Alienware redesigned its Aurora desktop and it’s now available starting at $969

(Image credit: Dell)

Historically, it has been pretty easy to differentiate an Alienware gaming PC from any other brand. Well, the newly remodeled Aurora carries on that tradition, though it does not look like any previous Alienware that has come before it.

The new look is what Alienware is calling its "Legend" industrial design, as part of "new design identity" the company is shooting for. To Alienware's eyeballs, it is a "bold departure" from both the previous look, and the "sea of sameness in the industry."

"Born from the ethos of purposeful innovation, Alienware's new Legend industrial design has been awarded for its ground up engineering that merges design innovations and high-performance torque," the company explains.

I've only seen press renders and pictures so far, but based on those, I suspect people will either love it or hate, with little wiggle room in between.

Aesthetic aside, the new chassis lends itself to a more compact build than the previous Aurora. According to Alienware, the airflow is more efficient in the latest Aurora as well, with fewer obstructions resulting in up to 8 percent lower temps at the voltage regulator heatsinks.

(Image credit: Alienware)

Alienware is also touting tool-less upgrade options for some of the parts. Specifically, the graphics card, storage, and of course the memory.

Pricing starts at a rather affordable $969.99. That configuration includes:

  • Intel Core i5-9400
  • 8GB HyperX Fury DDR4-2666 RAM
  • GeForce GTX 1650 GPU
  • 1TB hard drive (7200 RPM)
  • Windows 10 Home

That's not a terribly exciting set of components, though higher end options are available (for a higher price, naturally). The Aurora can be configured with up to a Core i9-9900K processor, up to a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, up to 64GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of NVMe SSD storage paired with a 2TB HDD.

Going all out like that pushes the price to around $5,000, depending on the specific options. As is usually the case, you can stretch your dollars much further by rolling your own.

Of course, there is a wide middle ground between the cheapest and most expensive build options. If you want to check out what's available and/or buy one, head over to the Aurora landing page.

Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).

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