The new Alienware Aurora R16 is good, but you still can’t upgrade the motherboard

It's 2023, use of proprietary motherboards needs to stop

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Dell has just launched a new Prebuilt PC, the Alienware Aurora R16. Reviewers state that this represents a vast improvement over the past standards of Alienware prebuilt – and it comes in a far smaller form factor. More performance, less plastic. However, The Alienware Aura R16 might be good, but sadly you still can’t upgrade the motherboard.

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Dell has created a great system here, but the shy away from using off-the-shelf parts hurts it.

Dell isn’t the only prebuilt manufacturer to do this, there are still a plethora of manufacturers out there that build systems with proprietary parts like this. But what do we mean by proprietary?

Proprietary means “relating to an owner, or ownership” but in this context, it’s used to point towards a part that the manufacturer has custom-made specifically, so only an identical replacement part will be compatible with it.

In the case of the Alienware Aurora R16, it seems the motherboard, and very specifically, the case mounting solution are proprietary.

At first glance, it does look like the motherboard standoff locations are similar to a standard Micro-ATX motherboard. We reached out to Dell for comment regarding this:

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Why do Prebuilt Manufacturers use proprietary parts?

There are a number of reasons why a Prebuilt manufacturer such as Dell might want to use proprietary parts in its systems. Please note that this is just our opinion of why some manufacturers choose to use proprietary parts.

Often it’s the motherboard or chassis that end up using a custom design, and generally speaking, the primary motivation is to build something that specifically conforms to an over-arching design principle. Say, a particularly unique case design or layout, that requires a custom PCB design for the motherboard to fit. Another, could potentially be, to keep the user warranty unaffected. After all, if you can’t upgrade the motherboard with one off-the-shelf, you’re less likely to tinker with the internals over a longer period. Which could potentially cause damage to the system, or its components. The cynical among us could probably think of a few other reasons too, but we’ll leave that with you.

Another reason could simply be compatibility, affordability, and efficiency, as we can see on this photo of the motherboard from WccfTech, the motherboard is a very odd shape and seems to be quite bare bones in contrast to some of the more flagship and mid-range mobos out there.

One could argue that this is a clever use of space, as the motherboard itself appears to have the height of a micro-ATX, but the length of an EATX – With a little piece of PCB board jutting out on the right side.

If we take a look at the motherboard installed in the case of the Aurora R16, we can see that the motherboard fills the space nicely. After all, you can pack more features on a larger board.

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What does a proprietary motherboard mean to consumers?

In essence, it means that your PC will be locked into that current generation of processor and motherboard until it meets its inevitable end. You also won’t sadly be able to replace the motherboard if it fails, unless you fancy sending it off to Dell for a fee (outside of warranty).

But what’s the big deal? “I can just whack a new GPU and PSU in right?” Well, the answer is… “possibly”, as the power supply also looks to be somewhat proprietary as well, likely in part to fit in the smaller chassis. At first glance, the R16 is ideal for those who just want a full pre-built system that you don’t have to think about. But if you’re a keen builder, or don’t mind doing the odd upgrade, it may be a smarter move to look elsewhere, for a system that has a bit more flexibility when it comes to upgrade paths. In our opinion, there’s little to no reason to do all of this, other than space-saving.

This proprietary business needs to stop.