*OFFICIAL* Alienware Area-51M R1 Owner's Lounge

Introducing Alienware Area-51M:

Order now:

Dell: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/del...gaming-laptop/spd/alienware-17-area51m-laptop

Unboxing:



Drivers: http://downloads.dell.com/published/pages/alienware-17-area51m-laptop.html

Beware: Lots of users are reporting their laptops dying. A new batch should be out for all order shipped by May 2019 or later.


LGA Z390 supporting i7-8700 up to i9-9900K
4 RAM Slots up to 64GB DDR4
DGFF form factor graphics card (up to RTX 2080 180W TDP)
Amplifier Port
17" display with 144hz option
Dual power inputs


Ports & Slots
1. (2x) SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Type-A Ports | 2. HDMI 2.0 Output with HDCP 2.2 Output Port (Supports direct drive VR interfaces) | 3. Mini-Display 1.4 Output Port (supports NVIDIA G-SYNC) | 4. RJ45 10/100/1000/2500 Base-T, IPv6, Ethernet Port | 5. Alienware Graphics Amplifier Port | 6. Dual DC Power Inputs | 7. Thunderbolt™ 3 Port (supports USB 3.1 and DisplayPort 1.2) | 8. SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Type-A Port with Powershare Technology | 9. Global Headset Jack | 10. Headphone/MIC Retaskable Jack



Dimensions & Weight
1. Height: Front 27.65mm (1.09"), Rear 31.2mm (1.23"), Peak 42mm (1.7") | 2. Width: 402.6mm (15.85") | 3. Length: 319.14mm (12.565") | Weight: 4.4 Kgs max (9.7 lbs. max)



Possibility of 2x330w adapters to be used for more power:

Spoiler

119W CPU OC TDP when under 100% cpu/gpu load, 136W TDP Max for CPU:

Spoiler

BIOS Recovery

Spoiler

Area-51M BIOS Recovery (Thanks @Cass-Olé ):

1) Download the BIOS you want to flash from the Dell Support website: https://www.dell.com/support/home/u...WT64A&productCode=alienware-17-area51m-laptop

2) Rename BIOS file to: BIOS_IMG.rcv

3) Put on ROOT of USB drive (format as FAT32)

4) Shut down AW and remove AC Adapter

5) Press and hold CTRL + ESC while performing the next step

6) Plug in AC Adapter and press power button

7) Release CTRL + ESC once the power LED turns on

8) Select Recover BIOS option and wait for it to finish

 

Upgradable gpus, and desktop cpu from alienware? this can't be real...

Would love to see any info on thermals

 

This is very promising and it's nice to see this being a reality. Finally!

Quality DTR that is well built. Bravo. That's a great start...

Can't wait ....

 

The chassis quality itself looks excellent and that is what is keeping me within the alienware realm.

I hope they make a 15inch version though. But as a flagship it looks great imo.

 

I would really love to see them cool a 9900k (a chip that can barely be kept cool in a regular desktop chassis) and a RTX 2080 in such a slim chassis. I mean for fcks sake, Clevo can barely keep a 90c 9900k cool in the new Tornado F7. AW has had garbage out of the box cooling ever since they went full BGA with the first AW15 and AW17 Echo models. Their last decently cooled systems were the true desktop replacements AW17 and AW18 and the models previous to that.

But I am actually surprised they went this route. I didn't think that snowflake Frank Azor had it in him to return to full desktop parts.

 

This is looking too tempting to be true especially considering Dell's customer service in India. It's fantastic.

I was looking at MSI GT75 and willing to bite the bullet but this has given me a headache, a good one at that.

I think it's about time I gave my AW M17x 3D a rest and pick up the RTX hype train. Can't wait for the independent reviews.

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Alienware just released a full 58 minutes video on it.



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Saw a couple videos on this yesterday. Looks great. One thing I love is how simple and straight forward a teardown/upgrades are for this unit. Bravo. This is something I may have to consider. Cooling here is definitely a big concern though as others have stated. Hopefully one of the content creators can get their hands on one of these at ces with the 9900k inside and run some non-gpu related benchmarks/stress tests to get an idea of temperatures while under heavy load. Another concern I have here is the ram speed. While they are shipping 2666mhz modules with this device, apparently you can only run them at 2400mhz due to the architecture used. This part kind of surprises me since as a gamer playing at a high refresh rate, I want the higher speed ram for the extra fps. Then again again the laptop comes with a 20xx series gpu so there is a chance the lowerspeed ram is negligible here for gaming. I like the rgb on the rear of the chassis too, looks pretty cool.

 

I hope this thread won't have 300 pages+ issue of throttling and bad thermals like last time! This time they should support LGA at firmware level for longer than 3-4 years plus upgrade parts for next Nvidia GPU architecture as well.
AGA must be deprecated if they believe MXM or DGFF will allow future upgrades providing BIOS updates are shipped before and not EOL'ed.
Then there's limit of 180+330W PSU, no sd card slot, 720p webcam when earlier models shipped with FHD @30 fps.

Very promising, did you get a review unit from AW Frank Azor? Dell should offer repaste service out of the box with some extra cost and 100-200C on CPU out of the box for 6000-10000$ machine.

Skip the hype train and wait for reviews.
About customer support: Your first telephone will be meticulously handled and turnaround time for service will be very good. Call them repeatedly for fixing the first problem you had faced which wasn't fixed with subsequent repairs, they talk to you as if the customer was forced to buy Dell by shelling out $$$$ on their product they famously advertised as a beast only to find its a ant that gets squashed by old AW m17x. Don't forget the clocks won't hold up because of higher ambient temps as well!
If you need pointers ask @VICKYGAMEBOY @msri15603
If you still want to buy an LGA go for Azom w/ Prema BIOS.

 

A consumer should not have to pay for a repaste in order for the technology to function out of the box properly.

 

What you think will happen when the battery run empty?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...enware-15-and-17.826796/page-18#post-10844664

 

Yes, they shouldn't have to pay. But for as long as I can remember (I've had over 25 laptops) even if thermals are alright out of the box, a repaste is a must. The OEM paste is just crappier than anything you can get.

Also a repaste on a thermal solution is like an oil change in a car. It is necessary because (with exception of very few) the paste will degrade with time.

 

Each video shows fans running pretty high during causal web surfing and are very audible on the video. If your gaming on it, I could imagine the fans will be spinning at even higher rpms and this thing can sound like a jet plane.

 

It was addressed in one of the videos. The laptop is still in development they say, and fan speed is not controlled. Azor said the team is aiming for 35-40 DB under full load (not overclocked)

 

I will definitely wait for the reviews. I've been an AW user since the first M15 days and still use that machine till date so I'm an old timer around these parts. GTX 280M for the win!

My daily driver is a M17xR3 3D self-upgraded to a 680M and a 2960XM and it still performs like a champ. I kept this machine because of its delicious 120Hz screen. Now, I need to retire this system and keep it in my antiques collection.

Also, I won't be buying from Dell India, I'm looking at hidevolution this time around and hopefully their paste job is as good as they say. In any case, it's definitely a MSI GT75 or a AW A51M for me in March.

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Because the stock will be replaced anyway and its best to get the price included w/ Professional repasting.

Good. Buy from Hid when you visit USA next time. No point in paying huge import duty for Dell India when you get the same PC like US in India w/ higher price.

I suspect the fan noise will be there with normal grease w/o delid on 8700 and on 9th gen its pre-delid.
I have one doubt, how can Frank say new DGFF GPU w/ included ports when new ports don't fit correctly in older chassis if HDMI is superseded with USBC?

 

If I was engineering it, I would simply fill the gap. Hdmi shaped plug with USB C port in center. I doubt they would be that creative though. Its their own PCB design. They will just continue soldering on HDMI. For now USB C needs to go though CPU anyway. So a moot point.

 

I don't think so! Nvidia drivers include USBC driver for displays with GSYNC features. If USBC is indeed controlled by nvidia then its good because they can handle higher res and refresh rate w/o any issue.

 

O I definitely understand the importance of repasting over time like an oil change, couldn't agree more. I'm just saying in general, a product out of the box should not have to be repasted right away to function as intended. Manufacturer's need to use better paste ^^. Forcing the initial repaste is like buying an airconditioner and being expected to pay for the 1st batch of freon upfront. like nope, that comes with.

 

Its not really the paste itself thats the problem (they recently started to use a variant of shin etsu, at least they did in my 15R3). The problem are in ym opinion the thermal pads that Alienware uses. The blue pads arent very compressible and soft and I have 2 heatsink revisions and both didnt make perfect contact because of those pads. After repaddign them with gelids, all my issues where solved. A repaste alone barely did anything for me. Tested it with Kryonaut, ICD7, Nanogrease, Mastergel maker nano etc

 

It's not only alienware, there are a lot of manufacturer's with laptops with the out-of-the-box thermal throttle issue at heavy load causing the CPU to not maintain advertised clock speeds or get too hot that you can't even use the thing @ 100% load without it tripping shutdown. I think this needs to change. Everyone should just RMA every new laptop they purchase if they throttle out of the box(assuming they can't maintain the advertised clocks during heavy load due to thermal throttling) instead of spending their own time/money repasting. Eventually these manufacturers will get tired of eating the cost and start using high quality paste or even liquid metal.

P.S-Get some of that liquid metal. it's a godsend.

 

Even if paste is sourced better than the stamps (shin etsu is kinda ok) the application is rubbish on every laptop I ever disassembled

 

We don't have RMA period once you buy live with it!

 

I have spent so many hours working and tweaking my laptop. I would assume the next laptop brand I go with, I will have to do the same because there are hardly any laptop straight from factory that will run with my expectations. I bought the RTX2080ti and second day I had it opened and repasted and repad the GPU. No person can do a job better than yourself. For those that purchase laptops that don’t like to tinker you will find yourself better off buying from vendors who offer services to tweak it from factory because the laptop will NEVER function the way it’s suppose to.

 

119w CPU limit when GPU on full load
136W max limit otherwise

150W limit on GPU with 180W OC limit

 

Wait so the user is forced to use alienware command center no matter what if they want to overclock? Can we opt to not install alienware command center and overclock like a regular desktop using only the bios? Is it true that ram speed is hard locked at 2400mhz no matter what?

 

You can overclock in BIOS according to that as well. Remove Command Center and just use bios is option. Or wait for new revision of Throttlestop maybe? XTU will work when updated

 

Yeah you are right, I owned some other gaming laptops for testing such as an Gigabyte (4 of them), an Aorus and an Asus. My younger brother hast a recent MSI Stealth. They all have the same issues unfortunately indeed.

This is also the reason I am always hesitant to recommend any gaming laptops. I myself can take m apart and fix stuff, but for the everyday user I jsut recommend a desktop. Especially for the money.

On mine it was okay, just it was drying up because my heatsink wasnt makign good contact. I posted some photos of it a year ago. Somewhere on this forum.

But now I have modded my heatsink with a copper shim and soft 0.5mm pads on the CPU side instead of the 0.1mm hard pads and now my temperatures are like they should be with traditional paste without degradation.

 

What does Frank always ask Head of engg. team to answer queries in reddit when m17x and 18x users direct questions to him?
Battery will die because once it crosses 75W the battery cell crosses 65-70C and it might shutdown permanently or battery might need replacing.

 

I assume it is because that would require him to spend lots of time monitoring all public outlets.

 

Did anyone check the dimensions?
it's almost a perfect square and wont fit in the Everki Titan which fits my 17R4 almost perfectly

 

Looks like they're going to have a new line of bags

I just looked : it doesn't even fit my Asus ROG backpack (which is fairly large). At least 6cm are missing...

 

maybe someone will make a hard shell case with wheels and a retracting handle, or maybe someone already does? I can't see throwing this on my shoulder or back when traveling

 

Prices are up on US site

 

I thought this was an RTX release? They only offer up to a gtx 1080, no rtx cards.

Edit: Errrrr fine print. Why would they even say GTX 1080? Just advertise the rtx card lol

 

I have updated first post with the 119W (136W Max) cpu info and 2x330w ac adapter info in spoilers.

Also, I've heard from two seperate sources that 240hz is coming in the future.

 

I hope Dell doesn't use Battery boost since it'll toast and kill the battery at those loads. I feel in battery mode, cpu and gpu tdp locks down below 60-80W to preserve battery and prolong it.

 

They do it on the m15 and m17 but I do not see a reason why they would do it on the Area-51M. It can do 330w+180w so shouldn't need battery boost.

 

Depends on if Dell's engineers allowed the laptop to utilize all available power from both bricks. The 180w psu smells more as the portable solution from what I have read (Light use on the go). The most can be done in firmware. Etc cap power at a point if it recognize that the 330w psu is connected. I expect Dell still use the middle pin.

 

Ordered one, 9700k / 2080. Curious is if the Alienware Vindicator 2 backpack will fit it.

 

Great !

French store isn't up yet.
We don't even have setup nor prices.

 

Let us know how it goes.

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Will do, currently the expected delivery is March 1, 2019 so its going to be a while. That may be a placeholder though.

Ordered off the Canadian site, was a while behind the US site.

 

Does this system support only 2400MHz memory speeds?

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Might be a placeholder. Post some pics of the BIOS screens when you get a chance.

Congrats on the system!

No, they said higher speed memory is coming later. The RAM sticks being shipped are actually 2666Mhz but they're running at 2400mhz due to some "architectural limit" w/e that means.

 

This is what I'm looking at the moment. Seems a little steep considering I haven't added any extended warranty to it.

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I don't like where this is going, Can't trust Dell to do the right thing. I mean last 5 years have been pretty miserable.

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Just wait for reviews then. Everyone is giving this new laptop crap when we haven't seen any reviews, no one owns one, etc.

It's a different class laptop from what they're been selling since after 2013. After six years they've gone back to upgradable laptops.

I'd wait if you're skeptical on this machine.

I'm waiting it out a couple of months. No $$$ and need to see where things go.

 

My order was similar, chose windows 10 pro and 2080. Also did 512gb m.2 + 1tb sshd. Honestly the price seems fair to me, years ago I purchased a alienware 17 r4 for $200 less (returned it due to heat issues).

30 day return policy my friend, thats what I did with my alienware 17 r4 in like 2016 I think? Returned it a day after I got it for a full refund.

 

I agree. I've been waiting for AW to launch something like this and I'll buy this system as soon as some of my doubts have been cleared. For me personally, nothing beats a Dell warranty.

AW with desktop processor has me sold from day 1.

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21-days in some cases but yes! This is the one good thing about Dell, their return policy is quite good.

If any of y'all return one , let me know, I'll look for it in the outlet.

Seeing your sig, you've owned one of their best 17" laptops (M17xR2 being best)

So you know how their glory days were.