Selling M15x - Get m14x?

I'm selling my m15x because I cannot take the low battery life, extreme heat, and ridiculous slow down when unplugged any longer. (Like, web browsing is slow bad, and yes I adjusted all of the power management settings - no difference. Even disabled speed step with no difference.) However, I loved the performance when it was plugged in, and was a big fan of the design.

Now, the m14x is lighter and I've heard the battery life is significantly increased. How is the heat issue? Does it slow down extremely bad when unplugged?

In other words - after getting rid of the M15x for the above reasons, would the M14x be a smart purchase, or would I be getting essentially the same issues?

I'm trying to decide between the M14x or an XPS 15. Thanks.

 

Well the M14x does slow down when unplugged. Specifically the gpu, it downclocks a lot. Games that were played fluently when plugged in get very laggy when unplugged, even when on high performance. Battery life is okay, but nowhere near the 6 and a half hours stated, more like 3-4. The m15x was built on just gaming where as the m14x was built on gaming and portability. It's a niche laptop, and i like it. It gets really hot when gaming as well, and slightly warm on light usage, even on battery, due to the new sandy bridge processor. Basically when you unplug this machine, its transformed into a power saving laptop, not meant for gaming. But when it's plugged in, it can play games really well.

 

if you can sell your m15x
for a decent price
go for it
m14x will be a slight upgrade
in issues u mentioned above

 

Well, I'm not going to game on it when it's unplugged - I know that will be a drop in performance there. I mean specifically, can I web browse/play music/play video without getting ridiculous load times and or lag issues while unplugged?

(After paying 2 grand for my m15x and not being able to web browse on battery I'm highly skeptical.)

 

M14x is like a CPU/GPU/RAM (1600Mhz) upgrade and a screen and resolution degrade to M15x.

 

no duh lol
he knows
one is 14" n other is 15"

 

I think he means the screen quality is better on the m15x not the size or resolution.

 

they did a comparison on youtube
m14x screen seems to be sharper and more colorful
than the m15x

 

m15x has a much better cooling system than the m14x. Two fans vs. one.

If you want something with similar size get the m17x. Improved battery life with around the same size. System doesnt downclock as much as the m15x.

 

I have owned both at the same time and the m15x screen IMO is slightly better than the m14x.

 

What I mean is:

M14x's Screen - 14" < M15x's 15" (I mean the size not the quality, and I'm not sure about the quality since M14x is my first AW laptop )

M14x's Res < M15x's Res (There's also a 900p version for M15x, but for M15x u can go 1080p)

 

As others have said battery life on m14x is only about 3 hours. I've had mine for 3 weeks now and have only used the laptop on battery maybe 5 times. I havent really kept tabs but the most battery life I got was around 3 hours of life while browsing the web/youtube vids/aim/itunes, etc. I got the ssd that they offered and everything is incredibly fast for me for now.

 

Yes i agree, if they still made the m15x, i would've bought it, no doubt it's a better gaming laptop, it's a smaller m17x, while the m14x is a larger m11x, but the m14x is still great.

 

does all model of alienware laptop have this battery issue
where u cant play games on max setting on battery
due to the battery overload and cause computer to shut down?

 

Sooo... I need someone to unplug their laptop and see if web browsing/downloading/streaming video all drop significantly. That's really the main thing I'd like to know.

Also, my M15x literally had a 1-1.5 hour battery life. I didn't get the bigger battery though.

A laptop that can't even function without being plugged in is useless and I may as well buy an Aurora, ya know?

 

i dont have a m14x
but i do see alot of people who owns a m14x
says you cant game when its unplugged
not that computer speed drop dramatically
because you can change that through settings
is that battery gets overloaded and force the computer to shut down
hence why i asked above if all the alienware laptop models
had the same battery issue
http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19378334.aspx

 

On power saver I get 3-4 hours of battery with it set to only use 50% cpu power. I've even used photoshop for 30 minutes and it does go obviously slower but is usable. With it set like this it can playback movies and do flash without a hickup. From what I've seen is the 555m gets about 4-5k un 3dmark 06 on battery vs 15kish on ac with a 765 oc on the core.

 

Obvious setup thread. The OP hasn't posted for any help in this sub-forum but of course the m14x can't run anything on max, yadda yadda, woe is me. Loads of benchmarks, posts and videos that show otherwise?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...-results-rct3-crysis-1-max-settings-m14x.html

 

Since you are used to m15x, why not get an m17xr3 which is about the same size from what I hear.

 

Lol wat? Seriously, you need to read my posts again. I do not care about gaming on battery. I care about being able to stream video, work, listen to music, web browse etc without a ridiculous slow down. :/.

My M15x was literally useless when it was unplugged - it was slow just browsing the internet.

Also, I don't want the M17x because I'm in college and need to be able to take it to class sometimes, and the M17x would just take too much room.

This is more of what I'm looking for, thanks! Anyone else have first hand experience on battery power?

 

It wont slow down any where close to the m15x. This is exactly the reason I sold that system. Streams video fine unplugged.

 

well i have had it hit 7 hour estimated and usually get from 3-5 hours depending on what I'm doing with the machine.

It is not a "powerhouse" but i did not buy it with this in mind.... I purchased for the portability and moderate gaming capabilities. Altho everything i throw at this it plays flawlessly .

gaming on battery is another thing... I'm still running A00 bios so i can over clock the graphics from the 400/500 it clocks down to... I am trying to find a good compromise while on battery but most of the time it shuts down.

 

I just tried a test at work, with the cpu at 50% on power saver I've got hulu playing on my external monitor and I'm browsing youtube on the laptop screen and my CPU usage is bouncing between 2% and 15% while playing 2 videos at the same time. Obviously this is overkill but I figured if it doesn't even break a sweat playing 2 videos 1 would be nothing.

 

In some of the BIOS related threads, it seems people have had success with higher GPU clocks on battery if they underclock the CPU. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, but if it works... Particularly if what you are playing isn't CPU-intensive (so probably not the best solution for on battery SC2).

 

thank god, i waited
if i would of got the m14x
i would of regret it
how can alienware call their gaming laptop portable?
when it cant even run games on battery
it defeats the whole purpose of being portable

 

idk maybe i just have a great m14x but ive played starcraft WL on battery for about 3 hours on high settings almost everyday since i got it and have had no issues.....

 

No gaming laptop can game at 100% on battery.

 

QFT.

Every laptop drops clock speeds on battery. No laptop battery in existence can handle the power demands of higher end components running at their max TDP thresholds.

If you want truly portable gaming, you have options: Nintendo DS, 3DS, Sony PSP, PS Vita...

Get over it. No laptop with high-end gaming components will give you 100% balls out performance on battery.

 

Thanks guys for the feedback - I can now better decide what to buy.

 

I too was never happy with the battery performance of the 15x, I couldn't even type an email without a hesitation, stuttering that made typing impossible, no matter what settings I tried. So although the battery life was poor, it didn't really matter since I couldn't do anything on battery period.

Now however I couldn't be happier with the 14x. I got the SSD and heat is not a problem, I use a Zalman cooler when gaming also. I am happily typing this email as I'm carrying around my lappie on battery. It's fast, quiet, cool, small, great screen, battery 4-5 hrs non-gaming, great gaming peformance on AC (I haven't gamed on battery yet and probably won't due to problems on this board I've heard about.

I think you'll be very happy with the 14x, you have the exact issues I had with the 15x.

 

I also love the soft feel of the material, the red is great, I don't miss the extra inch of screen when I can now do stuff on the couch so much easier without the plug and weight of the 15x. The screen is very nice quality also. I've had the latest and greatest laptops for years (even had voodoo once before it tanked) and this is the happiest I've been.