Alienware Area 51 M15x worth upgrading?

Koa

Honorable
Jan 23, 2014
4
0
10,510
Ok so a few yews back I bought an alienware area 51 m15x laptop for gaming. While it really is not that bad, it is not worth what I paid. I'm wondering what others would do in my position. First it's specs.

CPU: Intel core 2 Duo T9500 @ 2.6GHz
GPU: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870
Ram: 2x 1GB DDR2 667 MHz
Storage: 250GB HD
OS: Vista 64 bit

I'd like to use to largely to play the dayZ standalone when I'm not home, which would include using an out of game chat like ventrilo or teamspeak. At it's current state it probably could but it would probably not be too enjoyable. Not to mention the hinge where the screen connects to the base has cracked on the one side (a big problem with these models).

The biggest things I would want would be in this order: upgrade os to win 7 or 8, up the ram, up the GPU, up the CPU, fix the broken hinge.

Is it worth it to put the money into my current laptop? What would you do?
 
Solution
No, I don't think so.
Upgrading laptop's CPU and GPU are pretty much impossible, it includes some skills to replace it and those components are either very hard to obtain or expensive.

I would buy a new one.

IDontUnderstand

Honorable
Dec 29, 2012
165
0
10,660
No, I don't think so.
Upgrading laptop's CPU and GPU are pretty much impossible, it includes some skills to replace it and those components are either very hard to obtain or expensive.

I would buy a new one.
 
Solution
G

Guest

Guest


+Don't buy an alienware...
 

Koa

Honorable
Jan 23, 2014
4
0
10,510
I've seen others saying that the m15x's can have their cpu and gpu switched without all the know-how. The problem is like you said there really isnt much upward possibility. Wish I could give you best answer, but that was chosen for me :X
 
G

Guest

Guest


Grab the HDD and ram and opticle drive, salvage everything you can really, can be useful for like troubleshooting if something may not be working you can test different parts.
 

Harrison Weaver

Estimable
Apr 3, 2014
1
0
4,510
I have an m15x and you can upgrade the cpu and gpu. Best gpu possible for that laptop is the 7970 (better than what the new mx17 is packing) and then the cpu i7-940XM

Edit: sorry I see you have the area 51 version I have the m15x r2 you could probably still upgrade but I personally dont know what is compatible with that model.
 

AdrianZ27

Estimable
May 5, 2014
1
0
4,510

I believe i have the same laptop as you (the r2) any tips on upgrading would be greatly appreciated email me at[email removed] thanks!
 

Goriyaz

Estimable
Dec 19, 2015
1
0
4,510
Hi,

I also have a m15x and I would like to upgrade it rather than buying a new one. I was wondering if it was possible to fit the same kind of specs the new M15x are using.
If you want to discuss by email that is also possible.

Kind regards,
Gori
 

Polygot

Commendable
Feb 14, 2016
1
0
1,510
the m15x is very easy to upgrade, just unscrew the back panel and pop out the parts, put the new ones in place, go on youtube to watch the dis assembly, youtube has plenty of good videos. upgrade the graphics card and the processor and this pc is awesome, big plus if you put it an SSD instead of that slow hard disk drive.

-i own one