Alienware M14xr3

The Alienware M14xr3 ($2,002.99 direct), as indicated by its 1.49?inch thick chassis and 6.38-pound weight, packs a roster of powerful parts that are rarely seen in a 14-inch laptop. It's filled to the brim with wireless features like integrated wireless HD (adapter included), Killer Wireless-N Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. And its Nvidia GPU and Core i7 processor are powerful enough to take on DirectX 11 games (on medium settings) and run through intensive multimedia tasks. Unfortunately, the amount of heat it emits is enough to qualify it as a mini space heater.

Design
Alienware laptops are made for gamers, which means the design has a "bling" factor. Two red grills glow on the bottom front of the chassis, and the keyboard also glows red (you can change the lighting within the Alienware Command Center). The keys are in the traditional style, rather than the isolated chiclet style that has become so popular among laptop manufacturers. These keys felt soft and springy under my fingers and provided one of the better typing experiences I've encountered on a laptop. The soft rubberized texture integrated into the palm rest?as well as the rest of the laptop?over its magnesium frame provided some traction while typing and adds to its unique design. The touchpad is made of plastic and provided a smooth navigating experience. The mouse buttons were quiet and easy to click.

The laptop's 14-inch widescreen displays in 1,600-by-900 resolution?a rare find. Most 14-inch laptops sport a 1,366 by 768 resolution, like the HP Envy 14 (Sandy Bridge) and Dell XPS 14z ($1,299 direct, 4 stars). And as mentioned before, most 14-inch laptops?and 15-inch laptops, for that matter?don't weigh over six pounds and support a chassis with such girth. The Sony VAIO VPC-SE16FX/S ($1,249.99 direct, 4 stars) (4.4 pounds), Asus N55SF-A1 ($1,249.99 list, 4 stars) (6.1 pounds), and Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (late 2011) ($1,799 direct, 4 stars) (5.5 pounds)?all 15-inch laptops?weigh less than the M14xr3. Perhaps, if Alienware had dropped the slot-loading DVD drive in favor of lightening the load it would have made for a better traveling companion. But as it is, you'll probably want to consider something like the Alienware M11xr3 ($1,099 direct, 4 stars) if you're looking to game on the go.

Features
The M14xr3's huge price point largely comes from its added features, the Killer Wireless-N 1333 being one of the most important. This Wi-Fi card is able to stream up to 450Mbps, and its Advanced Stream Detect technology is able to intelligently classify and prioritize network traffic (e.g., streaming a movie vs. connecting to World of Warcraft). Other wireless features include Bluetooth for connecting peripherals and Wireless HD (WiHD) (a technology similar to that of Intel's WiDi), which transmits your computer's contents to an HDTV in 1080p. It can also stream protected content, like Blu-rays, just like WiDi 2.0. Alienware provides a receiver, instead of making you pay $100 extra for a Netgear Push2TV box ($99 list) as most WiDi-equipped laptops do. The M14xr3 also comes with all the right ports, including VGA, mini-DisplayPort, and HDMI video outputs, a USB 2.0 that doubles as a charging dock for your USB devices, two USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet jack, a multi-format card reader (MMC, SD, MS/Pro), and two headphone jacks and a microphone jack.

Its 750GB hard drive spins at a fast 7,200rpm?one of the fastest you can get on a laptop without resorting to a solid-state or flash memory drive. The hard drive is also the largest you can get in this size chassis. It should provide plenty of space to store all your games and files with room to spare; if not, you can always take advantage of the USB 3.0 port to transfer your files to an external hard drive.

Performance
The M14xr3 comes equipped with a 2.2GHz Intel Core i7-2670QM processor, 8GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GT 555M (3GB) graphics chipset. It was able to play through all of our test games on medium settings and 1,024 by 768 resolution. It posted 58 frames per second (fps) on DirectX 9 Lost Planet 2; 77 fps on DirectX 10 Crysis; and 39 fps on DirectX 11 Lost Planet 2. However, the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Late 2011), running Boot Camp, managed better frame rates, with 81 fps in Crysis and 66.7 fps in Lost Planet 2. The MacBook Pro was also able to garner playable results in Lost Planet 2 (DX9) on its highest settings at native resolution (30.4fps), where the M14xr3 fell to 24.7 fps (13 fps in Crysis). The next laptop to come close to the M14xr3 in terms of gaming performance was the Asus N55SF-A1 (77.2 fps in Crysis and 55.3 fps in Lost Planet 2).

The M14xr3's high-powered parts are squeezed into a smaller chassis, which means that heat builds up faster. During game tests, the laptop's keyboard registered a temperature of 107.5 degrees, palm rest registered 96.5 degrees, and underside registered a sizzling 114 degrees Fahrenheit (as measured by our Fluke thermometer).

In day-to-day productivity tests, the M14xr3 was tops in PCMark 7 (2,749) compared with the MacBook Pro (2,235) and Asus N55SF-A1 (2,482). It encoded a video in Handbrake in 1 minute 30 seconds and completed our Photoshop CS5 script in 3:39?the same time it took for the MacBook Pro to complete both tests.

The M14xr3's 8-cell, 63Wh battery performed well, lasting 4 hours 18 minutes on our MobileMark 2007 battery test, thanks mainly to the Optimus technology integrated within the Nvidia graphics chip. Optimus is an automatic graphics-switching technology that flips between the discrete GPU for 3D-intensive tasks such as gaming and integrated graphics for routine applications. However, the Asus N55SF-A1's 56Wh battery (4:39) and MacBook Pro's 77.5Wh battery (5:26) lasted longer.

The Alienware M14xr3 is the middle child of the Alienware family. Its weight makes it better suited to a life as a desktop replacement, but if you're looking to go that route you might as well splurge for the Editors' Choice Alienware M17x (Sandy Bridge) ($2,254 direct, 4.5 stars), which provides better heat dissipation and has a bigger screen. Meanwhile, if you're looking to game on the road, you're better off leaning toward the Editors' Choice Alienware M11xr3. But if you can do without the expensive extras, like Killer Wireless-N Wi-Fi and Wireless HD, the Asus N55SF-A1 (which costs $753 less) and Editors' Choice Apple MacBook Pro (which costs $203 less) might be better options for a pure-performance gaming machine.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Alienware M14xr3 with several other laptops side by side.

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??? Alienware M14xr3
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??? Sony VAIO VPC-F237FX/B
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