Area-51M is a unique beast. At first glance, it looks like what we used to count on from gaming laptops: It’s an intimidating, hulking device that does not belong in the modern age of narrow notebooks. But what makes it unique is below the hood. Instead of slightly slower and energy-green cellular components, it features effective gear you’ll commonly locate in computers, like Intel’s octa-center i9-9900K CPU, NVIDIA’s complete-velocity RTX GPUs, and as much as 64GB of RAM. Best of all, you may improve those components, similar to a tower gaming rig.
What exactly do you call a system that looks like a PC but has capabilities like a laptop? The Area-51M practically defies type. Let’s take the philosophically easy approach for now: It’s a gaming computer like no other.
Alienware Area 51m
Pros
- The maximum upgradeable pc we’ve visible, but
- Fast computing device components
- Gorgeous new Alienware design
- All the ports you’ll ever need
- Glorious 17-inch 144Hz display screen
Cons
- Keyboard and trackpad experience dated
- Opening and upgrading components is a chunk of an ache
- Poor battery existence (not tremendously)
- Expensive compared to other current laptops
- Heavy (especially with big energy adapters)
Summary
The Area 51m is an honestly specific pc. It’s portable. However, it packs in all the power and most customizability you’d want from a gaming laptop. Still, while different current laptops are appreciably thinner, inexpensive, and nearly as effective, it’s a tough sell for most gamers. If something, it’s a testimony to Dell’s ingenuity. And for gamers who call for strength, especially else, it’s a strong desire.
The first factor you’ll word approximately the Area-51M is that it is very huge. It weighs eight. Five kilos, it’s up to 1.7 inches thick, and it has a massive 17.3-inch display screen. That seems practically unthinkable now that every PC maker is racing to make their gaming laptops slimmer and lighter. Even Dell is doing that with the Alienware M15 and M17. However, in comparison to the last extensive 17-inch Alienware notebook, which weighed 9.7 kilos, the Area-51M is appreciably more portable. Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that gamers were flawlessly satisfied with laptops that cost over 10 pounds.
The second issue is that the Area-51M looks absolutely unlike every other Alienware pocketbook. It’s step one towards a cleaner, more futuristic style. Instead of the pointy lines and competitive aesthetic Alienware used to depend upon, the Area-51M has some rounded edges. And rather than being draped in all black, there’s a lighter color alternative. Add a few LEDs around the rear ports, and you have something that looks more like a sci-fi prop than a gaming pocketbook.
There’s no question Dell is trying to announce with the Area-51M. It targets gamers who call for peak overall performance, especially elsewhere. Thanks to Intel’s computer Z390 chipset and the power-hungry, battery-killing additives it supports, that’s all. The Core i9-9900K is the quickest gaming chip Intel has ever produced. NVIDIA’s RTX 20-collection cards are the most effective GPUs nowadays, enabling new features like real-time retracing. It’s also worth noting that Dell isn’t always plugging in the slower Max-Q versions of those chips — they’re full velocity and overclockable. You can also throw in several separate drives, including fast M.2 SSDs, large hybrid drives, and a ramification of RAID zero configurations. Unsurprisingly, Area-51M gets the most effective 1. Five hours of battery existence is the least of Dell’s concerns.
The huge 17.3-inch display also packs in most of the features gamers call for, including a fast 144Hz refresh rate and skinny bezels. Additionally, G-SYNC support and Tobii eye monitoring are optionally available. Unfortunately, the screen is the simplest available with 1080p resolution. That’s not major trouble since many players are more curious about getting the best frame prices viable. But given how Dell positions this computer, I’d count on better-resolution presentations sooner or later.
That said, the Area-51 M’s 1080p display is no slouch. Everything was considered silky clean as body rates crept above one hundred fps in Overwatch, Forza Horizon 4, and Hitman 2. Colors popped off the screen, and it turned bright enough for me to seize fine info as I sped via snowy roads in Forza. Unfortunately, no HDR assist is slowly making its way to other gaming laptops.
Given all of its hardware, the Area-51M will not disappoint you, irrespective of what sport you throw at it. In the Hitman 2 benchmark, I noticed around 105 fps on common, with all the photographs settings on maximum. And in Forza Horizon 4, I saw a watch-watering 124 fps. With all that greater energy, you can additionally supersample many games to render them at a better decision, which makes them look even crisper in 1080p.
Alienware’s complicated cooling, which incorporates large enthusiasts that suck clean air from below and spit warmness out of the rear vents, managed to preserve the GPU underneath 83 levels Celsius. You have plenty of manipulating over the cooling profiles, so you can rev the fans up for longer play periods and make them almost silent while surfing the web. The Area-51M did a splendid job of handling all of that personally after choosing the standard profile. As you’d count on, this is a device that truly is constantly spewing out warm air so that it might heat small rooms. That will be a facet gain in the iciness, but it is not best for the summer season months.
The Area-51M is based on two big energy adapters to keep the entirety strolling. It’s worrying but unavoidable, considering AC chargers top at 330 watts. Having another charger is sincerely important to keep this gadget going, especially considering it’s counting on desktop parts. When you’re t gaming, a single adapter is enough to power the Area-51M. However, you may want each plugged in when taxing the GPU. Alienware isn’t the most effective business enterprise going this course; the ASUS ROG Mothership also relies on two power components. It’s honestly a physics problem as gaming laptops get more stressful.
To get to the Area-51 M’s internals, you should take off six Phillips-head screws on the bottom of the case. That gives you direct access to four RAM slots, the garage disk, and the battery. But you’ll dig even in addition to reach the CPU and GPU: That includes removing another layer of the case, the rear port hump, and the fan assembly, and disconnecting plenty of additives. It’s not something you’ll want to do regularly, and you will additionally be more cautious about reconnecting the entire. If this entire method feels like a headache, it is a sign that the Area-51M won’t be for you. Even if you’re used to upgrading computer PC additives, coping with the limited space of a pc case — irrespective of if it’s a huge one like the Area-51M — goes to be irritating.
Still, if you can pay for it and do not mind the demanding disassembly technique, the Area-51M gives you an unprecedented quantity of upgradability in a pc. If you’re tempted through a brand-new Intel chip in some years, you can throw that in. And even as the GPU rests in a proprietary Alienware module, the company says it will have new additives coming later this year. There’s no guarantee it will hold pace with anything NVIDIA releases shortly, even though you’re making a chunk of a chance there.
Unfortunately, the components you cannot improve on the Area-51M — the keyboard and the trackpad — want the most development. While the keyboard seems and feels exquisite initially, with RGB LEDs and 2.2mm of the journey, it feels flimsy while gaming. I’m also worried about its durability and lengthy period. When we first obtained the Area-51M, one of the keys flew off within 10 minutes of turning it on. Normally, I’d snap it and return it to the vicinity, but somehow, the plastic spring mechanism beneath becomes shattered. This is the kind of aspect Dell could fix underneath the warranty if it passed off to you. However, it’s nonetheless disheartening to see in such a costly system. And for the report, it later sent us another unit to test.
In the meantime, the trackpad feels enormously cramped for a present-day computer. We’re used to ultrathin notebooks giving us a ton of area to swipe around; however, with the Area-51M, my arms always felt boxed in. Alienware also opted for a vintage-school two-button mechanism in preference to letting you click into the trackpad. Using it made me experience like I was transported back in time. Of course, gamers could count on mice maximum of the time, but it might have been first-class to see Dell show some innovation with its layout. Even moving over the trackpad from the slimmer Alienware M15 might have been an improvement.
Given its massive length, Alienware could cram in just about every port you would want. There are three USB kind-A ports across the sides, a single USB-C Thunderbolt 3 connection, and HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet, headphone, and microphone ports. And, of course, there may be the proprietary Alienware Graphics Amplifier connection, which helps you to plug inside the company’s external GPU adapter for even more energy. That seems like overkill for a machine that already packs in a laptop’s well-worth overall performance, but I’m sure pictures-hungry gamers out there will take advantage of it.
After spending numerous days with the Area 51 M, I’m awestruck and a bit upset. Sure, it’s tremendously effective and upgradable. However, I’d be hard-pressed to propose it to most game enthusiasts. Given its size and rate — beginning at $1,950 but configurable to over $five 000 — most game enthusiasts might be higher off with any of the notebooks that are less than 5 kilos that we’ve seen over the last year, just like the ASUS Zephyrus series, the Gigabyte Aero 15 and the MSI GS65 Stealth Thin. They also can double as first-rate productivity machines for purchasing work done in the past, and a few even have first-rate battery existence. Most importantly, they’ll give you maximum performance without crushing your lower back and pockets.
Alienware has clarified one thing with the Area-51M: It’s doing something no person else does. So, for a certain subset of game enthusiasts — like professional streamers or eSports players who need to face out from the percent — it probably does not rely on lighter and cheaper alternatives accessible. They need an effective new laptop with the center of a desktop, and they’ll pay for something it takes to have it. The Area-51M might not be the wisest buy, but it’s truely one of the wildest selections these days.
Product specifications
CPU AND GRAPHICS
Intel 8th-technology and ninth-technology Core i7, i9
NVIDIA RTX 2060, 2080
DISPLAY
17.3-inch LCD
1080p, 144Hz
NVIDIA G-SYNC
MEMORY AND STORAGE
8-64GB DDR4 RAM
128GB-2TB NVMe PCIe SSD
Hybrid Drive optionally available
PORTS
3 x USB three.0 Type-A
1 x USB-C Thunderbolt 3
1 x 2.5Gbps Ethernet
1 x HDMI
1x DisplayPort
1 x three.5mm audio/mic jack
1 x international headset port
SIZE AND WEIGHT
15.85 × 12.56 × 1-1.7 inches
8. Five kilos
Video
Camera: Brian Oh
Editor: Liviu Oprescu
Script: Devindra Hardawar
Script editor: Terrence O’BrienHost: Devindra Hardawar
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