Should I get an alienware (laptop)?

[Cody The Wolf]

So I've been saving up my money and have gotten enough to go and buy a Dell Inspiron 15R with I7, 8GB RAM, and 1TB hard drive. But I'll be running into a lot of money from work and could get enough money for an Alienware 14. I've heard that Alienware is not worth buying, but I'm also worried that the inspiron won't have a good enough graphics card to run games I'd like. Does anyone know what is what? If anyone has any better ideas on what kind of laptop I can get, please tell me. All I know is that I have about $840 and I want a laptop with an I7 or it's AMD equivilant ( I haven't really been able to find an equivilant), and 8GB RAM.

[cam]

Are you dead set on a laptop? $900 could get you a desktop that can out perform any laptop of equal price (and then some as well!).

If you do have your heart set on a laptop, then you have heard correctly that Alienware is overpriced and typically not worth it. My recommendation for manufacturer is either ASUS or Lenovo.

[Knowing]

Great place to buy gaming intense computer/laptops http://www.digitalstormonline.com/

[arfy4]

Alienware isn't worth it pretty much ever unless you want an 18 inch laptop. Try somewhere else for a laptop. If you're good with a slightly less heard of manufacturer, I've heard iBuyPower is really good. I currently have an Asus G75VW, which cost me about $1250 new a few months ago, so probably outside of your price range. Anyways, look at iBuyPower
http://www.ibuypower.com/

[darklin0]

Depends if you are dead set on a laptop. It is a beautiful looking machine but you can easily get a desktop for less that will out perform the laptop.

I have one and its really nice, I hate lugging it around though. It is about 12 lbs so it is basically at home 90% of the time.

[Zork Nemesis]

My last computer was an ASUS laptop I picked up on NewEgg while it was on sale, was about $1100 then (it was retail about $1300). The laptop is still in very good shape, served me for three years with no real issues, despite the fact that i'm pretty rough with the equipment. Only complaint was that it got rather hot when the graphics kicked in, pushing over 90°C on some of the more intense games. Later games also ran into issues handing the higher end graphics, I had to tone it down and play on performance settings for many games so that it wouldn't chug.

Despite this, the laptop was, and still is, exceptional at handling just about everything I could throw at it. I did get overheats every now and then when I was careless with graphic settings, but it was more than capable of dealing with whatever I had for it.

What i'm getting at: if you're dead-set on a laptop, yes ASUS is my recommendation. NewEgg has plenty available, though I can't recommend a specific model since my computer savvy isn't quite up to snuff. I recommend ASUS however for the primary reason that, unlike Dell or HP, ASUS laptops use standardized parts. This means that if you have the know-how and desire, you can replace parts in the laptop without having to buy manufacturer-specific parts; you just have to make sure they fit. I recall my laptop; partway through it's lifecycle I swapped it's original DVD burner for a Blu-Ray burner with no trouble at all.

For your budget, based on NewEgg, you may want to look at this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834230597
Some specs on the surface include:
Intel Core i7 processor
8GB RAM
1TB Hard Drive
Nvidia GeForce 650M graphics card.

The only issue I see with it: Windows 8. If you don't want Windows 8, i'd suggest looking elsewhere, or otherwise finding someone who can wipe the hard drive completely clean and put a fresh Windows 7 install on it (if that's even possible).

[The Domer]

Build your own PC.

[frostdillicus]

Like everyone has said, if you aren't dead set on a laptop you will always get a better gaming desktop than laptop for equal money.

Also, games are starting to show up that my i7-2600k/Radeon 6950 can't play on High settings at 1920x1200. You're going to be hard pressed to find a mobile video card that significantly out performs a 2 year old desktop part.

[Cody The Wolf]

I really can't buy a desktop, for I don't have the space in my room and I need to be able to take it from place to place. If I wait a couple more weeks I can have about $1000 spending money.

Right now I'm looking at a Dell Inspiron 15R SE. This one has a Radeon™ HD 7730M 2GB, but I really have no clue how good of a graphics card that is in comparison to the others. I can start looking at Asus computers, but still have only a vague idea of what I should get.

[Cody The Wolf]

By the way, I'm not looking for a laptop which is "melt my face off" fast. I just want something that I could play games (like BF3, TF2, MC, Fallout: 3/NV) on with little to no lag. I don't really need to run the graphics on high, just something that will process it without having a "heart attack" on me.

[Boss Llama]

Tom's Hardware publishes a monthly "Best Graphics Card for the Money" article that includes a basic performance heirarchy chart. it is an excellent resource for finding what cards are equivalent to what other cards across platforms and manufacturters. It also does one for CPUs. GPU Link, CPU Link

A 7730M is about equivalent to a GT 240 (NVidia) or HD 6570 (AMD) for desktop. These are on par with a high-end desktop card in 2006. It's a solid level for a good laptop with graphics capabilities, but it isn't a "gaming laptop" at that level; it's a practical laptop that can handle games. If you want something that will handle new games that are graphically intensive, you'll want at least a 570M/670M or better from NVidia, or a 5870/6800M from AMD (a 7730 is lower than a 5870 in AMDspeak - the second number and third number are what matter most, rather than the first number. Same with NVidia)

Sadly, you won't get a real "gaming" laptop for $1000 - you have to pay through the nose for such things, and they'll never be as good as a desktop that costs half as much. With Alienware you pay for the name, not the performance, and their laptops are especially poor values.

Check out Toshiba, Lenovo, Asus, and even Sony or Dell for deals. Looks at the specs more than the names. I also recommend that you not worry about getting an i7, as finding one at your price-point will mean sacrificing other things that will have a much larger impact on performance. A good i5 will cost less and be just as good for anything you'll be doing on this machine. Even at their "high-end gaming processor" level, Tom's recommends an i5 as the best bet unless you're planning on doing something optimized for hyperthreading (most games at present are not).

[Dog]

You know my feelings on it.
I have an Alienware M14X and would NEVER, and I repeat for emphasis, NEVER buy another kind of laptop.
It is rugged, takes a lot of abuse, fast and has yet to fail me.

Does for me for everything, especially video editing and coding. Oh and I sometimes game on it too!

I have yet to find a laptop as good.

So if you want an Alienware, you get one.

Besides the new one looks just beautiful - they only came out two weeks ago.

[Cody The Wolf]

It's hard to say...

On one hand, everyone keeps telling me I shouldn't go with an alienware, saying it's too overpriced. I really do just want a laptop that will handle games without any real lagging (don't mind if graphics are on low/normal), and the most I can do for price, if I can talk my parents into helping me a bit more, is about 1200. But I would need to convince them, as well as probably pay them back partially.


On the other hand, I've seen an alienware before. I do like the specs on it, match about what I would ask for in a laptop. I like the fact that it's kinda flashy. And I've seen it run BF3 before and I know it will run minecraft just fine. Those are the only games I really play right now, and I will most likely be playing just Fallout as well on the new one (my current one crashes when I try to play it). So my current direction is buying the alienware. It really satisfies my need for a laptop and if it will last me more than a few years, then I am happy to spend the money on it.

[MasterChef]

ASUS makes decent notebooks. But for whatever reason I've just never had good luck with ASUS products. I had a MOBO back years ago that failed on me so I swore them off for a while. Then Best Buy had a good deal on a notebook that I ended up buying. It worked well, but eventually the power started having problems and it basically died.

My current lappy is an MSI which has worked well for me so far. I don't use it often, but it takes everything I throw at it.

I think most people's beef with Alienware is more so with the desktops. You can generally build a PC with the equivalent parts for quite a bit cheaper. Alienware makes a quality product, you just have to pay for it. If you can afford one, and it meets your needs I say go for it.

[NerevarineKing]

What everyone else said!
Alienware Laptop: Expensive, but decent
Alienware Desktop: NO