Alienware and 100 esports athletes worked together to create the brand's first competitive gaming peripherals

What you need to know

• Alienware just unveiled its first competitive gaming peripherals, the Alienware Pro Wireless Mouse and Alienware Pro Wireless Keyboard.
• The company partnered with 100 esports athletes to receive feedback on its new gaming accessories.
• The Alienware Pro Mouse has a 4KHz (02.4ms response time) polling rate when connected wirelessly and an 8KHz (0.0125ms) polling rate through a wired connection.
• The Alienware Pro Keyboard has a 75% design, three modes of connectivity, and a 1KHz polling rate.
• Both new peripherals will launch on January 11, 2024, with the Alienware Pro Mouse costing $149.99 and the Alienware Pro Wireless Keyboard costing $199.99.

Alienware entered the competitive gaming peripheral scene this week at CES 2024 with the announcement of the Alienware Pro Wireless Mouse and Alienware Pro Wireless Keyboard. The wireless accessory will launch later this week on January 11, 2024, with the mouse costing $149.99 and the keyboard costing $199.99.

Alienware worked with over 100 esports athletes to develop its Alienware Pro Wireless Mouse and Alienware Pro Wireless Keyboard. Team Liquid was among the esports athletes to work with Alienware to shape the company's new mouse and keyboard. We'll have to see real-world usage, of course, but the Alienware Pro Wireless Mouse could be one of the best gaming mice of the year.

Both the Alienware Pro Wireless Mouse and Alienware Pro Wireless Keyboard can be managed through Alienware Command Center 6.1. that software lets you change game-specific profiles, themes, AlienFX lighting, and macros.

A gaming mouse with high polling rate and DPI

The Alienware Pro Mouse has a rounded symmetrical design that works with a variety of grip types, such as palm, claw, and fingertip. I admit that I've never held a mouse like the image above, but I can see how it could provide benefits, particularly if you had long nails.

Alienware focused on polling rate when designing the Alienware Pro Mouse. The peripheral has a 4KHz (02.4ms response time) polling rate when connected wirelessly and an 8KHz (0.0125ms) polling rate through a wired connection.

Polling rate is a bit like refresh rate on a monitor. The term refers to how frequently a mouse tells a computer the position of that mouse. Alienware pointed out that many gaming mice have polling rates of 1KHz, meaning the Alienware Pro Mouse should beat many of its competitors in that category.

A customizable RGB keyboard

The Alienware Pro Keyboard is a 75% keyboard with Alienware Linear Mechanical Switches. Those switches have a 40g actuation force, which the company claims is the ideal amount of force required for registering inputs. If you don't like those switches, the keyboard supports hot-swapping to others, including most 5-pin and 3-pin designs.

The RGB lighting of the Alienware Pro Keyboard shines through, thanks to the transparent switches and transparent light-guides. 

The keyboard has low-friction POM (polyoxymethylene) material on its stem and two layers of silicon dampening to reduce echoing. Alienware promises a "deep tone." 

The keyboard can get up to 798 hours of batter life when using a 2.4Ghz connection and having RGB lighting disabled. Having RGB lights at 50% will shorten lifespan to 72 hours. The Alienware Pro Keyboard also supports connection through Bluetooth as well as a wired connection through USB-C.