Alienware x14 Flexes Alder Lake And RTX 30 In A Stunningly-Thin Gaming Laptop
Dell has unveiled what it proclaims to be the world's thinnest 14-inch gaming laptop, the Alienware x14 (essentially a smaller version of the equally stunning Alienware x15). This svelte beauty measures just 12.66 x 10.35 x 0.57 inches and ranges in weight from 3.96 to 4.06 pounds. That's about as portable as it gets for a true gaming laptop, and the Alienware x14 certainly earns that designation with a potent array of internal hardware.
We'll get to the hardware in a moment, but let's talk about the incredibly thin profile first. Dell credits the "record thinness" to a patent-pending torque element hinge that creates space within the system. Without that crafty hinge, Dell says the Alienware x14 would either have to be thicker in design or less powerful than it is.
The Alienware x14 touts a 14-inch display with a 1920x1080 resolution and a relatively fast 144Hz refresh rate. It also features NVIDIA G-Sync support to keep the refresh rate matched up to the GPU to avoid screen tearing and maximize the smoothness of animations. Color accuracy looks strong too, with 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space and Dolby Vision certification for HDR visuals.
Alienware will let users configure the laptop around two of Intel's new Alder Lake-H processor options, the Core i7-12900H and Core i7-12700H. Both of those are 14-core/20-thread chips with 24MB of L3 cache. The difference comes down to the boost clock, with the Core i7-12900H capable of hitting up to 5GHz, and the Core i7-12700H not far behind with a 4.7GHz max turbo frequency.
There are three graphics options, all from within NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 30 series. They include...
- GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6 (85W max, 817MHz to 1,282MHz)
- GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 4GB GDDR6 (65W max, 1,140MHz to 1,410MHz)
- GeForce RTX 3050 4GB GDDR6 (65W max, 1,177.5MHz to 1,455MHz)
These are all mid-tier options to balance thermals with performance, and are appropriate for the thin and light design, particularly at the laptop's 1080p resolution—these GPUs are not being asked to drive a 1440p or 4K gaming experience. Dell says the laptop battles thermals with an exclusive Element 31 thermal interface material it engineered, which is made from a Gallium-Silicon matrix, and there's also a vapor chamber cooling system at play.
The GPU selection affects what RAM configurations are available. Buyers can match 16GB of LPDDR5-4800 with the GeForce RTX 3050 Ti and 3050, or 16GB of LPDDR5-5200 with the GeForce RTX 3060. The laptop supports up to 32GB of LPDDR5-5200 in total.
For storage, buyers can select from 2TB, 1TB, 512GB, and 256GB NVMe SSD options. Other features include Killer Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.2 (or Intel Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.2), two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port, HDMI 2.1, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD card slot.
The Alienware x14 will available this winter starting at $1,799.
