The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    cpu bottleneck on m17x r2

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by turkey1, Sep 25, 2011.

  1. turkey1

    turkey1 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Looking at buying a gaming laptop to replace my macbook air. The air is great for normal stuff, but I hate having to run a windows parralell.

    Anyway was looking at buying a m17x with a i7 740QM 1.73Ghz and dual DUAL ATI HD5870. I have moderate gpu and cpu knowledge, but have fallen behind.

    Is this a good configuration or would it be better to spend a little extra for the sandy bridge i7 and the gtx 460, 560 or HD 6870M. also it only has 6 gigs of ram.

    not much gaming ,just want to play starcraft 2 on ultra/high diablo 3 on ultra/high and battlefield 3 on medium. also am open to a m14x, but not sure the gt 550 is enough. open to any other suggestions new/used in the 1200 to 1600 hundred range.
     
    turkey1, Sep 25, 2011
    #1
  2. DarthPierce

    DarthPierce Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    85
    Messages:
    181
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    you should be able to get a pretty solid new m17 for 1600, if you want to be on the high end of your budget.... I got a 2760, 6990, killer-n, 1080p, 750GB drive with 3 years of complete care for just under 2 grand (pre-tax). I'd imagine if you went with the 2630 and a smaller drive and cut the warranty you should easily be under 1600. Dont assume the website price is the best you can do... mine was ~700 under the web price and ~500 under the EPP/EEP/Student/military price. look at the getting a good deal thread in the main alienware section.
     
    DarthPierce, Sep 25, 2011
    #2
  3. Dr. J

    Dr. J Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    204
    Messages:
    714
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Check the Dell outlet or nbr for sale section too.
     
    Dr. J, Sep 25, 2011
    #3