Dell will send a technician to your home to upgrade your Alienware Area-51m laptop for you

When Dell unveiled the 17.3-inch Alienware Area-51m behemoth at CES 2019, it came with the promise of upgradeable graphics — a rarity in the world of laptops. Even more unexpected was the proprietary DGFF (Dell Graphics Form Factor) interconnect for the removable GPU in contrast to the more standard MXM form factor commonly found on Clevo and even some older Alienware laptops. Now almost a full year after its launch, Dell will be offering Alienware Area-51m RTX 2060 owners the option to upgrade to the GeForce RTX 2070 or RTX 2080.

The upgrade process will be more involved since removing the GPU from the Area-51m laptop is not as straightforward as on a desktop PC. Dell will provide owners with an Upgrade Kit that includes an upgraded thermal module, a larger and more capable AC adapter, and either the RTX 2070 or 2080 DGFF GPU. The kit will also come with an at-home installation service by a Dell technician who will install the graphics card for the owner.

The large cooling solution consists of seven 8 mm and 6 mm heat pipes and dual fans with 0.2 mm blades capable of pushing over 25 CFM. The Alienware Area-51m ships with different cooling solutions depending on the GPU.

The RTX 2070 and RTX 2080 upgrade will cost Alienware Area-51m owners $699 and $999, respectively. In the meantime, see our full review on the Alienware Area-51m RTX 2080 for our thoughts on Dell's latest enthusiast gaming laptop.