Dell’s Alienware line of gaming laptops has at all times been a divisive matter; it’s tough to dispute that they’ve bought some highly effective elements beneath the hood, however the sci-fi aesthetic isn’t to everybody’s style and also you’re actually resigning your self to paying a steep premium should you purchase one. I prefer to name this the ‘Alienware Tax’—and with Dell’s new Alienware x14, that’s truly a tax I’d be comfortable to pay. The bigger, heavier 17-inch fashions are a bit tougher to like, however this compact powerhouse instantly seems like a laptop computer for the discerning gamer.
Let’s take a fast second to take a look at what we’re working with right here. The Alienware x14 might be configured on Dell’s web sites with a couple of completely different specs, with the most cost effective mannequin (which sports activities a Twelfth-gen Intel Core i5 processor and an RTX 3050) costing $1,499 (£1,549). The mannequin I am taking a look at for evaluation has an Intel Core i7 12700H and an RTX 3060, joined by 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. This mannequin prices $1,949 (£1,929).
You’ll be able to pay additional to improve the reminiscence and the drive (as much as 32GB and 4TB respectively) however in any other case, that is the height of the x14’s configurations. That’s completely advantageous, to be clear: squeezing an RTX 3070 or an i9 CPU into this little laptop computer would in all probability result in important compromises when it got here to the chassis or thermal efficiency, and no person desires that.
Connect these elements to a brilliant and vibrant 1080p show with a 144Hz refresh charge, and also you’ve bought a reliable FHD gaming system. The Alienware x14 averaged over 60 fps within the majority of video games, solely dipping down into the 50-60 fps vary within the extra intensive game benchmarks like Metro: Exodus and Cyberpunk 2077. It gained’t have the ability to run Extremely settings cleanly in each single game, however it’s the dependable 1080p efficiency that I’ve come to anticipate from the RTX 3060.
The laptop computer typically performs nicely throughout the board, with respectable scores in most artificial benchmarks because of its Core i7 12700H processor and speedy DDR5 reminiscence. It’s undeniably a stable machine, however the price ticket nonetheless doesn’t fairly add up—contemplating you will get an RTX 3060-equipped Asus TUF Sprint F15 for $800 much less, and even the RTX 3070-powered Sprint we reviewed is cheaper than this. The Alienware x14 is sitting right on the premium finish of FHD gaming laptops.
Processor: Intel Core i7 12700H
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 6GB
Reminiscence: 16GB LPDDR5-5200
Show: 14-inch non-touch, 144Hz, 3ms
Decision: 1920 x 1080
Storage: 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD
Battery: 80Wh
Connectivity: 1x USB Sort-A 3.2 Gen 1, 2x USB Sort-C with Thunderbolt 4, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x microSD card reader, 1x 3.5mm Combo Jack, inbuilt mic
Dimensions: 15 x 322 x 263mm
Weight: 1.84kg (4.06lbs)
Worth: $1,949 | £1,929
So, what’s that hefty asking worth getting you? Properly, for starters that is an impressively compact gaming laptop computer, weighing in at simply 4lbs (1.8kg) and simply over half an inch thick with the lid closed. The inset hinge that has turn into synonymous with Alienware laptops is current, enlarging the general footprint on the rear by about an inch. The chassis is usually plastic, however it feels sturdy and doesn’t decide up fingerprints simply.
The bodily design is clear and efficient; the inside is all-black, with a protracted perforated grille for the followers and audio system that extends down both facet of the keyboard. The display screen bezel is sort of skinny, with a bar throughout the highest that accommodates the webcam, microphone array, and IR digital camera for facial recognition logins. Shut the lid, and the outside of the chassis is sort of completely white, printed faintly with a quantity 14 and adorned with Dell’s little alien-face emblem.
That emblem lights up with RGB LEDs, however there’s no signal of the chunky rear lightbar discovered on bigger Alienware laptops right here. The keyboard can also be restricted to single-zone solid-color RGB, so don’t anticipate any flashy lighting results. It’s not an enormous loss, however does really feel somewhat harsh given the excessive worth.
Luckily, that keyboard is definitely good to make use of. It’s nothing mind-blowing—chiclet-style keys with butterfly switches beneath—however the person key sizing is nice, which makes it snug to make use of for each typing and gaming. Working down the right-hand facet is a set of devoted quantity and mute keys, with their very own lights to point whether or not your mic or audio system are muted.
The trackpad is much less spectacular. I don’t say that as a result of it’s disagreeable to make use of; the press is satisfying, and there’s not one of the sponginess present in cheaper gaming laptops. It’s merely somewhat on the small facet, particularly in comparison with the massive trackpad of the Razer Blade 14—which is arguably the Alienware x14’s speedy competitor within the premium compact gaming laptop computer house, and carries its personal ‘Razer Tax’.
The one important frown I made when inspecting the x14’s chassis got here from discovering that each single one among this laptop computer’s ports are positioned on the rear edge. That is one thing which may not hassle some customers, however having to achieve all the way in which across the again to plug in a thumb drive or the facility cable swiftly turned annoying. There’s, a minimum of, a wide variety of bodily ports: a standard USB Sort-A is joined by two Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI 2.1, a headset jack, and a microSD card slot. The one factor lacking is an Ethernet connection.
I want I might say that the Alienware x14’s digital facet solely gave me one concern, however naturally, this laptop computer got here loaded with Dell’s almost-bloatware Alienware software program suite. Except for probably not doing a lot on this laptop computer—you possibly can swap between efficiency profiles with a button press without having to ever open the software program—it’s simply not a very well-designed piece of software program.
The Alienware x14 additionally makes use of Nvidia’s mode-switching tech to preserve battery life, which in apply is extra annoying than it’s helpful. It primarily swaps robotically between utilizing the built-in CPU graphics and the devoted GPU relying on the duty at hand, which might be nice if it didn’t additionally freeze for a number of seconds each single time it did that. I ended up turning it off and sticking to the GPU graphics.
I discovered that the CPU ran fairly sizzling too—maxing out at 100°C shortly into the benchmarking course of, however that didn’t seem to trigger any noticeable quantity of slowdown. The outer casing solely felt mildly heat, which is a far cry from the thigh-roastings I’ve had from different laptops. The followers had been a bit noisy whereas operating intensive duties, nevertheless.
Lastly, there’s the battery life. To place it quick: it’s not nice. I’ve seen worse, however these had been largely greater, extra highly effective machines. Certain, gaming laptops are considerably universally poor on this space, largely as a result of operating video games is a power-intensive exercise—anybody who has tried to play Genshin Affect on a telephone will testify to this. However nonetheless, the Alienware x14’s battery life fell simply wanting ‘dismal’ in our exams.
The easy reality of the Alienware x14’s existence is that it isn’t a gaming laptop computer for everybody. You would get related efficiency from a a lot cheaper laptop computer, however the audience right here is individuals who don’t need a funds system. The x14 seems to be and seems like a premium product, with efficiency that’s adequate to justify shopping for it within the first place.