M11X comparison question

I should be doing a paper but this seems more entertaining for the time being. Sorry if its a stupid question, google has given me little success in finding answers. I don't mean to take up much of anyone's valuble time in answering it.
I was hoping one of you can help me compare my old comp to the new m11x i3 i'll be getting soon.
Ive already been told its good upgrade for the money spent considering its mainly for schoolwork (Cant fit my desktop in a classroom) but HOW MUCH of an upgrade is it really? My desktop played rift (quit it last week) with about 7-10 fps while in a high population town. 10-15ish fps when raiding on low graphics, which was playable for me. What might i expect with the new comp?

Old Desktop:
Windows 7 home premium 64bit
Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. M2N-SLI DELUXE 1.XX
Processor- 2.70 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core
Graphics Card- GeForce 240gt with 512MB of DDR3
Ram Memory- 4 gigs DDR2 single channel
(Says the CPUID software.)

New M11X R3:
Windows 7 home premium 64bit
Processor- Intel i3 1.3 Ghz 3MB Cache
Graphics Card- Nvidia GeForce 540m 1gig of memory
Memory- 4 gigs dual channel DDR3 1333MHz

1 stuffed animal kitten dies for every person who says "shoulda got the i5".
I dont believe ill NEED an i5 just yet. I plan to replace my desktop with an i5 or i7 within the next 6 months. They may be stuffed animals but theyre still cute. Let them live.
Again, sorry for all the questions ive been asking. Im a bit overzealous. Id be lying if i said i wasnt excitied about finally getting a laptop for school.
*Procrastination Highfive!*

 

Do a youtube search for "Rift on the Alienware M11x" and you'll see people running it. I looked through a few of them and couldn't find any actual gameplay of the M11x i3... only i5 and i7...

but my general consensus from these videos is that you will need to run Rift on low, maybe medium settings tops, in very crowded areas.

In this video

[HD] Gameplay - Rift - Medium Preset Settings - Alienware M11X - YouTube

the guy is getting 30-35 FPS with very few people on screen, on preset medium settings. He's also running an overcclocked i5, so you may not get the same results as him. I would predict an i3 would hug that 30 FPs mark kinda tightly... which is playable, but that means that there's no buffer for the framerate to drop and stop things from slowing down.

 

Aaargh! Stupid kitties! So cute!

Seriously, though, I'd look at how it plays on the R1, and expect your i3 R3 to be better because of the newer (if slightly slower) CPU but better GPU.

I have an R1 but I'm not going to tell you how it plays.

Because I don't play it.

 

Is the i3 processor really slower than the AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+?
I looked online and the i3 benchmarked with a score of 1650 while the AMD got a score of 1425.
Also read somewhere that just because the MHz has bigger #s doesn't necessarily mean better performance? Might be a swing and a miss here. I dont have much knowledge on processors.

 

I3 does get higher score from benchmarks. Though with OC the AMD would come close.

240GT scored 769
540m GT scored 730

It really comes down to drivers, plus newer technologies etc. for example 9600GT does better in benchmarks, but i actually get better performance from the 540m...

 

if that guy from the link in post #2 is able to play it decent on i5 R2, you should be able to do the same on i3 R3.

 

.....Shoulda got the i5!

Implies you will need one eventually, which is to be expected.
Granted you'll be upgrading your Desktop later on but the whole point of the M11x is to be a portable gaming platform.
Purchasing an i3 seriously cripples this.

The two options at the moment for the R3 (From the UK standing)
i3 2357m - This doesn't even have Turbo boost technology?!!!!
(Would it be a fair estimate to say this was even weaker than the R2's or R1's processor?)

i5 2467m - Max Turbo is 2.3 Ghz - Nearly double that of the i3.

You might not need an i5 just yet but if thats the case why purchase an M11x R3.
By todays standards you've just purchased a ridiculously expensive netbook with underwhelming performance output.

PS. A question for everyone - What the hell happened to i7's being available in the R3 - Yes theres not too much of a performance increase betweeen it and the i5's currently available but my unit is running one of the i7 2617m's because I wanted the absolute best.

Are they too now out of production?

 

My question was comparing and older desktop to the new m11x i3.. not bashing my decision making skills.
This had absolutely nothing to do with my question but i shall respond nonetheless.
Are you implying that the i3 wont be able to handle games similar to Rift, SC2, or Left 4 Dead 2 while on low-medium settings? If my old desktop can play them im fairly certain the i3 can as well.
Do i NEED turbo boost? I dont believe i do. Ive read others who own an i3 who are perfectly happy with their m11x i3. I firmly stand in the belief that i too will be happy it.
I could cancel my order and spend the extra $100 for an i5.. but i don't NEED to. If it can run microsoft word and play a game from time to time, ill be happy. Spending more money on something that isnt a necessity makes little sense to my logic. If lowering my settings a tad means saving $100.. im all for it. Its not like im doing hardcore gaming.
The companies producing games dont expect their players to go out upgrade their machines every time a game is released. This is why there are settings.. I dont care about seeing shadows or some extra glow effects.

And as for it being "ridiculously expensive" i really don't find under $800 very expensive for a laptop. 800 was my budget.. that's ALL i was allowing myself to spend.. and that's exactly what i did. I have more important things to spend my $ on than a bit more power in a laptop.
I understand the power difference beween the i3 and i5. Ive done my homework before buying. I honestly dont need people like you attempting to persuade me in thinning i made the wrong decision in getting the i3.

.. no highfives for trolls.

 

Mhz don't mean anything these days, I7 is roughly 30% more grunt than I5, while I3 is pretty much high end R1 CPU... So really, better just get an R2 with I5/I7 over the I3 R3 unless all you will be playing is some FPS that dont need CPU to do physx, otherwise you're screwed on all fronts...

getting an I3 isn't really a good idea. Period.

If you get the I3, it will bottleneck the whole system at one point or another, and i can bet you my pubic hair, it wont be long until it does.

I7 was there 2 days ago when i checked, the I3 and I5 and I7 to select from... maybe temp. shortage or something.

 

You need to stop being both overly defensive, offensive and listen. We can't in any way force you to change your mind or make the decision for you.
We can however tell you first hand (As a User) what the current situation is.

Being certain and knowing for a fact are two different things and will prevent disappointment. A desktop's components and a laptops components differ greatly.

It's not a case of "NEED". It's a case of future proofing and getting the best bang for buck possible.

First of all and the most important point is. It would be money well spent. Fact.
Secondly you'll soon find that you'll be lowering your settings a great deal more than a "tad" with future releases.
This will bring about regret about the purchase. I can't help but get the impression from your sharp tongue that you are reluctant to admit the possibility of buyers remorse.
It's almost as if you're trying to persuade yourself....

No, but you will care about framerate (FPS). A strong processor plays a vital role in this. Tends to be the GPU that takes care of the "Extra glow effects".

For your requirements you could have found a machine for half that.
So yes - It's expensive.

This is contradictory to your "Beliefs".
If you have more important things to spend money on than a "bit more power in a laptop" then what the hell are you doing buying an underpowered Alienware.... Urgh....

Clearly you don't. You'd have purchased the i5 otherwise.

I'm not trying to persuade you - I couldn't really care what you buy.
I'm telling you the facts. The i5 IS a better buy.

It's obvious I'm communicating to someone who doesn't really know what they're talking about but likes to throw out their viewpoints and bang on about the firm beliefs regardless, especially when they resort to insults.

-

Period.

With a bet as extreme as that he knows we're right.

Thanks for the info.

 

If you have some leftover cash you can try and upgrade your desktop, maybe slap a GTS 450 in there or something. Also, just to let you know, Once you start playing games and getting 30 fps you simply CANNOT go back to 10-15 fps lol. I was playing skyrim on my PS3 after spending months on my alienware and found myself noticing stuff like lack of AA, 25 fps, pop-in, stuff that I never would have noticed before my little alien!

 

I you'd ask me i'd say get an i5, why? because turbo boost makes a huge difference in performance and, contrary to other Alienware machines, you cannot swap CPU- or GPU's on an M11x.

 

i5 2467m = all problems solved

 

The OP made it clear that he wanted a comparision on how an i3 R3 would fare against his old desktop.
You didn't read/care and launched in a long tirade over the fact that i5 is better than i3 (and it is, no one argues over it, not even the OP)
The OP told you again the very same thing " My question was comparing and older desktop to the new m11x i3.. not bashing my decision making skills."

AND yet again you bash him up over it while making some very bad claims in the process, like:
"No, but you will care about framerate (FPS). A strong processor plays a vital role in this. Tends to be the GPU that takes care of the "Extra glow effects"."

Really? You may want to rethink/rephrase that, else everyone will start to belive that for a gaming laptop all we need is an uber i7 quadcore CPU and not a strong GFX card.

Tbh, you have to sit back, relax and re-read the whole thread. Maybe you will come to the conclusion that your posts were uncalled and out of the line.

 

I think there are many problems with starting a thread about the i3 in any comparison with a desktop, other laptop or lifestyle choices, I do agree that this thread has gone off on a tangent about the comparison of the i3 and i5.

I get the feeling this post was engineered to make himself feel better about choosing the i3 and it backfired.

M11x R3 is a gaming laptop and it needs the components to live up to that title, sooner or later it will run a game poorly and he will wish he opted for the i5, end of!

 

Someone please silence the hypocrite.

As you are so fond of quotes please find the part where I say the M11x R3 was a crap buy.
I think you'll find what was actually said by myself was that no one can choose for him.
It doesn't mean that we cannot stress how important an upgrade the i5 is.
I'll think you'll find the OP does indirectly argue about the importance claiming it to be an "upgrade for only a tad more power".
Oh - And the line about "Spending more money on something that isnt a necessity makes little sense to my logic."....
The i5 is a necessary upgrade for the M11x R3. Otherwise its an underpowered gaming laptop which in turn is a waste of money which the OP is very focused on it not being...

The GPU does take the majority of the graphical workload - Its a GRAPHICS card.
And no - An "Uber i7" will help with the processing potential and have a vital role in providing playable framerates whilst the GPU allows for more "Extra glow effects" to be available.
Again at no point do I say all that is needed is a Quadcore CPU. I'm putting emphasis on the processor's role within the M11x R3 to uphold the products duties as a "Gaming machine".

And again, no.
I suggest coming off the moral high horse that you've just galloped in on and realise that it is infact several users along with myself who stress the importance of the i5 to the OP should he care for any hope of a good comparison against his desktop.

Very well put and evidence of it being not only my opinion.

 

Me hypocrite? You didn't read my post either else you would not make such claims you did in your post.

Caladdon, the OP asked specificaly for:

You didn't answered his request in any of your lengthy posts in this topic.
On the contrary, you bashed him over his choice of cpu.
You're the exact definition of a troll. What are you trying to achieve? Grief the OP over his i3 choice? And then resort to name-calling and false accusations?

Right, you didn't say, yet you put the emphasis on the processor's role to uphold the duties as a "Gaming machine"?
No my dear, i will put it in caps: THE GT540M aka the GPU is what makes the m11x R3 a gaming machine not the processor

Let's put it in a simpler way so you can comprehend it fully:
You CAN game with a weaker cpu (i3) plus a decent gpu (gt540m), but you CANNOT game on a top cpu (i7) with a crap gpu (hd3000).
That puts the emphasis on the GPU to uphold the duties as a "Gaming machine"
Else we would all buy the marvel named ASUS UX21 and not the bulky and noisy m11x

Pff, now i'm the one making lenghty offtopic posts. It won't happen again since this is the last post of mine in this topic.
Enjoy Caladdon.