Dell Cancels Gaming PC Shipments to California and 5 Other States Due to Energy Efficiency Requirements

Computer giant Dell has reportedly canceled shipments of certain models of its Alienware line of gaming PCs to several states including California and Washington due to newly adopted energy efficiency requirements that took effect this month.

PC Gamer reports that computer manufacturer Dell is no longer shipping certain Alienware Aurora R12 and R10 gaming PCs to half a dozen U.S. states due to recently adopted energy efficiency requirements. The states include California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

When users attempt to configure the PCs in certain ways on Dell’s website, a warning message is displayed in red letters alerting buyers that their order will not be fulfilled if the delivery destination of the PC is in one of the affected states.

Content creator Marie Oakes noticed a smaller alert on Dell’s website and tweeted a screenshot:

The message states: “This product cannot be shipped to the states of California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, or Washington due to power consumption regulations adopted by those states. Any orders placed that are bound for those states will be canceled.”

The majority of the Alienware R12 and R10 configurations consume more power than local regulations allow. In a statement, Dell expanded on the shipment ban as its relates to power requirements in California, stating:

Yes, this was driven by the California Energy Commission (CEC) Tier 2 implementation that defined a mandatory energy efficiency standard for PCs – including desktops, AIOs and mobile gaming systems. This was put into effect on July 1, 2021. Select configurations of the Alienware Aurora R10 and R12 were the only impacted systems across Dell and Alienware.

In 2016, California became the first U.S state to approve energy efficiency standards for PCs and monitors. The state claimed at the time that the new standards would save 2.3 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. More regulations are planned and on December 9, 2021, Tier 2 requirements will expand to “computers with high-speed networking capability, multi-screen notebooks, notebooks with cyclical behavior, and monitors with high refresh rates.” Gamers are likely to be the most heavily affected by these requirements.