NEW!! Alienware Area-51M LAPTOP!! (to replace alienware 15 and 17)

Yeah i noticed in one of the pictures and other sites. Seems you're spot on.

Nice catch, did not know that man. Seems there are 20xx mxm floating around, but the source does not really seem credible.

 

My expectations are really low for A51M, only extended BIOS support with upgrade to 10th gen or 11th gen will save them and none will buy LGA for a year to buy new LGA PC.

 

So this shouldn't have to be said here, but the name calling and derogatory statements on both sides of the camp are not allowed. We are adults here, how about we act like it? You know what they say about arguing on the internet...

 

The best OS from Micro$oft generally does a better job of everything, but here is a Windoze OS X run from @Prema to go with that other one.

Yeah, like NVIDIA hulk files. If you don't have access to what you need, it may as well be non-existent. Since nobody that wants it has it, the knowledge of its existence is nothing more than a point of contention and frustration. The problem is that this Nazi bull feces garbage exists in the first place. It's the work of Satan and the people responsible for deploying it on products marketed to enthusiasts and power users are the scum of the earth.

 

People acting like the 51m is supposed to be some crazy overclocking machine. It isn’t. Its meant to be a high end, well built, beautiful gaming machine. I for one couldn’t care about its ability to overclock or even to be upgraded in the future. Also it’s bascially the same price as a decked out 17r4 when it launched.

Enjoy your clevo’s or whatever your into. Ill enjoy a beautiful sexy 51m with slim bezels.

 

So, you don't care that it malfunctions running stock either? Interesting. Why make excuses for something like that by saying "yeah, but" and talking about it being nice looking and well made? A Macbook is nice looking and well built, too. But, it's also pathetic.

Yes, I know it is not released to manufacturing yet, but statements like that set the stage for acceptance of defective products on the basis of physical appearance alone. We should never give a pass on performance. Stock performance. Overclocking is just the icing on the cake and evidence of a product being superior by all measurements.

Dell is counting on people "settling" for less than they paid for. That is their modus operandi. Don't fall for it folks. Demand what you paid for and accept nothing less.

 

Proof it malfunctions? Even if it runs slightly under stock boost clocks due a TDP limit it still crushes any mobile cpu. Why are you even here?
The 9900k is definately a stretch. I purchased the 9700k delidded and I imagine it will have a better chance of being successful.

 

I've long left this community for that reason.

I just came back to look at the notebooks shown off at CES but I won't be staying for long.

Hopefully we see some stuff in the 51m soon. Lol

Sent from my LM-Q710.FGN using Tapatalk

 

And this is why the derogatory postings and foul language won't be tolerated. This is a forum for everyone and people don't need to put up with that.

 

Honestly it isn't foul language, it's the reason foul language is coming up.

Look no further than mr.fox post. He literally states the notebook malfunctions, it's not even released yet and he already says how it is literally not operational. No facts, nothing. It's the elitests here trying to force their opinion on others that makes people want to leave.

I've already got tons of messages from random people telling me that they think it's great that I stand up to the BS thrown around here. I know this is off topic, but I feel I would adress this once.

Another great example of this mess is papusans signature. its that kind of eliteism that is the problem here.

 

In all honesty, if you come to me with facts and evidence and show me what's wrong with the computer I have no problem with that. Vulgarity isn't the issue, I am a tradesman after all, it's the vitriol that gets spewed back and forth.

At the end of the day I just want to peruse the stats on the machines check out its failing and work around etc and be able to make my choice.

I'll roll around again when the 29th comes as that seems to be when it comes out. Have fun and a good day all.

Sent from my LM-Q710.FGN using Tapatalk

 

I totally understand that things get heated when discussing things like this. Everyone has an opinion and I am ok with people discussing those opinions. Its when that changes to attacking one another that we have issues. Mr. Fox seems to be concerned it will underperform but has no proof of that. I am hopeful it will perform well but we will just have to wait until it is released.

 

All I can say here is. I had hands on for a few minutes, but will not be posting data on it till after the 29th.

 

Well hopefully it's good. I look forward to reading or watching it.

Sent from my LM-Q710.FGN using Tapatalk

 

It will stay open. We cleaned it up a bit.
Next time, repeated offenders will be put in read-only mode.

 

We don't have to agree to get along. But, some folks cannot be nice to people they don't agree with. It's not in their blood, and the truth is they're just not nice people, period.

I am going off the information they (Alienware) have gone on record with, so we have the proof already. Unless they correct the TDP limits, it cannot function correctly. That is not an opinion, just simple math.

They also told us the CPU TDP is further limited when the GPU is under load. It was NOT acceptable when they did that to the Alienware 18, and it slays me to think anyone could think it would be OK today. Who wants the CPU to run non-Turbo (or less) playing games or running Fire Strike? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

It is OK to believe they will fix that later on, after they have taken money for it. That would be rare and unusual. It is OK to believe in Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny as well, but that doesn't mean they are real.

And, never mind what the person that actually got to play with it had to say. He must be lying, too. Anyone not drinking the Kool-Aid is a liar. Yeah, that's the ticket.

We shall see after the reveal. If I am wrong I will admit it. If I am right, no lame excuses will be accepted.

 

Sorry but the Alienware Area 51m webpage says otherwise....
"With unprecedented desktop-level processing power"....."a true desktop-gaming experience is now available in the form of a laptop"...."the CPU is enabled with up to 125% rated power, allowing high-end overclocking."

 

Hummm, I do find some of this stuff amusing. Not what the reviewer is saying, but the person making comments from Dell...

 

Fair enough but I’m a realist. If the 9700k can perform at 100% I’ll be happy. The price isn’t over the top as I’ve said before Its almost identical to a decked out 17r4 back in the day. (17r4 was $200 less then my current order).

And if it turns out to be turdbook I’ll just return it, no harm done really.

Do I believe it will be upgradeable past a 9900k and 2080? No I do not, however that doesn’t impact my purchase. I ordered the 9700k / 2080 and if you don’t think thats good for 3-5 years you got issues. If it turns out it can work with a 3080 or whatever the heck its called in the future then thats a bonus imo.

 

What we really want is for all configurations to work properly so the folks that want the top box configuration don't get screwed out of getting what they paid for. It would be really bad for everyone, including Dell, if only lower specs perform properly. A product with the build quality and attention to visual details as this one seems to have ultimately failing on performance would be a truly tragic thing, and nobody wants to see that. I think it is accurate and safe to say that every single person reading and commenting in this thread desires to see it be successful by every measurement.

 

Brother Fox, is "Boot guard" the same thing as "Bios Guard" (which has an enabled/disabled option?).

Wait what spi programmer is that??
i want that thing! I must have it!
Please direct me in the right direction !

 

Welcome to PC hell... enjoy your stay in our luxurious prison camp. Just remember to lock your cell door after dark, because there are rump rangers on the prowl.

It's the next chapter in the tragic saga of the Micro$lop Digi-Nazi's unrelenting quest for ultimate control through the tragic deployment of UEFI's darkest side.

Short answer: No, I don't think so.

Intel Boot Guard
Intel Boot Guard is a technology introduced by Intel in the 4th Intel Core generation (Haswell) to verify the boot process. This is accomplished by flashing the public key of the BIOS signature into the field programmable fuses (FPFs), a one-time programmable memory inside Intel ME, during the manufacturing process; in this way it has the public key of the BIOS and it can verify the correct signature during every subsequent boot. Obviously, once enabled by the manufacturer, Intel Boot Guard can't be disabled anymore.

How Intel and PC makers prevent you from modifying your laptop's firmware | PCWorld

Intel Boot Guard, Coreboot and user freedom

 

Yikes. I get it now. Thank you and good morning and let's get our pitchforks ready for the 29th. It's going to be a bloodbath.

 

I totally agree.
You're hard on Alienware (to say the least ) but you forget that it's a rather "mainstream" brand now, especially compared to Clevo. Meaning that most of the buyers are purchasing for the gamer look and literally don't have a clue about how to optimize and make the most out of it. Even on specialized forums, you'd be surprised. People don't OC (appart from factory profiles and we both know that's crap), they don't repaste / repad. Even swapping a disk or RAM is out of question.
I'm pretty sure that the majority of the A51m buyers won't even open it. So even if their unit temps go through the roof, if there's no thermal shutdown or crash, well, meh... They won't really care.

The way I see it, Alienware tries to appeal to the longtime fans with this A51m and to reconnect with them. The way they show how easy it is to upgrade parts is encouraging. I just hope we won't get an half-assed desktop replacement and that will be able to get the most out of it.

 

Oh so that's a Skypro III
But how did you get it to run computerless?
I checked corights' website and I emailed them.
They said that it doesn't come with a battery if shipped overseas, so it has to be used with a computer.

 

If they use it (again) on this new product, that decision alone raises serious questions in my mind about their integrity as a company. This filth is optional. Choosing to use it carte blanche on all machines means you don't give a rat's ass about your customers. It could be offered as optional "feature" for the security OCD and businesses that require it on their corporate fleet, and it should be entirely up to the end user. It's none of their damned business what firmware a customer chooses to use on their private property, and depriving them of that right should be illegal. Imagine how pissed off you would be if you buy a new house and the seller changes the locks and refuses to give you the keys. But, he offers to let you in your own house when you want in, as long as you say please and thank you, and use only the door he wants you to use.

 

Took less than 6 days to get.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SkyproIII-...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

Does it do anything other programmers don't already do, or it's just fancy with the LED display?

Will it allow you to flash firmware using only the SPI programming device (not attached to a host computer)?

 

I'm with you on this. I just want this to be close to what my current desktop is and replace it. I have a 1080 ti and and overclocked 5820K. 2080 should be in the same ball park as my 1080 ti. Do to the form factor I can understand it might perform less so. With a 9700k I'm definitely expecting some gains there.

As far as overclocking? Eeeeh. I tried diving into the whole watercooling and bios hacking on my desktop years ago. I really didn't enkoy how much money I put into it and how little my return was. That being said I've always enjoyed overclocking with stock solutions. So if I can't overclock at all I'll be a bit disappointed. What I'm hoping from the 2080 in the Area 51m is desktop peeformance. Even if I have to overclock and put aftermarket thermal compound on it in order to achieve that.

The CPU I'm fulling expecting it to run hot. Ir runs hot on desktops. So I'm hoping to be able to undervolt and get it to run how it's supposed to and keep the temps under control. That's why I went with the 9700K. Though I'm anxious to see those who have ordered the binned and delidded 9900k from Hidevolution if it's possible to run that monster in this laptop. ((If that's the case would good ol @Donald@HIDevolution be willing to sell my one of those 9900K's so I can swap it in? ))

And as far as upgrading? We all know intel will likely change the socket type for they're next gen cpu. So we'll be stuck with the ninth gen for this laptop. Now Nvidia or even AMD? Depending on what these guys do with the next generation we may see an upgrade for atleast one generation. The 3000 series nvida cards could be a refresh on the 2000 series. A minor performance bump and would be there if we wanted. Maybe. But once they refresh the Area 51m and do a redesign? We'll definitely be left out to dry. But hopefully by then I'm either still happy with mine or I have enough pennies saved up to get a new one.

I have high hopes for the Area 51m and want it to succeed. But, if it sucks I'll eat my words when it arrives. Until then I'm staying positive.

 

Another thing important to know about this is that one with knowledge and access to things (like @Prema) cannot flash any BIOS they want to. The firmware signing keys are ODM specific. So, unless someone has a contact at the ODM that works in firmware engineering that is willing to put their career in jeopardy to "do the right thing" for customers, you're screwed. You will have only what they want you to have. Period. This also applies to NVIDIA HLK (hulk) files.

 

if, if, if, if, if can you stop with your melodramatic conspiracies about how Dell wants to mess with their customers?

For the love of god, we don't know squat and you already try to make it sound like some disaster. Nobody cares about past notebook with or without Intel Boot guard, nobody cares about offtopic theories, nobody cares about anything other than reality. The only thing we know about the notebook is that its a completely new approach, it has some TDP limits, which likely are there to not have an overheating pile of garbage, as soon as people start modding and improving on the notebook, Dell will also up the TDP limit of their own. If you have nothing to contribute that is based on facts then zip it.

Even on a 119W TDP, the 9900K will run fine in games. When doing a bigger task such as Rendering or AVX load, it obviously will downclock itself, it won't explode, it won't melt down, it will run downclocked. Is the 9900K a waste in any notebook? In my opinion yes, but I won't spread nonsense like it literally be non functional because that would be downright lying.

All you're doing is scaring people off for no reason meaning we won't have anyone test and figure out the truth about the notebooks.

 

One thing to keep in mind is, Azor mentioned them still tweaking the system and finalizing some things. So I wouldn't be surprised if the production models had a different BIOS, limits, etc.

It's not to say it's a good thing. It can go either way so we'll see once consumers receive the first batch of products in what a month probably? Jan 29th is the release/ship date.

I hope @Johnksss took some pics of the BIOS as well on that CES unit.

"You've never been able to swap out the graphics card until now"

Baffles me how all these media outlets have no idea. Even AW itself had a official upgrade kit you could buy for 980m SLI for AW18.

And even then we're been able to "swap out" GPUs since MXM existed lol. Just surprising how most of these people have no clue.

I'm sorry but while I agree with lots of things, the one thing I disagree with is the whole mindset of people not caring if it runs proper clock speeds at stock.

It should run stock 24/7 no issue. Turbo (even if following the intel guidance) should work as well.

I understand overclocking isn't for everyone but the stock performance should be within reasonable performance of others.

Also regarding CPU upgrades, this will all be on Intel not AW. Intel has to make 10th gen backwards compatible with Z370/Z390 for us to upgrade. Now, this is slightly possible because AMD is supporting AM4 until 2020. 3rd gen and possibly 4th gen Ryzen will work on AM4. I'm sure this is the reason we can even use 6th/7th/8th/9th gen on the same socket. Although on older sockets we need to do a pin mod.

For GPU upgrades I truly want to believe Dell wants us to be able to upgrade. nVidia probably won't change the design so much that we can't upgrade and I'm sure Dell would be pissed if they couldn't use next gen nVidia GPUs on their new design (it costs lots of money to make new designs to I'm sure they want at LEAST 2-3 generations of that form factor). Even Clevo kept their design once more because changing it will cost $$$$$.

 

Some people like to run their DTRs at hopefully stock levels.

To each their own but its still laudable in principle.

 

I didn’t mean it would be ok to perform under stock. I just meant I wouldnt’t really care if it couldn’t handle an overclock. A 9700k desktop cpu running stock paired with a 2080 desktop would be awesome enough for me.

 

I am sorry you think it is not appropriate, but I'm not going to stop being a voice of reason just because people like the joy of an adrenaline rush when they see something that looks pretty. People should be careful about how they spend their money. Nobody likes to get screwed. There is a lot to think about, and lots to be learned from past behavior.

People need to think and listen. Those that don't want to don't have to. God help them, but I know there are some that will, and it is for those.

This is just one of the value-added services that I am happy to provide, at no charge, to the people I care about.

Edit: And, you're admonition is hypocritical. You're asking me to stop doing the same thing you are famous for as a Clevo-hater. You hate Clevo and have legitimate reasons for that and try to warn people. You also constantly criticize a product you have never owned. I like to believe your intentions are good and you are not doing it just because you get a rush from it. Likewise, I and countless others have 100% legitimate reasons for not trusting Dell/Alienware based on their past behavior. So, don't ask me to stop until after you have. In stark contrast, you will rarely ever find me pooping specifically on another brand's parade. I seldom post in Alienware threads, and when I do I am polite to the other people participating in discussion. I am here only because I see evidence they may have turned a leaf and might do something right for a change. Am I encouraged? Yes. Am I skeptical? Of course, and for good reason. Food for thought.

You may not realize it, but using the word "if" is giving them full benefit of doubt that it is entirely possible they will not repeat their mistakes of the past. So, it's an optimistic "if" that acknowledges the possibility they might do better this time.

 

Words of wisdom that extend farther than just laptops. I dont agree with all your opinions but nonetheless...

Amen to that brother.

 

My desktop is a 9700k / 2080 Ti FTW3, as you can see from my signature. My order, the 9700k / 2080 is as close as I’ll get to matching my desktops experience in a mobile, sleek look. I’m willing to give it a shot. I work away ALOT, months at a time. So any chance I can have something somewhat close to the power I have at home would be awesome.

 

Here are a few thoughts on this device from another older member who used to be a bit more involved on these forums in years past. I've largely stopped participating here because of the hateful, vitriolic rhetoric I've seen develop over the years and this thread is a great example. My recommendation to other members exhausted by the rancor: Use the ignore and follow buttons. Avoid and ignore people who unnecessarily frustrate you and follow the people whose opinions you value. This goes for everyone, regardless of what side you take in an argument. Avoiding toxic people instead of engaging with them will change your life for the better. You are not going to change the opinion of such fanatical people anyway, so save your breath and help contribute to an overall happier place.

Regarding this new Alienware:

• This is one of the most exciting laptops I have seen in a while. A return to LGA is fantastic but Like every other computing device, it will be a compromise. Personally speaking, the entire purpose of this forum is to 1) learn what compromises I am willing to make in a computing device and 2) help other people learn the facts about a device so they can decide what features are important to them and what compromises they are willing to make.
  
  
• CPU: 136w is more than I expected Alienware to give us. I cynically figured we would be locked down to Intel spec PL1 and we still might be for sustained loads. Until we see evidence, we don't know if the 119w & 136w values are sustained power consumption or a max boost. If it is 136w sustained, I am excited. The 8086k and 9700k both reliably stay under this at stock voltage and stock frequency. Anecdotally, of the eleven 9900k CPU based machines I have personally built or maintained as a part of my career, every one of them could be undervolted such that they stayed below 136w with a full load at stock clocks (4.7 w/16 threads). Anandtech's review of the 9900k supports this, where they observed a 41W decrease in power consumption for the 9900k when undervolted compared to stock. No, we won't likely be able to overclock this CPU to the same degree as other laptops because of firmware (or possibly thermals) limiting us, but again...compromises.
  
  
• dGPU: Its about time a replaceable laptop GPU has I/O built onto it rather than the motherboard. If nothing else, the improvement to repairability compared to components soldered to the motherboard is great to see. Dell clearly invested a lot of money into this form factor, which gives me reason to stay optimistic. I am curious how TB3 handling video output will be made compatible with this new GPU design. Desktops with thunderbolt supported display outputs are very clunky so I would like to see how Dell tackles this. If I had to guess, we'll see it implemented in the same way as the Alienware 15r4 and 17r5 without optimus where the TB3 port was the only I/O that connects to the Intel GPU. I suspect this will have to work the same way. The P870tm implements this better by wiring DDI to mDP and TBT and gives an option in the BIOS to choose which port gets the output.
  
  
• Graphics Amplifier (AGA): I recommend those of you not familiar with this external PCIe enclosure to view its very helpful threads. It does not suffer from the typical DMI 3.0 bandwidth limitation and Thunderbolt 3 overhead of other eGPUs. When in the AGA, my overclocked 1080 performs within the margin of error of the same card in my 9900k desktop. In my perfect world, I would like to take my workstation with me when traveling, but I don't want to sacrifice my office environment when not traveling. There is not a single laptop on the market that can reliably power the 4, 4k+ displays in my office, but this little Alienware 15r4 with the AGA can do it flawlessly and it doesn't share bandwidth with the NVMe drives, gigabit ethernet, SATA or any other USB devices attached to the DMI bus. Whats more, I can completely turn off the built-in 1060 GPU (<1watt consumption reported) and the shared heatsink of the 15r4 (often proclaimed on NBR as a bad design) can dissipate up to 40 CPU watts of light office tasks while staying on the silent fan profile. Its quieter than my desktop. I've even dropped a Volta GPU into the AGA to showoff some GPU compute tasks at a recent conference and because of the workload, it performed just as if the GPU were in my desktop. No other TB3 eGPU I have tried supported these tasks.
  
  I have tried many other laptop docking solutions over the years and this is by far the best I have used... Unfortunately up until now, I've been limited to the mobile CPUs in Alienware devices. This new 51m will hopefully change that. If the 136w of this machine is accurate and a sustained value, it is nearly double what I can sustain in the 15r4. If I'm lucky, this will be adequate for becoming the single-device life I have been seeking.

This won't likely be a P870tm killer in terms of performance, but remember...compromises. The P870 machine makes a few trade-offs I am not comfortable making and that's okay. No one on this forum should take it upon themselves to tell any other member how they should want to work or play or compute. When someone prefers a different device than your own, it is okay to be curious, but there is absolutely no need to be hostile by using the derogatory language that fills this message board. Making people feel stupid or belittled for what they find important in a computing device breeds feelings of animosity between members rather than that of intrigue and curiosity, to which we should aspire when on NBR. When you see this on the forums, just ignore the user. You won't miss getting worked up over it!

There is a lot we still don't know about this new 51m, but I'm optimistic this will be the best Alienware machine we have seen in years. It might not strike the balance you prefer and that's okay. There are plenty of other machines out there.

 

Great information in this post I didn’t know, much appreciated.

 

When you give those CPU power consumption figures at full load, what exactly does that “full load” entail?

 

If anything can we use you as a gineua pig?

Do us a favor and go ahead and undervolt your 9700K and limit your TDP to the promised 119W. Post some benches and show people how powerful it still is.

Once you undervolted it and limited it to 119W TDP, run cinebench and run the final fantasy benchmarking tool (its quite CPU demanding) and upload a Hwinfo64.csv file showing us the clockspeeds of the CPU in that benchmark.

This will eliminate the worries that people may have gottem from mr.foxes "if's".

 

Out of town at work or I would!

 

Well, in all honesty you can see it's working. That was a dumped bios.
That link I sent you. If you order through them, they will get it shipped with the battery installed. I paid extra for DHL shipping and got it with in 6 days and it powered right on.

 

Yes. it runs with or without a computer.
Up to 32GB of storage can be added.
File system
Able to dump bios files on the fly
Flash files on the fly.
In color.
Runs on battery.
Updateable
No first 2 byte error.
Able to program the 780W PSU

And that's what I have found out so far... Haven't need to do anything further just yet.

I have the Skypro 2 which is a smaller and colorless version of this one. And I loved that one, but when I saw this one...I was like... I gotta have it.

 

Do you already have one? How long until you get home and have access to it? I am eager to see results as well. Hoping for a good outcome, too. It won't answer our questions about 9900K, but it would at least be very helpful to those planning to go with 9700K.

 

Sweet. That sounds pretty great. Now I want one, too. I'm thinking that's perfect for flashing soft-bricked GPUs on the fly. Just have the stock ROM on there and anything goes. And, that's basically the same price as the unbelievably anemic GTX 1050 I am returning to Amazon that I purchased to have on hand for exactly that purpose.

 

An important question. Anandtech is using POV-Ray and Blender. I usually start with Cinebench R15 (most similar to the loads I perform in real life) but then try a non-avx load in Prime95, small FFTs.

As an anecdotal example, the 9900k I am currently using with a manually set voltage of 1.07v and at stock clocks drew 121w in Cinebench and 133 in P95.

 

What link? i didnt see any links

 

Nice... and that is lower than normal for 9900K. What was the Cinebench score using those settings, if I might ask? Do you have a screen shot showing the score and max power draw that you can share with us? (There is a person here that always asks others for screen shots and almost never provides them.)

This one.

 

No no, I think he meant run my desktop 9700k at 119w and bench.