Alienware made an "entry-level" gaming laptop with RTX 5050 graphics — but this 15-inch PC needs more than NVIDIA's clever upscaling tech to offset its downsides.

An Alienware 15 laptop sits on a cloth surface with its display showing a blue landscape wallpaper and the Alienware head logo. The background behind the laptop features glowing blue sci‑fi scenery.

An entry-level Alienware PC almost sounds like a contradiction; it's long been the all-out brand you could choose when money isn't a concern, and you'd rather have a guarantee your games will run. So, does the Alienware 15 need to exist, or is it just competing with the tantalizingly new category of high-end gaming handhelds?

Including NVIDIA's RTX 5050 graphics certainly piqued my interest, because until now, I've never seen what this low-end laptop GPU can actually do. Is it worth picking the 50 Series chip for the benefit of cutting-edge DLSS upscaling, or is it too weak to be worth your time? I had so many questions, and these are the conclusions I reached from my testing for this review.