Recommend me an M15x

I currently have the studio xps 1640 and i am thinking about paying it off and ordering an m15x. I was going to get a 15 macbook pro if they updated them the other day with i5's and 5650's or equivalents.

I have decided thow i am going to get a gaming machine. I would mainly want to play Empire Total War, Napoleon Total War, Command And Conquer 4, Starcraft 2 and some other games but mainly rts. I know these are fairly cpu intensive.

What cpu would be best without breaking the bank. I do have the epp discount but have not called to enquire about it.

Also how is the battery life with the bigger battery? For someone who carries this around to school with them how is it. I currently carry the xps and its 7 pounds and can be a pain i know its 2 pounds heavier but is it that bad?

 

the weight is not the bad, i've grown much stronger since i got my M15x.lol
all the i7 are good, i haven't seen any complaint from people with the 720. battery life, don't expect much. I get almost 2 hours on my 9 cell, just remember that you can't really game on batteries.

 

I know you can't game on batterie. I would buy a gaming rig but space is extremely limited in my room. Does the m15x not have switchable graphics O_O? 2 hours is even lower then my studio xps

 

yeah battery life is not it strong point, and no switchable graphics. a single card only, just only down clocks the gpu when unplugged.

 

Lets say im just web browsing from my internet stick and maybe typing up a paper how long do you think it would last? Ive seen so many different opinions im not sure. One site claims 164 minutes another claims under 2 hours and another claims 1 hour 15 minutes.

I Thought the i5 had a built in graphics card?

 

sorry no intergreted card, i don't know about the battery life of the i5 model with the 240m, my guess is that it will be better than my i7 and 260m, since those components draw more power. you should look into the new M11x it small and able to game with good battery life.

 

How much difference can i expect from an i5 and a 240m from the base i7 and 260m? Will i be able to upgrade my graphics later on? I know its Mxm but what kinda cards can i put in there?

 

for the moment it looks like i5 is not compatable with 260m. so if you want a 260m then you have to upgrade to i7 also. i5 and 240m its not a big upgrade from your xps.

 

With the I7 can i pop a 5770 mxm card or something similar into the m15x?

 

to be honest i'm not sure yet, we have to wait and see. someone already tried with 4870 and failed, it could be a bios issue but it wasn't confirmed. a 280m is comfirmed to work. only time will tell if these new cards will work.

 

Alright well i know this is alot to ask but would you mind running a battery test for me? Just surfing the web and using word. Medium Brightness. And see how long you get? I know your tests may vary from the base i7 as yours is quite a bit faster.

 

alright but i guess i will have to get back to you tomorrow for the answer.

 

Ok thats fine and Thank you very much . Also what kinda gaming performance have you gotten? If you have played Empire Total War what were your results

 

sorry i don't play those kind of games. i'm a fps fanatic

 

Brendan, you should wait until the cut down i5 version of the asus g73 is released. It uses the hm55 chipset so you will be able to switch between integrated gfx and the 5870.

 

The only problem with that is i finance all my laptops. I have a dell prefered account and epp discount. I cant buy the laptop outright sadly The joys of being a teenager.....

 

I can get 3hrs out of my M15x you just have to adjust the power saving settings, the default power saving settings are more powerful then what I use but anytime I'm on battery i'm not doing anything intensive so this might not work out for you. If you get an M15x a little tweaking can go a long way.

 

Get a best buy card to finance it. They should be available within a month or two max.

 

Im 15 lol and the odds it will be available in canada at bestbuy are slim

 

ok i got almost 2 1/2 hours before i got low battery warning, just power saver, 50% brightness and light web surfing and using ms office. hope this helps.

 

I just called and got a quote sadly Dell canada you cannot bargon with as much

Quote Number:
Item Number Quantity Item Description
224-7176
1 BASE,NBK,ANW,BLK,M15X $2,327.74
312-0206
1 Primary - 9-cell (85Watt) Lithium-Ion Battery
313-8565
1 Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
421-1304
1 CyberLink PowerDVD 8.0 Software
421-1305
1 Nero 9 Media Burning Software
313-8791
1 AlienFX Color, Mars Red
421-1590
1 Alienware Command Center Software
313-8944
1 5.1 Channel Audio
317-2396
1 Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
317-2404
1 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz 2 x 2048MB
320-0936
1 15.6-inch Wide FHD 1920x1080 (1080p) WLED
320-0938
1 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
330-6175
1 Standard Nameplate
330-6350
1 Automatic Updates: Critical Updates Only
341-9754
1 500GB SATAII 7,200RPM
410-0203
1 McAfee VirusScan Plus - 30-Day Subscription
410-1883
1 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE
412-0148
1 No ISP requested
420-6436
1 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
420-9691
1 DataSafe Local BackUp 2.0 Basic
421-1400
1 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
421-1584
1 Alien Cyborg
430-0686
1 Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11AGN Half Mini Card
905-2987
1 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus At-Home Service, Initial Year
906-0670
1 Next Business Day In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis , Initial Year
994-3700
1 CompleteCare Accidental DamageProtection, Inspiron Desktop, 1 Year
994-3730
1 Warranty Support,Initial Year
988-7347
1 No Warranty beyond 1 year
009-4365
1 Shipping and Handling From Nashville, Tennessee
600-0043 1 Ontario $2.14 Provincial Environmental Fee for Notebook Computers
421-1359 1 World of Warcraft Preinstall Edition
421-1360 1 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
430-0684 1 Internal Bluetooth 2.1 Mini-Card - 2.1 Enhanced Data Rate
Subtotal: $2,325.60
Shipping & Handling: $0.00
GST/HST Tax: $116.39
PST Tax: $186.22
Environmental Disposal Fee $2.14
Total Price w/Discounts: $2,630.35
Quote Number:
Item Number Quantity Item Description
A2815913 1 Alienware Orion Backpack - Fits laptops up to 17 $83.69
330-5797 1 Dell MG900 USB Mouse, CustomerInstalled $93.31
600-0046 1 Ontario $0.32 Provincial Environmental Fee for Mouse/Mice
Subtotal: $176.68
Shipping & Handling: $0.00
GST/HST Tax: $8.85
PST Tax: $14.16
Environmental Disposal Fee $0.32
Total Price w/Discounts: $200.01

 

What is the performance increase i would see from my core 2 duo to a core I5? And later on would i be able to pop in an I7?

 

im using a m15x right now with basic settings, i didnt go in an tweak every settngs, its basically stock with the standard battery, ive only been web browsing (4-6 tabs on firefox) and some music on VLC and id say you got about an hour and half of time, so if you get the 9 cell you should be looking at about 2-2.5 hours,

btw command and conquer does not work on my laptop, not sure why, and multiple calls to EA tech support keep giving me, "well its a laptop so its not going to work" or "well your video card isnt the two listed on the back of the box" and several other lazy and idiotic statements. theres no reason ANY game shouldnt run on a M15x, at least on low settings.

 

I have the i7 720 with the 240 card. When browsing and working in word and stuff like that, I get 2 hours and a bit with full brightness and all lights enabled on the standard (6-cell) battery.