what do you guys think about respecting the alienware m51 laptop

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Keeqo

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I am thinking about buying seriously on Black Friday but i'm afraid of this i9-9900k overheating the equipment and i have headaches in the future.
There a lot of components for little cooling space. I am a layman in laptops and I do not know the quality of Alienware so I would like a help because the value is very expensive. Thank you for all the help.

  • 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-9900K
  • Windows 10 Home 64 bits
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2080 8GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)
  • 32GB, 2x16GB, DDR4, 2400MHz
  • 1TB RAID 0 (2x 512GB PCIe M.2 SSDs) + 1TB (+8GB SSHD) Hybrid Drive
    17.3-in. display
 
You'll have alienware haters pop in here almost certainly.

They are heavy, they are expensive, they have spaceship lighting, etc etc.

I have owned only 2 alienware laptops in the time my wife has owned 4 or 5 laptops (Asus, Dell, Toshiba, Acer) - about 8 years. Hers break, mine doesn't. That says a lot right there. The alienwares are heavy but they are built sturdy. Warranty support is good, driver support is good, alienfx is surprisingly good, tobii eye tracking works good, their trackpads are second only to Apple. They have no bloat on the OS, they are designed well — and yes you pay a bit more for them. Ive been very happy with my pair and my next laptop in five years or so will also likely be alienware.

A 17” unit will be huge FWIW. My 2017/2018, 15” M15x is huge.
 
Archaea said:
You'll have alienware haters pop in here almost certainly.

They are heavy, they are expensive, they have spaceship lighting, etc etc.

I have owned only 2 alienware laptops in the time my wife has owned 4 or 5 laptops (Asus, Dell, Toshiba, Acer) - about 8 years. Hers break, mine doesn't. That says a lot right there. The alienwares are heavy but they are built sturdy. Warranty support is good, driver support is good, alienfx is surprisingly good, tobii eye tracking works good, their trackpads are second only to Apple. They have no bloat on the OS, they are designed well — and yes you pay a bit more for them. Ive been very happy with my pair and my next laptop in five years or so will also likely be alienware.

A 17” unit will be huge FWIW. My 2017/2018, 15” M15x is huge.
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I'm happy with your review my friend. It's always good to hear from brand consumers. Let me make a question about alienware coler, is it work good? I mean does the new m51 model have a chance of overheating?
 
Let’s put it this way, while it won’t likely be silent the extra heft and size of the typical Alienware laptop compared to its peers (Razor, MSI, Asus, etc) is because they put extra heat sinks, larger fans and this spells better cooling in the laptop compared to its market peers. It will be quieter and cooler than other enthusiast laptop brands with the same processor — if history serves. With those specs it wont be silent, (quite a bit of heat to dispell between that processor and video card) but it should not throttle down speed under load due to temp either.

Intel makes a app called Intel Extreme Tuning Utility which you can use to undervolt and possibly underclock if quietness is of key concern on occasion. Just make sure you understand how big that laptop is. 17” alienwares are desktop replacements and not very portable.

As Trump would say that laptop is YUUUGE.
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/del...MIgKHTvIbr5QIVi5OzCh2OOwTkEAAYASAAEgJSlvD_BwE
 
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Archaea said:
Let’s put it this way, while it won’t likely be silent the extra heft and size of the typicsl Alienware laptop compared to its peers (Razor, MSI, Asus, etc) is because they put extra heat sinks and larger fans and better cooling in the laptop compared to its peers. It will be quieter and cooler than other enthusiast laptop brands with the same processor if history serves. With those specs it wont be silent, but it should not throttle down speed under load due to temp either.
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Thank you
 
Linus’s channel praises the performance, (fastest laptop they’ve ever tested and it isnt close), but says its too loud, and too heavy, uses two power bricks to deliver the 500 watts the system needs and each power brick weighs more than a surface laptop.

They conclude that most should probably just consider a desktop when you get to this size and performance ask. He is wrong about one thing though. He says it doesn't support Microsoft Hello, so no facial recognition. Tobii has its own facial recognition system, so yes it does support biometric/facial recognition. My m15x logs me in automatically with Tobii when I sit down in front of it.

 
Archaea said:
Linus’s channel praises the performance, (fastest laptop they’ve ever tested and it isnt close), but says its too loud, and too heavy, uses two power bricks to deliver the 500 watts the system needs and each power brick weighs more than a surface laptop.

They conclude that most should probably just consider a desktop when you get to this size and performance ask. He is wrong about one thing though. He says it doesn't support Microsoft Hello, so no facial recognition. Tobii has its own facial recognition system, so yes it does support biometric/facial recognition. My m15x logs me in automatically with Tobii when I sit down in front of it.

Click to expand...

Archaea said:
Did you read this review?
https://www.pcmag.com/review/367300/alienware-area-51m
Click to expand...


There are a lot of negative comments on dell website, i'm undecided between msi gt76 and alienware m15. I don’t want to pay a lot for having a headache
 
As a computer/pc hardware enthusiast these last 30 years I’d personally pick an Alienware laptop over a MSI laptop every time. Alienware is a premium brand. MSI is not. MSI has a premium product line - which is what you are looking at, but they don’t have the recognized laptop pedigree Alienware has. Thats my opinion — though it is based on researching past models and hands on in store etc. I’ve not compared these two models. Im surprised you aren’t getting more feedback and opinions here???

Alienware has several unique characteristics that other laptop makers cant match. The alienware proprietary graphics amplifier port is significantly faster than any other vendors offering. It uses a native PCI-E 3.0 x4 slot which is faster than a thunderbolt or USB 3 port that all the other external graphics docks use.

Alienware offers AlienFX lighting which is surprisingly novel and fun for games. Its when the laptop lighting changes in real time to match the on-screen action. Playing a RTS and your enemy launches a nuke? The alienware keyboard and chassis lighting will begin to flash. When you choose blue team, your lighting scheme turns blue, when you win a round you are recognized with a victory light show etc. Sure, its a novelty, but it is fun and thats why your playing games right? For fun?

In the case of this particularly huge laptop, alienware is using FULL desktop components - so you'll get extra performance over the mobile versions which are less power hungry, run cooler, and way more typical in a laptop — but are significantly slower. 500 watts for a laptop? I’ve never even heard of such a thing, but then again its running full desktop components in a laptop(full desktop CPU part, not a stripped down mobile version, and full 1080 graphics card, not a Max Q mobile variant — and so it makes sense why it needs that much power.

I’m not aware of anything MSI has thats unique and standout.

Alienware have the highest resale of any laptop because they are well built, last forever, and have that premium brand feel and recognition. You can find a good deal on a alienware refurb at Dell’s refurb outlet and sell it for no loss in a year pretty reliably on ebay if you like that type of juggling. I bought my m11x for $550 refurb in 2011. Sold it used on ebay for ~$350 in late 2017 with multiple bidders.

Do you have a best buy or microcenter nearby to go put hands on?
 
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Keeqo said:
For what reason ?
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You can research but when I thought I was getting a new laptop a few months back it seemed like the best performance / price. It also cools very well. I came away thinking it was the best.
 
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Keeqo what price were you looking to pay on the Alienware?

There are some good sales on the Lenovo right now. The Lenovo is using more traditional Laptop parts (lower power use processor and MaxQ video card (low power use)) so it won't be as fast, but it's still going to be pretty solid component wise. Price may be significantly less if you pursue one of the two models on sale.

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptop...-y-series/Lenovo-Legion-Y740-17/p/88GMY701062
 
Archaea said:
Keeqo what price were you looking to pay on the Alienware?

There are some good sales on the Lenovo right now. The Lenovo is using more traditional Laptop parts (lower power use processor and MaxQ video card (low power use)) so it won't be as fast, but it's still going to be pretty solid component wise. Price may be significantly less if you pursue one of the two models on sale.

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptop...-y-series/Lenovo-Legion-Y740-17/p/88GMY701062
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I'm thinking of spending around 3,000 - 3,500
 
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Do you already have a desktop system and a laptop? Because $3500 is enough to buy both -- with near top of the line performance (not VERY top of the line, but really quite close).

If I can make some general recommendations for a moment -
A 2070 will have PLENTY of umpfff to drive a 1080P screen at max settings for years to come and will cost <= $1400 ish -- on sale maybe $1100 or $1200. Anything beyond that I personally would consider overkill. So spending $3500 on a laptop - for me personally - I don't really understand it. I'd rather have a fantastic desktop than a laptop that's so big and heavy it basically is a desktop with a smaller screen, more noise, and less performance. At the end of the day - that giant alienware is very much a niche product. I'm not saying you aren't its audience - I'm just curious as to the lay of the land.


4K resolution screen on a 15 or even 17" display is borderline silly -- subjectively speaking. It takes way more hardware to drive it, for very little, if any, gaming experience benefit. The 4K screen will make native sized text so small you won't be able to read it without your nose pressed into the LCD, and 4K resolution scaling in Windows and games UI isn't perfect - especially older games and apps. So 1080P is the only way I'd personally go on a laptop screen right now with Windows. I'd definitely consider and OLED screen for a laptop if I was going top of the line. Alienware sells some laptops with OLED. The picture quality is gorgeous!!!

Then I'd supplement a medium/higher end traditional laptop with a high end desktop for use at home. I think you could do both for $3500. Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree and you already have a great desktop and you have your mind set on a powerhouse, no holds barred performance laptop. If so - then my subjective preferences matter little.


Maybe more clearly establish what you have, what you want, what you plan to do / your priorities. That will help us advise you?


Black Friday is RIGHT around the corner - I'm a bargain shopper and I'd be waiting to see what's available then at any rate.
 
Archaea said:
Do you already have a desktop system and a laptop? Because $3500 is enough to buy both -- with near top of the line performance (not VERY top of the line, but really quite close).

If I can make some general recommendations for a moment -
A 2070 will have PLENTY of umpfff to drive a 1080P screen at max settings for years to come and will cost <= $1400 ish -- on sale maybe $1100 or $1200. Anything beyond that I personally would consider overkill. So spending $3500 on a laptop - for me personally - I don't really understand it. I'd rather have a fantastic desktop than a laptop that's so big and heavy it basically is a desktop with a smaller screen, more noise, and less performance. At the end of the day - that giant alienware is very much a niche product. I'm not saying you aren't its audience - I'm just curious as to the lay of the land.


4K resolution screen on a 15 or even 17" display is borderline silly -- subjectively speaking. It takes way more hardware to drive it, for very little, if any, gaming experience benefit. The 4K screen will make native sized text so small you won't be able to read it without your nose pressed into the LCD, and 4K resolution scaling in Windows and games UI isn't perfect - especially older games and apps. So 1080P is the only way I'd personally go on a laptop screen right now with Windows. I'd definitely consider and OLED screen for a laptop if I was going top of the line. Alienware sells some laptops with OLED. The picture quality is gorgeous!!!

Then I'd supplement a medium/higher end traditional laptop with a high end desktop for use at home. I think you could do both for $3500. Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree and you already have a great desktop and you have your mind set on a powerhouse, no holds barred performance laptop. If so - then my subjective preferences matter little.


Maybe more clearly establish what you have, what you want, what you plan to do / your priorities. That will help us advise you?


Black Friday is RIGHT around the corner - I'm a bargain shopper and I'd be waiting to see what's available then at any rate.
Click to expand...

I don't have a desktop at the moment and I’m looking for a machine that will allow me to play any game without performance issues for the next 10 years
Archaea said:
Do you already have a desktop system and a laptop? Because $3500 is enough to buy both -- with near top of the line performance (not VERY top of the line, but really quite close).

If I can make some general recommendations for a moment -
A 2070 will have PLENTY of umpfff to drive a 1080P screen at max settings for years to come and will cost <= $1400 ish -- on sale maybe $1100 or $1200. Anything beyond that I personally would consider overkill. So spending $3500 on a laptop - for me personally - I don't really understand it. I'd rather have a fantastic desktop than a laptop that's so big and heavy it basically is a desktop with a smaller screen, more noise, and less performance. At the end of the day - that giant alienware is very much a niche product. I'm not saying you aren't its audience - I'm just curious as to the lay of the land.


4K resolution screen on a 15 or even 17" display is borderline silly -- subjectively speaking. It takes way more hardware to drive it, for very little, if any, gaming experience benefit. The 4K screen will make native sized text so small you won't be able to read it without your nose pressed into the LCD, and 4K resolution scaling in Windows and games UI isn't perfect - especially older games and apps. So 1080P is the only way I'd personally go on a laptop screen right now with Windows. I'd definitely consider and OLED screen for a laptop if I was going top of the line. Alienware sells some laptops with OLED. The picture quality is gorgeous!!!

Then I'd supplement a medium/higher end traditional laptop with a high end desktop for use at home. I think you could do both for $3500. Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree and you already have a great desktop and you have your mind set on a powerhouse, no holds barred performance laptop. If so - then my subjective preferences matter little.


Maybe more clearly establish what you have, what you want, what you plan to do / your priorities. That will help us advise you?


Black Friday is RIGHT around the corner - I'm a bargain shopper and I'd be waiting to see what's available then at any rate.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your attention my friend.
I don’t currently have a desktop and am looking for a machine that will allow you to play any game without performance issues for the next 10 years. My preference for laptop is mobility and they always travel without work, but the big issues reported in reviews of premium laptops are discouraging, overheating, keyboard, trouble screen etc.
So I'm starting to think about getting the good and old desktop. What do you think about the cost benefit of this machine

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/infi...-watercooled-extreme-gaming-pc-fs-453-oe.html
 
That desktop is incredibly overpriced here in the United States, but I don't know pricing in the UK.
 
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My advice: Buy a thin laptop with a capable mobile cpu that has thunderbolt support. Then purchase an egpu unit to attach to it. This way you have a light laptop to take with you and it's easier on the lap vs a 12 lb monster and you can game with a 2080 Ti anytime you want. I used to be heavily into notebook gaming when I was in my last years of medical school but at the end I realized it's not worth buying a gaming notebook.
 
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Archaea said:
That desktop is incredibly overpriced here in the United States, but I don't know pricing in the UK.
Click to expand...
Archaea said:
That desktop is incredibly overpriced here in the United States, but I don't know pricing in the UK.
Click to expand...

This desktop is currently costing U$5157.91 on current exchange rate. In your opinion, can I get something better with this value? I don't have enough experience to buy installed components and build on my own
 
5150Joker said:
My advice: Buy a thin laptop with a capable mobile cpu that has thunderbolt support. Then purchase an egpu unit to attach to it. This way you have a light laptop to take with you and it's easier on the lap vs a 12 lb monster and you can game with a 2080 Ti anytime you want. I used to be heavily into notebook gaming when I was in my last years of medical school but at the end I realized it's not worth buying a gaming notebook.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the advice, i really appreciate it.
 
Where do you live? Can you buy from online stores in the United States? If you can wait a couple weeks until Black Friday and Cyber Monday there will be powerful discounts on these types of high end pre-built computers. You will likely save $500 to $1k off the price you'd pay today. (20% ish)
 
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Archaea said:
Where do you live? Can you buy from online stores in the United States? If you can wait a couple weeks until Black Friday and Cyber Monday there will be powerful discounts on these types of high end pre-built computers. You will likely save $500 to $1k off the price you'd pay today. (20% ish)
Click to expand...


I live in the uk. Yes, i'm waiting for black friday, here the same happens. Yes, i can buy it in states stores do you recommend me any?
 
Keeqo said:
I live in the uk. Yes, i'm waiting for black friday, here the same happens. Yes, i can buy it in states stores do you recommend me any?
Click to expand...
Dell refurb outlet.

Sign up for an account In advance of the BF/CM sales holiday and you might get a 15 or 20% off coupon.

This machine is a scratch and dent but VERY VERY similar top shelf performance to your $5000 machine and only $2200. If you had a black friday 20% off coupon code it'd be just over $1600. Thats a heck of a machine for $1600.

https://m.dell.com/h5/m/r/outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw/PR7UdRHMH1SXY+tol2O+bIVZ8kGSTyOX+pqnc5zYr1Qsq+INc9Kd8qkvyh0jwl8hsNpVxasGjGdfvBxJ7dJj+ssJKDRLibmn5/ntuR/HMKpu8/+i3y1BlFewoJgDjq3pUka1naK5bNUA1rOxd8Bpb9GgEWWJ3AqIC2o3s8w382RhDE+d


Heres a link to the outlet. Inventory changes constantly. You can use the refine button to cull items you aren't interested in. In the past I’ve noted prices are not reliable. Meaning you might find two similarly equipped machines at different prices. So be a careful shopper and look for the best deals. Most times Dell/Alienware Refurb stuff looks brand new.

https://m.dell.com/h5/m/us/r/outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&brandid=2202&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw/PR7UdTWU0slINaoqn+e+Qmden+FIyz/FKwTp1JbNs+LspGEl3OuVMhSM1M10rbqpWTME/dpM21wux75oPIP9PvI3lSaS7cvpXvD1VgA5hGTK6CrB7YobFzNTtJzOAar58pL0kL/RsTzxNdS0jhkiV40hZcoVUhKtHebkDPz1i5h/flgQZu6j6xydaxG6aJ1XyecxKg21R7IvNawk3o1Rc63pL5k=

Perhaps they have a similar outlet for Dell refurb in the UK?
 
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Keeqo said:
I live in the uk. Yes, i'm waiting for black friday, here the same happens. Yes, i can buy it in states stores do you recommend me any?
Click to expand...
Archaea said:
Dell refurb outlet.

Sign up for an account In advance of the BF/CM sales holiday and you might get a 15 or 20% off coupon.

This machine is a scratch and dent but VERY VERY similar top shelf performance to your $5000 machine and only $2200. If you had a black friday 20% off coupon code it'd be just over $1600. Thats a heck of a machine for $1600.

https://m.dell.com/h5/m/r/outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw/PR7UdRHMH1SXY+tol2O+bIVZ8kGSTyOX+pqnc5zYr1Qsq+INc9Kd8qkvyh0jwl8hsNpVxasGjGdfvBxJ7dJj+ssJKDRLibmn5/ntuR/HMKpu8/+i3y1BlFewoJgDjq3pUka1naK5bNUA1rOxd8Bpb9GgEWWJ3AqIC2o3s8w382RhDE+d


Heres a link to the outlet. Inventory changes constantly. You can use the refine button to cull items you aren't interested in. In the past I’ve noted prices are not reliable. Meaning you might find two similarly equipped machines at different prices. So be a careful shopper and look for the best deals. Most times Dell/Alienware Refurb stuff looks brand new.

https://m.dell.com/h5/m/us/r/outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&brandid=2202&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw/PR7UdTWU0slINaoqn+e+Qmden+FIyz/FKwTp1JbNs+LspGEl3OuVMhSM1M10rbqpWTME/dpM21wux75oPIP9PvI3lSaS7cvpXvD1VgA5hGTK6CrB7YobFzNTtJzOAar58pL0kL/RsTzxNdS0jhkiV40hZcoVUhKtHebkDPz1i5h/flgQZu6j6xydaxG6aJ1XyecxKg21R7IvNawk3o1Rc63pL5k=

Perhaps they have a similar outlet for Dell refurb in the UK?
Click to expand...

Yes, apparently they have exactly the same as you. I am looking at the uk outlet right now.

Thank you for your help, mate.
 
Keeqo said:
I know this has nothing to do with the context of the topic but since we got this far, in your opinion who is the best processor at the moment RYZEN 9 3900X or I9 9900K?
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Gaming 9900k edges out 3900x

Everything else 3900x wins and its VERY close on gaming.
 
The sad thing about this laptop is alienware is hyping up features that used to be stock options on laptops of yesteryear. The dell precisions used to have socketed CPUs, MXM GPUs, externally removable batteries, an easy to clean chassis, and full sized full travel height keys up until 2014. They are parading around like it's an accomplishment for them to have a socket and a proprietary gpu interface in a laptop.
Honestly, just get an old precision or Zbook. Cheaper, more reliable, no nonsense. Other options would be to get the far more affordable asus or acer ryzen socketed laptops. I dont know how well CPU support is on them though. Hopefully someone has cracked the bios or made their own bios roms.
 
I have an ACER Black Aspire laptop we've used at home for maybe 3-4 years. GeForce 960M upgradrd the two SSDs.
I bought an Akito box and a 1660Ti and git by for lthe last 6-8 months playing AC and Red Dead but rarely get the FPS i wish I had.
I've finally gieven in an ordered a custom Skytech Mini with all the bells (mostly) just the way I want it. I'll know in 5-10 days if I did good.
For under $1600 shipped and taxes because of their coupon code that ended today, I can't see how it can go wrong. Skytech has pretty good customer reviews.
 
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