Best budget gaming laptop deal today: Alienware Aurora 16 5060 is down to just $1,100

Dell’s Black Friday in July sale has knocked the price of an Alienware 16 laptop down to $1,099.99, and while it’s not the perfect machine, it’s a decent price for a reasonably affordable mid-range gaming setup.

This one comes with an RTX 5060, specifically the 8GB version, which isn’t the most future-proof GPU in the world. When James reviewed it, he wasn’t exactly wowed, calling it a modest upgrade at best. But things have settled a bit since launch. Driver issues have calmed down, and performance has been more stable across the board.

To get the deal, you’ll need to configure the laptop with an Intel Core 7 processor (the Core 9 version isn’t discounted), Windows 11 Home, the 8GB RTX 5060, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and 1TB of M.2 NVMe storage. That’s a fairly balanced spec sheet for the price.

The 16-inch display runs at 120Hz, which is great for fast-paced games, and there are plenty of ports — two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, two USB-C ports (one with Power Delivery), HDMI 2.1, and even Ethernet. Most of them are on the back, which makes desk cable management that little bit less annoying.

It’s not the flashiest setup, but if you’re after a dependable gaming laptop without burning through your savings, this isn’t a bad shout, so long as you’re okay with the 8GB VRAM ceiling.

Still feeling unsure? There’s a $1,100 discount on an Alienware x16 R2 with an RTX 4080 — a stronger GPU with 12GB of GDDR6. Or, if money’s no object, you can save $450 on an Alienware 18 with an RTX 5080 and 16GB of GDDR7, though that’ll set you back nearly $3,000.

As James put it: “The RTX 5060 Ti is a good’un. It’s even been a few weeks since I’ve experienced any driver problems on my RTX 50 testing cards. Yay?” Not exactly glowing praise, but not a dealbreaker either.