Dell XPS 14z for Gaming

I want to get a new laptop and am looking at the XPS 14z. The specs I am thinking about upgrading to are below:

Processor: 2nd gen intel core i7-2640M processor 2.80 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.50 GHz
Memory: 8GB dual Channel DDr3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M 1GB graphics with Optimus

Everything else will be as is, so it's the $1,299.99 option on the dell site. I'm not a huge gamer, the only games I'll be playing will be Heroes of Might and Magic 6 and Starcraft 2, but when I do play I want to be able to play them lag-free. I'm into portability and the 14 inch screen (I take it with me on trips), especially since the laptop I have now is a 14 inch dell latitude e6400. Would the 14z be able to run the two games above well? I can't really handle SC2 on my current laptop, and Heroes 6 is so slow on it, so ideally my new laptop would be a 14inch screen, portable, and be able to handle those two games. I was originally thinking about getting the Alienware M14x, but I realized that it is overkill for my situation, I want a good all around laptop that can handle those two games. If there is another laptop that would be better suited for my purposes I'm open to suggestions.

 

the weakest part of your system is the graphics card, Geforce GT 520m. however, according to:
NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

you can probably play smoothly with med/low settings on SC2. (don't know about the other games). and i know that starcraft 2 is also pretty CPU dependent but that won't be a problem for you.

 

Thanks Conscriptvirus. I should have posted Heroes 6's recommended specs in my first post, here they are:

Recommended Configuration:

Operating System: Windows® XP or Windows Vista® or Windows® 7
Processor: 2 Ghz Intel® Pentium® Core 2 Duo E6400 or higher, 2.8 Ghz AMD Athlon™II X2 240 or higher
RAM: 2 GB for Windows® XP, Windows® Vista®, Windows® 7
Video card: NVidia™ GeForce® 8800GTX (1 GB VRAM) or ATI™ Radeon HD 3870 (1 GB VRAM) or better
512 MB DirectX® 9.0c–compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher (See Supported List for more information).

DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM (24x)
Hard Drive Space: 8 GB
Sound: DirectX® 9.0c Compatible Sound Card 5.1 with Latest Drivers
Internet: Broadband connection and service required for multiplayer mode and online features
Windows-compatible mouse required


Supported Video Cards at Release Time:

NVIDIA GeForce® 8600 or higher
NVIDIA GeForce™ 9 Series
NVIDIA GeForce™ 200 Series
NVIDIA GeForce™ 400 Series
NVIDIA GeForce™ 500 Series

ATI® RADEON® HD 2600 or higher
ATI® RADEON® HD 3000 Series
ATI® RADEON® HD 4000 Series
ATI® RADEON® HD 5000 Series
ATI® RADEON® HD 6000 Series

Laptop versions of these cards may work but are NOT supported. These chipsets are the only ones that will run this game.


So it looks like I can run the game. There is a way to edit the file so that laptops can play the game, which is what I did to play it on my latitude, but it does not have enough RAM or the right video card (plus it was upgraded to windows 7 when it can't handle it).

 

If you got the 15z, then you would be equipped with a 525M which is an underclocked 540M. If you OC'd it, then you would be okay for most games.

 

The only issue is that I really like the look and feel of the 14z, the 15z seems like there is too much unused space. But would I have to get at least a 15 inch screen in order to run pretty much any game? I really want to stick with a 14 inch, but if that's the case then I might have to make a change. I was checking out your threads for your laptops, were you able to get a chance to try SC2 with your 13 inch Macbook Pro? If it works for you on that laptop then it should be fine for me.

Also, is there a huge difference between the GT 520M and the 525M? The only other difference besides that between the 14z and 15z is that the 14z has 1GB and the 15z has 2GB for the video card.

 

14z -520M not good for game, may can play hero 6, but you can't play hero 7.
really for game alienware.

 

No, not really. The 14z doesn't have a high resolution screen (it's not 1080p!), so should be sufficient if you are willing to sacrifice some image quality (turn off anti-aliasing in general, that's quite an eater-of-FPS!)

 

Does anyone know if there is an Owner's Lounge thread started yet for the 14z?
I'm considering purchasing this unit, but I want to get an overall feel from people who have already purchased it.

 

I just created a thread, as I have not seen one yet. I just bought one, but I won't see it till around the 12th of Dec. according to dell's website.

 

OK, thanks for doing that.

 

The XPS 14z has a mediocre screen and a mediocre video card.
The XPS 15z has mediocre build quality. If you get the XPS 15z, make sure you get one with the 1080p screen. The 720p screen makes things onscreen HUGE (multitasking is difficult) and has terrible image quality. The screen makes more of a difference than anything else. Whatever you do, don't get a bad screen.

Look at the Sony Vaio SE with the 6630M GPU upgrade. It's 15.6" but it's 4.4lbs, lighter than the 15z and only slightly heavier than the 14z. It's got a 1920x1080 matte IPS-ish display, and the 6630M is comparable to the 525M.

 

I can't believe that Dell doesn't offer a 1080p screen for the 14z. There is certainly enough room to fit one in there. What a shame. I'm outta here!

 

It is because there is no such thing as a 14.0" 1080p screen. No LCD manufacturer currently makes them.

A 1600x900 screen should be offered though.

 

This is very peculiar, because I have a 1080p screen on my smaller 13 inch Sony VAIO Z laptop. So why can't they make a 1080p screen to fit a larger 14 inch laptop? The LCD manufacturers skip the even numbers, and only make odd number sizes?

 

Probably because 14 inch laptops were originally for consumers, like long battery life notebooks that could do basic video and web. Most road warriors stuck with 13 inch laptops. 15 inch computers have always been popular so alot of money has been put into them. As 14 inch computers get more and more popular (since they can be around the same size as a 13 inch computer but can give more room and better specifications), we may see 1080p screens and more manufacters making 14 inch notebooks.

BTW, OP, for that price, you can even get an m14x with a 1600x900 display or i7, whichever you may prefer. The stock m14x with an i5 + HD+ screen would be fine for those games on High or Max settings, and the battery life will still be around 5.5-6 hours non gaming. It would be a bit bigger though (I think the 14z is actually around the size of a typical 13 inch computer and the m14x is just a thicker regular 14 inch computers; just another option for that price)

 

Sorry for the late response, but SC2 is very playable even with a bunch of units on the MBP 13" i5. However, going past medium settings is not really possible. However, I am not all too comfortable playing games that are under 30 fps, so you may be ok.

I would jump the gun on the 15" or look at some other laptops, because there are more powerful models around that size offered by different brands.