Gaming notebooks are undergoing a major makeover. They are a lot more powerful and some even offer desktop-grade components, without adding serious amount of girth. The new Alienware Area 51m belongs to this new breed of gaming notebooks.
Design: Even with a 17-inch screen, it takes up less space, can fit in backpacks and weighs slightly less than its predecessors. The trademark bulge on the back, around the heat vents, is still there, but with a swanky honeycomb mesh design. The plain black finish on the back has given way to the more appealing lunar light and dark grey colour options, with Area51 embossed in large clear font on top.
This is a notebook that is going to get the eye balls, wherever you park it, for play or work.
Upgradeability: What sets the new Alienware apart from its counterparts is the desktop-grade CPU (central processing unit) and GPU (graphics processing unit), and the option to upgrade them with more powerful components. Therefore, users can take advantage of the higher over-clocking capabilities of these components, which are otherwise curbed in mobile hardware available in laptops.
Dell is going to provide service installation for CPU and GPU upgrades on the notebook so that users can do it themselves, whenever required. The only catch is that the users will not be able to upgrade to any component of their liking. They can only upgrade to hardware that is compatible with Dell’s proprietary graphics form factor.
Performance: The Area 51m is a gaming beast and can handle any of AAA titles without breaking a sweat. It runs on top-of-the-line Intel’s Core i9-9900K CPU and Nvidia’s RTX 2080 GPU, which offers Ray Tracing of objects and environments, leading to more physically accurate shadows, reflections and an overall superior visual experience. New games, such as Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, loads quickly and runs without the slightest hiccups with Ray Tracing on.
However, we noticed a significant frame drop when the laptop was running without the power adapters plugged in. This is because the laptop’s desktop-grade hardware requires the 330 watt and 180 watt adapters to be plugged in to deliver the best results. These two adapters are a lot bigger than regular laptop adapters, and carrying them with the laptop everywhere is going to be a challenge. The laptop’s cooling mechanism works pretty effectively and keeps the chassis cool.
The notebook runs Windows 10 and has a command centre tool where users can calibrate game controls, access all games from multiple platforms at one place and optimize and customize RGB lights. In the top variants, user gets up to 2TB SSD which is more than enough to house multiple AAA games simultaneously.
Display and keyboard: The 17.3-inch display offers an almost desktop-like experience, but the resolution is just about 1,920x1,080p. While some may lament the lack of 4K resolution, we didn’t really miss it as the colour reproduction and brightness levels were impressive. The wide viewing angles were good and the anti-glare coating ensures the screen does not reflect in brightly-lit rooms.
Its Tobii Eye Tracking sensor also allows gamers to control player actions in games such as Far Cry 5 with eye and head movements. Despite the small footprint, the Area 51 has a full-fledged keyboard, with wide and well-spaced keys. They are also backlit, so one can play with ease in the dark.
Verdict: The new Alienware Area 51m sets a new bar for gaming notebooks by offering the power of a desktop machine in a portable form-factor.
At ₹2,99,590, it commands a hefty price tag, but for gamers who like to game anywhere and anytime, without performance compromises, this is the best option out there.
