Review: Alienware 18 Gaming Laptop

I’ll start this review by saying I was always a fan of Alienware when they made the craziest, meanest, kick-the-competitor-in-the-ass computers. I was excited at getting my hands on their flagship laptop, so why do I feel slightly disappointed?

When the Alienware arrived, I thought they’d delivered a flat pack table instead. The box is massive, but when you open it up and take out the Alienware, there’s a unanimous response from everyone. WTF is that!

It could be an aircraft carrier, it’s so big. One humungous slab of grey magnesium alloy that unfortunately has the appearance of plastic that could kill any creature it wished to.

Prior to their purchase by Dell, Alienware was the gaming brand to have. It was the time of menacing beasts of systems, with the glow of the Alienware head portending disaster for competitors as they knew there was something very special under the hood.

It wasn’t ever obscene, it was always the baddest mo-fo out there.

Nowadays, under the ownership of Dell, Alienware appeared to have mellowed. Either that, or I’m getting old and lots of flashy lights don’t do it for me anymore (remembering back, yes I am old!).

The lighting is literally crammed everywhere, with the capability to change a multitude of areas that mean you should never get bored of its lighting, maybe good for a kid’s party?

They’ve also crammed in pretty much every piece of hardware, promising to blow you away, with the option of multiple hard drives and dual graphics cards to power the 18” 1080p screen with every option up to high.

The added weight of all of this kit does impact on the Alienware’s rigidity. But I must say this might have required steel reinforced girders which might have upped the cost somewhat from its current eyebrow raising price to a wallet melting, car buying price.

I would have liked to have seen a 4K screen built in, but again this would probably have been prohibitive in price.

So why am I disappointed?When I was younger, I wanted to have an Alienware, it was always cost wise just out of reach.

Now I’m older, and where as I had hoped the Alienware would have grown with me, Dell have been very smart and aimed it at that same market it was always popular in. And that disappoints me, cause I’ve outgrown the Alienware, now I feel old.