M14x underperforming? Details inside

Sorry, I imagine you guys get a lot of posts like these. Im just not sure if my m14x is under performing or if it's simply not as powerful as i had hoped. Ive actually had it for almost a year now but in the last few weeks i've been spending ages trying to optimize performance for games like Diablo 3 and Skyrim.

i5-2410M CPU @ 2.30GHz
GT 555M - 301.42 driver update
4 GB RAM
Windows 7
Upgraded to 1600x900 resolution, also has added thermal paste (I think) and improved wifi.

I just ran some games to check their FPS
- Skyrim on low/medium @ 1600x900 - 40-50 FPS, huge increase with driver updates, so happy that it runs smoothly now.
- Diablo 3 on all low @ 1366x768 - 10-40 FPS, max is around 40 FPS when idle, goes to 10 FPS in almost any decent fight. unplayable on higher difficulty
- League of Legends on all low @ 1600x900 - 60+ FPS, i keep it on low for the smoothness in fights. in borderless windowed. normally have several things running in back ground (music, youtube, steam, etc)
- Crysis 2 on lowest settings @ 1366x768 - 15-40 FPS, as soon as firefight starts FPS goes to hell
- Batman: AC on lowest settings @ 1366x768 - 15-40 FPS

Any ideas? Any tests I can run to check it's all working as it should?
Any help would be appreciated either for improvement or just some closure so i know if i should upgrade to the R2 or just settle for a desktop.

 

Have you whitelist every game's .exe file to run with the "High Performance NV Processor" in the NV Control Panel? If not, do it, and also whitelist Steam and your web browser of your choice as some F2P/P4F game nowadays are usually launch from a browser.

However I still not sure of what cause the slow down, as for your i5 CPU is not really a high end one either. You might want to try OC (Overclock) your GPU to get more juice out of it, and if possible lower the resolution to 768p, lower the resolution will help boost the performance a lot.

For game, Skyrim at High/Ultra usually I would get around 55-80 and LoL on High w/ AlienFX on, I would get around 80-100, as for D3 I dont have that game so I'm not sure how my M14x would run however as I can see with most R2 users here are also been having problem with the performance, so I guessing it is just a bad coding or it just not compatible with the Optimus tech. I got this high fps is because of I OC my GPU, the number is in my sig. And I use NVIDIA System Tools to OC it, but I'd suggest you use either the MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision to do it because those two program are simpler to use. I also use a modded/unlocked Voltage BIOS, that's why I can OC pass 800/1600 without making the GPU become unstable and crashing.

 

The games were all using global setting (high performance blah blah), I've put them all on High-peformance NVprocesser now just to be safe.

Also ive changed the resolution down to 1366x768 for my desktop, looks bloody weird now. Ill do that for all my games too and see what changes i can get. Maybe this laptop just not meant for 1600x900, may be the cause of my problems.

My bro said that OC my laptop could void its warranty and can be dangerous if i dont know what im doing. I think he's still scared from when his desktop melted or something when he made it himself a few years back.

 

I've had my m14x r2 for a few weeks now and for some reason a few days ago I noticed it stopped using my nvidia graphics card for everything. I whitelisted d3 and futuremark and when I run 3dmark05 it shows it is still using the intel card. D3 feels choppier but I read that a lot of m14x has issues with d3. I don't know why it doesn't use my nvidia card though...still looking for solutions

 

My M14r2 has no issues with D3 min of 60fps in hell difficulty .... the newest driver has issues with D3 from my understanding which is why I'm not using it

 

I'm also using the driver from the dell website. Still does not explain why my computer cannot switch from intel graphics card to the nvidia one. That's my problem, it used to work fine when I whitelisted th programs, it now even then it keeps using the intel card. Any other suggestions?