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

This is interesting:

https://www.alienwarearena.com/experiences/alienware-area-51m-R2

The world’s most powerful laptop just got an upgrade with extraordinary desktop-level processing power, CPU and GPU upgradability, advanced cooling and a premium, and a revolutionary design.

The new Hyper-efficient voltage regulation developed by the Alienware engineering team enables maximum performance for extended amounts of time with safeguarded thermal conditions. The Area-51m features a 12-phase graphics voltage regulation option.

VAPOR CHAMBER TECHNOLOGY
This advanced thermal cooling method efficiently dissipates heat from extreme-performance graphics options, with copper chambers transferring heat more effectively.

New hexagonal vents for an enhanced airflow with a 47% improvement rate from previous designs.

10% larger fan blades than the previous generation ensure high-performance graphics cards receive enhanced cooling when the action heats up.

 

What is ?? i can only see marketing mumbo jumbo ?

Edit: Their Hyper-efficient voltage regulation is so new, they used it on the m15 and m17 lol.. plsss don't tell me you'll fall for this marketing mumbo jumbo... AW is not the company they where..

 

Vapor chamber for the R2 was leaked a good while ago, and they need it for the 10900K since it runs hot, very hot. Wait for numbers on temperatures befor singing its praises.

 

Would be nice if they added a SD card reader. It's a small thing which can have alot of impact. It's still too early to really judge the machine, so it could be there are improvements under the hood which where not covered/interesting for the mainstream. Looking forward to the "Kings" bench numbers. It would not be strange if it can top the charts, cause the R1 was also very close. But even with all the tuning and love the 51m got, it never exceeded the Clevo machines powered by @Prema bios. Maybe it can, but it hasn't happen yet.

 

They did! Look at the pictures!
https://www.alienwarearena.com/experiences/alienware-area-51m-R2

There is camera up top too. Maybe they finally added windows hello support?

 

@Papusan could you enlighten spartan with the 2019 version of the area 51m with an sd card reader Thank you brother !

 

" FUTURE ON-HAND
Gamers have made it clear that they’ve noticed a lack of CPU and GPU upgradability in gaming laptops. The Area-51m was engineered with this in mind, finally allowing gamers to harness power comparable to even the highest-performance desktop, and making it the world’s first – and only – gaming laptop with upgradeable and overclockable graphics and processors."

 

I said Dell would do this screw up long time ago. Everything I said is now fullfilled Even the SD Card reader.


And nothing Dell and their bosses promised is fulfilled! Absolutely Nothing!

 

I mean it's technically correct. You can upgrade if you bought the lowest spec version and want to upgrade to a higher spec of the same generation. Misleading as **** but technically correct.


As a side note the R2 looks great with the vapor chamber cooling and 300hz screen. I held off the R1 but think the R2 has me sold.

 

Technically correct deny upgrade to 9900KS as well?

 

"...making it the world’s first – and only – gaming laptop with upgradeable and overclockable graphics and processors"

It's not lying, it's marketing.

 

I got mine early January , should I list my area51m in eBay ?

 

I would hold out till the reviews and user experiences. Also the prices seems to have been jacked up alot it seems. Next thing you know we have gpu burning gate 2.0 ;p

 

I wouldn't want to reward them with more money after how R1 got the short end of the stick. That kind of behavior is what makes it possible for them to keep getting away with things like that.

 

I would definitely list it in ebay if it has RTX 3 GPUs.

I was thinking to upgrade the heatsink of Area51m , but then if R2 comes with upgraded heatsink then I might pay 200-300$ for the R2 with 10900k.

I should note I got my area51m, RTX 2080 9900k , 16gb ram for 3200$

 

It only has Supers, 3080 will come with the R3 haha most likely. At this point, I’ll probably hold out until the 4080 and start from scratch. Holding out with the R1 until then. A 3080 upgrade path would have been nice.

 

not really. they only revisioned area 51m because it uses another chipset (z490) which requires a whole new motherboard. when RTX 3080 lineup comes, they will make DGFF of it and sell both with a new laptop / separeted part to upgrade. (even r1 owners can use 2000 SUPER, and will use 3000)

 

https://www.3dmark.com/fs/19316903

lol this was expected. Not the greatest performance increase.

My only upgrade is looking how to get my hands on either the 1080p 300hz or 4k 60hz display.


I guess they learned their lesson here too:

Lunar Light with High Endurance Clear Coat


Edit: Just saw the keyboard.....whyyyy did they remove the awesome keyboard and skimp it with the m17 series style keyboard??

 

they needed to change that power supply combo. to allow a single 330 or 2x 330w thats it. or better yet just use eurocom's 780w already.

 

Won't happen! The single 330w is capeed at around 240-260W. Same for use of the single 780W from Eurocom. You'll need a splitter with the 780W from Eurocom and the needed ID chips.

What with all those who risk the Yellowish color on the R1? Will they get free replacement of parts?

 

they can easily do that but they chose not to, so I will vote with my money and go some where else. I had two machines r1 and r2, guess they didn't want our repeated business.

 

I stopped using my R1 due to the splitter was such a pain one adapter would come undone when moving it around. The A51m is now placed on showcase in the office with all the other AW over the last 15 years.

 

Less is more Looks like Dell prefered SD card read over the macro keys. Can't have both. More components will add costs.

 

Those bastards... they should have had a high endurance clear coat since the start. Idiots!

Where did you read that? Curious

If the screen dimensions and connector is exactly the same, I’ll be hunting for a 300 Hz display too, can’t pass that up! Specs on it look sweet.

I’ll believe it when I see it. There have been Twitter posts already stating that the R1 is only compatible with “upgrades” within its own generation, implicitly saying the R1 is not compatible with the 2080 Super. Also... not worth it anyway if coming from a 2080.

The only 2 things that are truly better on the R2 for me would be the faster RAM and the 300Hz screen would just be a splurge.

 

Here. All older Alienwares with the Lunar white color should be replaced for free! All the Lunar White models from last gen will get the dreaded Lunar Yellowish/brown color.

 

sure that'd be great only problem is it's $650 bucks!

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I am now stuck in China until next summer (2021). Originally I was planning to come home to America this summer, purchase an Area 51m, then bring it back to China with me. That probably won't be happening now.

I will probably be skipping this R2 and waiting for an R3. So, this means I have a brand new (unopened) HIDEvolution Silicon Lottery Delidded Intel i9-9900KS Processor rated to 5.2 GHz that I no longer have a use for. I paid $1,600 for it but will let it go for much less. Message me with offers if interested.

 

You paid WHAT?!?!?!? lol omg. I’ve never heard anyone spend that much on a consumer CPU

 

Meh, if you really want something (like I did), you’ll pay for it. I have solid income, so I don’t regret it. It is a top of the line chip. Wish I could break my addiction to shiny new tech, though!

 

R2 keyboard is chiclet style.

Lets not crap all over the R1 owners guys. Keep it civil, most all of us are enthusiasts and many love there R1's and I for one love my R1. I get it, we want a better product and the only way to do that sometimes is to crap all over the product to see if any changes will come of it but keep in mind us who already enjoy the machine.

It saddens me they changed the keyboard, I love this keyboard but Im interested in the new vaper chamber cooling and other upgrades. 300hz screen, even though Im a big FPS gamer, 144hz is the most I will ever need for a long time for the type of games I play, but I dont play Fortnite either so your mileage may vary.

I am glad Dell is following through with another revision though! I dont care if I own the R1, im an enthusiast and I want to see the line do well either way. Hopefuly there will be an R3 and R4 as well, and better things to come!

Can anyone chime in on plundervolt effecting the R2, I know all the new BGA laptops are unable to undervolt with software in windows anymore.

The 300hz screen does not list G-sync on it also just a FYI.

 

I think 4k or UHD and HDR is better than 300Mhz screen, hardly any content for 144Mhz let a lone 300 MHz, The current area51m is listed in my area for 6000$ ~ I can sell mine at purchase price.

what is the price tag for area51m-R2?

 

I know this is a problem with lunar white but i'm still not seeing a single yellow spot with 14 months of use.

 

mine got the yellowish thing at the bottom pad where it rests.

 

Better put it up for sale on several places, come 20th and it's the 10th gen launch. But since its a limited run KS and SL 5.2Ghz top bin, it will still hold a premium value.

 

With the BIOS limitations on the Area51m post BIOS 1.3.2/1.5.0 which thermal throttles the GPU at 79C, I'm not sure that I even wanna try the R2 unless people confirm it doesn't have these issues because if it does have such stupid low thermal thresholds, trust me games are simply NOT playable with this low thermal threshold.

 

They only put that in since the R1 was burning GPU's. I'm sure it won't have it, at least not until an R2 catches fire

 

you have a point there! are you gonna order one matey?

 

They can still add in the thermal throttle temp point. R2 may run a bit cooler and can keep GPU right under same low temp throttle point. Why change a winning team? Better be safe than sorry. This way can Dell avoid complaints if they prefer change the temp target in next firmware update. Remember they often do that "after main review sites have tested their products".

 

I'm in two minds. I want one but i think waiting for the 30xx series of gpus is probably the smart choice as it's unlikely they will let you upgrade.

 

I recall that 3000Mhz memory bios that was only given out to a bencher.

 

I think I'm with you. The next step from the 2080 Super will surely be a 30xx configuration. Is it too early to start speculating about an R3?

 

I'll be keeping my R1 for the keyboard alone. Anyways 3000 series will be the true upgrade. I do want that display though, hope the panels end up on ebay after awhile

I don't know, I will find out in the future

 

Same! This keyboard is mooooonnneeey. Love it, butter smooth and fast.

 

If this article is right or would mean the R2 is not upgradrable to the 3000 series. I quote:

"In fact, when asked if the new Alienware Area-51m R2 will get next-gen CPUs and GPUs upgrades we were told: “Due to generational differences in technologies, we are unable to commit to upgradability beyond the generation of GPU’s & CPU’s that the Area-51m R2 was designed for, 10th Gen Intel Processors and NV 2070 RTX SUPER and NV 2080 RTX SUPER respectively.”

https://www.pcworld.com/article/354...-holy-grail-of-laptop-features-eluded-us.html

So yeah, Dells upgradeability is for within the same generation. People will buy an r2 thinking that it will be upgradrable to the 3000 series while they will be restricted against it.

I'll say it again, AW is not the company they used to be. They ran crossfire and SLI in a 17 inch and 18 inch format and now they can't get even upgrading graphics cards cross generational working ? If this ain't enough evidence, nothing is.

https://www.extremetech.com/computi...eable-area-51m-cant-actually-be-upgraded-dell

 

If they were honest about this upfront, less people would have a problem with it, since you would know exactly what to expect down the road.

 

Exactly they hid themselves behind a definition
Of upgradeability that no enthusiast uses. Technically they're right, but speaking to enthusiasts this would not mean upgradeability but vendor lock-in

 

Newest OC Controls released today brings back the Thermal Limit slider functionality without needing any read-only zip file antics... for those concerned (I never did the “fix” lol)... but glad to see that it was a bug (apparently)



Edit: wrong thread, but likely still useful for R1 members watching this lol. Sorry!

Edit 2: false alarm, restarted and it is locked again. Sorry 2!

 

So the new cards are sized differently DGFF vs DG-FU (dell gaming Fully upgradable )?

 

I don’t have any proof to back this up. Just speculation and a gut feeling. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t release the 3000 series until fall/Christmas. So probably early next year we’d see it in an area 51m.

 

As far as we know, the GPU are compatible, r1 will use SUPER cards, and most likely RTX 3000. The only barrier is CPU which is "locked" in each chipset z390/z490 thank to intel

 

PCB shape might be the same, but screw holes changed I think (this we do know just from looking at the leaked heatsink). Super cards might “work” because we can connect it via the mini PCIe connectors, but it won’t truly fit, nor will the heatsink... you keep saying this and NONE of us have confirmation or truly know until someone tries a Super card in an R1.

Also, BIOS is a huge component here. Unless Dell updates the BIOS on the R1 to support it, it could not work AT ALL. Maybe it could work by installing modded drivers by editing the hardware IDs to “0000”, but that’s still the very least of our worries.

Fact is, the screw positions and BIOS might be the 2 biggest hurdles.

Stop spreading saying it will work when none of us know. Let’s wait and see, shall we?

Also, we DO have confirmation from Dell people saying the R1 only supports “upgrades” in its own generation of components ONLY. So what is your source that you’re so confident that the Super and 3000’s series cards will work in the R1? Because you keep contradicting official sources saying they won’t...