Enthusiast laptop winner
Alienware M14x
Verdict
A bold, burly 14in laptop that combines gaming power with gorgeous build, but it’s much better value without the expensive SSD
Review Date: 26 Jul 2011
Price when reviewed: £1508
Overall Rating
Alternative products
Apple MacBook Pro 17in (2011)
Powerful, long-lasting and with a wonderful 1,920 x 1,200 screen, but the price remains unpalatable
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Comparison
| Product |
Alienware M14x
|
Apple MacBook Pro 17in (2011)
|
| Details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Part Code | M14x | MacBook Pro 17in (2011) |
| Review Date | 26 Jul 2011 | 3 Mar 2011 |
| Price ex VAT | £1,508 | £1,749 |
| Price inc VAT | £1,810 | £2,099 |
| Overall rating |
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| Features & Design |
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| Value for Money |
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| Performance |
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| Warranty | ||
| Warranty | 1yr on-site | |
| Physical specifications | ||
| Dimensions | 337 x 257 x 40mm (WDH) | 393 x 267 x 25mm (WDH) |
| Weight | 2.870kg | 2.990kg |
| Travelling weight | 3.6kg | |
| Processor and memory | ||
| Processor | Intel Core i7-2630QM | Intel Core i7-2720QM |
| Motherboard chipset | Intel HM67 Express | |
| RAM capacity | 4.00GB | 4.00GB |
| Memory type | DDR3 | DDR3 |
| SODIMM sockets free | 0 | 0 |
| SODIMM sockets total | 2 | 2 |
| Screen and video | ||
| Screen size | 14.0in | 17.0in |
| Resolution screen horizontal | 1,600 | 1,920 |
| Resolution screen vertical | 900 | 1,200 |
| Resolution | 1600 x 900 | 1920 x 1200 |
| Graphics chipset | Intel HD Graphics 3000 / Nvidia GeForce GT555M | AMD Radeon HD 6750M |
| Graphics card RAM | 3.00GB | |
| VGA (D-SUB) outputs | 1 | 0 |
| HDMI outputs | 1 | 0 |
| S-Video outputs | 0 | 0 |
| DVI-I outputs | 0 | 0 |
| DVI-D outputs | 0 | 0 |
| DisplayPort outputs | 1 | 1 |
| Drives | ||
| Capacity | 256GB | 750GB |
| Spindle speed | N/A | 5,400RPM |
| Internal disk interface | SATA/300 | |
| Hard disk | Samsung PM810 | |
| Optical disc technology | DVD writer | DVD writer |
| Battery capacity | 4,300mAh | |
| Replacement battery price inc VAT | £0 | £0 |
| Networking | ||
| Wired adapter speed | 1,000Mbits/sec | 1,000Mbits/sec |
| 802.11a support |
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| 802.11b support |
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| 802.11g support |
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| 802.11 draft-n support |
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| Integrated 3G adapter |
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| Bluetooth support |
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| Other Features | ||
| Wireless hardware on/off switch |
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| Wireless key-combination switch |
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| Modem |
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| ExpressCard34 slots | 0 | 1 |
| ExpressCard54 slots | 0 | 0 |
| PC Card slots | 0 | 0 |
| USB ports (downstream) | 1 | 3 |
| FireWire ports | 0 | 1 |
| PS/2 mouse port |
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| 9-pin serial ports | 0 | |
| Parallel ports | 0 | |
| Optical S/PDIF audio output ports | 1 | |
| Electrical S/PDIF audio ports | 0 | |
| 3.5mm audio jacks | 2 | 2 |
| SD card reader |
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| Memory Stick reader |
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| MMC (multimedia card) reader |
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| Smart Media reader |
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| Compact Flash reader |
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| xD-card reader |
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| Pointing device type | Touchpad | Multitouch touchpad |
| Audio chipset | Realtek HD Audio | |
| Speaker location | Either side of keyboard | |
| Hardware volume control? |
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| Integrated microphone? |
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| Integrated webcam? |
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| Camera megapixel rating | 2.0mp | 1.3mp |
| TPM |
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| Fingerprint reader |
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| Smartcard reader |
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| Operating system and software | ||
| Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit | Apple Mac OS X |
| OS family | Windows 7 | Mac OS X |
| Recovery method | Recovery partition | |
| Software supplied | N/A | iLife |
| Battery and performance tests | ||
| Battery life, light use | 6hr 17min | 7hr 59min |
| Battery life, heavy use | 1hr 10min | |
| 3D performance (crysis) low settings | 108fps | 116fps |
| 3D performance setting | Low | Low |
| Overall Real World Benchmark score | 0.81 | |
| Responsiveness score | 0.82 | |
| Media score | 0.84 | |
| Multitasking score | 0.76 | |
Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk