Dell and RAMageddon are watering down the Alienware brand

I remember a time when Alienware refused to make a thinner laptop — the company didn’t want to compromise on its builds. But today, Dell is slapping the Alienware name on a piece of hardware that sounds utterly watered down. It’s partly RAMageddon ’s fault. The new five-pound Alienware 15 is supposedly an entry-level gaming laptop, one designed to invite those with less cash into the fold. That’s an admirable goal at a time all kinds of gaming hardware suddenly costs more . But unlike Alienware’s affordable $350 OLED monitor , the laptop does not sound like good value for the money. Even with a last-gen, entry-level Nvidia RTX 4050 graphics chip, you’ll pay $1,299 and up. (In some markets the laptop will start with an RTX 3050 — a five-year old chip!) An RTX 5050 will cost you $1,459 or more, and a mid-range RTX 5060 model costs $1,849 and up. For that kind of money you could easily find more powerful specs from a competing brand. Generally, a 5060 laptop can be had for $1,400 MSRP or closer to $1,100 on sale. Dell’s RTX 5060 prices are squarely in RTX 5070 territory. Did I mention that the 15.3-inch, 1920 x 1200, 165Hz screen only displays 62.5 percent of the sRGB color spectrum? Yes, sRGB, not the superior Adobe RGB or DCI-P3. Even the lackluster Alienware 16 Aurora, the company’s first stab at releasing a too-pricey budget machine , managed 100 percent of sRGB, and for less money too. …