Area 51m R2 Long Term Review - Alienware's Behemoth

In this video I take a look at my Area 51m r2 which I have owned for over a year and discuss what I liked and what I didn't and also take a look at how well it has aged.

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#laptopreview #alienware #gaminglaptops

[OnePrimeHing]

Area 51m R2 owner here. I LOVE this machine, will be keeping it for a long time, the cooling is amazing. I’ve modded the graphics amp and am running a 6900XT inside that, I get full next gen performance with that and love it. Currently custom delidding my 10900K with a custom copper IHS to allow for a better contact for liquid metal. Am also back and forth with dell figuring out a bios update that allows us to use ReBAR with a EGPu, which will help performance even more. I still think this is the best laptop out there, it’s sad Dell hasn’t announced a R3, unfortunately it’s also because Nvidia doesn’t want to release a higher wattage gpu anymore and dell is focused on thin and light :/

[andreas]

I've had this for over a year and love it. I use it mostly for productivity rather than gaming and it's excellent. I rarely/never use an external keyboard because it's so comfortable to type on. I use the speakers for all my calls and they do really well. I did add an external camera due to the sheer number of video calls I do. It performs well no matter what I do on it and is just as speedy as when I first got it. The only thing that happened was that one of the fans went bad early on, but was replaced by Dell under warranty without jumping through too many hoops. I'm very glad I got it. Sadly, work travel and occasional office visits have resumed and this can't go with, but I still love it as my primary machine. Bought it mostly based on your comparison to the M17 in fact, which was really helpful. (Agree on the Alienware Command Center - pure meh). Thanks for the great reviews!

“…is hefty but still looks great…” just like me! I love that laptop because is absurd and looks great. Tried to be it own thing.

[박성수-he]

Great review pointing out real facts and it is a beast. I am also a 51m r2 user and I just love how big the cooling fans are and giving it out a smooth whoosh instead of screaming sounds.
I guess the best part of this machine is the reliability on this machine that I can push to its limits and not worry so much about throttling and damage it will do.
Subscribed and love your videos and your love for alienware. Stay safe.

[Rtheory]

Hey Dave! Thank you so much for making this video on this gorgeous machine! not enough YT videos on this machine IMHO!!! like you mentioned, If this laptop could get upgraded with the new 30 series cards, it would kill the market over night! - i bought mine from dell and got it on sale for $3, 000 about 1 year ago. Prior to keeping this machine i had Asus ROGs, G14, mid level laptops around the 1500 price range. Ended up keeping the 51M R2. It is just so enjoyable to use and the specs are incredible for a laptop, Yes bulky, big and heavy but at the end of the day you have have so much portable power in this machine. Intel Core i7 10th Gen, RTX 2070 Super, 64 Gigs of DDR4 2933MHz Ram, 4TB Raid Zero memory, with the 1080p 300 hertz panel. Everyone who sees it comments on it. I love this power house of a machine and will enjoy it for many years to come. Dell needs to eventually make the R3! ... but lets give it a few years so we can enjoy this beast!!!

[hyper]

I adore mine, got mine in 2020 just before everything was running out. Replaced my 8 year old m71x r4. Went all in and got every upgrade it could possibly fit and it's been a dream. Keeps cool untill I turn on 4k gaming (but it run most everything at 1080p and use the 4k just for my photography work. It's an absolute power wagon glad I got it, sure it's not upgradeable but the pros outside of that are amazing. The less noise, the fact it's not a space heater, fast and many more and the fact I can take it apart easily for cleaning or whatever else. I would definitely buy another or an r3, 4 or whatever comes later. It definitely has that desktop performance with the portability I need, and it's fun to see my friends online and real reactions when they ask for the specs when an inevitable "laptops suck" convo pops up on a discord server I'm in.

[Rykeron]

I have this and I can’t bring myself to sell it. The capability I can have bringing this with me anywhere in the world is an incredible ability to have

[thetruthhunters]

Have this beauty for last 4 years and has never let me down. Any video guides how to replace 2.5 inch SSD for a SSD M2 PCLE in slot 3 and 4. I have found the kit needed but not how to fit with a video guide?

[mohammadarafat]

I was about to buy alienware area 51m r2 like you! But when the rtx 3080 laptop came out I changed my mind to the alienware m17 r4. I bought my rtx 3080 alienware m17 r4 because of the design!! The design is so beautiful!! Its more beautiful than the newer design! My m17 r4 stayed for about 10 months and I'm really happy with it!! It never throttled and it has an excellent performance! but the most annoying thing on this laptop that the keyboard gets worm after 5 minutes of playing on this laptop.. I'm still happy with my m17 r4 I spent 3 years collecting money to buy this beast!!

[jeffmonson__Angel_slayer]

I just bought my first area 51m R1 9th gen i7 9700 it’s used but mint condition and the people I bought it from installed a brand new keyboard and palm rest face, then took it apart and completely cleaned it out and put back together with Grizzley kryonaut copper thermal paste and parts have been completely upgraded to the best parts and upgrades available for the first gen area 51m including a flashed and reprogrammed CPU so that the RAM MHZ was upgraded from the max 2666mhz speed it can handle from factory to 2933mhz 🙌🙌 I absolutely cannot wait it’s on its way in the mail, I’ve been using Alienware laptops since 2010 and this is the best one and most expensive one I’ve bought and I will never use anything else. If anyone can give me any advise or pointers I need all the advise I can get!

[dvu]

Area 51m R1 owner here.

I am on year 4 of owning the laptop. I was able to successfully upgrade the CPU and the GPU from an i7-9700k and RTX 2070 respectively to an i9-9900k and RTX 2080 respectively.

However, I wish Dell/Alienware moved forward with the Area 51m’s main selling point, which was its desktop-like upgradability.

Seeing Dell/Alienware going into the thin and light laptop direction is sad.

[gatsbysoloski]

AWESOME REVIEW! WELL DONE DAVE!
I bought the 51 r2 2080 after watched your review in late 2020, and I'm using the same gaming mouse like you do! Razer Viper ultimate white!
It's still working perfectly fine, I've bought a 27D alienware monitor and apex pro keyboard +astro A40 headphone. Top gear I could possibly get in Perth Australia.
Unapologetically fabolous gaming experinces.

[Bonxt]

The build quality and the cooling is great. I have the 10700k and 2080 super. Hope they make an R3 version soon 😁👌

[noahbollinger]

On eBay in the US, the prices on these are still very high and difficult to find with the 2080 Super, which is in my opinion the only one even worth considering these years later with the X series dominating. I wish Dell would make another one of these in all of its huge glory, because the cooling and build quality is still the best Alienware has ever made in my opinion.

[OfficialXTRG]

Loved mine, i got it with the i9 and 1660ti, i wish i had switched the cpu for the better gpu, had a x17 r1 since around the 3rd of Feb, handy for uni, little easier to use on the tiny chair desks. Would love some more chunky desktop replacements, i want a desktop that i can port around, the Area 51m r2 was that! give us a r3 dell.

[condrix]

I upgraded from win10 to win11 and had to remove the ACC because caused lot's of problem.

[StefanHydroscand]

Still using my R2 today its better than my gf asus with a 3080.( 130w)
bought a Eurocom 780w ac adapter so its only one ac adapter.
suprised by the cooling its really good
Edit: i9 10900K and 2080s / 360hz

If they would release a R3 I´d too buy it

[tonysoprano]

Hi I would like to ask if this laptop is still worth it? Or should I get one of the legion laptops with RTX 3070 and 2560x1600 screen?

[buddyluh]

I picked up the M15 R5 w/RTX 3070 8GB, Ryzen 5900HX, 32GB Ram etc
And it has been great BUT it absolutely will get hot as hell if you let it, they thankfully
updated the Bios so I could use TCI to limit how hot it gets and it has absolutely NOT been an issue, but some days I wish I opted for the area 1 for the better cooling

[xyruzofficial]

I'm eyeing out one atm, a brand new model. Took me weeks to find a brand new one since this was discontinued. But I found one for a premium price xD Will be selling my X17 r1 for it, as honestly Im no gamer. I collect laptops, like others collect knives, stamps etc. Can't wait to buy it!