here we go again... m15x vs m9750

ok, I'm back again to ask more questions... lol =)

now that the cheap m15x is out, I am having difficulties as to what I should get? pure gaming**

first dilemma: the graphics card

m9750 offers the blazin' fast Go 7950GTX, while the m15x on the other hand only gives 8600M GT. because I am stuck with not more than $1,600 for these lappie (after having a new car), I should stick with the cheapest card offered (though i can go for 7950GTXs in SLi).

second dilemma: the chassis

both m9750 and m15x look great (the latter wins by illuminated keyboard but a minus to its plain surface design). I am fully aware that the m15x is the newer model, though offers a visual display of only 15".


i need your thoughts and ideas guys. either an old m9750 all at stock config with dual 7950GTX SLi or the newer and brighter m15x with everything at stock plus Penryn?

*note that I intend to keep this laptop for about 2-3 years. desktop now can run DX10, though i want some DX10 in my laptop too... =)

 

and yes, i know that Go 7950GTX pwns the 8600M GT (and I even plan to get dual 7950GTX in SLi).


but DX10 is just a year away... I mean, games will be DX10 exclusive soon.




so what's your pick? thanks
Albert Two

 

Go for the 8700 SLi's, if you worry about future directX10 games.

 

If you're any bit serious about gaming, then DX10 compatibility should be your first priority, forget performance! Then think about which DX10 card you want according to your budget. Getting a DX9 card at this stage would be the biggest mistake for any gamer....

 

neither. i would get a DELL XPS m1730 instead.

 

yeah... but 8600M GT is not that astonishing. if I can't play games at high resolutions, then I won't get to feel DX10 eyecandy. =)

high reso, high settings DX9 would be probably on par with low reso, low-mid settings.

*hope i said it right. =)

thanks for your replies...

 

If the m15x with the 8800m GTX is out of your price range, I'd recommend getting the m9750 with the Go 7950 GTX.

The 8600m GT is a mid-range card. DirectX10 only games are probably still several years away. By the time they're released, it's unlikely that the 8600m GT will be powerful enough to play them very well.

 

hello? I think you forgot about the $1,600 wall... lol =)

 

Go for the m15x. You can always upgrade the card later on.

The m9750 has a slim chance of getting an 8800M GTX. I think that they would have offered it already but instead they offer the Quadro 1600FX for the m9750.

 

If $1600 is your absolute budget limit, you should really also consider the Gateway P-6831 FX. It has the 8800m GTS, which is DirectX10 capable and more powerful then the Go 7950 GTX.

 

keep them coming...


all your posts make it hard to decide...

 

yeah, I've stumbled on that... but then again, I want Alienware. seeing an AW lappie here in Philippines is something new. =)

 

m9750 is a great laptop, i would go with the 8700s before the 7950gtx's. Dell also might have a nice deal. Look in to sager as well.

 

o and almost forgot Clevo

 

I can actually just stick to AW =)

 

I would go with the m15x because it has the latest chip-set and it's upgradable to all the latest components available now. On the other side the m9750 is kinda limited.

 

for 1600 its kinda hard to configure. i would go with the m9750 with dual 8700 since i heard sp1 makes them pretty good now. after that i would try to upgrade the ram since 1 gig is not going to run vista well. with 1750 you will be able to get dual 8700s 1.6 ghz processor. since you must get a AW the m15x is pretty much out of your price range :/.

 

m15x is actually my choice (bye skullcap). but then, it breaks down to GPU.


I don't know if 8600M GT is sort of underrated.


to narrow things even more, here are the games I intend to play @MAX SETTINGS with playable FPS (20, or even 15 <-- if that's considered "playable" lol):

-Flight Simulator X
-NFS Series
-World in Conflict
-Bioshock
-Sims Series including SimCity 4 and Societies
-C&C 3
-Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2

and some other old games... =)



I'll be having a DX10 capable desktop soon... maybe built around 8800GT SLi.



cheers,
Albert Two

 

by the way, do you have to pay for the machine upon configuring it? or do i pay it after receiving the unit?

*dumb question*

 

u have to pay before they start building it for you

 

alberttwomi,

I would also go for the gateway if I were you, really would, but if Alienware is your thing:

1. For gaming - m9750: the 8600 will not run games, especially DX10 games well at all. You are looking at 1280X800 resolution at medium settings or less on the 8600, and in most cases even lower. The m9750 is not that much heavier than the m15x (just 1kg more), so do yourself the favor of just getting the bigger screen restate and the SLI. This WILL game for 2-3 years, just not DX10, and I still haven't heard of any DX10 exclusive games yet, and it doesn't add much yet either. And this is the only chance to even get some of your games listed above to max.

2. For non gaming - m15x: This is much more flexible for future upgrades, so if you can bypass 85% of gaming to the desktop, go this route.

Hope this helps!

 

Actually, the Gateway isn't a bad idea either. It's had a hands on approach with it and it's pretty nice.

 

Pre kung ako sayo yung m15x nalang kunin mu. in a year or so, after more and more of the dx10 games are gonna be released more and more then magiging mura yung 7950gtx nung 9750 even if SLI pa sila kasi DX9 sya. also, top of the line ngayun yung 8800gtx most games ma play nya in high settings. imagine yung price nang 7950gtx after ma release ang 9 series ng nvidia.which by the way today was OFFICIALLY announced na na release na.

 

I think you have 4 choices with top notch graphic.
1.) gateway P-6831, 1.83Ghz and 8800m GTS $1249
2.) Alienware M9750, 1.66 Ghz and dual 7950 GTX $1549
3.) Dell outlet m1730, 2.2 Ghz and dual 8700m GT $1550
4.) if you consider mobility, Clevo M860TU, 2.5Ghz, 8800m GTX, WUXGA $2049

 

Where did you get the quote for the M860TU?

No DX10 exclusive games out yet. Doubt there'll be any out for a while either. DX 9 cards are still decent buys. You may not be able to utilize DX10, but DX10 content hasn't been particularly impressive so far either.

 

http://web.eurocom.com/ec/ec_pricelist(1,196)

 

if i can get this one, this will probably be my best buy... where did you get this price quotation?

mate mokylim just spoke tagalog, for everyone else wondering. lol =)

actually, If I told dad to get a cheaper car, i might probably have more money to buy a more expensive laptop. but it's here now, and only $1600 is left. the choices nirvana0001 posted is all good. but i never thought they were that cheap.

I am wondering where he got those... =)

 

go to dell outlet web site and check it out yourself

 

oh, so it's a refurbished machine... lol. I didn't know about that. sorry... =)

 

personally, I don't think playing games on DX10 will be a lot better than playing them on DX9.

others play Crysis on DX9 to gain more frames. so, I'd be using DX9 more than DX10.

I want to future proof the machine, but with $1,600, something's gotta give, and that will be a DX10 card. so most probably, after reading tons of reviews, comparisons, and benches... I'd go for AW M9750.



the Gateway is a very neat machine and so damn cheap... but I'd prefer the AW that comes with bragging rights. lol =)

 

how i wish that 7950GTX is offered for the m15x, or 8800M GTS for M9750...








but it just won't push through. lol

let me dream... =)

 

so now it ends to this:

get a single 7950 GTX or get dual cards for SLi?

 

i would go for sli because a single 7950 will not get you very far.

 

wait... I actually tried more reviews and some youtube. and it seems that 8600M GT is able to run FSX at ultra-high settings.

actually, I am building a rig around FSX. So if 8600M GT is that good and capable, then I might opt for M15x. 7950GTX will yield unnecessary performance, and that most of the older games are not optimized to take full advantage of dual GPUs. I don't care about M15x being upgradeable in the future, though it's a plus factor. once I get back to Philippines, I'll lose any warranty since there is no AW here.

I checked Dell, and it's cheap with the 8600M GT. but then it has less bragging rights compared to AW here in Philippines. I am on a tight budget, so I'll prefer looks as much as performance. single 7950GTX is more powerful than 8600M GT, but then it becomes crippled at more demanding games, so it's caught in the middle. playing @30fps with settings at ultra high will make me equally happy with the one playing @50+fps. the extra raw power wouldn't be needed.

because of that, M15x might be a good buy over the m9750. but my ears are still open to any convincing posts.





*I so much like the AlienFX! lol

 

here's the 3dmark score from AW:

http://image.alienware.com/images/product_detail_page_images/area-51_m9750/gpu_chart_v3.jpg

the battle is actually dual 7950GTX in SLi in the old M9750 with stock processor (T5500 1.66GHz) vs single 8600MGT with better proc, better M5x looks with AlienFX. which do you think will be better than the other?


now that I'm assured that the 8600M GT will deliver enough performance, I can pick between these two. =)

 

Thanks. I would take Eurocom's pricing with a pinch of salt though. Good to have guidelines nonetheless.

 

Okay let me say a few things. 1st of all, if you are going to get the M9750 do not buy the 8700m GT. Every single company besides AW offers the 8700m GT for less than Alienware. It is actually a slower card.

Secondly, if you are going to get the 8600GT in your M15x, check out this thread first.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=224110&

 

Another good thing about the m15x is that you can always upgrade the GPU later if you need to. But, if not, I'd also agree with Stone and go for the m1530.

 

The only good thing about the base m15x vs m1530 is that it's upgradable

 

That pretty much says it...

 

Just wait for a m17x, SLI 8800s

 

His budget is $1600...

 

ok, so now you guys suggest me to get the 1530 than the base M15x which is very reasonable as stated by Stone825. so, it will now be 1530 vs m9750.

i really want the cool looks of m15x... I configured M9750, and I can pay the base price + dual 7950GTX in SLi (however, as I reckon on the other thread, SLi only scales well in higher resolutions and not much performance gain like higher texture fill rate, etc. so if I'm having the smaller screen res then having dual GPUs is pointless).

what do you guys think? get dual GPUs and everything @base? or dump the other and use the extra $$$ for proc upgrade?

 

If you are really into gaming, go for SLi in the m9750. The m1530 can never beat that.

Otherwise the m1530 (which has a faster CPU)is just a perfect balance for light gaming and school.

 

don't forget the shipping fee and tax

 

the T5500 in the base M9750 is sufficient and won't botleneck the dual 7950GTXs right? or am I wrong?



there's no point on having dual GPUs if from the very start the old CPU will hinder it from performing well.




*I am so dumb when it comes to notebooks... I've been suggesting a lot when it comes to desktop but I feel I am a noob when it comes to lappies. lol =)

 

actually, I've computed tax already. delivery address will be at Huntington beach, CA. that wouldn't be a problem... =) be flying there at April 22.



can't wait... thanks guys

 

alberttwomi don't worry about that ^^^. You want advice on the m9750 Stone would be the guy to ask since he owns that system. I think you'll be ok with your config.

 

haha. Travis actually changed his name to Travis AntiAW. wow.

Just go for the m9750. You can always return it within 30 days. But, I don't think that you will.

 

thanks mate...

actually, looks and design are equally important with performance for me. I want it to be an AW, and as much as possible, pack the best parts in it. If you were a Filipino, and lived here with an Alienware and a car, you'd be pretty damn happy. Now I have the car at 17yrs of age, AW is the missing piece so I'm gonna get it. the lappy I plan to buy is not a desktop replacement, I just want to have something mobile while on the road. I even dumped the N95 8GB to get something more entertaining. games and movies are the main purposes for the machine =) some music playing, burning, and a couple of web surfing. 8600M GT runs FSX fine at ultra-high settings so I can get the M15X any day.


dual 7950GTXs has just so much raw power than what I actually needed, but nevertheless, it's not a bad idea to have extra horsepower at a reasonable price (and within my budget). =)


thanks for the concerns anyway...