Considering Alienware M11x or M14x...

I was suggested to get Sager and all that, but those are a bit out of my price range tbh... I've noticed it's quite easy to pick up an M11x or M14x from the Dell Outlet for a reasonable price.. especially when they release coupons

My question is, do you think the performance of this machine will suit me well for a while? I do play games, although not usually too demanding.. (MMOs, etc) but I'd like somewhat capability to do that if I decide to.

How is battery life on these machines, and does anyone have any experience with the XPS systems to compare them to that alternative?

Thanks alot!

 

The M11x and M14x should have decent battery life with Optimus. What games do you play? And with the M14x, the 1600x900 LCD upgrade should be a high priority, 3 GB GT555M isn't really worth it. The XPS systems are okay, but given how poor the track record is you might want to avoid XPS. Only redeeming feature is the B+RGLED offered on the XPS 15.

 

I agree with Tsunade... good advice. I don't own either of the smaller Alienware systems you are considering, but my M18x has more than 4 hours of battery life on the IGP. I would venture a guess that the M11x and M14x can both beat that.

I updated the title of your thread to indicate what you are considering. This may attract more comments from M11x and M14x owners.

I'm glad you're looking at Alienware. Even if the Sager (Clevo) hardware were equal to the Alienware system, Dell's advanced warranty options and support still bludgeon them to death.

 

It all depends.

M11X:
- Ultraportable
- 6.5 hours of battery (with some adjustments)
- Can play most games on medium+ (some med/high)
- i5 is pretty much identical to i7 since both are underclocked (duo cores)

M14X:
- Portable
- 5.5 hours of battery (with some adjustments)
- Can play most games on high+ (some on high/ultra)
- 900p screen upgrade option
- Quad core option i7
- 1.5GB 555m will give you the same FPS as a 3GB 555m

--

Note: I've seen posts where people have been able to squeeze more battery life, but this is the estimate you should expect out of the box with limited tweaking.

Side Note: If you get the M11X, get the i5 since it's the same as i7. If you get the M14X, get the 1.5GB 555 and not the 3GB since it's pretty much the same. Both are "cash-grab" tactics to give customers the illusion that you will be getting better performance but you really aren't.

Both are excellent machines, however the M14X has more power.

I'm personally using an M14X as I type this and absolutely love it.

If it helps, these are the games I am currently playing with settings:
- SW: Old Republic = High
- BF3 = High
- Heroes of Might & Magic 6 = High
- World of Warcraft = Ultra (just using my 7-day free pass then stopping)
- NFS: Hot Pursuit = High

*Shadows off/low for each game; AA low/off.

 

I read that the R1's and R2's get a tad bit better battery that the R3's. My R2 gets just over 6.

 

m14x will give you more power while the m11x is a super portable beast.
It really depends what you value more! The M14x is still portable just not AS portable as the Baby Alien 11.

 

Well consider the M11x like a 12-13" laptop and the M14x like a 15.6" laptop. They aren't exactly the 11.6" and 14" form factors. The M14x is like your standard 15.6" laptop weight with dGPU, not too bad. M11x is like a fatter ultraportable.

 

haha fatter ultraportable, pretty much. but without the ssd. Battery life on my mm1x r2 has degraded to 5 hours :|

 

You can get an SSD on the M11x. I would strongly advise you to do so, either directly when you order it or as an aftermarket upgrade (it doesn't void your warranty).

 

Before I begin, I just want to point something out. I am not in any way saying that the items I marked in bold are wrong statements. Voodooi is correct about performance. That being said...

The extra memory for a video card used to be an indication of its 'power', but that is only partly true. Depending on the games you play, you might be given the option to use higher resolution texture packs. This is where the added video RAM will shine.

More video RAM means more room for higher quality textures. For games like MW3 or BF 3, the gains will be minimal as they were designed for consoles and use a fixed amount of texture memory.

Games like Skyrim (if you want to use the higher res texture pack) and Rage (also an optional high res texture pack) you will be able to use the higher detail versions because you have the additional room. My M11x R2 plays both of these games amazingly well, but I cannot use the higher res packs because I don't have the additional video RAM.

There was another thread many months ago in the M11x forums about it being a waste of money to get anything more, which I also pointed this out. Just because nothing (or very few things) use the video RAM right now, does not mean that nothing ever will.

If you have the extra money, the additional texture memory can only benefit you. Is it a waste of money? No.

P.S. I hope I made sense as the pain meds I am on right now make it hard to completely focus.

 

I agree. For people who understand how GPUs work, it's easy to understand what are the benefits of extra VRAM, but for the general public, and even for gaming enthusiasts, the benefits are not clear.

Remember that a video card has, inside it, a processing unit (like your Intel/AMD CPU) and graphics memory (like your normal RAM). Extra GPU power (i.e. more shaders, higher clocks, etc) is useful for graphics tasks that require power, such as high anti-aliasing, high shadows, etc. Extra GPU memory is useful for tasks which require very large variables, such as very detailed textures as n0¢yph3r mentioned above.

The benefit of extra VRAM is, in a way, similar to the benefit of normal RAM. Nowadays, you don't really need more than 4 GB of RAM unless you do specialized tasks (heavy numerical computing, virtual machines, etc), but you might need it in the future.

It's all a matter of priorities. In the M14x, I would definitely invest in a better screen and some decent RAM (8 GB), because I do heavy computing. I would probably not invest in the better GPU, but that's because I don't have that much money to spare.

 

Nobody is disputing that the upgrades aren't "better". They are simply saying that as far as properly priced upgrades being worth the extra you're paying, those upgrades should be avoided.

The i5 and i7 in the M11x are both dual-cores with hyperthreading with clock rates within 300MHz of eachother, yet the i7 is $200 more. Hell, Dell charges $1,000 for their 16GB upgrade.

Have an M11x R3 (i5) which I've upgraded to the specs in my sig, i am more than happy to recommend it. I have it used as the "hub" of my desk, with it connected 24/7 to my 42" plasma with an external keyboard & mouse. I game & watch movies from it without any issues. But i guess that all comes own to what you need it for.

 

Depends, if you slightly care more about gaming then the portability, then get the M14X. My M11X R1 needs an upgrade (It's been 2 years since I bought it.)

If you really don't give a crud about running games, go get a netbook or if you want to run a simple game like, say WoW. Then go get the M11X R3.

Or if you're really smart, quickly, get out of the Alienware sub-forum
There's a lot more beauties to see out there in the portable gaming world. Hope you make a good pick!