Dell has engineered changes into both the XPS and Aurora redesigns to maximize airflow and expandability, and all three are suited to professional-level design and intense computing tasks.
The new Alienware R13, Dell XPS, and Alienware Ryzen Edition R14.
Image: Dell
Dell has announced the release of redesigned XPS and Alienware desktops, and while two of the three are meant for gaming, all three could stand their own as high-performance professional desktops.
The XPS, in particular, is built for content creators and will even have aptly-named XPS Creator Edition configurations for those needing particular kinds of power, and its all-new case design “maximizes performance, airflow and acoustics,” Dell said.
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The new Alienware machines are also interesting for their design, which Dell said brings them in line to match Alienware’s new Legend 2.0 design standard. While not designed to be as expandable as the XPS, the new Alienware Aurora series advertises improved internal volume and design that improves performance and heat management. It also looks really sleek if sci-fi aesthetics are your thing.
The New Dell XPS: Reasons to buy
The XPS is getting a redesign that Dell said takes it back to its “XPS roots.” Namely, a monstrous case that puts the eXpansion in XPS (note: the X actually means extreme). The new XPS is a massive 27-liters large, or a full 42% larger than the previous 19L XPS case. All that space means it has a lot of room for expansion, allowing owners to keep improving it over time.
That extra space also frees up room for up to a 12th-gen Intel Core i9k process, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 or AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT and DDR5 memory that is 50% faster than DDR4.
The new XPS also supports up to a 750W power supply, 350W graphics card, PCIe5 graphics, four storage bays and three PCIe slots. In essence, it’s a beast.
As mentioned above, the new XPS will also be available in what Dell calls XPS Creator Edition configurations that are packaged with NVIDIA Studio drivers and hardware “carefully selected for those who aspire to cultivate their digital content creation skills whether that be in photography, graphic design, music production or beyond.”
Pricing for the new XPS desktops will start at $919 when they go on sale later in the fall, Dell said.
The new XPS is going to be ideal for creators, but even those who can’t afford a top-of-the-line machine should consider it at its introductory price, with one caveat: Get the larger power supply. The XPS is built to be modified and upgrade over time, and provided you have a nice, big power supply you should be able to keep it growing, along with your career, for years to come.
The New Alienware Auroras: Reasons to buy
The sleek, curved cases, EMI-shielded side panel and LED lighting make both of the new Alienware Aurora desktops look like sci-fi computers or, at the very least, gaming desktops. They’re specced out too, with the biggest difference being that the white model is an Intel machine, while the black one is powered by an AMD processor.
Here’s a quick look at how the two Alienware Aurora machines differ, starting with the AMD model, which supports up to an AMD Ryzen 9 processor and AMD B550 chipset, and is aptly named the Aurora Ryzen Edition R14. It supports the same video cards as the XPS, as well as an optional 750W power supply, up to 128GB DDR4 RAM and up to a 4TB PCIe SSD hard drive partitioned down the middle for boot and storage.
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The Intel model, the R13, has up to a 12th Generation Intel Core i9k, an Intel Z690 chipset, up to 128GB of DDR5 RAM, is PCIe 5 ready, has two Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 ports and optional liquid cooling.
Both models are similar in their overall design, which includes custom motherboards with power connectors positioned toward the boundary of the board to improve airflow and cable management. In addition, the new board also eliminates the need for a daughter board for the front I/O ports, further reducing wiring needs.
Both models offer marked improvements over previous generations of Alienware Aurora desktops, and the new design was engineered “from the inside out, [with] components laid out in perfect harmony enabling performance, easy upgrades and optimized acoustics,” Dell said.
Don’t expect to get off cheap, though: The Aurora R13 starts at $1,479.99, and the Aurora Ryzen Edition R14 starts at $1,249.99. Both are available today.
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