Just How "Bad" is the 1366x768 screen on the M14x R2, really?

Considering purchasing the $999 version of the M14x R2 from Newegg. At this point in time, I can't afford a dime more for a better model. Is the screen on this thing really that bad? The screen on my 5 year old Toshiba Satellite is only 720p, too, and I've been satisfied with it. TIA for any input offered.

 

Not to say that it wouldn't be an upgrade, but if you are looking to Play BF3 or UT4 (Guess) you'd want the quad core.

I tried and returned this model back to best buy because i was seeing 50% GPU usage in BF3 because it was bottlenecked by the CPU.

 

The screen is BAD. I traded my old macbook air for an m14x r2, that was specced with the 3610m, 2gb 650m, 16gigs ram, and the 768p screen. It was a horrible screen. That being said, I purchased a higher res screen from screencountry, got a 1600x900 screen, followed a video on youtube, and installed it myself. The screen was around $65 + shipping. HUGE improvement, not just the extra resolution but also colour, saturation, etc. So, if you get the m14x and don't like the screen you can upgrade it.

 

To be quite honest I like the 1600x900 is the best option, that's one of the upgrades that is definitely worth the price.

 

In my opinion 720p looks good on 13" or smaller screens but anything bigger than that demands a higher resolution if you want to have a crisp image.

Higher resolutions will also lower a games performance, so there's that(Of course you can make it run smoother by either tweaking your game settings or lowering the game's res to 720p). Also, if you plan to use an external monitor most of the time then you might want to consider spending the money in some other upgrade.

On a side note, the 2Gb version of the video card will help render larger resolutions without loosing performance.

 

You can get a brand new M14x R2 with HD+900p screen for around $900-999 after taxes if you try and haggle. Never buy from Newegg because you can't return it for a full refund if something is wrong with it, Dell/AW offers full refund within 21 days and even pay for return UPS shipping.

 

try refurbished

 

I really appreciate all the advice you guys have given me so far. Many thanks! It has given me much pause for thought. I should probably have explained my needs/situation before even asking the question. And I guess doing so now would mean I've posted in the wrong section, LOL. But I'm going to do it anyway. First off, I don't game at all (yes, I'm weird). All I do is surf the web, and watch a lot of DVDs/videos. My 5 year old Tosh had served me well, and continues to do so. I don't really NEED a new laptop for the simple things I do with it. But who knows how much longer this one will last? Also, this is one of the few times in my life when I have the cash to spare for a new one. I have exactly $1000US to spend, and while I don't NEED to spend it all on a laptop, I WANT to. And I had decided that I wanted a more capable laptop, and possibly something more "showy" as well. Hence the thoughts of getting the cheapest version of the M14x R2. I have narrowed my choices down to two different laptops. The M14x, or this one: Amazon.com: Sony VAIO E Series SVE17137CXB 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black): Electronics I guess the smart choice value-wise would be the Sony in the link. But I've always loved the look of Alienware laptops. I also like the fact that I can upgrade the screen of the M14x later, as well as updating the optical drive to a blu-ray unit in the future. Decisions, decisions. *sigh*

Thanks again to all for your input. :thumbsup:

 

i'm not sure what you mean exactly by 'showy' other than alienware, but I don't think alienware would be the best choice for your usage. you are buying too much processor power and graphics performance, and those things also mean electricity within the laptop. i think you'd be better served going with something like the samsung series 7 or 9, in which you would be getting a better screen for your money. for your use, the screen is the thing you'd notice most over the course of it's life.

Samsung Series 7 NP700Z5A-S09US 15.6" NP700Z5A-S09US B&H

there's an example. i think you should try to find a showy laptop you like which has a 1080 IPS Display. For 1000 dollars and not caring about gaming capacity you could easily find it. You just have to find one you like the look of!

That's just my opinion of course. if your heart is set one of those two, i say go for the sony because it has a better screen.

 

Yeah I only have alienware because I game a lot at friends houses and school so this kinda replaced my desktop lol, I say you would be happy with an asus zenbook, they can play games and pretty much everything you will ever need, they are about the size of a macbook air, but it has an nvidia gpu last time i checked that was capable of modern games (on low settings, but you can do it need be) It should be more than capable of what you need it for like movies and internet streaming. If you are only looking at these two I say get the vaio, the alienware may looks sexy, but the vaio does everything you need with a better screen.

 

Both the samsung and the sony have better specs for the price but that's not entirely what you're paying for with AW. What you get for the extra cash is awesome features, better build quality and a very, very good warranty + customer service.

As for the resolution, I went from 1366 on my m11x to 900p on the 14 and it made a lot of games look a LOT better.

 

I have the model that was 999 a while ago. I like it a lot.

 

i can speak from several levels of exp. the 1600x900 is the way to go. weather you get the 1366x768 at first and upgrade later... or whatever you do the 768 rez panel kind of sucks. a lot...

i originally ordered the 768 rez panel & 2Gb 650 on purpose with my M14x because i am a FPS freak and with the lower rez the system would take less of a hit on Frames per second. that matters to me more than higher rez screens and high GFX settings. well.... the 768 rez looks completely stretched out. bordering on what it would look like if you had a 1080p Tv and were watching a DVD without upscaling. its almost blurry. to be honest i dont think the screen should even be offered, its just that bad. now mind you i was coming from a M11x that ran 1366x768 so i was no stranger to the resolution. its just the quality of the panel on the M14x, its crap.

will it get you by? sure! there is nothing wrong with it. but in every way it sucks over the 1600x900. a few things i noticed aside from the lack of crisp image was the range of brightness. the 1600x900 has a dimmer "low" setting and a brighter "high" setting. the color spectrum is also much wider on the 1600x900 and the colors are just much more saturated vs the 768 rez panel.

going into the other aspects id say the M14x is a good "all around" PC. it is a melting pot of abilities with little compromise. to put it bluntly i came from a custom Watercooled desktop and M11x. i sold them both and replaced them with the M14x. sure its not as fast as my desktop was BUT it is PLENTY Fast, it not as portable as my M11x was, but it gets almost the same battery life and it has a MSata slot + DVDrom so i can run my drive set up the same as i had my desktop.

it really is the best you can get for a all inclusive Portable PC. at the time i got mine i couldn't find anything that meet all my needs. there may be others now that are 100% compairable but i haven't been shopping around so i wouldn't know.

hope this helps your decision.

 

Thanks again to all for their input! I really do appreciate it. I think I will mull this over for awhile longer before making a decision. FWIW, I am also considering a used Asus G75VW-BBK5. I like the fact that it has both a large full HD display, and 2 HDD bays.
It also comes with Windows 7, which I prefer over Windows 8.

 

I hate to throw another thing into the mix but there's also the asus g46 if you're looking for something a little more portable. Hard to find a big resolution screen on that though. That's why I went with the m14x.

 

FWIW, I found a little extra cash, and will be ordering THIS in another week (thanks again, folks):

Module Description
Alienware M14X R2 Alienware M14X R2
Operating System Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
Processor 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
Memory 6GB (1 X 2GB, 1 X 4GB) DDR3 at 1600MHz
Keyboard English Keyboard
Display Panels 14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight
Video Card 2 GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M with Optimus™
Hard Drive 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Nameplate Personalized Plate (SHADO)
AlienFX Quasar Blue
Hinge Up Stealth Black with Soft Touch Finish
Adobe Reader Acrobat SW Adobe Acrobat X Reader
Optical Driver Slot Load Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
Sound Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software
Wireless Networking Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 With Bluetooth 4.0
Adapter Alienware M14X 150W A/C Adapter
Documentation Alienware Documentation
Office Productivity Software Microsoft® Office trial
Shipping Material Shipping Material
Security Software NO VIRUS PROTECTION REQUESTED
Additional Software Additional Software
Primary Battery 63WHr 8-Cell Primary Battery
Hardware Support Services 1 Year Alienware Basic Support
Alien Wallpaper Alienhead Chrome Blue
WirelessHD & Mobile Broadband None
Standard Nameplate Trigger Thank you for Purchasing Alienware
AW:SHADO
TOTAL: $1,294.00

 

mine is with 1366X768 LCD and i'm pretty happy with it.

- i come from Thinkpads. with that in mind, my LCD is looking just fine. for 14-inch size, 1366X768 is just right.
- i consider having 1366X768 as native resolution as a plus, not an negative because running games at its native resolution always gives the most crisp images. while 650M is a decent graphic solution,
it will run out of steam when the next generation games come out next year. having 1366*768 can only help
- and i have 3610qm quadcore so the game runs just fine.

just my 0.02

 

well there is something you are forgetting sjefferson... You can simply not run native on a 900p and run games at 768p, that's what I do for crysis 3. So essentially until games are too demanding to run at 900p, I will lower the resolution in the games. not really a win in any way shape or form, but if you are happy with 768p that's great

 

When purchasing your same reasoning I did ... and I bought 1366. I rather lose a little 'quality to make sure you play at full resolution with all settings high, for years and years to come ... of course (used to a xps 1730, with a panel of quality truly superior to 1920x1080) at the beginning I found it hard to get used to ...and I had even thought to withdraw to order 1600 ... but now I'm glad I made this choice. Which goes badly I can always upgrade my screen in the future

 

Well, instead of ordering the M14x the last week of April like I had planned, I ended up getting an ASUS (blasphemy!) G75. The more I thought about it, I really wanted more display real estate, and a second HDD bay. The M17x and M18x were out of my price range, hence I had considered the M14x.

Even though I ended up going to another brand, I can't tell you folks just how much I appreciate all the input you have given me. I'm still thinking M17x or M18x as my next laptop purchase in a couple years when I can hopefully better afford it.