Alienware laptop's worth it or not?

[americanmetal07]

Alienware Area 51 m7700
$2,705.00
as low as $82/mo.*
-Intel® Pentium® 4 640 Desktop Processor w/ HT Technology 3.2GHz 800MHz FSB 2MB
-XP Home Edition
-Intel® 915P PCI-Express Chipset
-256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 6800
-2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 533MHz - 2 x 1024MB
-80GB 5400 RPM SATA
-24x10x24 CD-RW / 8X DVD Combo w/Software MPEG2 Decoder

Worth getting..or not?

[thefultonhow]

Moved to Mobile Technology.

If you're willing to spend that much, get a Dell Inspiron E1705/9400 or XPS M170, or a Sager NP5720.

[americanmetal07]

-Dell-
-2.16 ghz
-2 gb ram
-256mb nvidia
$3164
Sounds like a rip off compared to the alienware!

-Sager-
Same build as the Alien.
$2,989.00 $87.84 per month

[thefultonhow]

That's weird, I configured the Dell Inspiron E1705 woth those options plus a DVD burner and a 1-year on-site warranty for $2463. Add a $650 off Dell coupon from http://www.xpbargains.com/dell_coupons/ and the price goes down to $2213. You have to choose the second-from-right configuration or they pile on all sorts of unnecessary options. The Sager with similar options from PowerNotebooks.com was $2406.30.

[mystvearn]

go desktop instead? Unless trully necessary. Those laptops are quite heavy.

[glc]

That 2.16 GHz Dell processor is a Pentium-M, which will hold its own against a 3.2 GHz desktop processor.

[mairving]

Originally Posted by glc That 2.16 GHz Dell processor is a Pentium-M, which will hold its own against a 3.2 GHz desktop processor.

Not only that but it runs much cooler and battery life is longer.

[americanmetal07]

i still like the amount of speed put out by the alienware though... '
3.2 ghz is sweet
vs
the 2.16 that could possiby be considered slooooow in 3 yrs



If instead i got and AMD instead of and Intel.. would that be any better?

[thefultonhow]

Processor speed doesn't mean that much -- what does is how that speed translates into performance. Check out these benchmarks:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/05/...st/page11.html

As you can see, a 2.13 GHz Pentium-M beats or is on par with a 3.6 GHz Pentium 4 in most game banchmarks.

[glc]

Which is also on a par with an AMD 3700+, which runs at 2.2 GHz.

[americanmetal07]

Originally Posted by thefultonhow Processor speed doesn't mean that much -- what does is how that speed translates into performance. Check out these benchmarks: http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/05/...st/page11.html As you can see, a 2.13 GHz Pentium-M beats or is on par with a 3.6 GHz Pentium 4 in most game banchmarks.

ahhhhhhhhh im confused now
would a 3.2 P4 meet future needs and wants?

[tomster2300]

If you try to compare ghz's and their performance from different processor lines you're just going to confuse yourself. Just compare benchmarks of the two processors in question and make your decisions based on that.

[americanmetal07]

i talked to a dell guy about their XPS M170 series.. and he said that they are configured to last for 5 yrs!
and that they do not put P4's into laptops anymore b/c they overheat and something else(i cant remeber)



thanks for all the help and talking me out of a P4... god knows if i bough one itd probably catch on fire!

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by americanmetal07 and that they do not put P4's into laptops anymore b/c they overheat and something else(i cant remeber)

He probably said that battery life isn't as good with P4s. (Of course, if you get the XPS M170, you won't get great battery life anyway; the 7800GTX graphics card sucks down massive amounts of power.)

[americanmetal07]

Originally Posted by thefultonhow He probably said that battery life isn't as good with P4s. (Of course, if you get the XPS M170, you won't get great battery life anyway; the 7800GTX graphics card sucks down massive amounts of power.)

oh well i get a free battery

[glc]

Today's mobile processors are so good I'd never consider a new laptop with a desktop processor. The heat and battery drain just isn't worth it.

[tomster2300]

Originally Posted by americanmetal07 god knows if i bough one itd probably catch on fire!

No, if you got a laptop with my Turion processor it would catch on fire...I often wonder when my laptop is just going to begin melting in my lap it gets so hot. Thankfully a Turion processor is not an option you're considering.

If there's anymore mistakes in this post (I've had four so far) then plz ignore them - I'm half asleep.

[americanmetal07]

if i bought a Dell XPS with
2.26 GHz/2MB
2 gb ram
256 mb nvidia
- do you think it will do good with games and applications?!
i plan to keep it up to 5 yrs

in the process of owning it i might just build my own desktop

[thefultonhow]

Nothing is going to be able to play all the latest games for five years. The M170 has pretty high horsepower, so it might be able to keep up for three, but you will be bumping down the settings at that point.

Bottom line -- if you have a $3000 budget and want something that will do well for five years, put $1000 of that aside and buy a $2000 laptop. The extra $1000 will be a good down payment for another laptop two and a half years down the road.

[americanmetal07]

Originally Posted by thefultonhow Nothing is going to be able to play all the latest games for five years. The M170 has pretty high horsepower, so it might be able to keep up for three, but you will be bumping down the settings at that point. Bottom line -- if you have a $3000 budget and want something that will do well for five years, put $1000 of that aside and buy a $2000 laptop. The extra $1000 will be a good down payment for another laptop two and a half years down the road.

three years is good enough for me
2009 id be in college..probably just using it for work by then

[mystvearn]

Originally Posted by americanmetal07 if i bought a Dell XPS with 2.26 GHz/2MB 2 gb ram 256 mb nvidia - do you think it will do good with games and applications?! i plan to keep it up to 5 yrs in the process of owning it i might just build my own desktop

What nvidia? I am not sure. My current Toshiba M50 is quite good now, though I doubt this will last more than 4 years. I think the desktop will withstand more than 5 years. It took me 4 years to max out the life of the GF2ti, so with the current card, it could be way more than this.

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by mystvearn What nvidia? I am not sure.

GeForce Go 7800GTX.

[jayb1234]

I would not buy anything from Alienware. Looking through the configurator for that notebook I see:

1: Motherboard. listed by chipset only, no manufacturer shown.

2: RAM, brand not shown.

3: Harddrive, brand not shown.

4: Optical drives, floppy drive, wireless card, LAN, brand not shown. Beginning to see the pattern there?

Norton reccommended?

You have to figure that if they aren't willing to tell you what Brand of parts they are using that it is pretty likely that they are tossing in the cheapest generic junk they can find.

Lousy rating at resellerratings. Stick with a reputable maker like Dell or HP.

[thefultonhow]

The problem with Alienware isn't their components, but rather their customer service. You don't expect to see manufacturers listed for laptop parts; I happen to know that this Alienware is a Clevo, and this particular ODM kit has gotten decent reviews. I just think it's overpriced and would never get a laptop with a desktop chip.

[FireByyrd]

My brother owns a Toshiba laptop using a desktop chip, and it overheats all the time, they should never have used the chips in laptops in the first place, and it is heavy, AC adapter is really a must... or the battery is gone. IMHO, games shouldn't be played on laptops, its just not the right use of that machine... unless your a on-the-go gamer.

Alienware is a overpriced "customize-your-pc" company that's "famed" customer service really isn't much help... but I never really found any brand-name companie's tech support any help, especially HP.

[americanmetal07]

Im starting to loose interest in the laptop idea.. i might just build my own desktop

[glc]

That is a lot smarter if you are just going to game with it. If you need portability (which you really don't till you go to college) you can buy a sub-$1000 laptop that will do everything you need except game well. There's more to a computer than just games. You can also use a console for gaming.

[memsu06]

I'm gonna tell you to go with Dell for a couple of reasons. Dell's warranty is great, especially if you get complete care. Basically you can accidentally drop your computer off a 3 story building and they will replace it. I'm hard on laptops and I've broken several components on mine (my fault, not Dell). However, Dell sent out a tech to replace the broken parts, usually within 1 or 2 days. Check out Alienware computer reviews. A large majority of them have said they have terrible customer support. I'll build a desktop, but I'd buy a Dell laptop.