Guard Dog Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 (edited) I looking at buying one of these two laptops. If you could have either, which would you prefer? 1) Alienware M14x 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (6MBCache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0) edit Operating System Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit edit Memory 8GB (2 X 4GB) Dual Channel DDR3 at1600MHz edit Hard Drive 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s edit Video Card 2 GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M withOptimus™ edit Display Panels 14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLEDbacklight edit Wireless Networking Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 WithBluetooth 4.0 edit Optical Driver Slot Load Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (ReadsBD and Writes to DVD/CD) 2)Lenovo Y400 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor( 2.40GHz 1600MHz 6MB) • Windows 8 64 • NVIDIA GeForce GT650M 2GB • 8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600MHz • 14.0" HD Glare with integrated camera1366x768 • Industry Standard Multi-touch 2 buttontouchpad • 1TB 5400 RPM • Blu-ray/DVD-RW • 6 Cell Li-Polymer • Intel Centrino Wireless N-2230 • Bluetooth Version 4.0 • One year • Notebook • Integrated HD Camera • HDMI (Out) Edited March 6, 2013 by Guard Dog "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pidesco Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Basically the differences seem to be the OS, the hard drive and the screen's resolution. For the same price I'd go with the Alienware. I'd consider swapping the hdd for an ssd, though. "My hovercraft is full of eels!" - Hungarian touristI am Dan Quayle of the Romans.I want to tattoo a map of the Netherlands on my nether lands.Heja Sverige!!Everyone should cuffawkle more.The wrench is your friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guard Dog Posted March 6, 2013 Author Share Posted March 6, 2013 They are in the same ball park price wise. I'm not a big fan of Win 8 and really don't want to deal with it any sooner that I must but I was put off the Alienware's smaller HD, even though it is half again as fast. I'm leaning towardsthe Alienware even though it is a bit more. "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hurlshort Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 I'm not up to date on hardware details right now (I usually just educate myself when I need a new rig) but I will say that my current Alienware desktop is the best computer I have ever owned. I can't speak highly enough about the quality of that brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humanoid Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Personally I wouldn't accept a spindle drive as a primary drive for any notebook today, let alone a relatively high-end one. Fortunately mSATA support is fairly common now, and ought to be a relatively easy addition - however if you choose to add it yourself instead of as a factory option, you will of course need to move the OS manually to it. I also lean towards the Alienware despite my dislike of its tacky chassis, mainly due to the better screen, although even then it's barely satisfactory. Modern laptop screens, with a few exceptions, tend to be woeful TN panels (the first resort of any cost-cutting vendor). L I E S T R O N GL I V E W R O N G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guard Dog Posted March 6, 2013 Author Share Posted March 6, 2013 I've never used an SSD (in a computer at least). Is there really that big a bump in performance over a traditional drive? "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorth Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 They are in the same ball park price wise. I'm not a big fan of Win 8 and really don't want to deal with it any sooner that I must but I was put off the Alienware's smaller HD, even though it is half again as fast. I'm leaning towardsthe Alienware even though it is a bit more. You are *so* going to notice the difference in the "perceived" laptop speed when running SSD vs HDD. For that alone, I would pick the one offering SSD. Also, I wouldn't touch Windows 8 with a fire poker (even when wearing asbestos gloves). If looking for new OS, consider waiting for Project Blue (the successor to Windows 8.). “He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceVC Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I've never used an SSD (in a computer at least). Is there really that big a bump in performance over a traditional drive? There would be, 15-25% you should see on general windows functions and it would become particularly noticeable with any disk extensive application. Like a database and its transaction logs "Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss” John Milton "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” - George Bernard Shaw "What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead" - Nelson Mandela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte Carlo Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 FWIW GD... I'm 2.5 years into my Alienware MX15 and it's still going strong, never had a problem with it. The only issues are weight and battery life, neither of which unduly trouble me given it's sturdy build, near-silence when running and all-round awesomeness. I'm running Diablo 3 with everything ramped up to maximum and MP Company of Heroes at the moment, with no problems. Cheers MC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humanoid Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I'd have to say it's not a fantastic time to be looking to buy, because Intel's new Haswell CPUs are just a few months away. On the other hand, the main advantage it will offer will be in the area of integrated graphics, so if discrete graphics are an absolute must then there's less disadvantage in buying now. On SSDs, I feel they're even more beneficial to notebook PCs as compared to desktops due to the likely extensive usage of standby/sleep - being able to start doing stuff the moment I lift the lid is an immeasurable convenience. For what it's worth, my laptop is a doddery Core 2 Duo from early 2009ish with a failing video card, but the third-party self-installed SSD in it has given it a new lease on life: for desktop applications there's essentially no difference in responsiveness between it and a shiny new top-of-the-range PC. Obviously my machine pre-dates the introduction of mSATA, but honestly, even if that were an option for me, I'd probably have removed the spindle drive anyway: the noise and vibration aren't worth the extra storage space for me when 2TB external USB-powered drives are available for barely more than $100. I personally don't think the new trend of spindle drives supplemented by small 24-64GB SSD 'caches' are really all that either. The user has no control over how it's used so it's really best treated as a slightly faster spindle drive at best and nothing more. On displays: It's very unfortunate, but apparently no one in the world manufactures 14" IPS panels. This sucks because it's my preferred size as well. At 15.6" and 13.3" you have options, but at 14" it's mostly a matter of finding the least-bad TN panel. L I E S T R O N GL I V E W R O N G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkreku Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 I would actually not buy either of those. I would try to find a laptop with a slightly stronger GPU. Unfortunately they also usually have a slightly 'stronger' pricetag. The Alienware is around $1150. For that price I would go with the MSI GX60: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152372 But it's a 100% AMD product, and I know some people are brand sensitive. Swedes, go to: Spel2, for the latest game reviews in swedish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guard Dog Posted March 8, 2013 Author Share Posted March 8, 2013 I was looking at a MSI on newegg.com. Do you know anything about them? Some of the reviews indicated they had heat dissipation problems. "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkreku Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 No, sorry, I don't. I only ever owned an MSI motherboard and it was OK. Nothing fancy and no problems. Swedes, go to: Spel2, for the latest game reviews in swedish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humanoid Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 They're primarily a component manufacturer, one of the bigger ones - I owned an MSI motherboard way back in the Pentium 3 days I think, and currently own an MSI video card. In this sense they're kind of like Gigabyte, and up until recently, Asus, until the latter kind of stepped up their investment in consumer electronics - between them I guess you could say they're the big three of Taiwanese computing firms. Can't say I know anything about their notebook range. L I E S T R O N GL I V E W R O N G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guard Dog Posted March 10, 2013 Author Share Posted March 10, 2013 RIP Guard Dogs Computer . I built her in 2008. Now two HDDs, three video cards, two OS's and more hours of Fallout, NWN, Oblivion, Morrowind, DA & Total War than I could ever count, she has left me. She won't boot up, wont read the HD (it's good, it posts up in another old PC I have). Soooo laptop time. Thanks for the informed opinions everyone, time to pick one. "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janmanden Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Erm.. Are you replacing a PC with a laptop? (Signatures: disabled) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bokishi Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Your pc needs a new mobo Current 3DMark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guard Dog Posted March 11, 2013 Author Share Posted March 11, 2013 Yeah but I'm not putting anything more into it. I need a laptop because I spend so much time on the road for work these days. I opted to go with the Alienware. I've never heard a single negative thing about them. It was the most expensive one I looked at but only by a little. I don't play many games these days but I wanted one that would run Skyrim on at least high setting with a decent FPS and from eveything I've gathered that one will. I did take the upgrade for the SSD though. Plus it was the only one I could find that still had Windows 7. That was a point in it's favor in my book. "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte Carlo Posted May 8, 2013 Share Posted May 8, 2013 GD, How are you finding your new laptop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadySands Posted May 8, 2013 Share Posted May 8, 2013 I'm currently in the market for a new laptop as well but I was thinking something more along the lines of an ultrabook type if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks Free games updated 3/4/21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkreku Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 A little bit more information would be needed. What's your budget? How big screen do you want, 13.3 or 15.6"? Do you want to play games on it? Are aesthetics important? Personally, since we are gamers after all, I would look for an ultrabook with a Geforce GT 740M (or above) graphics card, an i5 or i7 CPU and a 13.3" screen (kind of defeats the purpose of being an ultrabook if bigger) with at least 1600x900 resolution. I would also recommend an SSD and at least 8GB RAM. I know Acer, ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI all build ultrabooks like this, but since the GT 700M series of cards arrived in April this year, you might not yet find very many on the market. Swedes, go to: Spel2, for the latest game reviews in swedish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadySands Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 Sorry, I'm trying to find something around $2,000 USD or less but willing to a bit higher if needed but will probably not go more than $2,500. I'd really like a 13.3" because I really want something super portable but I would be okay with larger as long as it is still thin and light. I'll be using it mostly for travel so I would like to be able to play Kickstarter type games but nothing really graphic intensive. I don't really care what it looks like but sexy is always better than not. Thanks again Free games updated 3/4/21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humanoid Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 (edited) At that kind of budget, pretty much everything is within reach, really. Ultrabooks are something that will really benefit from Haswell's improvements in efficiency and graphics power though, so if there's no hurry then I'd advise waiting. There's a bit of a muchness about most vendor's offerings these days since the qualifications of what makes an ultrabook is dictated by Intel, and other limitations are inherent in the form factor. So you know they're going to come with a crappy shallow keyboard and clickpad, limited inputs, etc. The main differentiator will probably be the screen quality. Don't know much about specific models, but I know Asus are trying to push this market with some nice IPS panels on their Zenbook Prime series, and Samsung are doing similar with their series 9 ultrabooks. You could also have a look at the Lenovo X1 carbon, which while having an inferior screen - a pretty good one for a TN panel but I'd expect more for the price point it's at - it at least has the best keyboard you'll find in this class, and there's some style cachet in having it's unique carbon-fibre construction. EDIT: While not an ultrabook, I'd probably also look at Lenovo's X230 (and presumably upcoming X240) notebook. It doesn't strive for thinness or sex appeal, but at 12.5" it's as portable as any ultrabook, is full-powered as opposed to the ULV CPUs in ultrabooks, and has a great screen and while they've succumbed to the fashion trend and gone for a chiclet keyboard, it's at least the best damn chiclet keyboard in the market. Edited May 10, 2013 by Humanoid L I E S T R O N GL I V E W R O N G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkreku Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Zenbook! Swedes, go to: Spel2, for the latest game reviews in swedish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadySands Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Thanks! Looks like the Zenbook is at the top of my list unless something better comes out before mid July Free games updated 3/4/21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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