Customer Ratings & Reviews

For such a "great" computer I had to completely reset this one within a month of purchasing. No reason. Just decided it wouldn't restart properly and ended up in a loop until i reset everything. Kept most files but had to reinstall ALL software. I've had other computers with fewer and smaller issues in their entire lifetime. So, now that I've reinstalled literally everything, and probably still need to add some things I missed, I give BestBuy's Alienware Aurora a big thumbs down.

Since I've purchased this computer, the computer occasionally freezes, with no mouse movement/input. I can't sign out or the computer will be nonresponsive. I was going to return it, but it wasn't worth the hassle at the time. Only a couple months or so over return deadline. Save yourself the trouble. I had much better luck with HP computers in the past. May be a Best Buy thing, I don't know. Perhaps purchase directly from dell. Might have better luck.

I bought this computer to run Avid Media Composer during the quarantine, but never got the chance to test drive it as the beast has a USB 3.2 port but no Thunderbolt compatibility, meaning the 33TB Thunderbay drive I got from work can not be read. Apparently there is a Dell Thunderbolt Card but it will take a month to ship. As soon as Best Buy opens its brick and mortar shops, I will be showing up to return this.

3rd time I sat down to play some games the A9 shutdown and seems to have a dead power supply. Was going to do some trouble shoot with Dell but it dying that soon I will be returning to bestbuy. FYI I am a Network admin by trade and building gaming pcs for 20+ years. I am very pro Dell but this has been a huge disappointment, I'm used to very stable business class Workstations and servers.

This is the fastest and most powerful system I have ever used. Hands down. Alienware loaded this system up spec-wise with recent top-tier components, and it shows. After a typical set-up process but a lengthier than expected update cycle, I threw quite a bit at the machine. I am impressed with the results. I was getting great frame rates (lots and lots of frames lol) in nearly everything I played (a mix of older and newer titles) at 1440p resolution, not to mention 1080p. While I am no videographer, I messed around with some edits and renders were noticeably quicker. Not to be so repetitive, but I also definitely saw the best bench scores I have ever personally recorded. Beyond the raw power on the GPU side, the rest of the machine is similarly fitted out. The CPU blazes, there is plenty of RAM and the dual hard drives are quick and spacious (although I may bump up the HDD) when and where needed. There is great I/O and the wireless and bluetooth are top spec. All in all, the hardware is fantastic. Not that they are common these days, but take note there is no DVD/CD drive. For all that I do like about the system, I just don’t like the aesthetics here. I prefer a more subdued look and color scheme. Further, I like the same for the inside of the case. That said, look is a personal thing, so I am sure many will appreciate it. In the end, this is very good system and I quite pleased with the performance, component choices and value. While building and tinkering on your own can be more fun, anyone looking for quality and performance at a good price without any of the hassle would do well with this machine.

Loud fans, crappy cpu, barely upgradable. The orice is too high.

Even though friends kept telling me how much better an Alien desktop is I guess I just got used to the inconveniences of playing games on a regular desktop. But after having the Alienware Aurora for a little less than a week now I can say it is a night and day difference: the speed achieved at the highest settings is enough to justify the Alien price tag, but add to that the absolutely amazing graphics and its a no brainer, let alone the power to simultaneously run multiple background programs and browser windows and its a win win every time ! The only faults I can find thus far is its larger size & shape (my old desktop sat flat on its side on my desk with my monitor on top of it, now the Alienware desktop has to go under my desk), and that it doesn't have a DVD/CD drive. All in all this Alienware Aurora is the nicest computer I've ever had, with more power and memory than I could ever need. Now I'll have to get a better monitor and keyboard. L.O.L.

Audio ports don't work. Not getting any sound out of this device. No help available online. Tried updating all drivers and reinstalling them but to no avail. I bought a prebuilt system so that I could avoid these issues and get good support. Thoroughly dissapointed.

The Alienware Gaming Desktop is exactly what my avid 13 year old gaming teenager wanted for his gaming needs. He is very happy with the amount of storage this computer has which allows for more games and apps without taking up all the storage space. He plays Fortnite, Minecraft, Portal 1-2 and Titanfall 2 mostly and has no storage or lag issues with the Alienware Desktop. It has enough RAM to play higher quality games with no lag or the need to restart after freezing like with his old computer. The graphics are amazing and can go up to 112 FPS and there is no screen tearing. It has fast start up after you shut it down which is nice. The apps and games also open very quickly. The unit itself is a compact PC case with great air intake and output. The RGB on the case is vibrant and matches perfectly with his light up headset. There are a lot of USB ports so you can use anything that has a USB with ease. Overall, he is very happy with the Alienware Gaming Desktop and highly recommends it for gamers!

I am coming from a PS4 to this Alienware Aurora R9 and man let me tell you it's a different world! As a new PC gamer, I don't know much about graphic cards and powerful specs, but I have always heard that Alienware computers were among the best for gaming, particularly for people like me who did not know where to event start to build one. My only experience has been the PS4 Pro, and honestly that graphics on Modern Warfare with this PC just blow the PS4 Pro out of the water (as expected!). I decided to pair this with the new 27in Alienware monitor and it's honestly the perfect combination. I apologize that I can't go into detail on the specs and power of this machine because I am new to this PC world, but all in all I am extremely content with the graphics, speed, and appearance of this little machine.

Best buy gets computers that you can not upgrade. they soldered the processor and ram to the board and locked the PCI-E expansions. This is not the right model, they knowingly bought the models that do this on purpose, stay clear. Video card was also defective, showing purple screen when booted.

Seems like Alienware is just for the namesake. This had been by far the worst pc ever. For some unknown reason it the system gets stuck and it is quite frustrating when you are playing online and the system just freezes in between and this happens at least twice every hour.

Had the computer 4 week now I'm waiting for at least 4 week to come back from Best Buy Repair facilitie. I think either the graphics card went or the mother board. I was worried the the cooling (fans only) were not enough . Should have went with liquid cooling.

As far as computers go...its not a terrible user experience, but it overheats and crashes multiple times a day with minimal strain. Had to send it in for support a few times.

Received the wrong model. I red the specs on outer box, it was ok but when i came home, overseas it was a different model. Now sending it back is very costy. Don’t know what to do

I am hoping Best Buy will make this purchase right for me. I have not had any luck with this computer. This computer needs to be put to rest. It is nothing but problems.

This is a great computer for the price in my opinion. I used to build all my PC's from parts I'd pick myself. This time around I didn't have the time. Sometimes when you build your own you have to do a little troubleshooting.. things don't always work perfectly first try etc. Anyway, I saw this computer at the local Best Buy (and it was on sale) and figured I'd give it a try. The sales guy said I could bring it back if I wasn't happy with it. Nothing to lose. The computer isn't top of the line but it's still high-end. Good amount of RAM. A decent size SSD for the OS. A 1TB spinning disk for less important data. There are two additional 2.5 inch drive bays with power as well. You will need to supply the SATA cables. Performance is great which is mainly due to the RTX 2080 Super as well as the CPU which will throttle itself up and down based on demand. There is a highspeed USB-C port in the front in case you want to plug in some VR goggles. The only negative is the fan noise. This is a 100% air cooled system. This is probably a cost saving measure. If you put a big load on the system the fans throttle up. Eventually it can sound like a small hair dryer blowing. The main culprit is the fan in the front of the case. Noisy little thing. I might look into a less noisy fan or maybe getting the liquid cooled CPU Cooler from Dell later. I tend to play games with headphones so to be honest I don't hear the fans unless I take the headphones off.. ha ha. Overall a good computer.. but you have to be OK with the fans kicking on if you play games.

This computer packs a surprising punch for its size. I've always been skeptical about prebuilt gaming computers such as this one, but Dell did not disappoint. The initial setup was straightforward, and I didn't run into any snags. Installing my game launchers such as Steam, Origin, Epic, Uplay, etc. went pretty much without a hitch. I'm surprised how smooth the computer runs most of my games at 3840x2160 (4K) with the graphics options maxed out or nearly maxed out on many of my games. The case design is interesting and is a smaller footprint than I have personally seen with Alienware cases. As noted in other places, the fans tend to kick into overdrive to keep everything cooled off in the case. I have applied the recommended BIOS update to deal with this, but they still get loud sometimes. I have an Oculus Rift (CV1) that ran nothing short of flawless on the Aurora R9, whether through the Oculus app or through SteamVR. I apologize that I haven't provided benchmarking scores, but there are enough of them floating around already. I was very impressed by the Aurora R9, and I normally build my own gaming PCs. This computer is now my main computer and I've been gutting my prior gaming build for RAM and HDDs to put into this (Totals now: 48GB RAM, 6TB HDD). I wish the computer would've put a larger HDD in this to start with, as I filled the 1TB drive in about a day of game downloading and only had a dozen or so titles installed. If you have the means, this is what to buy. It's sufficiently fast enough for just about anything you could throw at it.

I had to replace my old desktop and exchanged it for this but it didnt have the components I wanted so I took it back.

I will never buy another Alienware again. Dell has no idea how to build one or how to service it.