Alienware stunned countless gaming buffs earlier this year when the company withdrew its popular M15x gaming notebook and supplanted it with the somewhat smaller version which was called M14x.
Because of this, the Gamingblogsite.info raised a question that really needed some answers. "Did Alienware make a good call replacing a 15-inch laptop with a 14-inch laptop?"
Let's try to find out in this in-depth review.
Alienware M14x: "The most powerful 14-inch laptop in the universe."
This laptop is actually reined as the most powerful 14-inch laptop because of its extreme gaming capabilities. Most laptops tend to run too slow or are not capable enough of keeping up with games that require high definition graphics processors.
This 14-inch laptop, along with its unusual yet useful thickness, actually possesses the true spirit of portable gaming and productivity. It comes in two colors, red and black and it bares the signature logo of the most famous company for gaming laptops which is Alienware.
Build and Design
Alienware notebooks are famous for having the best designs among gaming laptops. The M14x might be a newbie but it actually integrates all of the key elements that make the Alienware notebooks series distinctive.
Build
The build and design of this Alienware is just as unique as its predecessor. The build quality of the M14x is brilliant with a mishmash of metal and plastic parts. Most of its exterior contact points (lid, palm rests and keyboard surround) are plastic.
Nonetheless, the M14x feels solid mainly due to the unusual yet attractive thick design. The Alienware's designers are confident that this 1.5-inch gaming laptop only needs to take up less space in a bedroom or dorm room. Quite the "it" thing for gamers isn't it?
The Alienware designers seem to have taken into account one of the common grumbles from the users of the old 15-inch Alienware m15x. The old timer was said to be as large as most 17-inch laptops. So, Alienware obviously had to make a high-performance gaming notebook with a smaller footprint on the gamer's desk by making the chassis thicker to house the cooling system required for the processor and graphics.
Thus, the Alienware M14x was born and it was indeed "something to look forward to".
Design
Notwithstanding the inimitable lines and thickness of the chassis, it's always the AlienFX LED lighting system that most people notice first.
Indeed, users can even set the lighting to an arrangement of multiple colors or strobes between the entire rainbow colors. You can also shut off all of the lights if you are avoiding unwanted attention.
According to Gamingblogsite.com, "The bottommost part of the M14x takes a page from the design playbook of the Alienware m11x with a fully incorporated battery and no easy access to system RAM, hard drive or wireless cards. In short, you'll have to spend some time disassembling the M14x if you want to upgrade it yourself."
Ports and Features
The M14x has a marvelous selection of ports for a 14-inch laptop. This is no doubt an advantage of the strange but useful, thick design. This Alienware laptop sports two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA, Ethernet, memory card reader and slot-loading optical drive. However, the ExpressCard expansion slot is missing. But even so, the new 14-inch laptop is still good, or better than any other gaming laptops available on the market.
