Alienware teases the return of its 18-inch gaming laptop

midian182

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Something to look forward to: Most laptops today come with screens measuring between 13 and 17 inches. But Alienware is bucking the trend by resurrecting its 18-inch behemoth that was last seen in 2015. The Dell subsidiary posted a video ahead of next month's CES event teasing the laptop, noting that "When something this big and powerful arrives, it leaves a mark."

Even the largest-screen modern laptops are lighter and smaller than their predecessors—check out our best picks right here. The Alienware 18 series was quite the opposite. The M18x R2 with its 18.4-inch screen weighed 12.6 pounds—its power brick alone was 2.4 pounds—and came with an incredibly bulky chassis, making it a machine not really designed for portability or laps. For comparison, the Razer Blade 17, our pick as the best desktop replacement laptop, is around 6 pounds.

It appears that Alienware believes there is still a market for 18-inch-screen laptops. The company's official Twitter account posted a 15-second clip teasing the return of the Alienware 18.

The old Alienware 18 series packed dual internal GPUs, up to four hard drives, and powerful components for the time. It might not have been easy to carry around, but the sheer performance and size of the display helped it gain some very positive reviews—for those intending on keeping the laptop in one spot.

A new version of this 18-inch machine will doubtlessly be lighter and slimmer than its predecessor, though we can still expect something big, powerful, and, being Alienware, gamer-focused. It'll probably have a price tag to match, too.

The teaser doesn't give anything away or any release date beyond "Coming soon." CES is only a few weeks off, so don't be surprised to see the all-new Alienware 18 on show at the Las Vegas event.

There have been laptops since the Alienware 18 that make Dell's machine look small in comparison. The Acer Predator 21, for example, had a 21-inch curved ultrawide display and cost $8,999. There was also Expanscape's Aurora 7 Prototype (above), which had seven individual screens, three of which measured 17.3 inches.

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While I doubt I would need or want it for games, the size alone would make a big improvement for us older folks that don't have the eyesight we once had. All the extra stuff is just a plus, plus, plus!
 
I recently purchased a Samsung Z Fold phone and I am loving it. How long until gaming laptop displays just unfold into an ultrawide???
 
I remember having a 17 inch gaming laptop, and I loved it. Sizing down to 15 or 14 became an issue if I wasn’t using an external monitor.

Given the rise of 16:10 laptops (finally) we may see Alienware produce a 18” 16:10 laptop, which wouldn’t be much wider then current 17” alienwares. For those who actually play on the laptop screen such a thing would be a treat
 
I have the last one they made. Loved it! It's old and dated. So Alienware/Dell, hit us up! Hell, give us a 19" or 20" Hell yeah!!
 
While I doubt I would need or want it for games, the size alone would make a big improvement for us older folks that don't have the eyesight we once had. All the extra stuff is just a plus, plus, plus!
They make great desktop replacement systems!
 
Two words that should never be used together are "gaming" and "laptop". :laughing:
I disagree, when you have little space or are mobile they are great. And with the power of modern hardware, considering many of these are still 1080p, you dont even need big thick machines to game on.
 
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