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  • (upbeat music)

  • - So this is Alienware's new gaming laptop, the X14.

  • As you might've guessed from its name,

  • it has a 14-inch screen.

  • As well as being more portable than the X15 or X17,

  • the X14 still packs a good amount of power under the hood

  • with Intel's latest 12th gen processors,

  • up to NVIDIA's RTX 3060 graphics

  • and speedy DDR5 RAM clocked at 5,200 megahertz.

  • That is much faster than what's currently available

  • in most gaming laptops right now.

  • Designwise, the X14 looks identical to the X15 and X17.

  • Its bottom chassis is black, while the top lid that encases

  • the 14-inch 1080p display is clad

  • in Alienware's Lunar Light colorway,

  • It has a 14.5 millimeter thick chassis

  • that Alienware claims is the thinnest

  • of any 14-inch gaming laptop currently available.

  • Though importantly, it doesn't feel compromised in any way.

  • In the short time that I got to handle the X14

  • it's keyboard delivered a solid typing experience,

  • much like the X15 that we reviewed before.

  • The track pad feels generously sized

  • and it has plenty of ports

  • including two Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI 2.1 port,

  • a microSD card slot and more.

  • Alienware is by no means the first company

  • to produce a 14-inch gaming laptop.

  • Asus's ROG Zephyrus G14 has been

  • one of the go-to gaming laptops for people.

  • And companies like Acer and Razor joined the ring

  • with 14-inch models in 2020.

  • Alienware traditionally doesn't entertain the idea

  • of making laptops for casual gamers,

  • but the X14 seems to be exactly that,

  • a solid gaming laptop for people who don't sweat

  • the graphical details too much.

  • The best GPU that you can get in the X14

  • is the Midrange RTX 3060.

  • So in other words,

  • it should deliver a pretty smooth experience,

  • but don't expect it to run every game

  • at its highest graphical settings.

  • The X14 is one of many gaming laptops being announced

  • as CES 2022 that supports speedy DDR5 RAM.

  • The X14 supports up to 32 gigabytes of it

  • clocked at 5,200 megahertz.

  • If you're interested in buying one of these laptops,

  • you should think twice about how much memory you want.

  • As Alienware told us that due to the X14's

  • thin form factor, the RAM is soldered onto the board

  • and can't be upgraded after you purchase it.

  • That's the case for the X15 and X17 for 2022 as well,

  • which is unfortunate, but not exactly unprecedented.

  • There's better news for the storage in the X14 though.

  • It has a single M.2 SSD slot,

  • allowing up to two terabytes of storage

  • and it can be upgraded manually after you buy it.

  • In case you need to make the swap later on.

  • As always, we won't know how this laptop performs

  • until we get our hands on it.

  • (tinkling music)

  • Alienware has a few other exciting CES announcements,

  • giving gamers a lot to look forward to in 2022.

  • Starting with the most exciting one,

  • it's launching a 34-inch curved Quantum.OLED gaming monitor

  • with a panel sourced from Samsung.

  • And I want this thing, give it to me.

  • The QD-OLED monitor has an 1800R curve.

  • At its native 3440x1400 resolution,

  • Alienware's OLED display has a 175 Hertz refresh rate

  • through display port or up to 100 Hertz

  • via its HDMI 2.0 ports at the same resolution.

  • Alienware says its Samsung OLED panel has a quantum dot

  • pixel layer, which gives a better color uniformity

  • for PCs with a recent NVIDIA graphics card inside

  • this monitor supports G-Sync Ultimate,

  • which in addition to making your games look smoother

  • with adaptive sync, promises lifelike HDR,

  • and better picture quality overall

  • than other G-Sync monitors.

  • And in case you were curious,

  • you can of course use this monitor

  • with the Xbox Series X or PS5,

  • but it's positioned more as a high end PC gaming monitor

  • than one that's tailor made for consoles.

  • The dim lighting during its CES hands-on demo,

  • made for an ideal scenario to see the perks

  • of OLED inaction.

  • It was running a demo of Destiny 2,

  • and the game's worlds look crisp, bright and vibrant.

  • I almost didn't want to keep looking because I knew

  • it just made me want it more.

  • Alienware intends to begin shipping the QD-OLED

  • in March 2022.

  • But sadly, we don't know the price yet,

  • but don't expect it to be cheap though.

  • (upbeat music)

  • Alienware also has some conceptual plans that could turn

  • into something really cool.

  • Concept Nyx is Alienware's vision to let you stream

  • multiple PC games around the house to a variety of screens,

  • all from just one machine.

  • The pitch sounds like something out of a commercial.

  • Imagine you're playing Cyberpunk 2077 on your PC display,

  • but you wanna move into the living room

  • and play on a bigger TV.

  • The idea is that you'll just be able to tap a button

  • in the app, your game will swap displays.

  • Then you can just hog the living room TV all to yourself,

  • or go split screen next to a buddy on the couch.

  • But compared to services like Google Studio

  • or NVIDIA GeForce NOW, Concept Nyx is based on the idea

  • that you'll be running the games at home

  • on a dedicated machine,

  • then distributing the streams over WiFi.

  • And the company was actually able to pull off this demo

  • for us successfully.

  • Alienware says it's working on streaming

  • up to four games at once,

  • regardless of where you bought your PC game.

  • Be it Steam, Epic Game Store or elsewhere.

  • There's still a lot up in the air though,

  • like internet requirements,

  • whether Alienware intends to make its own PC hardware,

  • when that might be, and importantly,

  • how much it all might cost.

  • Alienware discontinued its original graphics amplifier

  • last year, but it's already resurrecting the idea.

  • Alienware showed us Concept Polaris,

  • its next to External GPU Enclosure coming out this winter.

  • Unlike the previous model that used a proprietary port

  • on older Alienware laptops,

  • Polaris connects via Thunderbolt 4.

  • In case you're unfamiliar with the concept of eGPU,

  • it'll basically boost the graphical power of your laptop.

  • Assuming it has one of those ports, and assuming you can

  • actually get your hands on a powerful desktop GPU

  • to put in a separate Enclosure.

  • The Polaris should technically work with any laptop

  • as a Thunderbolt 4 port that you'll get more customization

  • options when you plug it into one of Alienware's laptops,

  • since it has the company's software pre-installed.

  • You'll be able to change things like the color

  • of the Polaris' LEDs, as well as control its power levels

  • and temperature limit.

  • Concept Polaris has a more fetching design

  • than Alienware's previous eGPU.

  • And it seems built to allow for excellent cooling

  • with large honeycomb pattern intakes on its size.

  • This Enclosure will be able to fit

  • up to NVIDIA's big RTX 3090.

  • And to make room for big graphics cards to fit inside

  • while keeping such a sleek profile,

  • it ships with two external power bricks,

  • instead of trying to cram a power supply inside of it.

  • Alienware didn't have a price for Polaris,

  • but it said it'll be coming out shortly in early 2022.

  • Also, Alienware didn't share any performance metrics

  • for how much it will boost your laptops performance.

  • But if it's anything like previous eGPUs,

  • it should be able to add some extra frames to your gameplay.

  • Just don't expect it to be one-to-one performance

  • with the gaming desktop though.

  • I'm gonna get it on the first try.

  • The best GPU that you can get in the...

  • the best GPU that you can get...

  • The best GPU that you can get in it,

  • is the Midrange RTX 3060, so...

  • Easier said than done.

  • (Cameron laughs)

(upbeat music)

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