Keep in mind when a brand new Alienware PC was one thing thrilling? Sure, sure, you virtually definitely weren’t going to purchase one. Even should you might afford them, Alienwares of outdated normally weren’t truly the quickest PCs you would purchase. However a bit like a Lamborghini that is not truly as fast as a less expensive Porsche 911 Turbo, Alienware rigs did not want to truly be the quickest. They at all times had that important air of the unique.
Briefly, the mere existence of Alienware PCs made the world a extra attention-grabbing place. Nicely, not any extra. Alienware’s assimilation by the Dell company collective is now full. The most recent Alienware Aurora R16 has arrived and it is a generic mid-sized field.
In different phrases, it is completely nothing like Alienwares of yore, corresponding to the marginally bonkers triangle-shaped Space-51. And it even lacks the considerably bespoke aesthetic of the outgoing Aurora R15 and the same R14 earlier than that.
To make certain, the Aurora R15 was in the end the identical form of machine as the brand new R16 inside. Certainly, the R16 gives precisely the identical 25.2 liter inner quantity as its predecessor and we imagine the precise metallic body is identical with each programs. It is simply the exterior plastic cladding that is modified.
Alienware says it is refined, streamlined and more room environment friendly. Actually, the R16 is smaller and lighter. But it surely’s additionally simply one other field. Bummer.
Extra to the purpose, what you now have is a generic wanting field with Dell-Alienware type proprietary elements that make future upgrades difficult. Kinda the worst of each worlds. A minimum of when the chassis design was bizarre you would barely forgive parts like motherboards that did not conform to the usual ATX definitions.
Anywho, other than the now plain-vanilla proportions, what do you might want to know concerning the new Aurora R16? Alienware says the optimised design delivers as much as 10 p.c decrease CPU temps and 6 p.c decrease GPU temps. The machine is likewise stated to be the quietest Aurora rig but.
You additionally get three RGB lighting zones, every composed of quite a few particular person LEDs. As customary, there’s Wi-Fi 6E and an 80 Plus Platinum rated PSU in both 500W or 1000W spec. CPUs are Intel twelfth and thirteenth gen objects and graphics, predictably, is Nvidia RTX 40 collection clobber.
Entrance ports comprise 10Gbps USB-C, three 5Gbps USB-A sockets and a 3.5mm headset jack. Around the again you get a 20Gbps USB-C port, one other 10Gbps USB-C connection, two 5Gbps USB-As, and a pair of USB 2.0, together with 2.5Gbps ethernet and an array of audio out.
Costs begin at $1,750 for an air-cooled Core i7 13700F plus Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics and scale from there. That base specs buys you 16GB of RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD. A 13900F provides $150, whereas an improve to an RTX 4070 Ti is $200, so just about according to the usual worth delta between a 4070 and 4070 Ti.
For now, there aren’t any greater GPU choices, however they will be added sooner or later.
After all, one can legitimately question the sensible worth of Alienware’s legacy designs. Was the quirky triangular chassis of the Space-51 truly the profit to thermals that Alienware claimed again in 2014? Most likely not. But it surely undoubtedly appeared cool, pun completely meant.
The brand new Aurora R16, against this does not look unhealthy. It simply does not actually appear like an Alienware. And unique seems to be had been, in the end, what Alienware PCs had been principally about. And now we’re not likely positive what the model stands for.
