Alienware 16 Aurora gaming laptop: an unfortunate undocumented surprise that sets it apart from the more expensive 16X

Dell doesn’t explicitly state this in its official specifications, but the effect of plumes and image smearing is much stronger on the younger Alienware 16 Aurora model. This difference is noticeable due to the slower performance of the display – the transition between black and white and between shades of gray.

Model Alienware 16 Aurora is positioned as a more affordable version of the mid-range Alienware 16X Aurora. Along with an obvious decrease in performance due to the use of more affordable components, the Aurora version also has a simplified display:

• lower native refresh rate;
• less bright backlighting;
• narrower color gamut;
• lack of support for Nvidia G-Sync (Dell clearly states this on the product pages).

However, the manufacturer does not mention that visual artifacts such as loops are also more noticeable here.

Tests of display response time

The oscillographic graphs confirm the difference between the two models. The 16X Aurora has a response time of:

• black-to-white transition — 4.6 ms;
• gray-to-gray transition (rising) — 1.8 ms.

Instead, the results of the 16 Aurora are much worse:

• black-to-white transition — 14 ms;
• gray-to-gray transition — 23 ms.

For comparison, most gaming monitors declare a response time of 5 ms or less, so the weaker 16 Aurora display creates much more noticeable loops during gaming.

Impressions of the games

Subjectively, the gameplay on the Alienware 16 Aurora remains quite smooth thanks to the 120 Hz refresh rate. This feels good when you set the graphics settings to low, which allows the laptop to keep a stable frame rate. However, the additional smearing becomes noticeable to the naked eye, especially in dynamic shooters with sharp camera movements like Overwatch 2.

For the target audience, which is mostly casual players, this problem will not be critical, because smearing does not interfere with the game’s perception to the point of distraction. Still, the quality of the user experience is significantly reduced.

Source: notebookcheck