Alienware X14 R1 Laptop Review

Absurdly thin, very lightweight, and throttling are synonomous terms in the world of computing. Simply put, if there is too little space and insufficient airflow, overheating is going to occur.

So why do I love the Alienware X14 R1 so much?

The X14 is a graphical powerhouse, and firmly earns its spot as a premium quality medium spec machine. It sports a mobile RTX 3060, a 12th gen Intel i7 (not the undervoltable HX variant, sadly), and 16gb of soldered DDR5 memory on board. Optionally, it can be spec'd with up to 32gb of ram. The chassis itself is made up of magnesium, and it feels the part. The unit is extremely sturdy, yet shockingly light, and impossibly thin at a 0.57 inch measurement (14.5mm). This ultra thin form factor is its major selling point in a market dominated by freakishly big gaming laptops, both in terms of screen size and thickness. Where those massive units enjoy an advantage in terms of overclocking, thermals, and performance, the X14 shines in terms of pure portability. Previously, taking a gaming laptop on the go felt like a complete chore to me, because of my smol bean girl arms. Since switching to the X14, I've taken it with me for walks in the park, on and off the bus during commutes, and many other events. It no longer feels like a major commitment to have to lug around my laptop, its now simply a consideration when I'm packing and leaving.

One consideration I MUST make, however, is battery life. The Alienware X14 R1 sports a pitiful 2 hours of battery life, with battery saving features enabled. This number is so shockingly low, that I consulted with other owners, who report similar numbers. I have heard reports of longer lasting battery life, however they are largely from R2 owners. I can only go off of the numbers my machine has delivered in the last 4 months, which are frankly terrible. This is not a great laptop to bring anywhere without a charging port available, and it massively hurts the productivity aspect of the laptop. With ARM architecture laptops continuing to only grow in popularity, I can't see x86 platform chipsets remaining competitive in the ultra thin market for much longer.

A major positive is Dell opted for a USB-C charger that only pulls 130w. No more proprietary connector is a massive win for X14 owners, and fantastic IO support with two thunderbolt ports is excellent. The unit also features an SD card slot, a full fat HDMI, and full size USB. To achieve this great IO, dell opted to place the ports on the rear of the system. As a mouse user that frequents FPS games, this has caused me zero ergnomic problems in my experience. Beyond that, the unit also sports a beautiful Full HD 144hz display that is precalibrated, and looks excellent out of the box with zero adjustment. Another aspect of the unit I have to give major kudos to is the typing experience. Dell is well known for how great their ultra slim XPS business laptops feel to type on, and I think that expertise and knowledge went far with the X14. While the keys themselves are slim, they have more than enough travel and feel to make typing or wasd'ing feel great. The trackpad is also very precise and smooth, however I find it a bit cramped, due to its compact size. At the premium price the unit sells for, I would've also hoped for one of their cool RGB trackpads, but alas it is not present here.

Finally, its time to talk about performance. For its size and form factor, the performance is simply magical. Using DLSS upscaling, It is more than capable of delivering 60 fps at near max settings in current triple A titles. Where this becomes problematic, however, is when you compare the specs of this unit to its much larger siblings in the laptop world. Simply put, the GPU and CPU suffer heavily from thermal throttling, which is by design. The processor is designed to hit and continously run at its max limit of 100c, and will continously throttle itself down. Likewise, the Nvidia GPU onboard is clocked a lot lower than it is in other laptops. It does hit its reference speeds, however, it feels noticeably slower than a much thicker laptop sporting the same silicon. Today, as far as desktop work, this means very little. Making the unit slow down requires a lot of effort, due to its very high core count and fast accelerated graphics. In terms of gaming, however, the X14 is going to run out of breath a lot faster than its contemporaries, which is a shame. While it manages to do a great job of exhausting air, with its very high airflow passthrough design and vapor chamber exhaust in the rear, it is still hotter than I would want for productivity tasks.

Here are some performance metrics I have provided, using dedicated and popular game based benchmarks.

The X14 R1 is a stylish, durable, ultralight and very powerful laptop that is held back by first generation issues. But, everything that makes it a great portable powerhouse makes it a worthwhile companion in my day to day life. If you are in the market for this form factor of computer, I would highly recommend it with the caveat that you get a protection plan through a retailer that covers more than the manufacturer. Because of the units excess heat, I fear that it's longevity may be questionable in the longterm.