M14x better than M15x ?

hi
i currently own a M15x, only just purchased if from dell, a factory refurb so not latest spec'd but has specs of M15X i7-720QM~ 4GB~ 250GB~ DVDRW~GTX260M 1GB, now im not happy with it, ive found battery life is awfull, just over a hr ! and when i unplug mains the games drop like a stone, minecraft being one, goes from 80fps to 5 maybe 10

so my question is do i exchange for a M14x, for better battery, better graphics, and perhaps the ability to play games on battery ( albeit for a short time! )

specs for the m14x are M14X R1~ i7-2670QM~ 4GB~ 500GB~ 3GB GT555M~ 900P

ive read many posts about people being having issues with the alienwares on battery, they just dont perform, but ive also come across a thread where they where hoping a update to M14X would allow gaming on battery ? is this a reality yet ?

thanks

 

The M14x has a killer batter compared to the M15x/M17x. I can pull 3+ hours without issue, and my laptop is a full year old. It all depends on your usage of the battery. If you drain it EVERY day, it will last longer. If you leave it plugged in 100%, the batter will be dead in under 6 months (which is why no one offers extended warranty on batteries)

The m14x is a GREAT performer, you wont be dissapointed.

 

actually if you drain it to 0 every day you will shorten the battery life faster than leaving it plugged it, and even when left plugged it the bios controls how the battery is charged so not to over charge it but to maintain life, mine has been plugged in for 80 percent of its life in the last year and i still get a little over 3 hours, but in short yes the m14x kills the m15x, and its easy on the eyes, but is very loud and hot just so you know

 

I hear you can put the Radeon 7970m in the m15x, so you can beast out the m14x graphics wise. I was considering purchasing a cheap m15x and purchasing a 7970, but it is kind of expensive to get the video card off of newegg or something, so I just opted for the m14x. I'm pretty sure the current default GPU for the m14x is better than whatever the highest upgrade GPU was for the m15x at the time AW still offered them. You can run most games that are currently out on the m14x on high\ultra. Technically demanding games in the future will probably have to be played on medium.

 

The M15x was an awesome laptop. Next to the M11x the most succesfull and best designed AW series ever.

It has very good cooling abilitys due to 2 seperated strong fans with each 2 heatpipes. Also the components are easy to reach without disassembling the whole chassis. Its also not too big and heavy compared to M17x or even THE BEAST.

You can easiliy put GTX like GPU´s into it of the new generation + extreme CPU´s cause of the good cooling ability compared to the crap cooling ability of the M14x.

The M15x also had a very nice aluminium finish which looked like very quality and robust - not the crap rubber finish of the new series.

Downsides compared to the M14x are :

-more bulky
-way less battery life cause of max 1st gen i-core compatibility and old battery

 

So you can run M14X on battery with full graphics ? all be it for a short ammount of time, theres a work around to let you do it though? where as my current M15X simply refuses to play games at full graphics on battery.. pah...

 

buying a laptop to game on battery dosent really make sense to begin with because of the amount of power it requires to game
maxing out games on battery wont happen because the m14x will throttle the card for battery, but if all you want to play is minecraft then you will do just fine, if you wanna play crysis or skyrim then i hope your okay with 10fps

 

The reason your FPS drops like a rock on battery is because the battery simply cannot supply the necessary power while gaming. Your i7 has a TDP of 45W and your video card has a TDP of 75W, plus screen, etc you end up with 120+W TDP. Check how hot your 150+W power adapter gets when you're gaming, now imagine the same drain on the battery. It simply won't happen without having the battery burst into flames.

I've owned several gaming laptops, from the Alienware M15x, Asus G53SW, Sager NP8130, Acer 3820TG and now the Alienware M14xR2. NONE of these laptops were able to game on battery. I haven't tested the M14xR2 on battery because I've learned it's pointless.

A quick calculation for my M14xR2 is 45W for the i7 3610qm, 45W for the GT650m for a total TDP of 90+w. Gaming on battery with maximum FPS will not happen.

So yeah, don't blame Alienware, blame physics.

 

got the m14x r1, with 3gb graphics card, wow boy does it run well beats the pants off the m15x, both on mains and on battery, really happy bunny now

 

Wait for the next summer ^^.

 

why ? we still have some of this wonderfull british summer left !

 

Cause as we had 35-42 C this summer it was as loud as a jet and you could make tea using it as a heatplate. :laugh:

The M15x was never a problem in summer. So its clear superior to the M14x at least in summer.

 

Wow I never realized the m15x is so heavy, 9.5 pounds give or take, that's a hefty beast.

 

Your obvisouly not in the UK, we never get 35-42 lmao .. so I guess in UK M14X rules, especially with its 3gb graphics card, runs like a rocket yes

 

M14x is 6.5 pounds thats very heavy too for a portable notebook of this size. But yeh the M14x feels better carrying around.

Im defending the M15x here cause im sad now ive sold it.

It was soo much less noisy and waaay cooler temp wise than the M14x. It also looked like a quality product due to its anodized aluminium finish. I hate the crap rubber finish of the M14x.. im just waiting for the first edge to peel of.

The only benefits of the M14x is its little better portability and that you have to upgrade the M15x to make it competive performance wise.

 

edit: forgot to mention the huge difference of display brightness, colour and constrast advantage of the M15x over the M14x

 

but then again am I right in thinking the M15X has been discontinued? thus no more support or upgrades ! M14x current, with support and upgrades

 

Discontinued by Dell as in sales but doubtful that there's no support for it anymore. Some people have 4 years worth of warranty and should still have about 1-2 years left on it. If anything, depending on where you're getting your M15x, Dell will upgrade you to a better machine if they can't fix it or don't stock the parts anymore (example: Newegg's M15x refurbs still come with 1 year warranty).

 

Im going by what I found on dells website, if you look for drivers or bios updates, they simply aren't there, they say they are not releasing any new updates ! that to me sounds like they are letting it go, ie not supporting it...

 

Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

The drivers and BIOS are still there, no more updates means the tech is not being updated, so there is no need for any new releases. Dell is still in support of the M15x and should have the parts in stock.

 

exactly, the tech is not being updated, the units not being supported, its outdated and discontinued

Oh i love the way you all jump on the band wagon,

face the facts the m14x is a newer machine, still current, supported and has all new updates available, ie bios etc.. thus is a better machine..

 

Better? Right... beat this with an M14x, R1 or R2, I don't care.

 

The M15x has the build quality and versitility that outright spanks the M14x anyday. We are just pointing out price vs performance. For the price the M15x will always be the winner. It is also HIGHLY upgradeable.

 

The m15x has no HDMI. right? But it has miniDP?

 

The Dell M15x indeed has HDMI support.

 

Um, wat? Pretty sure it only has DisplayPort and VGA?

 

True, but it comes with a DP to HDMI dongle, so it practically has HDMI.
DP is fully compatible with HDMI, and no stupid licensing costs.

 

Sorry should've been a bit more clear, my mistake. Yes I meant what svl7 said, full support of HDMI but not the port itself lol.

 

Oh nice, it even comes with a dongle? I had to trial & error to find the dongle for mdp --> hdmi for my m14x. AW support would not answer and give me a part number. I eventually found one marketed for Macs. I hope the m15x comes back soon with an r2...