Thinking about an Alienware

[Satan_Unleashed]

Its $325 to ship to India like Europe.... you could ask about customs? Or get somebody to buy it? How do they know if its not used....

 

I dnt know how they know or not.

$ 325 means Rs. 15,000 and thats a huge difference in India....

[LuckyDeath]

1) Suppose i get it from US , WIll i get the International warrenty ?

2) Is the 14Inch laptops from xoticpc.com have as much power as the m14x , cause i tried to customise it but the Graphic option is bad , i mean aint Customisable.

3) And if u say that the battry life is gonna suck , then i'm confused.. :S

 

1) The warranty will be good internationally, most likely. However, you will have to pay shipping to send it back to them for any RMA services.

 

2) The Alienware M14x comes with the nVidia GT555m. The only 'customization' is the amount of video memory it has (1.5gb vs 3gb) and neither will impact gaming performance enough to justify the $100 USD upgrade cost. No other company really tries to compete at 14 inch gaming machines- because they won't get good battery life anyways so making them smaller and lighter usually doesn't make people want them (because they still die after 2 hours of using them).

 

At 15 inches, however, the Sager NP5165 has the exact same GPU for a $200 USD lower starting cost. http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5165-clevo-w150hr-p-3063.html?wconfigure=yes It will get comparable battery life to an M14x that is configured the same way (both use nVidia's 'Optimus' technology to conserve power). It also comes with nice screen options, including full 1080p resolution (the M14x can't go higher than 900p) and options for LED matte screens if you don't like glossy. http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5165-clevo-w150hr-p-3063.html?wconfigure=yes

 

3) The battery life will 'suck' for any gaming laptop. It's not hard to understand- games need video cards, video cards do alot of processing, and processing takes power. Laptop graphics cards are not designed to conserve your battery, they are designed to make games look nice. You will get ~5 hours if you let the machine idle (that is, doing no internet or gaming or anything). You will get between 2-3 hours doing something like video playback. This is Anandtech's review of the m14x (and I think they are very reliable). http://www.anandtech.com/show/4496/alienware-m14x-too-much-by-half/5

 

Here is a chart to give you some idea of the performance of different graphics cards if you look at other options http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

[IVIYTH0S]

1) The warranty will be good internationally, most likely. However, you will have to pay shipping to send it back to them for any RMA services.

 

2) The Alienware M14x comes with the nVidia GT555m. The only 'customization' is the amount of video memory it has (1.5gb vs 3gb) and neither will impact gaming performance enough to justify the $100 USD upgrade cost. No other company really tries to compete at 14 inch gaming machines- because they won't get good battery life anyways so making them smaller and lighter usually doesn't make people want them (because they still die after 2 hours of using them).

 

At 15 inches, however, the Sager NP5165 has the exact same GPU for a $200 USD lower starting cost. http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5165-clevo-w150hr-p-3063.html?wconfigure=yes It will get comparable battery life to an M14x that is configured the same way (both use nVidia's 'Optimus' technology to conserve power). It also comes with nice screen options, including full 1080p resolution (the M14x can't go higher than 900p) and options for LED matte screens if you don't like glossy. http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5165-clevo-w150hr-p-3063.html?wconfigure=yes

 

3) The battery life will 'suck' for any gaming laptop. It's not hard to understand- games need video cards, video cards do alot of processing, and processing takes power. Laptop graphics cards are not designed to conserve your battery, they are designed to make games look nice. You will get ~5 hours if you let the machine idle (that is, doing no internet or gaming or anything). You will get between 2-3 hours doing something like video playback. This is Anandtech's review of the m14x (and I think they are very reliable). http://www.anandtech.com/show/4496/alienware-m14x-too-much-by-half/5

 

Here is a chart to give you some idea of the performance of different graphics cards if you look at other options http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

I highly doubt he'd get more than 2 hours idle... let alone playing video. My computer can barely do 2 hours with light usage and it only has a P9500 2.53ghz and a 9600M GT

Edited August 21, 2011 by IVIYTH0S

[LuckyDeath]

Thats what Anandtech got in their review of the M14x.

[Satan_Unleashed]

1) The warranty will be good internationally, most likely. However, you will have to pay shipping to send it back to them for any RMA services.

 

2) The Alienware M14x comes with the nVidia GT555m. The only 'customization' is the amount of video memory it has (1.5gb vs 3gb) and neither will impact gaming performance enough to justify the $100 USD upgrade cost. No other company really tries to compete at 14 inch gaming machines- because they won't get good battery life anyways so making them smaller and lighter usually doesn't make people want them (because they still die after 2 hours of using them).

 

At 15 inches, however, the Sager NP5165 has the exact same GPU for a $200 USD lower starting cost. http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5165-clevo-w150hr-p-3063.html?wconfigure=yes It will get comparable battery life to an M14x that is configured the same way (both use nVidia's 'Optimus' technology to conserve power). It also comes with nice screen options, including full 1080p resolution (the M14x can't go higher than 900p) and options for LED matte screens if you don't like glossy. http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5165-clevo-w150hr-p-3063.html?wconfigure=yes

 

3) The battery life will 'suck' for any gaming laptop. It's not hard to understand- games need video cards, video cards do alot of processing, and processing takes power. Laptop graphics cards are not designed to conserve your battery, they are designed to make games look nice. You will get ~5 hours if you let the machine idle (that is, doing no internet or gaming or anything). You will get between 2-3 hours doing something like video playback. This is Anandtech's review of the m14x (and I think they are very reliable). http://www.anandtech.com/show/4496/alienware-m14x-too-much-by-half/5

 

Here is a chart to give you some idea of the performance of different graphics cards if you look at other options http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

Hmm.. I c .

1) U mean i would have to ship it back to US if it faces any issues (Sager and Alienware Both ) :s , This is such a Drag

2) benchmark is for i7 2630QM and 1,5BG card, would it have made a difference if it was 2820QM and 3GB card on the BATTERY and the benchmark Scores ??

[LuckyDeath]

Unless Dell has some kind of India warehouse. You should ask their customer support since that could be a big deal for you.

 

The higher clocked CPU might give you a little less battery life (that is, the 2820QM). I wouldn't expect it to be a huge difference, since the bump isn't huge... The 3GB card shouldn't affect battery at all.

 

As for benchmark scores, the higher CPU would yield slightly higher FPS in some cases- but only maybe 3-5 FPS max. The 3GB card most likely won't change your FPS at all- though some benchmark scores might be higher (real world performance gain is almost non-existent).

[Satan_Unleashed]

Unless Dell has some kind of India warehouse. You should ask their customer support since that could be a big deal for you.

 

The higher clocked CPU might give you a little less battery life (that is, the 2820QM). I wouldn't expect it to be a huge difference, since the bump isn't huge... The 3GB card shouldn't affect battery at all.

 

As for benchmark scores, the higher CPU would yield slightly higher FPS in some cases- but only maybe 3-5 FPS max. The 3GB card most likely won't change your FPS at all- though some benchmark scores might be higher (real world performance gain is almost non-existent).

If both of these dont make much a difference then what is the purpose, I mean y is there is such a Major Difference in Price between 2630 and 2820 QM if they really are not that different ????

It should be able to do better than 2630 because of its cache and clock are more ?? This is so Confusing..

[LuckyDeath]

If both of these dont make much a difference then what is the purpose, I mean y is there is such a Major Difference in Price between 2630 and 2820 QM if they really are not that different ????

It should be able to do better than 2630 because of its cache and clock are more ?? This is so Confusing..

 

The price difference is huge because they want to make money! People see something they think is better, and they are willing to spend more.

 

The 3GB video card is absolutely NOT worth the extra money on a laptop. Desktop GPU's rarely benefit from it, but the laptop GPU's are already downclocked/modified and are going to be bottlenecked by that- not the video RAM. Go with the 1.5GB, you won't see a difference.

 

The CPU is technically better with a higher clock and more cache, but really the difference is negligible for many tasks. Particularly things like multitasking and gaming don't see alot of benefit from faster clocked CPU's. There might be a few FPS (technically better) advantage, but its almost never worth the cost to pay for a higher clocked laptop CPU. As long as they are both quad-cores, I would get the cheaper one.

 

The important thing to keep in mind is that most people who buy gaming laptops do not know what they are paying for. That means companies make LOTS of money by adding 'customization' options and 'recommended' upgrades that really aren't worth how much they charge.

[OrangeJuice]

It's been said to death by others but yeah, if at all possible go with Sager, Alienware tends to use lower build quality parts and they're very overpriced...

[MandoPatriot]

I had an Alienware laptop, and I loved it. But I sent it back because I planned on just building another desktop. Alienware is definitely worth it, and every component on it was top quality. Plus, they cool better than the Sagers. And the Sagers are just outright ugly. It'd be like using an old generic computer case for a high-end gaming computer.

 

Not bashing Sagers, just saying that Alienware is better in some segments.

[Satan_Unleashed]

I had an Alienware laptop, and I loved it. But I sent it back because I planned on just building another desktop. Alienware is definitely worth it, and every component on it was top quality. Plus, they cool better than the Sagers. And the Sagers are just outright ugly. It'd be like using an old generic computer case for a high-end gaming computer.

 

Not bashing Sagers, just saying that Alienware is better in some segments.

 

Hmm, Now feels gud to find another Alienware fan, I do like it very much , but at the same time, i respect Quality to , Sager is gud but Alienware beats it from Looks point atleast thats eminent...

Sager gives a bit more stuff in a lesser amount i guess...

[MercuryDoun]

I highly doubt he'd get more than 2 hours idle... let alone playing video. My computer can barely do 2 hours with light usage and it only has a P9500 2.53ghz and a 9600M GT

 

You gotta remember power efficiency has come a LONG way since the Core2/9600GT days... Not only are CPU's/GPU's with the same TDP just using less power, especially at idle/barely being used, but battery tech as come a long way as well! Gotta remember any sandy bridge laptop CPU has a GPU included in its TDP, so its its not being used? Then the power usage plummets. DDR3 over DDR2 uses way less power... Even hard drives, and /drool SSD's.