GT555M vs GT525M

OK...

Both laptops have the following
8gb Ram
750gb 7200rpm HDD
Top spec screen,
all the extras etc...

The attraction for me with the XPS is a few things, slimness, alu made, weight lastly, the biggy, before I start negotiating on price, it's listed as £1229 with 10% discount on the website... AND it has a better 2.7ghz processor with turbo boost etc...
Downside - only has a GT525M 2gb graphics card - I play total war and SC2...

Alienware has a 2.0 ghz processor, all the cool Alienware extras, is gaming designed, but is heavier, bulkier, however has the 3gb GT555M graphics card. I'm buying it with an Inspiron for my partner, so will get a big discount, but WITH the discount and all the extras, the Alienware is still £1400...

So I know, the 15z with 10% I will easily get for less than £1000 with EVERYTHING

Is the GT555M REALLY worth that much more??? As I might even be able to get a 256gb SSD thrown in with the 15Z and STILL be £200 cheaper...

Please help, this has to last me a few years, it will go to college/uni/home/friends/family etc...

These are my only2 options, I have spent months looking and style is a must I don't want Sony this or HP that thanks...

My real question, is the price difference of around £400 worth it for the sake of a laptop that will run hotter, is bigger and bulkier and heavier, however has the more powerful graphics card... If there is only a slight difference I can live with it, I'd love an SSD

 

the 2.0ghz means nothing, give us the actual model of the proc's you are looking at......
and if it were me, i'd make sure the GPU demands were met, rather than the CPU as games= dedicated GPU.....

 

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...

REF the processors, both 2nd gen, i7, 2.7 dual core on the XPS and 2.0 quad core on the M14X

 

as far as those laptop go, the alienware has a quad core 2.0ghz i7, and the 15z can have up to the dual core i7, but the stock one comes with the i5 2410 dual core. in addition you only need the 1.5gb version of the gt555m. trust me if that card had 3gb of data loaded into its ram it would probably just crash. also the alienware has more outputs for sound.

also according to notebook check on high at 1366x768 the 525m is about 33% slower than the 555m, not to mention that if you go with the dells 1080p screen you will get about half the fps you would get if you went with the alien wares 900p screen.

so in conclusion get the alien ware, or go and get a p151hm for cheaper with a 560m, it come out to about 1190 with everything that you wanted and it has a 1080p screen stock, matte or glossy.

 

Like this...
PCSPECIALIST - Custom Computers And Laptops, Build Your Own PC, Build Your Own Laptop, Build Computer, Build Laptop

 

PCSPECIALIST - VortexII 15 Laptops, VortexII 15 Gaming Laptops, Build Your Own VortexII 15 Laptop

 

Clock speed is not the best way to rate a processor. I had a Pentium 4 2 GHZ over 10 years ago. Clock speed is just how the processor is synchronized, instructions are sent out on that clock every 1/2g seconds.

The Alienware has a "quadcore" i7 that is 2 ghz, it should probably be faster with turbo boost then yours even in dual boost applications.

1400 pounds sounds expensive, without the extras that is the price in dollars. With no discounts.

 

Yeah I know matey, but please take into consideration, that is the highest spec machine, processor, etc, EVERY optional extra except the SSD... AND we pay 20% tax...

 

no they are all made with the same archetecture so the speed will be proportional. a clevo would be much less expensive and it would have a much better graphics card, not to mention that its the most upgradeable 15" laptop ever built. there are literally only 4 screws between you and accessing all of the parts of the computer.

 

Have a look at this...

Vortex II
Full HD LED
i7 Quad Core 2630QM 2.0 GHz 6MB cache
8GB Samsung 1333MHz DDR3
1.5GB nVIDIA GeForce GTX560M
8 x DVD R/W
9 in 1 Memory Card Reader
Arctic Cooling Paste
Intel 2 Channel High Def Audio
GIGABIT 1102 Wireless 802.11 Wireless & Bluetooth
8 cell battery
180w AC Adapter
No Office...
1 month Accidental warranty
Standard warranty...
£1287

The SSD is preferred to a HDD, I don't NEED anything more than 160gb, better sound would be nice, but is the screen as good as the Alienware? Office is an extra £79 taking the total to £1366... Also the sound isn't 5.1, and the warranty isn't next day, 1 year, in home parts and labour, it also wouldn't have the AlienFX and backlit keyboard, BUT the graphics card would be better, so what I want to know, can the Vortex price be reduced, would there be a better deal for getting my partners laptop at the same time?

 

BTW fair warning If you are into the new total war games, they dont play that well with optimus, some can whitelist the game, so that it runs on the nvidia card, a lot cant.

I would try to go for a 6770m from amd or 6750m

 

thanks for that, and by the way the clevo does not use optimus.

 

actually they do, but not on their high end systems.

Since the op was considering the bad build quality of the xps 15z, or the small 15'' that is the m14x, I ''needed'' to chime in as a long time total war player.

btw I would still up the gpu on that system to at least the gtx 485m or 6970m, since the eye candy in total war games is a real resource hog, for smooth playing in large 4v4 battles, you are going to need 2 gtx 570 (desktop) for that, not all things ticked btw. And I would up the processor, since the clocks/turbo boost on the i7 2760qm is much higher. And the series is poorly multithreaded optimized, so higher clocks yields sometimes significant improvements

 

No matter how much I look at the Vortex, it's ugly, I can't get over it, I have to look at this thing 6 - 8 hours a day minimum whilst using it and I can't get over it, it's just horrible IMO...

So are you saying that the M14X won't run total war??? As i've seen youtube vids of it running on an M11X with lower specs???

 

heh it wont be pretty, the total war series is specially cpu intensive more than sc2, they can run it, as I could run it on a core 2 duo 2ghz, it wont lead you to 4v4 battles, or large battles.

the optimus as I said, bring problems that you can simply avoid those altogether by choosing another similar performing gpu.

For example I can run most games (including shogun 2) out there on the mbp 13 that I have, would any more game oriented person would like that? I dont think so.

Another example on my old notebook, I had a 4670m, which is on par with the 6560m series right now, I could play empire on high settings at low resolutions, but I would lag on battles over 4000 men, due to the low power of my cpu and gpu. It would be the same even on rome, anything higher than 6000 men in there, I would lag, a lot.

So yeah have you thought about waiting the samsung series 7 15'', that would give you great performance, while being lighter than the m14x. And the design, for me at least, aint that bad.

total war needs a good cpu and a good gpu, thats it. And if you account mods to that, you are screwed if you get something that aint good.

 

Yeah but there is no concrete info on release date, specs, price etc... And of the Series 9 is anything to go by, it'll be WAYYYYY more expensive than the M14X... I'm going to look on youtube I think for some size reviews on both the 15z, M14X and games running on each...

 

Actually release date is oct 2nd, specs are

15'''
gpu: 6750m
cpu: anything goes, except the ulv and the extreme editions
size: smaller than the usual fare of 15''
weight something something darkside.

check the samsung forums here for more info.

 

2nd October is for the states though isn't it? Not the UK? But to be honest my friend I've been watching Youtube vids of the M14X running games on Utra high with no lag for the last hour including all the games I play, so I think my decision is made lol...

 

whatever, its you that is going to carry a heavy 15'' tranny. That will give you problems running some games.

 

Passing on the GTX 560M is going to be something you regret within the next 6 months.

The 555M is just barely as fast as a 9800 GT.

 

Yes, but you guys are hardcore gamers, that use your PC/Laptop as a be all and end all machine, I have mine as a toy, a do it all machine, my Xbox deals with all my FPS games, I only use my lappy for Strategy games and i'm more than happy with the ability to play the games I want on Ultra after viewing others doing the same lol...

Series 7 won't be in the UK until 2012, guaranteed, and the price tag will match,we pay 20% tax, my Alienware, with EVERY optional extra AND a Messenger bag and a 2nd Inspiron 15R top spec for the Mrs and a Pink lid, is less than £1900

 

I have a mbp 13. enough said.

Now the m14x can only max things when you are playing on the low res of 1366*768, otherwise the difference in power is just too great, a gtx 560m that aint that big of a deal, can be 20-30% more powerful, than that thing. imagine a 6990m that is 2x as powerful as the gtx 560m.

You play fps in the console? lol

 

Firstly i'm not a pedantic keyboard warrior and no, I may not be a netgeek/child, but I do know an Alienware is better than a Macbook Pro, personally I think Apple are horrible, but that to one side, it's not in the same league...

No, I play Call of Duty Black Ops, on a console designed specifically to play it, with my real world friends, on my 40" Sharp 1080P HDTV, when i'm not out riding my Fireblade... seriously boy, is there any need??? You must have a MASSIVE inferiority complex. In either case, best of luck with the MBP and quoting stats on graphics cards that your never going to use but have googled to death...

I bid you good day

EDIT - Lastly, I think you'll find to quote myself I said "a do it all machine, my Xbox deals with all my FPS games"

 

And Im the one with inferiority complex? yeah right...

I only said, what most here said, dont get the m14x, get something more powerful, or wait for something on the horizon that looks promising.

This isnt the first time that I mentioned that my gaming needs are satisfied with the intel HD3000, thus the mbp 13 reference, that is by far a non gaming machine as it gets.

so yeah whatever

 

>Blops
>console

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