Alienware Area 51m In-Depth Review – One of the greatest gaming laptops out there!

Massive and extreme performance – these are the words my mind associates with Alienware laptops for over 15 years. Unfortunately, I have not had the chance to get hold of such an alien for many, many years, but we just picked one up in tests, and I can not lie to you that my hands didn’t shake when I unpacked it. I didn’t know what it looked like, nor what model I received, but I knew one thing: that we must test the king, to see if the legendary performance is still in his blue blood, if he is at still peak glory. Because there have been many tough competitors in recent years. Besides traditional enemies such as ASUS ROG, MSI, Acer Predator, others like Clevo or Eurocom have also emerged, offering even more upgradable solutions. Does veteran Alienware keep up with the new fighters? Is this Alienware Area 51 the most powerful laptop in the world?

First contact with the extraterrestrial: a story from the restricted Area 51

Dell has renewed its gaming laptop range in 2019 with two models: the 17th (R5) right descendant, which is and remains a respectable desktop replacement, and a slim model, a gaming ultrabook (if you’ll allow such a reference to this 17 sub-3Kg gaming laptop for those who are looking for more portability). Well, my close encounter of the 3rd kind was with the first model, Area-51m, the desktop replacement. The Battleship. But surprise surprise! What evolution! As a parenthesis, this little green alien is the ancestor of the test piece on our test bench; the first Alienware Area 51-M and was born in 2002, 17 years ago!

Hardware Features

But before I analyze the new Alienware design line, I will stop on the hardware. Because as I said at the beginning, Alienware DNA has been and will remain about extreme performance. The moment we unpack the new gaming laptop and found two large, powerful 240W and 180W chargers, I realized that there was a little more than expected under the hood of the beast. What kind of force of nature needs this power delivery?

Desktop replacement

In a world where more and more processors, video cards, memories, SSDs, WiFi modules, etc. to motherboards, Alienware comes with the absolute challenge: how about having a laptop as portable (if you have the backpack and back ready for almost 4Kg, more precisely 3.87Kg) and have the processor and graphics card be upgradeable in the future?

CPU – Up to Intel Core i7 desktop 9900K!

What about an Intel Core i7-9700K desktop processor with 8 cores, up to 4.9GHz with the Turbo Boost and a 95W TDP (the model we tested). What? That’s not enough? For the most demanding of you, the Intel Core i9-9900K desktop CPU is also available!

Video card – up to RTX 2080 8GB GDDR6

Video card? No less impressive. Area-51m can be configured with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 or 2080 8GB GDDR6. No, not RTX Max-Q versions, but some very-close-to-PC versions: for example, the Area-51m test model we have is powered by the RTX 2070 Laptop. Architecturally, RTX 2070 Laptop is identical to the older RTX 2070 desktop. The only difference applies to work frequencies, of course – in order to keep the huge TDP of the video card in check. If the RTX 2070 desktop model has a 175W TDP, the GTX 2070 Mobile (or Laptop) notebook version has 115W, a pretty big difference. Work rates have been lowered from 1410 MHz to 1215 MHz for the base clock, and from 1620 MHz to 1440 MHz for the boost clock. If you ask me, the 60W in TDP, while lowering frequencies by approx. 200 MHz which led to a 15% decrease in performance in games is a fairly acceptable trade-off.

The video card and processor can be upgraded

Similar to the processor, the graphics card can be changed, that is, upgraded, as it’s not soldered to the motherboard. No, it is not an MXM (Mobile PCI Express Module) module, as many others have tried before (and honestly, often failed, due to the many revisions that MXM has gone through with newer implementations of GPUs). Dell has the strength (and ambition) to try its luck with a new proprietary format, you guessed it: DGFF (Dell Graphics Form Factor). Only two issues arise: the first is that neither NVIDIA nor AMD can disclose to Dell or any other partner what future plans they have, what roadmap they have, so that Dell engineers can guarantee that this format will be supported in the future and that it will be possible to integrate a graphical chip under the same conditions to suit both the physical and electrical aspects of the TDP. And the second problem: Although I’ve watched multiple videos on how to upgrade the CPU or video card, I don’t think there will be many who are going to be doing this on their own – a Dell authorized repair shop can handle this quite complex process. But hardcore fans will not be scared of these scenarios, nothing will stand in the way of absolute happiness, will there?

Memory, SSD, and HDD

Before skipping onwards to design, I would point out that the memory is quite easy to upgrade: from 16GB (2 pre-installed Microns, 8GB DDR4 2666 running CL17 to 2400MHz) up to a maximum of 64GB. There are four SO-DIMM slots, more than enough for any respectable PC in 2019 and even after. The 512 GB SSD is developed by SK Hynix, PC400 NVMe. Although it is an extremely fast SSD, it only gets the silver medal after the incredible SSME NVME Samsung 1TB, PM981 – we admit the comparison is not the fairest, there are always great differences between a 1TB SSD and a 512GB one, but not that big.

The HDD… when I saw 5400rpm in the specs, I scratched my head. Just 5400RPM at the price of this laptop? I came back when I saw that it was a FireCuda SSHD, which Seagate praised as “The Fastest PC Hard Drive.” All of these hybrid hard drives come with 8GB of NAND flash memory, which makes the old HDD become extremely fast when it comes to playing games, applications, or OS loading times.

Design and construction

The Alienware Area-51m is available in two chromatic options: the traditional version, classic black “The Dark Side of the Moon” and the more modern, futuristic “Lunar Light”. You have to love these people, big fans of The X-Files in particular and the SF in general, because they bestowed names so popular with SF fans: Area 51, Hangar 18 (maybe some of you remember Aurora, etc. – even plain old black and white sounds original, coming from the minds of Alienware engineers…

I’m glad I had the opportunity to play with the white model, the white / black contrast, combined with the neon style lighting in the unmistakable Tron (The Movie) style that instantly projects you into the atmosphere of a Sci-Fi world. Over the years, Alienware designers and engineers have come up with many nasty ideas, colors, and courageous shapes, but the current model is really a major step. You can’t not like the design of the new Area-51m, the so-harmonious combination of straight lines with rounded edges for maximum visual effect.

The chassis is made of magnesium, very solid, well-built. But what attracted my immediate attention was the rubberized material with which it is wrapped, incredibly pleasant to the touch … I do not know how this material will behave in time, but it is clear that it deserves all the attention.

Keyboard, touchpad, and lighting

The keyboard is … .different. The opposite of chiclet keyboards (isolated, well-spaced keys) in all ways, in shape, ergonomics, functionality, so initially I thought I’d be harder to get used to it. How wrong I was! The number of misspelled words after a week was lower other keyboards I’ve been playing in the past few months. The keys have a very long stroke of 2.2mm and a well-defined trigger bump, I can even say that it’s a bit hard to press down the keys: the push force required to take the command is 70g … but that gives this keyboard its charm, every push will be a real pleasure.

In the evening, you will discover a new side to the keyboard: apart from the incredible RGB illumination, when you press a key, it will illuminate (specifically, the side of the key), because the long stroke allows the illumination under the keys to light up the depressed key. The effect is as a ripple if you have a keyboard with RGB effects. The touchpad … is semi-transparent, has LEDs underneath and illuminates when you use it (retro-illuminated). The effect was so nice that it was the first thing I turned off.

I might be getting old… I like illumination but up to a point. To wrap up the keypad on a positive note, the keys are generously sized (well, except the directional keys, but not so much as to become a problem). The Numpad is full-sized, and we also have a set of keys reserved for macro commands, a left column, and a top-right row in the Numpad area.

17.3-inch, 144Hz, Full HD screen

I have seen many complain that the panel is just Full-HD and that a 2K or 4K panel would be better suited. Let’s set up my opinion about 4K resolution on 17″ of screen: stupidity, just a marketing hook to bait someone who might even be looking for an 8K TV right about now. I still do not feel the need for more than 1080p on a diagonal of 17.3″. I prefer a good framerate. Like, 144Hz refresh rate, for example.

The fourth generation of B173HAN panels from AUO (panel code: AUO409D) offers just about everything a gamer wants: anti-glare screen (no one wants mirrors in 2019), fast, high refresh rate, good response time – or as good as an IPS panel can be (7ms gtg in this model). It is an increasingly popular panel, for example, used by ASUS in their ROG Strix Scar II GL704GM. The brightness is good, 300cd/m2. The color space offers 72% NTSC coverage. Also, I liked the thin bezels, with Alienware joining the 21st century, doing away with the thick old-school bezels found on its predecessor, the Alienware 17 R5.

Performance and overclocking, noise and temperatures

I will address these four points at the same time because they are strictly related to each other. Everything runs off of the Alienware Command Center. We have a very extensive set of features, the most complex management application I’ve ever encountered on a notebook.

From the main menu, we can choose the predefined settings as well as our own Overclocking profiles. Default Overclock is OFF, and for most of the time, for most of you (and when I say most, I mean 99%), it will stay OFF, because of the strong pair of the Intel Core i7-9700K (full power) desktop processor and NVIDIA RTX 2070 Laptop Video Card will deal with any possible game at Ultra settings.

The Thermal Balanced mode is all you would want: you will not have noise problems, the system will run optimally, and the noise will be minimal for a gaming laptop, between 30-40dB. The two 60mm fans will move faster or slow down depending on the processor load, to ensure normal operating temperatures, and prevent throttling. I’m telling you now that the only trick was the processor, the video card stayed well below 61C in all tests, regardless of test and load level, even at 100%.

With OC OFF and Thermal Balance, you have the right trade-off – low/acceptable noise (the 30-40 dB mentioned above) and 97-98% performance versus the higher noise of the Thermal Performance mode. Thermal Full Speed is just the name for the extreme cooling profile, it reminds me of the turbo mode on the ROG Zephyrus S GX531GX, ie over 50dB. You need some serious professional headphones like 3M PELTORs.

We ran countless overclocking tests and created a profile where we maximize processor frequency, but the results were only a little better than the Overclock 02, the most aggressive Alienware preset. The Intel Core i7-9700K processor ran stable between 60-80C in most situations, rarely rising to 90C. In the Overclocking settings, we managed to raise it to 98C, and reached a TDP of 125, 130 and even 140W! Okay, that’s in the extremely rare moments when I had the overclocked processor running Cinebench R15 with all cores at 4.89GHz! To compare, at default settings in the same benchmark/scenario the cores were running at 4.57GHz, a difference of 320MHz! In single-core, the difference in overclocking has increased from 4.57GHz to 5.15GHz, that is, almost 500MHz extra!

Here we also saw the biggest performance boost, a plus of 10% (see the table below on where and when you can reap the benefits). I’ll let you decide if the whole overclocking madness is worth the time. I had Excel draw my conclusions, green is worth the time, orange is “meh” and red is a waste of time.

The cooling of the laptop is excellent, the large ventilation holes in the back draw out a massive stream of hot air, which is why I don’t recommend placing your laptop on your desk near a wall. In addition to the two giant exhaust grilles at the back, we also have two extra side exhausts, a common new standard on very powerful laptops. I really like the way the intake is routed from two directions: from below, through the honeycomb on the laptop’s belly, as well as from above, through the grill immediately between the laptop panel and the bottom of the chassis.

It is near ideal, near perfect, with heat pipes that stray from the run-of-the-mill design we usually see laptops adopt. What could be better? I think a Vapor Chamber would have been nice, but there’s a reason why Alienware did not adopt this technology.

Anyway, considering what your laptop has inside, it never gets hot enough to become annoying or unable to use the keyboard, and at the end of the day, that’s what matters.

Connectivity

I will mention the more exotic ports and will start with Thunderbolt 3, which supports SuperSpeed USB 10Gps, Thunderbolt 40Gps and DisplayPort.

What I don’t understand is why Alienware engineers insist on including the Graphics Amplifier port on a powerful laptop like this is – a bit of a fifth wheel. I can understand when using some weaker graphics chips, but when you have a 2070/2080… anyway, your laptop is well connected, nothing to complain about.

Sound

The notebook has two very large speakers in front, offering great volume and good spatial coverage. There is a lack of a subwoofer, however, a pity that they gave up on implementing it. Anyway, there are some bosses and I can say that she is surpassing many laptops.

Battery

The battery is a huge 90wHr, but at this power level, it’s still weak, with my internet surfing/youtube test with 50% brightness failing to move past the 2-hour psychological barrier. You can’t have it all. It’s a good thing it charges decently fast, also in about two hours. Oh, and you can use your laptop (but not game) with a single battery, so you need not carry those two chargers with you all the time – it gets old real fast.

Conclusion: A gaming laptop par excellence, but not just that!

Is this laptop worth the price? There’s plenty of performance, and for gaming, this is the new king. Cinebench likes it, as using the overclocking profile I beat the i7-8700K processor from my personal desktop PC. So yes, it is strong. It’s beautiful. Those who purchase it will have one of the most powerful desktop replacements of 2019 and certainly the most spectacular, without a doubt. Probably the best gaming laptop since the beginning of the year. And probably the most expensive. A laptop wonder that will write history.