“Taylor, which Laptop do you recommend?”
I get this question all the time. So I decided to write a blog and answer some of the reasons why I bought this laptop.
After researching for 2 solid nights and watching laptop comparison Youtubes, I finally made a decision to buy a Dell Alienware laptop.
In this blog, I am going to be talking about the magic of the Alienware Area-51M R2 Gaming laptop, and the reasons why I bought it.
To be clear, I am not a gamer. As an online marketer, I am on the computer all day long though and knew that if I wanted something with high-performance capabilities, a gaming laptop was the way to go.
I frequently have 100 tabs open on my PC, and I needed something that would support that, all the time.
Does Your Laptop PC Multi-Task?
Mine can. Like a beast!
When I started researching laptops and comparing the best ones, I quickly zero’d in on a few things in particular as deal breakers:
- How much RAM? Expandable?
- How much hard drive space? SSD?
- Backlit keyboard?
- SD Card Reader?
I needed something that could function quickly, and manage a significant amount of work open at the same time.
Is this a reputable laptop brand?
Dell is a solid brand, there are few brands that are more competitive than Dell, or that have been around for as long as Dell.
The Alienware brand has been around since 1996, a company founded by Michael Dell himself, along with Frank Azor, Arthur Lewis, and Joe Balerdi. I knew getting this model would be a good investment backed by brand longevity.
Is the Alienware Area-51M R2 expensive?
Yes, it can be expensive. It’s a higher end laptop, starting at around $2 thousand dollars. However, when I compared it to a few other brands it came in well under their sticker price. After turning it on and using it for a few days, I knew it was worth every penny.
Does the Alienware Area-51M look good?
This is a machine that I love to show off. The Area 51M has a stunning design, stylish at every corner. Its weight justifies its performance. At almost 10 pounds, you can feel that it has power. The first thing I noted was the heavier back end with an exhaust at the rear. It feels sturdy too. I’m not seeing any wobble here as you do with many laptops. When the laptop first boots, its touchpad feels light and I loved the feel of the tap.
The 17.3” display features Tobii Eye tracking technology that lets the screen recognize you as you are looking at it. It’s easy to see why this is touted as the “world’s most powerful and overclockable laptop.” The Alienware logo on display also is super cool.
Are there enough ports?
There are more ports than you will probably need, and two adapters to give it juice. You want to know if you can use your multimedia devices on this, especially if you are considering it for gaming. The answer is yes, it has a lot. It also includes a media card reader, 2 SODIMM memory slots, separate ports for headset and audio, 2 Gen 1 ports, and 1 Thunderbolt 3 port that supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 and DisplayPort 1.2. The Alienware Graphics Amplifier Port is a nice touch too.
To compare with others, USB 3.0 is a standard port, and I want a laptop with at least two of these. There are a lot of ports here to work with. Whatever peripheral you have, there’s a slot for that, even for your favorite gaming controller.
How does this laptop perform?
It’s an Intel Core i9 processor, which is the best in the world. You can’t just call a laptop the world’s most powerful, unless it actually is, or comes pretty close. With this price, I felt like I was getting the best of the best in performance. In both speed and durability, you can’t get better than a tenth Gen. 3.6-GHz Intel Core i9 processor and 64GB of Ram. Laptops with an i9 core processor are the largest and most powerful known to man. That’s where the sticker price is coming from.
The performance claims are real. I ran 60 open tabs on Google Chrome, used Twitter, streamed YouTube, and scrolled through some Netflix when test-driving the Area51M for the first time. When a machine is described as “overclockable,” the manufacturer is saying the CPU can run faster than the manufacturer intends. This claim stands up to the test.
Does the Alienware Area51-M R2 have good audio quality?
I’m not even a gamer, but this computer could turn me into one. For audio, you have the joy of front-firing speakers, and an AMD Radeon RTX 2080 graphics card ensures I am not missing a single thing when streaming, gaming, or working on this machine. The display is 360HZ FHD, and on the 17″ screen, makes looking at my work a beautiful thing.
The integrated 720p at 30fps HD camera and dual-array microphones give me everything I need for Zoom meetings and will keep multi-player gamers very happy.
Battery life with its 90 Wh lithium-ion battery is not my favorite feature. I’m only getting 2 and a half hours unplugged. Gamers are going to be okay with that, I walk around with my machine when I am working. Even so, that battery lifespan is longer than the Eon.
Alienware Area-51M Extras
The extras I’m looking for in a laptop, high performance or otherwise, are software packages and warranties. All of these are optional, but Windows 10, which was fine by me. I have the option for McAffee LiveSafe Consumer subscription, for 12 or 36 months, but I also had the option to decline McAffee. Accidental Damage Service is available for one to four years, or that could be declined as well.
The hardware warranty is a one-year warranty where I get the house call from the tech for in-home service, and that is a follow-up from a remote diagnosis.
Get this Laptop
Who am I to say this laptop has something wrong with it? It’s going to eventually. It’s a man-made product with a lifespan. That being said, it’s a powerful tool whose appearance alone suggests it plans on crushing it with the highest performance possible for as long as it can. And, with its warranty, tech support, and optional security features, it has everything I needed and stuff I didn’t even know I could get in a system.
If you’re in the market for a laptop, you can’t go wrong with Alienware Area-51M – it’s touted as the “world’s most powerful and overclockable” laptop because it can go faster than it says it can. It’s ideal for gamers and considered a gaming laptop, but I am not a gamer and love it.
I can run 60 different Windows at once, and stream from both YouTube and Netflix at the same time, and it doesn’t even offer the flicker of downtime. The specs it offers for a high-performance laptop are ideal for me and the workload I put on a machine.
I’ve reviewed it here as thoroughly as I can. This is a laptop that is fully loaded, with the best-in-class 3.6 GHz 10th Gen Intel core i9 processor.
Buying a laptop is never a easy. The research process can be time consuming. I hope these tips are helpful to you and best of luck with your next laptop purchase!
This laptop sounds great, Taylor. I love gaming and this Alienware laptop sounds like a great option for me. I ditched console gaming for PC gaming a few years ago and have been thinking about buying a new gaming computer. As someone that’s very busy, being able to run 60 windows at one time sounds like something I really need. I’m usually hesitant on spending a lot of money on laptops, but all the features you mentioned in this post sound worth it.
I am not in the market for a new laptop, but the laptop I currently own is also a gaming laptop. When my husband presented it to me, I was confused because I do most of my gaming on actual gaming consoles rather than the laptop. I too found out that the gaming laptops had better ram, space, and screen resolution, and quality. In addition, it is also faster than most computers I’ve used. I love my gaming laptop, I cannot recommend them enough. The only issue I found was that they do not always havr disc drives. My husband and I did not realize that when we purchased it, but it is so easy to get an external disc drive that it is not worth making a big deal about.
When I went looking for my laptop I didn’t put any thought behind it. I just went to the store and asked for the biggest and most expensive laptop they have in the store. It happened to be an Apple laptop I’ve had it for seven years and it still works like new. I love my Apple laptop it is the best.
So personally I’m more of a Mac person when it comes computers, at least in the context of work. Mine has been fairly reliable for over five years. Problem is it’s a terrible gaming computer, starting at not a lot of games a supported on the Mac. To my knowledge, Alienware is a pretty good middle of the the road quality computer. Not the best not the worst. If this computer interests you, but the price seems a little to steep for what you can afford, try checking out their other computers. They have options so maybe there’s something that will work for you.
I have to admit that I didn’t know gaming laptops were a thing, but this post definitely piqued my interest. I’ve heard a lot of rave reviews about Alienware from friends in the gaming communities; I never thought of using it for applications outside of that. I do a lot of daily audio recording and editing, but the lag-time on my desktop is starting to get worse. It’s also becoming more obvious that I’m going to have to make my studio mobile at some point in the near future. I’ve been hesitant to drop money on a laptop for that purpose, but your review of this gaming laptop makes me reconsider. Dell’s a solid brand, and Alienware would certainly keep up with my music projects (and then some!), not to mention my working from home. Thank you for this. It’s something I’m going to have to research further.
~Cory S.
Hello, Taylor,
Right now, I am working from a Lenovo Yoga, which I chose mainly for its compact size which is helpful with travel. However, the sound is the worst quality of any laptop I’ve ever owned. It’s good for simple processes, but it cannot handle as much as I would like it to. I’ve purchased from Dell before, and honestly, they are one of the most reliable brands I’ve worked with. It sounds like this laptop is perfect for most people, but, my concern is the weight at 10 lbs, as I travel frequently. Are there other, similar, models you would recommend for someone with more minimalistic needs?
I never even considered getting a gaming laptop for my work life, as I am also not a gamer. But what you mentioned has made me think twice about which type of laptop I will go for next. I currently use a Lenovo Legion, and it has performed quite well, but I’m intrigued by everything you say the gaming systems can offer that my current laptop doesn’t.
The fact that you can run 60 different windows at once is a real eye-opener since I struggle with my system trying to keep up with everything I have going on all the time. I’m going to start doing my research on this, and the first one I will check out is the Alienware Area-51M R2 Gaming laptop!
I have heard so much about Alienware, primarily from my son who is a hardcore gamer, and I never really thought about giving it a second look when purchasing a laptop for myself. I am honestly someone who prefers a more lowkey laptop, one that can just hold some storage, allows internet access, and does the basic things that a laptop does. Now that I am a business owner and a full-time student, I need something that can run multiple tabs at once. The laptop I currently have can’t handle the type of demand I now have. I swear, sometimes my laptop sounds like it is about to take flight right off the tarmac at the airport. Thank you so much for your honest review, I will be looking into this!
Gaming laptops are the best if you are doing a lot of work on a computer. I used to have one and it was the best thing I had in my arsenal for productivity. There is nothing worse than being on a Zoom meeting and the computer feels like lagging out or slowing down and you cant see the material being displayed to you.
My friend’s son and husband are avid gamers with theater sound seating and only but top-of-the-line gaming equipment. They swear by the Alienware Area-51 computers. They have tried many different brands, but once they found this one, they stuck with it. Weighing 9lbs. It would not be the easiest computer to walk around holding. Before discovering Apple computers, I only bought Dell computers. In fact, my son prefers PC, and I bought him a Dell last spring. Me, I do not need anything that big or powerful. At the most, I may have 15-20 tabs open at once, but luckily my iMac works fine for that.
A laptop with 64GB of RAM and an Intel Core i9 processor—sounds like a good deal! I have been addicted to playing with Genshin Impact recently, and I have lost count of how often I am frustrated with my laptop since it lags frequently. I really want a gaming laptop for my work, programming, and gaming needs since my current one cannot sometimes handle multiple tasks. Too bad that this Dell laptop is out of my budget…
Do you have any other laptop brands that you could recommend that is slightly cheaper than the Dell Alienware? One that can handle games such as Genshin Impact and does not lag when I do multiple tasks simultaneously. Or would you prefer that I should save up for either a Dell Alienware or a desktop computer instead?
Many thanks!
This thing sounds absolutely awesome. I used to be a gamer back in my Everquest days and I had to jack the thing up with RAM in order to get it to operate so there was no lag. I’m the same way. A million tabs open and things start lagging. I tried a Chromebook and the quickness was great, but it didn’t have all the bells and whistles I needed that Windows provides. I would love to have a laptop like this, and after the review you just made me jealous! Congrats on the laptop.
I have been so hooked on Macs for so many years, I have never really looked outside of Apple products, though I honestly really should be a smarter consumer and shop around more.
And I wasn’t even aware that there was such a thing as gaming laptops! But when you think about it, a gaming laptop makes perfect sense for an online marketing professional due to the performance and “comfort” features it offers for someone who is spending a lot of time in front of its screen. Thanks for introducing me to a new type of laptop I never knew existed!
The Area 51m laptop is truly amazing to look at, having an industrial feel to its style and a sleek design to boot. I was hesitant at first because of the price, but I went ahead and bought it anyway, talk about a leap of fate! It’s great to know that I’m not the only one who enjoys it!