Clylor Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Okay so I'm new to the gameing computers and I'm not the brightest when it comes to the graphics cards and etc. I asked around and I was sent here so I really hope you guys can help.So my question is how does the laptop come and what parts should I upgrade for it to run games smoothly? And whe I order it am I given options for what parts I'd prefer? I just don't want to blow the money on it then have to spend even more on parts that need improveing. lolz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder StamatisX Posted September 3, 2011 Founder Share Posted September 3, 2011 Welcome to the forum @ClylorFor me the hardest decision would be the screen, 1600x900 vs 1366x768 and then it would be the GPU. The rest like CPU,RAM,HDD,OS, etc... are easy to upgrade and you can do it later down the road and probably a lot cheaper.Just give us a few more details, like what kind of games you plan to play and at what resolution you are comfortable with, so the M14x experters of our forum will help decide what to buy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clylor Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share Posted September 3, 2011 Uhh, Arma, Oblivion, Fallout 3/NV, Shogun 2, and Left For Dead. Nothing to graphiclly demanding besides Shogun 2. As for the resolution I have no idea, my current laptop barely runs anything. But like I said I'm willing to put extra money into this thing to make it run as smoothly as possible as long as it's no more than 300-400 dollar upgrades. But your gunna have to dumb down some of your tech talk for me. lol I'm pretty new to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bifnewman Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Well, start off by giving us a budget. I think I would be able to pick out a balanced config if we can get a price range.A good config for the M14x is to upgrade the CPU to the 2630QM, the ram to 6gb 1600mhz, and the screen to 1600x900 from the base configuration for $1374.00. IMO, regardless of who you are and what you do, you NEED the 1600x900 screen for doing everyday tasks. Seriously, fitting multiple windows on the screen will be a pain in the ass with 1366x768, so do yourself a favor get the 900p screen at ALL costs.Here's another helpful tip, don't get the 3GB 555M graphics card unless you just have the money to blow because it really won't help performance that much. It is pretty much a marketing scam, and I know people will try to argue that but more VRAM doesn't equal better performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clylor Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share Posted September 3, 2011 My budget is a bit tight but I'd say I have about a 1,400$s to spend on this thing, hopefully. But if I can spend less that would be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unreal25 Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 $1400 isn't nearly tight by my standards. From the very base configuration, I'd upgrade the screen and maybe CPU if you can afford it after you calculate how much you want to spend after. Otherwise I think not a single upgrade from them is worth a dime except well.. warranty. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clylor Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 (edited) Well that's like the max I'm willing to spend on this thing. lolz. I'd love to spend no more than maybe 900 dollars but this IS alienware after all so I expect to spend alot. But I still haven't been answered yet. Is the computer decent with the default configuration? I'm not gunna be playing any Crisis 2 or any outragous game like them I just need a configuration that can run games at medium grahpic settings.Also this computer is for college. It's going to be a graduation gift to be exact. I'm going into computer programming and such so I thought a rig like this would be perfect since I'd be doing classes online majority of the time. Sad part of this is I'm asking famliy to get it for me while I pay for the upgrades they pay for the laptop itself. So how would this thing be if I just got the screen thing and the GPU? And how much would it cost? I know alienware are for people who are good with computers but I'm striveing to be just that through college. lolz Edited September 4, 2011 by Clylor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bifnewman Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 Well that's like the max I'm willing to spend on this thing. lolz. I'd love to spend no more than maybe 900 dollars but this IS alienware after all so I expect to spend alot. But I still haven't been answered yet. Is the computer decent with the default configuration? I'm not gunna be playing any Crisis 2 or any outragous game like them I just need a configuration that can run games at medium grahpic settings.Also this computer is for college. It's going to be a graduation gift to be exact. I'm going into computer programming and such so I thought a rig like this would be perfect since I'd be doing classes online majority of the time. Sad part of this is I'm asking famliy to get it for me while I pay for the upgrades they pay for the laptop itself. So how would this thing be if I just got the screen thing and the GPU? And how much would it cost? I know alienware are for people who are good with computers but I'm striveing to be just that through college. lolz Congrats. I'm into computer programming as well . You will need the 1600x900 screen for programming. Also consider getting an external display down the road, the more screen space, the better. In short, I would get the 1600x900 screen upgrade and the 2630QM CPU if you want to keep the costs down. The faster CPU should help in the programming and the stock GPU is good and 4GB *should* be fine as long as you don't run like 3 modern advanced games at once lol (few games will use all that and none should use all that, ahem GTA 4! gta uses 2gb on mine but ive heard it using 4gb before some patches, it really is a shame that some games are so un-optimized these days). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clylor Posted September 17, 2011 Author Share Posted September 17, 2011 Thanks for the advice but can someone tell me the price to upgrade the screen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svl7 Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Depends on where you're located, check your local Alienware homepage, or the page of the country where you're going to place the order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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