Intel core2 Duo t8100 vs. t8300 Alienware m15x

I am going to be purchasing an AW m15x for gaming, school, and a little bit of video editing. I was wondering if i should get the standard t8100 or upgrade to the t8300? The upgrade costs $150, so my question is... is the price worth the upgrade. Will i notice a significant improvement in game play? Also, can the t8100 run Crysis (obviously not in high) because the recommended speed is 2.2 ghz dual core processor?

 

The only difference between the 2 is the Buscore Ratio 10.5/12 and the speed 2.1 ghz/2.4 ghz. It really depends on the "little bit of video editing" because that is where the extra .3 ghz would shine. As far as Crysis goes, I have a 2.13 and I play Crysis on high settings with a 512mb GDDR3 9800gs so the CPU wouldn't be a bottleneck for you.

If you are doing a lot of CPU intensive tasks (video encoding, image processing) then the extra seems worth it. If not, then it's up to you whether you want to pay the $150 for something that you won't see the benefit of very often. (the extra .30 ghz)

 

If you're going to be doing video encoding and image processing, you should be getting a quad core notebook, not a dual core anyway.

 

It wouldn't be intensive video editing just simple stuff, and that would only be once in a while. My real concern is the gaming aspect. I wouldn't see any benefit in games if i upgraded the cpu?

 

Going from a T8100 to a T8300... most likely not. The difference in most applications should be negligible with such a small bump in clock speed. It's definitely not worth $150, I'd say.

 

Not worth it - the T8100 should be more than enough for your needs.
I went to the T8300 from a T5550 (1.83 GHz), and it was worth the $200 and time.

 

Thanks for all the help. Will the t8100 be able to run Crysis and still look decent?

 

Crysis is far more demanding on your GPU than your CPU - either save the $150 you were going to spend or put it towards the GeForce 9800M GT upgrade.

 

It will do fine. My Studio 15 runs Crysis at low settings (with physics/textures at high, water effects medium) at 1280x800 with around 25fps. It isn't the CPU that is holding the game back, it's the GPU that matters most.

 

if your buying this brand new off Alienware.com, I would suggest you take your money elsewhere. the fact that they want to charge you an extra $150 for a T8300 processor is quite outrageous.

 

Yeah, i have decided against buying from alienware. I think i am going to be purchasing my computer from xoticpc or powernotebooks. Do you have any suggestion on which site is better. Also, i am currently looking at the MSI GT627-218 from xoticpc. Does anyone know if MSI has good build quality? Because the laptop sure looks sharp, but thats not everything

 

xoticpc posts on these boards under the SN of Justin@XoticPC. He is very reputable and if I were to buy online, it would be from him. Shoot him a PM and I'm sure he'd be glad to help...

 

I tried to pm him but it said i wasn't allowed to for some reason. Any idea?

 

Too few posts, I'd guess. I think there's a minimum.

The MSI GT725 is also another very nice system.

 

I will try to get some more posts up. I was looking at the MSI GT725 but i decided i want a 15.4 inch laptop. Do you have any experience with MSI?

 

None personally, but the guys in the MSI forum seem to like their systems.

 

Thanks. Where are the msi forums? Sorry i am kinda new to forums in general

 

nvm i found it

 

holy smokes, they are still charging that much for a t8300. you can get a t8300 for under 120 on ebay and you get to keep the t8100 so you can sell it. lol, alienware is a massive fail. they never seem is keep updated on new product releases. again massive failure.