Love or hate the prebuilt scene, Alienware's design, with hints of spaceships and future tech have always stood out, bringing a bit of sci-fi to the traditional black boxes you can grab off of a store shelf. With the Alienware Aurora R16 ($1,749.99 to start, $1,899 as tested), Dell's gaming arm has opted for a more conservative — albeit familiar — approach, keeping the RGB lighting but moving towards a more compact black mid-tower.
But looks are only skin deep. While the redesign changes airflow a bit and makes the R16 easier to fit on your desk, the internal design is still largely the same as past Alienwares, limiting upgrade opportunities if you're using the desktop to get into the PC building hobby.
The specs aren't bad for the price (in the land of prebuilts, anyway, and you could easily spend far more for similar specs, especially if you want to jump up a level in terms of graphics. We'll see how Alienware handles that as more configurations are released.
If you're an Alienware loyalist or want a small mid-tower, this offering will fit for those who prefer to buy rather than build. It has plenty of ports and the difference in size is noticeable.
