Questions about M14x !

Hello people,

I am looking forward to buy the M14x soon, in my country (India) they are selling it with 2 configs :-

1) Processor
Intel® CoreTM i7 2630QM Processor (2GHz/6MB cache)

Memory
4GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM (2 x 2GB)

Hard Drive
500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive

Display
14" (35.6cm) WLED HD+ (900p) display (1600X900)

Video Card
1.5GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M using NVIDIA Optimus™ technology (Stealth Black)

Optical Drive
Slot Load 8X DVD+/-RW Drive with DVD+R double layer write capability

Primary Battery
8-cell Primary Battery

This config comes for about ~1850 USD$

The other config they are offering is :-

Intel® CoreTM i7 2820QM Processor (2.3GHz/8MB cache)

8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM (2 x 4GB)

750GB 7200RPM Hard Drive

3.0GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M using NVIDIA Optimus™ technology (Stealth Black)

(the screen and the battery are the same as the 1st config)

This config is costing about ~2700USD$



I wanted to know if its WORTH it to go for the second configuration?
As I've heard that the 3GB on the 555m makes no difference, so it's basically the 8 gig RAM and the i7-2820QM they are charging 900$USD.

I was leaning towards the first configuration..But I want to know your views.

Also, I wanted to know how is the Build quality of this system? As I have never actually used an Alienware before, and I cant even find them in the stores to check out..

One more question lol the Alien head logo on the m14x lid does it have a light or not ? can anyone show me a pic of it while its on?

Thanks

 

It's not worth it, the 3GB on the 555 is just useless and if are going to use it for gaming you'll don't see the difference between the two proc. The build quality is great as I heard but I can't confirm since I don't purchased mine atm. The Alien Head Logo does have a light.

 

Thank you!
Though I would love some more replies hopefully from some owner too

 

My understanding is that with this system in particular the GPU is the bottleneck, so with the 2820 the gains you will see in overall performance are minimal. The gains you will see in processor performance from the tests I saw, you are talking like 15-20%. If you absolutely have to have more ram aftermarket can be had pretty cheap. If you are looking at performance for $ spent get the first config.

Again im no expert I'm basing everything I just said off of my own research on this forum and others like it. Good luck in the decision I'm sure you will be happy either way!

 

Take a look on these threads:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/572521-i7-2630-i7-2720-a.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/578222-need-help-choose.html
Hope that'll help

 

As others mentioned it's definitely not worth that premium that they're charging, go for the base model and it'll do you just fine.

The Alien head does glow, but unlike previous models you can't change the color of it (it's always got a white glow to it).

The build quality to me seems to be just fine, no complaints here. There were some areas on my M15x that had a bit of flex (mainly under the keyboard), and this one seems to have none of that. I will mention that the laptop runs a bit warm, and maybe I just notice this coming from the M15x which had a great cooling setup in my opinion. Now this is nothing that worries me at all but I just figured I'd throw it out there.

 

Thanks for the replies,

But how is the build quality compared to , say , higher end Sony Vaio Z , Dell XPS 15 , also (dare I say) Macbook Pro ?

 

The only Dell XPS 15 I've used was the old M1530, of which the Alienware is definitely built better. With regards to the Macbook Pro I find it's fairly comparable, maybe a notch below. The panel gaps (not sure what you call these so using a car term here) seem to be perfect and even throughout the laptop.