*OFFICIAL* Alienware 14 Owner's Lounge Thread

You will not void the warranty if you do not damage the system.

 

I placed my order 6/15 with the same specs, same EDD Date, and I am on the East Coast, and I have gotten nothing. No email about it shipping, still says in Production.


What the Deuce Dell?

 

Then I will try it as soon as I find the right screwdriver!

 

No need. The user manual is up online. The cooling is indeed much better than before. Now there are 3 pipes for the Gpu and 2 for the CPU. But to repaste you need to take out the motherboard.

there is a lot of wasted volume between the structural cage and the motherboard.

If one was looking for a compact desktop replacement thus would be it. Can't bear dual HDD.

ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-prod...laptops/alienware-14_Owner's Manual_en-us.pdf


Edit: it looks like the bottom half inch of the notebook is there purely to accommodate the optical drive. Alienware, please remove it for next iteration and make the heat sink more accessible

 

Nice find, I didnt know there was a sub-woofer in this laptop

 

Thanks! I'll put some numbers up a bit later today.

 

Awesome! Looking forward to it, Mysfit! I also would like some numbers on a larger variety of games, - FPS, settings, temps, fan noise, if anyone checked the paste job on these and if applying fresh paste like IC Diamond has any effect on temps, if using a cooler makes a difference.... I know, I know, that's an awful lot of demands, but this topic interests me greatly and I'm just impatient to learn more.

Games I'm interested in especially are Skyrim, Battlefield 3 and Bioshock Infinite. I fully realize that on a laptop like this, chances are, maxing a game out is unrealistic, but how do they play overall?

 

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M - NotebookCheck.net Tech

Average.

 

Yeah, I've read that one. But I always prefer to hear/read what the NBR peeps say, as well!

 

Just for curiosity that already have their AW 14 how many time pass in production, I always see that somtimes are 3 days, and another are like 7, or even more

 

For me it was it was 9 days. It varies, but I don't know on what.

 

For those who received their AW 14, how's their fan noise while gaming and on idle? I'm assuming it's like really quite on idle and maybe a bit loud while gaming?

Would really like to see temps

 

Well maybe according to the things you choose, at least was always the dell excuse, some parts that may not be in the storage and need to ask for them, lets see how many time spend on mine

 

As I stated before, people have received their AW14's who have placed their orders AFTER mine was placed, and the machine had the same EXACT specs as ordered. So, who the heck knows, mine is still in production, and has been for 14 days now. I would REALLY like a ping from someone in DELL about to the possibility of how orders placed 2 days after mine are received before.

 

......................................

 

I was slacking yesterday. Sorry! I'll see what I can do tonight / this weekend after I get off work. So far, I'll say that I'm thoroughly impressed with the build quality.

 

Nice system. I plan to grab one soon, mainly for school and light gaming.

From what I saw on YouTube, the 765M plays BF3 on ultra between 40 and 50 FPS. No dips, it's very consistent. New games like BF4 will probably be between 35 and 45 FPS on ultra.

That's good for a 14" laptop.

 

i ordered mine on 7/3/13 and the edd was 7/24/13 and i wanted to use my laptop for summer school so i chatted dell and they gave me free next day shipping whenever i talk to a dell rep they are always good

 

Got my Alienware 14 today thought I would post a video for you guys. Enjoy!

Alienware 14 - Unboxing - YouTube

 

Great video, Matt, thank you for posting! Could you post how your temps are?

 

yes nice video mate do some BF3 and CRYSIS3 and METRO LL videos

 

I remember watching a video of one of the AW guys saying that they added a back-plate behind the keyboard to help prevent flexing, I remember they said they added it to the 17 and 18 version, but what about the 14 version?

Can anyone confirm?

 

they all have the backplate mate its the same design overall the sizes including thermals and,fans,lighting etc etc

 

You got the 8gb model. Is that 1 dimm or 2? If 2 then I will get the 16gb model

 

They advertise it as dual channel meaning 2 sticks.

 

I'm thinking of buying an Alienware 14 too. I'm still thinking because of the high price...

 

Im really close to buying it, I just want a few more reviews on temperatures. I just want to make sure they did their research on this version compared to the previous version. It's either this or the Razer Blade for me.

@Masterchief,

If you were to call Dell to order a laptop I'm sure you can get the price down quite a bit. I highly advise on getting the 1080p screen and the 765m GPU though. With what you said previously I'm sure the Razer Blade is out of the question for you

 

Did yours ship yet Kevin?

 

ign reviewed the razor blade 14", poor screen and very hot after gaming sessions,and most of all TOO PRICEY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi3XeT384aA

 

I prefer actual thermal temperatures from users who own the laptop.

 

Thanks for the info. I've no doubt for taking the 1080p screen but the 765 GPU is an expensive update. Both options will cost me about €1600, which is $2060, with discount I will get it for something like €1450 (which is $1860). Do you think I'll get more discount if I call dell? I've the impression that dell reps are not likely to give discount in Europe.

Ps. excuse me if I use bad English.

 

The razer blade is going to run much hotter then anything on the market. They tonned down the processor to reduce thermal load, but you still have a 765 under the hood and that thing is going to create alot of heat. And if your chassis is only .66 inches then your going to have a hard time getting rid of it. Pair the heat with low storage, poor screen quality, a weaker processor, a average keyboard, average trackpad, no ethernet port, no optical drive, windows 8, average speakers, and a design that chasing after apple for 1,700 starting and you have a razer product. In reality the 14 is better compared to the razer blade pro with a much lower price tag.

Razer Blade Pro: Extreme Performance Gaming Laptop - Razer United States

 

The1080p IPS screen, what's the color gamut? I'm assuming the higher the color gamut, the better the picture and viewing angles?

 

72% color gamut which covers 100% SRGB coverage. IPS/PLS is the technology that affects accuracy in viewing the screen at any angle and color gamut has nothing to do with it.

But since the new Alienware 14 has both IPS and high color gamut, you have the best of both worlds in viewing lush, vivid and colorful screen at any angle.



Here is a comparison of the new AW14 w/ IPS panel with 72% color gamut vs the M14x R2 model with a TN panel with 40% color gamut.

 

@Benchmade 42,

Thanks for the info bro. Also what about the ms rate on these panels? There shouldn't be any ghosting right?

 

Some temps after playing Skyrim for an hour on high

 

That's still pretty hot. Doesn't look like that new design helps much. Maybe a laptop cooler would help some?

How's the noise of the fan?

 

I think it would benefit from a cooler such as the Coolermaster U3 which elevates it to create more air flow. I will order one and post some cooler temps.. As far as the fan it is relatively quiet , a lot quieter then the r2. Despite the temp you do not really feel the heat that bad as some reviews say that it "burns your wrists" that is total bs.

 

That's...much better than I expected. Actually, those are very decent temps, considering you're not using a cooler and that's a factory paste job. And your report on fan noise is also somewhat reassuring (I recall the older version sounding like a hairdryer whenever I did anything even remotely taxing).

I am curious how the temps are when playing something a bit more taxing....like Battlefield 3, for instance. Reason I ask is I wonder how this laptop would be able to handle stuff coming out in the fall (BF4, COD Ghosts, AC: Black Flag, Splinter Cell Blacklist and the like.

 

Someone else played another game for an hour and their cpu max was 85C.

 

I recorded these temps after playing Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm on ULTRA settings (27 FPS on average) for around 40 minutes:



With EXTREME settings on, I was running an average of 20 FPS.

After two more hours of use including gaming off and on, I've yet to breach 87 C for CPU.

The fan noise isn't that bad at all, although this is my first Alienware. It's audible, but not annoying.

 

CrystalDiskMark HDD speeds for: 750GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s + 64GB mSATA SSD Caching

Run 1:


Run 2:

 

3DMark results, something doesn't seem quite up to spec on this one:

 

That does seem strange. Make sure your plugged in and on discrete mode. If not the framerate will drop.

 

Oddly enough I was. Plugged in, High Performance Power Scheme, Discrete 765M enabled. NVidia Control Panel shows the 765M driver is up to date and shows no new downloads. I'll have to play with it more to see if I get a better result, or, try some alternatives.

 

OK this is a question for anyone that got their 14. What does the back nameplate say, and does the power supply still have the LED ring on it?

 

the backplate should have your config you ordered for example "i7 4700MQ Gtx 765m SLI" something like that

 

If anyone thought that laptop mag was a little crazy with their review, they gave the razer 14 a better review despite the fact that it ran hotter, and had less performance. They also praised the screen and audio, both of which were frowned apon by other reviews. Read it for yourself, am i the only on who thinks these girls are extremely biased in their reviews?

Razer Blade 14 Review | Gaming Laptop Reviews

 

Laptopmag tested the 14's TN screen. The IPS screen is rated at 300 nits, and Laptopmag measured 161. Dell reports 160 nits for the TN screen's brightness.

 

Yeah, laptopmag review on the 14 was way over exaggerated . Shouldn't really trust reviews. That's why you come here!