can ultrabooks play high-end games?

[Anggrian]

Even for ultrabooks with dedicated graphics like this, can it play games as smooth as my 3-years old Alienware M15X?

Because on the paper, it looks like this acer can outperform my alienware machine. It has Intel Sandy Bridge i7 CPU while my M15X is stuck on Intel i5-560M. It has NVIDIA GT640M CPU which I assume is equivalent to my ATI Radeon 5850. It even use SSD on the same capacity as my HDD.
The only thing that hesitates is when they keep saying that ultrabooks use low power version of Intel powerful CPU in consideration of longer battery life. I mean with the i7, how "low-power" can ultrabooks be?

I'm not a game maniac, something that can play Diablo 3 and FIFA smoothly is enough for me, i don't need all detailed texture and visual effect to be extremely alive like they are about to pop out my screen.
In fact, the only reason why I bought Alienware in the first place was that I fell in love with the AlienFX lightning (which turns out to be kind of mainstream nowadays).

[kanuk]

The GT640 is a pretty good card that should play most games on medium without a problem.

I would also consider the Sony Vaio S (13" or 15"), which has the same GPU and a full-voltage processor too. It isn't ultrabook-thin but it's certainly more portable than your M15x. There's also the Gigabyte u2442n which has a GT640M as well.

[STIMjim]

Yeah I was thinking of getting the Sony Vaio S series, the only two laptops I've ever owned were sony laptops and they were great! I think the Sony S series has a GT 640M LE graphics instead of the regular 640M, which is less powerful. If it had the 640M and was around the same price I would definitely buy it, never had a problem with sony vaios before and their customer service is pretty good imo.
To OP, I would check out the Acer aspire Timeline M3. It has the 640M graphics card, and is super thin, but I can't seem to find it on websites in the US

[kanuk]

Yeah I was thinking of getting the Sony Vaio S series, the only two laptops I've ever owned were sony laptops and they were great! I think the Sony S series has a GT 640M LE graphics instead of the regular 640M, which is less powerful. If it had the 640M and was around the same price I would definitely buy it, never had a problem with sony vaios before and their customer service is pretty good imo.
To OP, I would check out the Acer aspire Timeline M3. It has the 640M graphics card, and is super thin, but I can't seem to find it on websites in the US

The Acer has a low-quality 768p display. I wouldn't recommend it.

The Vaio does have a 640M LE but it overclocks quite well. In any case it's beefier than what can be found in pretty much any current ultrabook.

[STIMjim]

I didn't realize the OP had a link up for the M3, I feel dumb now lol. But your right Kanuk, the M3 lacks in other things besides the video card and I think its more expensive than the sony vaio s is. =0

[Anggrian]

I didn't realize the OP had a link up for the M3, I feel dumb now lol. But your right Kanuk, the M3 lacks in other things besides the video card and I think its more expensive than the sony vaio s is. =0

Yep you're pretty much buying the Ultrabook brand in M3

[rajuj13]

Have you bought the ultrabook yet, if not then DONT!!!. Not good for gaming. And dont buy Sony VAIO S either for gaming. Big No No. I have both and though they have core i7 with 1gb dedicated video cards and high performance. Both sony vaio and most ultrabooks will over heat like crazy. Its not worth it. Fan will be so loud and on my Sony vaio, Starcraft 2 was playing, but it overheat and froze and gave me a blue screen. I dont recommend it. Get Alienware m14x if your looking for something small like ultrabook or sony.

[STIMjim]

but its...its so fat.

[rajuj13]

smaller and powerful than the m15x he is currently running on.

[Deltido]

The Gigabyte might be pretty good as it has a dual fan design (one for cpu one for gpu).