Another M14X i5 vs i7 thread. Sorry for this.

I'm sorry if i need to post another thread like this but i really need some advice/opinions/suggestions here. Any help would be much appreciated.

Okay, so i'm seriously confused on what to buy. I'm planning to buy an M14X with the specs i5-2410M(2.3GHz), 8GB Ram(1333MHz), 500GB HDD, 1.5GB Video Card, 900p(I'm still thinking about this though; if it would be worth the upgrade), Killer wireless card(also, still having a second thought with this card since i've read in some of the forums here that the 6250 is "okay". Please correct me if i'm wrong) V.S. everything the same except for the processor which would be i7-2630QM(2.0GHz) and the 8GB Ram(1600MHz).

I need something that would last about 5-6 years. Meaning, my laptop wouldn't have a hard time playing the games that would be coming out in the future. I really don't care if it's high/ultra/extreme, what's important is that it will be PLAYABLE thus, no lag and stutter-free. I'm sorry for posting another similar thread, just wanted to know the opinions of others and i'm still a newbie when it comes to things like these. Thank you in advance for any help that you guys will contribute.

Just additional information, i live in the Philippines and i'm still waiting for the Thanksgiving sale. My plan would be i would order online and send it in my aunt's address(who lives in Kentucky) then I would just get it from there. I hope i could order through the phone because they said, not sure if this is true though, that you can have a discount by talking to the sales rep. Unfortunately, i don't live in the states so probably i'll just order it online BUT i told my aunt to keep some coupons about DELL if ever she'll see one. Also hoping for the thanksgiving sale.

 

I would suggest with the higher spec'd CPU... always go for higher spec CPU's if you want it to last years as in the long run it'll be worth the higher upfront cost... some will say the cpu is never or rarely the botteneck but it can be, it all depends on the game... I think the new CPU's are being released so you should be getting those instead of the ones that are previously or currently still available. Don't believe the prices will change much if at all. If you don't care to play on high but still want medium, you may have issues down the line, say 2 years from now or even 1 year from now... the 900p res while good for browsing and other non-gaming stuff would really hamper your fps on games... you will def be able to play games between low and medium settings and tweaking various advanced settings within the games... The killer wireless card is worth it, it doesn't cost that much to upgrade, mine came with the nasty Intel 1000 card which was crap, I ended up paying $45 on ebay to get the Killer card.

Hope that helps.

 

If It were me I'd be more than happy with that specification bar one or two details...

Personally I'd stick to the 1366x768 screen resolution if your primary use for this machine is gaming, the resolution is also perfectly adequate for doing homework or light office work and web browsing.
Secondly, I'd also opt for 4GB of RAM instead of 8GB as, for just gaming, it really won't be of much if any use, at all and can always be a cheap upgrade down the road if you really need it. For now though, I'd go 4GB.

Otherwise it looks ok to me, if it fits in your budget. I'd keep the killer card, mind. But that's just me. I've heard some pretty good things about it.
As for this machine lasting 5-6 years purely for gaming, It's not happening. Gaming laptops are pretty redundant in that department. Unless you'd be happy still playing today's contemporary games in 2016?
(which is fair enough because that's the situation I find myself in!)

 

IMHO ..i would go with the higher resolution 900p screen ....i think thats a necessary upgrade if this happens to be your primary machine. Yeahhh you can skip the ram and install it later.......the killer card am not sure of...cause i have the intel 6250 card and it works great ...so thats not an issue....but go for the i7 ..if your budget permits.

 

The 6205 card is perfect, but requires wimax now, which is a monthly fee I believe

 

I have the i5 with the 900p screen and love it. I got a special when I bought mine so I got the 900p screen and 6GB RAM instead of 4 or 8. I was planning on buying 4GB RAM until the special and got a free upgrade to it. You're better off buying your own RAM to get the best value and performance.

My i5 has been great for all games and my every day programming/web browsing. Had I planned to use my M14x for video editing or file creation and rendering, I would have opted for the i7. With the i5 I feel I got better better life and a lot less heat. My fan is almost never on and I see people complaining on here all the time.

An i5 with a 900p screen an SSD would be an amazing machine. Not too sure about 5-7 years down the road though.

 

I also thought of that when asking my friends on buying this. They told me that it would be better to buy the high end laptop since it's a bit difficult to upgrade the parts. Yes, i think i would be considering the Killer card since it benefits me because I use WiFi 90% of the time. Thank you. It helps a lot.

 

Def go for the i7 cant really go wrong with 4 extra cores, if your muilti tasking or playing an intensive game. Also get the 900p screen, can always lower the res if need be but if you start with the lower res you cant push to higher. Still wish they made a 1080p screen for the m14x...

 

2 extra cores*

 

The main issue I have is with the GT555m. If you are worried about games, then it wouldn't make a difference between the i5 and i7 since the GT555m is the bottleneck.

 

Maybe just merge this thead with this one?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/599498-why-not-i5-m14x.html

maybe make it a sticky?

 

Well, my primary use for this is gaming and school work but most probably i would be using it for school work. I'm really thinking about this upgrade since when i read the other threads in this forum, they said that it's(if the not the most)one of the most important upgrade anyone should consider. Is this true? Yes, i agree with you about the ram upgrade thing but the problem is i think i would be having a hard time upgrading it myself since i'm not really that familiar when it comes to laptop upgrades so most likely i would just get the 8gb. Alright then, i would keep the killer card since almost everyone said it's really worth it. I'm sorry but i don't get why it wouldn't last for at least 5-6 years for gaming since most of today's games have a minimun requirement of Core 2 duo processors. I'm sorry for the late reply though, just got home.

 

Hmm, yeah. Also thought of that as well since this is going to be my laptop until I graduate. Still, i'm considering the opinions of others though. But probably i'll get it the upgrade as well. Really? You don't experience some lag? I mean, they said that the killer card reduces lag and i'm not sure about the other benefits though. I'm hoping that the prices would go down these upcoming thanksgiving.

 

I was having a second thought about getting the upgrade for the 900p screen since it's i5 and thought it wouldn't compliment each other(haha sorry for my stupidity) and here you already answered it. so, if you had a chance to buy an i7, then would you grab that chance? or still stick with what you have now? I'm also considering those factors, the "more" battery life and the temperature that most of the people are complaining at. I really don't care about the fan though, even if it's that loud because i'm pretty sure the sound in my laptop would be louder.

I kinda don't like the SSD because it's kinda small for me. yeah, i just wanted something that would last at least that range of years because i want that if i would buy a laptop, i will use my own money, thus i should have a job by that time. In your opinion, how many years do you think your laptop will last in terms of gaming and other things to consider?

 

Is it really that worth it? Because i read in some threads that when it comes to gaming, it's not the processor that you should be considering the most, but the GPU. Yes, i agree with you about the multi-tasking thing. How many years do you think that there would be game that it could be played in an i7, but not in an i5?

 

Yeap, you're right about the GT555m. But it's not only gaming that i'm considering but also the multi-tasking, video editing, etc., and some things that involves school work. I'm a bit worried that my laptop will be slow in the future because my siblings' laptops are all Mac Book and their laptop is slower since the day they bought it(you would really notice how slow their laptops are NOW compared before). Just wondering if it would make a HUGE difference when getting the i7 rather than the i5(like it would be a lot faster and the laptop would last for additional 1-2 years when getting the i7).

 

I'm sorry i'm pretty newbie here. What's wimax? I would be using WiFi 100% of the time i would be using my laptop. So will the killer card make a difference against the 6205? But as everyone said, the killer card would be worth the upgrade so most probably i would get it. Thank you for your opinion though.

 

I'm sorry if i made another similar thread, just looking for some more answers though.

 

No problem, just hope that we can give you some good advice. Never worry about asking questions, it's when we stop asking questions that we have to worry.

Just thought that a combination of both these threads would make a good easy resource for people.

 

Gaming wise I think the machine will last almost as long as an i7 based m14. If more games become more CPU intensive then I see mine having a shorter lifespan. I hope to have this doing everything I need for the next 3-4 years. I will be putting in a 240-256GB SSD by November which will make a massive difference in performance. For your other question... There are definitely times where I wish I had the i7. I always wonder how much faster it would have felt. But, whenever I need more power I use my custom built gaming rig desktop. That system has a 4.1Ghz quad with a Radeon 6870 crossfire setup, 8GB PC1600, and Vertex3 SSD. My laptop is more than enough for homework and code compiling in Visual Studio.

If you only have one machine and the Alienware M14x is the laptop, then I would get the i7. It offers additional benefits for things like video editing and more CPU demanding tasks. If this is a supplementary machine like it was for me, get the i5 and put that money towards the 900p screen. I can't imagine having a low res screen. The 900p is absolutely perfect.

 

Oh, thank you for that. I was reading that thread over and over again and still had a few more answers that i was looking for.

Yeap, i agree with you. Thanks again!

 

Oh. I really don't know what the SSD does. I mean, what's difference in HDD? It's less space for me(the only difference i see). Sorry, don't know much about it. Yeah, you could use your desktop and upgrade it anytime if there's a problem in gaming but my laptop will be my only machine. Yeah, i'm considering the 900p now. But still thinking about the processor though. Thank you for replying!

 

Think of a SSd as a very fast, expensive hard drive that uses data stored on chips instead of a spinning platter. It's a newer technology that's why the capacity is so small and the price is so high.

I would like to have one but I belive that I'll just wait for the price to come down to earth.

Comparing my M11xr1 screen to my M14x screen I am glad that I went with the 900p screen, it's so much brighter and having more on the screen is good when you have a lot of sub menus opening.

 

Hmm, okay. Yes it's faster. But isn't it your MAIN computer is fast enough? i mean the processor, ram, and those stuff? Just don't know what's the point of having a smaller capacity and faster hard drive. Thank you so much for having such patience explaining to me every detail that i need to know.

 

It's to do with data transfer rate more than processing speed. So anything that involves transfers of data, like loading up a game, loading between levels in game, opening files, booting up etc will be MUCH faster.

Because an SSD has no moving parts (it's basically like a giant USB flash drive but without the USB) it will never need to be defragged, since there is no "head positioning" of any type. It's less vulnerable to shock and vibration too.