Alienware’s Area-51m
Area-51m. © Dell.
Area-51m, unveiled at CES in Las Vegas, is going for the gamers’ hardware dream: a game-oriented laptop that lets them swap out the processor (CPU), the graphics card (GPU), the storage (HDD) and the memory (RAM). In short, a laptop that offers all the flexibility and scalability of a desktop computer. In addition, the internal architecture has been designed specifically to facilitate the disassembly / assembly of various components. However, its autonomy is not great and its weight is significant (nearly 4 kg), which is certainly not the ideal computer to use while traveling by train or by plane. Area-51m needs to stay close to a power outlet. Dell’s subsidiary does not yet know if there even is a market for the machine; this is just a feeler.
The Area-51m is of course fully customizable upon order. While you can stump up 2,550 USD to get in the ballpark (which gets you an Intel Core i7-8700 processor, Nvidia RTX 2070 card, 1TB hard drive, 8GB DDR4 memory and a 1080p / 60Hz screen), prices quickly climb to 4,000-5,000 USD if you are a bit demanding in terms of performance. Available January 29th.
⇨ The Verge, “The Alienware Area-51m is a full-fledged desktop disguised as a laptop.”
