Some gaming laptop advice

[dave7]

Hi, I'm looking for a little advice with a gaming laptop purchase. I'm a bit out of touch with latest hardware releases so some help from you guys would be nice

As far as budget goes I'd like to keep it under £1500

I kinda have my heart set on an alienware. Is there a huge difference in performance between the m14x and m17x or is it mostly down to size? I like the size and price of the m14x better but if it's going to get a beating in performance I might plump for the m17x.

At the moment it would mostly be playing COD and WoW but in the near future Skyrim, MW3, BF3 etc. I'd like something that would last the next few years, understanding that I will have to play on progressively lower settings as the years go by.

Should I consider the MSI range? They seem a little cheaper but the build quality seems a little poor going by peoples reviews. Keyboards flexing etc.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Dave

 

[Meaker]

As a gamer you need to do some research into the differences between mobile cards and the resolutions you want to use.

For instance you are comparing a GT555M in the M14X with 144 shaders, 24 ROPS and 192bit DDR3 to (at that price in the m17x) an HD6990 with 1120 shaders, 32 ROPs and 256bit GDDR5.

I don't think I have to tell you which will be current hardware for longer.

Have a look at some sager/clevo/MSI machines.

 

[ro55o]

I wouldn't consider the M14x, as above it has a much weaker card than what's in the 17. Fair enough it is a lot cheaper, but for your kind of budget you could easily squeeze in the 17. It should theoretically last a decent amount of time, but like you said as newer, more demanding titles come out you'll probably have to tone down the graphics.

Also I know with the m15x (replaced with the m14x) you can upgrade the hardware inside, i.e. the CPU and graphics card (so long as they are supported by firmware). I think this is the same with the 17, but can't remember. So If this is the case you could always upgrade it if you needed a bit more fire power. The 14's graphics card can't be upgraded though, which is a bit of a let down.

One thing to remember is the m17x is a beast of a laptop, roughly the same as my m15x, while not the most portable, it can still be carried around, just get a big laptop bag

You can do what I did, I bought the m15x, mid range gaming laptop for when I'm travelling between mines and my mates house and a decent £500 gaming PC at home, which actually beats my laptop hands down, considering it was half the price.