Hello, could I get a little help?

Hello everyone,

A couple of months ago, my five year old Dell Inspiron laptop died. That means it's time for me to get a new computer, and it looks like I'm going to stay with a laptop and not a desktop. I also want to stay with Dell, because I have always had good experiences with their products. I am looking to play games like Diablo 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic (new MMORPG), and Battlefield 3 on high settings.

It wasn't long ago that I ran into the Alienware M14x while exploring my options on the internet, and have been doing a lot of reading regarding this laptop. This product looks great, but I do have a few questions for the M14x owners on this forum.

First, could someone explain the difference between an Alienware M14x and a Dell XPS 17 laptop to me? When I go through the customization for both products on the Dell website, the minimum speccs seem to be VERY similar, if not identical ... and the XPS is a couple hundred dollars cheaper. Also, the screen size is 14in vs 17 in, which makes the price seem a bit opposite of what I was expecting. Here are the Speccs for each:

Dell XPS 17

PROCESSOR: 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2410M processor 2.30 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows® Home Premium, 64-Bit, English
OFFICE SOFTWARE : Microsoft® Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
SERVICE PLAN: 1 Year In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 550M 1GB graphics with Optimus
MEMORY: 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
BATTERY OPTIONS 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
HARD DRIVE: 500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
SECURITY SOFTWARE: McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Days Trial
HD DISPLAY: 17.3" HD+ (900p) LED Display with 2.0MP HD Webcam
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE: 8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
WIRELESS + BLUETOOTH:Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000
SOUND OPTIONS: JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3

Alienware 14x

PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™ i5 2410M 2.3GHz (2.9GHz w/Turbo Boost, 3MB Cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
WIRELESS CARDS: Intel® Wireless-N WiFi Link 1000 a/g/n 1x2
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
VIDEO CARD: 1.5GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M using NVIDIA Optimus™ technology
HARD DRIVE: 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
LCD PANEL: 14.0" High Def (720p/1366x768) with WLED backlight
WIRELESSHD OR MOBILE BROADBAND: None
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE: 8x SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Slot Load Optical Drive
SOUND OPTIONS: Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio

From someone who has not purchased a computer in a LONG time, what is the main difference between these two products, and why is there a $200ish difference in the prices?

Also, from your personal experiences, are the minimum customization settings for the Alienware product sufficient for your product needs?

Another question I have is regarding the Alienware LED screen. Is there a major difference between the 720p/1366x768 and the 900p/1600x900 screens? From someone who hasn't purchased a laptop in a while, I'm a bit rusty on resolution knowledge.

Finally, should I be concerned about the smaller 14in screen size? I am used to a 15-17 inch screen, but I can't critique the 14in because I've never used one before.

Thanks for any thought, suggestions, or input. I am sure I will have a few more questions as my search continues, so thanks for any comments

 

The 550M vs 555M is pretty huge. Also you get a much less dense screen resolution on the XPS 17, 1920x1080 would be needed to rival the m14x. other than that everythings almost the same, but the m14x is alot smaller

 

With alienware, you're paying for the name, the lights, design, etc. It does have great components to back it up. The 900p screen works well with the m14x. It offers more pixels per inch, so the image is a more clear. A 14 inch screen isn't as small as it sounds. It looks big, mainly because of the smaller text size from the 900p resolution. They're both great laptops, dells xps series are great. Though they both have the same resolution, it will look better on the m14x since the screen is smaller, the 900p reso would be stretched to fit on the 17 inch screen. You might be able to play BF3 on high, but when i played the alpha, high settings was kind of laggy, hopefully the finished version is better. If you want a professional looking laptop, with a bigger screen, go with the xps. And if you want a gaming laptop that looks sweet along with the fx lighting system, get the m14x.

 

Thank you for both of your thoughts.

To be honest I did not even notice that the XPS 17 had a 550 video card, and not the 555. Is it that much more of a difference in performance?

Also, if I choose not to upgrade the Alienware resolution, would this be a major mistake? If I get the M14x, I was probably going to keep all customization at a minimum ... but the upgrade in resolution is sounding better and better

 

If you got the m14x, definitly get the 900p screen and i7. And its a pretty huge difference. Like the difference between playable Crysis on High, and 30fps crysis on max.

 

The gt555m is a better card than the gt550m, and I'd suggest you get the 900p resolution and if you can the core i7 2630qm. It'll make your system better, plus make it more future proof. The 720p Resolution is okay, but there's a noticeable difference in the overall sharpness. The m14x is a gaming notebook, just try your best not to have any basic components in it.