Alienware 14 Review

Alienware's newest 14" gaming notebook is well equipped with a 1080p IPS display, 4th-gen Intel quad-core processor and Nvidia graphics. See why we like this gaming machine.

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If I was in the market for a gaming laptop, I'd buy this in a heartbeat. Love everything about it, and most importantly, great execution and fit-and-finish instead of just a bunch of high-performance parts thrown together.

And even though it's expensive as configured, it offers good value in lower-spec trims.

 

A bit of an odd question, but how does the (external) build quality compare with the build quality of some of the business-rugged laptops you have tested? Thinkpads, Elitebooks, Precisions.

 

Looks like its 10% Computer and 90% Christmas Lights, still not bad though. I just wonder how long it will last. :laugh:

 

I'm trying to figure out how you review a gaming notebook without posting any game benchmarks or talk about how that 765M fares at native 1080p? Seems shallow to only have 3dmark 11.. I review this review as incomplete.

 

Decent review... Being a gaming machine I would think a few benchmarks in that arena would help. I own one and am simply amazed at the build quality and feel of it. So much so it helped push my decision of leaving Apple behind. I am a PC man since late 80's. But Vista and poor laptop builds moved me to Apple. I have been disappointed in Apples decisions the last couple years with their hardware and making them completely non upgradeable. Plus you can get 4 times the machine for less money. i do miss OSX but windows 7 is much better than it use to be.

BTW I play BF3 on my 14 with all settings on high except shodows in 1920 res on 64 player maps most of the time and my frame rates are in the 60-90's and have gone up as high as 110 or so depending on the action at the time and the map.

Its a joy to type on, great keyboard and feel, touchpad is probably the best touchpad i have used on a PC..

These are my opinions and I'm sticking to them.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

Good question. The Alienware 14's build quality compares favorably to business notebooks; it's externally just as strong. I'm unsure whether the 14 has an internal "roll cage" e.g. internal support structure like ThinkPads (i'm guessing not); and it certainly doesn't use through-rivets like my EliteBook to hold the chassis together. But it's truly hard to complain about the overall quality and strength.

 

You can turn the "Christmas lights" off entirely, or when it leaves the house. No big deal IMO, unlike a wild paint job.

As for how long it'll last, the minute you find a way to predict the long-term reliability of any newly-released laptop, let us know. I'm sure reviewers will add it to the test. Problem is, there's no way to accurately predict a newly-released laptop's long-term reliability, so any reviewer commentary on that issue is inevitably mere brand loyalty, not any sort of actual observation about the model being reviewed. I'm glad that this review doesn't have that sort of brand-loyalty-based conjecture in it.

 

It does have a sort of magnesium "roll cage," and the keyboard and touchpad apparently have aluminum backings.

 

You guys should review the Razer Blade 14 as well.

 

OK review but leaving out the "gaming" benchmarks out on gaming laptop is a bit confusing. C'mon guys slap some games on the sucker and have some fun with it and show us what it can do.

 

Nice laptop. Would've been nice if they could've squeezed in a 1200p screen, as there seems to be ample room for it.

 

Very true. I have to admit though, judging by the picture, that is a hellava bright mousepad. Can it be turned off without turning off the backlit keys?

 

Yep, all you gotta do is to right click the alienfx icon and choose the black color for everything, then go to your command center alienfx and set all the zones to the specific colors you want and just leave the touchpad black.

 

How does this compare the predecessor R2?

 

FYI ... for those reader who might be on the fence about the purchase of the Alienware 14, you might be interested to hear that an unnamed source has indicated the Alienware 14 will be priced as low as $1099 next week (a $100 reduction from the current starting price).

If that turns out to be true the Alienware 14 will be a little more attractive.

 

Alienware already offers an X51 (compact desktop) with Ubuntu factory-installed that has identical hardware to the base Windows model, but costs $100 less. Maybe Alienware is going to start offering an Ubuntu Alienware 14 that's identical to the base Windows Alienware 14 but $100 less? The timing would certainly be right, with Steam and Gabe Newell trying to get people hyped up about the future of Linux gaming.