Some long questions on the M11x for someone who knows more than me pls who has the time.

I'll open with kinda a pre question so people can skim if they want LOL ...
My girlfriend just got a dell xps16 that just stomps my dell e1705 and I may buy either a new mx11 , or a dell outlet pc like say a studio 17 that at least stomps my 1705 and has win7 on with a gig of video... and not buy basically another 1600$ laptop that matches hers and at least get something better that what I have if not as good as hers and save a little money. THIS IS GOING TO BE MOSTLY ABOUT CPU power I think and life span of the pc ... If you don't know much about that stuff save your self some time and don't read all this ......

But I have a few questions on the limitations and lifespan of the Mx11 with my concerns being mostly in the Cpu area I think.... Also I don't "hardcore" and don't really play shooters. I play mostly stuff like World in Conflict , Command n Conquer , Rollercoaster tycoon 3/2 type stuff ...

Probably the hardest I've pushed this 1705 is me and my girlfriend used to play some mmrpgs , everquest and then daoc. and I would run 2 accounts at once one mine and her on a 2nd pc with a 3rd account.... But mostly now I just play real time strat. and building games... So this e1705 lasted me a long time really.I got it shortly after it debuted in 2006

But of late I do find I'm pushing it sometimes if there's tons of units/people on the screen at once like say sim city 4 when there's millions of things moving at once I get some slowdown and I can even tell it's pushing the Gpu pretty hard I think going by temps "I'm running a monitor" ...

Specs..
CPU T2300 @ 1.66GHz (2 CPUs)
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS {256}
1022MB RAM Which if I talk myself down from the ledge and don't buy a new I will upgrade to 3/4 or if someone here talks me down LOL...

SO here is the heart of the question / questions ....

Would adding ram do anything for my e1705 or is that about all she's got in the tank... I have the money for I new one but if going up in ram fixes what I described so be it...

I'm torn between the Mx11 or a dell outlet... My fear is about the Mx11 is the cpu tiny ? and will I get the lifespan out of it I've got out of this e1705. If so would I bet better off getting a outlet dell.

The outlet dells would end up costing MORE than the alienware by 3 or 4 hundred. but I'm scared of buying the mx11 and 2 years from now having to replace it again ... a nd would like something at least close to as good as her xps16 if i go with new and I think her xps16 might still be a good bit better. how close would the mx11 be to it ???? ...


So in short and would like some help in this area

Would the ram do anything for my e1705....

If not ....

Mx11 at like say 900$-1100$ and that including 4 year warranty
or something from the 1000$ to 1300$ range , like either dell outlet or a new studio 17 {4year warranty as well}which I think would work , gig of video win7, but either the outlet/or new will cost a bit more.....

and

[ U]IF I go with the Mx11 DO I NEED THE CPU upgrade to the second one they offer ???????? [/U] I can spend the money but don't know enough about the cpus in the mx11.

I'm really concerned with lifespan if I went Mx11 well and it's baby screen but I have other screens I guess ... and it sure looks all lit up .

What to do what to do ... Sorry to ramble but I'm have PC envy hardcore with the girlfriend's lappy just sitting there mocking me and am on the edge beyond the ledge LOL ...

any help tho on those questions would be great and least figured before a drop a grand I could take 5 and ask...

 

the most anyone can say about the cpu difference is about 5-10% stock.

if the studio 17 has a better cpu and equally good gfx card and also meets your budget of cos it would be better but its bigger and heavier

ram wouldnt do much good to your current computer except maybe decrease load times or boot times if your using xp.

if ur budget is quite big then consider the m15x if you need a bigger screen.

 

Heres the thing with the M11X. It has a great GPU and excellent portability. I think you need to decide if your want to game on the 11.6 in screen. But if not you can always hook it up to an external monitor. The bottle neck in the M11X is going to be your CPU. Its a dual core @ 1.3 GHz, but you can turn on the overclock in the BIOS and it will run at 1.73GHz from what I understand. But it will decrease battery life. Although you do get all the cool lights and stuff.

RAM as stated may decrease load times. But not much else.

If the games are GPU intensive, they will run well on the M11X, if they are CPU intensive, they won't run quite as well.

Sorry can't comment on the Studio since I don't know what kinda GPU it has.

There is a lot of info on the M11X if you read the 1st post in this thread. It also has a link to a lot of reviews on it. If you scroll down, the review on hardwareheaven is a good one with lots of gaming notes.
Hope this helps a little.

 

So with the type of games I play "not shooters" The Mx11 would probaely last me a pretty long time I guess....

Don't really think I will care about screen size and I guess it will stomp my e1705 so that's all that matters and I have 2 grand and am trying to do this and have a little left over so the cheaper the better.


Question tho ... In games like rollercoaster tycoon 3 and Command and Conquer when I have tons of things moving around at once is that Gpu or Cpu causing my slow down ??? just always wondered what that pushed.

The T2300 (2M Cache, 1.66 GHz, 667 MHz FSB)
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS


Does the cpu in the mx11 stomp the one in my e1705 at least ?


THANK YOU ALL FOR THE HELP ...

 

for rts games like command and conquer cpu is just as important or in fact more important.

cpu in m11x will be slightly better than ur e1705 if its overclocked but i think it might be same or worse than the one in ur e1705 at stock.

 

I thought my cpu was almost that strong ...
That's really what I was scared of on both accounts ... Hmmmm ....

 

You know you can order when they start shipping and if you don't like it you can send it back as long as you do so in a timely fashion. Or you can wait until people get the M11X and test it out so you can see how it does on some games.

 

yea I aint going to do anything in a hurry till I get all my facts straight....

Thanks tons for the help everyone ...

 

with that budget you can get a mid range M15x, better cpu and gpu.

 

Not sure if you can or not ...


http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DKCWFW1&s=dhs


by the time you add the 1 gig video card and the cpu you have to have with it to be compatible the m15x is way up there...1,699 before tax and warranty.

UNLESS you are saying the stock 512 and cpu in the M15x is better than the m11x ... stock mx15 is 512 video tho compared to the gig on the mx11...

 

i configured this for you, $1574 with i7 720 and 260m everything else is standard.
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=6099&l=en&oc=DKCWFW1&s=eep
plus if you call them i'm sure you can get some more discounts too.

 

That's not to bad and I forgot about the calling them thing.
Like a month ago when my GF got hers when she called they added like 3 free upgrades ... She ask if they could cut the price and they said no cause she was using a coupon but they did upgrade her monitor , ram , and hd size.
Really like the Xps 16 ... love how it's built with the hinges connected to the monitor... so sturdy ... and it just stomps for the most part ...

It's killing me watching her play it every night LOL ...


I may go that route and get the m15x and just get it over with or just go with a outlet dell xps16 or studio 17...


Glad I took the time to ask you all about the Cpu in the m11x tho before making one of those snap purchases.

 

yeah xps is pretty sweet too, good luck either way.