Alienware m14x (early 2012)

And, so, the great wheel of time turns. At least, a smidgen in this case.

If you've seen Alienware's last generation m14x, you won't be surprised by this new generation: it's the same thing, with different insides. Same goes for the bigger m17x and m18x models. The only real thing of note is that our favourite pint-sized gaming machine, the m11x, is now an ex-parrot. It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible.

The unchanging aesthetic could be an issue for Alienware; in the face of increasingly thin and sharp-looking laptops, the gaming company has pretty much kept its look the same — thus, making the company appear stationary for years now.

There are limitations that other vendors don't face, of course — a full powered gaming machine usually requires a certain chunkiness, for one. As a brand that's meant to be pushing the envelope, on the laptop side, Alienware seems to have been content with replacing the letter inside, yet, leaving the envelope where it is.

Take the screen; it's still glossy and deeply set, the colours still slightly washed out. The Australian model does have an advantage though, of running at 1600x900, even at the base level — a huge improvement over the standard 1366x768. Although, ports haven't changed and the old standby of different lighting zones that change colour, gets yet another run. Sound is passable, with the included Creative software helping to raise it up from standard laptop-fare. Still, you'll be better off with headphones or dedicated speakers, and the Alienware's three 3.5mm ports can be repurposed to 5.1 audio, if you're so equipped. Beneath the SD card reader is a SIM slot, but don't get your hopes up: there's no 3G module in Alienware Australia laptops, so, for now, it's just an extra hole for dust to get in.

So, what is different with the new m14x? Ivy Bridge CPUs and Kepler-based GPUs. Specifically, the Core i7 3720QM and GeForce GT 650M in our review unit, a custom configuration that'll set you back AU$2143.30, at the time of writing.

Application performance

The new Core i7 streaks ahead of the old guard, except in the Photoshop tests, where we suspect the EliteBook's SSD to be playing its part.

Gaming performance

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Playable on:
VERY HIGH
settings
FPS
Max	Avg	Min
117	88	35
1600x900, 4x AA, Detail level: Very high, PhysX off.

Metro 2033
Playable on:
MEDIUM
settings
FPS
Max	Avg	Min
90	31	9.35
1600x900, DirectX 10, MSAA 4x, Quality: Medium, PhysX: Off.

The Witcher 2
NOT PLAYABLE
FPS
Max	Avg	Min
38	32	19
1366x768, low spec.

Skyrim
Playable on:
MEDIUM
settings
FPS
Max	Avg	Min
78	49	33
1600x900, medium detail

The GT 650 is more powerful than the previous GT 555, by a good margin. For a gaming machine though, this is still a mid-range laptop, with medium level detail being the overriding trend. While we usually require our game tests to hit a minimum of 30FPS to deem them playable, but Metro is an outsider — the benchmark will crash to around 10FPS at certain points no matter how powerful your graphics card is, so we tend to refer to the average frame rate there.

Battery Life

While it doesn't quite hit the heights of the Envy 15, the Alienware puts in a decent showing, considering the hardware involved.

Conclusion

The m14x is now the smallest Alienware laptop you can get. It's a mid-range gaming device both in specs and performance, although, at the price involved, it will come up against stiff competition with Asus' higher specced G55VW. We hope to pass our eyes over that one soon; until then, the m14x does the job just fine.