Will Alienware 14 get Maxwell?

The sturdiness is a selling point for me, as is the warranty coverage (I use mine also for work on the road). While we hear stories (sometimes bewildering accounts) of people with support problems, I believe the vast majority of Dell users get pretty decent support, and are not saddled with sending machines to depots and waiting weeks on end like many of the other vendors contending in the gaming laptop space. For folks not hung up on just cost-to-performance numbers but actual availability of their system, this is a big sell in favor of Dell. I definitely would not be in favor of thinner designs if it meant a significant drop in structural integrity!

 

Nothing wrong with a sturdy machine so long as you use the space to pack in the equipment to match.

 

Exactly. Well said.

 

Indeed - the best part is sturdy doesn't have to mean overly large for the components installed; Dell seems to be forgetting this to a degree.

Part of the problem with AW being under Dell is they are tied to an organization that moves slowly in the market; so when AW/Dell was producing machines with loud fans, and people complained, they were the only serious option but people still complained. Now people are buying ridiculously thin systems (in terms of heat dissipation) and often living with high-pitched fans, but now it is "okay" because systems are "Razer" thin and Dell is chided for not following suit. The market is demanding rapid, punctuated evolution of products, not the leisurely adaptation that Dell is practicing. They had plenty of time with the last major redesign (M14xR1/R2) to see the trends in the market and get on the stick; instead they released a system which while good, should have been a bit more in line with market tastes and more revolutionary. Instead they stuck with a package which while handsome definitely gets hit in reviews and the market for chunkiness relative to it's performance specs (and it's not just cooling either). As a light road warrior, weight is a consideration along with performance and reliability, and the AW 14 is weak here. The AW 14 is definitely not in the desktop replacement league, so designs in the class the AW 14 competes in need to have an emphasis on mobility with ease of use in close quarters.

 

Dell needs to hurry up and refresh their notebooks.