She was cleaning out her closet and found this, booted right up with no issues. Looks like a 2009 m15? Could be wrong. Cool design, battery easily removable as well.

Hi everyone!

I’m planning to buy a new gaming laptop and have narrowed my choice down to the Dell Alienware Area-51 with an Intel Core i9 processor and an RTX 5070 Ti GPU.

Is there a significant difference between the 16-inch and 18-inch versions? Would you recommend one over the other, or perhaps suggest a different gaming laptop altogether?

I’d especially appreciate feedback from people who actually own this model. How has it performed for you? What are its main advantages and disadvantages? How are the temperatures under heavy loads, particularly the CPU temperatures?

I’d love to hear your honest opinions and recommendations.

Thanks in advance for your help!

is this how the port is supposed to look? i’m having trouble charging it

Thought y'all might appreciate this...

I bought this Alienware Area-51 new in January 2003. Eventually upgraded to a Dell XPS, and this old gal got put away and pretty much forgotten about for over 20 years.

I even found the original Alienware folder/binder with the factory specifications, invoices, testing paperwork, and software CDs. What a trip down memory lane!

LOL, I paid $426 for two 512MB RDRAM PC800 modules to upgrade it back in 2003. Kind of reminds me of RAM prices today.

Decided to see if she'd fire up. Replaced the dead CMOS battery, got into BIOS, and confirmed it was detecting the processor, memory, and hard drive. Took some pictures, exited BIOS, and tried booting Windows XP.

Unfortunately, Windows never loaded. The screen went black while the fans and blue interior lighting kept running. On subsequent attempts, I couldn't get a video signal at all.

Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. Honestly, I was mostly curious to see what old Napster-era music and other forgotten stuff might still be on the hard drive.

Has anyone experienced something similar with these early Alienware systems? Any thoughts on what might be causing the black screen?

Figured I'd share a little piece of early-2000s gaming history with folks who might appreciate it!

Looking for a photo editing machine mostly with basic gaming capabilities so screen quality is a high priority for me, I know the X version has a oled panel but if the non X version LCD is still pretty decent then I'd rather save some money, a local shop has one on clearance for a very good price.

Hi everyone i have this area 51 r2 with a i7 6800k,Gtx 1070 and 64gb ddr4. i have £700 and not sure what to do, i want to level up my experience what would you do?

Basically, I had my laptop in my backpack, left it in a chair, came back to it on the (hard tile) floor, and apparently it landed in the perfect position to dent the entire corner of the back 🙃. It’s dented in a way that the LCD panel can’t snap back into place, but surprisingly, the display panel is absolutely fine, no dead pixels or difference in color.

I can’t really repair it officially through Dell atm. I’m from the US, bought this from Best Buy, but I currently am in the Philippines for work until April. I contacted Dell here and they can only process this if I do some ownership transfer to the Philippines but I’m moving back in 6 months anyways so I don’t find a point doing this. My warranty has long since expired too lol I bought this around 2023, not that this accident would be covered.

I’d just like other people’s opinion on this. Should I:

1. Get it repaired by a 3rd party shop. I can’t find one nearby that has had experience with Alienware laptops since they’re very uncommon here apparently. But I have a recommendation from a coworker of a shop that fixed his Legion’s display panel, so that’s better than nothing. This would be the equivalent of US$250 at the most (quite cheap bc of currency exchange)

2. Try and fix it myself? I found the exact panel part on Shopee (it kinda works like AliExpress but focused on the Southeast Asia region) for $40 so I’d save a bit. I only have experience cleaning the fans and replacing thermal paste, but there’s a first for everything. Also took Electronics Engineering for college so I guess I have more experience than the average person with PCBs and electronic components? But I work in a completely different field so this might just be overestimating my own abilities.

3. Just leave it as is since the LCD is fine and the motherboard side seems pretty untouched (the main body was against the way more cushioned side of my backpack) and just be super careful with it from now on. Maybe just tape that corner up?

Or another course of action I haven’t thought of. Thanks in advance. I have never dinged up a laptop this badly before, so it’s bothering me a ton. I’d just like other people’s opinions on what I should do.

Hi everyone!

I recently purchased the Dell Alienware 16 Aurora (OAN1625000701MINO) in India for Rs 89k approximately $1,000 USD

My laptop specifications:

• CPU: Intel Core 7 240H ,80W TGP
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 6GB
• RAM: 16GB DDR5
• Storage: 1TB SSD
• Display: 16-inch WQXGA, 120Hz
• Weight: Approximately 2.57 kg
• OS: Windows 11 Home
• Extras: Microsoft Office Home 2024

I would appreciate honest feedback from Alienware owners, especially those familiar with the Aurora lineup.

My questions:

1. Is the Alienware 16 Aurora a genuine Alienware-designed laptop, or is it essentially a rebranded Dell G-series machine?
2. How is its build quality, cooling, and long-term reliability compared with other Alienware models?
3. Are there any known motherboard, GPU, display, hinge, or thermal issues with this particular model?
4. How does its cooling system perform during prolonged gaming or heavy workloads?
5. Is $1,000 a good deal for these specifications, or would you have chosen something else?
6. Would you recommend keeping it for the next 4–5 years, particularly for programming, engineering coursework, and gaming?

I have seen mixed opinions online, including comments suggesting that the Aurora lineup is a more budget-oriented Alienware series and that Alienware laptops can have reliability issues. I'd like to hear from people with actual ownership experience rather than just general opinions.

Please share your honest experience, including any problems you have encountered. I'd especially appreciate feedback from owners of the same model.

Thanks!

I bought a Alienware 15 laptop 16gb ddr5 ram ryzen 7 and a 4050 a week ago and it suddenly starts having a micro shutter type lag it performs very well while gaming n all but its just starts lagging out of nowhere for no reason like i checked the ram usage while it happened and it was 53% kinda good tho cpu at 3-4% and there is no sus app or any file in it , till now i dont know how to fix it and only i do to fix it is just restart it again and that restarts makes it normal again its so annoying sometimes becuase it happens all of a sudden and what scares me is that its just a week old ........ pls help

Hello, good day! I decided to get a new pair of RAMs for the laptop. I just don't understand what should I get? It does have two slots, but I'm unsure if I should get 2 8gb of RAM or 2 16gb of RAM. Given I'm only going after 16gb not any higher, especially due to rising prices. Also, I only found RAMs that're above 2400Mhz, would it be alright to use them as well? The laptop currently has 16gb 2400Mhz.

To add, it's been giving me BSODs when I play some games like HSR and ZZZ. It gives me BSOD on some game modes. Thankfully I could still log in to the game considering I've lowered the settings, including fps to only 30 on both. 60 fps will give me BSOD during heavy gameplays. Normally it would be fine on higher settings, if not even maxxed.

Yes, this laptop model doesn't have integrated RAM, luckily.

So hello, bit of a computer noob here but I really need help, when I plug in my Alienware (I think it’s 16x auroras) the light on the side starts to rapidly blink orange and the laptop won’t charge, I’ve looked it up and can’t get a definitive answer to what this means please help!!

I'm reposting an insanely simplified, dumbed down general question because if I include my technical details, what I've done, how it affects me, etc., it's apparently written by AI.

Does anyone have issues running an Area 51 Core 9 Ultra 275HX with RTX 5080 on a Dell SD25TB5 dock, or similar setup? I have had constant full dock drops (LAN, display, USB, everything, usually multiple times a day) for over a year and I cannot figure out what is wrong. Most of the time it rebuilds and comes back, sometimes it just stays dead until I remove it from device manager.

Again, without getting into too many details so it doesn't get flagged, between my 15 years IT experience, being a DevSecOps Engineer, and AI helping sift through logs/events/etc., I have tried dang near every troubleshooting thing under the sun. BIOS settings, dGPU, DMA protection, sleep states, you name it. Also been over a year, so driver/firmware versions don't make a difference. Everything is always kept up to date, even dock firmware. I've swapped to an older Dell TB4 dock and don't have these issues. Also don't have another TB5 device to test dock against.

Anyone have specific suggestions on fixes? I can provide more info in response to a comment, if needed.

I have also tried to get Dell support, but instantly denied due to "no Alienware dock support".

Hello all, I have an 1 year old+ x16 R2 (warranty over) that’s constantly thermal throttling and hitting 100°C even when idle (on AWCC balanced), even with my IETS GT500 cooling pad running at half/full speed. All my games, from CS 1.6/ HL2 to Doom TDA are lagging and stuttering (getting ~50-80fps on a 480hz monitor).

Problem is - Im in the UAE, called Dell service centre and they said they don't have the Element 31 thermal paste and it's not available as a standalone retail product either.

So, my question is: what is the best alternative for E31? (will get it done by a pro ofc)

Ive never had a problem with my alienware pc at all untill yesterday and today, ive installed AWCC so i can change the colors and set the options to balanced or power save but since then its been freezing my whole screen and shutting down at random times, ive even tried uninstalling and reinstalling but the problem just got even worse, what can i do to fix this??

Aurora 4 Chassis With components, Everything is Working Lights FANS ETC.

Side/Case lights are Also fully Functional not really visible and the vents Motor going Up on startup.

Problem is the AWCC app doesn't Pick up the CASE I tried Changing my RegEdit spoof it into a R4 MOBO no dice... It does detect crap like Thermal controller, Alien fusion, and adrenaline...

I tried multiple versions of the app and none of them work.

I've been Dreaming of making this into a Sleeper build everything works fine except for the LIGHTS CONTROL.

I was adding a new P1 case to the heard of awaiting office work stations. A decent deal on a VERY clean Cyborg Green case. Funds were paid, seller wrapped it with a few layers of the small bubble wrap and a couple pieces of paper, took it to FedEx where he asked them to pad it in the box, which they did not. They literally just tossed it in as wrapped and shipped it.

Long story short, FedEx proceeded to drag it behind a plane, drop it from 36,000 feet onto the front porch. Oddly enough, the box was in decent shape, but there was ZERO crush or drop protection in the box or padding.

I contacted the seller, and he was very pleasant to deal with. He refunded me my purchase and is filing a claim with FedEx. He said I can toss the case and with my pics, he'll get his shipping reimbursed.

Heartbroken, because Cyborg Green is my first favorite P1 color, followed by the white. It's a shame this is now a parts tower unless I can find a complete front panel and door to another destroyed CG computer, but I'm not holding my breath. I will hold onto it for now until the seller gets his complaint filed and completed with FedEx. I've documented everything thoroughly and will help him get his refund too.

Soo, if anyone has another Cyborg Green case they would like to sell, please let me know. It will go to a good home.

Hello All,

I've been experiencing an issue for the last few months with my 16251 model (Intel 275 ultra) where it will BSoD with (0x3b, 0x116, and 0x1e).

I bought this computer after the warranty unfortunately as open box from Bestbuy so Dell won't help resolve this issue.

So my question is to anyone who's attempted this, has any one had success with migrating from W11 to Linux with eleviating the BSoD issues? because if it works, i'll gladly move over because I have no faith in Intel/Microsoft/Dell to resolve this since its been going on since April.

Thank you for your time.

Yippie the first gaming laptop I have ever bought for my own 🥳, Alienware Aurora 16 5060 , suggest me some nice things about what i should do first

laptop specs are RTX 3080 ti, i7 12700H, 32GB DDR5, 2 TB. I got expectable results at every stress text I know. 3Dmark at 94c with no Throttling, cinebench 26 105c 3500pts with 100% Throttling. shoud I be worried about Throttling? or is it normal for this laptop and it wont be issue in actual gameing?

Planning on getting this monitor soon to link to PS5 Pro.
To those who have an AlienWare monitor (doesn’t have to be this one) what have your experiences been for single player gaming on AAA titles?

The specs, screen size and OLED display are perfect for what I am looking for, but want to make sure that everything is accurate from knowing from someone else :)

I got my first gaming laptop, Alienware 15, Core 5 210H, 16 GB ram, RTX 4050 6gb, 512gb ssd.

What are Dos and Don'ts to manage it properly for longer terms.