standard keyboard instead. I don't know if it's any better, but it certainly couldn't be any worse. At least the trackpad is lovely, especially when it's all fully lit, and it accurately picks up multi-finger motions, taps and slides.

The aforementioned Alienware control app lets you configure all the RGB lights, along with the power modes and fan levels. There are five presets (Battery, Quiet, Balanced, Performance, and Overdrive), but it's easy enough to configure things how you want them. For the following benchmark results, all figures were taken while using the Performance preset, unless otherwise noted.

It's a $4,000 gaming laptop, so one would demand top-notch performance. Fortunately, that's exactly what you get. It handily outperforms the Razer Blade 16, though it was surprisingly sluggish in F1 25 when using upscaling and frame generation. We've not had many RTX 5090 laptops in the office, but we have tested a 5090 version of the HP Omen Max 16.

That laptop was marginally faster than the Area-51 in every gaming test, with the exception of Metro Exodus Enhanced at 1600p. This game is somewhat CPU-limited, even at that resolution, and I suspect Dell is giving the Core Ultra 9 275HX in its laptop a tad more juice than other vendors do. The large amount of DDR5-6400 will be helping, too.

So, for the most part, there's nothing about the gaming performance to complain about. Actually, there is, and it's when you yank the power cable out of the back of the laptop. Running the Area-51 on batteries only, every game is capped to a maximum of 30 fps, though you can essentially double that with frame generation.

I spent a good while delving through every setting in Alienware Control Center, Nvidia app, and Nvidia Control Panel, but there was nothing visible that could be changed to remove the limit. Of course, this isn't a gaming laptop that you can realistically spend long hours gaming unplugged on, as it only lasts for 80 minutes in a light gaming test, but it's bizarre to have such a limit in the first place.

Update: The 30 fps cap is caused by Nvidia's Battery Boost option. While this can be disabled in the Nvidia app (Graphics > Global Settings), the laptop is still unable to operate at full power when unplugged. In some games, this has a noticeable impact on performance, such as Cyberpunk 2077, but others run almost as well as when plugged in, if they don't tax the GPU too much.

Something worth noting is that the power presets make no difference to the performance when the laptop is plugged in and using Advanced Optimus; only by disabling the MUX and using the dGPU at all times can you adjust the power consumption directly.

Where none of this comes into play is productivity and content creation. The combination of the Core Ultra 9 275HX and RTX 5090 ensure that the Area-51 is top-notch for these kinds of workloads. That said, in the Procyon Stable Diffusion benchmark, the Alienware laptop performed no better than the HP Omen Max 16 and MSI Raider 18 HX AI, and they sport RTX 5080 GPUs.

Thanks to the PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD, the Area-51 does barnstorm its way through the 3DMark Storage test, posting results so good that it makes the other laptops look like they're using old HDDs. Unfortunately, it doesn't translate into making the whole laptop any faster, as it boots no faster than a standard laptop, and applications and games certainly don't load any quicker.

If there's one thing that Dell has got absolutely right with the Area-51, it's the thermal solution. Drawing air in from the bottom and top, four large fans blast air over the heatsinks covering the GPU and CPU. Unlike most gaming laptops, there's a bit more room for the air to swirl about inside the chassis, as Dell has designed a so-called 'Cryo-Chamber'—basically a large-ish void, topped off with a Gorilla Glass panel, so you can see…umm, not very much.

The thermal results amply demonstrate that the whole shebang does a great job of keeping things cool, especially the GPU. Even the fan noise isn't too bad. Yes, it's very loud at maximum rpm, but the pitch of the noise isn't painful; think 'rushing gale of wind' rather than 'screaming banshees'.

The downside to Dell's cooling solution, though, is that there are hardly any ports on the sides of the laptop, just a 3.5 mm audio socket and an SD card reader. In place of the usual gamut of USB ports, the Area-51's cooler blasts air out through four large vents. That does mean if you park your mouse right next to it, your hand will slowly cook over a gaming session.

Connectivity options (two Thunderbolt 5 ports, three USB Type-A, one HDMI, and one Ethernet) are all along the rear edge of the laptop. Due to the sheer size of the screen and the Area-51's big booty, it can be a bit of a faff fumbling around the back trying to plug things in. If you're dead set on buying this laptop, I suggest that you also invest in a good Thunderbolt/USB hub to make it easier to use.

So what to make of the Alienware 18 Area-51? The price tag is ludicrously high, but then again, the Razer Blade 16 with an RTX 5090 isn't any cheaper and in the UK, the MSI Raider 18 HX AI with an RTX 5080 is practically the same price. In other words, Dell isn't really charging any more than what the competition is for a similar laptop.

And you're getting 64 GB of RAM and a 2 TB Gen 5 SSD, along with the most powerful laptop GPU you can buy right now. Unfortunately, you're also getting a mediocre keyboard (if you go with the Cherry MX option) and a rather underwhelming screen. The latter is okay, but it's not $4,000 okay, and nowhere near as good as that in the Razer Blade 16.

Given how critical the display and keys are to the entire experience of using a laptop, the Alienware 18 Area-51 is a bit like an overconfident runner who's led the field for almost the entire race, only to faceplant a handful of yards from the finish line.

It's far from perfect, though you are getting top-tier performance in a classy-looking chassis. If you can live with the screen and don't really care about the keyboard, then the Area-51 is certainly worth considering. The promise of the alien logo isn't entirely there, but it's not far off, and I reckon a 2026 refresh with an OLED panel would be very hard to beat.

The period between July and November is normally a bit of a wasteland when it comes to substantial discounts. With EOFY sales and Amazon Prime Day in the rearview mirror, and Black Friday a long way away, it must suck to urgently need, say, a new gaming monitor right now. Or so you'd think. The truth is, there are a small handful of Alienware 27 inch displays that are going cheaper than they've ever been, in Australia at least.

The highlights are two monitors we've reviewed very positively. The Alienware 27 AW2725Q QD-OLED is a terribly named but brilliantly endowed QD-OLED monitor which Jeremy Laird rewarded an 87 / 100 review back in March, wherein he praises its pixel density, silky smooth refresh rate (to the tune of 240Hz) and HDR chops. "Our tertiary taste of a 27-inch 4K QD-OLED monitor confirms that the overall experience is stunning, but not much of a step over 32-inch 4K OLEDs," he writes.

That monitor entered the market at AU$1,199 in Australia, but at the moment you can get it for AU$888.91 direct from Dell. If you click through to that link, you'll see the going price is AU$999, but once you apply the coupon code DNCPAU11% you'll see a nice chunk come off that price. Kinda like magic.

Given that monitor only hit the market five months ago, it's definitely the highlight of the trio, but we also liked the Alienware AW2723DF which, in case that clear-as-mud name doesn't help, is a 1440p gaming monitor with a 280Hz refresh rate on an IPS panel. Usually it goes for around AU$700, but right now you can get it for $444.47, using the same coupon code DNCPAU11%.

Finally, there is a third monitor on sale at a brilliant price, though we haven't actually reviewed it before, so I can't wholeheartedly endorse it. For what it's worth, our sibling site GamesRadar+ liked the Alienware 27 AW2724HF back when it released in 2023, especially its ultra-fast 360Hz display. The HD screen used to go for around AU$600, but with the same DNCPAU11% coupon code, the current price of AU$349.80 drops further to AU$311.32.

If you're looking for a new display but don't like Alienware, check out our list of the best gaming monitors.

I wasn't adequately prepared for just how massive the new Alienware Area-51 is in the flesh. It's frankly enormous, especially compared with the rather meek little Aurora desktops of the last Dell gaming box refresh.

Those Auroras just felt like pretty standard mid-tower machines, with a rather dull, very Dell design. This Area-51, however, is a gaming PC absolutely in FULL TOWER MODE. And, you know what, I'm kinda into it. I don't know if it's just that I'm a little intimidated by its sheer presence—so maybe I'm feeling the need to be nice about it otherwise it's coming for my lunch money—but it's certainly an impressive thing when you pull it out of the box and turn it on.

I dig the smooth curves of its outer shell, the blue LED ring around the front intake area, and those absolutely massive twin intake fans. And that huge glass side panel giving unfettered visual access to the insides, where the amount of space somehow makes the portly RTX 5090 this system ships with look like a regular graphics card.

Oh yes, this is the Area-51 given the full Alienware beans. So, the review system I have next to me is pretty much top-of-the-line across the board. On the one hand, ooh, this is the fastest gaming PC I've had on the test bench, on the other it's so hard to get anything that isn't the absolute top spec out of the company for testing. And I don't have the deep pockets to drop a couple grand on a mid-range version to see how that might turn out by comparison.

Still, this is a fitting spec for such a monstrous PC; there's the RTX 5090 for a start, working cheek-by-jowl with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and 64 GB dual-channel DDR5-6400, with a 2 TB PCIe 5.0 Sk Hynix SSD doing the storage dance for you. And… er… yeah, the price. There's none of Razer's moment of clarity on its own slightly destructive laptop pricing; Alienware is still wearing its premium branding like some sort of armour against any consideration of sensible pricing.

This is a $5,300 gaming PC.

With the RTX 5090 itself costing around the $3,000 mark at the moment—though with deals that is starting to edge downwards again—that makes it maybe an understandable, if not at all acceptable price for most of us PC gamers.

Worth noting also that Corsair's Vengeance PCs, systems generally also labouring under high price premiums, are sitting well over the $5K price point for RTX 5090 machines, too. Feels slightly ludicrous for that to make the Alienware price par for the course, but here we are. And hey, with a PC of this size, you are at least getting a tremendous sense of value.

It does at least perform like a $5,000 gaming PC. This thing is lightning quick, from its PCIe 5.0 SSD cold boot time, to the pace at which it can chew through games. The only misstep is in Baldur's Gate 3 where you can see what benefit you can get from having a Ryzen 3D V-Cache CPU inside your rig instead of being restricted to an Intel Arrow Lake chip. Otherwise it's plain sailing for the Area-51 in anything you throw at it.

With all our PC testing carried out at 1440p, the Area-51 is top of the class in terms of any prebuilt PC that we've looked at in recent times. And, well, ever. The only other machine we've seen that can beat it is a system we put together for a previous feature which packed an RTX 5090 inside a case with a Ryzen 9 9950X—and even then they trade blows.

You could maybe go faster with a Ryzen 3D V-Cache chip, such as the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, especially in Baldur's Gate 3, but this machine is about as fast a gaming PC as you can get in Intel trim. It's not just in gaming terms that the Area-51 can top the class, either, because that Intel Core Ultra 9 can also deliver when it comes to heavily multi-threaded workloads, too. And, even if I'm not sold on the config, the cooling does a great job of taming the CPU's heat demands.

Something else I've been really impressed with are the noise levels. Stick it in Performance mode and it will push both the CPU and GPU to their fullest, and during heavy operation you will certainly hear those fans spinning up. But, drop it to the Balanced mode in the Alienware Command Center (ACC) app and it will dial back the CPU while keeping the graphics core running hard.

With the CPU and its cooler being the hottest and loudest component pairing, that means you get a quiet system without compromising on gaming performance, and that is a bit of a win, for sure. The little bit of configuration nuance allowed by the Alienware Command Center software means you're getting a system that is actually pre-tuned in a way many other prebuilt PCs might not be out of the box. With something like Corsair's Vengeance machines not shipping with an iCUE configuration, that makes the ACC app a welcome little bit of bloat on the otherwise clean OS install.

But this is Alienware, so we have the ever-thorny issue of proprietary parts. The good news here is that, essentially, the new Area-51 is harking back to the days of upgradeable Alienware machines, when once there was the option to simply use off-the-shelf parts to modify your PC down the line. All the old Auroras would let you swap out GPU, memory, and storage, but they regularly had weirdly sized and laid out motherboards that looked like they were ripped right out of some bizarre Dell corpo PC box. Because they probably were.

Now, the motherboard in the Area-51 is still pretty industrial-looking, with a million tiny chips and chokes on display, like miniature cyberpunk cityscapes, with only a few stylised heatsinks covering things up. We've become used to all that being hidden by modern mobos and their flashy shielding, not so with the Intel board inside the Alienware. But it is at least of standard ATX scale, with the same screw points as every other off-the-shelf motherboard. So, mobo upgrades are a doddle, then. A win for Alienware and one of the biggest issues we've had with its PCs dropped in one fell swoop.

Except, not quite.

The chassis itself isn't all that compatible, because there are still proprietary connections if you want to be able to do such things as change the AlienFX RGB lighting or, y'know, turn the damned thing on. To be able to connect all the front panel, case cooling, and lighting gubbins up to a third-party motherboard you'll need to pick up a $35 conversion kit, which comes with all the cables and adapters you might need.

Well, not exactly all, because the beefy 1500 W PSU this machine ships with is of the ATX12VO variety which ditches all the largely unnecessary 5 V connections and gives you a much smaller motherboard power connection. Which is great, except you're going to struggle to find another third-party motherboard that will take that connection, and there's no safe adapter on the planet that will help. So, you're going to need to pick up a new PSU, too.

How much of an issue that actually is will only be something you can answer yourself. Me? I have a tendency to do in-place platform upgrades on my PCs rather than pick up a whole new system from scratch, but I know that's not everyone. Especially not everyone who might buy a $5,000 Alienware in the first place.

The DIY market is loud, but small. And the notion of future-proofing your build, with the potential for in-place upgrades down the line, actually only caters to a vanishingly small minority of PC gamers. And I wonder how many $5,000 PCs from any manufacturer actually end up having their motherboards ripped out and replaced by the original owner even if they're entirely off-the-peg, like a Corsair Vengeance. I would wager precious few.

What I will say is the motherboard in there is relatively well appointed for an Alienware rig. There are only a pair of M.2 slots for internal storage (one PCIe 5.0 and one PCIe 4.0), but I've never seen a system with quite so many USB Type-C ports on it. There are a pair on the front panel of the machine, with another four on the back panel of the board itself. Two of the six are Thunderbolt ports, while the rest are 10 Gbps sockets. There are a further six Type-A ports, though with only one of them designated as 5 Gbps, on the rear and another two USB 3.2 Type-A 5 Gbps ports on the front panel.

And it all feels very well put together, from the super rigid bracketing keeping the RTX 5090 in place and from dragging the PCIe slot down with it, to the cable routing in the rear of the machine. There are power and data cables already tidied into place around the spare 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drive bays in case you want to jam in some ancient SATA SSDs or spinning platter storage, which is a welcome touch.

That impression somewhat changed when I started checking out the cooling. It actually cools the system impressively well—running on Performance mode, yes it gets chatty, but stays chill and in Balanced mode it's quiet but still delivers on gaming frame rates. But I'm not sure I'm into Alienware's cooling config.

In a gaming PC, good airflow is a positive thing. And when you've got a ton of fans in a rig it's important to make sure they're blowing in the right directions, which normally means not having them all blowing in the same direction. The twin 180 mm fans on the front are intake fans, pulling cool air in to help cool the system as a whole, then there are a pair of 140 mm fans set just above the PSU ostensibly to pull cool air in from the bottom to pass up and across the GPU.

Finally, there are three 120 mm fans atop the 360 mm radiator. In most modern builds, those are used to pull the hot air out from the PC, over the radiator drawing more heat from the coolant to help chill the CPU itself.

Except that's not what Alienware is doing. It's working with complete positive pressure, with every fan in the rig pointing inwards, drawing cool air in with no active exhaust.

"Our engineers conducted countless simulations with different fan orientations and determined that, for this chassis, having all fans point inward optimizes cooling and acoustics while scaling for even higher wattages than what is available today," Alienware told me when I queried the configuration. "By having all fans point inward to create positive pressure, Area-51 desktop can omit an exhaust fan and operate at low noise levels while effectively cooling the most important components (CPU and GPU)."

The company cites 45% quieter operation and 25% more airflow than previous Aurora chassis, but I did swap the fans around myself to test the difference. Mostly because I initially thought it was a mistake on the part of the PC builders, with the printing on the chassis seeming to indicate the direction of airflow out the top of the case.

In my testing I've seen the CPU running at least a couple of degrees cooler during heavy, sustained usage, and the graphics card running either the same or sometimes a little cooler, when the radiator fans are set to exhaust the hot air. I'm sure Dell has carried out a ton of thermal testing on this setup, but I'd be far happier having at least some of the fans dedicated to shifting out that hot air.

Total positive pressure means air gets heated up inside the chassis and can only escape through the gaps passively. This means hot air sticks around longer, getting hotter and insulating your components with toasty air. Of course the air can get out, but isn't going to move as quickly as if there's something actively pushing it out. With all that hot air trapped in there, it's also harder to get cool air squeezed in, so the fans have to work that bit harder.

It is a pretty cool and quiet machine anyways, I just feel it could just be a bit cooler. But then, I've not conducted countless simulations…

There's one other issue on the fan front, and that's the rear most fan above the PSU. One of them is literally above the power supply itself, and there is zero clearance between it and the fan, which renders its existence pretty much pointless. With no real possibility of pulling in cool air itself, that fan is aesthetics, pure and simple.

My concerns about the fan configuration aside, this is the most impressed I've been with an Alienware PC in a long time. In both games and creative applications it performs as well as you would expect from the components the company has jammed inside, and whatever my misgivings might be it does it all in a quiet restrained way. Well, as restrained as any PC of this scale can.

It's a scale I can dig, though, with a solid, accessible design that allows easy access to most of the parts inside. Is it the easily upgradeable Alienware we were promised? Not quite. Honestly, I can kinda forgive the $35 upgrade kit of cabling for integrating the chassis design and cooling into a future third-party motherboard replacement, but the ATX12VO PSU choice is going to make that 1500 W power supply it ships with a pain to replace if and when you do want to upgrade.

Which means I'm always going to come back to why would you want the Alienware Area-51 over an equivalently specced and equivalently priced PC from another vendor? I appreciate the tuning via the Alienware Control Center app, which means you can run a chilled system out of the box without having to tune it yourself, and I like the curvy chassis. And if it weren't for the pain of a PSU upgrade down the line I'd say it all evens out. Especially as Dell has a propensity to discount its gaming PCs on the regular; our standing advice about not paying full price for an Alienware machine remains.

What would have me pausing on the Alienware more than its potential upgrade hiccups, however, is the choice of CPU supplier. Dell has decided that its Area-51 range, at least for the moment, are entirely Intel-based. In a world where AMD is currently the top-dog in gaming chips, that would probably have me looking elsewhere if prices are the same.

So, there is still a little grit in the eye of this beholder as I gaze upon the beauty of this Area-51 gaming PC, but I could probably blink that away quite happily once I started gaming on this behemoth.

Hunting for gaming laptop deals over the past few months has been like wandering through the desert and occasionally spotting a small oasis among the dunes. RTX 4070 and RTX 4080 machines are all but gone (for reasonable prices, anyway), and the latest glut of RTX 50-series laptops have been mostly too pricey to recommend. Well, scrap that for now, because I've found tasty discounts on RTX 50-series gaming laptops up and down the stack—and they've only gotten better as Prime Day has gone one, and they're all still live as we enter the Prime Day end times.

👉Shop all the Prime Day deals on Amazon👈

Oh, that's largely because only one of my picks here is listed on Amazon, you understand. That's because all the other major retailers take this opportunity to drop their prices over the Prime Day period, which means that trusty gaming laptop-stalwart Best Buy has got the drop on most of the lappy deals early this year.

I've found a budget RTX 5060 Alienware machine (who knew such a thing existed?), an RTX 5070-equipped Asus that I've personally got my eye on, and two MSI Vector laptops with seriously powerful higher-end RTX 50-series GPUs to choose from. Oh, and an RTX 5090 laptop for a cent under three grand, would you believe.

I haven't been able to find anything under $1,000 just yet, but give it time, I reckon. Still, now's a great time to go laptop shopping, so let's take a look in my big bag 'o deals.

Quick links

1. RTX 5060 - Asus TUF F16 | $1,160 @ Best Buy
2. RTX 5070 - Asus TUF A16 | $1,350 @ Best Buy
3. RTX 5070 Ti - MSI Vector 16 HX AI | $1,625 @ Best Buy
4. RTX 5080 - MSI Vector 16 HX AI | $2,250 @ Best Buy
5. RTX 5090 - HP Omen Max 16 | $3,000 @ Amazon

Asus TUF F16

We had previously been recommending a $1,100 Alienware Aurora 16 machine in this spot, but that has since gone out of stock, and honestly I'm more than happy with the Asus TUF F16 as a replacement. Sure, it's $60 more expensive, and comes with an older generation of Intel processor, but it's the GPU I'm more concerned with.

And that's the top-end 115 W version—that's the peak power offering that you can get for the RTX 5060 graphics silicon. It's also running a 1920 x 1200 panel in this machine, rather than a 2560 x 1600 screen. Given the Alienware was sporting an 85 W GPU and a higher resolution screen, you're definitely going to get a better end gaming experience with the Asus.

That's worth the extra $60 in my humble opinion.

What's especially encouraging to see in such a budget machine is the RAM and SSD loadout, 32 GB and 1 TB respectively. I've become a little sick of writing "you might want to upgrade the XXX in future" in my laptop deal posts, but this one? It's pretty well equipped from the off.

Asus TUF A16

Mmmm, I fancy this particular laptop for myself. We're dealing with a 1200p screen again, but this time it's paired with a 115 W RTX 5070, which should have no problem making the most of that 165 Hz panel, particularly with Multi Frame Gen engaged.

Plus, we've been very impressed with the new chassis designs of Asus TUF lappys. I reckon this is a downright handsome gaming laptop, and the keyboard is even lit up red (the correct RGB setting) by default. We all know red wunz go faster, right?

The eight-core, 16-thread AMD chip on offer here is a bit beastly, too, considering the very reasonable price. You also get 32 GB of DDR5-5600, alongside a proper 1 TB SSD. In fact, other than a higher resolution panel, I'd say you want for very little here. I'll take high frame rates over high resolution any day, though, especially for $1,350.

MSI Vector 16 HX AI

Oh, we like the MSI Vector 16 HX AI. We like it a lot. It's not without its drawbacks, mind. The chassis is rather plasticky, and it can sound a bit like a jet engine when pushed to its absolute limits. Drop it down from the Maximum fan setting to Balanced, however, and it behaves itself very nicely indeed.

Our Dave had a play around with the RTX 5080-equipped model (featured below) and came away very impressed with the performance on offer for the cash. The RTX 5070 Ti version, however, should still have plenty of guts, and for $1,625 makes for a potent gaming machine.

This is the cheapest RTX 5070 Ti laptop I've seen so far by a country mile—and while its panel is once again a 1200p unit, it's decently quick at 144 Hz. I'd say this is a pretty overpowered machine for that resolution, which is a good thing if you ask me. It's going to be very unlikely to struggle pushing pixels at that res for quite a long time, so there's a good dose of peace of mind on offer here.

Once you upgrade the SSD, of course. 512 GB? Really, MSI? Still, it'll get you started at least.

MSI Vector 16 HX AI... again

Now we're into serious performance territory. As mentioned above, my beloved hardware editor-in-chief took a long, hard look at this exact specification of MSI Vector 16 HX AI, and called it good. That's a man who's tested more laptops than you've had lukewarm lunches, so I'd take that as high praise indeed.

I had a brief play around with this particular machine myself, and while the chassis is unimpressive, the rest of the laptop is pretty stellar for the cash. You get the 175 W variant of the RTX 5080, which gave our benchmark sheets a bit of a shake-up when slotted into the Vector. It's a rip-roarer of a mobile gaming GPU and one that shouldn't have much issue with the 1600p panel on offer here.

Speaking of panels, a 240 Hz refresh rate is a lovely thing once you've got Multi Frame Generation at your fingertips. Oh, and the CPU is a high-spec 24 core (eight Performance, 16 Efficient) Intel unit, too, so it's not like this lappy is lacking in the component department.

Yep, this machine represents a hefty chunk of performance for $2,300. Like the RTX 5070 Ti version above, though, be prepared for the fans to get offensively loud without some software tweaking.

HP Omen Max 16

And for my final trick... yep, it's an RTX 5090 gaming laptop for $3,000. Now, before you go thinking I've stuck pencils up my nostrils and headed for the hills, I know this is a massive amount of money. And I know that the RTX 5090 inside this particular laptop is unlikely to be all that much faster than the RTX 5080 in the MSI Vector above.

That being said, this is the first time I've seen the price of an RTX 5090 machine (technically) start with a two, so I reckon it's worth pointing out here. You get a speedy 240 Hz 1600p display, 32 GB of RAM, a mega Intel CPU, and the knowledge that none of your buddies will have one. Probably.

I've had the opportunity to test this machine recently and it delivers the absolute highest gaming performance that we've seen from any RTX 50-series gaming laptop so far. The larger chassis means that, compared to the svelte RTX 5090-toting RTX Blade 16, the HP Omen Max 16 is noticeably quicker.

That's really the main reason to buy an RTX 5090-equipped laptop, anyway: bragging rights. Still, should you be looking for one that's less than the rest, this is the most well-priced Nvidia mega-GPU machine I've found to date. It's all glowy and pretty, too. What, like image doesn't matter? Give me a break.

👉All of Best Buy's gaming laptop deals are right here👈

I must be getting old. Alienware, to my mind at least, are known for two things. One, making some excellent gaming gear, and two, often pricing said gaming gear so high that it's difficult to recommend in the face of cheaper alternatives. But knock me down with a feather, because the cheapest RTX 50-series gaming laptop we can find this Prime Day is this Alienware RTX 5060 machine for $1,100, and it's causing a bit of a stir.

👉Shop all the Prime Day deals on Amazon👈

Let's have a closer look at the specs, then, and see if we can figure out why this particular Alienware lappy is so reasonably priced. Well, for a start, it's got the 85 W version of the RTX 5060, which is going to be down on power compared to some of its more high-wattage competition.

And it's also got a 1600p display. Now, while that might sound grand on paper, it's worth mentioning that the mobile RTX 5060 (particularly a low-wattage variant) is likely to struggle to push lots of pixels at such a resolution in demanding games, at least at native.

That being said, we now live in a world of DLSS 4 upscaling and Multi Frame Generation, two things all RTX 50-series GPUs support that can boost frame rates massively. We've seen a lot of interest around this particular lappy on our best Amazon Prime Day gaming laptop deals page, so is this a sign that MFG's AI-boosted frame rates are beginning to sway buyers into considering more budget machines?

Certainly, it's going to be required to get the most out of this laptop. Not that that's a bad thing. For what it's worth, I don't buy into the "fake frames, boo" narrative that seems to be pervasive in certain parts of the community at the moment. DLSS and AI frame generation work well, for the most part, although latency does become an issue when you're this far down the stack. It's something to be aware of with RTX 5060 machines, at least.

Or, is it the idea of owning an Alienware machine for budget prices that's captivating interest? Or perhaps it's as simple as gaming laptops are expensive in general at the moment, and times are economically hard, and gamers are simply looking to buy the cheapest decent gaming laptop they can get their hands on, whatever the brand?

Regardless, I have nothing against this particular machine. It's a good deal, no doubt, and the rest of the specs sheet looks excellent. You get a 10-core, 16-thread Intel CPU, 32 GB of RAM (a blessed relief, as most budget gaming laptops make do with 16 GB) and a 1 TB SSD. All as it should be.

But I keep staring at that xeno logo, and marvelling at how the times have changed. Alienware might not be associated with budget gaming hardware just yet, but a few more deals like this on reasonably-specced machines, and who knows? Stranger things have happened in this topsy-turvy world, after all.

👉You can find all of Best Buy's gaming laptop deals right here👈

Alienware is on a bit of a roll this Prime Day, with some pretty spectacular discounts on a variety of hardware, like this surprisingly cheap RTX 5060 gaming laptop. That being said, I've been working my way through every Alienware deal I can find to pull out the very best—and it's the monitor deals that have impressed me most so far.

👉Shop ALL the Prime Day deals on Amazon👈

I've narrowed down my picks to these three beauties, excellent gaming monitors all. And the best thing is, these aren't just great prices for Alienware models—they're great prices compared to most monitor deals you can currently find. From a 27-inch 180 Hz IPS to a 34-inch ultrawide OLED we can't recommend highly enough, each of these displays would happily grace my desk in a heartbeat. Let's get going, shall we?

Quick links

• Alienware 27-inch AW2725DM | $200 @ Dell
• Alienware 34-inch AW3425DWM | $310 @ Amazon
• Alienware 34-inch QD-OLED AW34DWF | $550 at Amazon

Alienware 27-inch AW2725DM

If you're looking for an upgrade to a tired old gaming monitor that's starting to fall behind the pack, or are putting together a gaming setup on a budget without wanting to dip into the murky waters of questionably-branded displays, this $200 27-inch IPS monitor is for you.

I'm a big fan of IPS tech, not just for gaming but for productivity, too. While the black levels are going to be the slight drawback here, everything else should be pin-sharp on a 27-inch 1440p IPS display, and the color reproduction should be great, too.

Plus, it's G-Sync supported, which is good news for those of you running Nvidia graphics cards. It's also got FreeSync support, two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort 1.4, and various USB ports for upstream and downstream good times. And it comes with a plethora of cables, so it'd make a great starter package for those dipping their toes into the wonderful world of PC gaming.

Alienware 34-inch AW3425DWM

There are plenty of great ultrawide gaming monitors on the market, but Alienware knows a thing or two about making a good one. Sure, this isn't your fancy OLED or IPS, but a 34-inch VA panel with a 180 Hz refresh rate is a lovely thing to game on, and this display will be no exception. And for $310 at Amazon? Yep, it's well-priced, too.

The 1500R curve should make you feel encompassed in your games, and the ultrawide format works brilliantly for productivity. I use a similarly-specced 34-inch ultrawide in the office, and being able to stick two windows side-by-side without crushing the aspect ratio really does make a big difference to getting some work done.

But screw it, we're PC Gamer and we're here to talk about games. I reckon this'd make a great pick for shooter fans thanks to that ultrawide format, or a superb display for some sim racing or flight sim immersion. Or really, almost any genre of game at this point. Ultrawide support is much better than it used to be, and this display gets you on the wagon for a very reasonable sum.

Alienware 34-inch OLED AW3423DWF

Ah, a stone-cold classic. Here's your opener—our very own resident monitor expert, Jeremy, gave this OLED ultrawide display a score of 95% in his review.

This is a man with more monitor knowledge than anyone I've ever met. Jeremy can tell you the model number of a panel by viewing it from across a crowded room, so when he breaks out the mid-90 score, everyone pays attention.

So, what makes this display so utterly stunning? Well, beyond the superb panel, it's got a glossy coating that elevates this monitor from brilliant to exceptional. We were big fans of the matte-coated version, but put a gloss coating on it and suddenly the colors pop out of the screen like they've been given an extra dose of caffeine in their morning coffee.

And vibrant colors are what OLED does best. Oh, and practically infinite black levels. Oh, and astonishingly fast GTG responses. It's the best monitor tech you can buy right now, and the fact you can pick up one of the best OLED ultrawides we've ever tested for $550 is... pretty darn great, let me tell you.

Alienware makes some brilliant gaming monitors, and now it's even selling them for reasonable prices. And this one? It's not just reasonable, I'd say it's one of the smartest purchases you could make this Prime Day.

👉View all of Dell's gaming monitor discounts right here👈

👉Shop all of Amazon's gaming monitor deals here👈

Way back in 2023 when I first reviewed the Alienware AW3423DWF, I gave it five stars and said it was my new favourite among all OLED gaming monitors. The problem was price. It was $1,100. Ouch.

Time heals all wounds and here we are today, talking about the same monitor for half the price. Yup, it's $550 on Amazon for Prime Day, and this deal has been sticking around all week. Nice. Of course, OLED panel tech has moved on in the interim. But not by that much.

👉Shop all the early Prime Day deals on Amazon👈

The Alienware AW3423DWF had the advantage of sporting Samsung's first-gen QD-OLED panel tech, which had decent full-screen brightness from the get go. It also had a glossy screen coating, which really let that per-pixel OLED lighting sing.

In practice, the gap between this monitor and Alienware's latest 34-inch ultrawide, which I also reviewed recently, is puny. It's really only the 240 Hz referesh of the new panel where there's a noticable advantage. But 165 hz is plenty for most types of gaming.

And, actually, I far prefer the styling of this OG model to Alienware's new "AW30" aesthetic on the AW3425DW. To my eye, the new model has a slightly dated '90s vibe.

Anywho, at $550 from Amazon, ultrawide OLED gaming is now far more accessible than ever before. In fact, it's about the same price as a conventional LCD-based high-refresh ultrawide panel would have been a couple of years ago. And that's a very good thing indeed.

👉All of Amazon's monitor deals are right here👈

Up front disclosure: I'm a sucker for 34-inch ultrawide monitors, I reckon they're still the sweetspot for sensible-money gaming. With that in mind, you'd think Alienware's newly updated 34-inch ultrawide OLED monitor, the Alienware 34 AW3425DW, is odds on for a very high score.

After all, we loved the OG Alienware 34-inch ultrawide, the Alienware 34 AW3423DW. Its lower priced sibling, the Alienware 34 AW3423DWF, was even better thanks to a glossy panel coating. The new AW3425DW takes things up a notch with an upgrade to 240 Hz from the 175 Hz and 165 Hz of its predecessors while maintaining essentially the same $800 price as the old "F" model (it's actually available for $770 on Dell's website as I tap out these words). What's not to like?

As it turns out, this new Alienware is a little harder to love than its progenitors. Partly, that's because it's actually a bit too familiar, based as it is on the same first-gen Samsung QD-OLED tech as the older AW3423DW that launched over three years ago.

So, it has essentially the same performance characteristics, save for the elevated refresh rate. It even has the same 1800R panel curvature and, thankfully, the same glossy panel coating as the old "F" model. By many measures, that's all good. The 0.03ms pixel response hardly needed improving, ditto the per-pixel lighting control of all OLED monitors. It's so much better than any LCD monitor in that regard, even one with the most advanced local dimming hardware.

Equally, however, there's no improvement to full-screen or peak HDR brightness. The latter is arguably plenty punchy enough at 1,000 nits. But the full-screen brightness of 250 nits is more adequate than excellent, especially in the knowledge of new OLED panel tech from both Samsung and LG that promises to bump that up to the 350 to 400 nit range in the near future.

The carry-over panel tech also means that the various issues remain. For starters, it has the same sub-optimal subpixel structure which means fonts suffer from a little fringing and lack of clarity. Then there's the usual QD-OLED issue with ambient light.

As with all other QD-OLED panels from Samsung, and particularly with regard to models with glossy panel coatings like this one, there's a tendency to look a bit purplish and grey in strong ambient light. If you're only ever going to use this thing in a room with limited ambient light, it's not a problem. But if your desk is near a large window, for instance, the result can be compromised black levels and contrast.

The "QD" bit of the QD-OLED tech, specifically the quantum dots, probably also contribute to the familiar overly warm colour temperature of all these panels. When we first experienced QD-OLED gaming monitors, such minor flaws were easy to overlook in return for incredible response and HDR performance. But three years later, expectations are inevitably higher.

The broader feature set is similar, too. You get DisplayPort and HDMI inputs, for instance, but no USB-C. There's is USB-C on the lower bezel, along with USB-A. But that's part of the USB hub for peripherals. It's not a display input, so there's no single-cable option for laptops.

So, what exactly has changed, apart from the refresh rate bump? Most obvious is the physical design. Alienware has applied the same AW30 aesthetic as the Alienware 27 AW2725Q I reviewed back in March.

Implemented to celebrate 30 years of Alienware hardware, it's said to be inspired by extra-terrestrial phenomena and the Aurora Borealis. and ditches the black and white plastics used for previous Alienware monitors in favour of a dark blue hue known as "Interstellar Indigo".

When I reviewed the 27-inch 16:9 aspect AW2725Q, I said, "the curved, organic shapes of the rear of the chassis and also the stand and base are definitely a departure for Alienware and give it a slightly dated '90s vibe." That applies just as much to this ultrawide model. It's a subjective call, obviously, but I prefer the old look.

In terms of the actual viewing experience, for the most part you'd struggle to distinguish it from the Alienware 34 AW3423DWF (the original AW3423DW is a little different thanks to its matte screen coating). For sure, the smoothness is slightly improved by the 240 Hz refresh (provided you have a decent GPU that can push out frames fast enough). But the overly warm colour temperature is immediately apparent, too.

Of course, so is the general vibrancy. This is a pretty punchy monitor, despite the relatively modest full-screen brightness capability. QD-OLED colours really zing. Alienware has implemented a ABL or automatic brightness limiter in SDR mode which means the brightness remains constant and doesn't, for instance, dip when you open a large, white application window.

SDR content is actually a little brighter in HDR mode, but some brightness variability is visible, albeit only just. Fortunately, it's not terribly distracting. In terms of HDR in games, the peaks are pretty stellar.

Let's say you're playing an indoor game scene. Highlights like light sources or explosions really pop against the dark background, especially in HDR 1000 mode. No LCD monitor comes close. The catch is that the HDR 1000 mode is noticeably dimmer for brighter outdoor game scenes compared to the DisplayHDR 400 mode, which gives more outdoor pop while slightly capping that peak HDR sizzle. Long story short, there's no single ideal HDR mode, which is a little frustrating.

More generally, I'm a little less convinced by this overall form factor when applied to OLED gaming that I once was. Most of all, the modest 3,440 by 1,440 resolution on a 34-inch panel means that the pixel density isn't great, especially not now that 4K OLEDs can be had in 27-inch and 32-inch form factors.

The impact of that goes beyond just text rendering. The in-game visuals lack detail and sharpness compared to the 4K alternative. What's more, upscaling technologies like Nvidia's DLSS don't work as well when mapping to a relatively low resolution like this.

Upscaling in quality mode on a 4K or 3,840 by 2,160 resolution panel generally means a base resolution of 2,560 by 1,440, which is comparable to this monitor's native res. For this Alienware, the base resolution will be well below that, even in quality mode and it shows. Of course, the lower resolution makes it much easier to run native on this panel and get frame rates comparable to quality upscaling on a 4K monitor, but you're not getting comparable image detail.

Anyway, the overall upshot is that I felt the impact of the mere 1440p-class resolution even more with this new Alienware 34 AW3425DW than its predecessors. I prefer the 34-inch ultrawide form factor offered here, but I also want the superior pixel density of the 4K alternatives.

To put it another way, where I used to think the modest pixel density was problematic on the desktop but fine for gaming, I'm now beginning to feel it in games, too, thanks to the unflattering comparison with the stunning detail offered by 4K OLEDs. Now I've had that crispy 4K OLED experience, I can't unsee it. So, yep, I've gone from being very pro 34-inch ultrawides to slightly less convinced.

As I understand it, LG and Samsung have 34-inch 5K2K ultrawide OLED panels in the works, which will have the same pixel density as a 27-inch 4K monitor. In the meantime, all 34-inch ultrawide OLED gaming monitors have the same 3,440 by 1,440 resolution as the OG Alienware offered back in 2022.

Still, if you are generally sold on the prospect of a 34-inch 1440p OLED monitor this Alienware is plenty appealing. It may be first-gen QD-OLED tech, but it's still spectacular. I just think it's a slightly hard sell when you can get a 32-inch 240 Hz 4K model for similar money, or even cheaper if you forgo a few Hz.

All of which means, if the whole 1440p versus 4K thing doesn't resonate with you, fair enough, here's the bottom line: This is a minor update to a really good OLED monitor. You get higher refresh for essentially the same price. The catch is that the market has moved on in the last few years and that means the Alienware 34 AW3425DW is decent value, but it's not a stellar deal right now.

A possible Arm-based Nvidia APU, created in collaboration with MediaTek has been on our radar for quite a while now. Its existence was previously all but confirmed, but we hadn't seen any sign of what could be a production or close-to-production version in the wild. Until now, that is, as we have our first seemingly close to production benchmark of an Nvidia Arm processor.

The Geekbench entry (via X user Olrak29_ and VideoCardz) shows an Nvidia N1X processor with a 20-thread Arm CPU and base clock of 2.81 GHz running in a HP system with the Ubuntu Linux distro as its OS. It achieves 3,096 single-core and 18,837 multi-core scores in Geekbench. (There's since been another listing that I spotted with slightly lower scores.)

This is a much more reasonable score than we saw in previous N1X Geekbench results, which was presumably a very early engineering sample. These latest results hint at much more mature engineering samples, possibly even ones that are close to production, as the scores are similar to laptop and desktop processors. You can see a Razer Blade 16 with Intel Core i9-14900HX, for instance, achieving slightly less than the N1X here within Windows 11.

Arm chips don't usually have simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) so it's reasonable to assume that this is a 20-core chip. This would be in-line with what we previously thought, because Nvidia had hinted that the GB10 chip in DGX Spark would be brought to end-users, and the GB10 has 20 Arm cores. This previous hint wasn't perfectly clear, but this Geekbench result is: It looks like the Nvidia chip will be using Arm-designed cores rather than Nvidia-designed custom Arm cores.

If it ends up being practically identical to DGX Spark then we might expect RTX 5070-level performance since that's what's on offer with the Blackwell GPU there, too. Which would corroborate the longstanding rumour that the Nvidia Arm chip will offer RTX 4070 mobile performance—in fact, it would offer more than this. Though there isn't any guarantee that it would ship in its full-fat DGX Spark config—it could get cut down to size for cheaper and more power efficient versions.

The system configuration running here for Geekbench apparently has 120 GB of memory, which is much more than we'd see in a gaming laptop of course. But given DGX Spark is a mini AI supercomputer, it might be that Nvidia is planning on bringing N1X to home systems for AI development first. This wouldn't rule out Nvidia also bringing it to market in the form of gaming laptops, though.

It's this latter prospect that excites us, of course. It's one that isn't entirely spun out of thin air, as we've heard consistent rumour that an Alienware laptop will sport the all-Nvidia silicon at the end of 2025 or the start of 2026.

Although this Geekbench result is running a Linux OS, if and when the Nvidia N1X comes to market in consumer gaming laptops, we'd expect it to be running Windows, which means running Windows on Arm.

I recently spoke to Arm's client lead and he implied that the future of PC gaming on Windows on Arm depends on game developers baking in native Arm support. The incentive for game devs to do that, however, is at present questionable.

But one of the most exciting things about Nvidia N1X is that if and when such chips start rolling out with Windows on Arm for gaming, that could change. Nvidia might be able to help to get game devs to bridge that gap. Hey, I never said I was immune to wishful thinking.

Dell have come out swinging for memorial sales with tonnes of Alienware gamer targeted product on sale for the event. These laptops and PCs have a bit of a reputation for being overpriced so a sales day is the perfect time to give this kit a closer look. With deals offering up to $800 in savings from the MSRP, Alienware prices are almost looking down-to-Earth.

There are a fair few non-gamer specific related deals on the website too, but I've chosen to highlight some of the best PC gamer specific deals I've seen crop up. These include some pretty powerful laptops and desktop machines, so get your wallets ready if you're after a new rig for your gaming needs.

Quick links

• Alienware x16 R2 Intel Ultra 9, 4060 Gaming Laptop | $2,145 at Dell
• Alienware 18 Area-51, Intel Ultra 9, RTX5090 Gaming Laptop| $3750 at Dell
• Alienware Aurora, Ultra 9, RTX4060 Gaming Desktop | $1,700 at Dell
• Alienware Area-51, Ultra 9, RTX5090 Gaming Desktop | $4900 at Dell

Alienware x16 R2 Intel Ultra 9, 4060 Gaming Laptop

There's a whole range of Alienware x16 R2 laptops going for quite a good sale, but unfortunately at time of writing most of the beefiest models are sold out. Instead we'll have to settle for this Intel Ultra 9, RTX4060 gaming laptop coming in at $400 less than the usual MSRP.

Ordering through the Dell website is always a customisation affair, so you can make changes for whatever's instock but be warned, your price may go up. It's a good idea to check at the end to see if you're still getting a discount before you go ahead and make the purchase.

• Check out our pick of the best Memorial Day PC gaming deals right here

Alienware 18 Area-51, Intel Ultra 9, RTX5090 Gaming Laptop

I heard all the groans from here when I mentioned the previous RTX 4060 build so I wanted to throw this one in for the heavyweight die hards. This massive beast is an 18 inch laptop with a QHD 300 Hz screen and the insides to make it run. It's not often we come across machines packing RTX 5090's on sale, but even with the $400 discount it's no where near cheap.

You do get what you pay for here though rocking the Ultra 9 CPU as well as 64 GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD. This configeration also features the upgraded keyboard with Cherry ultra low profile MX switchess. Truly this one looks like a really hefty gaming machine.

Alienware Aurora, Ultra 9, RTX4060 Gaming Desktop

Getting your hands on the parts to build a PC at the moment can be one of the more difficult challenges in life. Prebuilds may be your only option, and it's always better to pick them up on sale to try to absorb some of the extra cost. This one from Dell is one of the cheaper gaming specific PCs on offer with the RTX4060 as its baseline model or you can upgrade to a Ti for an extra $100.

It also comes with 32GB of upgradable RAM, and this configeration holds a 2TB SSD, but if you want to drop an extra $1,000 this can go all the way up to 8TB.

Alienware Area-51, Ultra 9, RTX5090 Gaming Desktop

Ok so I can't in any right mind claim that nearly $5,000 for a gaming machine is a good deal, but at around $600 off MSRP it is still a deal, at least. Most of the higher powered machines Dell is offering in the Memorial day sales have already sold out, so this may be one of your last chances to grab an Alienware packing an RTX5090 before tariffs come in and make these beasts even more expensive.

The base model here packs 32GB of RAM in with a 2TB SSD but of course all of this is upgradable so long as you're willing to pay the price. It also comes in a neat looking liquid cooled case so at least you're going to get a nice looking machine for your hard earned money.