Questions for Alienware 14 owners

Greetings forum,

Long time reader, first time poster here. I'm planning to buy an Alienware 14 soon and would like some questions answered by current users.

The config I'm eyeing:

i7 4700MQ - Is it worth going for the 4800/4900MQ?
1080p screen
GTX 765m
8GB RAM - I'm considering buying 16BG elsewhere and upgrading this, and using the 8GB here on my M11x R1. Is that a good plan?
500GB w/ 8GB SSD Hybrid SATA - Can I upgrade to a single SSD later on?
Killer NIC 1202 802.11n WiFi - Does this work with Connectify Pro?

Other questions:
1) What parts are soldered on? I assume only the CPU and GPU are.
2) Hows many fans are present and what is the direction of airflow? Also, how noisy is/are the fan/s?
3) I've had a problem of the keyboard leaving an imprint on the display when I closed the lid on my M11x R1 for which I've placed rubber feet around the keyboard. Does this problem persist?

Any recurring issues I should know about?

I plan on using this for Mixing and mastering music, gaming (I play indies mostly, which aren't very resource hungry) and rendering videos.

Answers and any relevant information would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hello aku 1990,

My Alienware 14 has the exact same specs as the one you are considering to buy, but before I go ahead and reply to some of your requests, I would like to give you a few head-ups.

- Unlike desktops, it is hard to put together a laptop and save money that way. Still, Alienwares are quite overpriced, are you sure you can't get the same specs for less money? (for instance in the Lenovo brand. I wouldn't recommend MSi as they tend to break quickly.)

- A few downsides I noted on my laptop were:
Poor Alienware and Dell brand software (such as AlienFX, which doesn't tend to work correctly on supported games)
Hard to keep clean (so try to avoid food and dusty environments near your system)
The paint on the top lid gets damaged quite easily, so try and get extra safe protection if you're carrying your system in a bag (for instance foil or foam)

Also, Alienware laptops are of *good* quality, but don't expect plain 60FPS on every game with highest graphic settings. (But 40FPS should be feasible in most to all games.) In my view, that would be the price to pay for the mobility of your system.

Apart from those little issues, my Alienware fulfills expectations in sturdyness and reliability (the airflow on these things are great compared to others.)

Now, finally, for your questions:

1) What I get from various different fora, your GPU is soldered on but your CPU isn't. Having that said, I would expect the worst and both will be locked tight to your motherboard. I'm not wishing to look into my system and check myself for personal reasons (I promised to keep this system as safe as possible, and I am quite the hardware noob)

2) The fans are not exceptionally annoying while running at full speed, especially if you use a headset in gaming. On idle, the fans are not notably louder than other systems. Nearly half of the bottom casing of the laptop are air intakes (so your system will drop in performance while gaming on your lap) and the air outlet is on the back back side of your system, under the screen lid.

3) The keyboard leaving an imprint on your screen will not be an issue as the screen is socketed deeper into the lid.

I hope this answers most of your questions and helps in your decision of purchase.

 

Sorry I missed this while reading. You should really reconsider spending your hard-earned cash on an Alienware system. Rendering videos requires a lot of memory resources aswell as GPU. If you're not looking at running Crysis 3 or Bioshock Infinite at max settings, but render videos instead, you might want to look at a different manufacturer and do some research as to what your needs are for video rendering.

 

Hey Corpseprince,

Thank you for your reply!

I'm only considering a laptop because I travel often. I would have definitely built my own PC otherwise. The reason I've chosen Alienware is because where I live (Bangalore, India) they have the best customer service as I've experienced with my M11x R1. I considered Apple, but only the high end Macbooks have a discrete graphics card and are crazy expensive. I plan to get the 14 in the US though, cause the 14 with same specs here in India is around $470-odd more expensive, but I can buy warranty here if I have to. Also, since I mostly play indie games, gaming performance should suffice, and I don't mind letting it run over night to render.
I guess I'll look at other brands as well. Some of the Lenovo ones do have great specs.

Regardless, I really appreciate your insight. Thank you again!

 

I own the little beast and a few others . That being said I use my 14 for video, photo editing and gaming. I play bf4 with setting on a mix of medium and high and overclocked gpu running +175 core and +200 memory and get around 50-75 FPS depending on the map. I'm running 3 samsung 250gb evo drives in raid 0 so plenty of i/o speed and storage for video and photo editing.

The 4700 is a fast processor but the best bang for the buck is the 4800 out of all the options. It is also in my opinion the 14 is a class leading option among 14" laptops. The 1080p screen, storage options and speed are all top notch. I usually have buyers remorse and sell pretty quick or send stuff back. I have had my 14 since September and am still 100% satisfied.

 

That's great, pathfindercod. Thank you!

 

Dang! i have to find the Cooking button and then i'm settled! (jk Pathfindercod....couldn't evoid the stupid joke...)