Help with purchase please

Hello,

I currently have an XPS 1648 which I like a lot, but is just not portable enough for what I need. I am looking to replace it with an M11x and wanted some opinions.

I am an avid gamer, but don't have a problem running at lower detail settings. I use the laptop for nursing school and gaming at work.

Is it worth it to get the I7 over the I5 when the limiting factor for gaming is the GPU?

Am I going to see about the same performance out of the M11x as the 1648, I expect it will be a little slower because of the video card, but not a lot.

What kind of heat output am I looking at? My 1648 needs a cooler for anything over idle or the palm rest gets unbearably hot.

Thanks in advance!

 

idk about the gpu or the i7 over the i5 (i have both but haven't tested the i5 yet). but for the heat output, i've always used a small laptop cooler to go with my m11x i7, but even without it, i think that i'd be fine (even when pushing this thing). heat gets to at most... maybe 65 c with my laptop cooler on (it can't be too much more without the cooler, but why let it get hot? ). as an afterthought, yes, the palmrest does get hot when the ultraportable is pushed, but it has never been unbearably so with my cooler on.

 

Not true at all. Starcraft 2, Team Fortress 2, Shattered Horizon and many other games these days can be CPU hogs.

 

But most games are GPU dependent not so much on the CPU, the i5 can be made to be an amazing cpu but looking at the i7 it's going to be better performing by a bit than the i5. If you use apps/games frequently that require extra power from the cpu then I'd go with the i7, if not go i5 or even with the C2D(su7300) model as it will be a decent amount cheaper with similar performance. The only difference between the two are the cpu's and optimus-vs-manually switchable graphics. The C2D model is going to have better battery life too so keep that in mind as well. As far as heat goes I've never had anything break 70 degrees even overclocked and running heavy apps/games so it stays pretty cool by itself. Good luck on the purchase no matter what you decide! And welcome to the horde

 

What kinds of games do you play? As has already been mentioned, some games are cpu limited (notably rts). So, you will probably be fine regardless of which cpu you choose if you don't do anything else particularly cpu intensive.

As for a cooler, I use one only while gaming. The rest of the time, it stays rather cool.

 

I play almost everything, my current list includes:

COD:Black Ops
Need for Speed, on the 16th
WOW
Civ 5
Fallout Vegas

I have a lot of downtime at work, which requires entertainment.

Thanks for the great feedback so far, looking it over I think I am going to look at the I7

 

^ i have an i7 i oc it and tb it ... WOW plays ok.. don't expect for it to play WOW flawlessly.. it does very well in 5 man instances but starts to get choppy in 10/25 man you def. have to turn down the settings for 25 (i get about 15-20fps :[)... but it is playable... there has been issues with WoW from other people check the thread out on it... it'll give u more information.