keep my m17x thats on order or get the new m15x?

Hey guys...

well i had placed an order for an m17x specs are in my sig, just wondering do you think the i7's are worth the swap? would the i7 and a single 260m be decent enough for gaming.. just wondering what you guys think..

thanks in advance!

this is what i'd be looking at for the m15x

SYSTEM COLOR Alienware M15x, Lunar Shadow
PROCESSOR Intel Core i7 820QM 1.73GHz (3.06GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows Vista Business (64 bit) + Windows 7 Professional Upgrade Coupon - English
VIDEO CARD 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M
LCD PANEL 15.6-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 (1080p) WLED
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
HARD DRIVE 250GB SATAII 7,200RPM
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
BATTERY OPTIONS Primary - 9-cell (85Watt) Lithium-Ion Battery

 

Yes that would be very decent for gaming, I personally love SLI so in my opinion you should stay with the M17x.. I dont believe it would be worth the swap though..

 

The mobile i7s are proving to be very very good in benchmarks, however the difference isn't big enough to consider dropping 260M SLI.

I'd just stick with the M17x, unless you need the M15x for portability or the such.

 

Right, portability of an M17x minus 1 inch. JK. The M15x is fantastic. For what it is worth I would also stick with the M17x you have already on order. Or cancel it and get it with 4870's.

 

Don't give him ideas

I don't think he wants 4870s considering he order only one 260M.

edit: What's this 'Turbo Boost' I see on i7's? Is it just an over glorified overclock score?

 

the portibility would be nice, and trying to find a nice bag for the m17x so far is a pain in the @$$, but the sli option is very nice, if the m17x had a single 280 or 4870 then i'd be really torn

i have the sli 260's not just the single

 

Its part of the i7 architecture. It aims to maximise the workload of the CPU if some cores are under-utilized, by shutting them off (to reduce heat) and overclocking the rest. The 'turbo boost' figure quoted is with only 1 core active, and assumes the CPU stays within set thermal limits. It will overclock less depending how many cores it shuts down.

 

I'd reconfigure with a single 4870 if you can. Actually, if you can, cf 4870's but I realize $700 is a lot. lol

 

unless you KNOW you need that processor power, definitely stick with the M17x

 

is a single 4870 better for gaming then the 280 SLI option?

 

no way is it better. If the 4870s are DDR3 then 2 of them will be on par with 2x280s.

 

I always hear ATI cards tend to run hotter. Is this true?

 

Quad, im sorry, I meant to say better then the 260 SLI option.

 

Nope its still not as fast . Remember the 260SLI are only 10-15% slower then the 280SLI. So depending on which flavor you like(Nvida or ATI) it wont really matter in the end. If the 4870s are DDR5 that might change things abit but a single one still wont be faster then 2x260s.

 

^^^ Ok, thanks for the clarification. This is important to me because im about to pull the trigger on an M17x by the end of the week. im not what you would call a "hardcore" gamer, therfore I dont think I need to pony up the extra $$$ for the 4870 SLI option. However, I still want to get something that can push games on the 1900x1200 rez so im looking to get a "happy medium" of sorts.

 

Yeah wait for some others to chime in on there take as well before you pull the trigger but i would say best bang for the buck will be the 2x260s still but the ATIs will be far more future proof honestly because they support DX10.1. If i order another M17x soon it will be with the Dual 4870s though .

 

If the 4870s are Gddr5, won't it be with a 128-bit bus, so basically giving same performance as a Gddr3 card with a 256-bit bus?

And I would recommend the M17x, unless you want portability (although not that much more it seems) or battery life.

 

Wont be 128 bit, will be 256 . You are thinking of the new cards coming from Nvidia with GDDR5.

 

I would say for your needs the 2x260s will be great and still last you quite sometime.

 

Portability isn't even a huge difference between the M15x and M17x.

They're the same height. I think the M15x is one inch smaller in the other dimensions, and is 9 lbs vs 11 lbs.

For 2 lbs I'll take 1.5" in screen realestate, a keypad, and SLI graphics.

If they got the M15x to 1.5" or shorter and reduced it to 7 lbs, it'd definitely be worth getting for portability sake.

The absolute only three things I like about the M15x are: i7, LED backlight (which may be a pricey upgrade option for M17x owners in the future), and the modified lid design that has a matte portion in the top middle to prevent as many smudge/fingerprints.

 

i almost considered getting the m15x until i realized it's a 16:9 screen.

it's about 1/2" shorter height but almost 3/4" wider. i'd prefer the extra height of the 16:10 monitors.

if i could deal with the monitor size i'd have been all over the m15x.

 

I see it as two choices.

M17x for gaming, but if you really need all the CPU power in a DTR formfactor - get a Clevo 9280. That's what you call i7 power.

 

What's the battery life on the 9280??

Not going to be close to what the mobile i7's will put out.

 

Ok, rather then start a new thread and since someone just brought it up here id like to ask a question. Why are some people so against a 16:9 screen? Why is a 16:10 so much better? Please keep in mind, im not an advanced user so this is a genuine question.

 

More vertical viewing space and just more screen real estate over all . Other side of it is that people are accustomed to 16:10 so its going to take some time to wean them off the old style screens but eventually no one will have a choice in the matter and everything will be 16:9 like it or not .

 

^^Thanks.........Wouldnt a Blu-ray or regular DVD enhanced for 16:9 screens look a little stretched or odd on a 16:10 screen?

 

I'm guessing that it's more than likely that if the M17x's screen is ever refreshed, it will be 16:9

 

No it wont be streched there will just be larger black bars along the top and the bottom since a 1920x1200 panel supports 1080p .

 

^^^Thanks again for the clarification.

 

Just a last reponse to kryptonian.. There's a thread in the hardware forum if you haven't notice about 16:9 screens. And there's plenty of opinions there if you want to know what people think

 

I will check it out, thanks!

 

Does anyone new if the new m15x enables the internal video card as well as the external for gaming like the old m15x? Also, does it allow you to remove the CD rom and put in a extra battery?

 

The new one does not have internal video, and it does not have smart bays.

 

well, that's really your call. Without knowing the specs you ordered for your M17x, it would be hard to say if swapping would be worth it.
What do you plan on using your laptop for? Gaming only? Gaming and productivity? If you are primarily planning on heavy gaming, the M17x might be a better choice, thanks to the dual GPUs.

On the other hand, I do love the i7 and LED screen of the M15x....

 

The problem I have is that I want the best of both like many others here. So I bought the 15 to try out and travel with and the 17 I will use mostly at home ( I just relocated and in an apartment till I find a home) so I don't want a desktop until I do move.

 

Yep, don't we all! Maybe the next refresh of the M17x will give us the i7, RGBLED, and nextgen GPUs.

Haha I use my M17x for both home and travel. To me, its a laptop, its meant to be carried around....

 

I'm going to return my m17x(with Sli gtx 280m) as soon as i receive it next week, not for the m15x, but for the m17x with the Dual 1GB GDDR5 Crossfire 4870's.

 

M17x is rated at almost 12lbs and that is before you add a 2nd graphics card, extra HDD, etc etc. There really isnt much change in weight for the M15x

So that is a minimum of almost 3 lbs. Doesn't sound like much, but im sure your shoulder will tell you otherwise.

 

Watch that video again.

The M15x is def slimmer. Other dimensions don't stand out as much.

The weight will def be noticeably different. 3lbs is a lot.

 

Good point I would be curious to know if anyone here has actually weighed a decked out M17x with 2hdds. The M15x is 3/4 the weight of the M17x thats pretty significant, it also looks slimmer in that video. The laptop I use now is like 6.5lbs so well see how it fells soon enough.