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

OK, so the claim is 3ms response time (I am assuming it's GtG, since there are like 5-6 different response time metrics). That'd be better, although 240/280Hz FHD gaming monitors all offer 1ms (at the highest overdrive), and the difference vs 2ms is actually noticeable albeit no deal-breaking for most people. Sadly, Google failed me when trying to find a detailed spec sheet on AU Optronics AUOBE8E. There is still no notebookcheck review on the R2, so no idea about any other performance characteristics. AFAIR even NBC wouldn't be able to measure things like input lag, the way RTINGS.com do with monitors. Note that because Dell seems to don't advertise detailed specs or exact panel model, there is no guarantee the next customer will get the same panel as you did.

Edit: OK, I found more info

https://www.dell.com/support/manual...79fc11-9b22-44fa-ba0d-ae67ba34e9f8&lang=en-us

3ms GtG indeed, unfortunately the contrast ratio of 700:1 is abysmal.

 

Man you're a G00gl3 w!zard! I could find anything even with my searching skills

Spartan =
etern4l =

 

What difference would that make? I have a 14% discount that expires on the 30/8.

I'm more intrested in if 3200 XMP really makes a real life difference in games.

 

Well, I guess the more concrete information about Ampere could make a difference. The coupon expires on 30/8? Hmm, do you think it's a co-incidence it expires a day before the consumer Ampere announcement event? I guess it's nice they offer a 14% discount on a laptop that will plummet 30% in value in a few months.

 

I know you said the contrast ratio is abysmal and i'll assume it is but to my eye its better than all the panels i've used before and the blacks are pretty dark.

 

Aha, that makes more sense.

 

When I opened up my laptop to repaste yesterday, it had an interesting label on the display cable:

"FDQ70_EDP_FHD_300HZ_HDR400_N_GSYNC"

HDR400 seems to suggest a 400 nits screen (despite the website stating 300 nits). I presume N_GSYNC means no GSync?

Also, even though Ampere launches soon, it will still take a while for desktop cards to trickle through, and laptop cards will be several months behind if the situation for the previous gen is replicated.

 

That statement is impossible to evaluate without the information of what panels you are comparing to. All the IPS panels, even the 240Hz gaming monitors (including 240Hz TN monitors) optimised for speed rather than visuals have 1000:1 or more (usually 1100-1200:1) contrast ratio, which is already described as mediocre/lacking by reviewers (in comparison to VA/OLED!).

I don't remember the last time I looked at a panel with static contrast ratio below 1000:1, must have been a while back. Anyway, it's clear the 300Hz panel is a compromise: speed at the cost of image quality, as expected, although the low contrast ratio is surprisingly way below par.

HDR400 is a total marketing gimmick. It's not true HDR, the panel almost certainly is not 10bit, especially given the low contrast ratio/dynamic range - it won't be particularly good at displaying SD content, not to mention HDR which requires wider dynamic range, obviously.

If by several you mean 3-4 then yes, I agree. RTX 2080 was announced at the end of Sep 2018, and a brand new laptop, Alienware Area 51M became available in Jan 2019. By analogy, given that RTX 3080 is getting announced at the beginning of Sep 2020, we can reasonably expect 51M R3 refresh in time for Xmas.

 

Can't really decide between 10900K and 10700K CPU and 3200Mhz and 2933Mhz RAM.

Any thoughts? The machine is pure gaming for me.

 

Surely 10700K will be plenty. Games are mostly bottlenecked on the GPU, hence the whole Ampere excitement.

Best and cheapest RAM option is throwaway 8GB from Dell + HyperX Impact 2933.

 

RAM is very expensive to buy here, so most effective option is more or less 32gb 2933Mhz. Should be good enough then?

16gb 3200Mhz XMP is priced about the same.

 

Do you mean from Dell or aftermarket? Do check prices on HyperX Impact. It should work out cheaper than ordering the equivalent amount of RAM from Dell. Either way, HyperX Impact or Dell, 3200 for laptops is pretty much a marketing gimmick at this point - would need a desktop with much better timed modules to fully leverage it.

 

One stick of 8gb HyperX Impact 65$ which would give me 16gb. To go from Dell's 8gb minimum to their 32gb 2933 är 61$.

 

Alright then, Dell value RAM should do for gaming. You will lose like 100 points of FS score vs HyperX, whatevs.

 

If it is for pure gaming purposes dual channel 2x8 GB @3200 MHz is better than dual channel 16x2 GB @2933 MHz. I've seen plenty of reviews where there is almost no difference between 8 vs 16 vs 32 GB for gaming on the opposite side you actually get better fps with faster RAM

 

Not always true. And you can't customize the awful timings for those 3200MHz sticks.

 

Yep, rubbish 3200 RAM, as the one supplied by Dell, won't run any faster. Someone tried to use actually fast 3200 modules, don't remember the make - Corsair? They were like CL18 vs 21 or 22 supplied by Dell. Weren't stable in this laptop.
The 3200 RAM is just another blunt marketing trick.

 

Good point, I was thinking everything constant (same latency, same bus width, same channel count) except RAM speed. But yeah, there are more important factors than memory size when it comes to improve fps performance through the RAM sticks

 

Checking the current prices your right that the cost is probably best placed with the Dell 32GB 2933MHz. However @etern4l is certainly right and the HyperX is better, the latency timings with the Dell stock RAM is shockingly bad.

Whatever the case you have the following options:

Dell 32GB 2933 CL20 @ +$65
Dell 32GB 3200 (XMP) CL22 @ +$330
HyperX 32GB 2933 (CL17) @ $150
HyperX 32GB 3200 (CL20) @ $180

The HyperX 3200 may not work but instead will then default to the 2933 (CL17) as designed.

I actually tried 32GB Crucial Ballistex 3200 (CL16) however it wasn't stable and crashed my system as it tried 2 other random profiles at 2933 and 2666. None worked well and I reverted to my Dell stock 3200 (CL 22).

Regardless going for HyperX will be best for performance, though 3200Mhz is not guaranteed (Dell state only their 3200 XMP RAM is supported) and tbf only 2ns better in latency. Though I'd guess its much more likely to work than the Crucial as the latency timings aren't so low (20 vs 16). HyperX 2933 CL17 is 3ns faster than Dell equivalent and 5ns faster than the 3200 XMP.

What does all this mean? Well (very rough ball park figures here), you could look at FPS/benchmark score increases of UPTO around a 1-2 percent per nano second faster the CAS latency is. So the HyperX 2933 would be 3-6% better than Dell's. However though it would be 5ns faster than Dells 3200, that has the higher frequency which would trump it, though I can't see there being much difference. The HyperX 3200 would be ideal and best here, though not much in it when its only 2ns faster than the Dell 3200.

Overall though @etern4l again is right, certainly for the 3200, its cheaper and better to go for the HyperX, and if it doesn't work, you default to the 2933 (CL17) profile, which though $115 more expensive id say is worth the gamble for 3200 working and in either case the timings are better.

 

nice. we have nearly the same specs. that number appears to be right on target...

i believe i was getting nearto 6100. but, now i'm getting 3928...
only thing i remember doing, recently, was turning on instant replay (alt + shift F10), and configuring tobii with a couple features...

don't think they should be using enough resources to degrade the score this much; but, ill play around with it later.
enjoy the beast... only thing i haven't enjoyed was Rainbow Six (not the laptop's fault); and 1 or 2 times, i think i noticed a microfreeze...


*** Update ***
Forgot I had a power supply disabled, for battery drain testing (issue i have on my R1).
Cinebench 6097, no OC/UV

 

you won't notice any performance loss with the 2933MHz, and it actually performs better in some tasks.
if I didn't have an expense sheet to recoup some of the R2, i would have gladly opted for the 10700K and 2933MHz and cheaper drives too.

put the difference, in savings, into one of your savings accounts, and apply it to future upgrades (and warranty). i don't recall hearing good things about Toshiba m.2 SSDs... i'm sure my warranty will come in handy next year... (special thanks to @Spartan@HIDevolution for giving me an additional method of creating backup ISOs of my system!!!)

 

Thanks for the link and your earlier message. Out of the 3 options spec-ed, it is clear that the UHD is better for picture quality; sadly, using Windows on high ppi hurts my eyes (if you know what I mean) enough to steer me away from that choice. Out of the two FHDs, the 300Hz looks to be marginally better. The contrast ratio of 700:1 won't be great but is all I can have.

hahahaha. you must think quite highly of yourself.

 

I would go for the higher speed memory without giving it a second thought. Their thats settled. As far as the CPU is concerned that is a tougher choice. It really depends on how you want to go about things. If you are wiling to put in some extra work and delid the CPU with LM then the 10900k could be viable. As it stands, thermals are the biggest restraint getting in the way of you and amazing gaming. You want to treat your expensive piece of hardware nice, not running it in the 90s for countless hours every day. Personally I think the better option here is to get the 10700k and enjoy great thermals for awhile then if you feel for some reason you need the 10 core processor get one from silicon lottery delided and binned. Might as well do it right if thats the route your going to take. There is nothing more annoying when your having a marathon gaming session and you realize your frying your laptop by over doing it.

I can say, from my R1 experience, Im very glad I have not had to put up with the temperatures that the 9900k are known for. My CPU has in no way ever been a detriment to my gaming experience and that I am thankful for. I probably have gamed, very heavily on my R1 now over the past 3 months over 300 hours and my CPU has never hit the 80s, ever...Thats marathon sessions with BF5 as thats my game of choice at the moment along with dozens of others and my newest addition Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.

On the other hand if your going to be using intensive resource hungry CPU bound applications that the obvious choice is to get the 10 core processor. For gaming, the improvement your going to see in FPS vs the thermal benefit you see with the 8 core are not equal in my opinion. A hardcore gamer is going to get much more satisfaction from seeing those low temperatures and being able to keep the CPU temp out of sight and out of mind then getting that extra 3-5% in FPS from a 10 core processor.

 

I had ordered and canceled something like three laptops this summer, and for my most recent uncancelled order, I went with a delidded i7 10700K, whereas all the other times, I went with some variant of i9, mobile or desktop. I felt that liquid metal on a delidded i7 would run much cooler long term and that the i9 would be a waste given my primary focus on gaming. I figured the 2080 Super would do the heavy lifting in gaming anyways.

 

The 2080 super along with the faster memory and you will be set. Upgrade the storage to NVMe.

 

Yup, did all that as well. 3 m.2 NVMe drives and 3200Mhz RAM. No spinning platters in this laptop!

 

The Area-51m is really an amazing gaming system. Were are very lucky to have such a great piece of hardware. I cant wait to buy my second with 3xxx GPU although the chiclet keyboard is not something I want I will get over it. I do dearly love my R1 KB.

The asthetics, performance, and design are spot on for my taste. After having struggled with so many crappy expensive BGA crappy laptops this is a much needed upgrade. I do like my Acer Helios even though its a BGA soldered togather mess it got me to this point for many months. Its not even a quarter of the laptop the alienware is though. It is funny as well, when ever I end up chating online in game with players, they all despise alienware and say they could make a desktop for that kind of money. I dont think they understand how much of an improvement the Area-51m is over 99% of the crap mobile market. I will never buy another BGA gaming laptop for the rest of my days if I can help it.

FYI; For those not in the know, BGA stands for Ball Grid Array which essentially means both the GPU and CPU are soldered on the motherboard which is most cases is a bad thing. Manufacturers do this because the market trend i.e. the kiddies who want there laptops to be thin as well as light and have great battery life think that its a good idea to do all those things plus add gaming to the mix as well which it is not. The mobile gaming sector as far as PC's are concerned is a horrible pile of dog feces and excrement where any laptop that is associated with "Gaming" has a giant premium regardless of quality. The BGA laptop mess these company's provide is appalling and deceptive. The gaming industry has followed suit as well though unfortunately releasing console ports that are despised by many including me because they know they can get away with it. Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2020 is the first game in I dont know how many years that actually is up to date and started its incarnation with the PC. It has decent graphics and it takes a quality system to run it.

Until we start seeing some decent games with dedicated custom servers again strictly for the PC we will be inundated with absolutely trash garbage console ports that I find less apealling then using my money as a source of physical warmth by lighting it ablaze.

and finally, for anyone wandering how the new "The New World" game is. I played it for 20 minutes running around and I was sick to my stomach by the end. Its a terrible theme park linear gagingly horrible MMO. Sorry I got a little of topic, LOL!!!

 

Good point. In order to optimise money extraxtion, Dell made the cheaper 144Hz FHD option even worse lol.

Excellent suggestion with the upgrade fund, given that the R3 is around the corner!

 

I've had a number of alienwares M17x r4 and a 17 r4, HP Spectre, Thinkpad x1 carbon and a HP Elitebook Mobile workstation and the screen looks better than all of them. I know that's subjective but the panel does look pretty good to me in comparison to other laptop panels i've used.


Depends on when the mobile parts become available, there might me a couple of month delay on that. Especially with the anticipated demand for the desktop parts.

 

I'm going through the spec sheets, and on the storage page, Dell specifies that the R2 can support NVMe SSDs that are "up to 2TB." Is this another artificial limitation akin to only specific RAM being capable of XMP? Or are there actual technical limitations that prevent the installation/usage of a 4TB SSD?

 

Well, if we compare to older or value/business hardware then sure enough there will be improvement. It just means you've had no better point of reference. However, if we compare to current enthusiast hardware (since with 51M you are certainly getting an enthusiast price tag), it's not great.

I've just treated myself to a 240Hz gaming monitor (AW BTW!), so did some research: no leading options below 1000:1 contrast regardless of panel type.
Macbook pro retina? 1350:1 https://www.color-management-guide.com/apple-macbook-pro-16-inch-display-review.html
More to the point, Razer Blade Pro 17 with 300Hz FHD display? "937":1 as measured by NBC: https://www.notebookcheck.net/2020-...you-Really-Need-a-300-Hz-Laptop.477374.0.html

700:1 is just subpar now, even for high-refresh rate displays.

Wishful thinking. Nvidia already switched production to Ampere, and given the RTX 3080 they will obviously want to start cranking those Ampere units out ASAP. Again, it took just 3 months from desktop chip announcement to a new AW laptop last time.

 

It might not be as i know a lot of the 4TB drives require more power. I think 4TB works in the main slots but not in the expansions.

I agree that their are better displays out there, i was merely providing my experience. 700:1 might be awful but i'm just giving my perspective and the display definitely doesn't look awful. Of course a desktop display should be such better.

It's not wishful thinking from my behalf, i don't really care about Ampere (ill be surprised if they can provide enough quantity of cards for the needed demand especially as TSMC are in really high demand for fab space at the moment). I would of waited if i was bothered, i'm more than happy with my upgrade over my previous device.

 

Well, if you are not excited about a new vastly improved graphics processor, then we have less in common than I hoped. I'm also happy with my current RTX laptop (although I'd be a bit annoyed if I bought it a month ago), and yet very happy to see this new, likely much more powerful product, coming to the market.

I wouldn't worry about TSMC, Nvidia have been planning this for a while now:
https://wccftech.com/nvidia-amd-ramped-orders-tsmc-2020/

 

Oh don't get me wrong. I love seeing newer faster tech. I just don't need to always own it, otherwise i'd be financially ruined.

 

Indeed. No need to own every single faster tech (upgrading from RTX to RTX "Super" would be a waste, for example), the major generational upgrades is where the value is. These pop up every few years, so postponing consumption just before those major leap events goes a long way to getting the most bang for the buck.

 

You won't see Ampere in notebooks this Christmas/winter. Nvidia will use all Ampere silicon they can make for the desktops. Their old Turing Mobile graphics continue sell as hell. They get double up. A nice way get rid of their old Turing silicon while deliver enough Ampere cards for desktops ( to continue stay in front of AMD). Can't be better than this

Notebook, mobo, graphic card shipments to sustain growth in 2H20 digitimes.com | Aug 31

Taiwan-based vendors of notebooks, motherboards and graphic cards are expected to sustain robust shipment momentum in the second half of the year, driven partly by stronger-than-expected demand supporting the stay-at-home economy and partly by growing rush orders shifted to them as US-China trade tensions

 

Can't see much beside the title which could well apply to the new Ampere units

Meanwhile, back in mid July: https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/...roduction-of-turing-gpus-ampere-is-on-the-way

 

Be you sure... They have a enough in stock of the old to be put in notebooks. Ampere is new... And Nvidia will sell ALL available chips for desktops. Nothing left for notebooks. + Nvidia need the time to bin chips for Notebooks. Make castrated graphics cards out of fully working desktop silicon cannot easily be done within a few weeks.

 

You are such a ray of sunshine... ;-) Why do you visit this part of the forum if you despise everything about AW so much? No offense, just curious.

 

He doesn't hate alienware?

He hate certain practices which makes the machines less than they could be and calls out issues objectively. He brings a lot of knowledge to the forums.

 

I agree, just like the majority of senior contributors here, he is providing either constructive or justified critical feedback on Dell/"Alienate" practices.

As a basic user I've always found this forum extremely insightful for that reason and all the tech knowledge people like @Papusan @etern4l @Mr. Fox and @Spartan@HIDevolution have to name a few.

Anyway It will be interesting to see when the next GPUs reach laptops, when the R3 arrives and how Dell market the silicon overall (rush it out vs bleed out the customer base with offers to sell surplus 20XX series mobile GPUs).

Regardless I firmly agree with @etern4l on the view people should essentially think hard on the merits of purchasing now when an entire new generational leap is on our doorstep. Either to buy the 30XX or take advantage of 20XX discounts. Its what I'm stating to both customers and friends. However like has been said before, some people don't require the best tech all the time and no doubt have good reasons if buying now. (Myself included lol).

 

I despise everything that smells screw up, soldered hardware (jokebooks), castrated firmware, promises that wont be fulfilled and issues (see castrated firmware for the R1) that won't be fixed. I'm for all LGA/upgradeable laptops. They are so few/rare nowadays.

Only Clevo and Area-51 tick that boxes. MSI offer LGA in their GT76 but destroyed it's own model with welded on graphics (in short a Jokebook). I like helping people, as well follow whats up in the notebook world.

Paint everything pretty and well (so called fanboyism) isn't my style. If something could be improved/fixed and the notebook manufacturer don't bother... We all should point that out without being called haters of certain brands.

Never a good idea accepting being screwed (accept a product that don't work correctly). All you get back being too kind (fanboy) is similar or in worst case a worse product next time you knock on the buying door.

@ratchetnclank and @normand668 You both hit the nail on the head. +reps

 

I agree 100% with your arguments, I was just curious. As I said, no offense intended.

 

I’m actually very disappointed in both Clevo and Dell.

I had high hopes for the X170 and at least decent hope for 51M R2.

I could get a R2 and probably enjoy it alot, but for some reason, only Lunar Light is available where I live. Of course that wasn’t the deciding factor, but it played in. I want my gaming rig the same color as my wifes soul (hint: not white).

 

Thank you @Papusan for everything you bring to the community. Most i have learn about computers and company's bad policy came from you sharing what you have learned. I never felt offended when you say something negative about a product or a discusting pratice of a company....because you speak the truth.

I like my 51M but....i hate how dell treats us with updates and not providing upgradability.

THANKS AGAIN!

Envoyé de mon SM-G965W en utilisant Tapatalk

 

damn dude, you should get a divorce, lol

 

wait R3, probably you can get a ryzen CPU and gen 4 PCIE or Get R1

 

New Driver update:

Realtek Audio Driver v6.0.8988.1

Realtek Audio Console Application v1.14.224.0

Note: Remember to unblock the files before you attempt to install them. See:
"Are you sure you want to run this file?" [Yes or No]

 

Also, I'm still hoping for a MUX switch in the R3!

 

+1. Bro @Papusan is a Norwegian national treasure. I'm sure fanboys (as opposed to critically thinking users) are rarely happy with what he has to say, but there really is no point shooting the messenger!