New Laptop Build

[dstahn236]

Hey all,

 

I have been searching across the internet for thoughts on which CPU to get in my new alienware 18. I am going through xoticpc and I was just wondering wether getting the 4940MX would be worth the insane amount of money to upgrade from the 4910MQ. Further more would the 2MB cache increase from the 4800MQ see that significant of an increase over the 4910MQ. Thanks for your help in advance.

 

-Dustin

[Emperor_Piehead]

really as long as it's a quad core the difference is pretty small in the mhz department and cache won't increase performance

[SSOB]

Absolutely not. if you really want a custom build laptop contact http://www.bto.eu/ , they are ''the best'' . I would strongly just getting a pre-built laptop or build a desktop.

[dragoon20005]

the mobile CPU and GPU are not good in performance and they produce more heat than you think

 

the price of a high spec laptop can allow you to build at least 2 desktops with decent specs

 

*points to Ailenware laptops*

[dstahn236]

Yeah I have a pretty nice rig at home right now that I love, but I do a lot of traveling and want a laptop that can do protein modeling, some autocad and gaming all of which need higher end cpu and graphics. I am a little worried about the heat and that was another reason I am a little apprehensive to go with 4940 I hear it gives off a lot of heat.

[brob]

Yeah I have a pretty nice rig at home right now that I love, but I do a lot of traveling and want a laptop that can do protein modeling, some autocad and gaming all of which need higher end cpu and graphics. I am a little worried about the heat and that was another reason I am a little apprehensive to go with 4940 I hear it gives off a lot of heat.

 

I would put an ssd higher on the priority list than a cpu upgrade.

 

For cpu intensive work the added MHz will make a difference. That said, I'm not sure the 100MHz improvement of the i7-4940MX over the i7-4910MQ would outweigh its +10W Max TDP. Presuming an ssd is included in the system I suspect I would pick the 4910MQ. Depending of course on pricing.

[dstahn236]

I already have a 840 Evo Samsung 1Tb, and an 80gb intel 530 mSATA from my work rig that just died R.I.P. So those I already have covered plus another 1tb HDD for storage. I just don't know if I the $500 increase to get the 4940mx is worth it. The ability to overclock would be nice but I am not sure what the heat capacity on the laptop is...

[brob]

Overclocking is always fun but as you say a laptop's ability to dissipate heat is generally not terribly good. A cooling pad would make a bit of difference. Of course it also makes the system a little more difficult to cart around.

 

If you run on battery most of the time I doubt an overclock will be worth the shorter battery life.

[na1nsxr]

My M17X R4 can handle a 4 bin overclock under most real world usage situations (non stress test scenarios) with maybe a bit of throttling during video encoding.  It is quite satisfactory for a laptop.

 

I'm looking at the Alienware 18 configurations right now...I would just go with the lowest configuration (after confirming you can overclock it on your own, may need to check other forums) and fill out the laptop with my own components.