Thinking about an M17...Advice?

I was wondering...what are the specs that i need to keep up with some of todays tech?

1) I heard that dual cards are a bad idea especially in laptops. Has anyone had any problems??

2) And for RAM...which one should I get? 2, 3, 4??

3) Which CPU is good enough for todays society? I dont think i need extreme X9100. or do i?

4) What is the display upgrade? Is it worth it? does it make a difference?

5) OS - 64-bit? Advice on the new 64-bit? Any problems?

6) How are the warrantys? And are there any upgrades i should consideR?

7) for minimum gamers..what are the specs i should consider getting? Like for playing BF2, Far Cry, Crysis on low/med, Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty 5,and some MMORPGs...

Any advice??

 

1) i have the xfire and it works perfectly.
2) i suggest you buying 2 gb and then upgrade (it's cheaper)
3) it depends. are you a hardcore gamer?
4) 1920x1200 ftw. i love it.
5) 64 bit
6) 1 year and it cost an extra to upgrade to 3 years. i've got the 1 year cause i want to upgrade the cpu in a year so i'm not going to voide the warranty.
7) I would go for the 160 gb hd, dual 3870, t 9400, wuxga and illuminated keyboard. as i said before you can upgrade the hd and the ram by yourself without voiding the warranty.

 

hi bud:

im running on basic system still at the mo, im awaiting parts from across the pond.

2.25 prozzi
2 gig ram
1 hdd
1 3870 card

to be honest it does everything i want it to do, i cannot play gta 4 on high but i dont think no one can,

ive got ram from the usa ( waiting since 6th march now) 4 gig ddr3 costing me 80$

and im running 64bit vista, no problems other than if like me you fanny with it till it breaks, you need to install vista pk2 beta as spk1 cause me to loose temp files ect ( i just reinstalled to im still anoyed with the problems) but other than that everything works fine..

and will upgrade prozzie and drives as and when,

and im praying now but if / when 4870s come out then you would have a really good laptop.

plus if like me you have something to build when the money and the parts become available

so yes im happy with basic system that cost me £1200 but it should keep me going for a while,

 

Where are all the m17 owners in this forum? Mr.Moo...

 

What kuntazzo and kcuk said is right

I "would go/went" with the 1440x900 display! Playing on native res with more fps

The T9400 (which I have) is quite enought for everything! (even Crysis is playable with new drivers on DX10!) (native res on my screen^^)

At the moment the 2x250GB Raid0 is less than 100€ (150$) so I am sad now because I ordered 160GB and than on my own 160GB for around 60€ ...

Ah and I decided to go with 4GB ram and 64bit OS (just to have full warenty on my m17 including the ram^^)

</h>
1440x900
Dual 3870 CrossFireX
T9400 (6mb)
4GB Ram
Raid0 500GB (2x250)
Illuminated Keyboard

=> (just checked only for you ) $2,274.00

just my 2 cent

Greetings
Julian

 

My experience is a mixed bag. First I chose 4gb of memory because of my 3yr warranty and wanting 64 bit EVEN THOUGH it can be a bit frustrating. I got the dual ATI card and went with a 2.2 processor (go faster later).

It is so hard to know what to expect on performance. Crysis is a turd engine if you ask me and my 1900 x 1200 screen does not mean jack on that game if you want real frames per second. You got to lower the resolution and you still have to tweak around to get 40+ FPS.

You will watch a video demo on Alienware showing a game like Devil May Cry running 300 FPS. What I can tell you is even that game at 1900 x 1200 maxed out on everything will heat up your video card after short play and you will drop in to like 1400 x .... and you will rock out 100 plus on high settings and that is good enough, even v-sync locked on 60 FPS and AA+6 will run if you will know you will not be stabe at super high res.

So why get that screen? Well Blu-Ray looks great and you can have some fun with a game a year or two old maxed out. As far as dual cards only time and better drivers will see that end maxed. By the way Devil May Cry 4 is sweeter fun than Crysis and I am a first person shooter nut.

When you go BIG you have to be relaxed. Know it could 3 days before you get a game running like you want and can live with. Lastly game engines/code have more to do with how a game performs. These publishers have relationships with ATI, Nvidia, AMD and Intel and it is their job to keep you a few steps back.

Sorry for the rant. I hope we see some great games this year.

 

1) Dual cards are not bad for laptops, however they will create more heat, just make sure you dont overheat it and it will be fine.

2) Get two and then upgrade it youself, much cheaper.

3) What do you plan to use it for? IMO, I would get at least a 2.5GHz Dual Core and if you can afford Quad Core, go for it, that will future proof your system.

4) 1920 x 1200 is FTW. I went from 1440 x 900 on my Dell to 1920 x 1200 on my M17. It is amazing, once you go, you can't go back.

5) 64 Bit, that will future proof your computer and you will be able to use 4 GBs unlike 32 Bit, which can only use 3.2 GBs. DOn't worry about incompatability, I haven't had issues with programs not working on 64 Bit.

6) Meh, I went with the one year warranty, the two times I did call them, they replaced the part that was defected. It does cost to extend the warranty. If you take care of your laptop, maybe you won't need a warranty.

7) A basic system, with only a Crossfire upgrade would be enough. If you want something that will pull out the framerates on most games, get something like my configuration. If you have more money get a faster CPU .

-Hope this helps!

 

agree with fox....

 

1 no they work fine and they are alot better then a single card\
2 get 2 gigs then get the 4 gigs off newegg.com then sell the orginal 2 gigs and you will save liek 150 bucks
3 the cpu really any one of them will be good for gaming etc the t9400 is the best bang for the buck
4 the screen is awsome if you have the money get the upgrade, there is a huge difference in the rez. i have the smaller sceen and it looks good imo
5 64 bit works fine
6 warrentys are always nice to have
go for dual graphics cards and a t8600
2 gigs of ram and 160 gig hard drive

 

Hey ya'll. Thanks for the replies. you were VERY helpful!

Ok..a few more questions..they have all these lil options to take and i was wondering which ones i should be looking into and why...

a) Laser - Etch?

b) Wireless - 5300 a/b/g ?

c) MiniCard TV Tuner w/ Media Center Remote Control?

d) Smart bay??

 

a huh?
b intel 5300 is a/b/g/n not a/b/g and its a good buy
c tv tuner is nice but not really nessary unless your gonna be using it a lot
d there is not smart bay

 

a) I think you refer to the m17x or m15x?

b) 5300 is a/b/g/n, which you should get

c) Its something nice to have but not neccessary, if you have the money buy it.

d) M17 does not have smart bay, only m17x and m15x.

 

Good advice from all, but may I suggest you list your use for this machine. It would help to know if you're recommending these configurations because of use of just a nice to have factor. I know Alienware is touted as a gaming laptop, however, my use would be mostly for video editing.

 

Hey I have an M17. My config is the 2.26 ghz cpu, Dual 3870, and 4 gb of ram I got off new egg and the 160 gb hard drive.
As far as recommendations I would try and get the cpu that is 2.53 ghz and has the 6mb cache. And I would def go with the dual cards. As far as ram and hard drive space is concerned newegg/tigerdirect are your best bets for upgrades. I got 4gb of ddr3 ram for my laptop for about 98$.
To be honest with you though the 2.26 cpu is fine. I play Left 4 Dead, Half Life 2. Call of Duty 4, Unreal Tournament 3 and Quake wars (all on High settings, I cant max them all though you can tell the cpu is limited(but you can still upgrade later if you want)). Oh and if you game I would no recommend the 1200p screen It is very nice but rapes games without a good cpu. I went with the 1440x900(it really isn't that bad)

 

im thinking he meant the laser scribe feature on the burner. Its a nice feature for sure, another "if u got the money" thing. Basically prints out an image of your choosing onto the disc itself. Im fairly certain you need to buy special discs for those. Ive seen the quality of them and they are very nice looking indeed.

 

Ok, so I was thinking about the following specs:

HD 3870 Dual
2.53GHz processor
WUXGA 1920x1200p
2GB RAM [upgraded l8r if neccessary]
160GB HDD

Is that sufficient for a University Computer? As well as playing the following games:
Left 4 Dead
Frontlines: Fuels of War
Call of Duty 4/5
Company of Heroes
Red Alert III
Rainbow 6 Vegas 2
Far Cry II
Sims 3
America's Army.

Yeah, my basic use for this lappy is to just use it for general undergrad and uni stuff. And in my spare time, i wanna play a few of my fav games with decent graphics. I also dun like lag. So, is that set up listed above sufficient?

 

Normaly you should be able to play everything

The 2GB may be the only "problem" ...

I hope you still go for the 64bit OS?

Greetings
Julian

 

that setup looks good i game on 2 gigs of ram
fear 2
L4D
crysis warhead
grid
WoW

all run max on 1440

 

What will that run you? About $2100?

 

yup after tax

 

that's great. it will keep you happy. with my t9400 al those games I maxed at 1200p no problems. excpet crysis. and I never played fear 2.

 

With dual HD 3870s, there isn't a game you should not be able to play on maximum settings. I play FEAR 2 on my desktop maxed out at 1920x1200, which has dual HD 4670s (slightly less powerful than a single 3870).