*OFFICIAL* Alienware Area-51M R2 Owner's Lounge

Sadly people will pay it.

 

Raises Hand!

 

You're just showing off.

 

There is no pride in buying limited, sub-par products, and basically sc**ing fellow consumers by supporting what has now become a shady company.

 

No, I just wanted to see how many would cry. So far one winner lol.

 

Lower configs now online - dell Canada

 

Let me know when it hits dell outlet ...

 

And lmk whenever yours on sale again lol

 

What's a dealbreaker for you might not be for someone else though.

Personally i couldn't care less about RAM speeds and benchmarking. I want one for gaming.

 

I see. Still, the questions you might want to ask yourself include:
* Am I getting the most gaming bang for the buck here?
* What does reliability look like?
* Do I want to wait several weeks for delivery?
*What would the support experience look like, since I'm likely to require this given the state of Dell QA?

 

And that's a valid point, people can enjoy a purchase on their own merits. Dellaware soured many with their bait and switch marketing, so it's understandable that those who felt betrayed do not want to reward such business practices in the future.

 

This place is full of those kinds of people, just add them to ignore and move on so you don't see it. Trying to find any actual useful information around here is becoming harder and harder because it's buried under pages of people arguing about how crappy Dell is. It's amazing how much easier these forums are to read once you weed out a few people.

 

the a51m R1 is already killing it when gaming. R2 just gonna be another notch up ...


I used to bench , but as you get older , have more kids , all you want to do is spend time with the family and get a few hours of gaming in.

R2 is going to put me at ease since I gave up my R1 already.

gaming on anything beside the a51m R1 is n the same.

 

That's fine, however, AWs used to be more than just gaming machines. They were one of the most capable laptops on the market period. This obviously attracts a broader spectrum of users, than just the people who can drop $5k on a toy. We've seen a VFX expert working on Hollywood blockbusters, scientists, etc. Many of these domains either require or strongly benefit from a lot of fast RAM. The Hollywood guy won't be upgrading to the R2 with its 2 SODIMM slots.

BTW Given that Dell clearly decided to focus the brand on pure gaming and cut the pros and enthusiasts loose, one might wonder how that strategy will work out given the re-emergence of streaming technologies such as Stadia in conjunction with SpaceX Starlink and similar.

 

Yes very true.

 

This is the disappointing part of all this (since 2014)

 

I get this. Buying the laptop and expecting upgradeability then it never happening isn't fair and they should have been more upfront about it and marketed that aspect less.

My biggest worry with Alienware these days is cooling and reliability but that's mainly down the intel parts running so damn hot all the time.

 

I would be willing to bet money that the difference between Ultra and High is harder to discern for the eye, than monitor response time is to feel for the mouse hand.

 

I would be very happy to take your money IRL on the back of the specific 3 vs 6ms, same refresh rate, High vs Ultra bet, alas there is no practical way to settle this and we both probably have better things to do.

 

Upgradeability questions answered
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/alienware-area-51-m-r2-upgrades-amd-radeon-gpus

 

Well there you have it, at least now it's perfectly clear that each revision will be limited to the current generation of CPU/GPU. So RTX30x0 will be an R3 thing, and that's fine, had they marketed it this way from the start. But instead they chose to postpone coming clean until they had a class action lawsuit on their hands.

 

Alsoooo, that article is inaccurate. There are interviews with Azor SAYING that the plan was to offer upgrades for future GPU generations. I DMed him on Twitter and we had an exchange where he admits he doesn’t know how the direction changed so much, since he was already in AMD.

So where the article says that they never technically said it would support upgrades in latter generations, trust me, Azor probably planned for it, and other a-holes scrapped the idea because it would be too much effort/cost more somehow.

 

Dilemma.

With the release of the R2 in Australia I'm faced with a tricky choice between the R1 and R2. I'll provide costs in US$ for easy comparison. So:

R1, i7-9700, 32GB RAM, RTX 2080, 1GB SSD, 144 hertz g-sync (Lunar Light is the only option): $3440
R1 i9-9900K, 64GB RAM, RTX 2080, 1 GB SSD, 144 hertz g-sync (Lunar Light is the only option): $4128

(Note that I'm a newbie so wouldn't want to mess with the Bios or anything like that unless really straightforward if I went with the i9-9900K)
or....

R2, i7-10700k, 32 GB 3200 Mhz, RTX 2080 Super, 1GB SSD, 300 hertz screen (Dark Side of the Moon - my preference): $4334

What would you do?

 

ARR-TWO!

 

I would get the R2 Dark side of the Moon. Not sure if they fixed the staining issue with the Lunar Light. Always bet on Black. Lol..

 

Sad that’s how it has to work in the business side of things isn’t it? Tell the truth or we’ll sue you

 

Take the R2, makes no sense to pay almost equal money for a machine with so many caveats. 64GB RAM is worthless anyway, for gaming.

 

It says in this video AMD or nVIDIA Graphics options, hmmm:



Edit: Just checked the spec sheet, it supports the Radeon RX 5700M. How does that compare to nVIDIA's Graphics cards? Which one of them would it be equivalent to?

 

I think I read somewhere that the 5700M is coming a bit later. I’m curious on performance and $$$ (price)

 

The RX 5700M is supposed to be between the mobile RTX 2070 and 2080 (non-Supers) in performance.

It has the same specs as the non-XT desktop RX 5700 (2304 shaders, ~1700 core clock, 256-bit), except it has 12Gbps memory instead of 14Gbps (boneheaded decision AMD), and it has a 120W TDP instead of the desktop's 150W. Since Dell does their own cards, they could always bump up the juice, I guess?

I am very curious as to where they will fit it into the pricing tiers in the configurator. With the way Dell does everything piecemeal, we never know.

It should be slotted in below the 2070 Super.

 

I'm a fan of AMD. I would like to see where the price point also.

 

Missed your post at the bottom of the page.

I'm sure this official pre-release clarification has nothing to do with the heat Dell is catching (class action?) over the 51M R1 upgradeability ambiguity.

Seems like an MSI situation mat be brewing all over again.

 

“But when the new version, the R2, was announced, it was made clear it was the end of the line for GPU upgrades on the original. CPUs, too, were locked to 9th Gen Intel”

The editor missed hard. 9900KS only a wet dream. Locked to 9th gen, LOOL

You meant stop “class action lawsuit 2”

 

I was going to write a proper reply, but this .gif summarizes my feelings way more accurately.

 

Sounds to me more like a few cry babys trying to spoil the fun of some gamers. I can care less about weather or not dell was being totally honest about upgradability. WHO CARES...theres more important thing to worry about in life. I have half a brain, when I bought my Area-51m logic tells me next gen GPU's and CPU's as far as upgrades are probably not feasible in this situation; A ,mainstream conclongermate electronics company that has a gaming PC division. This isnt some private company that is reinventing how DTR laptops are built and sold. I for one am proud dell was able to even fund the research and development for a ambitious product like the Area-51m. There is nothing else this beautiful in design and powerful in components on the market. The only good thing these people are doing is killing a decent DTR line in its infancy and giving the impression to other manufacturers that this is what will happen if you too try to do something innovative.

Im totally against all this whiny crap Im seeing. Life is full of obstacles, I dont want to hear 50 of my co workers complaining about all the useless dribble that crops of every day because life isnt fair and I also dont want to hear a bunch of whiney adult children complaining because they cant get there laptop to do what they want it to, which is in most cases overclock it to death till it fries and then claim its the companys fault for there wrong doing. I get on here because im a notebook enthuesiast, I like mobile technology, laptops to be specific but its hard to find a decent post that has any substance worth of value to it.

Any way thats the first thought that comes to my mind reading the last few pages. I will reiterate from previous posts that, yes, complaining about something in a situation like this can be helpful and cause improvements in the next revision of the product line. Thats if the manufacturer is reading this, im not apart of dell, I dont work in the industry im just a fan and a gamer. When I read posts in here, there is alot of good stuff but some of the posts are just a punch in the face. I go numb, from the idiocy of it. Im just here to read about the laptop that I enjoy and I have purchased.

Sorry for the rant, once again. Cant seem to keep my self from reading these posts complaining about this laptop.

 

No, I agree with you. Personally if I buy an Area 51m R2, it's not at all for the upgradability hopes. I already know what I'm getting into. It's purely because it has the best specs for a notebook atm, with some liquid metal the CPU will be much cooler and I love the aesthetics.

But I do think adding $50 for XMP ram is a little shady business though.

 

What about this:

https://www.xmg.gg/en/xmg-ultra-17

€3830/$4300 with 10900K and 2080S @ 200W on an MXM card, and 2 year warranty . No bull.. RAM support with 4 slots too. Large battery, storage to boot, SB X-Fi sound chip, subwoofer, even has that coveted 240Hz display!

Basically a proper A51M killer, although no configurable Optimus either, unfortunately.

Edit: Looks like a German variant of the aforementioned Clevo X170.

 

Yeah because typing up corporate apologist drivel is so much more mature than pointing out the objective flaws in a product.

For some reason you see whining about mature discussion as being above letting people talk about their disappointments. You seem the type who only wants to see hype and happiness so you can go to bed at night feeling secure in your expensive purchase. Don't question others world views when yours is so dependent on external justification.

 

Well, it is really nice that Dell can count on customers like you that will not hold them accountable for being liars and producing defective and/or misrepresented products. If they had more customers like you I am sure they would be very happy. And, we could all be assured that the flow of broken and compromised trash that is not what they said it would be will continue.

For the record, it is not the most powerful product in its class. That much is a matter of fact, and is due to engineering limitations and defects. It had the potential to be, but didn't get that far thanks to its creator. And, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

That's the problem with some people. Everyone that doesn't see things their way needs to be silenced. Everyone that has a different view is regarded as the problem and they never actually identify what the real problem is because they live in their own little dream world. Many go as far as to consider themselves to be more intelligent and enlightened, yet they do not even have the ability to construct an intelligently written response using proper spelling, punctuation and grammar.

If Dell/Alienware fully disclosed all of their intentions and set proper expectations on what customers will end up with in terms of limitations and compromises before they purchase the product, we wouldn't even be having this kind of discussion. The people that would buy it would do so with eyes wide open and they would end up with exactly what they expected and deserved. And, the people that might have purchased it will not because they know that it will not meet their expectations.

 

Pricing for the UK is quite a bit higher for that machine and it also in my opinion looks a lot worse aesthetically. On top of that you can normally squeeze dell for a decent discount so i'd rather the A51m R2.

 

Yeah, sadly, that's just how they roll. They are never forthright, honest, or offer full disclosure. They are smart enough to recognize the fact that there are too many people that would not purchase their products if they did. They are also smart enough to know they can get away with meticulously crafted misrepresentations that can be used later to skirt accountability in the event that they are challenged. In fact, they have employees that are paid to do exactly that. The Kool-Aid drinkers call that "clever marketing" and everyone else calls it deception.

LOL... definitely going to have to save that animated GIF. Hilarious.

 

Well, we would still be having similar discussions though, about the inadequacy of the products, especially in comparison to the competition. One could ask: why bother if there are better products out there? Well, Dell still has a few things going for it. It's a global brand, maybe the on-site support, perhaps the uniqueness of the AGA. Ultimately, the more competition, the better for the consumer.

Not sure why you say that - the prices quoted are taken directly from a German retailer's website and include VAT + free shipping within the EU. Any surcharge would be due to currency conversion by your bank/CC provider. No import duty applies yet. No idea why you are assuming you cannot get discounts from XMG resellers, given that it's pretty obvious you've never tried.

 

No i mean the prices from XMG are higher than Alienware UK by default nothing to do with Taxes or currency conversion.
I never said clevo resellers can't give discounts, i merely mentioned it's pretty easy to get them from Dell as they are a large multi national which can eat the cost.

 

Still not clear why you think the XMGs are more expensive. They seem competitively priced, not even taking into account the likely delta in quality (for example the thin and light Neo comes with factory applied LM). I mean they should be more expensive!

I configured a roughly equivalent 51M R2 on Dell UK: £3700/$4550 vs $4300 for the technically superior XMG Ultra. I'd personally prefer the understated design and proper keyboard too, BTW.

 

Precisely. I wouldn’t have purchased this if I knew the XMP that I asked so much about in chats prior to purchase was never to be enabled, or if I knew that the BIOS would be constant downgrades instead of improvements, and more importantly if they had said outright that the DGFFs would only be compatible in the same generation of 51m.

I’ve said this a couple of times, but Azor says in interviews the plan was multi generation GPU upgrades via DGFF (as the alternative to MXM), which they DID do with laptops R1/2/3/4 between ~2011-2016. Heck, that’s what convinced me:

1. [Dell has allowed MXM upgrades in the past]
2. + [MXM has its own issues so Dell brilliantly invented DGFF to avoid that and control the format]
3. + [Azor the boss himself at the time saying upgrades were the plan as long as Nvidia didn’t change GPU architecture wildly]

=

[Area 51m R1 with GPU upgrades in the future is a SURE THING]

...but alas, here we are.

First and last AW PC I’ll ever buy. Childhood dream to own one. Now I do, enjoying it a lot, but with a lot of sour aftertaste because I honestly, fully do believe upgrades were intended and later canceled/direction was changed without Azor at the helm. Just really sucks how misleading and what marketing and shady business this all was.

 

Exactly. While I question if their intentions were ever actually what came out of their mouths, the ah-hah moment for their customers victims warrants massive amounts of vitriol and condemnation. The underlying reasons for moving to soldered BGA trashbooks is greed and managing a product marketed with appeal because it is "not BGA garbage" as though it were is diabolical. So, it's not that they can't, but actually that they won't, allow upgrades and actively take steps to block them rather than taking the high road and doing what is right for their customers. Notebook manufacturers have figured out what desktop component manufacturers have always known and have remained wildly successful with. People can and will upgrade and/or repair the products they own. The only people that always start over from scratch every time are fools with more money than common sense. Alienware (and others) cannot milk their customers (defraud and abuse) if they allow them to have the same level of ownership rights that they enjoy with almost any other form of personal property that we can identify. It is despicable, shameful, dishonest and the reasons behind it should be illegal. They probably are illegal, but so clouded and shrouded by lies and lame excuses that making accusations stick is very difficult. For the record, Alienware treats their desktop customers the same way their do their laptop customers. Everything they sell on the desktop side is also a crappy proprietary, locked-down, one-shot wonder with interference on repairs and upgrade anywhere they can find a place to inject them.

 

Well put, which is why doing your due diligence is a must these days.

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

 

I still don't see why we can't just drop in a 2080S from the R2 into our R1 unless they significantly changed the screw layout or did something in vBIOS. I doubt the latter to be true and probably just the former. And it that case there is someone in China making a modified heatsink so we can see.

It's not like AW allowed 780M SLI>980M SLI in the M18xR2 officially, we had to do it ourselves.

CPU we already knew Intel was gonna make a new socket again (Z170>Z270>Z370>Z390 etc.) already screwing customers from before. Although the 9900KS thing was BS, they could have supported it.

 

Imagine Dell released Area-51m in 2015 with z170 as my Clevo P870

All you had was 6700K and dead end. Same as their desktops. Exactly as the BGA models but with desktop cpu.