Help with Valentine's Day gift!! [MX15 Upgrade]

[jack3d]

Hey all,

I'm trying to find my girlfriend a gift for V-Day. She plays a lot of games on her Alienware MX15, however she always complains how slow it runs and how is not up to par with graphics.

What can I buy to add into the laptop to make it run faster and more smoothly with games/internet browsing?

Also, what could i buy to make the graphics better?

I don't know much about computers so bare with me, I'm in need of much explanation (i.e. what to buy exactly).

Thank you,
-Jack3d

[tony211]

First, what are the specs on her laptop if you now it.

[Tsunade_Hime]

I would say post your specs, as that will make a difference in determining what if any upgrade will be possible/worth it.

[pengy_666]

now that is not a romantic gift. Where has good ol romance gone?

Save your money and take her on a break away.

Well anyway good luck with the upgrade. I'm with Tsunade. Is it gonna be worth it?

[DEagleson]

I read somewhere about a m15x accepting a AMD Radeon HD 6970m as a upgrade so that would boost up performance by quite allot compared to a Geforce 260m thats usually shipped with them.

But if its worth it or not i cannot say.

[Charles P. Jefferies]

I find that wiping the hard drive and installing the operating system fresh does wonders for performance. Maybe there's just a lot of junk software on there slowing it down?

[Meaker]

Originally Posted by pengy_666

now that is not a romantic gift. Where has good ol romance gone?

Save your money and take her on a break away.

Well anyway good luck with the upgrade. I'm with Tsunade. Is it gonna be worth it?

Not every couple is the same. It's a gift with thought and the person could see long term benefit.

It does depend which M15X it is.

[hizzaah]

Originally Posted by Charles P. Jefferies

I find that wiping the hard drive and installing the operating system fresh does wonders for performance. Maybe there's just a lot of junk software on there slowing it down?

I could see that not ending well for him lol.. not exactly something he could do for V-Day and if he did, most girl gamers I know are very picky about how their systems are set up. He may very well get that m15x shoved somewhere not so pleasant!

Originally Posted by Meaker

Not every couple is the same. It's a gift with thought and the person could see long term benefit.

It does depend which M15X it is.

I agree with this.. I think it's great thinking of something kind of abstract that the person will actually enjoy that they haven't bought for themselves. You could throw in some flowers or chocolates if you wanted to add a twist of stereotype, but otherwise, I applaud the OP. Just like I know (I'm sneaky) my gf is getting me a Logitech Harmony remote because I just bought myself a 7.1 which gives me a 5th remote lol. I'm getting her this Northface jacket she's been eyeing. Of course we're also doing dinner and I'll pick up some flowers..

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We need to know your budget.

the OP should know that you're looking to spend a couple hundred bucks most likely if you're upgrading the graphics card.. I think 6970's are going for ~$300 used these days (right?).

If you decide to get her a Solid State Drive (which are FANTASTIC IMO), you're looking at ~$200 for a 128gb or ~$330 for a 256gb one.

If these ideas are out of your budget, you could get her a pretty gaming mouse for under $100 if she doesn't have one already.

If you get her laptop alone, go to Start (or the windows orb) at the bottom left, click Control Panel. If there's a bunch of things listed, find Device manager. If there are groups listed, click System and Settings, then under the Systems category, click Device Manager. Click on the little triangles next to Computer, Disk Drives, Display adapters, and Processors (there will be several of the same, we only need to know 1). This will tell us the specs so we can advise you on upgrades.

Ooooor, if you dont want to be as sneaky, I suppose you could just ask her. But V-day is coming up soon so if you're going to buy her a component, we need to figure out what you're going to get her so you can buy it sooooon.

[pengy_666]

/Hmm, never thought it would/could be an accompaniment to a break/flowers/chocolate.