Products
Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024)
Dell Alienware 18 Area-51 (2025)
early access
Tested using Methodology v0.9
Updated Oct 08, 2025 06:09 PM
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Tested using Methodology v0.9
Updated Nov 06, 2025 05:51 PM
This review is in Early access
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Size
18"
Operating System
Windows 11
Size
"
Operating System
Our Verdict
Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024)
Dell Alienware 18 Area-51 (2025)
Full comparison details regarding individual product score sets can be found in the section below
0
Variants
- Alienware m18 R2 (AWM18R) (Dark Metallic Moon - FHD/480Hz/i9-14900HX/RTX 4080/32GB/1TB)
- Alienware m18 R2 (AWM18R-9494BLK-PUS) (Dark Metallic Moon - QHD/165Hz/i9-14900HX/RTX 4070/32GB/1TB)
- Alienware m18 R2 (AWM18R-9583BLK-PUS) (Dark Metallic Moon - QHD/165Hz/i9-14900HX/RTX 4080/32GB/1TB)
- 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
5.7
Full Comparison
Design
Style
Style Photo
Form Factor
Traditional (Clamshell)
Build Quality
9.0
Build Quality Photo
Hinge
9.2
Hinge Photo
Range
145°
°
Stability
Good
One Finger Lift
Yes
Portability
2.7
Dimensions Photo
Size
18"
"
Thickness
1.2" (3.1 cm)
" ( cm)
Width
16.2" (41.2 cm)
" ( cm)
Depth
12.6" (32.0 cm)
" ( cm)
Volume
249.4 in³ (4,087.0 cm³)
in³ ( cm³)
Weight
8.7 lbs (3.9 kg)
lbs ( kg)
Charger Size
25.2 in³ (412.8 cm³)
in³ ( cm³)
Charger Weight
2.3 lbs (1.0 kg)
lbs ( kg)
Serviceability
9.1
Internals Photo
Ease Of Access
9.0
RAM Slots
2
Storage Slots
4
Replaceable Battery
Yes
Replaceable Wireless Adapter
Yes
In The Box
In The Box Photo
Display
Screen Specs
Display Photo
Resolution
1920 x 1200
Aspect Ratio
16:10
Pixel Density
125 PPI
PPI
Panel Type
IPS
Touch Screen
No
Screen-To-Body Ratio
86%
%
Refresh Rate
9.8
Motion Blur
Refresh Rate
480 Hz
Hz
Variable Refresh Rate
G-SYNC
Contrast
6.9
Contrast Photo
Native Contrast
1,080 : 1
: 1
Brightness
6.6
Maximum Brightness
266 cd/m²
cd/m²
Minimum Brightness
14 cd/m²
cd/m²
Reflections
7.5
Reflections Photo Off
Reflections Photo Max
Screen Finish
Matte
Total Reflections
5.37%
%
Indirect Reflections
4.74%
%
Calculated Direct Reflections
0.63%
%
Black Uniformity
5.7
Black Uniformity Photo
Uniformity (Std. Dev.)
2.180%
%
Out-Of-The-Box Color Accuracy
4.0
White Balance Screencap
Gamma Curve Screencap
Color Screencap
Avg. White Balance dE
5.99
Avg. Gamma
2.1
Avg. Color dE
5.28
Avg. Color Temperature
5,908 K
K
Color Gamut
9.4
Gamut SDR
sRGB xy
99.9%
%
sRGB uv
99.58%
%
Adobe RGB xy
88.8%
%
Adobe RGB uv
94.83%
%
Gamut HDR
DCI-P3 xy
99.26%
%
DCI-P3 uv
98.86%
%
Rec. 2020 xy
73.22%
%
Rec. 2020 uv
75.49%
%
Flicker
10
Flicker Graph
Flicker-Free
Yes
Flicker Frequency
No Flicker
Flicker Active Below
0%
%
Interface
Keyboard
9.2
Keyboard Photo
Typing Quality
9.0
Numpad
Yes
Backlighting
Per-Key RGB
Key Switch Actuation Graph
Operating Force
61 gf
gf
Actuation Force
38 gf
gf
Pre-Travel
1.14 mm
mm
Total Travel
1.76 mm
mm
Touchpad
8.2
Touchpad Photo
Tracking Quality
8.0
Size
16.7 in² (108.0 cm²)
in² ( cm²)
Material
Glass
Dedicated Buttons
No
Speakers
7.6
Frequency Response Plot
Max Volume
76 dB SPL
dB SPL
Standard Error @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
5.4 dB
dB
Slope @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
0.7
Bass Extension (Low-Frequency Ext.)
364 Hz
Hz
Treble Extension (High-Frequency Ext.)
16 kHz
kHz
Dynamic Range Compression @ Max Vol.
0.7 dB
dB
Webcam & Microphone
7.4
Webcam Video Sample
Video Quality
7.5
Resolution
1080p
Position
Top Center
Privacy Cover
No
Face Unlock
Yes
Connectivity
Ports
9.5
Ports Photo
USB-A Ports
3
USB-C Ports
3
Thunderbolt
Thunderbolt 4
USB-C Charging
Yes
USB-C Display Out
Yes
HDMI
2.1
DisplayPort
Mini DisplayPort 1.4
3.5mm Jack
Combo mic/headphone
Card Reader
SD UHS 2
Ethernet
Yes
Proprietary Port
Alienware Power Adapter Port
Security Lock
No
Wireless Communication
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be)
Bluetooth
5.4
Configuration
CPU
Brand
Intel
Model
Core i9-14900HX
Core Count
24
Thread Count
32
GPU
Brand
NVIDIA
Model
GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU
Dedicated/Integrated
Dedicated
VRAM Size
12 GB
GB
GPU Total Graphics Power (TGP)
175W
W
RAM
Capacity
32 GB
GB
Modules
2
Type
DDR5
Speed
5,600 MHz
MHz
Storage
Advertised Capacity
1,000 GB
GB
Usable Capacity
919 GB
GB
Drive 1
Western Digital PC SN810 NVMe
Drive 1 Type
SSD
Drive 2
No 2nd Drive
Drive 2 Type
No 2nd Drive
Performance
CPU/RAM Performance
8.3
Cinebench 2024 - Single Core
123 points
points
Cinebench 2024 - Multi Core
1,681 points
points
Geekbench 6 - Single Core
2,929
Geekbench 6 - Multi Core
18,271
Blender - CPU (Avg)
135 samples/min
samples/min
PassMark PT - CPU Mark
51,828
PassMark PT - Memory Mark
3,666
PassMark PT - Memory Mark (Android)
N/A
N/A
Mozilla Kraken
316 ms
ms
Low Tier Graphics
8.4
Geekbench 6 - GPU Compute
189,527
Basemark Web 3.0
1,309
PassMark PT - 2D Mark
766
PassMark PT - 2D Mark (Android)
N/A
N/A
PassMark PT - 3D Mark
25,927
PassMark PT - 3D Mark (Android)
N/A
N/A
Novabench 5 - GPU
1,681.0
mprep - Stress My GPU
151,520
High Tier Graphics
8.6
3DMark - Steel Nomad (DX12)
4,405
3DMark - Steel Nomad (Vulkan/Metal)
4,801
Basemark GPU (DX12)
231,471
Basemark GPU (Vulkan/Metal)
210,614
GFXBench - High Level Test (Vulkan/Metal)
14,792 Frames
Frames
Professional 3D (GPU Accelerated)
6.9
Blender - GPU (Avg)
1,924 samples/min
samples/min
Cinebench 2024 - GPU
18,303 points
N/A
CPU-Intensive Game Performance
8.5
Civilization VII - AI
17.5 s/turn
s/turn
Civilization VII - Graphics (Avg)
256.9 fps
fps
Civilization VII - Graphics (1% Low)
133.3 fps
fps
Total War: Warhammer III (Avg)
128.7 fps
fps
Baldur's Gate 3 (Avg)
86.5 fps
fps
Baldur's Gate 3 (1% Low)
59.0 fps
fps
Previous Methodology Score
9.1
N/A
Previous Methodology Score Converted
8.6
N/A
GPU-Intensive Game Performance
8.2
Cyberpunk 2077 (Avg)
102.9 fps
fps
Cyberpunk 2077 (Min)
87.9 fps
fps
Assassin's Creed Shadows (Avg)
55 fps
fps
Assassin's Creed Shadows (1% Low)
47 fps
fps
GTA V (Avg)
164.4 fps
fps
GTA V (1% Low)
65.3 fps
fps
Black Myth: Wukong (Avg)
66 fps
fps
Black Myth: Wukong (5% Low)
58 fps
fps
Resident Evil 4 (Avg)
128.5 fps
fps
Resident Evil 4 (1% Low)
71.2 fps
fps
Previous Methodology Score
9.4
N/A
Previous Methodology Score Converted
8.0
N/A
Ray Tracing Performance
6.9
Cyberpunk 2077 (Avg)
78.2 fps
fps
Cyberpunk 2077 (Min)
69.4 fps
fps
Assassin's Creed Shadows (Avg)
44 fps
fps
Assassin's Creed Shadows (1% Low)
37 fps
fps
Black Myth: Wukong (Avg)
45 fps
fps
Black Myth: Wukong (5% Low)
38 fps
fps
Storage Drive Performance
9.7
Sequential Write Speed
2,713.0 MB/s
MB/s
Sequential Read Speed
5,222.0 MB/s
MB/s
Random Write Speed
116.9 MB/s
MB/s
Random Read Speed
69.0 MB/s
MB/s
Battery
3.8
Capacity
97 Wh
Wh
Battery Life (Web Browsing)
4.1 hrs
hrs
Battery Life (Video Playback)
3.1 hrs
hrs
Battery Life (Gaming)
1.2 hrs
hrs
Charge Time
2.8 hrs
hrs
Thermals And Noise
5.4
Keyboard Temps Picture
Keyboard Temp While Idle
46 °C (115 °F)
°C ( °F)
Keyboard Temp Under Load
50 °C (122 °F)
°C ( °F)
Fan Noise While Idle
25.0 dBA
dBA
Fan Noise Under Load
55.0 dBA
dBA
Power & Fan Control App
Yes
Performance Over Time
9.9
Performance Over Time Graph
CPU Temp (Cinebench)
99 °C
°C
CPU Perf. Loss (Cinebench)
1% loss
% loss
GPU Temp (Heaven)
68 °C
°C
GPU Perf. Loss (Heaven)
0% loss
% loss
Additional Features And Software
Software
Operating System
Windows 11
Additional Software
Yes
Extra Features
Biometrics
Face Recognition
RGB Illumination
Yes
Touch Pen Support
No Stylus Support
Secondary Display
No
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Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024)
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Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024) vs Dell Alienware 18 Area-51 (2025): Main Discussion
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