Alienware is taking on Razer and Asus with its new ultra slim 'covert' gaming laptop tease

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.

Best gaming laptop 2025

1. Best overall:
Razer Blade 16 (2025)

2. Best budget:
Lenovo LOQ 15 Gen 10

3. Best 14-inch:
Razer Blade 14 (2025)

4. Best mid-range:
MSI Vector 16 HX AI

5. Best high-performance:
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10

6. Best 18-inch:
Alienware 18 Area-51

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