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00:00Okay, so Alienware has this new super-small, super-thin X14 device.
00:05It's a laptop that has a lot of nice features in it.
00:07It's got USB-C charging, it's got phase-change thermal compound, it's got a vapor chamber,
00:12a lot of nice stuff going on, but it's also running Intel's new 12th-gen chips.
00:16Now, normally, when a gaming laptop is made for that, like, super-thin, super-light compact form factor,
00:22it's done with an AMD chip, like Razer's laptop, the Blade 14, as well as Asus's device, the G14.
00:28Both of those are running AMD chips because AMD chips tend to be a little bit cooler.
00:32They use less water, so they're easier to cool in a device that's super-small like this.
00:36So it's kind of like the obvious choice.
00:38And it was interesting that Alienware had big enough balls to be like,
00:42let's cool an Intel chip in the same kind of form factor.
00:45So let's start off with its size.
00:47When they first announced this product in January,
00:50I remember thinking, okay, it's just gonna be a smaller version of the X15 and X17, right?
00:54It's a 14-inch screen.
00:55And it is, because it's a smaller screen, it's a smaller product.
00:58But it's the thinness.
01:00Like, this is a 14.5-millimeter-thick chassis.
01:03And I actually think it's the thinnest gaming laptop you can get on the market.
01:06Like, the thinnest high-performance device you can get on the market.
01:09It's strangely thin, and yet it still has that kind of tanky durability that Alienware products have.
01:15And I think it's because they have, like, a magnesium-alloy chassis.
01:18But it is not super-light.
01:19Both the Blade 14 and the G14 are noticeably lighter than this device.
01:24It's only, like, 100, 150 grams, which doesn't seem like a lot on paper.
01:27But when you pick it up and you're holding it, it is noticeable.
01:30And depending on, like, what you're doing and what you're buying this product for,
01:33you gotta keep that in mind.
01:34It does still have that light-up Alienware logo on the front.
01:37But the iconic ring light on the back of the bigger Alienware devices doesn't show up on the X14.
01:43You do get all of the ports, though.
01:45And I mean all of its ports.
01:46You have three USB-C, one of them being used to charge the system.
01:49You have one USB-A, you have a microSD, as well as the HDMI.
01:53You also have the headphone jack in the back.
01:56And I like ports in the back, but not headphone jacks.
01:59So, one thing I noticed when I was editing videos off of this thing,
02:02the cable, you gotta run it behind the system and then around it,
02:05but it seems to have this tendency to go underneath the screen hinge, right?
02:09Because it's just coming from the back, and then if you close the device, like, it's...
02:12I don't know, I would've preferred it side-mounted.
02:14But there you have it.
02:16All the ports in the back.
02:17So the sides are very clean.
02:19Now, the screen hinge, it is a custom hinge.
02:24And the idea being that they had to build this custom hinge
02:27to be able to keep the device super thin.
02:29And it's a hinge that slides back and forth on a track
02:32when you open and close the device.
02:34It's not something you notice when you use it,
02:36but it is interesting that Alienware put in that effort
02:38just to keep the device a little bit thinner.
02:40Now, the screen is a 14-inch panel,
02:42and it's a really nice-looking screen.
02:44It's fast, it's bright, it's got great colors,
02:47it's got G-Sync, it's got Advanced Optimus.
02:49It is a 1080p panel, but because it's a smaller panel,
02:52it still looks really sharp in terms of pixel density.
02:54And there is a 720p webcam up top.
02:56Now, the keyboard, I think they nailed.
02:58So the competitors, like the G14 from Asus,
03:01the Blade 14 from Razer, they have good keyboards.
03:03I've reviewed them, and I like them.
03:05But this one, to me, is the best of the three.
03:07There's something about just the way it types.
03:09It's got a nice layout, it's got good feedback,
03:11really good mechanics on the keyboard.
03:13I think most people would prefer this keyboard
03:15over the other two.
03:17The trackpad is also really good.
03:19It is on the smaller side,
03:22so the gestures might feel a little cramped,
03:24but the tracking is really nice,
03:26the surface is great texture,
03:28and the click mechanic,
03:30it's just nice and precise.
03:32It's a great trackpad.
03:34Now, performance.
03:36So, this is running the 12700H from Intel,
03:38as well as an RTX 3060.
03:40And the configuration is quite different
03:42from anything else in this category,
03:44in that 14-inch space.
03:46It benchmarks really well in games and apps
03:48that can take advantage of strong multi-core CPU performance.
03:50This is awesome.
03:52And thermally, no problem.
03:54The vapor chamber, the thermal compound,
03:56the fans, whatever they're doing,
03:58it doesn't even have crazy fan noise.
04:00It can handle the heat.
04:02If anything, this could handle another 20,
04:04maybe 30 watts of input,
04:06and it would still be able to handle the heat, okay?
04:08But the problem is wattage.
04:10It's limited by the 130-watt AC adapter
04:12that's plugged up in the back.
04:14This is a USB-C powered system.
04:16And because of that,
04:18there's just no more juice left over
04:20for a high-end GPU.
04:22So they have a 70-watt RTX 3060
04:24at the top end.
04:26And the result is a system that's
04:28kind of in a weird spot.
04:30If your games and apps can take advantage
04:32of great CPU performance,
04:34you're golden.
04:36But for a lot of gamers,
04:38they just want high-end GPUs
04:40in a system like this.
04:42And this doesn't give you
04:44the top-end gaming performance.
04:46But for certain workflows, especially video editing,
04:48this is just a better system.
04:50I do think that the convenience
04:52and kind of universality
04:54of USB-C charging,
04:56that's valuable to some people.
04:58But you can't power the ultra-high-wattage
05:00systems through just USB-C.
05:02At least not yet.
05:04The other feature that's really cool about this device
05:06is the battery life.
05:08So this has an 80-watt-hour battery.
05:10It's pretty big.
05:12And the battery life is significantly longer
05:14than the G14, but it's similar to
05:16what we see in the G14 from Asus.
05:18The RAM is started on. It's DDR5.
05:20But the SSD
05:22and the Wi-Fi card are swappable
05:24if you so choose, or repairable
05:26if you look at it that way.
05:28The speakers on the side here aren't great.
05:30Now I know Alienware has some Dolby software
05:32that they're hyping up, and they supposedly
05:34make these speakers sound better.
05:36But if this is what they sound like
05:38with that software, these things would
05:40sound like complete trash
05:43But they're just no good.
05:45If you're looking for great speakers from a small laptop,
05:47this ain't it.
05:49But the overall product, I love the idea.
05:51The idea of a super-thin,
05:53super-light,
05:55high-end gaming laptop
05:57or performance laptop.
05:59It makes sense.
06:01I'll be honest, I like that this offers
06:03the Intel chip.
06:05I think cooling an Intel chip in a small form factor
06:07like this is difficult.
06:09There's a reason why everyone else has been using AMD.
06:11If you want that CPU performance
06:13and you want that top-end CPU performance
06:15and you want that super-small form factor
06:17this is a good one.
06:19Okay, there you have it, the X14.
06:21Hope you guys enjoyed this video.
06:23Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it.
06:25I'll see you guys next time.