Last year, Alienware went thin with its X-series gaming laptops. At CES 2022, it's also going small. The company claims its Alienware x14 is the thinnest 14-inch gaming notebook and the first 14-inch laptop with Nvidia's G-Sync and Advanced Optimus display tech. Additionally, Alienware is refreshing the Alienware x15 and x17 as well as its Intel-based m15 (it announced the refresh of the AMD-based m15 earlier today).
But the x14, the thinnest ever Alienware laptop, is perhaps the most exciting from an engineering perspective. The laptop, at 0.57 inches thin, could be small enough for someone to easily travel with, though we'll have to see what battery life is like. Alienware has achieved this thin design with a patent-pending hinge that folds flatter by creating space in the chassis that it folds into. Additionally, it charges exclusively over USB Type-C, which we haven't seen before in a gaming laptop.
The x14 will pack Intel's new Core i7-12700H or Core i7-12900H. Both are 14-core/20-thread CPUs, but the former has a max turbo frequency of 4.7 GHz while the later is listed as hitting 5 GHz. For graphics, you can pick between an Nvidia RTX 3050, RTX 3050 Ti, or RTX 3060. On systems with an RTX 3060, maximum graphics power is 85W with a 60W TGP and 25W dynamic boost.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Alienware x14 | Alienware x15 R2 | Alienware X17 R2 | Alienware m15 R7 (Intel) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Up to Intel Core i7-12900H | Up to Intel Core i7-12900H | Up to Intel Core i7-12900HK | TBD |
| GPU | Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 (6GB GDDR6) | "Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series laptop graphics" | "Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series laptop graphics" | TBD |
| Display | 14-inch, 1920 x 1080, 144 Hz, Nvidia G-Sync | 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080 (165 Hz or 460 Hz) or 2560 x 1440 (240 Hz), Nvidia G-Sync | 17.3-inch, 1920 x 1080 (165 or 3654 Hz), 4K (120 Hz), Nvidia G-Sync | TBD |
| RAM | Up to 32GB LPDDR5-5200 (soldered) | Up to 32GB LPDDR5-5200 (soldered) | Up to 32GB DDR5-4800, (slotted) | TBD |
| Storage | Up to 2TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD | Up to 4TB RAID 0 (2x 2TB PCIe SSD) | Up to 4TB RAID 0 (2x 2TB PCIe SSD) | TBD |
| Battery | 80 WHr | 87 WHr | 87 WHr | TBD |
| Connectivity | Killer AX1690i or Intel AX211, Bluetooth 5.2 | Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1675 (6E pre-certified), Bluetooth 5.2 | Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1675 (6E pre-certified), Bluetooth 5.2 | TBD |
| Starting Price | $1,799 | $2,199 | $2,299 | $2,749 |
For the x14, Alienware isn't using the four-fan design that it uses on the X15 and X17, but people who configure the smaller laptop with an RTX 3060 will still get the company’s "Element 31" thermal interface material.
There's a bit less RGB lighting on the x14 than its larger siblings. There’s no lighting on the back oval, which forms a ring around the x15 and x17's ports.
The x15 and x17 are also seeing boosts to Intel's 12th Gen processors, going up the Intel Core i7-12900H on the x15 and the unlocked Core i0-12900HK on the x17. Both start with an RTX 3060 for graphics, and the company hasn't yet named the other graphics options, other than that they will be in Nvidia's RTX 30 series, which suggests an imminent refresh of some kind. Our guess is an RTX 3080 Ti.
The entire X series is being bumped up to DDR5 RAM, which is soldered on the x14 and x15 but slotted in (meaning replaceable) on the x17.
Lastly, the Intel version of the Alienware R7 is also seeing an upgrade. (The AMD version of the R7 was introduced this morning, timed with AMD's keynote.)
