M11x Config

I'm looking at this setup for the M11x, how would this run World of Warcraft on high settings?

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo SU7300(1.3GHz,800MHz,3MB)
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
320GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M

I'd initally planned to save for the M15x but due to needing a laptop faster than I had anticipated I don't have as much to spend.

 

I can't say anything about WoW, just that based on common knowledge it should run ok outside dungeons (or w/e they are called in WoW). My suggestion, however, would be to really try to push for that M15x.

 

I loaded up wow last night, I don't really play it anymore, but had a 7 day welcome back pass. I had everything maxed out and it ran great. I'll run fraps tonight to see what the actual frame rates are, but it was certainly very playable. My rig is the same as your proposed spec except for an SSD

 

It won't run as great as it would as on the M15x for the plain fact that WoW is a game that does lend itself to being more CPU relient. I'm not saying it will be terrible, just it won't be as good as an M15x core proccessor.

 

If you want to save $100 go with the Su4100. Unless your going to be running virtual systems, then you won't gain much from the SU7100 unless your in it for benchmarking. the $100 increase is pretty much only for the built in ability of the 7100 to run virtual systems.

 

I hear good things about wow, I'm planning on testing it myself once I get it, the main concern would be how well it handles in 25man raids.

 

Why run fraps? just press control+r

 

does control and r bring up fps or something?

 

Well I did say I didn't play Wow anymore. Weird results though averaged 119 on both high and ultra around ironforge. I haven't played for years so don't know where the high load areas are these days

 

55 ultra and 63 high average in the open just outside ironforge. Very strangely in Shattrath was getting 75 on ultra and 40 on high. Suggest some one who is into wow gives it a try in the highload areas. Also I'm not sure what difference the SSD makes

 

I have the same specs... tried wow on ultra and it worked really well (30-40fps)... i'm not a big wow player though so i don't know how different places vary in fps... I was just like in the undercity and stuff when I tested...

Watch this review.... he talks about playing wow on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Ssqvy7SYU

 

I heard it doesnt do raids to well.. not sure how true that is.

 

yes its true tried doing a plainjane 25man ony not very playable imo at ultra, trying to find the right settings but atm im not too happy with performance in 25man content 10mans were slightly better and 5 man HFOS i had to disconnect the external monitor that was at 720 resolution. Will try to get a gamevid or ss up if i can, and wire myself into the network.

 

cheers for a bit of insight, could i request you lower everything to bare and see how a raid handles, even thou you wouldn't think to play in those settings, I just wanna see if it's doable in the raids so I could participate while overseas if there are events when the expansion comes out.

 

^ Yes I would find that helpful too.

A bit of insight is that currently I'm playing WoW on quite an old mac pro. I'm using it for my business through the day and my graphics card died a week ago. So I've had a bit of a wakeup call and realise I perhaps need to only use it for work so I get a longer life out of it.

Unfortunately it couldn't have happened at a worse time as my car has also gone in for repairs and I have a holiday booked in two months. So money is tight.

My current machine runs WoW at about 24fps in Daralan and about 17/18 in Icecrown Citadel on a 25 man. Which is borderline unplayable. I wouldn't mind if those were high settings but that is literally every setting turned down to minimum.

Can I ask what a virtual system is?

Is the baseline M15x going to give me much better performance than the M11x?

 

I would imagine the m15x will perform WoW at a better rate than the m11x I've always just viewed it as the bigger the alienware, the more powerful it is at gaming.

 

Is it supposed to run it on Ultra?
I have it on ultra except shadows are on low. WOw plays great pretty much in all cases, do you need to max everything out?

 

it's great if it runs on ultra, thou I hear to get better performance to turn shadow and bloom off to get a bit more fps. I'm interested in how it runs during 25man raids since those will probably be the most straining events, if you ever get the chance while in one and find it difficult with current settings, set everything to bare minimum and report whether it functions better. Sorry if it's a bit of an order just curious to see how it runs before I get my system, I'll be wanting to report findings as well once I get it.

 

bare minimum will handle it at over 60 fps no problem. You don't have to go that low though

 

I managed 12 man raids on my old ATi x700m (3dmark06 score of 950) with most of the settings set to medium.. it would be far fetched to believe that the m11x would fail to run a 25 man on medium with a stable Frame rate.

 

So basically even the most basic m11x should be able to handle 25 man raids in WoW?

How will the M11x handle newer games like Left4Dead or Modern Warfare (just out of curiosity really). I won't lie, I play WoW therefore I am. But should I fancy trying something newer will I still be able to run it without getting frustrated with lag?

Also with the cover, Dell are wanting £198 to include accidental damage, is this essential? I'm wondering if the home insurance will cover it (as that would save me quite a lot of money too!).

 

The M11x will easily handle L4D and MW2.. even the most basic model, check out the gaming thread. £198 is ridiculous, just be careful with it.

 

25man raids and dalaran are the only things that bring this down to 25-35fps range, and thats with all graphics minimized except spell particles (so i can see where not to stand lol) This is only during fights though, the rest of the time its fine. If WoW would implement a way to turn everyone else's spells off except boss and your own it would be a lot better.

Wow runs great everywhere else, but this system starts slowing down like i said when you have a lot of people in one spot.

10man, 5man, etc. are fantastic = 60fps solid.

DO NOT expect 25man content at anything over low settings to be playable, you'll average right at 30fps tops on marrowgoar, and other bosses in icc that have a lot going on.

Part of it is the drivers are pretty old. When I had Dox installed it ran closer to 40fps, but i couldn't turn the 335 off. I could toggle to the intel gpu, but the 335 would still be using power as my battery life would never be more then 2 hours.

 

Would I get much better by saving for the M15x? Or is the point that no one gets decent fps in 25 mans anymore? I never used to have such poor fps in The Burning Crusade, and all I did was 25 mans back then. I hope Cataclysm doesn't just make everything worse again or I'm going to have to ask NASA to sell me a computer.

Thanks for all of the replies so far, it's really helping. At the moment I think I'm sticking with my config unless anyone can show me spending a few £100 more is going to make a huge difference in either FPS or the graphic settings.

 

well the 15" has a better GPU, and a better CPU. it just has a lot more bandwidth for video processing.

Yes, the 15" would offer much better MMO performance I think.

But, the m11x really offers a great experience, just not on high settings.

 

Is the 15 worth the price push though? Would it be a big enough difference to warrant the extra money being spent? Gah this is so hard to decide on, I don't want to spend more than I need to but I don't want to be disappointed either when spending so much money.

 

thanks zlog you explained it better than i could i was hoping for some 25man content on the go, but its just isnt possible without the game itself changing some settings as you've said. well i guess for that i'll have the incoming sager