well laptops with 17" monitors are cheaper, so why not?

Get a SSD. Samsung 840 pro or something like this.

Rest is awesome. Hf with it!

thanks, jout you know i am a designer so I need really good computer, but as far as I am traveling I need to use laptop. :)

Since you're probably going to be carrying it all the time I'd recommend the m14x. Being more compact makes it a lot less annoying, and the battery life (an actual 4 hours) is probably better than MSI laptops since that's not their selling point. Didn't see anything mentioned about battery life for those 2 laptops which means it's unlikely to be superb. Not sure what the tradeoff on processor vs gpu is for your work, etc. MSI has a better gpu but the M14X has a better processor. There are 120hz laptop screens but I think only 17" & 12 lb laptops (basically desktop replacements) have them currently.

In my experience the likelihood of wanting to carry a 14" computer with a 4+ hr battery vs 15.6" with a 2ish hour battery is like a factor of 10. Adds a lot to usability. Keyboard on the m14x is also great. Not small flat keys like the macbook air, but contoured keys with that ergonomic-feeling rubber and spring backing.

You could also ask on http://forum.notebookreview.com/. It's the best site for this stuff.

thanks man :) I really needed something like this,

ok I wanna ask M14x has NVIDIA GT 650M, but the other MSI ones, 675 and 680, it is said that there are huge difference. Also M14x is 6.45lbs, MSI is 7.7.

So what will you say? Actually I think I will but a new 120Hz screen too, I am note sure but, if M14x had 120 hz, it is also absurd because its screen is so small, not for gaming imo.

Also MSI ones have Killer Gaming Network. I couldnt find if alienware has it or not. My friend tried it, and he was saying instead of 90ping i am seeing 60-70.. which is huge difference.

And I have checked M17x, it is so heavy (9.9lbs) but It is just awesome. Do you havea ny opininons on it?

My only opinion on the m17x is it's big and probably expensive. I've never seen one in person but it's basically a desktop. I'm sure specs-wise it's great, and if it has a good 120hz screen then it might replace an external monitor. But you're unlikely to enjoy carrying it on a flight or in a bag with books. Including the power brick (which apple did a good job of making tiny) they're just too bulky. The m14x has an hdmi plug, don't know about MSI.

If you really want to maximize performance vs cost as much as possible and aren't concerned about battery life, portability or (to a lesser extent) ergonomics then Sager might be worth looking at closely. The last time I looked they had sub-2 hour battery life (gtx without optimus) though.

As far as comparing specs...
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-...844.0.html
and
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processor...436.0.html
are good.

It looks like the GTX 680 (15th right now, pretty impressive) is a family above the GT 650 (70th, decent), as gtx vs gt indicates, but the gt 650 is more than fine for ql, sc2, and probably anything within a year or two. Again, it depends what exactly you want it for. School-wise, your professors are probably either using clusters or macbooks, which don't even have nvidia/ati graphics cards this generation. The previous generation of the m14x had the same specs as the macbook pro, with the addition of a 555m, so that's probably sufficient for most things. Anything really heavy can't be done on a laptop anyway.

The only benchmarks with fps that made sense to me were skyrim on ultra, which was 60 vs 25fps, and shows a clear difference. Non-ultra performs fine though, and my experience is that skyrim was also fine on a gt 555m.

The processors are ranked 15th (m14x) and 21st (msi) which means they're basically identical. I think that's 1% different based on the cinebench R10 benchmark. Plus if you really want you can upgrade in a couple years as long as intel makes a better processor for the same socket.

So the only practical differences are the m14x is more portable and the msi has a better graphics card. There may also be a question on construction quality/ergonomics and support but I'm not really sure. I know msi has at least a fairly good reputation but alienware/dell is probably more serviceable and focuses more on a smaller number of models. It would also help to know the battery life of those msi's.

I want it as much portable as possible, also MSI GT60 has 4 hours and 37 minutes of battery life(Ive checked net for some tests).

I was considerin GT60 vs M14x and still same place:)

M14x is ligher, faster processor, more ram, SSD(If i want 512RAID0 it will be 1900dollars, it may worth it) for $1800(which is mu max budget), and it is cool:D

GT60 had one of the best graphic card.

Their other things are pretty same. Just I am sure about the lan card of M14x, it says Killer wireless. But I am not sure if it also stands for lan card. If this is also yes, I think M14x is the winner here.

And really thank you man:) U got my plusses

The msi's battery life sounds decent then. I think the m14x is rated at 5+ or something, but my experience in a cafe or doing non-graphical work is more like 4ish. People on notebookforum should have 1st hand experience with both computers and their battery life, etc, though. You could also check to see if there are common issues like the motherboard dying or nvidia card overheating. A stupid issue I had with the m14x is that if the gpu is over 90c (normal is 50-70) it will throttle down and get choppy. The reason it was a stupid issue is I only needed to use canned air to clean the vents. A previous asus worked great for 2 years and then the mb died without warning.

I have an inherent bias since I have an m14x. I do find it much less of a hassle to carry around (running in airport...) then my previous 15.6" asus, which actually was only a pound or so heavier.

You can also compare the m14x to msi laptops in person at best buy if you're in nyc. Can't customize them there obviously.

I've got no perspective on the lan cards either way.

I have checked like 10 reviews and same amount of different tests on different platforms. And it seems like M14x is really really better than MSI. Thats why for example GT70 is cheaper than all. Just the graphic card of it is better. Thank you man, Really you helped me a lot :)

I want it as much portable as possible

Get a MacBook Air 11".

Make sure the laptop has the new HDMI or dual DVI or you won't be able to use 120hz.

Good brands: MSI, Asus, Clevo, Medion, Alienware (:D), also take a look at these stores: Invasion Labs, Mysn UK/DE, XMX PC or One.de.

I have a GX series from MSI right now, but thinking about getting something else because I don't have a dvi-d port etc, only VGA and the old HDMI (kinda lame to switch laptop JUST for that reason but oh well...).

there're tons of displayport/thunderbolt laptops which can be used to connect 120+ hz displays. Whereas there're barely any new laptops with dvi and I don't know of any hdmi 1.4b+ laptop and 120hz monitor combo either

Ah yes I also forgot about the displayport, thanks. On a forum I just saw people talking about the support of the new HDMI, I just assumed it was possible already :/.

Edit: ok I quickly checked, and at least with Alienware I'm sure he can have a displayport, but it's overpriced there...

btw I will buy this computer from USA NYC, so I can find any brand I want i think. I already saw that alienware has this feature, but if I buy the same thing from MSI, it will be much more cheaper... that really sucks.

The best choise is M14x but I cannot change its graphic card :(

Take a look: http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=c...ted_cat=11

A good one would be the NP9170 (17.3" too big maybe), you can customize all models, not sure if you can get the right GPU with the model you want.

They all have display port 1.1, HDMI 1.4a, and even DVI-I for some.

so u are telling me that, the important thing after pieces, is getting new HDMI or Dual DVI, will I check for "They all have display port 1.1, HDMI 1.4a, and even DVI-I for some."

Well, I'm sorry if I'm confusing, but I thought you wanted to use an external monitor (which is the best thing to do), and you'd need these outputs in order to use the new monitors and the features. So yeah pick the pieces and model you want then check if they have at least a display port. They all do with Sager, I think, and it's handy for you since you're in USA!

Good luck :D

just ive never heard of them :) thats why i am suspicious :) but thanks ill check

Sager is good and competitively priced, but not portable and poor battery life. That's their tradeoff. Not sure about reliability.

> laptop
> 3ds and render things

will die shortly

I dont have any choice. I will go to USA for 1 year for my graduate study. And after this I will also travel. I have a good computer at my home(in Turkey) which is like 50lbs or something:) I cannot travel with it.. :(

Its better to avoid any continuous heavy loads on mobile devices because its simply not designed for that

You will work on your projects at studio anyway, they have good PCs with most software installed so you'll need laptop only to do modelling and setup your scenes.