Which of these should I go for? same price..

I'm thinking about getting myself an Alienware for my 21st birthday, as I need a new laptop and have always wanted one of these.
The games I'll be looking to play are Wow, Starcraft 2 (if it comes out), Sims 2, and new command and conquer and warhammer rts.
I'd love to play them on all max settings if possible.. well anyways here are the 2 options ( i get a student discount so they came out the same price)

m17x= $1529
-SYSTEM COLOR Nebula Red - Special Edition – Anodized Aluminum edit
-PROCESSOR Intel® Core™2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz (3MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB) edit
-OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English edit
-WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1 Year Basic Serivce Plan edit
-VIDEO CARD Single NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M, 1GB edit
-LCD PANEL 17-inch WideXGA+ 1440x900 (900p) edit
-MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz edit
-HARD DRIVE 250GB 7,200RPM w/ Free Fall Protection edit
-INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

m15x= $1529
SYSTEM COLOR Alienware M15x, Cosmic Black edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Quad Core Processor 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English edit
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1 Year Basic Service Plan edit
VIDEO CARD 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M edit
LCD PANEL 15.6-inch WideHD+ 1600x900 (900p) WLED edit
MEMORY 3GB DDR3 at 1066MHz edit
HARD DRIVE 250GB SATAII 7,200RPM edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW) edit
BATTERY OPTIONS Primary - 6-cell (56Watt) Lithium-Ion Battery edit
WIRELESS CARDS Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini-Card

--looking at them, the main diference is pretty much the cpu and an extra gig of ram. Is better to go with the newer i7 for gaming/computer science college work? or just go with the m17x's core 2 duo. I'M SO CONFUSED!


orrr if at all possible (to say about $270) $1259 total, I was going to go with the m15x, except get the i5-540M 2.53GHz (3.06Ghz Turbo Mode, 3M cache) and get the 512mb GT 240M graphics card instead ( Can anyone tell me how good that can run games that I listed up top fps wise?)


Sorry for the long thread, but after tons of google searching I finally found this place. Lots of feedback / experiences is greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

With the specs you listed and since you're only opting for one videocard and the lower resolution I'd personally go with the M15x for the i7 which will outperform the dualcore chip, and the LED display.

 

So the i7 is a good chip even though it's at 1.6?
the whole quad core of the i7 confuses me along with the turbo and cache thing.. I'm not exactly sure how it all works. I did some reading and found out that if you aren't using all the cores then it'll shut down some or something.

It's just the 1.6 looks low, but that's the cheapest processor I can afford that'll work with the 260m. (alienware won't let me get like the i5 or anything else with the 260m, just i7 and above)

All I'm looking to do is get some gaming done on max settings and some college computer work. So I'll go between the two m15x's.
So now I guess it's... 240m(laptop listed at bottom) or 260m?

 

A single gtx 260m= basically a 9800gt so a gt240m is going to be less power than that.

A gt335m which is in the m11x is better than the gt 240m

 

Do you think the 260m is worth the extra $270? (since i can only get that if i upgrade the processor too)

 

if the compuer is for games yes it is.

 

For the price definitely go for the M15x. If you're going to be caring it around a campus for class work I think the smaller size and weight is gonna be a good thing for ya.

 

Thanks for all the help. I repped you all and I think I'll go with the M15x and the 260m.

 

i had the same problem before but i decided to stick with the M17X for a few reasons

1) it have better build quailty
2) it have a full number pad
3) pictures posted on the forum shown the m17X is only slightly bigger then the M15X
4) 17 inch screen > 15 inch =)
5) you can use it as a weight for your arms when u have NOTHING to DO

 

great choice, its definitly the better of the two, since the M17x only have a single 260. wish you well with your purchase.

 

the m17x its fully upgradable to 2 gpus and bigger screen and better processor, if you are not going to use the computer with extreme gaming purposes save yourself some money and do not buy the m15x.

 

Does anyone have any experience with the i7 720qm?
that's the cheapest processor I can go with(the one higher up cost multiple 100's more)

It's listed at 1.6, but also a quad core.. I'm kind of confused about it.
(right now I'm running a 2.0 that is a dual core)

 

The i7-720qm is a quad core. To make a long story short when all cores are active it runs at 1.6 (however keep in mind the i7 will be able to accomplish more at lower clock speeds.) The main feature of the chip is that if you are using an application that can't use all cores it will start shutting them down and overclocking the remaining (in the case of the 720 up to 2.8Ghz on a single core). Also since it uses hyper-threading, a multicore friendly app will actually be able to use 8 threads instead of 4, giving it yet another advantage. Hope that helps.

 

Thank you that was very informative. I'm glad I finally understand some more about the tech specs now. Tyvm.

 

You're welcome

 

Just glad to give out any limited information I can. Let us know how you like it once you get it.

 

Whaaaa? I really don't think there's much of a difference between the two in terms of build quality...

Actually the 720QM doesn't feature hyper-threading. Just the 820QM and the 920XM...

 

Well, it does. All i7s feature hyper-threading.

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/corei7/mobile/specifications.htm

 

Well money aside I think everyone would go for the M17x-R2. However since you're in school like me dont worry you're safe with the 720 and 260M. Mine plays WoW and Crysis like a CHAMPION, and that's with the 1080p display.

A lot of the people knocking the M15x were singing it praise a few months ago, and they will be complaining about the M17 as soon as the latest refresh comes along. Plus this is obviously the forum where everyone wants to disect and analyse EVERYTHING about their computers. Unless you can afford to do the M17x justice and deck it out you wont be disapointed with your M15x : )

 

In that price range you want to get the M15x, I have a 720qm and its a beast for gaming. People have been complaining about the CCFL screens in the old M17x since I bought my M15x about 6 months ago. The WLED screen in the M15x is great and super bright.