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    What if I use an XPS 13 power brick?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by darbsllim, Mar 21, 2012.

  1. darbsllim

    darbsllim Notebook Guru

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    I have 3 65W power bricks for my XPS 13 ... its annoying to keep taking the big alienware one with me when I go to the coffee shop ... what if i use my XPS 13 power brick, is that ok?

    When I plug it in, I get a warning telling me system performance will suffer, and then the power icon says "plugged in (not charging)"

    But I'm ok with that lol ... if I'm not playing games, and it's just running off the integrated graphics card, would the 65W one be ok?

    Brad
     
    darbsllim, Mar 21, 2012
    #1
  2. CGSDR

    CGSDR Alien Master Race

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    I dont think it will, but if the port is same then yes, but you wont be able to charge battery as the M14x's power brick is a 150W and 65W is too low. And on your last post, you said you just got the laptop, so where is your M14x's power brick?

    Btw, When you're on in-game you, the laptop will not use the GT555M, it will run using the Intel iGPU, it is the work of the Optimus, once you run games (or other program that you whitelist in the NVIDIA Control Panel), then it will run using the GT555M. And when you on battery, the laptop will either use the Intel iGPU or auto-downclock the GT555M to save power.
     
    CGSDR, Mar 21, 2012
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  3. headphones989

    headphones989 Notebook Consultant

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    want to make the m14x's power brick seem smaller? try carrying around an 18" qosmio's power brick around (2x the size of the m14x's) for a year and then switch... you'll feel like you lost 10 pounds lols... but really if you want the power you have to pay the price for carrying the semi-heavy equipment you gotta pay the price... but if you aren't going to use so much power in a laptop, maybe consider getting a lighter, weaker one? i have a m11x and the power brick is minimal in size, but packs a wallop of power and runs beautifully. there are so many other choices around the same size (albeit much weaker, mostly graphically)... but probably cheaper.
     
    headphones989, Mar 24, 2012
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  4. darbsllim

    darbsllim Notebook Guru

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    I definitely love the m14x except for the heat, giant power brick and semi glitchy performance in games ... not sure I'd like to go lower with the m11x.

    This one barely plays battlefield 3 as is!
     
    darbsllim, Apr 4, 2012
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  5. Gearsguy

    Gearsguy Notebook Deity

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    Do you have the game whitelisted? You should be able to play BF3 on Ultra just fine (tweaking the settings a little, AA and HBAO off mainly)
     
    Gearsguy, Apr 4, 2012
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  6. darbsllim

    darbsllim Notebook Guru

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    Wow it shudders to like 5 FPS when I turn it on ULTRA.

    I have it being displayed on my Dell 24" 2408WFP monitor at max resolution ... do you think that might be why its' so slow?
     
    darbsllim, Apr 4, 2012
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  7. Gearsguy

    Gearsguy Notebook Deity

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    Whats the native res on that? On 1366x768 I get 30fps+ and at least 25+ on 1600x900. If its some super duper high res then probably. It should still push 15 even at 1080p
     
    Gearsguy, Apr 4, 2012
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  8. copper7op

    copper7op Notebook Consultant

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    Talk to me after you've used the old dell XPS power bricks. They make these look tiny. I'm totally fine with mine, I had Dell ship me another one. You can buy one off ebay for 40 bucks.

    It wont hurt to run the 65w, but it will gimp your performance. I used a 90w at the office, and you can tell its clocking the CPU/GPU down.
     
    copper7op, Apr 6, 2012
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