XPS15Z Gaming???

Hi there everyone,

I'm currently looking at 2 laptops, a top of the line M14X, with everything OTHER than a SSD, so would have a 750gb 7,200rpm drive.

OR...
PROCESSOR 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2620M (2.7GHz, 4Threads, 4MB cache)
Hard Drive 256GB Solid State Hard Drive
Backlit Keyboard
Memory 8192MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x4096]
Wireless Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6230 (2x2 b/g/n+ Bluetooth Combo
LCD 15.6" FHD WLED True-Life (1920x1080) with 1.3 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
Video Card 2GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M

So it would have the same RAM, however on the Alienware is overclocked as standard and running 1600MHz instead of 1333, but the processor is better in the XPS and the SSD REALLY attracts me to it due to the low heat/noise and longer life.

I want to keep the lappy for about 3 years and want to know if anyone owns one of similar spec, how they find it day to day, battery etc. Also what it's like for real world gaming, Total War, Starcraft 2 etc...

THANKS in advance Please be constructive and not just "buy the Alienware it's better"

 

It will come down to what games you will want to play. Not sure about Total War, but Starcraft II was made to scale well on a variety of system specs. If you are just playing games like SCII, Valve shooters, League of Legends, etc., the 1080p screen/SSD/battery life of the 15z is better than having the added benefit of the m14x's GPU.

If you plan on playing more graphic intensive games like Battlefield 3 or RAGE, the m14x is going to perform better. The GPU in both laptops are going to eventually be the bottleneck in performance for games. Also, the lower native resolution in the m14x means that the game won't have to struggle to render the game at such a high resolution. A game looks much better being rendered at 900p on a screen that is native 900p than on a screen that is 1080p.

 

Thanks very much c0mplex, rep given shortly I think the Alienware is the way to go for me then

 

Ok how do I give rep lol...

 

Nevermind, Done

 

For gaming? Get the m14x the 555 obliterates the 525. You can always buy a ssd later on, thats what i did.

 

Thanks, next question, I remove the optical DVD drive, but how do I fit the SSD in it's place?

Thanks again and rep given

 

I guess you already decided to go with the m14x , I never used the m14x.. but if you compare anything else to the 15z.. ANYTHING ELSE will be better lol never get close to the 15z even if it was for 10$ .. waste of money.. I have already replaced two of them and went back to the original 15


Edit: Are you planning to get the SSD after? why not install it in the main HDD place? Are you in Canada or USA.. tigerdirect have a great deal on the 128 GIGS curcial M4..

Good luck!

 

Yeah i'm going with the M14X as the lady I have been dealing with at Dell has given me a heavy discount as I'm getting an Inspiron 15R for my partner and a few extras too Also based on what you have said, does this mean in theory, I could...
Backup my data to a high storage/external hard drive
Then replace the HDD with say a 256 SSD
Then run the Windows/Alienware install discs?

Reason I ask,is if it is as simple as that, then I can swap the 5400rm 500gb in my partners Inspiron for my old 750gb 7200rpm from the Alienware

 

Thats what I did when I bought my XPS 15, I bought another inspiron and another xps 17 few weeks before so I got a nice discount..You can create recovery disks using the Dell software and run them after you install the SSD ( I don't recommend that because you will lose 20 gigs since the recovery disks will create a recovery parition)

What I did is I downloaded a Windows 7 ISO image then burned it and Installed a fresh copy then I entered my windows key ( it is located at the bottom of the laptop) then I activated it! but I had to download all the drivers again..I think there is a way to delete the recovery parition without downloading a fresh copy but in my case I like the fresh copy way better since it doesn't have all the crap that comes with Dell,\.

If you will go with that solution I suggest you create a recovery disk using the dell data safe software ( I think it will take 2 9gig dvds), keep them on a side, just in case the ISO image doesn't work then you can use the recovery disks to get the Windows back.

I am not sure if they offer mcaffe 15 months with the m14x, if they do then make sure you register it so you can use it if you install a fresh windows copy.

for the original HDD, you can keep it or put it on any laptop, what I am planning to do is buy a caddy and install the old hard disk in it but I have to remove the dvd which I never use and I have an external one anyways..

 

Thanks, it looks like I would be looking at a Crucial 256gb SSD, they seem pretty good and for around £250 come with a kit for easy transfer of the entire OS from one drive to another

Thanks for all the help

 

U welcome, make sure to update the SSD firmware after you install it, basically you go to the manufacture website and download the bootable firmware (iso) then burn it to a disk and boot.. the speed will increase with the new firmware

 

Not for game, also you model already out-day, new is 2640Cpu(same price) check:

Laptops and Netbooks | Dell Malaysia

 

I don't think the 15z comes with a Quad Core option, by the way... whereas the M14x does.

Not sure if you realized that or not. The 15z CPU might have slightly better clock speeds, but it's only dual core.

 

However what games are actually capable of using a quad core? It may my understanding that games only use Dual Core and it was the clock speed that was the priority of the 2?

 

I can think of one straight away civilization 5,
It has a quad core as recommend hardware. Ive seen a few other games which utilise a quad core aswell.

 

You are correct sir, I was assured by 2 large companies, one being Xotic PC in the states and the other being PC Specialist over here that I wouldn't need the Quad core for games...

It seems business sometimes does come first, again the Alienware comes up trumps!

 

You are correct to think business comes 1st, it does, at the end of the day all business's are out to make money and profit and if it means lying to you they will more and more games are starting to utilise quads and faster cpu's so i would get one if your willing to future proof your system. I think the m14 with the spec you said will last a good few years, so
enjoy

Oh and if you want any info on the m4 just ask, its a great ssd. But you will need to update the firmware to 0002 when you first use it to stop freezing issues.

 

More and more games will start utilizing quad core.

Supreme Commander even does, and that's what... 4 years old now? Not ALL games are CPU intensive, but some are.

 

So it would also make sense that the Total War series would go that way too, as it's a strategy type game?

 

I would think so as more strategy games are getting more cpu intensive.

 

Yeah I see what you mean, I wonder why that is?

 

It blows my mind how poor multi core support is right now.

As I mentioned earlier, Supreme Commander is 4 years old and it supports multi core. And yet Shogun 2 doesn't. We'll definitely see a turn around, but I suspect by then our GT540m will be all but obsolete.

 

Just to resurrect this, price is now more of an issue, my mrs is pregnant, replacement of the HDD in the M14X for an SSD later on isn't going to be an option...
Is the 525 REALLY that bad compared to the 555, baring in mind it would be running with a higher 2.7 processor with the 525 opposed to a 2.0 processor with the 555?

 

The above may be worth mentioning, I am playing currently on an 11.6" Sony,, my temporary laptop, which only has a 512mb HD 6310, however this will run both Starcraft 2 AND Shogun 2 AND al the other total war titles,
SC2 - Medium settings, no lag until the screen is FULL of units
Total War, fine on map, but in battle struggles on lag...

Now this is rated as 259 on the "graphics card table, low - midrange"
So surely the GT525 (scoring 114), whilst not playing the likes of Crysis 2 on Ultra should be able to do everything I need it too???
Incidentally the GT555 scores 64 in the table...

 

The 525 is significantly weaker than the 555. I own both a 15Z and the L702X 17. RIFT for example with any decent eye candy turned on the 15Z has a hard time holding 20FPS. The 17 with the 555 on the other hand bounces off of 40 FPS.

Buying a 15Z for gaming is like buying a mini cooper for a soccer mom. Sure it *can* do the job but it's just not built for it.

 

The 2.0 Ghz processor on the M14x is the 2630QM which is QUAD CORE.
The 2.7 Ghz processor on the 15z is DUAL CORE.

555m with QUAD CORE is much better than 525m with DUAL CORE. Granted alot of games don't support QUAD processing yet, but those that do will benefit from it assumign it's CPU intensive. Aside from that, multitasking will be improved when you have double the processing threads.

Ignoring other factors, the 555m is much better than the 525m.

555m --> 192 CUDA cores, texture fill rate: 16.2 billion/sec, memory interface: 192 bit
525m --> 96 CUDA cores, texture fill rate: 9.6 billion/sec, memory interface: 128 bit

I know you WANT the 15z to be a good gaming laptop, but it's not. Research the build quality as well. There are rumblings amongst owners...

 

My Alienware has been ordered and arrives soon Thanks for the help guys and girls, decided that I had to compromise on something and for me, it was weight/thickness.
The M14X I hope will be everything I have read it to be and more