Whats the right M15x setup for me?

Well I am not really shure of what to put in my M15x fo I haven`t got that much cash to spend (so 2200€ is deadline ).
Anyway I am really much into Design (Archicad 11 and a lot of Autodesk as well as Photoshop CS3) and some Video Editing.
But from time to time I`d like to play some COD4 or some other games. Maybe Crysis and Assassins Creed (not in Max Details and High Resolutions )
I would go with the 2 GB Ram cause I am going to change that to DDR3 aroung Christmas .
By the way is it possible to change the GPU later?

 

Here is your setup:

1920x1200 Screen: If you are really into design this is a must
2.5Ghz (6mb cache) processor: For photoshop/design
1GB Ram: Upgrade yourself to 2GB or w/e
8800GTX: Should help with design + Games
120GB Drive: Upgrade Yourself

 

Right now I had the following Setup in mind:

15.4" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD-Widescreen (1200p)
Windows® Vista Home Premium
512 MBNVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8700M GT
Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 Prozessor - 2,5 GHz 800 MHz FSB with 6 MB Cache
2 GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM with 667 MHz - 2 x 1024 MB
Turbo Cache-Speicher: Intel Turbo Cache Speicher 1GB
160 GB 7.200 U/Min SATA
CD/DVD/RW: DVD-Brenner: 8x Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / CD-RW

Pricing at 1748,02 € excl. taxes (2100€ incl taxes)

 

I'd say 200GB HD for design (you might not think you'll use so much space, but once you get such a powerful computer, I'm sure you will). A 1920x1200 LCD will make text look too small and might be hard to design with, are you okay with using the same resolution as what you'd get on a 24"-26" screen squeezed onto a 15"?

 

Don't buy the ram from alienware. You can get a 2gb stick much cheaper and install it yourself. Turbo Cache is a rip off, you don't see any gains unless your computer sucks (and yours doesn't). And upgrade your hard drive by yourself as well if you can.

@Michaels - 1920x1200 is very useful for design but no so much for word processing. I use 1920x1200 on my M9750 and it is great for video editing/designing/photoshop. Look at a 1920x1200 screen before you buy one if possible.

Also: For video editing and everything I have already used up about 300GB

 

Well Iam buying from germany so I can only choose between 2 and 4 GB of Ram
And I am not sure which display I am going to take. My purse is voting for the first one so what would be a good statement to choose the more expensive one?

 

Try both screens out if you are unsure. I think that the 1920x1200 gives you more room to work with larger pictures in design and other apps. like that.

 

You can also connect an outside monitor....

 

the m15x does not support ddr3 ram.

 

Looks good, but I would get rid of the Turbo Cache. It is an utter waste of money because it does nothing noticeable. Everything else looks great, should be an awesome machine.

 

Well Iam unsure of which I should get, the better screen or the the 8800m GTX.

And why the hell is the M15x not supporting DDR3 Ram??

I am using two Mybook with 500 GB each so the hard drive shouldn`t be an issue

 

the motherboard only supports ddr2 :/. i dont think there is a major difference in ddr2 and ddr3 ram tho.

 

Well I just checked with my dad (he is the most tolerant in electronics in my family cause he hasn`t got a clue )and he said the following config is alright:


15.4" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD-Widescreen (720p)
Original Windows® Vista Home Premium
512 MBNVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8700M GT
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9300 Prozessor - 2,5 GHz 800 MHz FSB mit 6 MB Cache
2 GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM mit 667 MHz - 2 x 1024 MB
Intel Turbo Cache Speicher 1GB
200 GB 7.200 U/Min mit Free Fall Protection™
CD/DVD/RW: DVD-Brenner: 8x Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / CD-RW
Intel® High-Definition Audio (24-bit, 192KHz) mit Surround Sound
Alienware® Area-51 m15x AlienFX®-Tastatur - Deutsch
Wireless Netzwerkkarte: Interne Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft N AlienRespawn v2.0 Recovery DVD – Windows Vista Edition

Pricing 1606,02€ exl. VAT incl. Shipping

The Config seems alright with me cause I can also go without the 8800M GTX. Screen is not a question cause my mom told me that she thougt about buying a beamer and conserning HDD I`ve got 2 500 GB WD Mybook

 

Intel Turbo Cache Speicher 1GB

do you really need that??

 

Do not get turbo memory.

 

As Stone said, the Turbo Memory is useless. I have it in my m15x and it doesn't make a difference whether you enable it or disable it.

 

I personally wouldn't buy a m15x without a 8800M GTX & Smartbay-battery as this is the biggest advantage and you can get other NBs with your configuration cheaper...


saint