Thinking about trading my M17x for M14x

Alright guys, here is the deal. I bought a 17xR3 in April, however I quickly found out that it wasn't suited for carrying around to classrooms. I am strongly considering trading someone for a 14x but I have a few questions first. Firstly, I just won a 3 month long battle trying to make my 17x work and play games like it should. I, like several other users have had to deal with the terrible Optimus hiccups but I have finally gotten the issue completely fixed. I was wondering if the 14x suffered from the same issues because I am not sure if the fixes I used to fix the 17x would work on the 14. Also, what kind of performance loss, if any would I be looking at between the two? My 17 has the i-7 2630QM processor, 320 gig HDD, 8gb RAM, GTX460m, etc. It is not the 3d version. Thanks guys in advance!

 

This is exactly what I did. I wanted something I could travel with, and my M17xR2 wasn't it. Sure it was a performance loss, but I'm not carrying around a 15lb laptop anymore.

Based on your specs it wouldn't be a huge performance drop. Some may argue the 460m can be pushed farther, but on the 14x you're dealing with a 900p screen instead of 1080p. It plays anything I've wanted it to so far without issues.

Driver wise, Nvidia doesn't have an official release that supports this laptop yet, so to update to the latest drivers you have to use Laptopvideo2go.com and install the drivers with modified INF's. Not a big deal, and Optimus still works.

Overall, I made the switch and couldn't be happier with it.

Hope this helps

 

You can get a M14X in very similar config.
Mine is i7 2630QM, 500 GB, 8 GB 1600Mhz RAM, 3 GB GT555M
The M14X has faster RAM, but your M17X has slightly better graphics card. You can overclock the GT555M and it will perform close to your stock GTX460m
I say go for it. I love my M14X

 

When I got my m14x I sold my Asus G73jh and my m11x because it was so portable but had almost as much power as my HUGE G73. I love my m14x and take it to work 5 days a week. Would I say it's an end all be all gaming beast? Not really, but for what it is it's a monster in its own right and will run anything you throw at it and just smile at you. Honestly it makes me mad when people on the m17x and main alienware forum tell people how the m17x is easily daily portable when I'm betting they never take theirs anywhere. Maybe if I only had to take a m17x somewhere once a week at the most I'd deal with it, but daily....it's BS IMO.

 

Unless you game on the go, I suggest you keep your m17x, it's an actual gaming laptop with no compromise. The m14x is great, but it compromises gaming power for portability. I love my m14x, but would be a bad idea fiscally to trade it for one. If you need portability without gaming, why not get a cheap netbook for a few hundred?

Your m17x can even change graphics if you needed a better card too. Can't do that with the m14x. I'd even say your m17x is more futureproof than the m14x. I got less than 30 fps on bc3 on high settings, 40 on medium, and i was overclocked. The m14x is great, but if you value gaming power, keep your m17x, especially since you just bought it.

 

An overclocked 555M wil perform very close to the stock 460M, and it has the same CPU. You are also running games at 1366x768 or 1600x900, instead of 1080p, which gives alot more frames (For graphic intensive games, Id recommend 720p as the dense screen resolution makes it look almost exactly the same as native for games, at least imo)

Optimus is really optimus. I cant see it behaving differently on different machines or graphics cards, its all software. So far Ive come into no issues except GTA 4, which I solved through uninstalling and installing the driver again. But if youre having issues, its likely youll have them again on the m14x

If you had an M17x with a 6970M or something a bit higher, youd be taking a huge loss, but with a 460M m17x, its not that great of a loss. If you want your main machine to be more portable, I definitely recommend it, but you will pay the pricier cost of performance/price, but its worth it in my opinion.

So far, my m14x can handle almost everything maxed out anyways @ 1280x800 or more (which looks pretty good on this screen imo). BFBC2 I get about 80-90fps @ 1600x900, everything maxed with 2X AA, HBAO and VSYNC off

EDIT: Also definitely check out this thread if you haven't already http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/599567-looking-pic-m14x-side-side-m17x.html

(Guessing you have)

 

Wow, very nice and quick responses! I suppose the thing I forgot to mention is that I had planned on building a pretty beastly desktop next fall so really my main gaming rig would be that. I was really needing something more portable to do work related stuff and take notes in class, but I can get a tablet to suit that need as well. I don't know if I should just keep the 17x and not buy a desktop since the 17 is up-gradable. Ahhhh decisions...

 

Just wanted to point out that the M14x does not play Crysis 2 on 900p at max settings, but quite close to max settings.

 

Well, I dont know much about upgrading much of the alienwares, but I know it can be usually around 150-200 or more for a GPU. If you upgraded to a 580M or 6970M it may be worth it, but since youre considering a desktop it might just be better to try and return the m17x (maybe try to say youve had nothing but problems?) and then built the desktop and get a 5-600$ 13-14 inch laptop for low end gaming and note taking

 

Hmm, I wonder if returning it would be an option at this point? For what I paid for the 17x I could buy my desktop and the tablet I was looking at. I do like this notebook but it simply isn't logical for me to keep it for what I need.

I am obviously past my normal return date but perhaps they would be willing to work with me? I did have a terrible time getting several games to work after all due to the issues with Optimus.

 

How far past the return period are you?

 

I received it late April if I recall correctly which is well past my 30 days. However, as I have said I didn't run into a problem with Optimus locking me out of games or not being able to get drivers that work until after that time anyway. And to be honest, sure I finally got it fixed but..I shouldn't have to use modded BIOS and drivers on a brand new system that I paid 2k for anyway.

This will probably be a no go, but perhaps there is a chance.

 

Doesn't hurt to call.. Let us know what you decide, and what Dell says

 

Yeah, don't trade your m17x, you'll be losing out on the extra cash you paid for it. If you really want the m14x, try to return it. If they wont accept it, try selling it on ebay, I'm sure it'll sell for close to the price you paid. people still pay over 1k for the r2's. People are bidding a lot of m17x's with the gt460m, over 1600.

I didn't see any specs for the m14x that you'd get by trading, I assumed it was the base with the quad core i7. If it's like a quad core 2630qm or higher, 8gb ram or more, 900p display, and maybe the 3gb gt555m just to have the costs balanced, then maybe it'll be a smaller loss. around a few hundred.

 

Ok, as I figured Dell was unwilling to do anything about the issue. I knew more about the Optimus issues than the tech did which was no surprising. And as far as returning, that was of course a no go, which is fine. I suppose selling could be a good option. Had tried craigslist but no one seemed to be able to pay a decent price.

I will have to try ebay, didn't know the 17x's were selling so well on there. Thanks for all of the tips and advice. You guys have been awesome!