Dell Alienware M14x review

Dell’s Alienware laptops are known for their powerful components and individual looks. The new M14x is no exception, with its angular chassis, black rubberised finish and LED mood lighting. Whether or not you like the design, you’re sure to be impressed with what’s inside.

An Intel quad-core processor and 4GB of RAM provide plenty of power within Windows; the i7-2630QM might normally run at a pedestrian 2GHz, but can use Turbo Boost to speed up temporarily to a much snappier 2.9GHz. This helped it score an overall 74 in our multimedia benchmarks, which suggests there are very few desktop applications that won’t run smoothly.

Naturally for an Alienware machine, gaming performance is also a highlight. The dedicated GeForce 555M graphics card is the fastest midrange card Nvidia currently produces, so it was no surprise when it blitzed our Dirt 3 benchmark with an average frame rate of 57.2; we could increase the resolution to the display’s maximum 1,600×900 and still get a playable 45fps. We were so impressed that we even tried our more intensive Crysis 2 test, which ran at 18fps at 720p – a respectable score even for a fairly powerful desktop PC. You should have no trouble playing even the latest games on the M14x. Unfortunately, the cooling fan spins up to incredibly loud levels when playing games.

All this performance doesn’t come at the expense of battery life; using Nvidia’s Optimus technology to switch from the power-hungry dedicated graphics to the processor’s integrated chipset, the M14x managed a reasonable five and a half hours in our light use test. It isn’t quite all-day computing, but this is one gaming laptop that doesn’t have to be chained to its power supply. Just don’t expect to use it in public without turning heads; the illuminated keyboard is a definite attention grabber. Alienware’s AlienFX utility lets you customise the colour scheme using different colours and lighting patterns, but you can also turn them off if you prefer.

The keyboard was very comfortable to type on thanks to the rubberised wrist rest; the full-size isolated keys had plenty of travel but enough spring to provide a good amount of tactile feedback. Unsurprisingly for a laptop this size there’s no separate number pad, but the QWERTY keyboard never felt cramped. The touchpad was equally impressive, with a smooth finish that created minimal drag and two solid buttons that had just the right amount of resistance. The illuminated surround also helped us find it when using the laptop in the dark.

A 14in display might not be the first choice for a gaming laptop, but the pin-sharp 1,600×900 resolution looks fantastic. Colours were incredibly vivid and contrast was excellent. Our only criticism was the incredibly glossy screen; at certain angles, it looked more like a mirror than a laptop display, with reflections making it difficult to see anything at all. Thankfully, there’s enough screen tilt that this should only be a problem in very bright light.

The screen isn’t Full HD, but 720p video looked excellent. If you want to play 1080p footage, you’ll need to connect an external display using either the Mini Displayport or HDMI outputs. The stereo speakers are acceptable for watching catch-up TV, but like almost all laptop speakers they lack bass; to get the best audio in films and games you’ll need to use a pair of headphones.

Aside from its very high price and potentially over-the-top design, there’s very little not to like about the M14x. It has explosive performance, a stunning screen and surprisingly capable battery life; if you’ve got the money and want a laptop that can run almost anything you can throw at it, this is a great choice.