M14x Quick Review

[Arklight]

hello guys, this is a quick review of the M14x, one of the latest addition to the alienware laptop line up.

Let me start off with the specs that I got.

I got,

the Intel corei7- 2720QM,

1.5 GB Nvidia GT555

4 GB of RAM

500 GB for the Hard Drive,

Intel 6205 WirelessN with Mimo technology

and the 1600x900 Screen.

Alright, the texture of this laptop is somewhat similar to the m11x r2, the soft touch finish, but somehow i think they used a different paint or material for it. I like how it feels. The grills in front looks more streamlined or sleek, compared to other previous models. We have our ports on the left side, and the DVD and more ports on the right. and on the back we have the exhaust and the power input. The bottom of the laptop has the fan on the left side, the teeny-tiny subwoofer, and the battery status lights. The bottom looks like it's an entire tray covering the insides of the laptop.

Sub-woofer

battery status button

The size of the power adapter is ok. The weight is not that heavy, but it's probably a fourth thicker than the 90-W power adapter of the M11xR2. I noticed that the power cord connector is not angled. I definitely liked the angled one because it's designed to be coiled to the power adapter for a more compact look.

When we lift the lid, We'll see this rubber strip attached or embedded to both sides of the screen. This is designed to protect the screen from the keyboard. Unlike from the M11x, we'll only see a small rubber strip glued to both left and right side of the surface, just below the keyboard.

The track pad is smooth, and nice but I like the M11x's touchpad texture better. It has the light around it to distinguish where is the area for the touchpad. Unfortunately, you can't turn off the light box around the touchpad through the command center. [You'd have to turn off AlienFX entirely to accomplish this? Please tell me how to turn this off] The buttons feels nice and deep and responsive. The only issue that I found with the touchpad is that when you touch close to the edges, it does not respond. You'd have to go in a quarter or .15 of an inch to use the vertical scroll or the horizontal scroll. I don't know if it's a build issue or just the touchpad is just designed that way.

YouTube - Alienware M14x touch pad minor issue

Keyboard is awesome, it's spacious. No warp on all sides and the LED lights are very bright for my taste. I kind of wish that they had a brightness setting on the lights as well. One note, my "delete" button is kind of snappy/crunchy but I'm not gonna worry myself about that. The laptop surface is pretty sturdy and solid, however, It warms up on the lower right side of the keyboard, not that annoying but i felt it. They probably disregarded the situation since the machine is for gaming and we'd be using a mouse with our right hands. Another thing is that when you have a CD or a DVD inside it, you will be able to feel the vibration from the drive.

zone 1 and 4 turned off

all zones on

The screen is very reflective, and it is because of the glass that's covering the main screen. I hope that Alienware would really consider making a matte option for their future notebooks. The screen itself is not as bad, the color of the screen is warm, more on the red side, but you will be able to calibrate the screen to your desired color tones and hues.

Sound quality is pretty impressive. The sound that comes out are very solid and crisp. I believe that it has enough bass, (courtesy of the mini-subwoofer) to have a good audio output. I can only imagine how better it would sound like with the Xi-Fi software.

The battery life tested for over 4 hours, by only doing minor tasks, web browsing, and level 2 for brightness. I installed office and CS5 trial, starcraft 2 while on battery.

Integrated Camera and Mic are ok.

YouTube - Alienware M14x Camera and Mic Test

I will be doing gameplay videos next. I have starcraft 2 installed, command and conquer 4, And I will try to install Forced Unleashed 2. Or whatever games I have in Steam.

Thanks for reading. Have a great day.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Arklight

[Nando]

This little beast is awesome men! nice pictures and nice review...congrats!

thanks 4 sharing... enjoy it

[Arklight]

Thanks!

[Michael]

Good one, thanks!

[iloveb00bs]

really nice review, and congrats on your new setup.

[Brian]

Nicely done, thanks for the pictures and vids! Should come in useful for all the visitors that are interested in teh M14x.

[svl7]

Hey, very nice, thanks!!

In case you (or anyone else with a M14x) repastes the system please post some pics of how it looks inside the system.

[Nando]

Hey, very nice, thanks!!

In case you (or anyone else with a M14x) repastes the system please post some pics of how it looks inside the system.

that would be great!

EDIT: found this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/575524-thermal-paste-reapplication-photos-56k-warning.html just pics and is not step by step

EDIT: i found a youtube video Upgrading the M11x R2 with internal Bluetooth module and high end thermal compound: Alienware m11xR2 high speed modding

apparently the M11 and M14 are very similar internally, but i still think both are a bit tedious to get inside, practically we have to remove everything to get the CPU / GPU

Edited May 8, 2011 by Nando

[mw86]

Wonderful photoguide Arklight! Looking forward to the vids. Nice find Nando!

[coolguystan]

How is this holding out for you? I am mostly worried about the hinges because I have heard that some are starting to break but I am thinking that may be operator error. Thanks.

[Maitreya]

Thanks!

Realy nices pics , thanks for sharing

[unreal25]

Hey I forgot to reply to the OP first time.

Touchpad sensitive area (among other things like it's sensitivity etc.) can be typically adjusted with proper drivers. I'd look into Synaptics website if they made the touchpad.