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

If the Area 51m doens't get its unlocked performance in a year or so, might as well sell mine off with its remaining warranty. I am currently having more fun tinkering with this GS65 and would prefer something with more power and cooling to do just the same that doesn't have Clevo build quality (plastic).

 

So guys I've been away for a while. How is this latest BIOS 1.7.3? Does it also cause massive throttling to keep things safe?

Also what's the update on supporting 2666 MHz. RAM? My laptop came with Hynix RAM rated at 2666 MHz. from Dell, only 32GB and it still runs only at 2400 MHz.

I know that MSI in their GT75 Titan 9SG supports 32GB @ 2666 MHz. or 64GB @ 2400 MHz. so I am assuming that it should be possible to get 2666 MHz if I only have 32 GB of RAM.

One more thing I noticed is that the RAM was installed in a weird way, on the left, the bottom slot had one slot and on the right the upper slot had the other RAM, like they were setup in a diagonal manner.

@ssj92 @iunlock @custom90gt

 

That is weird, but IIRC the slot order is weird on the Area 51m, so that might correct.

 

It also shows that the RAM is working in Dual Channel mode so it's fine but I was just wondering why such a weird setup:

 

Nothing has changed

Depends who put it together. And due the slots routing it doesn’t matter. Only if you could oc the ram this could make a difference.

 

Maybe it's this guy:

 

just got my 51m, what should i check to make sure i didnt get a bad unit?

btw task manager identifies 4 dimms running 2800 MHZ

 

If you are up for opening it, can you share the part numbers of the memory and the BIOS version you are on?

In terms of your question, just use it and enjoy it.

 

i'm going to buy a bigger ssd later and install ubuntu on it, so will open it then. only have 128gb ssd and the 1TB (+8GB SSHD) Hybrid Drive at the moment.

god tobii is annoying, had to turn off the dimming.

 

I disabled Tobii almost straight away. Are you going to run it with Ubuntu or will you dual boot with Windows?

 

not sure.

looking into what i'll be locked out of if i go linux only, since i think i need the alienware software to handle the cpu/gpu settings + keyboard

 

That is the same ram that is in mine, 64gb, and it works without any issues.

 

This was only for the creation, it was copied to the USB subsequently before the recovery. It still did not work.

 

I would stick with dual booting on this machine rather than Linux only. Whatever settings you choose in in Win10 will be mirrored when you boot into Linux (fan profiles, keyboard lighting, the works). The only thing you can change directly in Linux is Balanced vs Performance CPU mode.

I'm using this program for my CPU voltage offset on Linux in case you are interested.

 

I have found another company that is tanking like Dell... They used to define out of the box thinking that changed everything.
Look at it....Fast...no heating issues. Looks great...super HD resolution *kinda) Hell slap a Clevo name on it and it sell it now for 4k

I'm really upset though they have not pushed a software update in 15 years. How dare they
Abandon their base.... as far as im concerned i have a crippled system. It can't even play Halo!! And I found out today the ram is soldered!!!

If only dell would have learned from. Handspring missteps.

I called them for a bios update...they are pretending the phone has been "disconected". Horrible customer service.

 

yeah that and this is what i found.

did you have to turn off secure boot or anything? and any problems dual booting?

 

Yes, you will have to disable Secure Boot to install and boot into Linux. No, no problems at all. I use a separate drive and installed GRUB on that same drive, then just start Linux via the f12 boot menu.

Oh one thing with this machine is you must pick a disto that has the nvidia drivers available during boot/install. Like PopOS/Ubuntu 19.10 or Manjaro. The default Linux graphics drivers are still having a hard time with the RTX 20XX cards.

 

so Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS wont have the drivers?

pretty new with Linux, just tired of windows. I've only installed Lubuntu to a flash drive with rufus before (for live booting on an ultrabook), and im not really sure what GRUB is.

edit also if i have 3 drives, (128gb ssd for windows, 1tb hdd dell put in and the 3rd ssd i want to buy) and i want to game in linux do i make the hdd a ext4 drive?

 

Hey @Spartan I'm still on the older bios as the newer ones act funny with my tuning and set up.

Would you be able to post a screen shot of the RAM speed? Thanks.

Ah it's refreshing to hear Linux talk... good stuff @Greel it looks like @Tim V. (thanks) got the details covered. My daily driver and favorite flavor is Mint. The new 19.3 Tricia is extremely well polished and just complete... highly recommended.

I'm with you...totally not a fan of windows... It's only there for gaming. However, once you've got Linux all set up, give the app "Wine," a try on Linux to run all your Windows apps..really neat app..

Also the gaming support has grown tremendously on Linux to where some games are 1:1..it's pretty incredible..

Give the new Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia a shot... I've ran pretty much all the distro's over the years and if you want something complete, not broken, well polished, not having to spend half your life to get it set up learning a petabyte worth of commands and something that just WORKS... you'll find Mint refreshing lol... I guess pun intended?

 

If you're not experienced I would definitely go with PopOS (based on Ubuntu 19.10) from System76 for now. That way everything will be done for you. With an older LTS release you will have to jump through hoops to get the Killer wireless running among other things. I would also research things like: changing from Raid to AHCI in your bios and creating and creating a 512GB EFI system partition to install the boot loader (GRUB) on.

Ubuntu will come out with a new LTS release later this year and Mint mentioned by @Greel will be coming out with version 20 about the same time.

Hear is a a good video about changing from Raid to AHCI without having to reinstall Windows (I can verify this method):

Enjoy your new 51m...

 

Turns out the throttling problem is corona related

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/h...tive/269-77511074-d840-456e-b846-419adf96a861

 

Did the switch from RAID to AHCI, its was a no-brainer when I added a 2nd Samsung 970 Evo Plus....

 

Are people using Basic Heaven benchmark to get scores?
I am Windows 10 PRO why it saying NT?

I installed and on stock with High Performance power and Thermal Performance set on GPU.
Have rear of base of laptop off the mat via 1cm cutter pen to allow airflow.

It completed a Heaven cycle in System Full screen and GPU hit 71 degrees?
Is this good bad or ugly?

Benchmarking hit 73 degrees...Second time hit 74 is that throttled?

Should I run longer?
Any settings to tweak on laptop or Heaven?

This review with lesser specs got higher scores? Edit: He has set Quality to HIGH not ULTRA?
https://www.gizbot.com/laptop/revie...on-laptop/articlecontent-pf102974-060010.html
Edit 2: 300 points less than his result when set on High?

 

Here’s what Umar had to say about the links for the Dell Graphics Upgrade Kits being down:

“Yeah I got info. Sorry yesterday was nuts. They took it down but are gonna bring it back up in a couple of days. There was an issue about missing AC Adapters they were remedying.”

 

Because they have defined what that means to them for the unique purpose of marketing, without having to disclose their definition at the point of offering a sales pitch, they can lie all they want to and use their special definition as a means of skirting false advertisement accusations. Whenever they want to lie about something new they just create a new definition for the things they are planning to lie about. When their integrity is questioned by the people that believed their lies, then they disclose their special definition.

Maybe. But, you'd have to borrow a Clevo to do it because Thaiphoon Burner won't work on a Dell or Alienware. Their Nazi cancer firmware doesn't have any option to turn off the SPD Write Disable flag. After all, making that available is extremely dangerous and they love their customers way too much to allow them make any decisions about how they get to use the products they purchase.

 

Spoiler

 

I used to carry one of those, I had almost every model Palm made at one time or another the Color model was amazing the games were great, it was my iPhone before there was an iPhone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

ok guys. I sold my unit with stock cpu these days and leave the owner lounge now. See ya all at R2 release.

 

Looks low. Got 3250 on default extreme settings (1600x900) on 2070 Max-Q while Web browsing with a lot of tabs. Your result is at a higher res though, maybe that's why - try the default Extreme setting.

 

From cold, first start and setting everything System and Extreme, except going 1600x900 screen resolution: 4251
Previously I had System screen which seemed to cover 99%(Left side off and bottom right corner could not see bottom of box created)
System screen: 3298

 

Ah, 4250, i.e. +30% vs my 2070MQ. That's more like it. I assume your 2080 is running on stock settings, so you should be able to squeeze more performance out of it using MSI Afterburner?

 

Cleaning out closets in prep for new hardwood flooring and found it in the office

I loved this thing. You are 100% right. great games. Had a challenging chess cart for it. And a cool "space war" style grid game. I miss them.

Of course my business case to the boss was productivity...

 

Here is one new for you Remember, many don't post what happened with their graphics(as well not always easy find the threads/posts). And not all post on the web They just call out Dell tech support to replace it.

https://www.aw-community.com/forum/...-owners-lounge/?do=findComment&comment=116487

 

Wow, the last three weeks of posts from here have been so depressing that I was forced to update my tower (Power Station circa Intel 3930K/Rage IV) rig to AMD Aorus Master/AMD 3950 guts.

Granted, my 'old' rig only had an EVGA 1080 Ti Hybrid, in many ways, this A-51M does more than hold its own. And surpasses my AMD Beast rig (almost - since only 1080 Ti Hybrid). Granted, not apples to apples, but from my experience so far, the A-51 retains the Beast DTR title in my experience

 

Technology keeps advancing at a relentless pace. We should view this with excitement, rather than apprehension or sorrow, although it's easy to see why depreciation of earlier tech, upgrade costs and perhpaps inability of vendors to stay on the bleeding edge can indeed be a little depressing.

If A51M or any laptop has enough power to satisfy your needs - great, otherwise no worries either since you can upgrade your desktop to a Ryzen 9 3900K (a whopping +50% faster than the 9900K), or plunge all the way into the 32 core Threadripper performance madness.

Happy days (if not for the virus etc)!

 

A lot of the negative post comes from people that don’t even own notebook and have seem to made it their life mission to corona virus it to death.

 

Brilliant analogy! The novel coronavirus is asymptomatic to mild in most cases, and most of the population will get infected at some point. It can only hope to kill in case of serious underlying issues. If no such issues exist, there is pretty much no need to worry for the notebook.

 

This is your daily reminder that it has been 417 days (Nearly 1 year and 2 months) since the Area 51m US release date and not a single peep has been made about an R2.

As someone who has been on lockdown in China for the past 2 months and has had a *LOT* of extra time on their hands to obsess over and scrounge for any clue at all about this, I am distressed af.

Going to America in July and hoping to GOD that a refresh releases before then. Doubtful, but I’m holding out hope.

 

So I got one of those “Reminders” not to miss out on the current Alienware sale. Now I didn’t think much of it. . .but why does this Area 51m have a card reader? I’m thinking it’s just a mistake in the render. Or maybe the R2 is getting a card reader?

 

CGI artist's impression?

 

Back 2 pages from this post someone claims to have fixed the battery drain issue and has provided instructions.

 

Oh I’m sure it’s a mistake. But, if the R2 has this then you heard it first from me. I was expecting to see new laptops by now, but with the coronavirus it really has seemed to brought this industry to a halt.

 

Tech came out today and replaced the keyboard. So far so good.

 

@RMLJD this looks to have done the trick for me. I no longer see battery drain.

 

Thank you for this! Even if its a mistake, I need this type of excitement for now. Last December I was ready to pull the trigger on the R1 after arguing with the Mrs.. But to keep peace at home, I didn't do it. She has since said that she's now on board with it. Then all of the R2 talk started to pick up, so I'm PATIENTLY waiting for a signs of the R2's emergence.

 

I’m hopeful it’s a sign of what’s to come. I don’t think my previous emails had that so it maybe intentional. When I had my Area 51m I noted how much empty space is in the thing. They have room to add ports or even more storage. While something as simple as a card reader would be great for anyone that needs it. On such a large machine there should not be any compromises.

 

This. Exactly this.

 

You might want to think about reaching out to @aw_umar or @EddyGoyanes on twitter for some clarification. It’s worth a shot. I would myself but I’m pretty sure I’ve already bugged them enough these past few weeks

 

You could go back 225 pages and find the same "possible" fix, and probably 500 pages back and find it again. If new folks used the search feature this forum would probably have half as many pages and a lot less clutter. Not talking @ you, just thought it was funny that's all. Peace...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/posts/10974122/

 

Nope. Not gonna happen. I’m one of those people that thinks Umar is a liar and don’t trust him.

Plus as of right now they’re likely still under contract to not say anything. We’ll know soon enough.