Alienware Area-51m R1: Fast, big and upgradable
Alienware’s Area-51m flagship gaming laptop is big, thick, and fast, a return to form that should reassure people who got worried when the company unveiled the thin-and-light m15 last year. The new Area-51m very well might be the first gaming laptop to bring the Holy Grail of features to consumers: Upgradable graphics and an upgradable CPU.
SPECS AND FEATURES
The Area-51m’s spec list is all good stuff, and it’ll cost you. Our review unit is the highest-end SKU, which starts at $4,050 (available at Dell.com) but is $4,500 as configured below. For slightly more modest budgets, the lowest-end model starts at $1,950 and is nothing to sneeze at. Also note, the white “Lunar Light” color is a $50 upgrade over the dark-gray “Dark Side of the Moon” color.
CPU: Intel 8-core Core i9-9900K with Hyper-Threading. Alienware also offers an 8-core Core i7-9700K without Hyper-Threading and a 6-core Core i7-8700K with Hyper-Threading
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080, in a custom-upgradable version we’ll describe further below. RTX 2060 and RTX 2070 are also available.
RAM: 32GB DDR4/2400. Other RAM options include 8GB, 32GB, and 64GB.
Screen: 17.3-inch FHD (1920x1080) 144Hz Anti-Glare IPS Display with G-Sync and Tobii eyetracking. Other screen options mix-and-match G-Sync or Tobii eyetracking, or drop to a 60Hz refresh rate.
Storage: Our review unit carried 512GB of SSD storage using two M.2 NVMe drives, plus a 1TB hard drive. Many other storage options are available.
Ports: Two 10Gbps USB-A, one Thunderbolt 3, headset jack, mic jack, full-size HDMI 2.0, miniDisplayPort 1.4, Alienware Amplifier port, 2.5Gb Ethernet, lock port.
Power: The Area-51m we reviewed included a 330-watt brick for home use, and a 180-watt brick that’s theoretically mobile—lighter than the 330-watt brick, anyway. You can use both power bricks together, or separately, but performance will be affected in the latter case.
Dimensions: 15.9 x 16 x 1.6 inches.
SURPRISINGLY ‘LIGHT’ AND ‘SMALL’
If we told you the Area-51m was surprisingly light and small, you’d probably think we’d
