Alienware x14 vs. XPS 13 Plus?

HiggsField

Junior Member
Dec 19, 2021
5
1
41
I'm having a hard time choosing between these two laptops. First of all, I should clarify that I already have a high-end desktop computer which I use at home. I need to buy a laptop for work (I'm a university professor), but I still need it to have the highest performance possible while maintaining portability. The laptop will be used for:

* Scientific computing (utilizes mostly CPU, but also some GPU, depending on the specific task)
* Video editing
* Normal stuff that doesn't require super high performance, like web browsing, showing slides and videos when teaching, and so on.

I don't really need the laptop to support gaming, because I'm obviously not going to be gaming at work, but it would be nice if it did support gaming, for the rare occasions where I want to game on the laptop, for example while traveling. However, that's not mandatory since my desktop PC is where I do all of my gaming.

The reason I'm looking at the Alienware x14 even though I do not intend to game on it is that I want a small and portable laptop I can carry with me around campus and when traveling, so I'm only looking at 13-14" ones, and this is pretty much the only 14" laptop currently available in Canada that has the latest specs (Intel 12th Gen CPU, DDR5, etc.). Plus, with a gaming laptop I can be sure that it's designed for maximum performance.

There are some 14" options with AMD 6xxx series CPUs also available in Canada right now, such as the Razer Blade 14, but I prefer Intel 12th Gen due to the much larger number of cores, and the Razer only comes with up to 16 GB, while I need 32 GB.

In both cases I'm considering the maxed-out specs. Here is a comprehensive comparison:

CPU:
* Alienware x14: i7-12700H at 45W
* XPS 13 Plus: i7-1280P at 28W
* Comparison: Both CPUs are very similar, with 14 cores (6P+8E) and 20 threads, 24 MB cache, and up to 4.7 GHz turbo frequency (the i7-1280P actually goes up to 4.8 GHz). The only difference is the power, with the i7-12700H having more base power (45W vs. 28W) and turbo power. I would imagine that the i7-12700H will be faster since it can use more power, but it's very hard to find any benchmarks for the i7-1280P since it's so new, so I have no idea how the CPUs really compare.

GPU:
* Alienware x14: NVIDIA RTX 3060 (discrete)
* XPS 13 Plus: Intel Iris Xe (integrated)
* Comparison: Obviously the GPU on the x14 is going to be much better. The question is, how better and for which applications. In terms of gaming, I can't imagine that the integrated GPU on the XPS 13 Plus is going to be of much use with the latest games, certainly not at the native 3.5K resolution, but like I said, I don't really plan to game on it. The question is whether the internal GPU be sufficient for video editing and some scientific computing tasks that utilize the GPU, but I'm not really sure what the answer is since most benchmarks only compare gaming FPS.

Memory: Same on both, 32 GB LPDDR5 at 5200 MHz.

Storage: Same on both, 2 TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. Of course, the actual drives could have different levels of performance, but since there are no reviews of the XPS 13 Plus yet that provide performance numbers on the SSD, there's no way to know how they compare. However, I imagine both will perform roughly the same.

Display:
* Alienware x14: 14", 1920x1080, 144 Hz, Non-Touch, 400 nits, 1700:1 contrast ratio
* XPS 13 Plus: 13.4", 3456x2160, 60 Hz, Touch, 400 nits, OLED
* Comparison: HUGE win for the XPS 13 Plus, as the display is roughly the same size (only an 0.6" difference) but has a much higher resolution, is a touch screen, and most importantly, it's an OLED display. I've seen a few laptops with OLED displays, and the improvement compared to LCD displays is very noticeable! Really the only downside of the XPS 13 Plus is the low 60 Hz refresh rate, but since I'm not going to be gaming on this laptop, I don't think that matters much.

Size and weight:
* Alienware x14: 321.5 x 262.8 x 14.5 mm, 1.84 kg
* XPS 13 Plus: 295.3 x 199.0 x 15.3 mm, 1.26 kg
* Comparison: Again, HUGE win for the XPS 13 Plus in terms of portability, as it is 2.6 cm less wide, 6.4 cm less deep, and 580 g lighter. Really the only thing the x14 has going for it is that it's 0.8 cm thinner, but honestly thickness is the last thing I care about in a laptop, the desk and bag footprint is much more important.

Connectivity:
* Alienware x14: 1 USB-A port, 3 USB-C ports (2 of which support Thunderbolt 4), 1 headset port, 1 HDMI 2.1 port.
* XPS 13 Plus: 2 USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4.
* Comparison: HUGE advantage for the Alienware x14 here. On the XPS 13 Plus there are only 2 ports, but even worse, the charger connects to one of these 2 ports, meaning that you really only have just 1 Thunderbolt 4 port and THAT'S IT. This isn't a deal breaker, but it does means I will need to buy a Thunderbolt 4 hub and carry it with me wherever I go so I can connect to USB-A, HDMI, and/or a headset, which reduces the portability of this laptop.

Price:
* Alienware x14: 3,000 CAD
* XPS 13 Plus: 3,250 CAD
* Comparison: Honestly, the price difference is negligible, and besides, this goes out of my expense account at work (it has a limit, of course, but an extra $250 isn't going to make much of a difference).

Keyboard + touch pad:
* Alienware x14: Has a pretty standard keyboard and touch pad. I love the full-sized arrow keys and the dedicated volume and mute keys on the right.
* XPS 13 Plus: Has a "futuristic" keyboard with the up/down arrow keys mushed together, and the function keys are replaced with a "capacitive touch function row". The touch pad is "seamless" with no indication where it starts or ends.
* Comparison: I feel like the capacitive function keys on the XPS 13 Plus would be annoying to use, but I won't know how annoying until I actually try them out. I do think it's something I could get used to over time, though. The "seamless" touch pad on the XPS 13 Plus is getting a lot of negative feedback - personally I actually like the idea, but I don't get why they couldn't at least mark where the touch pad starts and ends with a slightly difference color or something. Overall I think the Alienware x14 definitely wins in this category, but only because it's similar to what I'm already used to from other laptops - so I'm willing to give the XPS 13 Plus a chance.

Conclusions:

The Alienware x14 has a faster CPU (pending benchmarks on the i7-1280P, but it's a reasonable assumption) and GPU and a much better port selection, but the XPS 13 Plus is smaller and lighter, and thus much more portable, and in addition has a much better display.

So basically it comes down to the following questions, which I would love to gets feedback on from you:

1. How do the CPUs compare? Does the difference power (45W vs. 28W) translate to a very significant performance boost for the Alienware x14? In demanding tasks such as video editing and scientific computing (simulations, data analysis, machine learning, etc.), how much more performance should I expect from the Alienware x14's i7-12700H compared to the XPS 13 Plus's i7-1280P?
2. How do the GPUs compare? Of course, I know the Iris Xe integrated GPU will not have features like ray tracing or G-Sync, and I assume it won't be able to run the latest games in playable FPS, but like I said, I don't intend to game on this laptop except on rare occasions. In non-gaming but demanding tasks that utilize the GPU, such as video editing and scientific computing, how much more performance should I expect from the Alienware x14's RTX 3060 compared to the XPS 13 Plus's Iris Xe?

If the Alienware x14 provides, let's say, 50% better CPU performance and 50% better GPU performance, then it might be worth giving up the extra portability and OLED display for. However, if I only get 10% better performance overall for the applications I intend to use the laptop for, then I might go for the XPS 13 Plus instead.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 

lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
2,778
528
126
It looks like you mostly already have an idea what the differences are.

Graphics wise the 3060 is going to destroy integrated graphics by a lot more than 50%. I'll scare up some benchmarks in a bit. Of course this is going to depend on whether or not a given software package can make use of the graphics hardware. To know that you will need to specify exactly what software you will be using or investigate this yourself.

The 2 laptops are quite different with the little one having a much better screen and better portability and the bigger one being much more powerful.
 

HiggsField

Junior Member
Dec 19, 2021
5
1
41
Thanks for your reply. Damn... 402% is a HUGE difference. Interestingly, the same site tells me the i7-12700H is only 12% faster than the i7-1280P, so if it was only about the CPU, I guess the XPS 13 Plus would be the better choice - since I get the better screen and portability with only a 12% loss of performance.

But the lack of discrete GPU does seem to be a significant drawback. The question is, if I'm not gaming, how much do I really need that discrete GPU? For example, let's say I'm editing a 4K video in Premiere Pro. Will I be able to preview effects in real time on the Iris Xe? Will video encoding and rendering be significantly slower on the Iris Xe compared to the RTX 3060?

Of course in my case there is also the scientific computing aspect, but no one seems to be benchmarking that, not to mention that some of my projects I programmed myself, so I would need access to the actual GPU to benchmark them in the first place. But is it fair to assume that scientific computing software that uses the GPU will be able to run 400% faster on the RTX 3060?


1651716136476.png
 

HiggsField

Junior Member
Dec 19, 2021
5
1
41
Thanks. It's not clear to me from Adobe's page whether the Mercury Playback Engine would work on the Iris Xe. (On my desktop it uses my NVIDIA GPU, but my desktop doesn't have integrated graphics.) However, I imagine even if Mercury can use the Iris Xe, it would work much better with the RTX 3060. And according to that page, Premiere Pro can also split the work between the integrated and discrete GPUs, using the former for encoding/decoding and UI and the latter for effects and playback, which would presumably result in even better performance.

I'm actually considering another option now: the XPS 15. Comes with an i7-12700H (i9-12900HK is also available, but benchmarks show it's only 2% faster, so seems like a waste of money), 32 GB of DDR5 memory (however, only 4800 MHz instead of 5200 MHz), an RTX 3050 Ti, a 2TB SSD, and a 3.5K OLED display that seems to be a larger version of the one on the XPS 13 Plus.

The XPS 15 weighs 1.96 kg which is about the same as the Alienware x14, and dimensions are 344.4 x 230.1 x 18.5 mm, so it's 2.3 cm wider but actually 3.3 cm less deep, although the total volume is fairly larger (1466 cm^3 compared to 1225 cm^3 on the x14).

So on the surface, the CPU should give the same performance, and the GPU is less good (the RTX 3060 is 49% faster and has 2 GB more memory) but it's still a discrete GPU and 238% faster than the Iris Xe, so it's probably good enough for my use. And on the other hand it does have that awesome 3.5K OLED display (and with no bezels, compared to the huge bezels on the x14...), so it combines the performance of the x14 with the aesthetics of the XPS. It's not nearly as portable as the XPS 13 Plus, but seems to be roughly the same as the x14 in terms of portability.

However, the question is how does performance really compare between the XPS 15 and Alienware x14. The x14 is a gaming laptop, so presumably it is geared towards maximum performance and has an advanced cooling solution that can keep the CPU and GPU cooler and running at high clock speeds for longer. I suspect the XPS 15 may not reach the same level of performance despite having the same CPU. And I found literally no reviews of the new 2022 (Alder Lake) model of the XPS 15, so I have no idea what to expect in terms of performance, while I know the Alienware x14 has excellent performance based on reviews and benchmarks.

Any insights would be appreciated!
 

lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
2,778
528
126
Sorry I don't have any specific knowledge beyond what you already know.
 

Super Spartan

Member
Aug 1, 2020
126
44
101
I have the Dell XPS 13 as you can see from my signature. STAY AWAY from this laptop! It is only good for internet browsing. Watching movies on it is a nightmare, they are very jerky no matter what video player I tried compared to any laptop with even a 3 year old dedicated graphics.

As for the X series of Alienware. I have bought and returned 3 already, they were x15 R2 and those laptop reach a 100C with any task you throw at them even just unzipping a large file will cause all cores to reach 100C instantly and thermal throttle to 2.5 GHz. I would recommend you go for a laptop like the MSI GS66 Stealth or even better, any Zephyrus G14 or G15 model with an AMD CPU which doesn't overheat, those have 6-8 hours of battery life, superb performance, not expensive
 
  • Like
Reactions: igor_kavinski

lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
2,778
528
126
I have the Dell XPS 13 as you can see from my signature. STAY AWAY from this laptop! It is only good for internet browsing. Watching movies on it is a nightmare, they are very jerky no matter what video player I tried compared to any laptop with even a 3 year old dedicated graphics.
It seems to me like there must be some weird compatibility issue, setting issue, driver issue or something because a phone, a Chromecast or a Roku can play movies all day long. I can't believe a fairly modern i7 can't play a movie.
 

Super Spartan

Member
Aug 1, 2020
126
44
101
It seems to me like there must be some weird compatibility issue, setting issue, driver issue or something because a phone, a Chromecast or a Roku can play movies all day long. I can't believe a fairly modern i7 can't play a movie.
i7 has nothing to do with video playback. You can't get around a crappy graphics card.
 

Super Spartan

Member
Aug 1, 2020
126
44
101
It seems to me like there must be some weird compatibility issue, setting issue, driver issue or something because a phone, a Chromecast or a Roku can play movies all day long. I can't believe a fairly modern i7 can't play a movie.
I have tested so many laptops recently and that's the only decent laptop now that doesn't overheat. Or any laptop with an AMD CPU for that matter like the ASUS Zephyrus G14 or G15. I would not buy a laptop with an Intel CPU right now. They all overheat, great specs on paper, come to use them, they all overheat and thermal throttle. AMD CPUs are a different tory.
 

lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
2,778
528
126
i7 has nothing to do with video playback. You can't get around a crappy graphics card.
The iGPU included with that i7 should be easily able to play a video. If it can't something is wrong. Saying that a modern i7 can't play a video is just ridiculous. The problem must be elsewhere.

For example are you streaming this video? If so the higher resolution of the screen might trigger a higher quality stream and you might be network limited.

Something is fishy.

Screenshot_20220510-110423_Drive.jpg
 
Last edited:

Super Spartan

Member
Aug 1, 2020
126
44
101
The iGPU included with that i7 should be easily able to play a video. If it can't something is wrong. Saying that a modern i7 can't play a video is just ridiculous. The problem must be elsewhere.

For example are you streaming this video? If so the higher resolution of the screen might trigger a higher quality stream and you might be network limited.

Something is fishy.

View attachment 61287

That could be it because if I play an FHD YouTube video all is good. Then I go to try a 4K HDR video to see how beautiful supposedly my OLED screen is supposed to be, it's all stuttery and jerky (I have a 1GBPS connection so it's not the connection). The same goes for watching movies locally on the computer, 4K plays well but is not consistently smooth, you would get a stutter every now and then which spoils the experience.
 

lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
2,778
528
126
I have a 1GBPS connection so it's not the connection
Not to be pedantic but I bet you have a 1 Gbps connection which might be 8 times slower than you expect. Also the bottleneck could be anywhere, not necessarily at your end.

Local files should play without issue as long as your SSD isn't clogged up.
 
Last edited: