Alienware Aurora R15 Review: Alienware is known for its distinctive style and is one of the few mainstream brands that makes pre-built PCs. The brand has built a solid reputation over the years and offers dependable gaming systems and laptops to the masses—but they come at a premium price.
Here—in this review of the Alienware Aurora R15—I will test the system’s gaming capabilities, assess its practicality for the whopping Rs 5,57,990 price tag, and identify its pros and cons.
Alienware Aurora R15 Review: What’s Cool
As with all Alienware products, the Alienware Aurora R15’s unique futuristic space-like aesthetic is a major selling point. It looks and feels like something out of a science fiction film, and would be a great addition to any gamer’s setup. The build quality is also excellent, with high-quality plastics and scratch-resistant glass on the side.
The Aurora R15 is also undoubtedly a powerful machine, with an Intel Core i9 13900KF processor with 24 cores and 32 threads, an NVIDIA RTX 4090 GPU with 24GB of VRAM, and 32GB of DDR5 RAM. It can handle anything you throw at it—from multi-layered 4K editing using footage straight from a cinema camera to playing Apex Legends at the highest possible settings.
I was able to easily achieve frame rates of up to 400 fps in Apex Legends with maxed out settings at 1440p, and even The Last of Us Part I, which is quite demanding on PC, was rendered at nearly 220 fps with everything maxed out. In fact, the initial shader compilation took just 2 minutes, which took me nearly 15 minutes on my own Ryzen 5 3500 and RTX 2070 Super-powered system.
I am not a fan of synthetic benchmarks, but I ran the Geekbench 6 test and got impressive scores of 18337 in multi-core and 2798 in single-core. In 3D Mark Port Royal test, the Aurora R15 returned a score of 23766 points.
I even did a lot of video editing on the system, and using Adobe Premiere Pro was a pleasure. The timelines were smooth despite the number of layers being edited. And, rendering took almost no time at all. It’s safe to say that I’ve been spoiled by the render times and now—whenever I edit on my own PC—the difference is just massive.
The Aurora R15 is also notable for its quiet operation under load. The fans are barely audible, which means that the system does not throttle and remains cool. This is likely due to Alienware’s Cryo-Tech cooler, which is only available in the top-spec models of the Aurora R15, and our unit had it as well.
The device has a good selection of I/O ports, including two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 port with PowerShare, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port with PowerShare, two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C port. This is a decent selection of ports, in my opinion.
Alienware Aurora R15 Review: What’s Not Cool
Although I praised the design in the pros section, I am not a fan of the side panel’s design. The bottom half of the side panel, which has ventilation holes, tends to block the view of the RTX 4090 inside. And let’s be honest, if I’m paying close to Rs 6 lakhs, I need to be able to see my RTX 4090. However, other than that, I quite like the design of the Aurora R15, with its subtle curves and unique shape. The RGBs, as expected, are customizable and can be changed to your liking.
The storage capacity of the laptop could have been better. The unit I tested had only a 512GB M.2 SSD, which is not enough storage space for most people, as it can be filled up with just 2-3 modern games. In my opinion, Dell should have included at least 1TB of SSD storage as the standard configuration.
Moreover, the price is also on the higher end of the spectrum. The unit we reviewed—with an Intel i9 13900KF, 512GB NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage), and the RTX 4090—costs Rs 5,57,990. While this is a significant sum of money for a truly high-end PC—to get similar performance from a custom build—you may not need to spend close to Rs 6 lakh. Instead, you could comfortably build a system with similar performance for under Rs 4.5 lakh.
The Alienware Aurora R15’s custom motherboard is one caveat that cannot be overlooked. This limits the system’s future upgradability, which should not have been an issue in the first place. However, if you are not interested in upgrading and simply want to use the system as is, the R15 is a capable machine.
Verdict: Should You Buy One?
To put it simply, if you are looking for a high-end machine that can run all games, edit multiple layers of 4K video, and even RAW, and you don’t want to build your own PC—the Alienware Aurora R15 is a capable system that is overkill for many but will last you a long time. However, if you want a more customizable system with better upgradability, you should look elsewhere.
The Alienware Aurora R15 is a high-end pre-built PC that costs Rs 5,57,000. It is reliable—and does not require the initial troubleshooting that many people fear with custom PCs. If you are willing to pay a premium for these reasons—the Aurora R15 is a good option.