The ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 offers a portable and budget-friendly option with good screen quality, making it suitable for general use and everyday tasks. In contrast, the Dell Alienware X17 R2, with its higher price, delivers superior performance for demanding activities such as gaming, 3D rendering, and engineering work. The Dell also has a larger screen size, but this comes at the cost of reduced portability and a shorter battery life than the ASUS. If top-tier performance and gaming are your priorities, the Dell is better suited for you; however, for casual use and mobility, the ASUS is a more appropriate choice. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the ASUS Vivobook Pro 14
Very good portability
Good battery life
Advantages of the Dell Alienware X17 R2
Very good for general use
Excellent for engineering and design
Very good for gaming and AI
Very good for content creation
Very good overall build quality
Best in class speakers
Very good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
7.0/10
8.2/10
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
385.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
367.0 nits
8.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
2.0 Hours
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
8.2/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.0/10
The Dell Alienware X17 R2 is very good for general use, while the ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 is good.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Gaming and AI
6.1/10
8.9/10
3.7/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.3/10
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
90Hz
REFRESH RATE
480Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
7.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.0/10
The Dell Alienware X17 R2 is very good for gaming and AI, while the ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 is only fair.
The Dell Alienware X17 R2 excels in gaming and 3D applications due to its high-end Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti graphics card and an extremely high screen refresh rate, which are crucial for smooth, detailed visuals and responsive gameplay. In contrast, the ASUS Vivobook Pro 14’s lower-tier Intel Iris Xe graphics and modest refresh rate make it suitable for less demanding games and 3D tasks, prioritizing battery life and portability over raw performance.
Engineering and Design
7.0/10
9.1/10
5.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.4/10
3.7/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.3/10
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
The Dell Alienware X17 R2 is excellent for engineering and design, while the ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 is good.
The Dell Alienware X17 R2 outshines the ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 in engineering and design use due to its higher-end CPU, substantially more RAM, and far superior GPU, which greatly enhance performance for demanding tasks, despite being less portable and noisier. While the ASUS Vivobook offers a high-resolution OLED screen favorable for design clarity and accurate colors, the Alienware's larger screen size and higher refresh rate cater well to engineering simulations and any design work requiring a more expansive workspace.
Content Creation
7.3/10
8.3/10
5.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.4/10
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Dell Alienware X17 R2 is very good for content creation, while the ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
7.2/10
7.8/10
5.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.4/10
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Dell Alienware X17 R2 and ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 are both good for software development, though the Dell Alienware X17 R2 is somewhat better.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
8.4/10
8.5/10
14.0in
SIZE
17.3in
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
90Hz
REFRESH RATE
480Hz
385.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
367.0 nits
The ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 has a better screen than the Dell Alienware X17 R2 for general use, and engineering and design, while the Dell Alienware X17 R2 has a better screen for gaming and AI, content creation, and software development.
The ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 and Dell Alienware X17 R2 both boast panels with high resolution and brightness, ensuring crisp and vivid displays suitable for everyday tasks. Their ability to cover broader color gamuts like DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB is critical for professionals in engineering and design, allowing for accurate color representation necessary for their work. However, for gaming and 3D applications, the refresh rate is key for smooth visuals, and if these laptops have lower refresh rates, they may not provide the fluid experience desired despite their resolution and panel quality.
Battery
8.0 Hours
2.0 Hours
The ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 has 8 hours of battery life. The Dell Alienware X17 R2 has 2 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Very Good
Fair
14.0in
SIZE
17.3in
3.0 lbs
WEIGHT
6.8 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
0.8in
The ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 has very good portability, while the Dell Alienware X17 R2 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
7.4/10
8.5/10
The Dell Alienware X17 R2 has very good build quality, while the ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$548
$2,000
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 has a price of $548 and the Dell Alienware X17 R2 costs $2,000.
"The Asus Vivobook Pro 14 OLED is a Pantone Validated laptop that packs a lot of processing power. The Asus VivoBook Pro 14 OLED's highlight is its outstanding display: Featuring a 3K resolution in the 16:10 format and nearly a 100% coverage of the Display P3 color space, the display hardly leaves anything to be desired. The Asus laptop also shows impeccable rates in terms of general system performance. Combined with long battery life, low noise emissions, and relatively good speakers, the laptop can be recommended to users who can accept compromises in terms of connectivity."
"The Alienware x17 R2 recognizes targets a significantly higher TGP of 175 W for a roughly 30 percent performance boost over laptops running on the ~100 W GeForce RTX 3080 Ti like the Razer Blade 15 or Gigabyte Aero YE5. Similar results can be found through the CPU as well. This single aspect of the Alienware is perhaps the biggest differentiating factor between it and other ultrathin gaming laptops. Of course, the "performance at all cost" approach comes with drawbacks. Power consumption in particular is through the roof and battery life suffers because of it even when on the lowest performance settings."
Get a great deal on the ASUS Vivobook Pro 14 or the Dell Alienware X17 R2
About ASUS
ASUS, a Taiwanese electronics brand, is one of the largest personal computer vendor by market share. The majority of their laptops are targeted towards personal use or gaming. Their most popular product lines include the budget-friendly VivoBook, more premium ZenBook, and their TUF and ROG gaming laptops, the latter of which has a reputation for excellent gaming performance.
About Dell
Dell is a highly recognizable American technology company, and is one of the largest personal computer vendor by market share. Their laptops are very popular for both personal and professional use, and they also own the Alienware brand which makes mid to high end gaming laptops. Their premium XPS range of laptops offer great build quality and portability, while Latitude and Precision laptops are known for reliability, repairability and performance for business users.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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