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Alienware Area-51m

 & Tom Brant Managing Editor

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

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Meet the Alienware Area-51m: Modern Gaming Megalith

With a 17-inch screen and a thickness of 1.2 inches, the Alienware Area-51m tips the scales at nearly 9 pounds.

Lunar Light

Color options include either the Lunar Light (white) shown here, or Dark Side of the Moon (black).

A Blue Touchpad

The pleasingly accurate touchpad, complete with Alienware's signature backlighting, is on the small side. It's also not clickable, which means you'll need to use the physical buttons below it for left- and right-clicking.

Tobii Eye Tracking

Our Area-51m also comes with built-in Tobii eye-tracking technology. Eye tracking is not new, but it's been slow to catch on. It's available as a supplementary means of control for some games and the Windows 10 operating system.

Just One USB-C Port

A single USB Type-C port is a bit stingy on an expensive laptop, especially one with as much edge real estate as the Area-51m. On the other hand, you probably won't need a spare USB-C port for display output, as the body already has plenty of dedicated ones.

The Rear View: Dual Exhausts

The Area-51m has two air intakes, two exhaust outlets, and a giant fan that can push air at velocities rivaling a desktop cooler.

Right-Side Ports

In addition to the single USB-C port that supports Thunderbolt 3, the laptop also has an Ethernet port capable of speeds up to 2.5Gbps, three USB 3.1 ports, an HDMI output, a mini-DisplayPort 1.4 output, audio-out and headset jacks, and a proprietary connector for the optional Alienware Graphics Amplifier external GPU enclosure.

The Screen: 1080p Only

There is just a single screen size and resolution available: a 1,920-by-1,080-pixel, 17-inch display. But you can configure several of the screen's other attributes. You can choose between matte and anti-glare finishes, as well as refresh rates of either 60Hz or 144Hz, and add Nvidia's G-Sync frame-rate-synchronization tech.

An Excellent Keyboard

The Area-51m's keyboard is excellent, if a bit old-fashioned. It's not an island-style board, which means there's very little space between the keys, resulting in a stodgy look. But that also means there's room for an additional column of customizable macro keys on the left side, a common feature on high-end standalone gaming keyboards.

Easily Removable Base

Upgrading the components is an easy process, with just six screws to loosen the back cover. Once the cover's off, you have easy access to the memory, storage, and battery.

About Our Expert

Tom Brant

Tom Brant

Managing Editor

I’m a managing editor at PCMag.com focused on PC hardware. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of Wi-Fi routers, printers, laptops, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.

I've covered most major consumer tech events, including CES, Computex, Google I/O, and IFA. I've also appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news.

Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rainforests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.

The Technology I Use

While most people buy a phone or laptop and stick with it for years, I’m lucky enough to use devices based on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows daily as part of my job. As a result, I cycle through lots of tech in addition to my IT-issue work laptop. (Yes, that's a ThinkPad.) Personally, I’ve also owned a lot of tech products both cutting-edge and cringeworthy, from the Nintendo GameCube and the original MacBook to the Palm m105 and the CueCat.

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