Some questions about the M17x R3

1. What difference does a gtx 560 vs gtx 580 make to gaming?
2. Is there much of a performance gain with the 2760QM cpu instead of the 2670 QM given its wider fsb?
3. Do Alienware laptops last longer than entry level laptops or about the same?
4. How does the 3d FHD screen compare to the non-3d FHD screen?

Thanks in advance!

 

1. Anything from 50% increase to twice the performance.
2. The CPU's have different multipliers, not fsb. And no difference in gaming between the two.
3. Good build quality, future proof too with better parts.
4. 3D is brighter. Same colour and same specs otherwise.

 

for gaming, since its more gpu dependant, you won't see much difference bewteen the 2760 and 2670. Where you will see the difference is in benchmarks where the faster CPU will benefit

Alienwares are well built laptops, if you take care of them, they will last

 

DON'T buy a gtx 560m, trust me, it is already outdated...

 

If you can, go for the 580M, it'll be a very big difference.

The CPU, not so much.

If you mean last longer, in the sense that they can keep up with newer stuff, then yes, because of the higher-and-normal component spec, but they're still going to become outdated like everything else. If you're talking about build quality, then that's also a yes. With the R3 Alienware took a step or two back, but they're still above average, especially in the cooling department.

It doesn't; they're a world apart. Again, if you can, go for the 19x10 screen (though bear in mind your framerates will suffer). Still well worth it.

 

The 560m is basically a Desktop GTX550, which at best is a mid grade card. The 580m is an underclocked GTX560 Ti, which is the bottom of the high end cards in the desktop world. As others have said, performance wise the 580m is roughly 2x as fast (it has twice as many processors 384 vs 192).

Laptops terminology confuses buyers into thinking they are getting high performance when in reality it is middle of the road.

Quality wise I can only speak for Alienware and Asus, build wise they are equal, but Alienware has more options and a far superior warranty. Asus is a nice laptop but unless you pay $1200 or less, an Alienware offer more bang for the buck.

I would only purchase an Alienware or Sager. They are the only ones with easily upgradable GPUs.

 

And the Asus G74 has its GPU soldered to the board, that was a deal breaker for me.

 

Thanks for your comments! I will go with the GTX 580 with 2670Qm processor if I go with Alienware instead of an XPS.

For some reason, the price of the laptop before I add it to the cart is much lower than at checkout, which doesn't happen with XPS and inspirion range at checkout. Has anyone noticed this?

I'm going to get onto dell about it and try to save myself 100 quid on the Alienware laptop.

 

Yhey might have some sale on XPS and not on AW. Maybe free delivery or something small. GL with your system