Firstly, thanks if you're actually reading this - much appreciated.
Absolutely new to buying a gaming laptop; always preferred desktops, but since I'll spend the next few years travelling, I've not really got a choice but to make the switch.
Anyway, I've put down the basics of what I've got now, and the Alienware I'm looking at. I've not heard great things about Alienware though, and any other (cheaper) suggestions would be welcome. My budget is the £900-£1,200 range.
The Blu-Ray and hybrid drive are huge bonuses for me personally, and I can't find other gaming laptops that have them at close-to-decent prices. My only real concern is that the graphics card will be dated pretty fast, and I'm not sure about the processor; however processor upgrades are insanely expensive from Alienware, so the fiscal cost is holding me back.
[b]tl;dr[/b] - Looking for a better gaming laptop than my current desktop, suggestions welcome.
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[b]Current System[/b]
Intel Core2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250
2046MB RAM
x2 500GB Hard drives
Other stuff (cooling, monitor etc.) not really relevant due to the switch to a laptop.
[b]Possible System[/b]
Alienware M15x Gaming Laptop
Intel® Core™ i3 Processor 370M (2.4Ghz, 3MB, 2C)
1.5GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460M
4096MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
500GB Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid Drive
40cm (15.6") Wide HD+ (1600 x 900) WLED display
Blu-Ray ROM combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write) Slot Load Drive
[b]TOTAL COST[/b] - £1,113.99
[b]Games I'll be running[/b] - Up to date stuff really; [i]Mass Effect 3[/i] & [i]Deus Ex: Human Revolution[/i] in the future.
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Anyway, thanks again for reading - had a check through the forum rules and I'm pretty sure this falls in line with them.
[i][b]Originally posted this in the main 'Hardware and Software' forum, but I figure this is probably a more appropriate place in retrospect.[/b][/i]
Alienware are fucking shit when it comes to hardware/price ratio (i3 processor and not even a Sandy bridge for +1400€, what the fuck), also they tend to be very loud.
Go instead for an ASUS laptop (like G73SW) if you really want a gaming laptop.
[editline]4th June 2011[/editline]
And Blu-Ray readers are useless on laptop
[url]http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=n0015z04&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=xps-15z&vw=list[/url]
There you go. Its a bit more expensive. DEFINATELY worth it. 8GB RAM i7
Base XPS 15z Config 4 Base
Bundle N0515Z04
Documentation/Disks EMEA1 Documentation (ENG,ARA,DUT,GER,ITL,RUS,FR,SPA)
Hard Drive 750GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
Keyboard Internal Backlit UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard
Power Supply 90W AC Adaptor
Order Information XPS 15z Order - UK
Memory 8192MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x4096]
Wireless Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6230 (2x2 b/g/n+ Bluetooth Combo Card) (Europe)
Standard Warranty 1 year Collect & Return Hardware Support included with your PC
LCD 15.6" FHD WLED True-Life (1920x1080) with 1.3 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
Carrying Cases No Carrying Case
Cable UK 250V Power Cord
Primary Battery 8-Cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Optical Devices 8x DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
Video Card 2GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M Graphics Card with Optimus
Dell System Media Kit XPS 15z Resource DVD (Diagnostic & Drivers)
DataSafe (Services Owned) Datasafe Local 2.3 Basic
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
I advise going with an Alienware or XPS system because Dell has really really great warranty service compared to Asus or something else.
[QUOTE=Elfy;30249625][url]http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=n0015z04&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=xps-15z&vw=list[/url]
There you go. Its a bit more expensive. DEFINATELY worth it. 8GB RAM i7 [/QUOTE]
The graphic card is terrible (GT 525M), and the resolution (Full HD) is far too big for this graphic card. OP can't gaming correctly with this thing. Not worth it then
[editline]5th June 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Chicken_Chaser;30249956]I advise going with an Alienware or XPS system because Dell has really really great warranty service compared to Asus or something else.[/QUOTE]
Alienware is not even good in the first place, why are you even mentioning it?
And ASUS has 2-years warranty by default compared to Dell. Don't know for their servie quality though. But I heard Dell was pretty awful sometimes for warranty service (basically because you have to buy additional warranties by kind of accidents).
I had an XPS. It can run Crysis and the warranty was amazing.
[QUOTE=Elfy;30266477]I had an XPS. It can run Crysis and the warranty was amazing.[/QUOTE]
Some XPS models (GT540/555M with 1366x768/1600x900 resolution) are better than the one you showed
and OP found a better solution in another topic: the ASUS N53SV
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