Which Dell I should buy?

Question

Hi everyone, I would like to ask the community users a question about the following models: Alienware Area-51M R2, Alienware M15 R3 and XPS 15 9500. I am a computer scientist who is attending a PhD course. After several years I therefore decided to change my laptop to meet new research needs. Specifically, I do simulations with large amounts of data, machine and deep learning tasks, parallel computing, calculating with arbitrarily large precision integers. I state that I have never had a Dell laptop before and I don't know what to expect from the models mentioned above. I am therefore unsure which of the following models to buy:       My main concerns are the overheating of the device and the battery life in case of medium or high workload.In particular, regarding the Alienware Area-51M R2 which mounts an NVIDIA 2070 SUPER graphics card and it have a 125W processor with a battery of just 90Wh.What should I expect from these laptops? Which of the three can 'guarantee' me that I have an acceptable battery life, that it doesn't get too hot to burn me, that it can handle huge workloads without going crazy? Thanks in advance for the reply and I wish everyone a good day! PS: Are any accessories missing in the package that could be useful for the survival of these devices?

ejn63 · Accepted Answer

You're going to need to prioritize, because you won't find one system to handle everything.

If you need the processor and GPU power, the Area 51m is far above the XPS or the Alienware M15. You won't get stellar battery life for any of these under heavy workloads, but the Alienware 51m as you note likely will have the shortest. It's also got the most robust cooling system, so it will be less likely to throttle under heavy load.

In the middle you have the compromise of raw power for what's likely better battery life: the m15 R3.

The system with the least robust cooling solution is the XPS.

If you really need all this computing power, why not just buy a desktop system and use your notebook to control it remotely? That'll give you the power you need without the need to sacrifice -- and if you're doing parallel computing, you're probably already running that on a remote cluster anyway.

A51-06 · Answer

The middle of them is the m17 r3 because of the larger size, the cooling is better. Plus its thin but it can't beat the area51m in thermals.

gfil · Answer

First of all, thanks for your answer!

Unfortunately, I had to rule out the choice of a desktop system right away since I have no way of guaranteeing that there are no voltage related problems at home. Sometimes the power goes out for a long time and an UPS would not hold up.

However, in the end it was as I thought from the beginning, which is that the Alienware Area-51M is the best in terms of performance, but also the worst in terms of battery life.

Thanks again for your kind reply.

A51-06 · Answer

Hope it meets your needs.

gfil · Answer

Thanks anyway, but a I need the power of one of these devices for what I do.

A51-06 · Answer

Get the m17 if you want it to be portable with power. If you're a desk guy then I'd recommend area51m

A51-06 · Answer

I can help you troubleshoot your XPS? PM me and I can go over some diagnostic steps that the Support REP's couldn't give you for some reason. Thanks!

Alienware

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