i7-4710mq vs i7-4910mq alienware 14

Worth it to get the 4910 instead of the 4710? $400 price difference

 

If you do a lot photo editing (really high resolution) & video editing, it may worth it.

 

Not for gaming.

 

ya i wil only use it for gaming, and maybe some stocks software like chart

 

Save your money for something other than CPU upgrades if using predominantly for gaming - you'll not see a significant 'cash for performance' increase. Perhaps a SSD upgrade or warranty would be more beneficial.

 

I wouldn't waste money on a warranty, zero performance boost and only beneficial if something goes wrong.

The way I look a warranty, its better to keep your cash you would of spent on every item you have purchased through the years on warranty's in a separate bank account, thus you will have a substantial amount at a future date to cover yourself for whatever.

I you can afford the laptop long term, then grab the better CPU. Consider going for a i7-4810MQ as that will give you a decent boost without breaking the bank, also you can get further 400MHz on top of that by overclocking it using Intel XTU software with a couple of clicks.

 

I you are buying an Alienware, BUY THE WARRANTY!! I have owned 4 Alienware laptops and I have had to use the warranty every single time on major hardware failures. WHEN something goes wrong, and trust me it will, the cost of the repair will be twice the amount of the warranty. My current Alienware 14 is less then a year old, it is a replacement unit they sent me, and it has had a GPU failure 60 days after the warranty expired and the computer is only 9 months old. To extend the warranty would have cost me $200 but now the repair will cost me $430 and Alienware WILL NOT HELP YOU OUT. They told me to get bent many many times now.

 

Having warranty on an Alienware laptop is like having good brakes on a car - you miss them most when they are not there. You only have to look on Ebay to see the cost of a top end GPU like the 780m/880m...not to mention the cost of a new motherboard or CPU. I think anyone who spends thousands on a top end machine is foolish if they do not take warranty to match. We've seen plenty of people post up that they are out of warranty, but they need a new board or something.......that's when it becomes expensive to repair....not only do you have the cost of the part but if you are not competent to replace that part, you have the cost of getting someone to do it for you. The total repair cost can then escalate to make the machine economically beyond repair in many cases.

 

I completely agree with steviejones133 on this one, the CPU upgrade is not necessary for gaming while a warranty will help you ensure that if anything happens you'll still be able to use the machine.

 

The I7 MQ4700 is enough already for gaming.

 

I won't bother with anything more than the 4700MQ, it's hot enough in my machine already.
I once even considered buying a i5 to keep it cool and save power, as I use it for gaming only.

Go for the warranty. I've own my laptop for almost a year. Fortunately no big issue so far. But occassional sudden shutdown (rarely seen but it happened) or driver crash remind me that if something goes wrong, I'm screwed without a warranty.