What’s “affordable” for a gaming laptop? With generally higher requirements for a discrete graphics card and a fast screen, you can expect to pay more than a standard laptop, but exactly where you draw the line between budget and everything else is a matter of interpretation. If you want one from Dell’s longstanding Alienware sub-brand, it starts with the Aurora 16—and the price starts at $1,150.

The Aurora series is quite a step below the Area 51 flagship in both aesthetics and capability, but there’s a utilitarian charm to the new chassis. Air intakes on three different sides exhaust through an elevated portion of the bottom, combining beefy cooling hardware with a non-adjustable “foot” that presents the full-sized keyboard at a more comfy angle. This is a big change from the “shelf” seen behind the hinge on older models. Dell calls it the “cryo-chamber.” Ports are spread around the sides and rear, in the knowledge that plenty of users will park this thing on a desk with optional accessories for the majority of its use.

Dell

With the base model, you get a Core 7 240H processor, an RTX 4050 graphics card, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage, or at least you will when it arrives in June (according to Dell’s store page). A 1440p 120Hz screen is standard, a nice touch, though the base 60 watt-hour battery won’t last you long if you actually use this thing for gaming. Ports include double USB-A and USB-C, Ethernet (sadly on the side, not the back), and HDMI.

The upgraded Aurora 16X model bumps things up quite a bit, starting with a Core Ultra 9 275HX processor with 24 cores, a much newer RTX 5060 card, 32GB of RAM, and a roomy 2TB of storage. It also starts at a much more taxing (pun intended?) $1,949.99. The screen gets upgraded to 240Hz and 500 nits, and the battery gets much beefier at 96 watt-hours (an optional upgrade on the non-X model) with an upgraded RGB keyboard. You also get an infrared camera that the cheaper model lacks.

Dell

Naturally, more premium configurations are available for both models, with both able to go up to an RTX 5070, and the 16X can be configured with up to 64GB of RAM and 4TB of storage. You might want to make some space in your budget if you want either, though. Alienware’s wares have never been cheap, but a base model starting above the four-figure mark will probably have budget buyers looking elsewhere.

Further reading: The best gaming laptops under $1,000