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

...and they still blow up…. so save your money and order @ dell would be my consequence. Repaste is done in 30mins on your own...

 

Agreed. But custom taxes when you order from Europe are insanely high. In the end, if you add the shipping cost, it's not wortth it IMO, I cannot afford it. Plus you get a QWERTY keyboard.

 

This^

That is not even including sales tax for United States customers....there is no way paying 800+ extra for a laptop that does “work” out the box is worth the premium, 90% of the users here are somewhat enthusiasts and paying 15-50 bucks in materials for something that takes an hour or two is do is ridiculous. And there is someone here that just had theirs blow up WITH the extra service from HID. (It’s Dells fault of course)


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You get it when you register the tobii tracker at the site.

That said, i still haven’t been able to get it working with games. I tried to reinstall everything but now even the experience center can’t find it anymore.

I’m glad with my thermals, stock i’m never going above 75degrees on the gpu and the cpu does not get above 75degrees while gaming on performance mode. I’m itching to overclock it to see how far i can go but i’m only gaming soo i’m fine with how it performs.

Now to get the tobii working

 

All this talk about HID vs Dell, but what about something like XoticPC? They recently increased their price (still less than Dell before discount and no tax unless you are in Nebraska), but before that had quite a huge discount in comparison with Dell. On top of that, you supposedly get the same QC and treatment as HID. I placed an order with XoticPC and gave them a call, seemed like great people and easy to talk to. I don't have that unit in my hands yet, but I expect good things.

So hopefully, ordering with XoticPC would be all the advantages of HID, with comparable prices (or even less than) to Dell. I'm not trying to shill and I have no feedback on the quality of product they provide, but these were my thoughts when ordering from them. Hopefully I receive my unit from them soon, as I initiated a return on my Dell unit. My order comparison is in the order thread.

 

I haven't bought anything from Xotic in several years, but my experiences in the past were always good.

 

so take your chances then and play the Russian roulette. No one is forcing you to buy from them.

If all the reports of failure, overheating, burned systems are not enough to make you wanna pay more for a quality machine, then I have nothing to say to you.

To me personally, I understand your point, it is more expensive especially if you live in Europe. Heck I live in Dubai too and pay a fortune for shipping and taxes. But I just consider it s that' the price of the laptop in total, that's how it is. I don't sit and think oh wait, the laptop is like 4000 USD, then I add 500 USD for shipping and taxes and HIDevolution's cooling mods and quality, no that's a lot of extra money! No, I don't think that way. But to each his own, you get what you pay for.

 

Then get it from Dell and be another *number* of burned systems or people who suffer from this overheating issue, or thta backlight bleeding issue, or this flimsy touchpad issue.

Dell's quality control is non existent even though they have nice machines and specs.

 

You know that at least 1 a51m from HID already blew up?

 

You say that, but we just added another user that has the full HID treatment and STILL died on them, (didn’t you see the post?) To me it sounds like we should hold on to our wallets and wait and see when this “fix” gets released. Since your in Dubai, I know you’ll be pissed if the same happens to you after the end cost to get yourself one that has been “cherry picked”. IMO, after reading about the user that just posted about his dead HIDevolution Alienware 51m (lasted about a week) that tells me it doesn’t matter where you get it from. Dell needs to make it right with all of our laptop gaming brethren that bought this machine and rectify the issue including all of us that are waiting for ours to ship.


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What Cpu... Does this matter? Nope. But 9700K will pull less power vs. 9900K. Aka less stress for the power delivery.

I haven't dismissed nothing. I said fix the flaws first if you have all too high Cpu temp from the beginning. I'm all in for best possible temp. For the records... Not all get exactly same reduction in Cpu temp with delidding and lapping of the Cpu silicon. And don't compare results from desktops better cooling vs. Dell's laptop heatsink and cooling.

 

Did i say this? Nope.

I was just wondering that most of the blown a51m had an 9700k equiped... nothing more.

 

How is this game to play key keyboard and mouse?

 

Did we not sort of agree that it is the VRMs on the GPU card that blow?

 

I’m playing with a Xbox One controller.

 

Damn man, where's that post from that user? I just woke up so I didn't see it.

This is why I switched my order to the Alienware m15. Despite all that HIDevolution can do to make this work, I didn't wanna take any chances

Now the good thing about Dell is I can freely transfer the warranty to the local Dell Dubai but the issue is, if something happens, they probably won't have the part(s) and I might end up waiting forever for them to come or a new system to be built and relaced.

 

I'm not convinced that this is a generic problem serious enough to warrant a recall. I lived through the Note 7 fire nightmare. Although this sounds similar, I have yet to hear confirmation from Dell that the problem is repeatable and requires corporate/regulatory response. The 51m failures remind me more of the issues we had been seeing with the desktop RTX cards. There, consumers questioned why Nvidia had not instituted a recall. It turned out that the alarming number of card failures was in line with the expected number of card failures.

The issues we are seeing with the 51m are awful for the customers affected. A lot of other customers have not had any issue. If you want the 51m, by all means purchase the laptop. There is no technical reason why you should not. As a piece of mind, make sure you also get a decent warranty. There is always a risk to purchasing a high end laptop. Brother @m4gg0t has been unable to overclock his system without thermal problems. At least with HID Evolution, you will get lifetime technical support should problems arise after the warranty ends.

 

@Ultra Male, here it is. Now, from what I remember every failed area51m we have logged had the 2080 right? If that’s case then it’s the custom 2080 Dell made for this laptop.


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Ouch, that's a real bummer now man as he did mention that the temps with the cooling mods were great so it's not a heat issue of the CPU or GPU. Possibly the VRMs. I so wanted this machine to work man but thank God the events turned out this way and I ended up not getting it. See this post please: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...vs-alienware-m15.827808/page-11#post-10884605

 

Ruh-oh. I’m waiting delivery of an i9 + 2080. Sounds like trouble!

 

No worries man. How are you liking the m15 so far? Getting a Nebula red m15 was definitely on my radar before the area 51m.

 

It will be built/tested on Monday. The build started on Friday actually but due to me choosing HIDevolution's Laser engraving service to have Arabic Letters engraved on the keyboard, that takes like a full day which is why the build will commence on Monday.

They have already done the "Minimize LCD Backlight bleeding" option which I chose and assured me that it's a perfect screen which is one of my big concerns with Alienwares as from what I hear and from my past experience with my old Alienware 18, light bleeding is a hit or miss due to the bezels putting too much pressure on the screen so that's done in terms of quality checks.

Next will be applying the fujipoly thermal pads and Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut and then stress testing. Hopefully I should get it next week and I will make a review as usual.

But lemme tell you this, I went to the mall the other day and was at an electronics shop which had various computers, so I thought of checking a few laptops out and that's when I saw the Nebula Red m15, I immediately fell in love with its color, how compact it looked yet still had the Alienware DNA and build quality and the fact that it's a powerful beast in such a small form factor which you can easily transport, take with you to cafes , vacations, etc thanks to its small size, large 90WHr battery, and only 1 power adapter needed.

I then ended up ordering the Alienware Area 51-m, totally different animal, size, and hardware specs, but I got over excited to have the latest and greatest. Then one thing started happening after the other, first the delays from Dell, then me reading the horror stories here, then I got yet another delay from Dell pushing the shipping date from 18 March to 28 March and now it shows 3rd of April! It's like God doesn't want me to get this laptop!

 

How is that even a thing? You can engrave into individual keycaps? I had to get special arabic keyboards for m18x/m17x back in the day

 

looks like HID enhanced laptops are not immune to burn out. can you please open up the system and check if the GPU underside VRMs are burnt? also are those thermal pads changed by HID and how is the contact? thanks

 

I'm not a religious man...but I wouldn't tempt fate! I've been waiting to see the issues with the A51M shake-out, but I'm getting the sense that there are far too many to be addressed until Rev.2 perhaps, so.....

I've decided to wait and see the next laptop that comes over the (HO)RYZEN!!

 

this wont work. thunderbolt 3 display output on area-51m requires igpu.

whoopss.. just noticed @ThatOldGuy answered this already.

 

They've shown me Videos of how they do it and it looks like, looks like it came from the factory that way! I despise those cheap looking stickers you talk about and just had to use the darn virtual keyboard to type in Arabic:

French Keyboard Engraving Example:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=340476769908970

Arabic Keyboard Engraving Example:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=802958223396066

 

i did notice xotic pc is a lot cheaper than HID, but i'm not sure if their services are just as good cos many forum members here are pro HID. so we cant get useful feedback from xotic pc buyers

 

So, does that mean the displays connected through Thunderbolt are actually iGPU driven, and not off the dGPU directly?

That means all the video from the dGPU goes through the iGPU for Thunderbolt connected displays, and video settings are controlled by the Intel control panel, and the Nvidia controls are mostly (Color, Balance, Effects, Resolution) moot (useless)?

Thats not really Optimal now is it? Speaking of "Optimus", it sucks.

 

That's actually really cool

PS: My old Alienware keyboards were not stickers, Dell actually made Arabic keyboards for overseas market. I have them in my M17x R2 and M18x R2
I'm actually surprised they don't offer this as an option any more

 

Yea, I would opt to use the HDMI or Display port that are directly connected to the dGPU. Thunderbolt is only useful for external drives and high capacity docks.

This is true for every Thunderbolt Laptop.
However I read somewhere that they (Intel?) is trying to implement it on a motherboard level instead.

 

To allow for "direct" dgpu connections? Rather than going through the CPU's iGPU - drawing power and raising temperature, that would be better.

Yeah, that makes another slowdown / messing up of the eGPU connection through TB3, having to go through the Intel iGPU + Intel Control Panel.

The directly PCIe method sounds better and better, I wish laptop makers would consider making a PCIe direct connect extension to the outside for external PCIe GPU and other PCIe boards.

 

Perhaps this was done on purpose so you have to use AW EGPU and not a TB3 from a competitor?

 

Since it's all brands that use TB3, it's Intel doing that to keep control of TB3 / iGPU link.

 

I am in the same boat, was really excited to get the Area-51m at first, then found out it was only with FHD screens and would have to wait 6-8 months. Then all these issues started being reported and at the same time my current laptop started to develop a random screen flicker issue, so its unlikely it will hold out another 8 months.

Seriously started considering getting the MSI Trident X Plus 9SE-062US which is small enough to fit in a backpack for travel and similar weight if you add the 2x Area-51m power bricks, just need to figure out a portable display option, and would have a full gaming display at home. Bit cheaper with more power at lower temps and much easier upgrades, but something still nags me to wait for the Area-51m as its the sort of machine I always wanted.
Btw anyone here have any experience with a good 15" or ideally 17" portable gaming display that would be no larger than a similarly sized ultrabook?

What do you guys think, is it worth waiting to get the Area-51m once the QHD/UHD displays make an appearance?

 

Maybe just get a cheap one until you can decide

Or a tablet

 

I know what a shame, my Alienware 18 also had an English/Arabic Keyboard so I'm really glad HIDevolution are doing this.

 

Looks like laser engraving. Do they have a engraving machine for that?

 

That I'm not sure of it's better to call them bro or email them.

 

Ah, I should ask Donald about that. Anyway, good luck with your m15, hopefully it'll serve you better than all the junk from Asus/MSI you had before ;-)

 

Thinking of buying an 51m with a basic configuration of i7 8700 and rtx2060, and then I will upgrade cpu to the top 9900k later. I dont care about the graphic card at all since I already had the 2080ti in my AGA, actually I maybe remove the 2060 module to save the whole heat dissipation capability to the 9900k later on.
Few questions:
- Will I miss something when I order just the minimum spec? Like lesser heatsink or something like that? in case of 17r4 the 1070 or 1060 configuration has thinner heatsink than the 1080 variant.
- Can the 51m even run without any discrete graphic module?

 

They only charge sales tax if you live in California where they are located.

 

The 2060 comes with no side ventilation, not sure anyone has taken a picture yet. I've read every page of this thread and don't recall anyone mentioning running without the GPU.

 

I think it is a firmware issue with the 1.3.0 BIOS and 200W vBIOS more than anything else and Dell doesn't want to admit it.

My laptop came with the 1.2.0 BIOS and in The Division 2 at stock I was getting 125-140FPS at Ultra with temps never above 72C on CPU or GPU.

I went ahead and installed the 1.3.0 BIOS and the 200W vBIOS and now my machine runs hotter, both CPU in the mid 80's and GPU right around 80 and performance is worse at stock. Lucky to average bewteen 85-100 FPS.

I have also had a couple of times in-game where my GPU drops to 300MHz for 10-30 seconds and then jumps back up to around 1800MHz. This is with the temp right around 80C. Thermal throttling shouldn't happen until 87C.

ETA: Forgot to add that I will be glad when the new BIOS releases this week to see what changes.

 

Pretty good idea if Dell decided to just sell the model without a gfx module at a lower price. I would def buy that with an aga hooked up. Still more portable than a desktop while having desktop power.

 

Newer nvidia driver does have a USB C container for video. I'm unsure if Dell or others use standard USBC or TB3 protocol. Actually, I found Intel color settings to be much better than nvidia garbage CPL. Its thanks to Chef Koch's Dithering regfix for ngreedia that fixed washed out colors on my TV when I thought it was problem of cheapo TV we got during Diwali. Damn yes its Ngreedia's issue all along. It took me 3 yrs to realise this and same issue is present on projectors as well. No damn fix from Green goblins.

 

Actually just checked Dell's website and the new BIOS is out now.

1.3.1

 

Alienware Area-51m System BIOS v1.3.1

Fixes & Enhancements
Fixes:
- Fixed the issue where the internal speaker does not work.

Enhancements:
- N/A
Version
Version 1.3.1, 1.3.1
Category
BIOS
Release date
25 Mar 2019
Last Updated
25 Mar 2019
Importance
Urgent

 

i can not confirm any of your observations...

- Division 2 is running great with Bios 1.3.0 and was with 1.2.0 too.
- Temps on my machine are the same with both Bios versions
- overall performance is the same too -> all my benches where made with 1.3.0 -> Cinebench 2227 and FS 256XX
- no gpu drops here

just reinstall 1.2.0 and recheck your observations