I'm thinking of buying a M17 Or m17x!!

Hey, just a little history, I currently own a M9750. Since AW dropped the price of the M17x to the M17 range. I think it's time for another Laptop. I'm a little undecided on which to get.

M17 = Advantages = Possible 4870's I can use the 3870's in Xfire on my M9750. Saves me time and money. DDR3, Centrino 2, QX9300, Price.

M17 = disadvantages = looks similar to M9750.

M17x = Advantages = the looks, I like that Alien casing with badging. Possible GTX280M in SLI. Smart bay, AlienFX, Better Screen, I'd say Kick Gaming Rig.

M17x = Disadvantages = older tech, and it's an arm and a leg for 9800GT SLI.

Well, I'm a FPS gamer and would love to keep playing for the next 3-5 years, hope someone can give me more detail about which of the two to get and why. I'm also looking to max my spending at around $2500.00. Thanks!

 

considering the possible 280m unit in the m17x, i would lean that way, but to be honest, i bet loads of others would say m17 and i would have to agree to disagree.
price and current hardware vice older would be the benfit for the m17.
however, the ddr3 is not the king as it makes out to be currently.
other will argue about quad vs dual. honestly, by the time any games can fully utilize the quad, the other componants of the unit will be outdated.
so it comes to your decision....if you like the m17x, and as it "may" get the 2xxm series cards, and the idea of a better screen and other things such as smart bay, AFX and such, then get it. even though it is older tech, it will suffice for a few years yet.
but if you feel like forgoing a few "perks" then i would say take a serious look at the m17. there are a ton of people that have OC'd the unit (even though that would void the AW warranty), and have made it a beast of a machine.

from here it boils down to personal choice.

 

My advice is to wait a couple months. If the M17 is getting 4870s , it'll be done by then. If the m17x is going to get 280Ms, it might be a while.

 

really i don't think its gonna get 280m gtx .... in the m17x

m17 is a nice lapto for multimedia/gaming of coarse you know about the quad support and ddr3 but you can also over clock if you flash your bios and yes that will void your warrenty

the m17x is still a good laptop with 9800m gt in SLI and now the price has gone down 600 its pretty nice but the m17 x fire 3870's are just under the 9800m's in performance, so that 850$ upgrade vs the 250 for the ATI cards. Kinda is a turn off for me but hey each to their own

Also the m17x does have the looks and SB so that is nice and worth something. and Ryu is right quad cores are awsome but they just are not being fully used by games right now (except a few) so if you get the x9100 or t9600 you will be fine .


my opinion is bias i say m17 just because its a little more future proof

 

They both have there pros and cons. But quad core is useless unless programs can use it. I think it going to take a few years before quad core are of any good use.

 

it already started.

new games (like GTAIV and Unreal Engine 3 games) out and in development will have multi-thread support... the more cores the better.

and for media work (audio/video/2D/3D) conversion/editing/compression/rendering will love the quad cores over the dual cores.

 

there to

 

GTX280 SLI in the M17x? Where did you get that?

 

My QX9300 running at the same speed as my old X9100 (3.06Ghz) nets 800 -1000 extra 3DMarks. I've also been able to jack up the graphics settings in many of my games, and still achieve the same frame rate. I've seen a significant jump in gaming performance all around the board, Quad Core support or no. I don't think that games/apps need to specifically support the Quad to take advantage of the extra horsepower.

 

no where ! he is just throwin POO lol

@ turbo yea the quad will help out because it will distribute the load of they system over 4 cores so it give more cpu to play with in game. IMO not sure though, also 3dmark test with all 4 cores

 

It takes Alienware a while to transition, so even if they're looking at the 280M, it won't be seen for a looong time.