Review of Alienware M14x R2 AM14XR2-7223BK 14.0-Inch Laptop (Stealth Black

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For your perspective into my review, I am a middle aged professor of Computer Studies that still enjoys gaming and owns several gaming laptops. I received the Alienware M14x R2 laptop in good condition and have been testing it out for the last few days. I will give in this review my first impression of this gaming laptop.

I picked this laptop mainly for it weight and size. Most gaming laptop exceeds 9 pounds this one weighs in at under 7 lbs. with the battery and charger included. Be aware that most sellers list weighs on their laptops without the battery installed or charger included.

Hardware:

Size is 13.25 x 9.5 x 1.5 and the charger is 6 x 3 x 1. (inches)

The M14x R2 included a 750 GB hard drive even though the listing on Amazon stated a 500. It is a 7200 RPM which is faster than the normal 5400 RPM that most laptops have.

The 1366 X 768 resolution 14 inch monitor is clear and sharp. You can run either the integrated graphics (Intel 4000) or the 650m NVidia depending on the application. When using a 14 inch monitor you will not see much difference by going up to a higher resolution. If you want to check out the difference there are several YouTube's that run side by side comparisons to the 768 and 900 resolutions. Really the 1366 X 768 is a sweet spot for 14' monitors. You can always connect it to an external monitor and run it at higher resolutions but for portability the 14 is a good carry size.

The sound on this laptop is best that I have ever found. Uses a Creative labs Soundblaster TRX. I am really impressed with the sound quality from the laptop speakers. With headphones it is even better.

The laptop contains very strong Wi-Fi card. This Wi-Fi picks up signals from down the block that none of my other laptops will and on campus my signal strength is much stronger than before.

Software:

The laptop comes with very little bloat ware. It came with Steam preinstalled, trial version of Office 2013, CyberLink Media Essentials, Creative labs software(for sound card control panel), McAfee antivirus 30 trial, and with Alienware applications that allow you to control the color screens on the keyboard and case. There are 7 zones of lighting and each can be different, set to pulse or morph modes, and can be activated by an application. For example I can have the 2 front case lights pulse red for incoming email or change the colors of the keyboards lights depending on which game I am playing. They can also be turn off.

Windows 8 is installed but it will boot into the desktop after you logon allowing you to skip the normal and very annoying Win 8 Metro screen startup screen. It would have been better in my opinion for a gaming laptop to have Windows 7 installed. I can understand the sales reasons behind installing the newest OS but Win 8 does not play as nice with games as Win 7. The only problems I have encountered in playing games are all traced back to Win 8. I am aware of this from having worked with both operating systems and dealing with my students and their problems. (I teach a class that uses gaming toolsets and creations of game modules). Hopefully these will be corrected in the service packs.

Gaming Benchmarks:

Games I have played in testing: Borderland 2, Metro 2033, Tomb Raider (new release), Skyrim, Bioware Infinite, and Fallout 3 New Vegas. All games played at medium to high resolutions. All these games average 39fps to 60fps. Infinite benchmark tested at high setting with average of 54fps, Tomb Raider benchmark tested using game installed setting and got 39.7fps. At custom setting in Tomb Raider I got up to 45fps easily.

Cons:

Very short battery life as expected with any gaming laptop. The battery is an internal design. You cannot switch out or remove the battery. In running Borderlands 2 in Very High mode I got 63 minutes of play before the 10% battery warning came on. If you run applications that use the integrated graphics only you can get over 2 hours of operations.

The hinges on the lid are more center based instead of being set to the outer edge. They are set 3 inches in from the outer edge. This makes it weaker than other styles. You should never pick up or move your laptop from the lid and always open and close it from the top center. The most common case breakage on laptops is the hinges. I don't see this as a real problem for me since I treat my computers with reasonable care.

There are no easy access panels to swap out hard drives or memory. You have to take the case apart.

Some may think the fan is loud at full loads. It is louder than a normal laptop but not for a gaming laptop. I have an XPS and an Asus M55 which are both louder at similar loads.

Conclusion:

High quality hardware that runs modern games at reasonable and very playable speeds. This laptop is a little high in price for a 14 inch but very portable at this size and weight. If you don't mind a few extra pounds and a larger format then go for the 15 inch Asus or MSI gaming computer for around the same price but with lower specs in some areas such as the processor, hard drives, and video. Don't be misled that larger numbers in video cards mean better performance. A 650m will outperform a 730m in many areas and a 750 takes an enormous power brick to run it. In my opinion, at this time the 650m is one of the best all-around mobile video cards on the market and pair with the 3630Q i7 CPU and a 750GB hard drive make this a solid laptop in this price range.

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looks great, runs perfectly, and i love the rainbow keyboard, it is better than what I was expecting!! great buy

Best Deals for Alienware M14x R2 AM14XR2-7223BK 14.0-Inch Laptop (Stealth Black

Okay just to start things off I was a MacBook Pro guy for over 4 years, and well loved almost every moment of it.

But I hated not having great specs but they were built really well.

My last MacBook Pro was a 13.3" and my M14X makes that computer look like a useless paper weight. I mean that too, I was so happy when I went to a local store and played with this computer for the first time. I was blown away by how amazing it was.

Alienware does have a somewhat bad reputation of being overpriced. Honestly I feel like it was money well spent. I bought mine at a local store for $1,118 after tax! The specs and build quality are top notch! Do not hesitate to buy this amazing machine!

Things I really like about it:

The Build quality is amazing! I know it is not the pretty aluminum that my old MBP had but still I honestly like the feel of this much more! It feels like it has a rubbery feel to it.

The keyboard is amazing I really love the feel of it, very responsive and not loud at all! Yes I do love the AlienFX too! I was glad I could put my own little spin on my Laptop it really draws some attention too.

The trackpad is great I really like it.

Tons of ports something I really didn't have on my MBP

Screen is really nice I honestly think it looks better than my old mbp.

The battery is decent I mean it is a gaming laptop

I can run all my favorite games at high spec with no problem, Dead Island, Crysis 2, Saints row 3, fallout, Left For Dead 2, Borderlands 2, I mean I can run everything I have tried and never been disappointed in the performance.

Specs on my Exact unit:

Intel Core i7 3610QM

16gb of ram

500gb hdd @7200rpm

2gb Nividia Geforce GT 60M

BUY THIS LAPTOP YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Honest reviews on Alienware M14x R2 AM14XR2-7223BK 14.0-Inch Laptop (Stealth Black

I've been a Dell customer for over 10 years. Purchased an Alienware M14x R2 February 2013 to replace my old Alienware M11x. I loved everything about it... until a month ago. Less than 6 months after spending close to $1,700 on a top of the line gaming computer, which was extremely well taken care, it broke. During late June/early July I noticed that the left hinge was getting stuck and making a popping sound whenever the laptop was closed and/or opened. Two weeks after the noise/problem began, the left hinge popped out of place and split the case (around the screen) apart. The laptop still worked fine, however, I decided to call Dell customer service and get it fixed. It is after all a six month old laptop, that is still under warranty until 2015. Apparently I was wrong. Yes, it's under warranty. But after customer support checked it, they informed me that the repair is not covered under the warranty that I have (apparently I needed the complete customer subscription). I asked what could cause a hinge on a laptop, which is less than 6 months old, to break and was told that it was MY fault. That I mishandled the laptop and that I have to pay for them to fix it. I was also informed that there have been no complaints (at all) on the M14x hinges, however, a quick search on Google will show that this is not the case. There are hundreds of other complaints, which Dell has chosen to ignore. This is the first time that I've had problems with Dell customer service. I never expected to pay top dollar for a "quality" laptop and have it break so quickly from normal wear and tear. Do yourself a favor and do a quick search on "Alienware M14x hinge" and decided for yourself. I'm personally never again purchasing from Dell. I rather take my money and business to a retailer that listens to their customers and sells a quality product.

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This is my 3rd Alienware and boy did they hit the nail on the head here. This is a fantastic piece of equipment for gamers. Rumor is that this model is out of production and the new one they made is cheaper in materials and performance lacks. So get this one before they run out! Highly recommend! Cheers :)