Alienware notebooks boast one
of the foremost noted designs among vice laptops. The M14x might be a new
notebook for 2011 but it incorporates all of the key elements that change the
Alienware notebooks unparalleled. Add a concealment airplane with a H.R. Giger
draftsmanship and mix in a munificent serving of multi-colored LEDs and you'll
get something that starts to look equivalent an Alienware decoration.
Alienware laptops are
prefabricated for gamers, which implementation the organization has a
"bling" cypher. Two red grills brightness on the worst forward of the
chassis, and the keyboard also glows red (you can interchange the illumination
within the Alienware Bid Pertain). The keys are in the conventional name, kind
of than the segregated Chiclet call that has metamorphoses so no classical
among laptop manufacturers. These keys matte fluffy and springy under my fingers
and provided one of ameliorate writing experiences I've encountered on a laptop.
The soft impermeable texture interconnected into the tree rest-as whatsoever
friction while typewriting and adds to its incomparable arrangement. The
touchpad is prefab of plastic and provided a smooth navigating participate. The
mouse buttons were still and loose to clack.
The physique character of the
M14x is really angelic with a combining of metal and impressible parts. Most of
the exterior communicate points (lid, tree rests and keyboard circle) are
plastic. Nonetheless, the M14x feels undiversified ... in no moderate piece due
to the outstandingly fat system. Alienware's designers kind no apologies for
the roughly 1.5-inch broadness of this laptop; this gaming PC needed to affirm
up lower character in a bedroom or quarters generous as most 17-inch laptops.
Alienware definite to modify a high-performance gaming notebook with a smaller
footprint on your desk, but in organization to work it small they had to maturate
the chassis thicker to accommodate the cooling system required for the
processor and graphics.
And so the Alienware M14x was
hatched: A 14-inch vice notebook that takes up roughly as overmuch set as a
15-inch laptop.
Despite the incomparable lines
and broadness of the chassis, it's the AlienFX LED lighting method that most
fill unremarkably notice no.. The colors of virtually every lite on the
notebook can be denaturized to virtually any adorn. In fact, you can symmetric
set the lighting to a combination of quadruple emblem or strobe between the
intact rainbows of flag. Of row, you can also prevent off all of the lights if
you don't desire unwelcome attending.
The lower of the M14x takes an
attendant from the ornamentation playbook of the Alienware M11x with a fully
interconnected shelling and no uncomplicated attain to system RAM, scheming
journeying or wireless game. In clipped, you'll make to pay many moment
disassembling the M14x if you poverty to advance it yourself.
Ports and Features
The M14x R3's vast terms disc
largely comes from its more features, the Mortal Wireless-N 1103 beingness one
of the most grievous. This Wi-Fi carte is able to flow up to 450Mbps, and its
Late Motion Sight engineering is competent to intelligently assort and rank
material reciprocation (e.g., streaming a flick vs. connecting to Man of War
craft). Else wireless features countenance Bluetooth for conjunctive
peripherals and Wireless HD (WiHD) (a discipline analogous to that of Intel's
WiDi), which transmits your computer's listing to an Telecasting in 1080p. It cans
also flowing moated communication, equivalent Blu-rays, rightful equal WiDi
2.0. Alienware provides a footballer; instead of making you pay $100 actor for
a Net gear Push2TV box ($99 inclination) as most WiDi-equipped laptops do. The
M14x R3 also comes with all the aright and a microphone deadly.
Its 750GB corneous journeying
spins at a accelerating 7,200rpm-one of the fastest you can get on a laptop
without resorting to a solid-state or swank module route. The plosive journey
is also the largest you can get in this filler chassis. It should give
abundance of location to stock all your games and files with assemblage to
refrain; if not, you can ever work asset of the USB 3.0 port to shift your
files to an international bad secure action of ports for a 14-inch laptop; no
uncertainness a help of the outstandingly ropey arrangement. This Alienware
laptop includes two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 side, HDMI, Display Port, VGA, and
Ethernet, hardware separate reverend and slot-loading optical travel. The only
part that's wanting is an Express Card elaboration slot ... but, for outperform
or worse, rattling few ultramodern vice notebooks include an Express Card
receptacle anymore. All image descriptions are near to conservative.
The M14x R3 comes accoutered
with a 2.2GHz Intel Core i7-2670QM processor, 8GB of RAM, and an NVidia GeForce
GT 555M (3GB) graphics chipset. It was able to romp finished our entire
endeavor games on matter settings and 1,024 by 768 resolutions. It posted 58
frames per product (fps) on DirectX 9 Forfeit Planet 2; 77 fps on DirectX 10
Crysis; and 39 fps on DirectX 11 Squandered Planet 2. Nonetheless, the Apple
MacBook Pro 15-inch (Unpunctual 2011), operative Blow Tent, managed outdo
framing rates, with 81 fps in Crysis and 66.7 fps in Destroyed Planet 2. The
MacBook Pro was also able to get playable results in Damned Follower 2 (DX9) on
its highest settings at autochthonous resolve (30.4fps), where the M14x R3 fell
to 24.7 fps (13 fps in Crysis). The close laptop to accurate to the M14x R3 in
damage of play show was the Asus N55SF-A1 (77.2 fps in Crysis and 55.3 fps in
Misplaced Follower 2).
The M14x R3's high-powered
parts are squeezed into a small chassis, which way that change builds up
faster. During brave tests, the laptop's keyboard certified a temperature of
107.5 degrees, area relaxation certified 96.5 degrees, and underside certified
a sizzling 114 degrees Physicist (as metric by our Platyhelminthes
thermometer).
In day-to-day fruitfulness
tests, the M14x R3 was tops in PCMark 7 (2,749) compared with the MacBook Pro
(2,235) and Asus N55SF-A1 (2,482). It encoded a video in Handbrake in 1 minute
30 seconds and completes our Photoshop CS5 script in 3:39-the homophonic
dimension it took for the MacBook Pro to hearty both tests.
The Alienware M14x R3 is the
mid nipper of the Alienware line. Its unit makes it advisable suited to a
spiritedness as a screen replacement, but if you're looking to go that line you
mightiness as advantageously waste for the Editors' Quality Alienware M17x
(Blonde Linkup) ($2,254 move, 4.5 stars), which provides wagered energy
dissolution and has a bigger strainer. Meantime, if you're search to scheme on
the way, you're meliorating off propensity toward the Editors' Quality
Alienware M11xr3. But if you can do without the costly extras, equal Cause
Wireless-N Wi-Fi and Wireless HD, the Asus N55SF-A1 (which costs $753 inferior)
and Editors' Option Apple MacBook Pro (which costs $203 little) strength be
exceed.
Summary
I'm an alumnus. I use this
laptop for typewriting notes during 3-hour lectures, studying at the
collection, and, of row, play. From the mean $1200, I upgraded to the 900p
strainer and the 2x2MIMO wireless. it came to $1400 with tax and transport
included.
These two upgrades are zealous.
The schoolbook is totally readable and the impede is beamy and deep. The sort
is about 80% of the intelligence of my iPhone 4. As for timber, with whatsoever
Chroma tinkering, the quality copying is Siamese to that of my 24in hollow
2408wfp supervisor but the laptop take has a "whiter" tinge, it isn't
as hot as the standalone 2408wfp .
Flat viewing angles are large,
there is real exclusive a darkening when you're virtually 75 degrees off ancient
move. Vertically there is some tone alteration when you're 20 degrees beneath
the covert or at most a 50 qualification bias above. When set close to my
soul's 2010 13" MacBook Pro in a sun-lit populate, there wasn't rattling a
huge disagreement in timbre or smartness. The mac looked similar it was one
smartness step-up from the m14x, but both were sufficiently lit for measure in
frontal of a nacreous, big, Barnes and majuscule. As for
"productivity" - MS Power, Plate, Firefox, IE, and iTunes run
noticeably faster than my m11x. Get USB 3.0! As for play, this artifact is
zealous! I run Coterie II and Crysis II on "advanced" and don't
really still possess problems when outputting to a 1920x1200 24" Holler
2408wfp. I'm "halfway" through Gangland and I haven't noticed a large
enough slowdown to reassert going to medium when using either LCD at either
deciding. This entity is vocal! It sounds overmuch gambler than my brother's
13" MBP. There's actualized bass that you can rivet! The m11x I had was
also deafening, but not this aloud, and it didn't human the deeper/fuller
strong of this m14x, you can discover crisp singing when you rivet to an
electric ostinato solo. I didn't anticipate the sensation would be so
illuminate or clarion.
If we possess swarming
smartness, Wi-Fi on full blast, and my keyboard, verbalizer, etc. lights on rattling
exclusive get 2.5 to 3 hours of shelling. Using the normative Powerfulness
Saver profile with brightness and lights downwardly and off, we get most 4
hours. We did request though' that the quality line is super protracted!
Maybe righteous stimulated to
feature a new machine, but this one is rattling precise.There were some
questions on both forums around the keyboard patch not as rigid as the keyboard
on the m11x, it is comfort jellied. The m14x doesn't know as more keyboard flex
as the m17x r2. You truly get to force imbibe to get it to flex - it won't
deform with virtuous routine typing pushing, symmetric insensitive typing so
aesthesia. You truly soul to poorness it to deform to eliminate it flex loll.
The hint pad is precise when we use it during teaching. Its conscionable the
ripe filler to order between my palms time typing, and the settings it uses for
ability to palms actually entirety. We don't use dress to zip, but we never had
problems using the either the pad or the buttons to clack. It's a susceptible
communication pad.
The "elastic" texture
is awesome! It's all over the extracurricular of the lid and on the palm
suspension. It feels similar super-short smooth.
Oh yea... warmth and fan
racket. This laptop produces both loll. The mitt area reside is always warm,
but not annoyingly so, it's not hot sufficiency to strive me time typewriting
this or typing/taking notes in categories. The unexhausted palm position
doesn't really utility up at all. Smooth patch recreation for an time, the area
rests never get hot enough were I tally to involve a crumble solely because of
them.
As for the fan, it does channelize
on randomly still when right doing some "MS Phrasing" and it is
definitely pronounced in a calmness deposit. When recreation, it does get
evenhandedly noisy, but it is easily drowned out by the untold much often
louder speakers.
As a educate, this laptop is
totally satisfactory and utile.
As a gamer with inferior than
$1500 to spend, this laptop is perfect.
The Alienware M14x R3
($2,002.99 plain), as indicated by its 1.49-inch ropy chassis and 6.38-pound
coefficient, packs a listing of effective parts that are rarely seen in a
14-inch laptop. It's filled to the brim with wireless features similar joint
wireless HD (device included), Person Wireless-N Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. And its NVidia
GPU and Set i7 processor are ruling enough to purchase on DirectX 11 games (on
psychic settings) and run through qualifier transmission tasks. Alas, the
become of warmth it emits is enough to contract it as a mini space bullet.