X

Alienware previews svelte new X series alongside Intel, Nvidia Dell refreshes

Another entrant in the thinner-than-though gaming laptop competition.

Lori Grunin Senior Editor / Advice
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
Expertise Photography, PCs and laptops, gaming and gaming accessories
Lori Grunin
2 min read
alienware-x17-back.png
Alienware

Thin, thinner, thinnest. While Intel launched its 35-watt Tiger Lake H series chips at CES to tee off what the company calls "ultraportable gaming ," laptops incorporating it like the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE tend to go smaller as well. Though we don't know exactly how thin or light Alienware's forthcoming X17 is -- though we do know it's based on nonspecific 11th-gen Intel and Nvidia RTX 30-series chips -- it does look like Alienware is attempting to build a serious gaming laptop the thickness of the Dell XPS 17 or the Razer Blade Pro 17.

Alienware

The X series, slated for official unveiling June 1 on Twitch, looks a lot like Alienware's m series, so it's not clear where it stands relative to the already pretty thin m17 and m15; Alienware launched its 11th-gen Tiger Lake-H models of the m15 and Dell G5 15 today, as well, following design updates kicked off with the m15 Ryzen Edition and Dell G15 in early April. It's telling that the company had more to reveal about its cooling system developments rather than performance or features -- in this case Gallium-Silicon thermal paste to improve heat dissipation from the CPU and a novel airflow design that intakes and outblows from both sides -- something we see frequently from manufacturers proud of how thin they're making new products.

It's not all fun and games, though, for the processor upgrades. Dell's XPS 15 and 17 lines also bump up to offering 11th-gen H series CPUs and RTX 3050 series GPUs. The XPS 15 also gets a new 3.5K OLED option rather than 4K, an oddball resolution that's slightly lower than QHD's 3.7K.

The Precision mobile workstations dive into 11th gen Core as well as the 11th-gen Xeon mobile processors Intel rolled out and slightly older Nvidia RTX A5000 workstation GPUs for the 7000 series. 

Dell and Alienware laptops won't ship until July and pricing will remain a mystery until then.