M14x vs. Macbook Pro...first hand experience and thoughts

SOrry if this has already been discussed I didn't see a thread on it.

Is there anyone who has had experience with both the M14x and the Macbook Pro (2011)? I would appreciate some comparisons with regards to the respective responses under heavy gaming loads, over heating issues, wireless connectivity and any other comparisons, observations people might like to add.

What are the pros and cons of each machine with respect to the other....

 

lol Good luck gaming on the 13inch macbook pro with the intel 3000.... macs and gaming are not the greatest... they are more mainstream consumer level workstations.

 

Gaming on a macbook pro?


lol?

 

I hate to say this but DNFTT, thing might get out of hand, since that everyone has their own thought and opinion that for some other dont agree with, I wish that this is not like the closed thread.

Ditto from Ted264, Good Luck with it, I'm not sure about the 13" but the 15" series has two type, one with Radeon 6490M on the i7 2635QM CPU while the Radeon 6750M is available with i7 2720QM.

But MBP's never been a good choice for gaming, plus with Mac OS, even you multi-boot it, MBP is never been design to handle gaming. So it is a clearly I able to say that M14x win, since its design and sell point is mainly for gaming.

 

Modern laptops, wifi and stuff should all be the same. As for heat, most big-brand laptop makers should be manageable under load. Mostly just the raw power, software experience, and other extras the laptops come with. Apart from the thin-ness of the Macs and the OS X software, i don't see a pro to a Mac. Design would be purely to one's own opinion.

 

Lemme give you an udpate....i had ordered the MBP 13 (2011) before i got the alienware m14x because i was getting it through bestbuy on a 18 months zero installment plan.....& @ that time i wasnt even considering a m14x.

The MBP has serious heating issues and the core would heat up to ....95 C..while just playing videos on youtube....and it would get hot..........so i wasn't really impressed ...also for the same price...i got a much superior machine in terms of config....

Now let me not be biased against the MBP.... its a fantastic machine if you wanna use it for web browsing and photo editing/video editing - cause the screen is awesome. Not a great gaming rig and has a great battery life

but on the other hand....alienwares are awesome in terms of performance...ofcourse the screen might not be comparable to the macbook pro....but on the whole in terms of pure performance....alienware wins hands down and look really cool . I neither had a macbook before or a alienware..but my vote goes to alienware for the sheer alienware fx experience

 

That pretty much sums up every mac to pc price to performance comparo. Any mac you look at is going to be WAY under speced vs a pc at the same price point. Basically you're paying the the mac club admission fee. Macs do usually have really good built quality but it still doesn't come close to the price you need to pay.

 

thanks a lot for all the info everyone....nothing beats hearing comparisons from people who have actually owned both....

 

one last input if i may add.......though macs are expensive...the user experience is way superior than windows...in terms of a bug free experience....its a great OS optimized perfectly for the hardware ...on the other hand windows still needs some brushing up......but the kinda freedom i can get on a windows machine..........no way ...am i gonna get a mac again

 

I have both an m14x and a mbp 17" 2011.
Specs wise they are both similar. And to all those that say macs can't game, get a life! I game with the mbp all the time in bootcamp at 1200p with the new ati 6750 and get great fps!
Plus like the 555m the 6750 is a great overclocker but also has the added benefit of being able to undervolt it.
I run the 6750 at 780/900 @ 0.955v and it uses less power than the m14x.

Now just to start off I love both machines, I needed the 17" for my OSX xcode work and use the m14x as my daily beater/taking to work etc.

Performance wise they are almost identicle. I get slightly higher fps on the m14x due to the lower res.
Both have amazing speakers
Both look and feel great.
Both have great build quality.

Pros for m14x:
Much cheaper
Love the alienfx
more customisable
on site warranty

Pros for MBP:
Much better screen quality (brighter, better colour gamut and contrast)
Much quieter
Tiny ac adapter
OSX (if you like it)
6750 consumes less watts than 555m (approx 10w difference according to my kwmeter) and can be undervolted even with overclock

Anything else just ask

 

disregarding the need for mac osx, if you could only have one which would you choose?

 

Unless you LOVE the mac OS, or really need a long battery life, the M14x is a better laptop. Here's why:

If you want to game on a MBP, you need the 17". The other ones are too slow. Now, once you have the 17", performance-wise, the MBP and the M14x are about the same. They both weigh about the same, meaning they are equally portable (except for the battery part, but its not like the M14x is terrible at battery life). Alienware has the FX and a cooler looking laptop. MBP has a better screen and it's fairly quiet.

Now here's the thing! MBP starts at $2500. M14x starts at... $1100. Same performance. $1400 more - for a better screen and more battery. With $1400, you can buy another M14x LOL

 

Nemessis - If I had to choose one and money is no object I would choose the mbp. If I was on a budget I would choose the m14x. It was half the price for me!

Mozin321 - Please get your facts straight before posting! The 15" 2.2ghz has the same specs as the 17"!! I choose the 17" as I needed the 1200p res for coding. The 15" has either 1440x900 or 1680x1050 res. The 15" is a few hundred cheaper too.

 

Oh, my bad. Didn't realize you could upgrade the 6490 in the 15". I also mainly wanted to compare with the 17" because the MBP weighs 6.6lbs and the M14x weighs like 6.5.

The store's not available right now, but the 15" starts at $1800. I'm guessing the upgrade to the better graphics is at least $200. Getting a similar i7 into the M14x will make it about 13-1400. The MBP is still 600-700 more, which is a significant chunk of money to spend. All you get is a better battery and one pound less weight.

 

Agreed, the mac is a lot more expensive although I never pay retail for them, I picked my 17" for 20% less than retail.

But you get more than just decent battery and less weight, you also get:
-An amazing screen (apple always use high quality screens)
-An amazing power adapter that is small and has magnetic clip which makes it easy to attach yet comes off if someone trips over it (without pulling your laptop off a table)
-OSX, although not to everyones taste it is an amozing OS
-Thunderbolt port (which I am hoping will allow external gfx cards in future)

Oh but I also forgot a negative in my earlier post, lack of ports! You get a much better port layout and more ports on the m14x.

 

How do you get your discounts?

 

I am in UK. I just found a store selling the MBP then used a 10% discount voucher plus 10% quidco.

 

Thanks again for all the comparisons....I should be getting my m14x via fedex in the next 10 minutes or so. I will check it out and give you my comparisons, i used to own a MBP 15"....

 

If you are looking for a Ferrari, get an Alienware m14x. If you are looking for a Lexus, get the Mac Book Pro.

Simple?

 

LOL - I can tell you are anxious to get your M14x - You have your delivery time calculated down to the minute. I still have more than a week before I get mine.

 

I really don't consider the mbp and alienware laptops to cater to the same audience. If you want to be gaming then you can't do much on mac Os. Simple as that. If you don't care about games then get the mac

 

Well said, if you like to game get a gaming pc. If you like to sit at starbucks browsing facebook for hours on end tying to look like you're doing something important get a mac that cost 2x as much. Then get in your 1991 Corolla to drive home because you're broke from buying the mac.

 

lol yes indeed I was reallly anxious and excited to get my m14x, I even had the personal contact number to the fedex guy lmao....but I have spent a full day with my new m14x and honestly I couldn't have asked for more.

Everything is just as great or better than I expected. I will write a longer comparison and overall review soon and post it.....right now its time for more SC2 WL on this amazing machine

 

Congrats...soul we missed out on the 25% deal ..luckily I had haggled for a 300$ discounT...so just about got a 20% discount wbu??

 

Btw +1 for Mac osx lion totally rocks...but I would still gofor a m14x lol

 

Please let me know how you get the discount. My email is [email protected]
Please let me know which number to call and who to ask for. Thanks

 

Would appreciate if you stop posting the question in various threads...I have already answered your question in the pre configuration thread...for the record...ill postit here too ...thr is a 25% discount running (hot summer savings) go for that..you won't get a better deal than that right now ..also in this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/596241-buying-alienware-m14x-help.htmlI think soul has posted his reps number /PM soulhackerr for the reps number if you don't find it thr

 

I have both a m14x and a 15" macbook pro 2010. I use the m14x for work while the mac is for home life. A few points I have found coming to the m14x from the macbook is that:

1) Keyboard has a slight flex towards the arrow keys.
2) Touchpad is no were near as good as the mac one, when comparing size, surface, muilti touch etc.
3) Although you can get good time on battery on the m14x it wont beat the mac.
4) Cannot control the fan on the m14x.

But even with all these down points the m14x is makes up for it by being a really quick machine

Hope this helps.

 

yea same here, but I did get an $80 student discount plus a free xbox so I am still satisfied...

 

Yep, those MBP's sure get toasty, one of my big complaints .... but still not that great for photo work or video editing.

#1 for photo work there are MUCH better screens out there, the MBP still uses a 6 bit TN panel with a large hunk of glass infront of it. ( same panel as the XPS series Dells actually )

#2, for video editing double whammy, no professional grade GPU's for running Premier or Avid Properly, and the thermal management sucks. thermal shutdowns and throttling are a nightmare ( FCP-X is now the laughing stock of the pro video editors everywhere, now just to add insult to injury )

oh? after 20 years of MacOS/OSX, I recently joined the windows side and find it actually much more stable and nicer to use now I have learned it.

 

Well its good to hear people have started appreciating windows...but in terms of a bug free usage ...mac..still tips windows....also should totally check out the lion..they have done an amazing job....but in all fairness if you want a portable beast...nothing comes close to the m14x

 

Lion is OK, no advantages for my needs though, I have had the Dev release on my MBP 17" for a month now and loaded it on my MBP 13" yesterday

going to digress though, CPU/Memory intensive apps seem more stamel in 7, I get alot less stuck hourglasses than I do the beachball of death in my usage

 

hmmm mac have loads of bugs believe me.... Ill never forget the "guest account" ate peoples data.... that was a glorious bug

 

Haha yeah who could forget that Its probably because people are under the impression mac is the most secure OS in the world...they forget that since the population is less...its just that its targeted less

 

That's impossible, how did you do that? You can't customize the m14x and get a free xbox 360. It should be the prebuilt m14x only.

 

no not impossible since my free xbox and my m14x are right here....i said im a student which i am and asked him about the xbox deal, he said student purchases of above $699 qualify for the free xbox so i requested it....

 

Yup, actually I already contacted a customer service about it. I am a college student, too. However, he said that it's only for the prebuilt $1,399 in the Dell University website. He would not allow me to get a free xbox 360 if I wanted to customize it.

 

I guess I had a good rep, or a misinformed one lol, either way, I DID get that deal....

 

go with the alien. When I had my mbp, it would hit 100 degrees c while using handbrake. i can imagine it would be worse with a sandybridge i5