Is the M17X R3 for me?

Hey guys! :]

I am a 19 year old "man" who are having problems finding the laptop most suitable for my use. I am off to the army in January, and need a laptop that supports my needs fully.

The first laptop I bought was the Asus G72GX. This was very loud and hot, not really what I wanted. So when it broke I bought a M17X R1. I really liked how it looked, however, the battery life + weight + LOUD FANS really killed it for me. So I returned it and bought an Asus G73jh instead. I was more happy with this, the fans were silent, and the screen was nice. But the weight + battery life made me return that too.

The next one I bought was the M11X, hoping this would furfill my needs. The battery was awesome, the weight awesome, I was really happy with it..... BUT, the screen... It's awful! I sat on the bus the other day, and with the brightness to max, I still couldn't watch a movie on the glossy screen. I also find the colors to be terrible. I was most happy with the m11X but screen killed it. Also found the 11" scrren to be too small.

I am a gamer that wants ok/good gaming performance, good battery for watching movies/surfing web. Not as heavy as M17X R1 and with a screen MUCH better than M11x. The fans on the M17X with gtx 280m SLI also was very loud, a little bit too loud maybe, my dad didn't want me gaming anywhere near him.

So will the M17X R3 be the laptop for me?

 

Sure, what is your budget.

OR, get the m18x, its bigger but has better GPU power.

 

Won't spend more than $2500. Haven't thought much about the M18X, it looks so big, so might be too big for me.

 

I think you would like the m17xR3, it is very silent and has good gaming performance. The weight isn't too bad, its about 8 pounds / 4kg's. You can pick one up off HIDevolution.com for $1600.

 

I have to imagine that if the M17xR1 and G73 were too large for you that the M17xR3 wont be a whole lot better.

You might want to consider an M15x or even head on over to a site like xoticpc.com and configure yourself a good 15" laptop, maybe a Sager, such as the NP8130 on the front page, or another option with a higher end graphics card.

 

I would say M14x or M17x rather than M15x/M18x
M17x is almost similar in size as M15x (Screen margins are larger)

Here are a links I found on these forums , showing M15x vs M17x and showing M18x vs M17x

 

The battery life on the R3 is good, performance is great with the right specs, but performance sucks on battery power. If you get the more powerful GPU's it still gets hotter than heck and is pretty loud on fans. Honestly with what you said I would recommend like a M14x with a 900p screen or maybe even an XPS 14 with extended battery and upgrade to the LG 900p screen aftermarket if you can find one. Another thing to consider is even though the R3 is lighter than previous M17x's it's still about as heavy if not heavier than the Asus you didn't like the weight of. If you're concerned at all about weight, noise, and battery life you need to probably stay away from 17" laptops.

 

Thank you for all the answers guys!

I have now narrowed my search down to 3 laptops:
M17X R3, Asus G74SX and M14X.

When I owned the M11X, the glossy screen was impossible to work on outdoors or close to windows (also too small of course), is the M17X R3 screen as glossy? I like the battery life of the M17X, while the G74 has bad battery. I like that the G74 fans are silent while gaming, while M17X fans are loud.

When it comes to M14X, I worry about glossy screen, some fan issues I read on forum (it beeing very loud and stressed) and if the laptop can handle battlefield 3.

So if the G74 had optimus, I would buy that for sure. At the moment I have really no idea which to choose. I can handle the weight of the laptops, as I found out a bigger screen is so much better and more enjoyable for me.

 

The m17x r3 and m14x have the same glossy display as m11x. Seems the glossy screen is a issue which kinda kills the Alienware brand for you.
I will say I think the m17x r3 screen is much nicer than the m14x.

 

I got the 6970 gpu and while gaming i dont notice that much fan noise , i think its reasonable :X unless ur really picky about these stuff the noise isnt terrible at all.

 

Agreed it kicks up occasionally but nothing like the 6000 rpm fans in the Macbook Pro running bootcamp for Windows gaming! Now that's noise!

Cheers,

 

Ah, good that the fan noise isn't too bad then. My one and only concern is the screen. I have had a very bad experience with the M11X.

I know if I buy the G74 screen it won't be a problem, but I love how the M17X R3 looks.

Took a picture; M11X to the left and my desktop computer 1200p screen to the right. The colors and brightness are horrible on my m11x. If the m17X R3 has a brighter screen and better colors, then the glossy won't be too bad I think. Problem with m11x is that it doesn't bright enough to counter off the glossy screen.

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My screen is not as bright or vibrant as my G73Jh but the flexiblility of the m17xr3 out weighs all other considerations.

Cheers