Gaming Laptop Analysis

Is the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2 good as a gaming laptop? Excellent

Processor - With the Core i7-9700 8-Core 3.0GHz processor in this laptop its excellent for 2023 gaming, capable of running today’s game processor system requirements. This CPU comes with 8 cores, which is excellent providing it extra resource to chew through game processing when required.

Graphics Card - A GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile graphics card that is housed in this laptop is excellent for modern AAA gaming during 2023. AAA games often want a lot of VRAM from graphics cards. This laptop GPU has 8GB of VRAM, which isexcellent for modern gaming.

System Memory - This laptop’s 32GB of RAM is excellent for 2023 gaming.

Screen Size - A laptop with a 17.3" screen size, like we find on this laptop, puts it into the excellent category for mobile laptops and top end 2023 gaming. Of course it always needs the hardware to backup this up.

Refresh Rate - If you want your gaming laptop to push past 60FPS, then make sure your laptop display panel has a higher refresh rate than 60Hz. Not all laptop manufacturers clearly state the screen refresh rate. If it is not clear, assume it is 60Hz. The laptop only turn out FPS (frames per second) as high as its screens refresh rate. 60hz refresh rate gets a max of 60FPS in all games, regardless of the hardware’s power in your laptop. And so considering that, this laptop is available with up to 144Hz as its refresh rate. This high refresh rate would be an excellent choice in a gamers laptop, but anything over 60Hz would be suitable.

GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile graphics card gaming performance in the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2 laptop

Getting the right graphics card for this mobile gaming machine will be one of our key focuses. As we know it can be tricky to break this down, but we will be looking at how this laptop hardware can run across demanding and popular modern games and therefore how well the price of the machine stacks up against other gaming laptops. A few of the modern demanding or popular games we will be looking at will be, Grand Theft Auto VI, Star Citizen and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022). Seeing how these games run on the laptops native 1080p resolution at ultra will certainly give us something tangible to consider and compare from. Now this comes with the GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile installed as the mobile graphics card, and at the moment it is capable of running 495 games at their minimum graphics system specs and then running 410 recommended specs of today’s top 500 most demanding games.

Comparing Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2 to today’s best price to performance laptop ranges

During our research for the next best gaming laptop purchase we decided to compare Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2 will compare across all permutations of the Alienware Area-51M model range. This will give us a good sense of how well it sits in terms of cost to performance within its own lineup, and will better help us decide if this laptop represents good value to us today.

A 5.2 P2P score rating out of 10 has been allocated today to the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2. This value will adjust automatically as hardware and modern performance requirements from laptops improve over time. There look to be a number of Alienware Area-51M versions of this laptop and currently this hardware configuration sits at 11th in the Price to Performance order. Obviously scoring towards the 1st position represents the better value laptop from a purely gaming performance and price tag perspective.

It's good to see how this Alienware Area-51M laptop compares to models outside of its own model range as well. If we look at the very best P2P laptop, the ASUS TUF A15 R7 4800H GTX 1660 Ti 16GB RAM 512GB M.2, our laptop has 210% worse performance difference when comparing its price to performance rating. That top laptop currently has a listed price of $999. Another great model is the MSI Bravo 15 R7 4800H RX 5500M 16GB RAM 512GB M.2, which we have priced at $1049. Our Alienware Area-51M laptop is 171% worse on Price to Performance.

How does the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2 laptop compare to the best CPU performance focused laptops and today’s most popular games?

Now the processing power is one of the primary areas that we will pay for in any PC and so let's see how our Alienware Area-51M laptop is when compared against CPU performance with a top CPU focused laptop thats available today. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 R9 4900HS RTX 2060 Mobile 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 is today’s best performer in the laptop CPU department. It has a Ryzen 9 4900HS 8-Core 3.0GHz processor in it, which currently has 27% better performance than our laptop’s Core i7-9700 8-Core 3.0GHz.

A quick review of the number of games our laptop processor can run at recommended requirements is 458, taken from the top 500 most demanding games today. For min cpu specs this figure for number of games it can run is 499.

When compared to the recommended processor requirements of the most popular games today, like Grand Theft Auto VI our laptop CPU is 14% better in performance. Compared to Star Citizen our laptop processor is 0% worse.

How does the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2 laptop compare to the best graphics card performance focused laptops and today’s most popular games?

Wondering how strong this laptop is in the GPU department, then let's have a look at it compared to one of the current best GPU performing laptops available today and this should show us the relative graphics performance of our review model. We have chosen this next laptop for its GPU power, which is the MSI GT76 Titan i9-10900K RTX 2080 Super 64GB RAM 2.0TB M.2 4K, and comes packing a GeForce RTX 2080 Super 8GB video card. That graphics card performs 35% better when compared to our review laptop’s GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile.

Our laptop GPU beats 410 games recommended system requirements when looking at today’s top 500 most demanding games. This number changes to 495 games if we compare to the top 500 most demanding games for minimum system requirements.

Today’s games are getting more demanding so let's see how our gaming laptop performs against their recommended gpu system requirements. First off we have the Star Citizen which currently our GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile is 53% better next let's see how well it runs against Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022). We can see it is 4% worse. Ok finally lets see it against Grand Theft Auto VI. Here our laptop is 4% worse.

The Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2 has a 1080p screen resolution, should I get a 4K resolution gaming laptop instead?

If you are looking for future proof laptops it doesnt take long before people are exploring the 4K panel laptops, but are they really the right choice or should you be focusing on a top end laptop that has the hardware to deliver 1080p gaming. The Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2’s 17.3" physical panel produces a native 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels tall. A 4K panel laptop is often restricted to 60Hz. This means that even if you did have the hardware inside your laptop to run a game at 4K, you wouldnt be able to get more than 60 FPS. Most laptop hardware, and desktop hardware for that matter, is not capable of 4K ultra graphics on modern games. A higher refresh rate is better and this Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2 variant is available with 144Hz versions.

So lowering a game’s screen resolution down to 1080p or 1440p during your gaming of modern AAA games will help get more frames per second. But in doing so, by down scaling the game resolution will then make the game look blurry on a native 4K laptop panel. So the purpose of getting a 4K laptop monitor for gaming maybe lost at this point. If your laptop has hardware to deliver 4K you dont need the laptop to have a 4K display to enjoy modern gaming in this way. Just plug your laptop into a 4K desktop monitor, that will likely not have the 60Hz of most 4K laptop panels.

However, you could be after watching 4K streaming content on your laptop, while on the move. Then perhaps the 17inch laptop screen and 4K resolution is going to net a more enjoyable experience than a 1080p alternative.

At the moment our advice would be, stick to the 1080p laptop panels for now. Your laptop remains portable and 4K laptop’s just aren't quite there yet. The 4K needs to be a no brainer but at the moment you will still have to lower resolution in game to get playable but sub par visuals that still can't raise above 60FPS.

Today’s best 1440p desktop monitor for a laptop is - ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27 inch 1440p 75Hz 5ms IPS

Incidentally our research shows the ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27 inch 1440p 75Hz 5ms IPS as our best priced 1440p monitor today. This monitor has a 75Hz refresh rate and a price tag at the moment of $311.99. We like to review tracked prices for our suggested hardware and this 1440p monitor is no different. We spotted its lowest price, recorded on 9th Mar 2021, where it cost $229.99.

Today’s best 4K desktop monitor for a laptop is - Asus Predator XB273K 27 inch 4K GSYNC IPS 1ms 144Hz

A well priced 4K gaming monitor with 144Hz refresh rate is the Asus Predator XB273K 27 inch 4K GSYNC IPS 1ms 144Hz. It has a price today of $618 and should be a nice accompaniment to the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2 laptop. Providing some more insight, this 4K Monitor has increased its price by $618 during these past two weeks. So keep your eyes out as it could be cheaper than we have recorded here today. Interestingly we spotted this 4k monitor at its lowest recorded price on 13th Nov 2020, where it was priced up as $549.99.

[Note - check that monitor display connectors are compatible between a monitor and a laptop before purchase]

If you are looking to view 4K streaming content, while keeping yourself mobile with your laptop, then maybe a 4K resolution panel would be a better experience than the normal 1080p. In general, we think it's probably not worth the extra money for any visual gains you might not spot, without a direct comparison, especially if you are thinking to game on your laptop as well.

For now in the laptop space, it looks best to stick with 1080p panels. This way your laptop’s physical size remains practical and portable, 17inch laptops are plenty big enough. And at the moment you will still have to lower game resolutions down from 4K, on the bigger hitting AAA titles, that would then get playable, but sub par visuals and you would still hit the 60FPS cap if your hardware could go beyond 60FPS.

Today's Best Priced Mouse and Headset for Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2 laptop

A well priced gaming mouse at the moment, that will go nicely with the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2, is the Kayinuo M738 Gaming Mouse 3200DPI wired 6 Buttons. Today it is priced at $12.99. Another interesting point about this mouse is that as we price track it we can see it has dropped in price by $32.26 during these past two weeks. To give some extra insight into this mouse, we had it price tracked on 15th Aug 2020, where it was at its lowest price of $11.99.

A good value gaming headset available at the moment, one that should go well with the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2070 Mobile 32GB RAM 256GB M.2 is, Corsair HS45-7.1 Surround with a price of $36.99. For reference, our lowest tracked price for this headset was on 28th Nov 2019 and it was priced at $34.99.