Alienware X14 R1 Review

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Meet the Alienware x14 R1, first of its identify. This slender stunner marks Aliewnare’s first access into the 14-inch area and as same old it’s doing issues in grand style. At 0.57-inches, it’s one of the thinnest gaming laptops in the marketplace. And whilst it’s completely cute, it’s packing sufficient high-end specifications to thrill maximum avid gamers together with a twelfth Gen Intel Alder Lake processor and an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU. Plus, it’s were given quite a lot of select up because of a ridiculously rapid SSD. 

On the other hand, a $2,067 ticket, places the x14 solidly out of the succeed in of budget-savvy avid gamers. And the show is a tad bit underneath what we think at this worth level. On the other hand, the Alienware x14 R1 is a smart selection for access and mid-tier avid gamers. 

Alienware x14 R1 pricing and availability

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Having a super-slim chassis doesn’t essentially imply a slender pockets. The bottom type of the Alienware x14 R1 prices $1,649 and springs with a 2.7-GHz Intel Core i7-12700H processor with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, an Intel Iris Xe Graphics GPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 GPU with 4GB of VRAM and a 14-inch, 1920 x 1080 show with a 144Hz refresh charge and a 3-millisecond reaction charge. 

I took the $2,067 iteration for a spin which bumped up the garage and GPU to a 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD and a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 with 6GB of VRAM. The most costly type prices $2,312 and offers you 32GB of RAM. 

Alienware x14 R1 design

This must be one of the cutest UFOs I’ve ever observed. The Alienware x14 R1 takes the implementing, but sublime glance of the x17 and shrinks it down right into a lovable little bundle. Similar to its giant brothers, the x14 is fabricated from magnesium alloy and CNC aluminum coloured Lunar Gentle with only a trace of pearlescence. The description of a large 14 is stamped within the backside left nook with the acquainted backlit alien’s head on the most sensible middle. The rear vents are coloured black accentuated by means of a honeycomb development on all sides with a number of ports within the center (extra on that later).

Whilst you open the x14, you’ll to find an inky black deck. For the reason that deck is so small, the vent grilles surrounding the sparkling keyboard on three facets are fabricated from a large number of teeny tiny dots. The palm relaxation, whilst small, will nonetheless be comfy for most of the people’s palms. The touchpad sits slightly under the keyboard, and no, it doesn’t remove darkness from. In reality, the one gentle display you’ll get at the x14 is the lid-mounted alien head and the keyboard. Chalk it as much as the prices of being slender. 

So simply how slender is the Alienware x14? The laptop weighs 4.1 kilos and measures a scant 12.7 x 10.3 x 0.6 inches. It’s slimmer than the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (3.5 kilos, 12.8 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches) and the Razer Blade 14 (3.9 kilos, 12.6 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches). 

You could be questioning simply how Alienware were given the x14 to be so slender. The solution lies in some artful engineering. The corporate hired a patent-pending hinge that makes use of twin torque parts that slide forwards and again. It’s now not only for the beauty get advantages then again, because it allowed Alienware to create further area for extra tough specifications which is all the time a really perfect factor.        

Alienware x14 R1 safety

The Alienware x14 doesn’t be offering a lot in relation to safety (now not many gaming laptops do). On the other hand, it does have a Home windows Hi-compatible IR webcam which turns out to be useful for facial popularity logins. 

Alienware x14 R1 ports

Psst! Psssst! Within the again. That is the place all the Alienware x14’s ports are living. You get a USB Sort-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, a USB Sort-A 3.2 Gen 1 port, a Thunderbolt 4 port, a HDMI 2.1 port, a microSD card reader and a headset jack. 

Alienware x14 R1 show

The Alienware x14 R1’s 14-inch show is significantly shiny, however might be only a tad extra shiny. Nonetheless, it has so much going for it, together with being the primary 14-inch laptop to function each Nvidia’s G-Sync and Complicated Optimus applied sciences. G-Sync does what the identify implies, synchronizing the show and discrete GPU. Complicated Optimus principally acts as an automated MUX (Multiplexer) which lets you transfer between built-in and discrete graphics with out rebooting. 

Deathloop regarded beautiful at the x14 R1’s 1920 x 1080p panel. The Updaam district used to be a trippy cavalcade of neon lighting as I caught to the shadows, decided to kill a couple of birthday party visitors. And after I arrived at my vacation spot, Alekis’ membership used to be a sight to behold in pink and gold that gave method to olive and beige as I snuck to the higher ranges. Main points have been sharp sufficient that I simply noticed the wonderful sewing in Colt’s gloves as I ready to go into a code. And when the combating in spite of everything started, the display’s excessive refresh and reaction charge coupled with G-Sync ensured that my teleportation throughout the melee used to be clean as butter and my pictures hooked up with little latency. 

After I watched the Lingui trailer, I used to be inspired with how smartly the panel confirmed off actress Rihane Khalil Alio’s honey brown pores and skin in opposition to her white polka-dotted get dressed. Main points have been blank sufficient that I noticed the feel within the clay partitions. 

Measuring for the DCI-P3 colour gamut, our lab testers found out the x14 hit 77.7% which is simply shy of the 81.6% top rate gaming laptop reasonable. The Blade 14 did somewhat higher with 78.8% whilst the Nitro 5 hit 81.7% The Zephyrus G14 had the most productive end result at 83%.

The x14 grew to become the tables at the brightness take a look at, outshining the 324 reasonable with 377 nits. The Blade 14 got here in 2nd at 332 nits. Subsequent, got here the Zephyrus G14 (323 nits) and the Nitro 5 (284 nits). 

Alienware x14 R1 audio

With an lend a hand from Dolby Atmos device, the pair of bottom-mounted speakers arrange to squeeze giant audio out of a somewhat small bundle. Is it going to interchange a excellent pair of computer or Bluetooth speakers? No. But it surely gained’t make you run to seize a gaming headset or a couple of headphones right away both. 

After I listened to Riley’s “A Second”, the previous Glee actor’s vocal buffeted my smallish front room/eating room area with bell-like readability. The soundstage used to be spacious sufficient to permit the piano and the cascading violins to coexist with out bleeding into each and every different. It’s wonderful for highs and mids, however as I discovered on TWENTY88’s “Déjà vu”, the bass is susceptible. 

The witty, biting banter between Colt and Juliana got here thru heat and bubbling throughout the x14’s speakers. And I’ll admit, I did prevent and bop my head slightly with the tunes taking part in at Alekis’ birthday party. A stealth kill carried out with my knife sounded each rainy and meaty because the unsuspecting guard gave his ultimate mode. And when it used to be time to unharness the weapons, each and every had a weighty signature blast that used to be oh-so-satisfying. 

Alienware has built-in Dolby Atmos’ audio device into Alienware Command Middle to deal with all of your listening wishes by means of providing a wealth of selection. You have got six presets (Recreation, Dynamic, Film, Track, Voice and Customized) to start out and relying on what you select, there are but any other set of presets. For example, Recreation, Film and Track gives an Clever Equalizer that has four extra settings (Detailed, Balanced, Heat and Off) to make a choice from whilst Customized gives a full-blown EQ with a Encompass virtualizer and Quantity leveler to tweak. Recreation has presets for explicit gaming genres reminiscent of FPS, Racing, RTX and RPG and a Efficiency mode that prioritizes positional accuracy. 

Out of all of the alternatives, I to find myself the use of the Track preset on Balanced for taking note of track and looking at films. I converted to Recreation and Detailed when taking part in thru maximum titles. 

Alienware x14 R1 keyboard and touchpad

The Alienware x14 R1’s complete measurement, island-style keyboard gives excellent key shuttle with punchy comments. My hands felt like they have been on tiny trampolines as I wrote this assessment. And after I took the 10fastfingers typing take a look at, I wasn’t stunned to look that I scored 75 phrases according to minute, surpassing my commonplace 70 wpm. 

My best criticism is that the keyboard is best 1-zone RGB as a substitute of the according to key setups that you simply’d get from better (and costlier) programs. You’ll customise how the keyboard and alien head seems to be the use of Alienware Command Middle. For the x14, you best have five choices (Spectrum, Morph, Pulse, Colour and Respiring). On the other hand, you continue to be capable of create Macros.

The touchpad doesn’t remove darkness from, nevertheless it supplied rapid, correct reaction whether or not I used to be navigating thru a in particular lengthy article or appearing (*20*)Home windows 11 gestures. The ground corners of the touchpad delivered pleasing clicks and are appropriate proper and left mouse buttons. 

Alienware x14 R1 gaming and graphics

My Alienware x14 R1 has an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU with 6GB of VRAM for the ones GPU-intensive duties. And when you’re taking your foot off the fuel, it switches over to its built-in Intel Iris Xe graphics. The 3060 sits smack dab in the midst of the Nvidia 30 Sequence lineup and has the potential to ship excellent body charges at the very best settings. Nonetheless, it might had been great if the corporate presented an RTX 3070 possibility. 

After we ran the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark, the x14 produced 62 fps, matching the Zephyrus G14 (AMD Radeon RX 6800S GPU). On the other hand, neither machine overcame the Blade 14’s (RTX 3070 GPU) 75 fps nor the 87-fps top rate gaming laptop reasonable. 

At the Grand Robbery Auto V take a look at, the x14 reached 70 fps, which is decent, however method wanting the 104-fps reasonable. The G14 carried out somewhat higher with 71 fps whilst the Blade 14 were given 93 fps. 

All through the Metro: Exodus (DirectX 11, Extremely) benchmark, the x14 produced 39 fps. It’s playable, however underneath the 72-fps reasonable in addition to the Blade 14 and G14 which notched 63 and 62 fps, respectively. 

The x14 rallied all over the A long way Cry New Morning time take a look at, scoring 94 fps, squeezing previous the 92-fps class reasonable. It additionally staved off the G14 (86 fps) and Blade 14 (85 fps). 

Operating the Borderlands 3 benchmark, we noticed the Alienware reach 54 fps, lacking the 81 fps top rate gaming laptop reasonable. The G14 and Blade 14 have been best frames aside at 75 and 72 fps.

All through the Purple Useless Redemption 2 take a look at, the x14 got 48 fps, failing to achieve the 66-fps class reasonable. The G14 used to be best somewhat higher at 49 fps. 

Alienware x14 R1 efficiency

Armed with a 2.7-GHz Intel Core i7-12700H processor with 16GB of RAM, the Alienware x14 R1 is a major workhorse. The laptop treated 50 open Google Chrome tabs, a few of that have been working Twitch, YouTube, Tweetdeck, Google Medical doctors, Sheets, Slides, a myriad of articles and Fb with an unbothered aplomb. The highest-tier efficiency persisted into our artificial checking out.

After we ran Geekbench 5.4, an total efficiency benchmark, the x14 notched 13,353, destroying the 7,355 top rate gaming laptop reasonable. The G14 and its AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS CPU used to be a far off 2nd at 10,004 whilst the Blade 14 with its Ryzen 5900HX CPU best controlled 7,471. 

The x14 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 5 mins and 4 seconds, smoking the 6:38 reasonable. Neither the G14 nor the Blade 14 may examine with instances of 7:20 and 5:58, respectively.

The Alienware’s 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD duplicated 25GB of multimedia information at a switch charge of 1,156.1 megabytes according to 2nd, pushing cross the 1,132.9MBps class reasonable. It used to be sufficient to triumph over the Blade 14’s (1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 x 4 SSD) 908.7MBps. On the other hand, the G14 got here thru with the marvel victory scoring 1,260MBps. 

Alienware x14 R1 battery existence

Gaming laptops aren’t identified for his or her battery existence, however over the last few years, it’s gotten higher. Take as an example, the Alienware x14 R1 lasted 5 hours and 32 mins at the Pc Magazine battery take a look at which is composed of continuing internet browsing over WiFi at 150 nits of brightness. That point is sufficient to triumph over the 4:21 top rate gaming laptop reasonable. On the other hand, the Blade 14 clocked 6:04 whilst the G14 delivered a daft 10:38.

After we our gaming battery take a look at which makes use of PCMark 10 script, the x14 had a time of 1:23, a number of mins at the back of the Blade 14’s 1:27. 

Alienware x14 R1 warmth

Similar to its giant brothers, the Alienware x14 R1 makes use of the corporate’s Cyro-Tech era to stay issues somewhat cool. Along with copper pipes and a vapor chamber, the laptop additionally makes use of Alienware’s Part 31 thermal interface subject material fabricated from a Gallium-Silicone matrix that, in line with the corporate, delivers a 25% development in thermal resistance over its predecessor. 

We ran our gaming take a look at for 15 mins and measured explicit spaces of the laptops beginning with the touchpad which registered 86 levels Fahrenheit. The center of the keyboard measured 96 levels, which is simply above our 95-degree convenience threshold. Measuring the pocket book’s undercarriage we noticed a temperature of 113 levels. 

After a copious cooldown duration, we went again and measured once more. The touchpad reached 83 levels whilst the middle of the keyboard hit 86 levels. The ground of the laptop registered 93 levels. 

Alienware x14 R1 webcam

The Alienware x14 R1’s 720p webcam does a beautiful excellent activity on colour accuracy. The main points may use somewhat paintings. Within the take a look at pictures I took in a naturally lit room, the shooter captured my locs which can be coloured crimson, red, blue and inexperienced. And whilst you’ll be able to make out the textual content on one of the most bins within the background, the letters are fuzzy across the edges. If you wish to have crisp, transparent main points and nice colours, I recommend trying out our easiest webcams web page for an exterior shooter. 

Alienware x14 R1 device and guaranty

The Alienware x14 R1 comes with little or no bloatware. There are then again, the standard Home windows 11 apps and Alienware-branded device. I discussed Alienware Command Middle previous within the assessment. Along with tweaking audio settings and developing customized gentle presentations, you’ll be able to additionally regulate the machine’s thermals and overclocking the processor and graphics chip. The laptop additionally has Alienware Cellular Attach, which helps you to get right of entry to your smartphone from the pocket book’s display. 

Alienware Replace assists in keeping your BIOS, drivers and firmware up-to-date whilst Virtual Supply assists in keeping your Alienware and Home windows 11 device up to date. There’s additionally My Alienware, which has Alienware Make stronger, a device that places you in contact with a tech enhance consultant in case you wish to have troubleshooting help. 

Different gamer-centric programs come with Nvidia GeForce Enjoy, which is a application suite designed to optimize your gaming revel in. There’s additionally Killer Intelligence Middle, which lets you prioritize community bandwidth.

The Alienware x17 R2 comes with a 1-year restricted guaranty. See how Alienware fared on our annual particular experiences: Tech Make stronger Showdown and Easiest and Worst Manufacturers.

Base line

I mentioned it as soon as, I’ll say it once more, the Alienware x14 is one of the cutest little UFOs I’ve ever observed. However don’t confuse lovable with susceptible, as a result of with an Intel twelfth Gen Intel Alder Lake processor and Nvidia’s 3060 GPU, the laptop is the rest however. To the contrary, it constantly delivered forged body charges on our gaming benchmarks and just about ruled on all of our total efficiency assessments. Plus, it’s were given a comfortable keyboard and nice sound for this sort of small machine. 

On the other hand, for $2,067, I be expecting a extra shiny show and higher battery existence. For that and extra gaming energy total, you will have to take a look at the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 ($2,499). However when you’re in search of a really perfect on-the-go gaming laptop with a comfortable keyboard, nice sound and a stupendous design, take a look at the Alienware x14 R1. 

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