Alienware M14x Review Thread

Owners of the m14x, post a review here so others (including myself) can read your opinions on the laptop. You can be as brief or detailed as you want. Posting your specs would be a good idea, as well as possibly giving numerical scores for different categories. I will be contributing my review to this thread when my laptop arrives next week.

Edit: Here's a quick template you can copy paste and use as a guide if you'd like (or come up with your own!):

1.) Build Quality - [score here]
Like the rubber? Is it durable? How does it look? Weight? Sexy, fugly?
2.) Display - [score here]
Display type - Bright Enough? Colors? Viewing angles? Tell us what your eyes see!
3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - [score here]
Any flex? Typing feel? Touchpad hard/easy to use? Any quirks?
4.) Performance - [score here]
How's the 555m for your needs? Does it run well? Any hiccups?
5.) Battery Life - [Put the time you get on battery here]
How's the, uhh, battery life? What settings you used to achieve above results
6.) Overall Impression [score here]
Final thoughts. Like it? Love it? Hate it?



(Note: The way I see it, the owner's lounge is more for discussion about the laptop, including specs and the troubleshooting of problems. This board doesn't seem as active as the other AW boards and I don't see a lot of reviews for the unit which you see a lot more of on, say, the m17x board. Please keep posts in this thread SOLELY for your individual review of the unit and save actual discussion for the owner's lounge.)



UPDATED WITH REVIEW - 6/6/2011

My long awaited precious new "in bed" computer arrived today and I couldn't have been more excited to see that ever familiar Alienware box. I was able to take today off from work to receive my system and take the few hours needed to set it up to my needs. The specs I ordered the system with can be found in my sig.

Build Quality (fit and finish) - 10

What can I say? It's Alienware. I know everyone has their preference but I personally believe Alienware has the best build quality in the business. My laptop came with 0 QA defects and is a perfect example of how a premium laptop should look and feel. I know others have their gripes with the rubberized coating, but just as on the m17x R3, I absolutely love it. It's a very comfortable laptop to use and hold and it's matte surfaces look absolutely stunning.

I also happen to think the size and weight of the unit is absolutely the "sweet spot" perfect. It's visibly smaller than my XPS 15, while being a bit chunkier, and for me has the perfect weight for a portable powerhouse. I'm 6'3, so perhaps weight doesn't affect me as much as others, but this system for me is like an ultraportable. I'm thrilled with the amount of horsepower AW put in such a relatively small package.

Display - 5

Unfortunately, we've come to the low point of my review. I was expecting better but was unfortunately fairly aware of what level of quality the display was going to be. 42% color gamut coverage says enough, even without having seen it first beforehand. To my eyes (that are accustomed to and strongly prefer upgraded, premium displays), the display is pretty awful. Being objective, it's "average." It's unfortunately not as good as the m17x R3's 1080p, which I'd classify as an "above average" WLED. In fact, it painfully reminds me of the terrible display on the m11x and that pretty much says enough. The 16x9 has a strong "whitewash" look out of the box that many WLEDs suffer from, it has very low color vibrancy that even jacking up the saturation can barely help with, it's not as bright as it could be (looks about 3 notches darker than the Radiance on the HP Envy I had, and that was a WLED). I'm looking to get some professional calibration software and will do my best to calibrate this display to at least be color accurate. When this happens, I will post the ICC profile for you all.

A $1200+ laptop that can't cover sRGB is very, very fail

UPDATE: I spent a good deal of time messing around with the Windows Display Calibration AND the Intel Graphics Color Enhancement Settings. After fooling around with both of those for a solid 20 minutes, I was able to get the display to look a little better over how it comes stock. Everyone's tastes are different, so spend some time playing with these settings to get the most out of the display. After having done this, I'm slightly more satisfied with the display. You can't push it beyond it's specified limitations, but it does look better. The default gamma was way too high and the display way too undersaturated.

UPDATE 2: The gamma profile set by windows display calibration DOES NOT stay loaded. Any time a game is played or the Nvidia card is utilized, it resets the profile. Very, very annoying and my guess is it has something to do with Craptimus...err i mean Optimus.

Keyboard and Touchpad - 10

This is another, IMO, perfect aspect of the laptop. Alienware has some of the best touchpads on the market that, to my fingers, rival the responsiveness and overall feel of Apple machines. Just like on my m17x R3, I have almost no desire to use a mouse and can game perfectly fine on this responsive and well designed touchpad.

I also have a sweet spot for AW keyboards. I was growing quite used to chiclet keyboards from the HP Envy's I've had, but something about the feel and key travel of the AW keyboard makes me type like a maniac with very few mistakes. What can I say? I think the keyboard is one of the best overall aspects of the entire system. I'll be using this laptop also to type thesis papers for school, so I needed a system with a better than average keyboard. To me, this is about as good as it gets.

Performance - 9

This machine, for a 14 inch portable laptop, is absolutely blazing. My specs with the SSD means the machine is never bottlenecked in regular usage, and while the video card becomes the bottleneck in games, for a machine of this size I'm plenty impressed with it. After seeing and feeling the laptop in person, I'm convinced AW, at this time, couldn't have stuck any higher tier of a card in there. I will update this section later with some benchmark results and temperatures when I get around to it.

Battery Life - (Will Update)

Have not tested yet.

Overall Impression - (Pending)

So far in my limited time with the laptop, I'm fairly satisfied with it except for the screen. I'm having some issues with Optimus (bleh), and the windows display calibration which I don't think works with Optimus (bleh), but I'm going to stay optimistic here. I'm going to continue setting it up and gaming on it the remainder of the day and will post back with updates about speakers, benchmarks, battery life, and some kind of overall score. I paid a pretty penny for this machine configured the way I wanted it, so in comparison to the XPS 15 with the dreamlike display that I'd be giving to my fiance, I need to make sure I can live with it that one strong negative.

If you're not bothered, or care very little, about having a "on the low side of average" display in your laptop, then you can pretty much disregard the display portion of my review and based on my scores you'll have a pretty good idea what to expect.

The only other issue I have with the laptop is Optimus. I personally feel it's buggy, unproven, inefficient, and more of a hassle than it's worth. I'd have given a kidney for the ability to manually switch video cards like on the m11x R1. That's giving the user TOTAL CONTROL (without having to rely on buggy software) and couldn't be any simpler (touch of a button!). It annoys me that Nvidia thinks the average consumer is too lazy to press a button to switch their video cards and thinks they need a terrible program to do it for them. Not to mention you'd get better battery life with manual switchable graphics...

The biggest competition the m14x will have is the Envy14 refresh coming out this month. I've owned the original Envy14 with Radiance and I can tell you it was one of the best laptops I've ever owned. If (and it's a big if) the E14 refresh has a Radiance (or Radiance equivalent) display which was one of the best screens I've ever used, the E14 may be a better overall buy than the m14x. It will have the same processor options, the same or better graphics performance in the 6770m, a smaller, lighter magnesium alloy case, and a much, much better display (again IF HP brings it back, which honestly isn't looking all that likely, which is unfortunate).

 

Just received mine yesterday. Still putting it to the test but here's my review so far. I'm assuming we are gonna use a 0-10 score so here goes..

1.) Build Quality - [10]
Love the design but I've always been fond of Alienware products. Everthing feels solid and well constructed.
2.) Display - [8]
The Display is good, I prefer the sony Z series laptop displays but this display is bright enough for me.
3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - [10]
No flex on the keyboard and the touch pad works as it should. The keyboard is very good.
4.) Performance - [10]
CoreI7! 14inch laptop and can play SC2 like a boss! Very Happy.
5.) Battery Life - [?]
Haven't fully tested... Although most people complain about gaming on battery etc.. i will update this once i try
6.) Overall Impression [10]
Love it! Performs good, looks good, Feels good.. Has to be good...
I did drop a OCZ ssd and it flies !!

 

1.) Build Quality - 9
- Love how it looks, feels sturdy and compact. Doesn't feel like anything is loose.
- So why the 9?? I hate how the screen touches the touchpad and screen. I always get grease marks from the keyboard on the screen. Happend on my M11x and my M15x
2.) Display - 8
It's a good screen. I always increase the saturation within the IGP settings so the colors could be more vibrant. It's not IPS or RGB display but it is good 900P rocks!
3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - 9
I liked the touchpad on my old Studio XPS and the M11x better. This one doesn't feel as responsive. But I use an external mouse 99% of the time so I might not be a good person to review touchpads.
4.) Performance - 10
Overclocked CPU/GPU/IGP, SSD Intel G2. This thing is a monster. Reboots in 25 seconds. Boots up in like 20. Super fast and handles the overclocks like a champ. Best hardware for it's size if you ask me.
5.) Battery Life - (10)
anywhere between 4hours - 6hours. It varies for me alot since I have 2 hard drives.

6.) Overall Impression 9.5

Alienware has great design, great intentions, and awesome build quality. They just need to put more time into Quality Assurance so we don't get problems like the "Shutdowns" and the issue with "SATA II/SATA III"

Overall, I still love it and will continue to buy Alienwares.

<--- Dell fanboi

 

1.) Build Quality - 8
Like the rubber? Yes Is it durable? have to wait and see, How does it look?Fine Weight? Portable yes and heavy yes, Sexy,yes 9 Desing 8 Not good >> it can be very painful if you rest your hands and the corners, corners should been rounded, also it gets to hot on the right hand sight rest hand >> Dell could put some isolation so we dont feel that heat.

2.) Display - 9
Display type - Bright Enough?yes Colors? 9 Viewing angles? 9Tell us what your eyes see!

3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - 9
Any flex? Typing feel? 9 Touchpad hard/easy to use? easy Any quirks?

4.) Performance - 9
How's the 555m for your needs? good, Does it run well? yes Any hiccups?
While playing Crissys 2 if we want to ALT TAB to go to windows we can not longer come back to the game, only way out CTRL DELTE and kill the application (cryssis 2)

5.) Battery Life - 3 hours on max[/B]
How's the, uhh, battery life? What settings you used to achieve above results, non i change nothing

6.) Overall Impression >>Satisfy it is an excellent laptop, for as long it lasts

Final thoughts. Like it? Love it? Hate it? LIKE IT NOW, maybe love it next month

 

1.) Build Quality - 7

I sturdy, first look of it everything is perfect fit. It should have been 10...
I give it a 7 because of the quality control missed the obvious dent on the speaker grille, and when pushing on the left side the surface flexes down 1½mm (on the right side there is no flex. These things are to obvious for a computer that I expect to have suberb build quality.

Alienware should be 10/10 no compromise.


2.) Display - 9

I have to lower the the intesity as my eyes hurt, it is bright really bright.
Compared to my 23" this screen wins by far. I am using the 1600x900 screen.

And to date this is the best screen I have had on a laptop. I'm judging it with my eyes only.

3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - 7

The Keyboard have a little initial resistance when key gets pushed and the clicking sound are two things I'm not found of. It is slightly warped bur no noticable flex when used gaming or typing. If I force it there is flex.

The track pad is ok but the buttons have to big movements when they are to get pushed down.


4.) Performance - 7

Performance wise when using the adapter is better than I had hoped for. But the measly power on battery takes it down. While I can understand that I get better performance when using the adapter, I do not accept/understand that I only get 1/3 of the perfomance on battery.

5.) Battery Life - Around 2½-3h

I have not yet had the need of any extensive usage for battery and as the performance is so low I have not been able to use it on battery as I would have wished.

This 2½-3h is what I got when I was watching movies on it 2h and had been using earlier for web browsing.


6.) Overall Impression - 9

I love the look, the rubber surface and the small lights for wifi and caps lock.
The lights indicating when the trackpad is on.
The size and perfomance <3 And in my opinion the noise level is good enough on the low side, I am coming from using a noisy desktop that have annoyed me some time.


Despite the flaws above, and perhaps this score do not match up with the rest... I just love this computer!

For me it was a perfect desktop replacement and gives me inhouse mobility with a nice formfactor/ looks and size.

 

1.) Build Quality - 8

Well-built machine. Everything feels solid and sturdy. There's not much empty space within the laptop (thus the heating issue) but that makes the laptop feel like a solid block of gaming firepower in your hands. Potential for the rubberised surface to peel

2.) Display - 8

Display is bright and colors are satisfactory. Don't expect an IPS quality screen, but it's good enough for gaming / watching a movie / etc. 900p is a must upgrade for the m14x. Don't bother getting the M14x if you're not upgrading the screen.

3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - 8

There's some flex on certain areas of the keyboard (A,S,K,L) if you press down hard on them, but I would be surprised if you do ever notice the flexing under normal use. It's not as good as my Lenovo T61 but way better than a lot of other crappy laptop keyboards I've used.

Some may find the keystroke travel slightly long but I personally like it. It gives a nice feedback and confirmation when a key is depressed.

Touchpad is not as sensitive as i would like it to be.

4.) Performance - Battery = 2, Power = 8.5

As everybody knows, the laptop is severely crippled on battery. Shan't go on about that.

On power, the M14x shines in its laptop class. Out of the box 3dmark06 is abt 12k. If you overclock, you can reach 14-6k. It was designed for gaming, and it does just that.

5.) Battery Life - 3-4hrs Non-gaming use

Never tried gaming on battery. Always near a socket when I game.

6.) Overall Impression - 8

It's a good laptop with certain flaws:
a) Gaming on battery - kinda fixed; but doesn't affect me as I only game when there's a socket around
b) Sata III disabled - They better fix this soon before I get my SSD
c) Crazy fan - Waiting for the fix
d) Heat issue on right side of keyboard - People say that this improves when you swap the HDD with an SSD that has no moving parts in it

While it would obviously have been better if the problems listed above didn't exist, I'm still happy with the laptop.

 

1.) Build Quality - 7/10
Build quality is good, feels sturdy. Don't know about the rubber coat could peel like the m17x r3. Dissapointed they didn't go back to aluminum. Had some issues with my trackpad touching the screen and some marks on my front grills.

2.) Display - 8/10 (900p screen)
This is a very good screen especially from the laptop I upgraded from. But when I look at it compared to my friends macbook it's a bit dissapointing but it still is a very good screen, and bright enough and colours seem good.

3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - 10/10 for keyboard and 7/10 for trackpad
Keyboard is perfect, no problems there. The touchpad was not correctly put in, it was not level. But it is nice to use.

4.) Performance - Plugged in 9/10 on battery 6/10
When plugged in this thing is a beast but once it is on battery it is very very disapointing. Now I don't expect to be able to get full performance on battery but the level it is set at is far too low.

5.) Battery Life - 4-5hours
Battery life is good for a gaming laptop. Got 4-5 hours just browsing the web/word processing on half brightness.

6.) Overall Impression 7/10
The speakers on the laptop are amazing, much better than most other laptops. However with all the issues with the battery, sata 3, fan and quality issues I was left disappointed. Overall it is a decent laptop.

 

BUMP for more reviews. Mine is still pending delivery.

I missed a section for speakers, so feel free to fill in anywhere if you think they're worth mentioning, good or bad.

 

The speakers are top notch, its really amazing how loud and crystal it plays for a laptop of its size, I dont know what to put in the review, have exam so havent tested so much - only SC2 and Crysis 2, have spend HOURS trying to solve the SATAIII issiue or at least found a way - atm I have had sata 6 speed for a day which is new record. :O

 

1.) Build Quality - [7]
Overall the system isn't too bad but the attention to detail is pretty lacking. The keyboard sounds cheap and feels poorly built, the mouse button feels cheap as well. The rubber finish looks nice but attracts grease from fingers easily. I dont ever touch the screen (it's not a tablet) so that doesn't bother me.


2.) Display - [9]
Plenty bright, the colors look good enough. Viewing angles aren't great (like every other TN panel I've seen)


3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - [7]
See above mentioned quality issues with keyboard and mouse button. Using the touchpad is great; good texture and good accuracy. Scrolling on the touchpad is miserable, though (only works 50% of the time).

4.) Performance - [10 on A/C, 6 on battery]
Best performing computer I've ever had on a/c power. Too bad it's crippled when you unplug it.

5.) Battery Life - [4-6 hrs depending on usage]
Using some basic tweaking I've seen 6 hours (according to windows). I haven't run it dead yet, though, so I can't comment on how long the battery actually lasts.

6.) Overall Impression [8]
Some flaws, but I'm glad I bought it, and there isn't anything else that comes closer to what I want. Give it a stronger battery and tighten up the build quality and it would be perfect.

 

EDIT: Check original post for most up-to-date review as I'm revising it with more information

My long awaited precious new "in bed" computer arrived today and I couldn't have been more excited to see that ever familiar Alienware box. I was able to take today off from work to receive my system and take the few hours needed to set it up to my needs. The specs I ordered the system with can be found in my sig.

Build Quality (fit and finish) - 10

What can I say? It's Alienware. I know everyone has their preference but I personally believe Alienware has the best build quality in the business. My laptop came with 0 QA defects and is a perfect example of how a premium laptop should look and feel. I know others have their gripes with the rubberized coating, but just as on the m17x R3, I absolutely love it. It's a very comfortable laptop to use and hold and it's matte surfaces look absolutely stunning.

I also happen to think the size and weight of the unit is absolutely the "sweet spot" perfect. It's visibly smaller than my XPS 15, while being a bit chunkier, and for me has the perfect weight for a portable powerhouse. I'm 6'3, so perhaps weight doesn't affect me as much as others, but this system for me is like an ultraportable. I'm thrilled with the amount of horsepower AW put in such a relatively small package.

Display - 5

Unfortunately, we've come to the low point of my review. I was expecting better but was unfortunately fairly aware of what level of quality the display was going to be. 42% color gamut coverage says enough, even without having seen it first beforehand. To my eyes (that are accustomed to and strongly prefer upgraded, premium displays), the display is pretty awful. Being objective, it's "average." It's unfortunately not as good as the m17x R3's 1080p, which I'd classify as an "above average" WLED. In fact, it painfully reminds me of the terrible display on the m11x and that pretty much says enough. The 16x9 has a strong "whitewash" look out of the box that many WLEDs suffer from, it has very low color vibrancy that even jacking up the saturation can barely help with, it's not as bright as it could be (looks about 3 notches darker than the Radiance on the HP Envy I had, and that was a WLED). I'm looking to get some professional calibration software and will do my best to calibrate this display to at least be color accurate. When this happens, I will post the ICC profile for you all.

Keyboard and Touchpad - 10

This is another, IMO, perfect aspect of the laptop. Alienware has some of the best touchpads on the market that, to my fingers, rival the responsiveness and overall feel of Apple machines. Just like on my m17x R3, I have almost no desire to use a mouse and can game perfectly fine on this responsive and well designed touchpad.

I also have a sweet spot for AW keyboards. I was growing quite used to chiclet keyboards from the HP Envy's I've had, but something about the feel and key travel of the AW keyboard makes me type like a maniac with very few mistakes. What can I say? I think the keyboard is one of the best overall aspects of the entire system. I'll be using this laptop also to type thesis papers for school, so I needed a system with a better than average keyboard. To me, this is about as good as it gets.

Performance - 9

This machine, for a 14 inch portable laptop, is absolutely blazing. My specs with the SSD means the machine is never bottlenecked in regular usage, and while the video card becomes the bottleneck in games, for a machine of this size I'm plenty impressed with it. After seeing and feeling the laptop in person, I'm convinced AW, at this time, couldn't have stuck any higher tier of a card in there. I will update this section later with some benchmark results and temperatures when I get around to it.

Battery Life - (Will Update)

Have not tested yet.

Overall Impression - (Pending)

So far in my limited time with the laptop, I'm absolutely thrilled with it except for the screen. I'm going to continue setting it up and gaming on it the remainder of the day and will post back with updates about speakers, benchmarks, battery life, and some kind of overall score. I paid a pretty penny for this machine configured the way I wanted it, so in comparison to the XPS 15 with the dreamlike display that I'd be giving to my fiance, I need to make sure I can live with it that one strong negative.

If you're not bothered, or care very little, about having a "on the low side of average" display in your laptop, then you can pretty much disregard the display portion of my review and based on my scores you'll have a pretty good idea what to expect.

 

1.) Build Quality - 9
I can't fault the design quality of the M14x laptop. I've had it for a few weeks so I've been able to get plenty of time to interact with it before posting an honest review. The rubber feel gives the laptop a sense that it's strong build quality. Unlike most laptops I find this easy to clean and rarely gets fingerprints, smudges or dust on. I clean mine lightly with a dry lens cloth every morning though.

I have one slight complaint when it comes to clam shell however (the laptop lid closed), unless like me you use a thin piece of polythene or similar material between the screen and keyboard/touchpad you will discover oil/residue comes off the keyboard/touchpad and onto the screen.

The weight of the laptop is not too light, but not too heavy for transporting around with you.

2.) Display - 8
Comparing Sony Vaio and HP laptop displays I find this one is vibrant, I understand others may not agree but they've been spoiled by displays which offer a larger gamut. For an everyday display this is more than adequate in my view.

When I'm at home I regularly plug it into my projector through HDMI, as I get a much larger size picture anyway.

3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - 10
I have not had any issues with the keyboard or touchpad. The added bonus of being able to switch the touchpad on or off via an FN key is very handy, I missed this on my Sony Vaio laptops. I like the lighting on the laptop overall, and as I'm a developer (going through University doing a BSc Hons Computer Science Games course) in various languages such as Java or C# I designed a program called PCFx (in my signature) which makes better use of the AlienFX lighting, and offers a wider range of colours to choose from.

Typing is fluent, you can feel and hear when keys are being pressed. Though I don't use the touchpad, for the initial time I used it I found it nice to the touch and smooth to use. Unlike some I don't have any squeaky keys.

4.) Performance - 10
The CPU and GPU perform above my expectations and needs. I'm having trouble finding a game I can't run at high detail on 1600x900. I play games such as Star Trek Online, Call of Duty, Team Fortress 2, etc.

Citing to Star Trek Deep Space Nine, this laptop is equipped with hardware that you'd normally expect to see in a larger size laptop. It's amazing how Alienware have managed to fit this into such a small sized laptop. When I mention the citation, I'm referring to the ship named the 'Defiant' which had armaments on it that you wouldn't normally expect to see on it for a ship its size and class.

I've overclocked the GPU to 775/1110/1550 which is approximately 25-30% above normal clocks. CPU I overclocked to 103.1MHz bus speed and increased the turbo settings. I am able to get a consistent 3.0GHz-3.1GHz speed under heavy load from turbo without it dropping due to high temperatures. Temperatures at this level have reached up to 91C maximum. 3DMark 06 gave me a score of 15799 recently from these overclocks.

I installed my own memory however, refer to my signature for the memory I use and the XMP profile I set.

5.) Battery Life - Not used, but initial use I'd say 9
Some people expect a battery on this laptop to run components at high performance settings, I don't as it's not realistic at this day and age of technology. I only expect to do general work on the battery, mainly when I'm at University or on the train. BatteryBar Pro estimates I should get around 4 hours of battery based on my power saving settings, being balanced/moderate for battery profile.

6.) Overall Impression - 9
Wonderful laptop, infact my first Alienware laptop ever. No defects on arrival, order process was reasonably smooth (other than my card triggering fraud protection due to an unusual transaction, which I resolved easily) with the order taking only a week roughly to arrive at my doorstep in the United Kingdom. I've had no reason to contact Dell about my laptop to date.

 

Nice review ! I love the way you write lol

The desplay is not good and also almust usless outdoors as it is so reflective

 

This review of the 14x is from a person who owns a Sager 8130. My brother recently got it, and i spent a weekend or two using it to form some impressions of my own. Here are the observations that i made. You will see quite a few comparisions to my own system, as well as some others i have dealt with in the past. These are my opinions, so take them with a grain of salt.

Now, on to My impressions.

1 ) Build quality: 8 (Very good)
The build quality of the m14x is very good. The finishes are good, and the system seems to be put together well. I also didn't notice any mars or fit probems in the machine, and it seems fairly sturdy. (More so than my Sager machine) On the minus side, my brother has noted some of the oil from the keyboard making its way onto the screen, which takes some of the luster of build quality away. The build quality is a step higher than the Sager system but not quite to the level of laptops a certain fruit company makes. This puts it as a solid 8 in my book.

2 ) Screen: 6 (Slightly above Average)
The screen is probably the weakest part of the system that I have found. When i compared the Alienware 900p screen to the stock 8130 screen the alienware's screen was noticably less vibrant. The alienware also has a glossy finish, which to me is very distracting. It's still better than the screens you will see at your local best buy store, but its nothing amazing.

3 ) Keyboard and touchpad: 9.5 (Excellent)
The Keyboard on this machine is one of the best I've dealt with. Key response is good, very little flex, and the touchpad surface is thought out very well. It also has added bonuses that i had forgotten were nice in laptops, such as the little separations between the F4 and F5 keys. Though a backlit keyboard is not a must to me, It is very well done in this machine. The only thing i would change in this machine would be to add a couple of function buttons. (volume up and down specifically) All in all, this keyboard is one of the nicest i have used/seen.

4 ) Performance: 8 (Very Good)
Judged only by performance of 14 inch laptops, this would probably be a 9 or 10. The laptop is easily one of the best out there in that segment. However, when you compare it to laptops in it's general size class (such as the Sager 8130/50) It comes up slightly short. It's really not that much smaller than said Sager systems (nearly the same weight, just an inch narrower on the desk) and the 460m (and the 560m/6970/485m) is a significant jump in power. It should handle games at its own native 1600x900 resolution well, but moving up to 1080p (on an external monitor, for example) might be a stretch.

5 ) Battery Life: 8 (Very Good)
The battery life of this machine when used is 4.5 to 5 hours when doing some light web browsing. While optimus has its quirks, there is no real doubt in my mind that it adds a ton of battery life to the machine. I've seen some of the ultra portables around that get more battery life, but there are no machines out there with good gaming performance with this much battery life. (Except perhaps the m17x R3)

Other Random notes:
This machine makes more noise than the 8130 under load, but when idling or movie watching, this machine is reasonably quiet.
Optimus has the occasional hiccup. Many games require white listing so that they run on the dedicated card. Not a major minus, but worth noting.
Svelte power brick. when compared to the power brick of the 8130, (literally the size of a brick) The brick on the 14x is slimmer, and easier to put in a notebook bag.
This machine runs at a higher temperature than some i have seen. If temperatures are a major concern, this computer runs hotter than the performance 15 inchers.


6 ) Overall impressions:
Rather than give a number, I think it is more valuable to give my general impressions.

This machine would be Great for:
Those who don't have the space for multiple machines, yet need a computer that does a decent job on the go as well as doing a decent job at gaming. (College students with space constraints)
Those who frequently move their machine between rooms. (for example, gaming in a bedroom and a living room)
Those who may want a portable computer to game with at a workplace. (Some college night desks, for example.) Just remember to bring the power cord.

This machine might not be for those who:
Those who game on an external monitor most of the time. The 555m has a strong possibility of running out of juice at high resolution. (1080p and higher) One of these people would be better served with a more powerful desktop replacement, such as the 17x or 18x.
Those who already have a power desktop, and need a traveling PC companion. While the 14x does a decent job of both, a power desktop paired with a netbook or ultralite is also an amazing option for a college student.
Those who require their laptop to have a top notch screen. There are excellent options out there for screens on some laptops. This laptop, however, is not one of them.

All in all, This machine in general looks good, and feels great to use. The optimus technology does its job well. The machine's general performance is also good, but for some, the 555m is overshadowed by other more powerful options in the general size range. All in all, this machine is a jack of all trades, providing a good blend of quality, power, and portability.

 

^^^

Great review.

As much as it pains me to say, I'm selling the m14x already. It really does pain me, because I absolutely love this keyboard and I already know what to expect on the Sager I'll most likely be getting in its place. The dealbreaker for me is the display, especially when I can get the 8130-s1 from XoticPC with a 95% gamut matte screen.

It's really a shame AW put such a low gamut screen on this unit, because it's otherwise flawless. To my senses, Alienware build quality is on par with Apple, just in a different direction (Gaming svelte to industrial minimalist).

At this size, I just can't have it all unfortunately. I really wanted my third unit to be the m14x, but I cannot compromise on the display. It's simply too weak for some of the things I want to do with it. I was willing to take a shot on it, and I'm glad I did because it's an awesome computer.

Note to Dell: 42% gamut is not worth paying $75 for. Should have been minimum 60-72% to at least cover sRGB properly. Screen is clearly deficient at producing even common shades of red and green but seems to do better with pure blue. Yet, the "off" blue teal is the worst color I've seen on the m14x, it looks lifeless and grey.

Take a look at this image on your m14x to see what I'm talking about. Look at the same image on an external monitor, or a display with proper gamut coverage.

On a positive note, the display has fairly good contrast and excellent black levels.

 

This image further demonstrates the weakness of the display. Differentiation from the purple and teal colors in the image is weak and dull. As I recommended above, view this same image on a different display to get an idea what I'm talking about. Your eyes will explain it better than I can.

 

I don't think I want to...

I don't want to realize how bad it is...haha

 

Curious to see how the screen quality stacks up against my m15x. Hopefully I can get a review up in the next day comparing the two (If Fedex ever gets to delivery when im home).

 

Sorry to post a not-review, but would replacing the screen help at all, or even be a cost effective solution?

 

It's not that the display is "so bad." It isn't. Contrast and black levels are both above average. Simply, the gamut coverage is unusually low, and too low for me to accept on a laptop I paid $2,000 for.

Some of the things I planned to do with this laptop I won't be capable of doing with a 42% gamut screen, hence I had to return it.

As I pointed out, for the average consumer, or anyone that doesn't understand what "gamut" means in terms of a display, you have nothing to worry about.

I'm not trying to sandbag the m14x here, it's a great machine. I was just disappointed by the display for my tastes and needs.

 

I just tested the "purple-Teal" image on my Samsung XL2370 and compared it to the display on the M14x and I am disappointed.

The M14x could barely display any of the purple...

 

Maybe if you change the color balance you can fix this, I remember users that downloaded color profiles to fix the colors on the M14x

 

^ Unfortunately, it's not possible to create something out of nothing. It's not about a proper colour balance per se but a hardware limitation on the number of colours it can display. No amount of colour balancing on a Gameboy Colour (I feel so old =p) will allow it to display the number of colours that a PSP or 3DS is capable of.

 

1.) Build Quality - [10] (Like the rubber? Is it durable? How does it look? Weight? Sexy, fugly? )
Coming from the M15x I was expecting build quality to be top notch. Disappointment vanished the second I opened the packaging. System came with no defects and feels like a solid build piece of machinery. The outside feels similar to my droid X in the fact that it’s almost like expensive leather. This system resembles the same build quality Lenovo has but with a sexier appearance. System is easy to grip and very comfortable compared to the metal feel of older models.
Size and weight are perfect. System went on an extreme diet compared to my M15x. Perfect shape and size.

2.) Display - [7] (Display type - Bright Enough? Colors? Viewing angles? Tell us what your eyes see!)
Everyone knows this is where the system got shafted. Display is bright and has vibrant colors but for a premier price tag and quality the display is lacking. From my point a view it’s a downgrade compared to the M15x screen and looks rather dated compared to a XPS system with the screen upgrade. This alone may be my reasoning for switching to the M17x r3 in the future. Resolution is perfect for its size which bumps my rating up. For everyday use the screen will not be a issue but stack it up against the elite screens and it fails. Brightness is a shade lower than my M15x with screen brightness on high.
Viewing angels are great when glare is not relevant. Since I know about the poor screen quality my score is slightly higher due to the fact its burned into my head the display isn’t great.

3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - [9.5] (Any flex? Typing feel? Touchpad hard/easy to use? Any quirks?)
Alienware makes some of the best typing keyboards in the business. Keyboard feels more solid with a comfortable feel compared to older M15x. Keys have a higher luxury feel to them with ideal spacing for typing papers and general use. I did notice some flex when applying force to keys. It’s almost like a sponge feeling which seems to be purposely designed that way. Solid keyboard I really enjoy typing on.
Trackpad is easy to use and much more up to date compared to the M15x textured style keyboard. My only grip is the right side of the palm rest gets very hot.

4.) Performance - [9] (How's the 555m for your needs? Does it run well? Any hiccups?)

Considering heavy gaming is not top on my list when choosing a computer the performance is above what I need for the time being. Runs Civ5 perfect which is all I play right now. No problem with HD video editing and publishing. Regular use this system barely breaks a sweat.

5.) Battery Life - [8]
Consistently getting just a little over 5 hours with each use. This is me using a stop watch which has warranted a battery life over 5 hours each time. Power saver, Display set all the way to Dim, Bluetooth off.
6.) Overall Impression [8.7]
Enjoying the system right now and extremely satisfied with the overall product. The solidness of the system and feel sets it apart from the rest of the field. Display is lacking which may cause me to upgrade at some point to M17x r3.
For now I’m very happy with the system.

 

1.) Build Quality - [9] there are very few flaws with this laptop a bit noisy on load but overall very good.
2.) Display - [8]would have liked 1080p but the 900p is very usable. I do not like the way grubby marks just seem to appear all over the screen.
3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - [9] very sturdy and robust.
4.) Performance - [9] havent found any issues with this card easy to oc without extra heat output.
5.) Battery Life - [8]havent really tested the battery yet.
6.) Overall Impression [9]
loving this laptop at the moment cold start time just over 30 secs


Alienware M14x -i7 2820QM / Nvidia GeForce GT555M 1.5GB / 8GB Kinston hyper X XMP RAM / 900P Screen / Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6205 / Bluetooth 3.0 / OCZ Vertex 2E 120 GB

 

in many of the reviews (which have all been really helpful) i have read complaints about how the m14x seems to drop in performance when running on the battery. although this is understandable, can someone care to elaborate and give an example of what specifically occurs and warrants these negative battery reviews??? thanks

 

Correct me if i am wrong...fellow....contributors ...I still havent received the M14x ..but have been following these forums pretty extensively and now i am hooked

Initially when the M14x was realeased...it was on BIOS A01....during this release people noticed ...when they began gaming on the battery...the system would automatically shut down ...the battery wasnt able to handle the GPU + CPU excess ...and hence the system was forced to shutdown and the only way to recover back ...was...to remove the screws..take out the battery and put it back(since the battery cant be removed normally)

To counter this situation Dell realeased a BIOS version A03(i dont think thr is a A02) which downclocks the graphic card to 200 Mhz (I hope this vallue is correct) thrfore forcing a significant drop from standard speeds while running on Power.......hence the crappy performance on battery..............but with low settings ..i would imagine most of the games would be still playable...so no need to worry on that aspect...also if you want you can modulate the clocks yourself...and not go to A03 ...and if your successful...you can get a steady clockspeed of 450 (by manual downclocking) and still managing for the system not to shut down....This can only be done ..if you are willing to experiment....Else if you dont game much on battery...you can go for the A03 update.

This is as basic ...as i could make you understand...hopefully this should be helpful.. Cheers

 

yes indeed that was a very helpful explanation to my question trooper1414...it seems to be a very plausible explanation to the mentioned drops in performance.... i am interested in hearing other users' views on your reasoning...thanks a lot!

 

anytime..bro...also in the meantime..you would want to check out....threads related to Bios A03 and battery shutdown....to find out more....while people reply to this post...(just giving you more stuff to read )

Cheers

 

1.) Build Quality - [ 10] (Like the rubber? Is it durable? How does it look? Weight? Sexy, fugly? )

Having owned an Alienware m11x R1 which gave me no troubles at all I kinda knew what to expect of the m14x. I actually remember wishing there was a mid-range model between the m11x and m17x at the time and to finally see this was refreshing! I had a look at a display model at JB Hifi here in Australia and it seemed solid so I bit the bullet and ordered one. I received it only yesterday and I have to say this this is amazing. No flaws whatsoever yet in regards to the build quality - it feels solid yet portable. (Not to the point where I could throw it around with 1 hand, but still good enough to take with me in a bag - as I am a DJ and use Traktor Scratch Pro 2 Vinyl Timecode with is as well) The stealth black soft touch finish makes it feel secure as well - not that I'd want to drop this beast though. I thought my m11x r1 had good build quality but this thing is superior in every way. I'm so glad I got this instead of a Mac Book Pro 13.


2.) Display - [ 8] (Display type - Bright Enough? Colors? Viewing angles? Tell us what your eyes see!)

The 1600x900 Display is nice - not the best but still fine for doing everything you need to do. It's very glossy so glare at certain angles are horrible but overall I'm really happy with it. Using the Traktor Scratch Pro 2 DJ Software is perfect in terms of the screen size by its layout as well if anyone is wondering. Gaming is also nice, and it definitely beats the little m11x. Sure other laptops have better displays but I'm not complaining.

3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - [ 10] (Any flex? Typing feel? Touchpad hard/easy to use? Any quirks?)

This is probably one of the best components of the m14x. Touch typing felt like a breeze and the keyboard has a lovely feel to it - almost luxurious. The trackpad is smooth and easy to use as well and with the addition of the AlienFx lights, it is probably one of the high points of owning an Alienware laptop. Can't really fault it in this area at all.

4.) Performance - [ 9.5] (How's the 555m for your needs? Does it run well? Any hiccups?)

I'm not going to give 10 for performance but I'll give a 9.5 - this thing is a beast. I opted to get the i7-2860QM and have installed a Crucial M4 512 GB SSD and 16GB 1333 GHZ RAM (Corsair). I've done a lot of reading with regards to SATA III SSD problems/upgrades for this m14x and everything seems to be working beautifully after hours of testing, installing and running applications and multiple cold and warm boots. I'm definitely getting SATA III speeds - Windows Speed index gave my SSD a 7.9 rating, still have yet to benchmark properly but boot times and load times are amazing. Also, for some reason my Bios Reads A06, yet only version A05 is available on the Dell Support Drivers and Downloads Page for the M14x?? I'm not sure if it's to do with that - but everything is working absolutely perfectly...so far. There is also almost zero DPC latency with using Traktor Scratch Pro 2 for DJing with, which is a big thing for me. I've played a couple of games just to test like Aliens Vs Predator and Left 4 Dead 2 and I'm extremely happy with the performance - but I'd like to benchmark some newer games.

5.) Battery Life - [ ?]

Haven't really had a chance to test this out as of yet as I've had the laptop for only a day or 2. I'll re-edit this post once I get the chance to test it all.

6.) Overall Impression [ 9.5]

No system is perfect but I'm giving this m14x a 9.5

I am so happy with this laptop as it performs incredibly for it's form factor size. I can't really fault anything from build quality to performance except I would like a Blu-ray 9.5mm slot drive to add to it - but I can't find any upgrade options for that yet anywhere. Hopefully soon and it will be perfect

 

1.) Build Quality - [10/10]
Well built, solid machine. The rubberized texture isn't new to me, I had an old Dell and an IBM ThinkPad T23 that had similar surfaces and liked them. In fact, now that I think of it, every laptop I've owned had that surface. I've never had a slick/plasticky laptop.

I've already disassembled and rebuilt the entire machine a handful of times. Teardown and rebuild is awesome, better than any laptop I've ever worked on before.

2.) Display - [9/10]
900p Display. I love it, I think it's great. But is it the greatest thing since sliced bread? I don't think so, so I can't give it a 10.

3.) Keyboard and Touchpad - [10/10]
Excellent keyboard and touchpad. Best keyboard I've ever used on a laptop. Zero flex on the m14x. The touchpad is great, but I'm really not much for touchpads so I tend to use an external mouse with it unless I'm out and about.

4.) Performance - [10/10]
System performance is absolutely excellent. I'm running the i72670qm and haven't run into a single hiccup or glitch yet, and I haven't run into any heat issues that supposedly plague m14x's with the i7. Before my laptop cooler, I maxed out at 74C. After, I max out at 62C.

For my needs, the GT555 is absolutely perfect. More is always better with technology, but I honestly wouldn't need it.

5.) Battery Life - [n/a]
I rarely use my laptop on it's battery alone. It's always plugged in right now. I really don't have a need for long battery life on this laptop, my days of going on the road are behind me. My old T23 only lasted 2 hours, so anything above that is an upgrade to me.

6.) Overall Impression [9/10]
I absolutely love my m14x. Probably the best purchase I've ever made. It's screaming fast with every single thing I've used it for, it's handled everything I've thrown at it and more. It was never intended to be used for audio production, and yet it handles everything perfectly.

However, there are a few things that I wish it had. More USB ports would have been nice, even if it was just one more. The ability to add Firewire or Thunderbolt either as a build option or through upgradeability at a later date would be really nice. Although PCMCIA (aka PC Card) technology is way outdated, I was able to get the extra USB/Firewire ports I needed on my other laptops. Now I have no way to get those additional ports. Sure, a USB hub will get the job done for certain things, but not for an audio interface tracking 8-24 channels of 88.2k-96k audio and two 2TB hard drives handling storage and streaming samples. One thing to note: There are no USB 3.0 audio interfaces out yet, so there might be so much headroom that I could run all three on a single USB 3.0 hub, who knows.

The reason I give it 9/10 is because I expected a bit more customization and configuration possibilities. Why can't I choose what my three USB ports are? Why can't I choose if I want VGA or DXI? Why can't I choose to eliminate my HDMI port in favor of something else? Why don't I have more video card options (thus adding upgradeability as well)? Why can't I choose to eliminate my optical drive in favor of another HDD or SSD in the build process? Why am I asking rhetorical questions that I already know the answer to?

Call it a 9.9/10