Help me decide for limited $

i'm planning to buy an m11x or m15x in october, also waiting for those refresh (maybe on fall). im going to continue my studies next february abroad (australia) so it must be portable. next, i love gaming very much, at least it runs comfortably, i hope on medium to max settings. since im an IT and planning to get information security or enterprise information im sure i would be always be in front of my laptop so i might bring my laptop every time i go to campus, i dont mind to bring a 15" laptop. i only have USD2.2k for max purchase on the US AW web. so i narrowed my options to have the max upgrades of m11x or medium upgrades of m15x. please help me decide

 

I would take the M15x and order through EPP if you can. Since you are a student, I think youll be able to. There is a thread on the forum on how to order and save as much as possible.

Why would I take the M15x? its because you will have a much stronger processor than in the M11x. This will be certainly of advantage for any doing any studies with regard to Computer Science. Also, The M15x with the 5850 will be a great gaming pc for you

 

I second Wattos's comment. In your situation, you can afford a decent M15x, that will serve you much better for the next couple of years.

 

Out of the two - M15X hands down.
However, if you gonna stay glued to the laptop, consider a business notebook with an anti glare type screen. Some will disagree, but after buying M17X for work(80%) and gaming(20%) I realized the problem a few months down the road, tried screen shields and filters (the last one cost me 150$) with poor results. Power is one thing but if you're in IT and constantly on the go, look into Dell Precision M4500, HP 8540w or Lenovo W510.

 

I guess it really depends on the places you use the laptop as well. I personally never had any problems with the screen being to reflective and I use my laptop at home, uni, train, car... It is however hard to read when direct sunlight shines on the screen.

 

Yep. And I got the old CCFL screen, and I'm delighted with the display. I'm looking forward to an RGB LED screen.

 

m15x with 720QM, FHD LCD, and 5850 GPU. The remaining options are inconsequential.

 

yeah, yeah, rub it in!

 

umm..
sorry coz im a noob here and dont know what EPP is.
seems most will choose m15x, i will consider it

 

M15x - it's better built, is upgradeable, and is still fairly portable. The M11x is nice, but it's only significant advantage over the M15x is battery life-time. For the different in price even the most basic M15x rocks relative to an M11x.

 

I have had the m17 and the m11x. I really like the m11x. But... In your situation, if you dont mind the weight, I would prolly get the m15x...the two must have items are the 5850 and the i7 quad. SSD would be my next thing to update.

If you get an M11x base with 4gb ram, aftermarket ssd for about $1200 usd. This leaves you a cool grand to spend on "other" activities once you get to Australia. I am no perv, but I am not 100 percent certain games will be on your mind once you get there..

Best Wishes,

StevenX

 

M15x. that's for you.

m11x suit me well cause i have to carry it around the campus and use it in classes. other wise i would be all ove the m17x.

 

the thing is i got this budget from my parents and its only for puchasing a laptop, any lower price is acceptable but the rest of money is not refundable. its based on my experience ( i had been given 1.7k 2 years ago to purchase a laptop and i decided to buy a 1k to receive 700 to buy something else but they didnt give it to me )
still confused on purchasing which one, i love the compact model of m11x and its life power but the performance doubt me. on the other hand, m15x performance is fantastic but im not comfortable with its size, hoping for a 14", weight doesnt matter
something like a vaio z117 would be perfect (with an increase of GPU) but its abit pricey

 

The reason m11x exists is its portability. I didn't like the idea of carrying 15" laptop around that much (I had one) and I certainly wouldn't carry it on campus every day. Also I travelled a bit by bus and on regular buses (not the fancy ones that cost 2x more) I wouldn't be able to open 15" laptop.

If you don't mind carrying m15x around all the time and it'll be hooked to AC power most of the time, then that would be a better choice.

 

you have a point