Hello.

A quick question if anyone could answer please, I'm currently looking into buying an alienware laptop.

And I was just wondering, the only game I'll be playing is Starcraft II and other than that i'll just be doing MSN, facebook and youtube. the usual stuff. Now Would an i3 be good enough for that? I mean if i need an i5 i'll get it but if i3 is good i can save my self some money!

 

something like the 350m should be good enough. however i reckon the extra 200 for the i5 is worth it. the extra clockspeed would help in those intensive battles and may just run smoother in a 4v4 match or something like that, especially if you've got a lot of AI processing. i assume you'll be going for the 5850m gpu, that would make the most difference in SC2, followed by the cpu.

 

But since your already spending quite abit on this laptop, why not wait a bit longer and go for an i7... This way your at least somewhat futureproof and wont be dissapointed when your next favourite generation game doesnt play well.

 

I can't recommend the i3 if you're getting it for gaming purposes.. it lacks that extra oomph. The i5 will get you there, and they are very overclockable which I love, but you might not get it on full settings.

I do recommend the i7's for SURE. I've never looked back since I got i7's starting from december last year in my ex-m15x.
They're not *too* much more costly.. unless you get the 920XM option.

 

So the i7 720QM is a much better option over the i5?

 

If you are getting it for gaming go for highest i5 or i7-620m.
Otherwise if you don't have a specific need for quad(i.e: you are always on photoshop, editing movies etc.), you'll get better performance from 620m in games.

 

Hmmm, not too sure. Honestly when I play my games (MMO's in particular) I like to have itunes, firefox, ventrillo, fraps (sometimes) and other programs running in the background. This is where Quad Cores shine and capture my heart!

 

in comparison, i'm usually converting/muxing video while gaming. that's where quad core (and external hdd) is a MUST.

if only doing light multi-tasking and gaming, the 620m performs almost just as well as the 920xm.

the 620m seems to be the sweet spot in terms of bang for buck.

 

This ^_^ !

 

You actually do get a similar multitasking performance from 620m, compared to 740qm due to high raw processing power. You can have Fallout3 maxed out, while chatting with buddies in background with TeamSpeak, checking quests "tips" in Fallout Wikia with Firefox and recording the whole stuff in FRAPS simulatenously. There is simply no reason to go for 740qm -unless you know you need a quad- while there is 620m and 840qm. Plus on top of having a higher clock, its uses less energy and makes less heat. The only case I would prefer 740qm is if it was cheaper than 620m or I needed it specifically for some reasons