Questions about the M11x. i need some help!

I have a couple questions and i am a noob to this so go easy on me. Ok so right now I have a 15" POS Toshiba Satellite laptop that I use as a desktop replacement. I dont play any games on it because frankly i cant. I am a hs student and I use my pc just to browse the web, and do some word documents/excel. However I would LOVE to play games on it, its just that I have never been able to I am going to get an M11x. It was that or a MBP 13", but I decided M11x was way cooler But... I have a few questions regarding the setup of the m11x. I want to stay in the sub $1600 price range, maybe $1800 if it is really worth it.

1st: I am prob going to get a core i7, but i wonder if it will overheat the laptop and damage it in any way. Will it?

2nd: I am deciding between the 4gb memory or the 8 gb. I intend to play games on it, mostly fps titles (MW2, Bad Company 2). Will the 4 gb be fine to run games? or is the 8gb be the only way to go. How much of a difference will it make in performance, if at all?

3rd: is the solid state drive worth it? What does the ssd do that is so good, besides decrease your boot times? And whatever it does, is it worth the enormous jump in price?? If i dont go ssd, could i upgrade to it in the future or have somebody upgrade it for me? If yes, would it be easy to transfer all of my files and such?

4th: If i dont get the ssd, should i get the 500gb HDD? I dont have that many things that I plan to be on it, maybe a few movies, like at the most 5 games, and the previously mentioned excel/word files. How much space will that take?

5th: How would you build yours if you had 1600-1800 price range?

Thanks for your help guys and excuse me if i did anything wrong i am new to this whole forum posting thing. I really appreciate any answers

 

1st: No, the m11x runs very cool (with the Core 2 Duo CPUs). i7 won't be a problem heat-wise.

2nd: Get 4gb, there is no use for 8gb for 99% of the users.

3rd: SSD is a great upgrade, but don't buy it from Dell. Get Intel and add it yourself later.

4th: Get the cheapest as you'll replace it by SSD anyway.

5th: i7-640UM, 4GB RAM. Take the optional Bluetooth and WWAN only if you need it.

 

Thanks Pbure. What SSD would you recommend? And are they easy to install or would i just take it to the geek squad or something and have them do it for me.

If anybody else has an opinion to my original post feel free to reply!

 

I'd go for an Inter-X25 series.

Installing a new hard drive is easy and won't affect your warranty. Alienware even has a guide for replacing the drive in their service manual.

 

NOOO!!!* Save yourself the frustration and money... it's quite easy to swap a drive. That said, SSD's are still quite expensive, and if you prefer storage, go for the 500GB 7200RPM option, or order the cheapest option and upgrade it yourself to a Hitachi 7k500 or so. As for the i7, I have the 640UM in my company HP ProBook, and even in this HP it doesn't even run warm... and HP's are usually horrible with thermal management, it just doesn't "outperform" the older Core2 series like I had expected in the battery dept. Frankly for the wireless options, go ahead and get the bluetooth, as it makes wireless mice and keyboards VERY easy to use while on the go... No dongles with it already built it!

*Indicates "NOOO!!!" shouted like darth vader.