As a side note to all readers out there with an Alienware M14x, Dell has just dropped version A05 of the BIOS for their 14-inch gaming machine. There’s only one change in the new BIOS (at least in the change log), but it is one that makes it more than worthwhile taking the time to update. One thing we took issue with in our review of the M14x was the fan noise, and the fact that the laptop doubles as a blow dryer when you fire up a demanding 3D title. It’s not that we have anything against dual-purpose gadgets, but we figured that most users would find this type of extra functionality undesirable in most cases. This problem was almost exclusively related to games–when the laptop is idle it gives off little or no noise at all, but it is after all a gaming laptop.
At any rate, the list of fixes in the new BIOS has just one line that reads “improve fan noise”, and it actually works! Instead of revving up to full speed at the first sign of heavy load, the fans will now scale between several intermediate levels with much lower average fan noise as a results. Obviously it will still go full speed ahead in the most taxing games or parts of games, but the overall noise level has been reduced, bringing the M14x one step closer to perfection. Get the new BIOS from Dell’s support pages by entering your service tag or navigating through the model names under “drivers and downloads”.
The downside to this update is that the temperature will be allowed to climb a little higher, but not by many degrees and certainly not dangerously high. The tradeoff is nevertheless worth it and flashing your M14x with Dell’s official BIOS is hardly something that should void your warranty. However, always be careful when flashing the BIOS, because if something goes awfully wrong (e.g. a power outage) during the process you will be left with a very expensive doorstop. Close all running applications before flashing and make sure it’s attached to the mains.
