M11x vs M14x for Animation work

I need a new system I can both travel to and from school with (a one to two hour commute depending on the day), that's powerful enough to both game on and run Autodesk suite, Adobe suite, Toonboom, etc. I've been looking at both the m11x and m14x for a while but not sure which to go for. While the m11x is a dream for portability I'm still leaning towards the m14x for the video card and greater specs. If I picked up the m11x I'd go for an Intel Core i7 2637M 1.7GHz and 8GB Dual Channel DDR3. I'd spend significantly more on the m14x with Intel® Core™ i7 2860QM 2.5GHz, 16GB DDR3, and 3.0GB DDR3 NVIDIA. I'd most likely be using this system far more then my desktop which I am hardly home to use anymore. What's the professional opinion on which is the better system for my situation.

 

I'm not a professional animator but one thing to consider is the max resolution of 1366x768 on the M11x vs. the max resolution of 1600x900 on the M14x screen. You may have to end up scrolling (up/down and left/right) more on the lower res screen of the M11x for certain images, web pages, etc.

All this is null though, if you're going to be using an external monitor most of the time and can go up to a much higher resolution.

 

Like M11xDude said, if screen real-estate is important to you when you're on the go, you should definitely be looking for the M14x. There would be a huge performance boost with the M14x as well (quad core vs. ULV dual core).

The M11xR3 has very good battery life and would be a trooper on the road. It can also game well when not plugged in however the M14x will downlock the GPU. If you mostly game on AC though, this shouldn't be an issue.

 

My girlfriend is an animation major, I would recommend the M11x if you don't care so much for screen real estate. You could buy an external monitor for that purpose, but you can't really bring that on-the-go. The battery will definitely be better than the m14x

Get the m14x if screen real-estate is the deciding point.

 

For me I would suggest the M14x if you dont mind the less portability in exchange with more performance, because for the M11x, it is not entirely build for performance, it is advertise as universe's smallest gaming laptop which obviously they wont be able to crank a high performance hardware into it. However if portability is your main priority then go for the M11x.

For this link here show the comparison between the i7 2637M and the i7 2860QM.

 

I don't know anything about animation at all, but if it's CPU-dependent then you should consider that the M14x has a vastly, vastly superior processor to the M11x.

 

M14x. Dont buy RAM from Dell. Are those programs CPU intensive? If not drop the CPU a notch, 2860QM has horrible costs/performance ratio.

 

The extra video ram will do nothing for you, this has been stated eleventybillion times everywhere. Get your RAM from newegg or the like Dell is way overpriced, my wife and I argued about this one. Sure you're paying for a body to install it but it's not that hard an install.

If it were me I'd go with the middle or lower end i7, 16x9 screen, 4 gigs of RAM, and the stock video card. Take the leftover monies saved by not having dell do stuff and hit newegg for as much ram as you want. Since the M14 has HDMI invest in a cable or two and a stupidly nice monitor for the computer.

 

With Autodesk and Toonborn as primary concerns, I'd prioritize a quad core CPU, so the M14x is my vote.

 

11 is too small. Ive had 2. The 14 is nice until you realize its pretty big. Ive had 2. After I got another m17x r3 ( my fifth ) ive finally come to the conclusion that it IS the best of the three hands down. The 17x downright embarasses the 14x I had. After getting used to the lower res 14 inch panel going back to the 17 was like staring at an Imax screen.

screen real estate = win.