There are no stupid questions?

I ask a while back about a notebook computer 15.4, at least 2.5 GHz, 4 Gig Ram etc etc... on the "What notebook should I buy" section of the forum, only to conclude that I will try to wait for the "montevina" platform.

I also looked at a quite a few computers, mainly the "Eurocom" M860TU (Coming this summer?) and some others including gateway, toshiba, and even sony (Current models that are out).

I can't say that those computers are a "bad" choice, because it will be used mainly for college/gaming (4 years +), but I really like the lights/bragging rights?/2.8GHz extreme processor/smart bay/etc etc... for the m15x. So I have made a couple of questions about the alienware m15x...I will try to "rep" you for your time answering these questions. (these questions may have been asked in the "lounge" topics as well as individual topics concerning the m15x...I have been reading alot of topics and it is a little bit hard to keep up with all the answers...)

1. If montevina comes out this summer, is there a chance it will be available for the m15x or will the m15x motherboard not be compatible?

2. If I opt for the m15x, should I get 1 gig ram, 120GB hhd and then upgrade them to 4 gig ram + 64GB SSD? are these upgrades possible?

2.continued... What are the types of upgrades available to the m15x, ex. graphics card/sound card/monitor/etc etc...that I can perform?

3. I have looked at the pictures of a m15x compared to a 17" and 15" here and I have found that there is not much difference between the 17" dell and the 15" alienware... Should I wait for the m17x, which I am presuming to be a 17" notebook?

4. Related to Question 2., will the price of SSD ever come down to a reasonable price range before the fall semester starts in August? 1000+ for 64 GB?

5. How does the smart bay work? for example, I'm playing a game from a CD, but I need extra batteries so I switch with the smart bay battery, will the game still run?

6. I read that the x32 bios? has fixed a downclocking issue, but is that right even though the notebook is not in a flat surface...I read the comment by "Alienware-Frank?".

Thank you for your help, I appreciate it very much.
On a side note, If I have made a grammar error or a spelling error please help me correct them.

 

1. no one knows anything about this yet.

2. Yes those upgrades are possible. the ssd is a bit expensive though.

3. If you want the extra performance and you dont mind carrying a 17 inch laptop you can wait. you also have to consider it might take a couple days to a couple months before the m17x gets released.

4.only time will tell.

5.if the game requires a cd and u take the cd out the game will stop working.

6. it is recommended you put it on a flat surface. you can use tilted coolers since people have yet to encounter downclocking with x32.

 

wow cool, thanks for the ...lightning fast response... ;;

:checked: edit: are there other upgrades I can do besides the harddrive and the ram?
:checked: edit: number 5., then will the smart bay battery recharge the ... other battery?

 

Well here is my view on the whole matter.

1. There is a chance that montevina it will be available for the M15x. I do not know much about the M15x so I can not tell you if you will be able to upgrade. If it requires a new motherboard then I do not see the M15x supporting montevina.

2. If you opt for the M15x, you should get 1Gb ram, 120HD. However, forget about the SSD man, they are not good as of right now. I would go for 4GB of ram and a 500GB 4200RPM hard drive.

2 Cont. You can upgrade the Ram, Hard Drive, CPU (if you wanted to go from the 2.4GHz to the 2.6 kind of pointless though), monitor (it's tough but it can be done).

3. Yes the M15x is pretty large for a 15" notebook. It requires a 17" belkin sleeve to hold. Only wait for the M17x if you want a cooler running notebook (hopefully), and the 17" screen, with the addition of another smart bay.

4. As I said earlier, just forget about SSD's. They are a complete waste of money. Right now, they can only handle so many flashes before they kick the bucket. Think of this as USB drives. They were like $100 for 1GB but now you can pick up 1GB for around $5. Wait two years before you purchase an SSD. The performance is only noticeable on boot up, I guarantee you will not notice it.

5. The smart bay lets you put in either another hard drive, a DVD drive, or a battery. If you are playing a game that requires a DVD, you can not take out the DVD drive and place the battery in because the DVD will be unhooked from the laptop.

6. I honestly can't tell you about the X32 bios. Look around on the threads, there is a thread all about that specific bios and whether it has fixed the problem or not.

Now I have to get back to this damn personal essay for english...

 

It's a busy forum.

 

1. probably not on the m15x
2.yes get the 1 gig of RAM. Wouldn't get a SSD right now not a huge improvement and way overpriced.
2. continued. Only upgrades you can make without voiding the warranty is the hardrive and the RAM.
3. Not as big as a 17" but is bigger than most 15"
4. It will eventually probably not in AUG though.
5. First of I wouldn't suggest playing games on any laptop while on battery, but if you are playing a game from cd and swap the game will run until it needs to load something then it will ask you for your disk.
6. Not sure but he did say not to block the air intakes.

 

...wow, I refresh once and 3 responses...

edit: By the way, I appreciate all opinions,reviews,factual statements, etc etc...Thanks

 

I wouldn't rule out the possibility of Montevina, given the fact that AW "rushed" to get Penryn in the m15x (I mean, given the fact the notebook had only been ~1 month old at the time, it was pretty surprising)

 

1. If montevina comes out this summer, is there a chance it will be available for the m15x or will the m15x motherboard not be compatible?

Montevina is more Northbridge than anything else, to replace the northbridge on a system, the system's motherboard needs to be re-designed. the probability of AW, or any manufacturer doing this, is extremely small.

in brief. no, it will not be available. best is to assume that, in this case, what you buy, is what you'll have for the lifetime of the system. (mainly Motherboard related: eg: northbridge, integrated anything (sound, wired networking).. etc.)

2. If I opt for the m15x, should I get 1 gig ram, 120GB hhd and then upgrade them to 4 gig ram + 64GB SSD? are these upgrades possible?

it's very recommended that you buy as little as you can from AW. most of the components, the cost of upgrading them when you order is far greater than the cost of buying them outright. so buying 1GB of RAM from AW, then getting a 4GB dual channel kit, costs less than buying the 4GB from AW directly. same goes for many other components. so buy as cheaply as you can from AW for RAM/HDD etc. and upgrade the rest yourself.

Components I wouldn't recommend upgrading include video, CPU, and anything "integrated", such as the display, wired network, onboard sound. the wireless network card, RAM, even the Turbo Memory, should be fairly simple to install yourself.

2.continued... What are the types of upgrades available to the m15x, ex. graphics card/sound card/monitor/etc etc...that I can perform?

Recommendations above.

3. I have looked at the pictures of a m15x compared to a 17" and 15" here and I have found that there is not much difference between the 17" dell and the 15" alienware... Should I wait for the m17x, which I am presuming to be a 17" notebook?

the m15x is indeed fairly large for a 15.4" machine. consider this: the m17x will be larger still, and heavier (considering they'll likely offer SLI and the option of dual harddrives)... add that to the fact that there are not many cases for 17" laptops around, and make your decision. of course you can get more power from the m17x, considering the SLI option, etc.

the decision is very subjective. personally, I like to have things slightly more portable than the m17x would ever be... but I need the power. especially CPU power. so the m15x suits me very nicely.

4. Related to Question 2., will the price of SSD ever come down to a reasonable price range before the fall semester starts in August? 1000+ for 64 GB?

No. i doubt SSD drives of any reasonable capacity will come down in price in any significant way within 2 years, nevermind 3 or 4 months.

5. How does the smart bay work? for example, I'm playing a game from a CD, but I need extra batteries so I switch with the smart bay battery, will the game still run?

depends if the game requires the CD to run. you have to remove the DVD-ROM (or BD-ROM) from the system when putting the SB battery into the system. thus any games that require a CD to play, will simply not. however, there are many options and no-cd patches that can be applied that will do the trick. however, in my experience, this will mess up online play.

imo, if you're playing games on batteries, you're probably not playing them online. further, how often will you play games on batteries? considering the power consumption and the fact that you're probably not moving around a whole lot, plus using a mouse (who games with a touch-pad?), and thus you'd need a flat surface to use... just doesn't seem practical to use in a situation where you wouldn't have access to power.

just my opinion though.

6. I read that the x32 bios? has fixed a downclocking issue, but is that right even though the notebook is not in a flat surface...I read the comment by "Alienware-Frank?".

the main point made by AW-Frank was that the vents need to be clear and unobstructed. meaning they must be able to pull in all the air they need. the system is designed to be on a hard and flat surface and thus they need that quarter-inch that the system sits off of a hard and flat surface to get the necessary airflow. if you have airflow going to it through other means, then you're still golden, but if you put the system directly onto a mattress or blanket, you'll probably have a pretty serious problem, pretty quickly.

I hope it helps.

 

Too fast, I need time to digest all these information...keep them coming please.
xD
edit: Thanks for all the help

 

isn't performance downgraded when using a ssd rather than a hdd when playing games? i thought ssd's were to improve boot time and mainly for business users.

as for the battery/optical disk drive swap. you can always search the internet on how to put game images on your hdd so you can play off your hdd. i don't know why you'd want to play off two batteries anyways. i'm sure the 8800 sucks some serious juice. ac is the way to go. twice the dc. nuh uh.

 

I assuming then I don't have to buy the smart bay battery...to do games or run some kind of CD. Smart bay battery is good for?

^Is that imaging thing have to do with daemon tools?

edit: What about upgrading windows premium to window ultimate (vista)?
edit: What is this "External Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Card"?

 

I'm sorry but I can not understand what you are saying? Could you rephrase that for me? Maybe I'm just tired.

 

smart bay is good for when you are in class and you need to run on battery power while listening to the teacher. you dont want to laptop to suddenly die on you while you are in class or have to shut it down because there is only 10 min of battery life left.

 

I think that I understand what you are saying now. Yes the smartbay battery is a good purchase. As exiled said, if you are taking notes in class, it is extremely helpful to have the smartbay battery. If your battery is about to run out, you can insert the battery and have enough battery life to get you through the class. You can also change the primary battery without having to turn the laptop off by using the smartbay battery.

 

very good, Thanks guys all these comments are really helping.

edit: What about upgrading windows premium to window ultimate (vista)?
edit: What is this "External Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Card"? will this work through headphones only?

 

there's such a thing as the Vista "Anytime upgrade", it's in the control panel in Vista, and it can change your Premium to Ultimate with a charge of the credit card.

the X-Fi Xtreme Audio Card, is an Express-card (simmilar to PCMCIA) that is a sound card. this particular unit is from Creative. It's supposed to give better sounding audio. I didn't purchase it, so I can't say that it does or doesn't. The on-board gives relatively nice sound though.

 

Go to Bestbuy and get an FX http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...eway&lp=11&type=product&cp=1&id=1204332501169

 

The Smart Bay battery does not recharge the other battery. Connecting a fully charged battery to a depleted one would likely damage both. There is probably a circuit that disconnects the discharged regular battery from the laptop when the SmartBay battery is installed.

 

1. It will require a mobo change. So, I don't think so.

2. 1 gig of Ram, wait for larger SSD drives.

2.continued... GPU, Ram, and Hard drive.
3.The new AW 17" will be larger than the m15x. More expensive too. And you will have to wait a little longer.
4. Related to Question 2.Like with most things, the price will drop.

5. You can switch in the middle of a game. I've done that a couple of times. When the CD noise bothers me, I just take it out and keep on playing with no problems. You only need the CD in the beginning when the game runs security checks to begin with.

6. I believe AW-Frank implies to not block the air vents of the m15x, when he said to place the notebook on a flat surface. So, it shouldn't matter what notebook cooler you get.