Help me with my M14x

[Minikiller]

I am sorry if this type if question had been asked 10 millions times but I'm am the definition of computer illiterate. I want to get the M14x as my new laptop, my main goal is to run my current laptop hog, Total War Shogun 2 at high settings and get The Witcher 2 and play high end as well. I will also be playing Rift. Should I do any upgrading from the stock build? i5 to i7? I'm hearing 3gb is not needed and 1.5gb is fine? Screen Rez? I'm pulling my hair out trying to determine what to keep and what to upgrade when I purchase.

[Stevenxowens792]

Not to sound rude, but alienware notebooks are not (in my opinion) designed for beginners. They can be used by them, but it's not a notebook that you can boot up and get max performance. I dont have shogun so I can't comment on that but a m14x is a medium level notebook that can play most games at medium to high levels. Witcher 2 you can play at medium to high levels (may need some tweaking as I have shown on other posts). I really don't know what else to tell you. 1.5 is fine compared to 3.0 but if you get a good deal on 3 I wouldn't pass on it. I would still get the I7 vs the I5 as BF3 is around the corner. screen res is up to you.

[Minikiller]

not rude at all sir. Once I get my hand on something and can play with it (no crude jokes plz lol) I can figure it out fine but I haven't looked at laptop specs in years so I'm way behind on the lingo and what not.

[Gearsguy]

900p and at least an i7 are really a must. If you plan to keep it for more than 2 years and want to continue to get the best possible performance, get the 3gb. If not, get 1.5gb. Buy RAM aftermarket, and then the rest is up to you and pretty simple.

I agree with Steven, if you're really unsure of what youre doing alienwares arent great. Preconfigured ASUS's and such are pretty good for that. But if you do know what youre doing then just what I said above.

[Minikiller]

Thanks. So is Asus better than Alienware for games? I am sure I can follow faqs and tinker with this system enough to learn how to use it, why is it so non user friendly?

[DaneGRClose]

They're not really unfriendly rigs, they're just a rig that requires major tweaking on both a hardware and software level to get your money out of them. Because they're owned by Dell they're dumbed down majorly to prevent hardware failures from happening as often thus keeping more money in Dell's pocket. If you know what you're doing with hardware/software and/or can listen to instructions from others who have already tweaked the system they're amazing but for what you pay the out of the box performance isn't all that amazing.

[Minikiller]

I'm confident I can follow proper guidance to tweak it, I'm not worried about that. My concern is spending to much money. My main objective was to find out what I should upgrade from stock or not an why. Example i5 or i7, then which i7? Would max be needed and why. Also the resolution issue I heard its better to stay at stock but I'm unclear why. I guess I shouldn't have asked here :-/ sorry to take everyone's time

[DaneGRClose]

No problem at all man, we're all here to help. My 2 cents is this:

Decide what you want to do with the rig and what you're willing to tollerate on performance. Here's my 2 cents:

-I would recommend the highest cpu you can as it will help in just about everything that is very intensive, gaming/productivity/etc. You can either pay the high upgrade cost from Dell or source a cheap ES cpu from ebay if you don't care about warranty on the CPU.

-On the resolution/screen if you're ok with lower res then you can go with the cheaper screen and have better playability in games but keep in mind the higher end screen increases sellability and also the high end screen can run both high and low res the base screen can run low res only.

-On ram go with the base ram and if you need more upgrade it yourself, same with the HDD.

-On warranty I highly highly recommend going with the accidental at the least if not extended warranty unless you know you'll only have it for 6-12 months. The reason I say accidental at the least is it's a portable rig made of plastic, at around $50-75 a year for full coverage it is very worth it on a expensive rig.

The rest is up to you man, either way good luck with the purchase

[jeffreybaks]

The m14x is a nice milestone in the 13.3-14 inch laptop market. No laptop before it has ever had the amount of power graphically. You will be getting cutting edge technology. While upgrading is nice, its not always recommended. Your options are some what more easy to make then the m17x/18x cause there are not as many that make that much of a difference to the performance. What ever you get with the m14x you can rest assured its going to play anything you throw at it the way you want it too. The 900p screen is give or take, for gaming 768p is going to be more of a resolution that is suitable for high performance gaming or to be more specific competitive gaming in multiplayer which is what I'm all about so my laptop is perfect for me, I actually play more competitively at 720p resolutions which isn't my native and Id assume if your going to be playing rift then some of that will lye in the realm of competitive play. If you only played single player games 900p resolution screen would be a must.

Onto the quad core or core i5 processors. This one is simple also. I use an i5 processor and it has been really great far exceeding my expectations. I would not be ashamed at all if your taking price into consideration that you get an i5, to me it is a good representation to the form factor of 13.3-14 inch but puting that aside we cant forget the achievement that has happened in the past few iterations of this form factor that its now able to utilize quad core processors that 99% of the people use in there 17 inch laptops. Thats a big step in terms of TDP (thermal design power) and is success that is in an milestone achievement in and of itself. While quad core gaming currently is not supported in most of todays games its definitely in a good majority of them and should be one of the main focal points in deciding what route you want to go with when determining what type of m14x you want to buy.

The ram,Hard disk drive,blue-ray, wwan,1.5/3.0 graphics memory, and my favorite WiHD and the rest of it is moderate decisions and wont impact performance all that much and are more bells and wisles which are my favorite part of the laptop bizzz.

The only hard part is choosing the color.

Edited August 18, 2011 by jeffreybaks

[Gearsguy]

I'd reccomend getting the i7 2630QM (the base i7). It's almost as powerful as the extreme version i7's from the last gen Core i Series and it'll be more than enough for gaming. I would really highly recommend the 900p screen as I have it and you can just turn the resolution down to 1366x768 or lower for intensive games.

For asking if ASUS's are better for games, that's where you have to know about computer components at least a little. For example, out of the box, the ASUS G53 would be better for games with the same i7 processor as the base i7 in the m14x (2630QM) and a GTX 460M which the 555M can reach or exceed with overclocking, but it will beat the m14x out of the box and offer a larger hard drive and more RAM for about 1300$. Except, its substantially bigger than the m14xs.

[jeffreybaks]

There is also a 14 inch laptop by asus which is really nice, [url=http://my.asus.com/Notebooks/Versatile_Performance/A42JA/]ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Notebooks- ASUS A42JA[/url]. The asus A42JA.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2041[/ATTACH]

Quote

[h]Specifications[/h]

Processor	Intel® Core™ i5 430M/450M/520M/540M Processor Intel® Core™ i3 330M/350M/370M Processor Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core P6000 Processor
Operating System	Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate Genuine Windows® 7 Professional Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium Genuine Windows® 7 Home Basic
Chipset	Intel® HM55 Express Chipset
Memory	DDR3 1066 MHz SDRAM, 2 x SO-DIMM socket for expansion up to 8 G SDRAM
Display	14.0" 16:9 HD (1366x768) LED Backlight
Graphic	ATI Mobility™ Radeon® HD5730 with 2GB DDR3 VRAM
Storage	2.5" SATA 640GB 5400rpm 500GB 5400rpm/7200rpm 320GB 5400rpm/7200rpm
Optical Drive	Super-Multi DVD Blue-ray reader
Card Reader	2 -in-1 card reader ( SD/ MMC)
Camera	0.3 Mega Pixel web camera
Networking	Integrated 802.11 b/g/n or 802.11 b/g/n Built-in Bluetooth™ V2.1+EDR (Optional) 10/100/1000 Base T
Interface	1 x Headphone-out jack 1 x VGA port/Mini D-sub 15-pin for external monitor 3 x USB 2.0 port(s) 1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert 1 x HDMI
Audio	Built-in Speakers And Microphone Altec Lansing® Speakers SRS Premium Sound
Battery	6Cells : 4400 mAh 47 Whrs
Power Adapter	Output : 19 V DC, 4.74 A, 90 W Input : 100 -240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal
Dimensions	34.9 x 23.8 x 3.65 cm (WxDxH)
Weight	2.20 kg (with 6 cell battery)
Manufacturer Warranty	2-year limited global hardware warranty. *different by country 1-year battery pack warranty On-line problem resolution through web interface (BIOS, Driver update) OS (Windows 7 ) install/uninstall consultation Bundled software install/uninstall consultation ASUS software supporting

[Minikiller]

Here's the flood of info I need! Thanks guys. Now I bought a Asus for my gf at Xmas. Nothing special but better general specs that my ancient laptop, and it ran games at the same level, couldn't handle better. Sort of a turn off. My first gaming PC was an alienware and I loved it.

[Minikiller]

How is the package that is 1499? Is it legit 224 savings? Great deal if so. Www.Dell.com/us/alienware-m14x/fs

Though I don't need a back pack haha

[DaneGRClose]

Not a bad deal, I've seen better but I have DEFINITELY seen worse lol. Have you considered going with a previously ordered as new or refurbished outlet 14x? I picked up the one in my sig for just over $1000 with NBD shipping and accidental care warranty as the outlet has good prices and usually has coupons to top it off Your best bet though is to call and haggle, just say something like "I saw the $1499 special and it's exactly what I need but I can only afford $XXXX.XX........." see what they say. It may take a few tries but if you are buying new once you find a good rep they'll work something out for you

[Minikiller]

So refurbished may be a viable option as well if the price is right

I'm so close to pulling the trigger on this one but I'm just about to go to bed and I need to check paypal funds first so on and so fourth. Is this a good deal? If it's there in the morning and it's good I'll take it as a sign haha

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ArbOnlineSales/topics/global.aspx/arb/online/en/InventoryDetails?POPUP=true&systemId=EECXJ0CL

Also there is a 20% off coupon that is working. The coupon code says it ends 8-20 but the code when enterEd says it ends today, hopefully it will work in the am as well

Edited August 19, 2011 by Minikiller

[DaneGRClose]

Yeah that's a good deal, if you don't mind red hunt one down that's red as they were $100-200 cheaper than the black systems when I bought mine as I don't think there's as high of a demand for red as black especially in the outlet. But either way if you prefer black that's a good deal especially as it's about $1040 after the coupon.

[Minikiller]

Ordered! :-) the coupon didn't work so I chatted it up with customer service and they honored it

[DaneGRClose]

Nice job man, congrats! Did you order that exact rig or what specs did you go with?

[Minikiller]

Same rig. Had the best specs of what was there. Wanted a 8gb instead if the 4gb but it was a deal I couldn't pass up. Should I find a how to and overclock it out of the box?

[DaneGRClose]

Entirely up to you man, it really depends on what you want to do and what the rig will tolerate. If you need the overclocking and do it right through stress testing then yeah go for it, if it has enough power to do what you need to do at stock then I wouldn't. No need to stress the hardware more than you need to Unless of course you're a benching addict like me lol.

[Minikiller]

Lol! I'm just anxious to get it now an play some rift on high settings and grab the witcher 2! I played rift trial on ultra low, like it wouldn't even run on regular low haha.

[Stevenxowens792]

@mini- I play rift at ultra settings. Just overclock the gpu to 750/900 or 750/1000 (only 1 fps difference) and you will spend about 95 percent of your time over 30fps. It's smooth... In meridian it drops to 21-25 fps sometimes due to population and latency but it does that for everyone. Again .. that's what i run rift at right now. ultra at 1366x768 (native resolution for me)

Congrats,

StevenX

[Minikiller]

Very cool man thanks for the info. Is there a good guide to overclocking here? Eta is Wednesday! Oh man what am I gonna play first? Shogun? Rift? Witcher? Bah! Haha

[Minikiller]

Just got it! A couple scratches on the front around the alien ware logo, to be expected but when I opened it there was a large spot in the middle. Looked like air was trapped in a film layer. Anyway it slowly went away as I opened and closed laptop, should I be worried?

*edit* hasn't come back yet, what I meant by film is I thought they had put a protective film on for shipping and you know-how it looks with air trappe inside? Yup, like that. The scratches must have come from previous owner, they are like swirl scratches, but only on front of casing not actual screen...still annoying though hah

Edited August 23, 2011 by Minikiller

[jeffreybaks]

congrats, sorry u didnt get 100% prestine but you have to know if you want to try for something better when you have the chance. Iv read alot of people getting ones that look like they were brand new, most were from m11xs though.