m17 beating out M17x on SF4 Bench?! or there's something wrong?

hi. IDK where to post this but i would like to hear from ya'll. i started testing both laptop earlier and when i start SF 4 Bench on my M17x it starts from 30+ FPSthen it goes down slowly until it barely moves. but on my m17 i maxed out everything and still running great. heres whats on the screen to give you guys an idea.
on M17x:

Intel Core 2 Extreme Q9300 @ 2.53 GHz
NVidia GeForce GTX 280M (153/1028MB) -- Goes down as benching continues
1920 x 1200 59Hz
Score: I didn't even finish it out of frustation
Average FPS: 30 - 20 on same settings with m17
Average FPS: 40 - 30 on settings below
Memory: 4GB 1333
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium

-- PC Settings --
FPS Display: On
Full Screen: On
V-synch: On
Frame Rate: Variable
Aspect Correction: Auto
Brightness: 50
Parallel Rendering: On
Texture Filter: Default
Model Quality: Low
Background Quality: High
Soft Shadow: Low
Self Shadow: Low
Motion Blur: Low
Particles: Mid
Extra Touch: Off

on m17
Intel Core 2 Extreme x9100 @ 3.06 GHz
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 (280/512MB)
1920 x 1200 60Hz x8 AA
Score: 5904
Average FPS: 59.08
Memory: 4GB 1066
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium

-- PC Settings (not included above) --
FPS Display: On
Full Screen: On
V-synch: On
Frame Rate: Variable
Aspect Correction: Auto
Brightness: 50
Parallel Rendering: On
Texture Filter: 16x
Model Quality: High
Background Quality: High
Soft Shadow: Highest
Self Shadow: High
Motion Blur: High
Particles: High
Extra Touch: Off

so.. based on the info above, is my M17x okay? or do i need to ask tech support about it. i'm on beta drivers on my M17x because the 186.64 <-- i'm not too sure about the driver version> is not working right either. bought it coz looks good and coz of SLi but is nothing compared to m17. as much as possible i don't wanna return it coz i already upgraded the memory and the optical drive from dvd to blu ray <-- (PITA Too)
okay. hope this can be resolved thru messing with settings. please help!
and thanks!

 

do you have stealth mode on? is your power plugged in?

My m17x r2 auto switches my performance low, even if i set my performance to high with power management and with 2 GPU enabled i only get 10 fps in crysis. With Adepter in i get 40-60

 

yeah my laptop is plugged in, i'm not in stealth mode because i'm using my two 280m's in SLi, 9400 deactivated. i also activated the fn+f2 feature earlier because my laptop is always plugged in.