Products
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M4, 2024)
Dell Alienware 18 Area-51 (2025)
early access
Tested using Methodology v0.9
Updated Oct 31, 2025 08:10 PM
SEE PRICE
B&H
Tested using Methodology v0.9
Updated Nov 06, 2025 05:51 PM
This review is in Early access
SEE PRICE
BestBuy.com
Size
16"
Operating System
macOS
Size
"
Operating System
Our Verdict
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M4, 2024)
Dell Alienware 18 Area-51 (2025)
Full comparison details regarding individual product score sets can be found in the section below
0
Variants
- MacBook Pro 16 (MX2V3LL/A) (Silver - M4 Max (14-Core CPU, 32-Core GPU)/36GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MX2W3LL/A) (Silver - M4 Max (16-Core CPU, 40-Core GPU)/48GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MX2T3LL/A) (Silver - M4 Pro (14-Core CPU, 20-Core GPU)/24GB/512GB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MX2U3LL/A) (Silver - M4 Pro (14-Core CPU, 20-Core GPU)/48GB/512GB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MX303LL/A) (Space Black - M4 Max (14-Core CPU, 32-Core GPU)/36GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MX313LL/A) (Space Black - M4 Max (16-Core CPU, 40-Core GPU)/48GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MX2X3LL/A) (Space Black - M4 Pro (14-Core CPU, 20-Core GPU)/24GB/512GB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MX2Y3LL/A) (Space Black - M4 Pro (14-Core CPU, 20-Core GPU)/48GB/512GB)
- Alienware 18 Area-51 (LAA18250-9444BLU-PUS) (Liquid Teal - 2.5K/300Hz/Ultra 9 275HX/RTX 5070Ti/32GB/2TB)
- Alienware 18 Area-51 (LAA18250) (Liquid Teal - 2.5K/300Hz/Ultra 9 275HX/RTX 5080/32GB/1TB)
- Alienware 18 Area-51 (LAA18250-9420BLU-PUS) (Liquid Teal - 2.5K/300Hz/Ultra 9 275HX/RTX 5080/32GB/2TB)
- Alienware 18 Area-51 (LAA18250-9383BLU-PUS) (Liquid Teal - 2.5K/300Hz/Ultra 9 275HX/RTX 5090/64GB/2TB)
Main Differences for
General Productivity
General Productivity
Threshold
General Productivity
8.6
Full Comparison
Design
Style
Style Photo
Form Factor
Traditional (Clamshell)
Build Quality
9.5
Build Quality Photo
Hinge
9.1
Hinge Photo
Range
135°
°
Stability
Good
One Finger Lift
Yes
Portability
7.0
Dimensions Photo
Size
16"
"
Thickness
0.7" (1.7 cm)
" ( cm)
Width
14.0" (35.5 cm)
" ( cm)
Depth
9.8" (24.8 cm)
" ( cm)
Volume
91.3 in³ (1,496.7 cm³)
in³ ( cm³)
Weight
4.9 lbs (2.2 kg)
lbs ( kg)
Charger Size
13.7 in³ (225.0 cm³)
in³ ( cm³)
Charger Weight
1.3 lbs (0.6 kg)
lbs ( kg)
Serviceability
3.5
Internals Photo
Ease Of Access
6.0
RAM Slots
0
Storage Slots
0
Replaceable Battery
Yes
Replaceable Wireless Adapter
No
In The Box
In The Box Photo
Display
Screen Specs
Display Photo
Resolution
3456 x 2234
Aspect Ratio
16:10
Pixel Density
254 PPI
PPI
Panel Type
IPS
Touch Screen
No
Screen-To-Body Ratio
90%
%
Refresh Rate
8.7
Motion Blur
Refresh Rate
120 Hz
Hz
Variable Refresh Rate
Apple ProMotion
Contrast
10
Contrast Photo
Native Contrast
53,450 : 1
: 1
Brightness
9.1
Maximum Brightness
604 cd/m²
cd/m²
Minimum Brightness
3 cd/m²
cd/m²
Reflections
8.8
Reflections Photo Off
Reflections Photo Max
Screen Finish
Glossy
Total Reflections
1.92%
%
Indirect Reflections
0.18%
%
Calculated Direct Reflections
1.74%
%
Black Uniformity
10
Black Uniformity Photo
Uniformity (Std. Dev.)
0.088%
%
Out-Of-The-Box Color Accuracy
9.9
White Balance Screencap
Gamma Curve Screencap
Color Screencap
Avg. White Balance dE
1.39
Avg. Gamma
2.21
Avg. Color dE
0.93
Avg. Color Temperature
6,331.2 K
K
Color Gamut
9.5
Gamut SDR
sRGB xy
99.99%
%
sRGB uv
99.98%
%
Adobe RGB xy
88.85%
%
Adobe RGB uv
93.81%
%
Gamut HDR
DCI-P3 xy
99.89%
%
DCI-P3 uv
99.81%
%
Rec. 2020 xy
73.27%
%
Rec. 2020 uv
74.17%
%
Flicker
9.0
Flicker Graph
Flicker-Free
No
Flicker Frequency
> 1000Hz
Flicker Active Below
100%
%
Interface
Keyboard
8.0
Keyboard Photo
Typing Quality
8.0
Numpad
No
Backlighting
Adjustable
Key Switch Actuation Graph
Operating Force
60 gf
gf
Actuation Force
38 gf
gf
Pre-Travel
0.78 mm
mm
Total Travel
0.85 mm
mm
Touchpad
9.7
Touchpad Photo
Tracking Quality
9.5
Size
24.8 in² (160.0 cm²)
in² ( cm²)
Material
Glass
Dedicated Buttons
No
Speakers
8.8
Frequency Response Plot
Max Volume
77 dB SPL
dB SPL
Standard Error @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
4.2 dB
dB
Slope @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
0.4
Bass Extension (Low-Frequency Ext.)
122 Hz
Hz
Treble Extension (High-Frequency Ext.)
20 kHz
kHz
Dynamic Range Compression @ Max Vol.
1.8 dB
dB
Webcam & Microphone
9.1
Webcam Video Sample
Video Quality
9.5
Resolution
1080p
Position
Top Center
Privacy Cover
No
Face Unlock
No
Connectivity
Ports
8.5
Ports Photo
USB-A Ports
0
USB-C Ports
3
Thunderbolt
Thunderbolt 5
USB-C Charging
Yes
USB-C Display Out
Yes
HDMI
2.1
DisplayPort
No
3.5mm Jack
Combo mic/headphone
Card Reader
SD UHS 2
Ethernet
No
Proprietary Port
Apple MagSafe 3
Security Lock
No
Wireless Communication
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)
Bluetooth
5.3
Configuration
CPU
Brand
Apple
Model
M4 Max
Core Count
16
Thread Count
16
GPU
Brand
Apple
Model
M4 Max
Dedicated/Integrated
Integrated
VRAM Size
N/A
GB
GPU Total Graphics Power (TGP)
N/A
W
RAM
Capacity
48 GB
GB
Modules
Unknown
Type
LP-DDR5x
Speed
8,533 MHz
MHz
Storage
Advertised Capacity
1,000 GB
GB
Usable Capacity
958 GB
GB
Drive 1
Apple SSD AP1024Z
Drive 1 Type
SSD
Drive 2
No 2nd Drive
Drive 2 Type
No 2nd Drive
Performance
CPU/RAM Performance
8.9
Cinebench 2024 - Single Core
179 points
points
Cinebench 2024 - Multi Core
2,067 points
points
Geekbench 6 - Single Core
3,910
Geekbench 6 - Multi Core
26,053
Blender - CPU (Avg)
169 samples/min
samples/min
PassMark PT - CPU Mark
43,766
PassMark PT - Memory Mark
6,039
PassMark PT - Memory Mark (Android)
N/A
N/A
Mozilla Kraken
253 ms
ms
Low Tier Graphics
8.3
Geekbench 6 - GPU Compute
195,622
Basemark Web 3.0
2,461
PassMark PT - 2D Mark
N/A
PassMark PT - 2D Mark (Android)
N/A
N/A
PassMark PT - 3D Mark
N/A
PassMark PT - 3D Mark (Android)
N/A
N/A
Novabench 5 - GPU
812.0
mprep - Stress My GPU
39,837
High Tier Graphics
8.3
3DMark - Steel Nomad (DX12)
N/A
3DMark - Steel Nomad (Vulkan/Metal)
3,579
Basemark GPU (DX12)
N/A
Basemark GPU (Vulkan/Metal)
177,985
GFXBench - High Level Test (Vulkan/Metal)
15,515 Frames
Frames
Professional 3D (GPU Accelerated)
6.6
Blender - GPU (Avg)
1,740 samples/min
samples/min
Cinebench 2024 - GPU
16,676 points
N/A
CPU-Intensive Game Performance
8.3
Civilization VII - AI
14.0 s/turn
s/turn
Civilization VII - Graphics (Avg)
239.4 fps
fps
Civilization VII - Graphics (1% Low)
108.4 fps
fps
Total War: Warhammer III (Avg)
82.1 fps
fps
Baldur's Gate 3 (Avg)
113.7 fps
fps
Baldur's Gate 3 (1% Low)
60.0 fps
fps
Previous Methodology Score
8.2
N/A
Previous Methodology Score Converted
7.7
N/A
GPU-Intensive Game Performance
6.7
Cyberpunk 2077 (Avg)
63.0 fps
fps
Cyberpunk 2077 (Min)
54.0 fps
fps
Assassin's Creed Shadows (Avg)
31 fps
fps
Assassin's Creed Shadows (1% Low)
22 fps
fps
GTA V (Avg)
N/A
fps
GTA V (1% Low)
N/A
fps
Black Myth: Wukong (Avg)
N/A
fps
Black Myth: Wukong (5% Low)
N/A
fps
Resident Evil 4 (Avg)
135.6 fps
fps
Resident Evil 4 (1% Low)
101.2 fps
fps
Previous Methodology Score
8.5
N/A
Previous Methodology Score Converted
7.0
N/A
Ray Tracing Performance
4.4
Cyberpunk 2077 (Avg)
41.5 fps
fps
Cyberpunk 2077 (Min)
34.2 fps
fps
Assassin's Creed Shadows (Avg)
22 fps
fps
Assassin's Creed Shadows (1% Low)
17 fps
fps
Black Myth: Wukong (Avg)
N/A
fps
Black Myth: Wukong (5% Low)
N/A
fps
Storage Drive Performance
9.0
Sequential Write Speed
5,844.7 MB/s
MB/s
Sequential Read Speed
2,555.5 MB/s
MB/s
Random Write Speed
43.1 MB/s
MB/s
Random Read Speed
41.0 MB/s
MB/s
Battery
9.5
Capacity
100 Wh
Wh
Battery Life (Web Browsing)
13.0 hrs
hrs
Battery Life (Video Playback)
12.6 hrs
hrs
Battery Life (Gaming)
1.9 hrs
hrs
Charge Time
1.7 hrs
hrs
Thermals And Noise
6.5
Keyboard Temps Picture
Keyboard Temp While Idle
30 °C (86 °F)
°C ( °F)
Keyboard Temp Under Load
48 °C (119 °F)
°C ( °F)
Fan Noise While Idle
25.0 dBA
dBA
Fan Noise Under Load
51.6 dBA
dBA
Power & Fan Control App
Yes
Performance Over Time
10
Performance Over Time Graph
CPU Temp (Cinebench)
95 °C
°C
CPU Perf. Loss (Cinebench)
0% loss
% loss
GPU Temp (Heaven)
80 °C
°C
GPU Perf. Loss (Heaven)
0% loss
% loss
Additional Features And Software
Software
Operating System
macOS
Additional Software
None
Extra Features
Biometrics
Fingerprint Sensor
RGB Illumination
No
Touch Pen Support
No Stylus Support
Secondary Display
No
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Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M4, 2024)
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Comments
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M4, 2024) vs Dell Alienware 18 Area-51 (2025): Main Discussion
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