Are current Alienware laptops easy to upgrade?

Question

Hello dear Alienware community

I am the happy owner of a M17xR3 since 2011, and I love this machine. At the time, Dell had already bought the Alienware company but Alienware machines came with 3 year warranty at no extra price, which could be extended up to 5 years. These machines were meant to be long-lasting, and obviously they were: in 2020 my M17xR3 is still very acceptable because I could clean/upgrade/repair many things over time with a simple screw driver.

- I upgraded my 8 Go 1333MHz RAM by 16 Go 1600MHz RAM and can still upgrade up to 32 under Ubuntu if I want
- I replaced my 580m GPU by a 780m (was a bit tricky that one but it worked in the end)
- I replaced my HDD by 2 SSDs
- I upgraded my W7 to W10 and have it running in dual boot along with Ubuntu like a charm

So yeah, this machine was a great investment and back in 2011 I would definitely recommend buying it. Now comes the time when I would like to buy an up-to-date replacement for this machine.

However I am a bit worried by what I see on the internet about the current Alienware laptops:

First, they now seem to come with only a basic 1-year warranty, which goes only up to 4 years. Aren't these machines meant to live long anymore?
Second, I have read in some comments that the RAM now comes soldered to the motherboard??

So I my questions are:
- Is this thing about the RAM true? (that's definitely a deal breaker for me)
- If I buy an Alienware laptop in 2020, what can I expect in terms of what I can or cannot upgrade in the future?

Thank you for your answers !

A51-06 · Answer

It’s soldered for the m series of laptops except the area-51m r1 and R2. but if you talk about the last laptop with upgradable ram, that’s the m15 and m17 r1.

tokapi · Answer

Hello, thank you for your answer

I am looking at 17'' laptops. So if I understand correctly, the RAM is soldered to the motherboard in m17R3, but not in area-51mR2. Why do you say that RAM is not upgradable on area-51mR2 though please?

And what about other components? Can we still easily change SSDs/GPU/thermal paste etc on these machines?

Thanks!

ejn63 · Answer

The RAM in the Area 51m-R2 is socketed and replaceable.

The GPU is also socketed, but it's a proprietary Dell GPU card design that will limit you to what Dell offers.

If you're looking for true GPU upgradeability (i.e., standard MXM 3.0 card) in a notebook using a socketed desktop processor, there's just about only one game left in town: the Clevo X170SM-G. Clevo is a Taiwan-based ODM that markets to "boutique" brands that go by the names Falcon Northwest, Sager, Eurocom, AVA, Origin and a host of others.

A51-06 · Answer

Thank you both for replying and sorry about that. I meant the later m17 and m15 series after the m15 r1 and m17 r2 were upgradeble also including both area51m's.

If you're in need of gpu replacements these are DGFF or Dell Graphics Form Factor and only specific laptops from alienware or clove like ejn said are rare.

I got the last one as I have the Alienware 18 r1 from 2015 (Dual 980ms) and upgraded that one to a single RTX 2080 with 11 Gbs of GDDR6 and it only draws at max 210watts when overclocked.

tokapi · Answer

I see, thank you both for the interesting answers

A51-06 · Answer

You’re welcome and please, come and ask us any question you want and if you want a video explanation I can make a YouTube video?

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Are current Alienware laptops easy to upgrade?

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