M14x Pre-Order Configuration Questions... Ask HERE

I have the i5 2410M and it bottlenecks a bit in bf3. On 64 player games i only hit about 85% GPU usage in most areas. I also hear that the i5 2410m is a lot cooler so that may be to his advantage if he wants a "laptop" and not a portable desktop because often i find it too hot to play on my lap.

Thats 85% useage at 1366x768 so if he gets the 900p screen i don't think it will matter.

 

Here's the thing:

- I've got a very good desktop for when im at home so i won't be playing with the MX14 much where i live
- I travel a lot since i live 3-4 hours from my family/ gf so i go there almost every week end or every 2 weeks

So i'm most likely thinking about buying this laptop (mx14) for when i come back at my hometown or when i travel. Considering they're having a 200$ price reduction for the model #2 (i7 mx14, 6g of ram 1600mhz, 750GB3 SATA hard drive (7200RPM), etc. ) and an extra 50$ coupon reduction, should i consider buying MODEL #2 ( 1250$ ) over the basic one ( 1100$ ) that includes an i5 instead of an i7?

Will i see the difference? Considering i won't be using it much at home, is the + 150$ worth it? Plus i have heard some rumors about the heat with the i7, is it considerable? Does the i5 have the same issues with fans/heat?

Thanks, any help/comment is appreciated! Can't wait to order my new baby and the offer's off after the 6th, so im kind of in a rush. THX!!

 

Well, first I would weigh the cost of the machine for what you'd be using it for. Like do you think that you game a lot when you're not home? I'm looking to build a desktop because for a grand I can get a very decent one. The m14x is great, can max out a lot of recent games, but from now on it probably won't be new games on high settings. It's still a beast though. It's your call on that decision, but for the i5 and i7, you should stick with the i5. You already have a desktop for powerful computing, and the i5 will benefit you in heat and battery life. The i7 is more for people who use the m14x as a desktop replacement (aka me).

If you just need a laptop for travel and not gaming maybe you should considering something else?

 

Well I guess this is where I join in after reading the full 25 pages - just ordered the premium model 14X with all the bells a whistles . great read with good info..........

 

Well, I like to be able to com back home and play some games with my friends and brothers from my hometown that i don't see much. I already have a MacBook pro 15 inch for work/school so the MX14 would be ONLY for gaming and watching videos, series, etc. So basically u say the i5 would fit me best? Even if i can get an i7 and a hard drive with more memory and better/more ram for only +150$ ??

 

Thanks ! I really appreciate the advice.
So if he gets the 900p screen, the i5 or i7 is irrelevant?

 

Get the i7 one, it also comes with the better screen and for $150 it's very worth it.

 

its all relative really, there will always be something bigger and better around the corner, but the M14x offered now is a great machine and I believe it will be for some time.

I've always been reccomended to get the crucial drives because they are very fast, I might be ordering one here soon in the next couple of days. though not nearly as big.

4gigs is more than enough for gaming for the near future. Unless you use photo rendering programs or video editing, You won't use most of that extra RAM anyway.

I haven't looked at the benchmarks for either systems but you can find them in the benchmark thread here so you can see how they compare. I don't think their is a huge significant difference in them between gaming performance though. hope this answers some of you questions.

 

The i5 would fit you best yeah, thats what I was saying. But DC is right that you will get a better value with the i7 because it does come with the 900p screen, which is a must have upgrade. Sorry i wasn't looking at the prices when I was recommending a processor.

 

Thank you so much for the information!!!
I was wondering does a ssd really help or 7200rpm HD at 3gb/s is good enough. Please gimme your input on that.

Thanks

 

well if you get an SSD, your boot times will be a lot quicker and loading times/launching of applications will be a breeze as well. I'd go with the SSD if you have the money to spare and you don't need more than the amount of space on the SSD that you can afford. If you need lots of storage space and you don't care about speed or can't afford one, just go with a regular Hard Drive.

 

Just out of curiosity when you guys say the Intel® Ultimate N WiFi Link 1000 a/g/n 1x2
is a piece of crap what do you mean by that , its no good for video & gaming over a wifi system but adequate for regular Internet use or its just a piece of crap regardless .

I ordered my system last Friday over the net but am kicking myself in the a$$ for not ordering the Killer system wifi now and am debating if I should cancel and reorder with that option . I am not a Internet gamer but like running flight Sim none the less and will be streaming video also .

My build below

I will be using mine mostly for CNC machining and design apps - BUT will also game with it .

-System Color Alienware M14X - Soft Touch Stealth Black
-Processor Intel® Core™ i7 2670QM 2.2GHz (3.1GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
-Memory 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
-A/C Adapter Alienware M14X 150W A/C Adapter
-Display Panel 14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight
-Video Card 3.0GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M using NVIDIA Optimus™ technology
-Hard Drive 256GB Solid State Drive SATA 3Gb/s
-AlienFX Quasar Blue
-Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
-Hinge Up Hinge Up WLAN + DMC - BLACK
-Adobe Reader Acrobat SW Adobe Acrobat X Reader
-Optical Drive 8x SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Slot Load Optical Drive
-Audio Soundblaster® X-Fi™ Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled
-Wireless Intel® Ultimate N WiFi Link 1000 a/g/n 1x2
-Security Software McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
-Hardware Support Services 1 Year Basic Service Plan
-Misc 5 3 Months Sympatico Performance Internet Included (ON&QC)
-WirelessHD Internal 60GHz WirelessHD Transmitter
-Nameplate Standard Nameplate

Thank you for any input...................

 

Hi all, so it is about a week or so until i order my m14x, but i wanted to run the config by everyone.

Processor Intel® Core™ i5 2430M 2.4GHz (3.0GHz with Turbo Boost, 3MB Cache)
Memory 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
A/C Adapter Alienware M14X 150W A/C Adapter
Display Panel 14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight
Video Card 1.5GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M using NVIDIA Optimus™ technology
Hard Drive 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s

It will be used mostly for college, and mmos and counter strike. If this looks good, then i will order it next wednesday. The total for it comes to $1400 with a 1 year advanced warranty and the AW mouse.

I was looking at the i7 but $1500 is a little much. If i can somehow get a discount or a coupon, that is about all i would want to change!

Thanks!

 

looks like a pretty decent config, you could always buy an i-7 aftermarket if you want one down the road I believe, not to hard to install

 

Thinking about getting an M14x... How does this look?

Alienware Arena - Gamers Wanted

It seems like a deal or something they are running. How does that config look as is?

Also, off topic, can someone parallel the GeForce 460M vs the one in the M14x?

 

not a bad m14x config, the i-5 isn't a bad processor and does almost as good in games as the i-7's due to games not using all the available cores.

as to your second question, the 460m is faster. Just look at my benchmark scores vs somebody with an m14x. I haven't crunched the numbers to figure out how much faster though.

 

Ordered a refurb Jan 6th, and supposedly there is a problem because I live in a US territory and used Paypal. Was on the phone with Dell for 2 hours and they couldn't figure it out. Recommended I call the Outlet guys directly on Monday or order a new lappy. So now I'm in limbo again and have some questions. Here is a brief of the system I ordered:

-- Alienware M14x
-- Processor: Intel Core i7-2670 QM Processor (2.2 GHz)
-- 256 GB Solid State Drive Ultra Performance
-- 8X DVD +/- RW Drive
-- 6 GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
-- NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 1.5 GB graphics with Optimus
-- 14.0 inch HD (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight
-- 8 Cell Primary Battery
-- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Operating System DVD
-- Intel Wireless-N WiFi Link 1000 a/g/n 1x2
-- Alienware M14X: 1 Yr Ltd Warranty, Basic Service after Remote Diagnosis (Included In Price)
Total Amount: $1,239.00

Primary usage will be for everyday browsing/mobility around the house as I have a gaming rig for gaming. But I am military and travel occasionally and want my lappy to support my gaming habit abroad. Reasonable mobility + performance is the reason I chose the 14x and not the 17, and the 11 is too small.

So on to the questions. If I have to order again, should I consider:
1. Dell 256GB SSD vs 7200 rpm drive? For the above price, I think it is well worth it. There was 1 confg this morning that had the ssd, killer 1103, and win ult for $150 more. Was tempted, but preferred to stay closer to 1200 and Win7 Ultimate doesn't do anything for me. I think the Sata II SSD from the factory should be good enough, especially considering the generous amount of space, but I'm open to opinions.
2. Killer Nic 1103? Any issues in the 14x? Are 3 antennas installed by default? 6250 good enough?
3. 6 vs 8GB of RAM? I've been running 6GB on my desktop i7 920 for 3 years with no issue, so I cant see why I would need 8, but also open to suggestion on this.

Thoughts?

 

thats a killer deal with the SSD that comes with it. Don't really know how much better the killer card is since I haven't ever used one, but 6 gig of ram should be more than enough for what you plan to do. I don't even use most of my 4 gigs most of the time, so 6gig should be more than enough. Thats a good deal on a system like that.

 

delete this.

 

I'm currently considering getting an Alienware m14x, but had a few questions before I take the plunge:

• Is it a good idea to buy now, or should I wait for the new nVidia 600 series graphics cards to come out? I think a laptop has just been announced at CES with a 6XXm card, so I was just worried about getting the m14x now and finding out a month later that a refresh was happening with a better GPU.
• How is the color reproduction on the display? If I do get this laptop, I will be returning the HP Envy 15 that I have (which has an IPS display with a shifted color reproduction problem). I remember reading months ago that the m14x had an issue with the color purple, but I'm hoping that there is a way to adjust the settings to fix this issue.

These are the only questions off the top of my head. I'll post more if I have them, and thanks in advance for any answers.

 

You buy it when you must.

Never wait for new tech to come along. If you choose to wait, you might as well not buy anything at all and wait forever and watch new tech come along every 6 months.

My 2 cents from a long time PC enthusiast.

 

For my suggestion, I'll suggest you to wait for the next Revision of the laptop - M14xR2, but like Alucasa said if you choose to wait, you might end up waiting forever, it is an endless wait for technology, however since it is near the time where Intel and NVIDIA usually release their next gen CPU/GPU so it is best to wait.

 

Re-posted from the exact same thread in the M18x forums earlier today:

I would expect both Ivy Bridge and some new GPUs within 4-8 months.

The question you really have to ask is how important are those things to you?

Ivy Bridge is not a new micro-architecture but just an improvement on the current. So far it is looking like perhaps a 10% performance boost and up to a 30% battery boost, that is quite small compared to what we saw with the jump to Sandy. In addition, almost nothing these days even stresses a current CPU, so the 10% is almost meaningless, the battery life is significant, maybe another hour to hour and a half for a system that gets 5 hours today.

The GPU performance increase is harder to guess, however, you can look at the desktop 28nm AMD reviews and see it isn't exactly an incredible increase. Sure, it beats the current cards, but not by a lot. This is again looking like mostly a power savings and heat improvement, at least at first. Probably 10-15% performance gain over the current top of the line, but probably much more in energy savings and lower heat levels. You never use the GPU on battery anyway and the current model dissipates heat just fine. In reality you are looking at 5-10 FPS max gain from the current top of the line.

Thus, the question becomes is a 10% increase in CPU, and a 15% increase in GPU worth waiting 6 months for? Keeping in mind that in 6 months you will only be 6 months away from a GPU architecture change, which will give much larger performance increases than the coming die-shrinks. Then of course the next Intel microarchitecture will be coming next year, which will also be much more impressive than this years die shrink.

Quite frankly, I would buy now, I don't feel the coming upgrades are worth waiting for, the really good upgrades will be coming in 2013. If you wait for 6+ months to get a new system, then you are closer to the 2013 upgrades. If you buy now you can get more moneys worth over the next 1-1.5 years before the 2013 upgrades hit, and then if you want you can maybe upgrade your rig if you want better performance.

 

Hi, i am very close to buying an m14x but am slightly worried after reading a lot of threads in this forum about it. below is the spec i want, can any tell me what issues there is with gaming with this graphics card ( i read somewhere about driver update problems) and what other issues should i expect???, any help would be much appreciated as i'm very close to signing the dotted line

COLOUR CHOICE Alienware M14x Black WLAN
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 2670QM (2.20Ghz, 6MB, 4C)
OPERATING SYSTEM English Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
GRAPHICS CARD 3GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT555M
BASE Alienware M14x : 3.0 Base Black
MEMORY 6144MB (1x2GB + 1x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
HARD DRIVE 256GB Dell Mobility Solid State DriveLCD
14.0" (36 cm) Widescreen High Definition + (1600x900) WLED with TrueLife
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including software
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 - EUR
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth Card - EUR
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 8-cell 63W/HR LI-ION

 

i dont really understand some of the probs.
as long as you buy it knowing that it will not max ever games. so far everygame ive thrown at it it has played fine. the only game i gave up on was the witcher 2.
you have a good spec there

 

i dont really mind about maxing out games i never would really expect that from a laptop. i would be playing older games on it anyway and if i can play other games on medium settings that would be sweet, i will eventually be editing videos on as i am a skydiver and when i get my own camera i will be editing a lot of videos from my jumps. also i want a laptop that just blazes with speed but i dont want to buy a laptop that i cant update and keep fresh as what would be the point in having it if i cant play new games on it a year down the road.

any more advice guy's you are the people that know these machines, i don't know much about laptops and what to expect from them, i generally use my desktop at home. somebody talk me into buying this machine. please give some advice. 102 views and only one reply?. it's going to cost me a lot of money and just want some feedback from people that have both issues and no issues

 

Never had any problems with mine and I also have managed to install and play the Witcher 2 with no probs

 

Wow this deal looks good. When I tried upgrading the Processor to i7 , it showed the compatibility warning for the Memory (1333 and 1600). However, there is no way to fix the issue. Not sure how to proceed with this now.

 

What's so good about this deal? It's $1300 for i5 version? Isn't that higher than normal cost? I can configure i7-2670qm, 4GB DDR3 1600, 1600x900, 750GB 7200RPM for $1274 without any rebates. You don't NEED 1600MHz RAM, not sure why Dell does that. BHW1L0MX0D?MCX takes off $50 and adds free shipping so $1224 + tax out the door.

 

Well this one comes additionally with :
Alienware Orion M14x Backpack - TSA Friendly
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
3.0GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M using NVIDIA Optimus™ technology
14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight

Considering the fact that 3GB of Video Memory is absolute garbage, you still end up saving $80 on Ram, $70+ on the High Def+ display and a $60-$99 worth backpack (which is useless and can be replaced by anything else).

That makes this a better deal

 

I don't follow. The significant difference between the two machines is the i7-2670QM in the system I spec'd which is a $100 up charge, but costs $75 less than the i5 system at Alienware Arena. Ok throw in your own $30 8GB DDR3 1333, and it's still $50 cheaper and you get a quad core over a dual core, and a larger HDD.

 

Hey I've been searching for a laptop to replace my Asus G73 with more portability, better battery life, design and at least equals or better gaming performance. I have set my eyes on the 14x because I have always admired Alienwares designed and that battery life just sounds too amazing. I used my G73 for a year at school and constantly searching for a AC Outlet is annoying me and the m14x seems like a safe haven I can retreat to.

But I have a few concerns.

1. Where should I buy this small beast of a laptop? I want to buy it in the U.S Online that ships to New Zealand

2. What specs should I get for the m14x that will outperform my G73 significantly

Asus G73 Best Buy Model
-1600x900
-Ati Radeon 5870
-6gb RAM
-Intel Core i7 740qm

3. Due to my current laptops huge size and smart cooling design it stayed ninja quiet and cool everywhere even during Crysis or Battlefield gameplay. I know the small M14x can't match it but is it loud enough that everyone in a room will hear it? And does it get hot enough that I require a cooling pad?

4. The advertised battery sounds amazing but is that true? How long does it last when your gaming? In school it will have a variety of uses from playing intensive 3d games for an hour then switching to an hour of photoshopping then just normal browsing. Would the laptop last without needing a charger?

Thanks.

 

The fan noise is not bad, especially if you are on an A05 or higher bios. But even before that bios it was not obnoxious.

Don't get a processor higher than the 2630 unless you really need ridiculous amounts of CPU power. Don't get the 3Gb video card. If any, the performance increase over the 1.5Gb card would be negligible. Also, don't get the 8Gb ram upgrade. It more cost effective to buy the parts and do the work yourself. And it wont void the warranty.

Don't bet on having very good gaming performance on battery power, either.

 

I only bring this up because you said you wanted equal or better performance to your G73:

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 - Notebookcheck.net Tech

NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

The 555m is a powerful card but it is actually a bit of a step backward from a 5870m.

 

It cant' really outperform a g73 by much, even if its older. But the m14x is still a great gaming laptop. Keep in mind that the gt555m isnt a true graphics card, its more like built into the motherboard, not mxm style. Runs BF3 just fine for me, on nearly ultra settings. The advertised battery life is nowhere near true. I get 3 hours max, on the most power saving features. Oh and the gt630 and gt635m cards are out, already in a few new laptops. Maybe alienware will upgrade, so keep that in mind incase you'd want to wait.

The gt555m cant outperform the radeon 5870. if you need more power, go with a base m17x, for around the same price.

 

I think it could outrun the 5870, as it overclocks to about 460M performance which is better than the 5870 is it not? It should at least be on par. All I know is that I play almost every game at the moment maxed out (with AA off). Fan noise can get really loud though so if youre nervous I would recommend taking precautions such as repasting and cleaning often.

Battery for me is fine, I can easily reach 5.5-6 hours with a FX off, lowest brightness, and browsing the web (Balanced), so I find it to be true. Gaming though, is a different story. If you use the 555M card with the 90% CPU power fix (which lets you game at full power), youd be lucky to reach an hour. If you play on the Integrated GPU you can easily get 3 hours though. If you can wait 6 months to a year it may be refreshed with a 635M and Ivy Bridge, but I dont think its personally waiting for yet.

 

Based on benchmarking from notebookcheck and what i've seen from the 5870m in the past, its pretty much superior, but not by too much. So overclocked it'll probably be on par, or a little closer, but it won't outperform.

 

Thanks for the information. What is a good place to purchase the M14x? eBay has some really good prices but if there is a better online store that ships to New Zealand than I'm open to any suggestions.

If Alienware updates the graphics card then i might wait. Sounds like my 5870 is sufficient and waiting for a few months is fine to me.

 

The graphics card update will only be a 10% increase at best, but your choice.

hidevolution.com ships everywhere I believe, and they let you customize it

 

By the way, I get 4 hours 20 minutes on battery after a full charge and i never run out of battery while on my lectures. For those users who can't get those times please play around with the battery settings.

 

Guhh dammit. I'm torn now and keep going back and fourth. The battery life and aesthetics make me really want to buy it but if I'm buying a laptop that is equal or lower than my laptops performance it makes me not want to purchase the laptop. Hmmmm.

 

To start I'm replacing a desktop. Recently got into stock trading and my iPhone at work is not enough to view charts etc. I also game mainly LoL, looking at bf3 and nba 2k12. Retired my ps3 etc, moving back to the pc side of things lol. I plan on getting the complete gta package from steam( my favorite series ).

The rig I'm getting rid of is a phenom II x4 965, 4gb ram, 4870x2. The m14x fits the bill, portable, not to big, not to small. I plan at times to output to my 40 inch 1080p lg led tv. From research there are better choices out there but I choose Alienware to take advantage of the 12 months no interest. Have a big Disney trip coming that is sucking my pockets dry until June lol and I need this like now.

Ordering in a few days i7 2670m , 3gb vid, 900p screen, 6 gigs 1600 etc. Coming from my old rig will this fit my needs, play the games I listed pretty good? Would this be a decent upgrade from my old rig? Been off the pc scene for a few years so excuse my noobness lol. Was an amd guy. Need this to carry me over for 2 years until I can build my monster rig, multiple screens the whole 9. Thx for your input.

 

The 3 gig video card has been talked a lot of these forums and I think the general consensus is that it really offers no performance improvement, so I wouldn't pay extra for it. Everything else looks fine. The games you listed will play but don't expect max fps with maxed settings. But they will run on high and stuff with solid frames.

 

Hi. I am new to Alienware.
I have configured this system and Dell quoted me a price on it.
Could you please tell me if this is a good price-system config. Thanks

$1,406.00 before tax

Intel Core i7 2670QM 2.2GHz (3.1GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
6GB DDR3 at 1600MHz
4.0 High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight
3.0GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M using NVIDIA Optimus technology
750GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media
AW Hinge Up WLAN DMC - BLACK
Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner, DVD+-RW, CD-RW
Soundblaster X-Fi Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled
Intel Advanced-N WiFi Link 6250 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO Technology with WiMax
Alienware M14X WIDI Software
1 Year Limited Warranty
Internal 60GHz WirelessHD Transmitter
Internal Bluetooth 3.0

 

Hey your specs look really good but I heard that the 3gb version of the GT 555m is unessasary and is just a waste of money. You won't be getting any gaming advantages and it's a just a way for Dell to suck in some more money.

 

There is a 20% coupon in the dell outlet under the winter savings event. Same laptop without the widi can be had cheaper with the same warranty. The widi can be bought separately.


Sent using Tapatalk for iPhone

 

Hey is the 720p resolution that horrible? The last 5 years I'm pretty sure my old HP laptop was 720p but when I upgraded I got a 17.3" at the 1600x900 resolution but I get adapt to the screen resolutions fast.

The only reason I ask this is because I will probably purchase a M14x from eBay or here because there are some really good prices. Some people say that the 720p resolution is horrible for multitasking but I have second monitor plus I multitask rarely. The only tunes when Ive had two windows side by side is when I transfer files over.

 

I have the 1600X900 screen and whenever i look at other 720p screen it just seems wrong. i think it's the best upgrade you can get for the laptop. I got the i5 for the lower temps but the screen upgrade for me was a must since you're stuck with it for as long as you'd like to keep the laptop.

 

Wow. I apologize for all the incorrect words, i was using my iPhone hahaha. Thanks for the response. I'll make sure i grab a 900p screen.

Is there much of a difference between processors? and is it better to get the i5 with boost up to 3.1ghz or get the i7 with the boost only going up to 2.9ghz. That really confuses me.

 

Based on what i've read there isn't that much of a difference aside from temps. On my i5 i'm getting 80 max on cpu and mid 60s on gpu. I haven't repasted(and i think it's safe to assume that the paste job is fugly), no laptap cooler yet, no overclock, turbo boost off. I play skyrim and sc2 maxed with stock drivers and don't really notice lag aside from 4v4's in sc2 with all players at 200 supply battles(noob wars. lol) I think there would be a benifit for cpu intensive games(such as sc2) but at the cost of heat. BUT, I don't have i7 so it's better if you can get a response from someone who has both (rich fool). but if you have the money for an i7 and warranty then why not!