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Can you actually upgrade the CPU and GPU in the alienware area-51m r2 gaming laptop later?
Dell heavily marketed the alienware area-51m r2 gaming laptop as a fully upgradeable modular laptop claiming you could swap out the processor and graphics card just like a traditional desktop PC. I want to buy this machine as a long term investment. Is this upgradeability actually true and practical? If I buy the base model today can I easily find and purchase the proprietary Dell graphics card upgrade kits in the Nigerian market in three years? Or is the modular promise of the alienware area-51m r2 gaming laptop just a marketing gimmick that Dell abandoned?
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3 days agoThe modular promise of the alienware area-51m r2 gaming laptop is one of the most controversial topics in the gaming hardware community. Dell heavily marketed the machine as having unprecedented upgradeability allowing users to swap out the CPU and GPU to keep the laptop future proof. Technically the CPU upgradeability is true but highly limited. Because it uses a standard desktop LGA1200 socket you can upgrade the processor but you are strictly limited to the 10th generation Intel processors. You cannot upgrade to an 11th 12th or 13th generation CPU because the motherboard chipset does not support them making the CPU upgrade path a dead end.
josh
3 days agoThe promise regarding the GPU in the alienware area-51m r2 gaming laptop is where the marketing gimmick truly failed. The graphics card is not a standard desktop card; it uses Dell proprietary DGFF (Dell Graphics Form Factor) cards. Dell promised to release newer generation DGFF cards for users to upgrade. However Dell completely abandoned this project. They never released the RTX 3000 or RTX 4000 series cards in the DGFF format. Therefore you are permanently stuck with the RTX 2000 Super series cards that the machine shipped with. If you are buying this laptop as a long term investment expecting to upgrade the GPU to modern standards in the Nigerian market in three years you will be severely disappointed. Buy it for the massive power it currently has not for its broken promises of future upgradeability.
josh
3 days agoDell faced a massive class action lawsuit globally because they abandoned the upgrade kits. The laptop is a beast but it is not future proof. You are stuck with the hardware configuration you buy today.
josh
3 days agoUpgrading the RAM and the NVMe SSD storage is incredibly easy though. The bottom panel pops off and gives you direct access to four RAM slots allowing you to easily boost it to 64GB of RAM for your 3D work.
josh
3 days agoIt is still an incredibly powerful machine but do not pay a massive premium thinking you can swap the graphics card later. If you want true modular upgradeability you have to buy a massive desktop tower.