Alienware m14x

[OMalley74]

I was wondering if the base m14x would be sufficient for running most games that are out now. It would be nice to have higher settings but I don't care that much. Mostly use for EVE, Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Minecraft, Ruse, SimCity.

Specs:
3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3210M

6GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz

1 GB DDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M with Optimus™

Also, how big of a difference is the upgrade in the LCD scree from 720p/1366x768 to 900p/1600x900?

 

[edit1754]

If you are going to buy the Alienware M14x:
- Upgrade to the 1600x900 display. You should not buy the Alienware M14x in any configuration that includes the default 1366x768 display unless you require its larger text for eyesight-related reasons. The 1366x768 display makes things onscreen rather large, and has very poor image quality due to low contrast. But the 1600x900 display is great.
- Don't upgrade to the 2GB GT 650M over the 1GB GT 650M. The extra memory will not become necessary on a GPU of this level, because the GT 650M core will tend to become the bottleneck before 1GB of video memory becomes the bottleneck.

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However, you may want to consider some alternatives that will net you better GPU performance and/or a cheaper price.

Sager NP9130 (i5-3210M, NVIDIA GTX 670M, 15.6" 1920x1080 matte display) - $1095 + tax

- http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np9130-clevo-p151em1-p-4340.html?wconfigure=yes
- Select Windows 7 under Operating System

Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 (i7-3610QM, NVIDIA GTX 660M, 15.6" 1920x1080 glossy display) - $936 + tax until July 1st[?]

- Sign up and sign in here: http/shoplenovo.i2.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/na/StdAffinityPortal/en_US/Lenovo:EnterStdAffinity?affinity=barnesnoblegold (Barnes and Noble Gold discount page)
- http/shoplenovo.i2.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/barnesnoblegold/StdAffinityPortal/en_US/config.workflow:ConfigureMtmAsItem?mtm-item=:000001C9:0000393A: (i7-3610QM, GTX 660M, 15.6" 1920x1080, 500GB 7200RPM) - $936
- http/shoplenovo.i2.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/barnesnoblegold/StdAffinityPortal/en_US/config.workflow:ConfigureMtmAsItem?mtm-item=:000001C9:00003943: (i7-3610QM, GTX 660M, 15.6" 1920x1080, 1TB 5400RPM + 32GB SSD for hybrid cache) - $1086
- http/shoplenovo.i2.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/barnesnoblegold/StdAffinityPortal/en_US/config.workflow:ConfigureMtmAsItem?mtm-item=:000001C9:00003940: (i7-3610QM, GTX 660M, 15.6" 1920x1080, 1TB 5400RPM) - $1124 (currently more expensive than the better-specced model above, but that might change)
- These models come with the 1920x1080 display. There are other models that come instead with a 1366x768 display, but it would be inadvisable to buy one of those models. 1366x768 resolution in a 15.6" display makes things onscreen large, and 15.6" displays that have this resolution tend to have very poor image quality due to low contrast.
- Copy the coupon code before entering the cart, and paste the coupon code in the cart.

Sager NP6165 (i5-3210M, NVIDIA GT 650M, 15.6" 1920x1080 glossy display) - $949 no tax

- Follow this link: http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6165-clevo-w150er-p-4344.html?wconfigure=yes
- Select "Windows 7" under "Operating System", or the computer will ship without an Operating System.

 

[OMalley74]

The sager NP6165 looks pretty good and the specs are almost identical to the alienware, but how good is the performance with those games?

 

[proskillr]

I reccomend the sager as it has tremendous value and sager/clevo make nice systems they just arent pretty so if asthetics are important sager is not the way to go.

 

[OMalley74]

Does anyone know if any of these computers would be able to be used as a screen for a ps3 or xbox?

 

[OMalley74]

Best answer selected by OMalley74.