Review: Alienware 16X Aurora

Price is an all-important factor when it comes to finding the right budget gaming laptop. By definition, you’re also trying to get as much performance as you can out of the device. If that's what you're seeking, then the Alienware 16X Aurora probably isn’t right for you. You can get performance at least this good in laptops hundreds of dollars cheaper, including within the Alienware lineup.

It’s not the absolute best value in terms of performance, but the Alienware 16X Aurora still ends up being one of the best overall gaming laptops, thanks to its excellent display, solid touchpad and keyboard, and decent battery life.

Alienware, Through and Through

Photograph: Luke Larsen

Alienware has reinvented its gaming laptops several times over the past five years—often plagued by numerous starts and stops. In this latest lineup, the midrange Alienware 16X Aurora sits above the Alienware 16 Aurora and below the Alienware 16 Area-51. I like the new design, which features rounded corners and soft edges in its Interstellar Indigo color. There isn’t even a lot of RGB lighting here, especially with the single-zone backlighting in the keyboard—which I don't necessarily mind. It’s a distinctive look without being overly flashy. There are still a couple of oddities, though.

The lid is unusually thick. That’s not a problem—it’s just a bit strange-looking and means you definitely can't open it with one finger. Combined with the very thick, plastic bezels, it doesn’t give off a very premium vibe either. There’s a reason for those bezels, though, which is to leave enough room below the keyboard for palm rests that are large enough. This was a problem in previous generations of Alienware laptops, due to the keyboard's lower placement. In exchange, there is an oversized intake vent to improve cooling and keep the keyboard away from the hot components. However, I’m not sure that the cooling is any better than that of other gaming laptops I’ve tested, and the trade-off in terms of touchpad and bezel size is a questionable compromise.

Photograph: Luke Larsen

This is also not a laptop to compare to the thin-and-light laptops such as the Razer Blade 16 or Asus ROG Zephyrus G16. It’s fairly chunky, weighing 5.76 pounds and measuring 0.92 inches in the rear. It slopes toward a thinner 0.76 inches in the front, but it’s a thick laptop, no matter how you slice it. It’s even thicker than older Alienware laptops, such as the Alienware X16, although it’s more or less in line with the most recent Alienware M16 R2 from 2024.

One design element Alienware has pioneered (and kept around) is the placement of the ports. Most of them are located in the rear, including the power jack, HDMI 2.1, one Thunderbolt 4 port, one USB-C port with power delivery (10 Gbps), and a USB-A port (5 Gbps). They’re all there, even without the enlarged thermal shelf that Alienware used in laptops like the Alienware m16. You can connect two 4K monitors at a 120-Hz refresh rate by using the HDMI port and Thunderbolt 4 port, though you’ll want to prioritize gaming over HDMI because it supports G-Sync. On the left side of the laptop, you’ll find the headphone jack, an additional USB-A (5 Gbps) port, and the Ethernet jack. The only thing missing is an SD card slot and a Thunderbolt 5 port, which Alienware reserves for its high-end Alienware 18 Area-51 configurations.

Bright, Fast, Colorful

You may be wondering what justifies the extra cost of the Alienware 16X Aurora over some of its competitors. If there’s one major premium aspect of the Alienware 16X Aurora, it’s the display. No, it’s not OLED or Mini-LED, like the Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 10, which is something that Alienware continues to avoid. That means HDR is off the table.

But the Alienware 16X Aurora has an excellent IPS display with a 2500 x 1600 resolution and a 240-Hz refresh rate. While you can’t expect to achieve frame rates over 200 frames per second (fps) at that native resolution, being able to use it at 1200p can certainly come in handy.

Photograph: Luke Larsen

It’s the image quality where this display really stands out, though. Color performance is fantastic, covering 88 percent of the AdobeRGB color space, as well as 100 percent of sRGB. Color accuracy is great, too. Perhaps my favorite thing about the screen is that it maxes out at 557 nits of brightness. That amount of brightness is fairly unusual in gaming laptops, especially at this price.

Most cheap laptops (or even mid-tier gaming laptops) assume most people would use a mouse, so their touchpads are an afterthought. But the touchpad is another major upside to the Alienware 16X Aurora. The click is quiet, and the tracking feels smooth. Alienware didn’t skimp on the quality, which I appreciate. The keyboard is also good, though I find the keys a bit mushy. I also wish it used full-size arrow keys.

Unfortunately, the speakers and webcam don’t fare as well as the display and touchpad. The 1080p webcam will get the job done when you need it, but won’t flatter you in video calls and struggles in less-than-ideal lighting situations. The speakers are tinny and lacking in bass, too. I wouldn’t use these unless they were my last resort.

At the Right Price

Photograph: Luke Larsen

I tested the RTX 5060 model, which came with 16 GB of RAM and a terabyte of storage. It's important to note that this version of the RTX 5060 gets the full 115 watts of power. You have to be careful, as some cheap gaming laptops use the RTX 5060 with just 85 watts of power, such as the Gigabyte Aero X16.

But with the 115-watt RTX 5060 in the Alienware 16X Aurora, you can expect to play most games at smooth frame rates in standard 1920 x 1200 resolution. Outside of very light games, you can play AAA games at native resolution at high settings, but it will likely require some upscaling to get it to more enjoyable frame rates. For example, in Cyberpunk 2077, you’ll need to drop the resolution to 1200p and graphics preset to High to average a smooth 82 fps. Turning on DLSS to Balanced will bump that up to 107 fps.

Marvel Rivals is a game where the strong CPU performance of the Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX comes in handy over cheaper gaming laptops. Compared to the Lenovo LOQ 15 with the same GPU, the Alienware 16X Aurora was averaging around 5 percent faster frame rates in 1200p at Medium settings. That’s interesting, as the LOQ 15 outperforms the Alienware 16X Aurora in benchmarks like 3DMark Steel Nomad.

I did notice that the surface temperatures on the Alienware 16X Aurora got quite warm. I understand that some uncomfortable warmth is inevitable at a certain point, especially during long gaming sessions, but the 16X Aurora stayed warm for longer than I wished it did. It never got so hot that it was unbearable, but the warmth tends to linger long after the game was closed and the fans stopped.

My time with the 16X Aurora made me wonder if the RTX 5070 version might also be a solid buy. (I haven't tested it.) Currently on sale for $1,650 with 32 GB of RAM and a terabyte of storage, it's quite an upgrade for $200 more than my RTX 5060 test unit. If the higher-quality display isn’t as big a deal to you, the base Alienware 16 Aurora with the RTX 5060 is $200 cheaper than the 16X, and likely performs just as well. Interestingly, it still comes with a higher resolution 2560 x 1600 display, though the refresh rate is lower, and the screen isn't as bright. Without testing it, though, I can't comment on things like the touchpad quality or the display's color performance.

There are cheaper ways to get RTX 5060–level performance, but there are also more expensive options, like the Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 10, which has an OLED screen but is currently $150 more. With the Alienware 16X Aurora’s impressive display, high-quality touchpad, and decent battery life, there are just enough good things here to make it worthwhile, especially at discounted prices. When I received my review unit, the configuration I tested was $1,450, and within a few weeks it's now $1,550, while the configuration with more memory has been reduced to $1,300. Dell's prices will fluctuate constantly, but it always seems to have a solid discount on one of the configurations.