The handheld gaming PC space has grown substantially in the last few years. While Chinese PC makers like GPD arguably kicked things off 9 years ago, things really kicked off after Valve’s Steam Deck started shipping in 2022. In the time since then we’ve seen major PC makers including Asus, Lenovo, and MSI get in on the action.

But the first major PC maker to tease a handheld was Dell, which demonstrated an Alienware Concept UFO device during CES 2020 – two years before the Steam Deck launched. But despite showing off working prototypes five years ago, Dell has yet to launch a handheld gaming PC that customers can actually buy. And while the company isn’t ruling out releasing one in the future, Alienware chief Matt McGowan says the company is waiting for technology to improve before it’s ready to launch its own handheld.

During Dell’s CES preview event, McGown said handhelds are still just in their “beginning phases,” and that “there are deficiencies with that use case today with battery life…. and [screen] refresh rate,” among other things.

Of course, we’ve seen companies tackle these issues – Valve’s Steam Deck, for example, gets better battery life than some handhelds with higher-performance processors due to a combination of its lower-resolution display, energy-efficient processor, and operating system that’s optimized for handhelds.

Asus, meanwhile, took a different approach by cramming an enormous 80 Wh battery into the Asus ROG Ally X, giving the upgraded handheld gaming PC up to twice the battery life of the original ROG Ally, despite only weighing 70 grams (2.5 ounces) more.

McGowan tried to take credit for the handheld gaming PC boom, saying that he’s “excited that concept [UFO] inspired people to do stuff in those categories.” Given that GPD’s handhelds predated Concept UFO by several years, I’m not really sure how much credit Dell deserves for inspiring the innovation in this space.

McGowan says Alienware is still working on handhelds “in the labs,” suggesting that when the time is right, we could still see an Alienware-branded handheld. For now though, the company is focused on the opposite end of the spectrum – Alienware is showing off two new gaming laptops that will launch in the coming months, but the upcoming Alienware Are-51 notebooks are big, heavy, and powerful systems that feature big displays and an emphasis on performance rather than battery life. You can find some more details about those upcoming laptops below.

While it feels like Alienware may be late to the handheld game at this point, companies don’t always have to be first to make a splash. And the handheld gaming PC market might be new enough that there’s still room for competition.

Apple might be the most obvious precedent here: it’s a company that didn’t launch the first portable music player, smartphone, or tablet. But it’s become one of the biggest players in each of those spaces, arguably by making better versions of each than you could find up until that point.

Meanwhile some of the companies that have rushed to get into handhelds since the Steam Deck launched have ended up seeing their products flop. So it’s hard to blame Dell’s Alienware gaming division for taking time to develop something that’s at least competitive, and perhaps even superior to anything else on the market.

Alienware Area-51 gaming laptops

The new laptops include a 16 inch model sporting an updated design, and a new 18 inch laptop that supports up to 280 watts of power and has a new thermal system that includes a “cryo chamber” that pushes up to 37 percent more air. It also has a clear panel that lets you see RGB backlit fans through the bottom of the case.

Area-51 laptops are focused on performance rather than portability: the 16 inch model weighs about 6.5 pounds and the 18 inch version is even heavier… and when I asked Dell representatives what kind of battery life users could expect, they said that was kind of beside the point.

These are desktop replacements that are meant to be easier to move than a typical desktop gaming PC, not systems that are designed for gaming on battery power.

But Dell will expand its Alienware lineup later this year with new Aurora-branded laptops that may be available in different shapes and sizes and at lower price points.