Gaming Laptop Analysis

Is the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2060 Mobile 64GB RAM 256GB M.2 good as a gaming laptop? Good

Processor - This processor is an excellent 2022 hardware component for running modern AAA games. With 8 of CPU cores available, this processor doesn’t have to worry too much about gaming processes bottlenecking as few games will be able to use all of these cores completely

Graphics Card - This laptop comes with a good choice of graphics card capable of running lots of 2022 AAA games. The 6GB VRAM found in this laptop’s GPU is certainly a good quantity for modern games.

System Memory - This system memory, 64GB, is excellent for meeting 2022 AAA game requirements.

Screen Size - This laptop panel is an excellent 2022 size at 17.3". This will certainly help gamers see in game details and text. You can game on smaller physical screens, but once you get to this sort of screen size its a nicer experience, while still providing mobile gaming.

Refresh Rate - A gaming laptop wants to have a higher refresh rate to accommodate more frames per second(FPS) in the games it runs. The refresh rate is like a hard cap on the games deliverable FPS. The better the refresh rate the more FPS the laptop can deliver in games, up to the panels refresh rate hertz, and then the sharper the in game play is when the player moves about. After considering that, we can see that this laptop has an excellent 144Hz gaming laptop refresh rate. But otherwise for peace of mind, try and find a laptop panel that is more than 60Hz and that will still be ok.

GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile graphics card gaming performance in the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2060 Mobile 64GB RAM 256GB M.2 laptop

The big one in any gaming PC is making sure the graphics card is up to the task of modern gaming. And this is of course the same for choosing the right gaming laptop as well. Therefore we will be considering this laptop’s hardware in relation to its overall price and how well it could run modern demanding or popular games like Grand Theft Auto VI, Star Citizen and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022). This is done in relation to its native 1080p resolution at Ultra video settings to give us something to compare against other laptops. We find a GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile mobile graphics card in this laptop, which is currently capable of playing 491 games, if you consider their minimum graphics system requirements as the playable level to beat. However, today the GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile is also capable of running 281 games at their recommended specs, this is when compared to the top 500 most demanding games.

Comparing Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2060 Mobile 64GB RAM 256GB M.2 to today’s best price to performance laptop ranges

We really want to see how the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2060 Mobile 64GB 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.

With a P2P rating of 5.2 today the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2060 Mobile 64GB RAM 256GB M.2. Our value to performance rating score will auto adjust as new hardware capability improves and prices drop. Here we look at how our version of this Alienware Area-51M laptop compares against the other laptops in the range. This laptop is currently 13th in this range for hardware value. Laptops closer to the 1st position of the model range represent the better gaming performance bang for your buck.

Looking outside of the Alienware Area-51M laptop range we can compare our review laptop to today’s leading Price to Performance laptop, the ASUS TUF A15 R7 4800H GTX 1660 Ti 16GB RAM 512GB M.2, which has a recorded price of $999. Our laptop has 210% worse rating when comparing on just price to performance against that best bang-for-your-buck laptop. The 2nd best model for Price to Performance ratings today is the MSI Bravo 15 R7 4800H RX 5500M 16GB RAM 512GB M.2. It’s price is listed as $1049. Comparing our Alienware Area-51M laptop on its P2P shows our review model to have 171% worse Price to Performance score when compared against the 2nd best laptop range for P2P.

How does the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2060 Mobile 64GB RAM 256GB M.2 laptop compare to the best CPU performance focused laptops and today’s most popular games?

You might be considering a CPU heavy laptop and wondering how this Alienware Area-51M laptop does in the grand scheme of CPU focused laptops. Let's compare this laptop with a top CPU performance laptop available today and see how its CPU performance stacks up. Selecting todays ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 R9 4900HS RTX 2060 Mobile 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 laptop, we will use its mighty Ryzen 9 4900HS 8-Core 3.0GHz to compare against our Core i7-9700 8-Core 3.0GHz processor from our review laptop. We can see that the top end CPU currently delivers 27% better performance when benched against our own review laptop’s Core i7-9700 8-Core 3.0GHz.

Currently 460 games recommended system requirements of the top 500 most demanding games today are worse in performance than our laptop’s Core i7-9700 8-Core 3.0GHz. Or it is 499 games of the top 500 most demanding for minimum cpu specs.

Recommended processor requirements for modern games increase all the time, so we thought we would compare the performance of our laptop CPU to some popular games of today. First off there is Star Citizen and our laptop CPU delivers 0% worse performance compared to that game’s requirement. Next we have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) in which we see our laptop processor has 14% better performance compared to the game's CPU specs. And then there is 14% better performance when we put our laptop cpu against Grand Theft Auto VI recommended specs.

How does the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2060 Mobile 64GB RAM 256GB M.2 laptop compare to the best graphics card performance focused laptops and today’s most popular games?

Shall we see if our review laptop holds out favourably against a top GPU performance focused laptop PC that is currently available. Lets look at the MSI GT76 Titan i9-10900K RTX 2080 Super 64GB RAM 2.0TB M.2 4K laptop due to its graphics processing power. The GPU it houses is ideal for comparison benchmarking, because it currently has one of the best laptop graphics solutions, at the cheapest laptop price. Its GPU is the GeForce RTX 2080 Super 8GB which we compare to the GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile graphics card in our review laptop. Our performance comparison shows the top end laptop GPU to be 59% better in performance compared to our laptop’s graphics processing power.

Today’s performance comparison for all games shows our laptop GPU can currently meet or beat 281 game’s recommended system requirements when we put the 500 most demanding games into a list. With a list of 500 Minimum system specs put ina similar most demanding order this changes to it being able to run 491 games.

How about we compare our laptop graphics performance against Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) recommended graphics requirement? Our laptop gets 18% worse performance. Next let's check the top game of the moment, Grand Theft Auto VI, which shows the review laptop’s gpu against that game’s system specs gets 18% worse performance. We also see the 31% better performance from our laptop gpu when looking at the game Star Citizen for it’s graphics requirements.

The Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2060 Mobile 64GB 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 2060 Mobile 64GB RAM 256GB M.2’s 17.3" physical panel produces a native 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels tall. A 4K panel usually comes with 60Hz screen refresh rate that would be also setting a max FPS on any game played on the laptop, even if it’s laptop hardware could return higher FPS. Factor into the decision process about getting a 4K laptop, that most AAA games would struggle to reach 60 FPS at 4K Ultra graphics settings on today’s regular laptop hardware. With higher the better refresh rates for your laptop monitor, this particular Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2060 Mobile 64GB RAM 256GB M.2 laptop is available in 144Hz variety.

We can always lower the game’s displayed screen resolution to something like 1080p or 1440p which is below the 4K laptop’s native pixel count. This will get a more stable game experience, increasing a game’s FPS that might be needed across a number of modern AAA games on a 4K laptop. However, getting away from the laptop’s more native 4K resolution, will take away in-game graphics definition. Not an ideal situation, playing blurry games on your new 4K laptop. However, a 1080p laptop could very well have some good hardware in it, capable of playing AAA games comfortably at 4K with a few graphics setting tweaks. If this is the case then hook up the gaming laptop to a 4K or 1440p desktop monitor, for some serious home based gaming sessions. A decent desktop monitor is not going to have 60Hz getting in the way of extra FPS and is going to be enjoyably larger than the 15inch or 17inch screen thats most common on laptops.

The primary 4K use would most likely be streaming movie and TV content at that resolution, assuming you have access to these services in 4K. At which point perhaps its enough of a selling point for you to consider a 4K laptop..

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

The 1440p gaming monitor that has a great price today and should be a nice accompaniment to the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2060 Mobile 64GB RAM 256GB M.2 laptop is the ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27 inch 1440p 75Hz 5ms IPS. Its current price is $311.99 and it has a 75Hz refresh rate. We have seen this desktop 1440p monitor recorded at a low price on 9th Mar 2021, where we saw it was costing $229.99.

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

Today's best priced 4K gaming monitor comes with a 144Hz refresh rate. It is the Asus Predator XB273K 27 inch 4K GSYNC IPS 1ms 144Hz and is currently priced at $618. This 4K monitor, during these past couple of weeks, has increased its price by $618. It’s still a solid purchase to accompany this laptop but it means you may find it for even cheaper at the moment, if you look around. Reviewing tracked prices for our suggested 4k monitor, its lowest price was recorded on 13th Nov 2020, where we spotted it for $549.99.

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

The primary 4K use would most likely be streaming movie and TV content at that resolution, assuming you have access to these services in 4K. At which point perhaps its enough of a selling point for you to consider a 4K laptop..

Paying extra for 4K gaming in a laptop is not really a good investment of your cash at the moment. We would put our extra cash in to a 1080p with better graphics card or maybe a nice mouse or headset. Because with the 4K laptop you may be sad when having to drop your favourite modern games screen resolution to get an ok frame rate. Or perhaps lowering the graphics setting to increase 4K FPS up to a stable and playable amount, only to hit a 60FPS ceiling due to the 60Hz 4K panel limit.

Today's Best Priced Mouse and Headset for Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2060 Mobile 64GB RAM 256GB M.2 laptop

A great priced gaming mouse today, that could accompany the Dell Alienware Area-51M i7-9700 RTX 2060 Mobile 64GB RAM 256GB M.2 is the, Kayinuo M738 Gaming Mouse 3200DPI wired 6 Buttons that is currently priced at $12.99. We have seen this mouse lower its price during these past couple of weeks by $32.26, which is part of the reason we are considering it as a good option for this laptop. Looking over our tracked prices for this mouse, it was at its lowest price on 15th Aug 2020, which had it priced at $11.99.

We price track a number of good value gaming headset and the one that currently stands out is the Corsair HS45-7.1 Surround, which is currently available for $36.99. For reference, our lowest tracked price for this headset was on 28th Nov 2019 and it was priced at $34.99.