I’m a Mac user since 1994, and the Area51m R2 is my first windows computer and love it. I still use both system tho. Some misinformation on this video that should be revised, but still is the only video of this kind for the Area51m, good job.
So started to watch, scrolled down to see how many hundreds of thousands of subs you had and saw 32 and I'm like what?! such a well produced video. Anwyay, I found this video as my 51m is being built as we speak. Moved away from OSX ages ago. I use Windows and Linux.
So refreshing to hear your straightforward impression of this laptop in the context of music making. I won't be asking for how many FPS you're gettng on Pro Tools!
I wish I would have talked to you before I bought my computer. I can’t believe all the amazing things you are able to do with your setup. At least I know what my next purchase will be. Sad thing is I will have to wait a year. Thank you for sharing.
May I ask if you have totally uninstalled 'Tobii Eye-tracking' or if you've just disabled it? I read somewhere(?) that uninstalling it causes Windows Update to reinstall it at a later date. I so dislike giving space to apps I'll never use! Thanks for your dispassionate review of the Alienware.
Hi. On the latest Windows OS, it reinstalled with a Windows update. After I reverted back to build 18363, this did not happen, thank goodness. I didn't get into it in the video, but after Tobii Eye tracking was automatically reinstalled on the later OS, it took over my menu navigation and I couldn't even get in to switch it off for a while. Finally got it turned off and after I reverted to 18363, it was never a problem and never reinstalled again.
@@6DaysLtd Thanks for the info. I've read all manner of work arounds now; one of which was to tunnel inside the laptop and blow up the physical connection. At present, I'm trialling a timid option (i.e. Disabling Tobii in every conceivable place) and so far, it's holding up! Should that turn out to be a lucky pause, I'll give your method a whirl. The Alienware Area-51m R2 is a powerful yet placid beast and I feel sure that your un-hyped review will make many a music maker or tweaker at least consider a swap from Apple to Windows. Thanks again and good music making!
Dell will sell the parts to add the extra M2 slots, it's just something you have to ask them for giving the list of parts. "To get these parts, call Dell Support and ask them to raise an order for all the 20 separate parts (no url, no kit) which includes the 2.5 inch cage NVMe silicone interposer board D3P25, cable #1 2JH8P, cable #2 5F1WR and all the other separate parts of screws, etc. Also ask for all of these parts be included in your Dell System Warranty. Currently, all these parts can be purchased for under USD100."
They also seem to be on AliExpress. "New D3P25 R24Y6 5F1WR 2JH8P 3JTF8 For Dell Alienware Area-51m R2 2.5 Inch To Double M.2 SSD Board Bracket Heatsink Cable Suit"
I see. Thank you. At the time of this purchase (August 2020) I actually tried to purchase both of these before the computer just to be sure - Twice. I was sent to the parts and technical departments and when I was told "no we don't carry that" I was also told someone would follow up with me the following day, which never happened. I'm not surprised and it was early in the release at the time. Good info! 👍🏻
you can really get 100 tracks with that config? ijust got alienware x17 64g ram 11th gen i9 and havent got unlimited tracks yet in my daw but what iv seen online with i9 and even m1 chips there only getting 20 maybe 30 tracks
Amazing video thank you!! I am torn between this and the Lenovo 5i. I am leaning towards Lenovo cause of dells dpc latency issue. Is this an issue with this model?
Hi. I'm running the displays directly from the laptop ports. Also running a OWC Thunderbolt dock for USB ports, Ethernet, and SD card, with a through to the Apollo Twin. IT's just easier to take the laptop away that way, even though the built in Ethernet is better.
Greetings. For development, the key is to use external displays and run the PC in Project Mode without the internal display which would use integrated graphics (CPU). In my experience, using the external displays uses the GPU and I've had zero fan noise. Your processing load will be much more efficient when things start getting serious. Also, as I discussed in the video, you can experiment with assigning cores to Kontakt, which will balance the load. With the 64GB of RAM I run some of my Kontakt patches in Sample mode rather than DFD. I have Ableton, but haven't experimented with it this way yet.
I am plannin to buy the area 51m R2 4k model. will it be good for professional video editing? as it has a really low refresh rate of 60Hz. and will it work if i use 2080 nvidia card
HI Matthew. For the 300Hz (now 360Hz) screen option, you can toggle 300 vs 60 in the NVIDIA control panel. I hope that helps. You might prefer options, but remember the 300Hz usage will require a heavier CPU load. When I'm mobile doing DAW work, I set the rate to 60Hz on purpose to lessen CPU load. For video editing, if you're mobile, you might prefer to travel with both supplies. ✌🏻
I would love to pay you for your service in assisting me to purchase the a similar laptop with the right accessories for a quality laptop for music production. I'm currently rebuilding a new mobile studio setup because I travel for a living. Do you offer your knowledge for a rate?
Hi! I added my Wyzant tutoring profile to the info for this video. You can message me there. I do Pro Tools and other DAW consulting and planning with people. 🙏
Thank you so much for this video! I am in the same boat looking for a more powerful setup after years with a Macbook Pro. I am about to order pretty much the same setup. I have 2 questions if you have a moment : 1. The stock boot ssd, the Hynix, or the two of them, seem to have read and write speeds of about 2000 and 800 MB/s, so would swapping that for a samsung Evo plus which is about double that make any relevant performance improvements to what we're trying to do with DAWs, video editing, and such? 2. And also, it seems like swapping out the RAM is just down to the hardware swap, but what about putting the new SSDs in the slots 3 and 4? Do they get recognized automatically after a restart or will I have to do something in BIOS, etc? Thank you so much for your help, this was really awesome!
Greetings, Andrej. See this image for the storage and ram reports. I left this out of the video for time, so forgive the crude image rush for you. I have another WD Black 750 I expect to be replacing the RAID 0 with if I need another drive slot. What the image shows, I think, is that each of these options are near the PCIe bus limit, so I feel there's less to gain with the RAID 0 when compared to a single EVO plus. THat being said, I still had to order it this way to get the interposer board. Also, just placing the drives into the laptop shows them available or prompts you for initialization. Windows app is called "Disk Management". Just press the Windows key and enter Disk Management to format storage.
@@6DaysLtd Awesome, glad to see that the original raid 0 drives they put in there work well. That was very helpful. And how was the installation process for the storage drives, does the 51m recognize them after a reboot? I'm completely new to using mulitple internal drives, raid, etc. Thanks again!
I'm buying this laptop in a few weeks. I have hopes of running multiple Instances of Kontakt and Omnisphere with a 2 tb Hd and 16 gb Ram. Do you think this alone will be enough? Thank you for this insightful video 🙏🙏🙏
Hi Blake. I'm only posting this here as an example. You'll want to do your research on this as well. I know you're trying to save money. This is a single 16GB module that appears to be the 16GB version of the dual 8GB RAM that came in my (and I expect your) configuration, although you didn't mention the rest of the config you're looking at. I think you should expect 6-8GB of RAM to be in use by the OS, with a few background services and other things you might have installed. That doesn't leave a lot for sample-based instruments. I think replacing a single RAM stick with something like this for $80-90 for 24GB of RAM would be a significant difference for you. It's what I would do. It gives you somewhere to start. 🙏🏻 www.amazon.com/Samsung-3200MHz-PC4-25600-Notebook-M471A2K43DB1-CWE/dp/B08QR2YGKX/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=Samsung+PC4-3200&qid=1613707547&s=electronics&sr=1-4
Dude! You're a beast! Man I don't think I've ever seen so many tracks and plugins from a single session.
I’m a Mac user since 1994, and the Area51m R2 is my first windows computer and love it.
I still use both system tho.
Some misinformation on this video that should be revised, but still is the only video of this kind for the Area51m, good job.
So started to watch, scrolled down to see how many hundreds of thousands of subs you had and saw 32 and I'm like what?! such a well produced video.
Anwyay, I found this video as my 51m is being built as we speak. Moved away from OSX ages ago. I use Windows and Linux.
So refreshing to hear your straightforward impression of this laptop in the context of music making. I won't be asking for how many FPS you're gettng on Pro Tools!
I wish I would have talked to you before I bought my computer. I can’t believe all the amazing things you are able to do with your setup. At least I know what my next purchase will be. Sad thing is I will have to wait a year. Thank you for sharing.
Best D6 piano sample ending ever!
I purchased this same laptop but with the 360hz panel and 32G Ram and absolutely love it!!! Gaming has never felt so smooth. Nice video!
Excellent setup.....Are those 8010's on the desk?
Inspiring stuff !!
Great video. A lot of solid information especially for those of us who aren't gamers. Thx.
Excellent.
I’m using my Area51M r2 as a Mac. If you get the RX 5700m gpu you can get a perfect Mac laptop
Hi i was thinking of buying this or the razer blade 15 advanced which one would you recommend? For music production in big studios?
Thank u
Great video! Super well done
May I ask if you have totally uninstalled 'Tobii Eye-tracking' or if you've just disabled it? I read somewhere(?) that uninstalling it causes Windows Update to reinstall it at a later date. I so dislike giving space to apps I'll never use! Thanks for your dispassionate review of the Alienware.
Hi. On the latest Windows OS, it reinstalled with a Windows update. After I reverted back to build 18363, this did not happen, thank goodness. I didn't get into it in the video, but after Tobii Eye tracking was automatically reinstalled on the later OS, it took over my menu navigation and I couldn't even get in to switch it off for a while. Finally got it turned off and after I reverted to 18363, it was never a problem and never reinstalled again.
@@6DaysLtd Thanks for the info. I've read all manner of work arounds now; one of which was to tunnel inside the laptop and blow up the physical connection. At present, I'm trialling a timid option (i.e. Disabling Tobii in every conceivable place) and so far, it's holding up! Should that turn out to be a lucky pause, I'll give your method a whirl.
The Alienware Area-51m R2 is a powerful yet placid beast and I feel sure that your un-hyped review will make many a music maker or tweaker at least consider a swap from Apple to Windows. Thanks again and good music making!
Dell will sell the parts to add the extra M2 slots, it's just something you have to ask them for giving the list of parts.
"To get these parts, call Dell Support and ask them to raise an order for all the 20 separate parts (no url, no kit) which includes the 2.5 inch cage NVMe silicone interposer board D3P25, cable #1 2JH8P, cable #2 5F1WR and all the other separate parts of screws, etc. Also ask for all of these parts be included in your Dell System Warranty. Currently, all these parts can be purchased for under USD100."
They also seem to be on AliExpress. "New D3P25 R24Y6 5F1WR 2JH8P 3JTF8 For Dell Alienware Area-51m R2 2.5 Inch To Double M.2 SSD Board Bracket Heatsink Cable Suit"
I see. Thank you. At the time of this purchase (August 2020) I actually tried to purchase both of these before the computer just to be sure - Twice. I was sent to the parts and technical departments and when I was told "no we don't carry that" I was also told someone would follow up with me the following day, which never happened. I'm not surprised and it was early in the release at the time. Good info! 👍🏻
It seems like the extra two M2 slots are attached via SATA? might limit their speed somewhat, unless there's some trickery in there.
you can really get 100 tracks with that config? ijust got alienware x17 64g ram 11th gen i9 and havent got unlimited tracks yet in my daw but what iv seen online with i9 and even m1 chips there only getting 20 maybe 30 tracks
Amazing video thank you!! I am torn between this and the Lenovo 5i. I am leaning towards Lenovo cause of dells dpc latency issue. Is this an issue with this model?
Are you running your screen with a dock or just using cables from the hdmi and mini-display ports?
Hi. I'm running the displays directly from the laptop ports. Also running a OWC Thunderbolt dock for USB ports, Ethernet, and SD card, with a through to the Apollo Twin. IT's just easier to take the laptop away that way, even though the built in Ethernet is better.
I wanna get this for ableton. Heavy vsti usage, processing and a relatively Kontakt heavy use. How is your fan noise with your cpu settings?
Greetings. For development, the key is to use external displays and run the PC in Project Mode without the internal display which would use integrated graphics (CPU). In my experience, using the external displays uses the GPU and I've had zero fan noise. Your processing load will be much more efficient when things start getting serious. Also, as I discussed in the video, you can experiment with assigning cores to Kontakt, which will balance the load. With the 64GB of RAM I run some of my Kontakt patches in Sample mode rather than DFD. I have Ableton, but haven't experimented with it this way yet.
I am plannin to buy the area 51m R2 4k model. will it be good for professional video editing? as it has a really low refresh rate of 60Hz. and will it work if i use 2080 nvidia card
HI Matthew. For the 300Hz (now 360Hz) screen option, you can toggle 300 vs 60 in the NVIDIA control panel. I hope that helps. You might prefer options, but remember the 300Hz usage will require a heavier CPU load. When I'm mobile doing DAW work, I set the rate to 60Hz on purpose to lessen CPU load. For video editing, if you're mobile, you might prefer to travel with both supplies. ✌🏻
@John-Paul Hunt I got M17 R4 wid RTX 3080 , UHD version
I would love to pay you for your service in assisting me to purchase the a similar laptop with the right accessories for a quality laptop for music production. I'm currently rebuilding a new mobile studio setup because I travel for a living. Do you offer your knowledge for a rate?
Hi! I added my Wyzant tutoring profile to the info for this video. You can message me there. I do Pro Tools and other DAW consulting and planning with people. 🙏
Thank you so much for this video! I am in the same boat looking for a more powerful setup after years with a Macbook Pro. I am about to order pretty much the same setup. I have 2 questions if you have a moment : 1. The stock boot ssd, the Hynix, or the two of them, seem to have read and write speeds of about 2000 and 800 MB/s, so would swapping that for a samsung Evo plus which is about double that make any relevant performance improvements to what we're trying to do with DAWs, video editing, and such? 2. And also, it seems like swapping out the RAM is just down to the hardware swap, but what about putting the new SSDs in the slots 3 and 4? Do they get recognized automatically after a restart or will I have to do something in BIOS, etc? Thank you so much for your help, this was really awesome!
Greetings, Andrej. See this image for the storage and ram reports. I left this out of the video for time, so forgive the crude image rush for you. I have another WD Black 750 I expect to be replacing the RAID 0 with if I need another drive slot. What the image shows, I think, is that each of these options are near the PCIe bus limit, so I feel there's less to gain with the RAID 0 when compared to a single EVO plus. THat being said, I still had to order it this way to get the interposer board.
Also, just placing the drives into the laptop shows them available or prompts you for initialization. Windows app is called "Disk Management". Just press the Windows key and enter Disk Management to format storage.
drive.google.com/file/d/1kKNJtl0rk84Ogkjlo5o9bfP5cDSDptHr/view?usp=sharing
drive.google.com/file/d/1lggLeOC5bEOhPVOn5wzlRxGZsAlq9Chz/view?usp=sharing
@@6DaysLtd Awesome, glad to see that the original raid 0 drives they put in there work well. That was very helpful. And how was the installation process for the storage drives, does the 51m recognize them after a reboot? I'm completely new to using mulitple internal drives, raid, etc. Thanks again!
@@andrejjusufbegovic3002 yes, if they are NTFS. If not just use Disk Management to format them. 👌🏻
I'm buying this laptop in a few weeks. I have hopes of running multiple Instances of Kontakt and Omnisphere with a 2 tb Hd and 16 gb Ram. Do you think this alone will be enough? Thank you for this insightful video 🙏🙏🙏
Hi Blake. I'm only posting this here as an example. You'll want to do your research on this as well. I know you're trying to save money. This is a single 16GB module that appears to be the 16GB version of the dual 8GB RAM that came in my (and I expect your) configuration, although you didn't mention the rest of the config you're looking at. I think you should expect 6-8GB of RAM to be in use by the OS, with a few background services and other things you might have installed. That doesn't leave a lot for sample-based instruments. I think replacing a single RAM stick with something like this for $80-90 for 24GB of RAM would be a significant difference for you. It's what I would do. It gives you somewhere to start. 🙏🏻
www.amazon.com/Samsung-3200MHz-PC4-25600-Notebook-M471A2K43DB1-CWE/dp/B08QR2YGKX/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=Samsung+PC4-3200&qid=1613707547&s=electronics&sr=1-4