Alienware 18 Area-51 Gaming Laptop - Intel Ultra 9 275HX (24-Core, Up to 5.4GHz), RTX 5080 GDDR7, 16" 2.5K QHD+ 300Hz, 64GB DDR5, 4TB SSD, Backlit KB, w/DVD Drive, Win 11 Pro, Office Lifetime

The battery life is a little low and the touchpad doesn't work with an external mouse attached but everything else is awesome.

Didn't think I would ever spend the extra money for an Alienware laptop, but Dell had an awesome deal offered back in March, so I dove in without reading reviews.The good:The design is sleek! Keyboard is comfortable (for a laptop) and I was surprised they fit in the numeric keypad as well. The RGB lighting is a nice touch, although many modern gaming laptops will have this feature. Overall the laptop has a nice, solid feel to it.Performance is really good, which I expected for the money! Plays games at a high FPS even without tweaking out of the box. I likely won't try to overclock it until it starts showing its age.The downsides:The touchpad is... well... touchy. Seems to require more force to 'click' than most laptops I have used. I'm just double tapping now instead which is a reasonable work around for me.Sleep Mode: This laptop seems to like to wake up from sleep mode all on its own. I have updated drivers multiple times, disconnected external devices, quadruple checked all my power and sleep settings. It's frustrating to leave a laptop at full charge, closed and asleep for a day, only to find it dead the next day. I have not wanted to deal with phone support so I'm just in the habit of shutting down when I'm done for the day.Screen: I'm a little disappointed that the screen resolution is only 1920x1080. It's perfectly usable and the image is great, just expected a higher res screen for the money.Sound: the built in speakers... well... suck! I'm actually very disappointed in them. I suppose it gets the job done but really if I want to do any gaming, I'll have to wear headphones. My last non-gaming laptop had better sound. Speaking of sound, the fan is noisier than I expected. Most of the time it runs quiet, but as soon as you fire up a game or start to stress the system, it's somewhat distracting. If you have sound turned up or have headphones it won't matter. Just a bit disappointing given it's new. I expected quieter.Battery: This is the worst part of the laptop. Battery life sucks! I have only had the laptop about 6 months, and it seems like I only get a little over an hour use on battery. I've turned down screen brightness, set other power saving modes, and disable everything I reasonably can without completely crippling it to the point I can't use it. I mean, come on, generally I need WiFi still to play games or surf the Internet. Most modern games require an Internet connection. I read an article that suggests I should be able to get two hours, but they put the brightness to levels you can hardly see during the day, and turn off Wireless. I have the 60Wh battery and I understand there is a 90Wh option. I may look into buying the larger battery when this one starts to show its age. That said, it is a gaming laptop and I figured it would not last as long. But come on, an hour? Don't expect to use this much without power or while traveling.Not sure I'd recommend this, at least not for the price. If you're really set on having an Alienware laptop, go for it! Had it not been for the deal Dell offered at the time, I likely was going to get an ASUS ROG, or a TUF. A couple friends bought the TUF model and for the money they really perform well!