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Specs explained: How to configure and order the Alienware Area-51 gaming laptop to play the best games this Christmas
Get the best bang for your buck by customizing your Alienware Area-51 laptop to perfection
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(Image credit: Dell Alienware)
Christmas is a great time to get a new gaming PC, and Alienware Area-51 laptops are some of the best we've ever tested. Whether you choose the Alienware 18 Area-51 or the Alienware 16 Area-51 , you'll be able to customize them at the point of purchase and get the exact PC you need.
Lots of exciting choices lie ahead, and they're important ones, too. Picking the right specs will affect your gameplay in a major way, so before you purchase, you'll decide on things like the CPU, GPU, display, and even keyboard.
There's a lot to dig into, but we're here to help you figure out how to buy the best Alienware Area-51 laptop for gaming this Christmas.
How can I decide between a 16-inch and an 18-inch Area-51 laptop?
(Image credit: Dell) The Alienware 16 Area-51 and the Alienware 18 Area-51 offer a lot of the same customization options, including the same choice of Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processors and Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-series laptop graphics cards. They differ slightly in Total Performance Power, which reflects the maximum combined power of the CPU and the GPU, and in display refresh rates.
This can be a tricky decision, but it mostly comes down to whether you want a bigger screen or not. There are also practical differences: the 18-inch Area-51 laptop comes with an Ethernet port, and its keyboard has a full numpad on the right, whereas the 16-inch doesn’t. The 18-inch model also ups the refresh rate to 300Hz instead of 240Hz.
Both the 18-inch and the 16-inch models let you scale all the way up in terms of specs, and they stay cool under pressure.