Alienware launches the X series, its thinnest gaming laptops yet

Alienware x17 and x15 laptops with the lids open seen from the front next to each other

At this year's Computex, Dell's Alienware brand has introduced a brand new family of gaming laptops, the Alienware X series. The company focused on improving cooling efficiency to make its laptops as thin as possible while still delivering top-notch performance.

The new Alienware x15 and x17 come with the latest hardware from Intel and Nvidia, those being Intel's 11th-generation H-series processors up to a Core i9-11900H, and well as RTX 30 series mobile GPUs up to an RTX 3080. On the Alienware x17, that GPU will draw up to 165W, but on the x15, it will only go up to 110W due to the thermal constraints involved with the size.

Alienware x17 and x15 seen form the side with the lids closed

That's because the Alienware x15 is one of the thinnest gaming laptops you can get. It starts at just 15.9mm thick, and Dell calls it the world's most powerful sub-16mm 15-inch gaming laptop. Meanwhile, the 17-inch Alienware x17 starts at 20.9mm of thickness, which is still Alienware's thinnest laptop of this size.

As mentioned above, cooling was a key focus for Alienware with these laptops, which feature the company's Cryo-Tech cooling technology that uses a new patent-pending material it calls Element 31. This new heat dissipation material is what lives between the CPU and the thermal elements of the laptop, and Dell touts up to a 25% improvement in thermal resistance because of it. The laptops also feature a quad-fan setup to help draw in cool air and expel heat.

Render depicting the four fans used for cooling the Alienware X series laptops

Aside from cooling, Alienware also tweaked other aspects of the design, like using dark keycaps for the keyboard to minimize reflection from the display. The keyboard is also available with optional Cherry MX switches if you prefer a more mechanical feel.

Being a gaming laptop also means high refresh rates, and you can have either size with up to a 360Hz Full HD display with 1ms response times and Nvidia G-Sync. If you value resolution instead, there's a 4K 120Hz option for the 17-inch model or a Quad HD 240Hz version in the 15-inch. You can also opt for the most affordable option, a Full HD 165Hz panel.

Other specs include up to 4TB of SSD store in RAID 0, 64GB of RAM (only on the x17), and plenty of ports including Thunderbolt 4, regular USB Type-C, USB Type-A, HDMI 2.1, and mini-DisplayPort (only on the x17).

The Alienware x17 laptop with the lid partly open seen from an angled rear view

The Alienware x15 and x17 laptops are available today in limited configurations, starting at $3,399.99 for the x15 and $3,879.99 for the x17. These are high-end configurations, though. The full suite of options will be available on June 15, starting at $1,999 for the x15 and $2,099 for the x17.

Along with this, Dell also announced the availability of the Alienware m15 R6 today, which will start at $1,299.99 when all configurations are available on June 18. The configurations available today start at $1,729.99. The Dell G15 will also be available today with full configuration options on June 18, starting at $949.99.