The Alienware 16 Area-51 is one of the cheapest RTX 5080 gaming laptops — and it’s near-perfect

I wouldn’t call any RTX 50-series gaming laptop cheap, but Alienware, of all brands, comes knocking with its flagship Area-51 at an alluring price point for all of its premium qualities.

For a whopping $3,249 (yes, that’s competitive in this market [insert cry GIF here]), the Alienware 16 Area-51 packs a punch with its Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080, supported by a bright 16-inch display, a punchy mechanical keyboard, and solid audio.

While its flaws are limited, they’re still flaws. The battery life could be better, the display could be OLED, and the touchpad isn’t tall enough. However, its pros make a strong case for the Alienware 16 Area-51 as one of the best gaming laptops, and it looks like a straight-up spaceship. But let’s see if it’s right for you.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080): Specs and benchmarks

Alienware 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080): Price and configurations

Forget about a new car; you need that down payment for the Alienware 16 Area-51. The model we reviewed costs $3,249 and is outfitted with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GPU, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, a 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz, LED display, and CherryMX mechanical keyboard.

You can start at $2,849, dropping to an RTX 5070 Ti, upgrading to a 2TB SSD, and ditching the mechanical keyboard. However, I don’t recommend this model. If you’re already paying close to $3K, you might as well get the better-performing RTX 5080.

There’s also the RTX 5090 model, which costs $3,649. It also comes with 64GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD.

The biggest issue I have with the configurations is that there are no display options outside of upgrading the webcam (which costs the same price between them, so you should get the 4K model). It would have been nice to see an OLED variant, especially since the color in this LED panel is lacking (but I’ll delve into that more later).

Overall, the Alienware 16 Area-51 is expensive, but surprisingly, it’s more affordable than other RTX 50 series gaming laptops we’ve seen on the market.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080): Design

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I am in love with this design. It’s been said before, even I have said it, but damn does this thing look like it’s about to blast the thrusters and head to outer space. From the curved edges to the sci-fi-esque vents, the Alienware 16 Area-51 stays true to its namesake.

I’ll admit, however, I’m not a fan of the Liquid Teal color; it just doesn’t look nice. I would’ve preferred white or another lighter color. Despite that, the black on the hinge contrasts quite well with it, and opening up the lid activates the RGB light bar embedded within the hinge, producing an aurora-esque diffused light. It looks pretty sick. (The Alienware logo lights up, too.)

The interior gives off a similar vibe thanks to the numerous vents surrounding the keyboard, not to mention the RGB lighting in the keyboard, touchpad, and fans at the top of the deck. It’s straight up Christmas in here. The bezels on the display are relatively thin, with the webcam on top, but I’m disappointed that there isn’t a privacy shutter.

Another slick design feature is the underside — it features a glass window into the internals with the RGB-lit fans.

Despite the Alienware 16 Area-51 resembling a spaceship, it’s tough to call it portable at 7.13 pounds and 14.37 x 11.41 x 0.85~1.12 inches. Here’s how it compares:

• HP Omen Max 16: 5.92 pounds, 14.04 x 10.59 x 0.9~0.98 inches
• Razer Blade 16 (2025): 4.6 pounds, 13.98 x 9.86 x 0.59~0.69 inches
• Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): 5.5 pounds, 14.05 x 10 x 0.91~1.18 inches

Alienware 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080): Ports

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To maintain its spaceship aesthetic, most of the ports on the Alienware 16 Area-51 are located on the back, with the exception of the SD card slot and headphone jack on the left. Overall, you should have everything you need here.

• 2x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
• 1x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
• 2x Thunderbolt 5 ports (for configurations with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and above)
• 1x HDMI 2.1
• 1x SD-card slot
• 1x 3.5mm headphone jack

If you really need more ports, check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080): Battery life

I didn’t expect the Alienware 16 Area-51 to offer great battery life, considering how much of a chunky monkey it is, but I’m still a bit disappointed.

On the Laptop Mag battery test, which sets the laptop to continuously surf the web over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the Alienware 16 Area-51 lasted 4 hours and 10 minutes. That’s not bad per se, but the Aorus Master lasted a whole hour longer, and the Razer Blade lasted over three hours longer.

There’s a similar trend on the PCMark 10 Gaming battery life test, where the Area-51 lasted 1 hour and 50 minutes, while the Razer Blade and Aorus Master lasted 40 to 60 minutes longer, respectively.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080): Display

Displays designed for video games are precious to me, and if I’m paying over $3K for a gaming laptop, it better be pretty. Unfortunately, the Alienware 16 Area-51’s 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz, LED display falls a bit short. It’s plenty bright, more than its competition, and nearly as bright as the M4 MacBook Pros. However, the color is severely lacking for the price, and that’s likely due to the LED panel, whereas its top rivals use OLED.

I hopped into an expedition in Elden Ring Nightreign and bodied those nightmare Flame Chariots. While their flames were bright, and everything looked lively, the lack of boldness took me out of it a little. I think the issue is that the LED panel feels like I’m looking at a screen, whereas OLED feels like looking through a window. I’ll say this, however: I didn’t have any trouble navigating the shadowy mines.

I watched the trailer for the currently bombing Lilo & Stitch film, and the night shots were clear, which is nice because I didn’t need to squint. And although the day shots were really bright, those Hawaiian waters didn’t look as bold as I wanted them to.

According to our colorimeter, the Area-51 doesn’t meet the 100% DCI-P3 color coverage that Dell claims it does (falling to 81.6%). However, it does break its claimed 500-nit display brightness.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080): Keyboard and touchpad

Nothing is more satisfying than a mechanical keyboard in a gaming laptop. It still feels like a dream that laptops like the Alienware 16 Area-51 are rocking a CherryMX mechanical keyboard. This baby is clicky and punchy; bodying fools in Marvel Rivals felt as smooth as ever.

I knocked out 83 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which is above my usual 81-wpm average. Moving to each key felt effortless, thanks to that mechanical bounce.

The 4.4 x 2.5-inch touchpad is not only colorful, but it's also glass, so it’s silky smooth to the touch. It also features a mid-depth, sharp click, which is satisfying to navigate with. My only gripe is that I wish the touchpad were taller because it makes it more challenging to select a wide area.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080): Audio

With two tweeters (treble) and two woofers (bass), the Alienware 16 Area-51’s top and bottom-firing speakers made me feel like I jumped right into the thick of combat. Although the music performance could have been better.

Dashing across Limveld in Nightreign, oppressive but present strings played in the background while the Depraved Perfumer tried to murder me. I dodged and sliced through them, and got that satisfying slash sound effect when I made impact. When I popped my ultimate ability off, it sounded a bit more muted than I would’ve liked, but the overall environmental sound effects played well together. It got occasionally muddy when larger bosses started chomping at me.

Jumping into my long-lasting hyperfixation, I listened to “Wouldn’t You Like” from Epic: The Musical. The stringed instruments sounded gentle and full, and when Hermes came in, I enjoyed his soft vocals, but I realized they were maybe a bit too soft. The vocals didn’t hit the crispness I expected. While I could distinguish most of the instruments from one another, there was some muddiness, and the percussion got snuffed a bit.

But overall, it’s a strong set of speakers compared with the mediocrity we usually find in even the most expensive gaming laptops. You adjust the audio via Dolby Access, with presets for Game (which I used for gaming), Music (used for music), Movie, Voice, and Dynamic (which I experimented with but wasn’t a fan of).

Alienware 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080): Gaming and graphics

Packed into the Area-51’s thick chassis is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU with 16GB of VRAM. This monster doesn't need to worry about slimming down for portability’s sake, so it even crushes RTX 5090 gaming laptops on some tests.

Trying our luck with the Gaping Jaw again, my comrades and I leapt into its chaotic purple lightning storms, and the Area-51 easily maxed out the cap at 60 frames per second on max settings at native resolution.

Up against the RTX 5080 in the Aorus Master and the RTX 5090 in the Razer Blade and Omen Max, the Area-51 either matched or took the crown on three major gaming benchmarks. So the Area-51 is better than the rest at playing Assassin's Creed Mirage, Black Myth: Wukong, and Far Cry 6.

While the Area-51 may not have taken the lead on the rest of the gaming benchmarks, it got pretty darn close across the board. You won't be disappointed with this level of performance. And keep in mind that our benchmarks don't account for DLSS 4, so if you want to get into multi-frame generation magic, you can expect a significant increase in frames.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080): Performance and heat

Don't think Alienware forgot about overall performance. The Area-51 is toting the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor with 32GB of RAM, and it's one heck of a powerhouse. It didn't flinch when I opened a couple dozen Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube videos while Nightreign downloaded in the background.

The Alienware 16 Area-51 absolutely dominated its competition on the Geekbench 6 overall performance test and our HandBrake benchmark, which requires it to transcode a 4K video to 1080p.

However, the Area-51 lagged a bit behind on SSD speeds, coming in third on our 25GB file transfer test, but since it’s above 1 GBps, it should be good for most things.

Now, even though the Area-51 is rocking fans all over the place, it still gets a bit spicy while gaming. We clocked it at 118.7 degrees Fahrenheit between the F8 and F9 keys, which is way above our 95-degree comfort threshold. Yet, it might be safe to sit it in your lap. How? The underside only reached 93.1 degrees. However, I’d proceed with caution since the underside features a glass window, which might burn if it gets too hot.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080): AI features

With an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, the Area-51 supports an NPU with 13 peak TOPS (trillion operations per second). With that, you can access your usual Copilot software, like Windows Studio Effects, Cocreate, and Live Captions. Apart from potential performance gain, there isn’t any Dell or Alienware-branded software with unique AI capabilities.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080): Webcam

Like most laptop webcams, even the Alienware 16 Area-51’s 4K shooter isn’t great.

Despite that, the webcam handles colors decently well. My blue shirt and the ensemble of colorful outfits of the My Hero Academia crew behind me popped in the image. However, its resolution didn’t keep my face and hair from looking fuzzy. And the poor contrast overexposed the window and ceiling. If you plan on streaming, I recommend checking out one of the best webcams.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080): Software and warranty

The software you’ll be using the most will be the Alienware Command Center, which features settings for performance, keyboard and chassis lighting, game aggregation, and a quick link to the Dolby Access app. There’s also Dell SupportAssist, which handles your drivers, hardware scans, and warranty.

The Area-51 comes with a one-year limited warranty.

Bottom line

The Alienware 16 Area-51 is a near-perfect gaming laptop, boasting incredible performance, a bright 16-inch display, a great keyboard, strong speakers, and a beautiful design. But its display can’t beat OLED, and we’ve seen much better battery life numbers elsewhere.

A gaming laptop that supports both an OLED panel and significantly better battery life is the Razer Blade 16, although you’ll need to pay about $1,000 more to get it.

I’ll pray to Cthulhu for an OLED variant of the Alienware 16 Area-51 in the future, although right now, this gaming laptop is easily one of the best we’ve seen this year, and its price point makes it all the more compelling.