Alienware M14x Review: An Ultraportable Gaming Powerhouse - whipplemintwoubity

When Dell refreshed its lineup of Alienware gaming laptops earliest this class, it discontinued the littlest of the bunch, the 11-inch Alienware M11x. As a issue, the Alienware M14x is now the entry-flush Alienware laptop, which Dell recently refreshed with an IvyBridge processor and a new art card. Like some more-typical ultraportable laptops, the M14x has a 14-inch screen, but it's chunkier and more powerful than the some other computers in its category.

Our review whole, priced at $1454 (as of August 20, 2012), as configured, sports a third-generation Intel Core i7-3610QM central processing unit, 8GB of RAM, a 750GB hard drive, and a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 650M graphics card. The M14x besides features a Orcinus orca Wireless-N a/g/n WI-Fi card with Bluetooth 4.0, a DVD-RW drive, and Alienware's Command Center suite of software package (including AlienFX, which allows you to change the lighting scheme). The M14x runs the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Agio.

Performance

In PCWorld's WorldBench 7 benchmark tests, the M14x earned a very good mark of 143, import that the M14x was 43 percent quicker than our reference fashion mode, which carries a second-generation Intel i5-2500K central processor, 8GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti graphics lineup.

These days, competing ultraportables are speedier and more brawny than ever, despite being slim and light. E.g., the Acer Aspire S5, a sleek 13.3-column inch Ultrabook with a Meat i7-3517U processor, rolled up a WorldBench 7 score of 195. However, the Aim S5, look-alike all Ultrabooks, comes with a speedy solid drive that helps it boot faster. In different words, the Draw a bead on S5 boots upbound and resumes from sleep much more quickly than the M14x does (the S5's startup time in our tests was 12.3 seconds, versus 24.2 seconds for the M14x), but that doesn't mean the Aspire S5 is many powerful overall.

A better way to identify the M14x's computing metier is by assessing its gaming performance. In our Unimproved 3 graphics tests, the M14x behaved equal a true play machine, sustaining frame rates of between 82.8 frames per second (at high quality settings, and 1920-by-1080-picture element resolution) and 186.5 fps (at inferiority settings, and 800-by-600-pixel resolution). The Aspire S5, in contrast, topped out at 19.1 FPS and 44.5 fps, respectively, at the same settings. These numbers game indicate that the M14x is a powerhouse.

The M14x as wel has very good battery spirit, considering that it's a play machine at heart. In our tests the laptop managed 5 hours, 3 transactions of battery life—not far behind the Aspire S5's 5 hours, 28 minutes.

Designing: Chassis, Keyboard, and Trackpad

Though the M14x's specs put it somewhere between an all-propose laptop and an ultraportable laptop, IT's much larger and thicker than an average out ultraportable today. The M14x is 1.5 inches thick (whereas all but ultraportables are about 0.5 inch thick) and it weighs 6.5 pounds, not counting a 1.3-lb power blockage. By way of view, the 0.7-inch broad Acer Aspire S5 weighs just 3.3 pounds including the power close u.

The M14x has the said retro-styling A otherwise laptops in Dell's in style set of Alienware models, with a soft, rubbery black lid, a stout chassis, and a unique grille along the figurehead of the political machine. The laptop telegraphs its gaming orientation with tons of changeable lights happening the keyboard, approximately the trackpad, through the grille, under the power clitoris, and on the logotype beneath the screen. The nonremittal lighting color is set to blue.

The M14x packs a backlit, big keyboard with regular-expressive style keys. The keys' beveled sides and slightly indented tops make typing on them easy and comfortable. The keyboard incorporates a couple of gamer-social features: the S key has four raised dots for quick tactile acknowledgment, and the pointer keys are positioned slightly separate from the rest of the keyboard.

A simple, medium-size trackpad with two discrete buttons sits directly below the keyboard. The trackpad is even-textured and accurate, and the soft-touch pussyfoot buttons are easy to press. The trackpad lacks damascene extras such as multitouch subscribe, but true gamers will want to use an external mouse with this laptop computer in whatever event.

The M14x has plenty of ports: The left go with of the machine has VGA-, HDMI-, and DisplayPort-out ports; a USB 2.0 embrasure; knucklebones for microphone, earpiece, and microphone/earphone (for a headset); and a Nina from Carolina-in-one carte referee. On the right side of the information processing system are two USB 3.0 ports, an ethernet port, a Kensington lock slot, and the slot-loading DVD-RW driving force.

Screen out and Speakers

The M14x sports a great-sounding 14-inch glossy WLED-backlit screen with a native resolution of 1600 by 900 pixels. This bright screen offers excellent direct contrast, depth, and color accuracy, and is perfect for play. Off-axis viewing angles are fine, though you do lose some contrast as you impress from side to side. The glossy block out looks great in low and dark lighting, but it can toss back some pretty severe reflections in aglow light (especially sunlight).

Video looks and sounds great along the M14x. HD video plays flawlessly, with teentsy to no artifacting or noise symmetric in intense, action-packed scenes. Audio frequency sounds identical best through the M14x's Klipsch 2.1 speaker system. The speakers, which are located above the keyboard, green goods full, colorful sound at an acceptably loud volume.

The Bottom Line

Father't let the Alienware M14x's benchmark eyeglasses misinform you–WorldBench 7 puts a lot of weight connected moderate, speedy SSDs, which this laptop computer doesn't feature. Nevertheless, the M14x outperforms any Ultrabook we've seen in screen and graphic tone.

And because the M14x is built for gamers, information technology has a relatively user-hail-fellow design. Ultrabooks a great deal skimp on caliber components in an sweat to accomplish the lightest, thinnest, and sexiest profile it buttocks. In comparison,the M14x is grievous and bulky, but it's also sturdy, with a keyboard and a trackpad that will stand the test of time, too as excellent port extract. The M14x also comes at a great Price for a gaming-adjusted laptop, though climb prices are pricy: Doubling the RAM from 8GB to 16GB costs $150, and adding a Blu-shaft reader costs $200.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/460798/alienware_m14x_review_an_ultraportable_gaming_powerhouse.html

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