Alienware's Area-51M brings desktop components to laptop

If you're looking to seriously upgrade your laptop, Dell's new Alienware line could well offer the kind of performance you're looking for (at a price).

Text: Kim Olsen

Published 2019-01-09

The Area-51 designation has always been used for flagship models, and rarely, but rather fitting its the name of the new M model laptop that can be CPU upgraded and has a desktop CPU.

The Alienware Area-51M is the dream of every PC enthusiast. Dell has decided to throw desktop components into a laptop chassis. There are different models available, the most powerful housing an Intel i9 9900K CPU and a mobile RTX 2080 graphics card.

The new Area-51M laptop is also spearheading a new design, and we should point out the need for cooling as an essential part of this new design scheme. The shell is made from magnesium, the screen is a 17.3" PFH 144Hz G-sync monitor, up to 64 GB DDR4 RAM is supported, and Dell promises overclocking as an option as well.

Cooling capacity is rated at 25 CFM, or 0.7 cubic meters of air per minute. It's a lot, but Dell's claims of "desktop level performance" seems a bit over the top given that just a single case fan will normally do 50-100 CFM depending on size. The cooling is not the same in all Area-51M laptops, one version has six heat pipes, while the most powerful is fitted with eight.

The rest of the computer is not exactly boring, the keyboard is Alienware's own TactX keyboard with full RGB lightning and programmable macro keys, 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, Thunderbolt USB-C, 90Wh battery, what seems to be very decent speakers, HDMI 2.0, mini-displayport and extra USB ports.

There will be two power adapters, one for the road, and one for high performance doing either 250 watt or 300 watts. There is a price to pay, 4.4 kg and a price range of $2500 to $2600 USD - we do expect it to cost significantly more in the EU due to taxes and shipping.

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