Torn, which should I go for?

MasterPlan1

MasterPlan1

MasterPlan1

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I'm in the market for a new laptop - I want something which can do a bit of gaming, I don't play anything too intense, just WoW\D3, but I also want it to be able to handle multiple VMs too (doing MCITP, I plan to rip the disk out, replace with a 120Gb SSD, use the mech externally and sync what VMs I have on my server to my external disk so I can continue working on them on the road)

I have seen 2 laptops which have caught my eye in the price range I am looking at (<£800), they are as follows:

Alienware M11x R3, i5-2467M, 540M, 750Gb HD

pros: ultra portable, good battery life, decent graphics, upgradable to 16Gb of RAM (++)

cons: less powerful CPU\slightly lesser GPU than the other option

Lenovo E530, i7-3612QM, 630M, 320Gb HD

pros: more powerful CPU, 4C8T, slightly better GFX

cons: much bigger, 15.6", upgradable to only 8Gb, can get ~3.5Hr real time usage from the battery

They're both roughly around the same price, I just don't know which to get. I have laptop bags to suit both sizes, the weight differential is marginal, .2Kg I believe, the only problem would be with getting the Lenovo is that I'd have to stop using my STM bag which is designed for a <13.3" and an iPad in the same bag, and get an iPad hard\all over cover for it as the STM has a dedicated pocket for an iPad.

Ideas? Suggestions? Anything which you guys can think of which'll fit in between the two which I am looking at?

Thanks!
 
I'm currently typing this on my Alienware m11x and must say it's the best laptop i've used. Ultra portable and ideal for the occasional gamer.

You just have to make sure to upgrade the hard drive to an SSD.
 
cyber69 said:
I'm currently typing this on my Alienware m11x and must say it's the best laptop i've used. Ultra portable and ideal for the occasional gamer.

You just have to make sure to upgrade the hard drive to an SSD.
Click to expand...

+1 M11x R3 rocks :D

Regards.

C.
 
MasterPlan1 said:
Either of you play D3?
Click to expand...

Plenty gen here on how well D3 plays on M11x from the R1 upto R3.

The site has a lot of gen on all models of m11x.

The i5 is the sweet spot for power and cost.

Just over £700 will bag you an i7 from fleebay.

Or try outlet store.

I have given it a quick blast and had no drama with settings at med single player.

Regards.

C.
 
MasterPlan1 said:
Lenovo E530, i7-3612QM, 630M, 320Gb HD

pros: more powerful CPU, 4C8T, slightly better GFX

cons: much bigger, 15.6", upgradable to only 8Gb, can get ~3.5Hr real time usage from the battery
Click to expand...
Is buying 16GB (2 x 8GB) and fitting it yourself an option?
 
Not afaik, from what I have read on spec sheets and crucial 8gb is the max, even though the chip/chipset supports 32gb, which I find stupid.
 
Actually, just found a ppt which says that the IB e530's support upto 16gb. There also seems to be an e330 (13.3) which includes the same Optimus 630m and IB... Might see if I can find a release date for that.
 
CLEVO W110ER, you can get them in the UK too.

Can accept full power quad core IVB cpus.
Comes with a GT650M with 2GB of DDR3.
 
Last edited:
Ok so, after looking at Clevos I'm pretty sure I want one of them, but once again I am torn. Do I go for a 15 or the 11? Both of them have pros and cons. The 15 inches comes with a matte full HD screen, optical drive, and 2 HDD bays... The 11 incher is only 720p res, but I could probably deal with that, it's also dinky so I can chuck it in my bag and forget about it... I keep going to hit the button on both but I can't decide, is the second disk, optical and higher res worth the size?
 
Could someone message me the details of the site that does that Clevo laptop please? Or give me something obvious to google! Thanks. ;)

Judging by the reviews the 11" looks really good. It has a lower resolution but the screen is much smaller and it will also run games at higher settings I'd imagine.
 
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