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Partagaspete
05-19-2009, 07:16 AM
Okay online gamers my son graduates from H.S. this year and we are buying him a new laptop. He is trying to sell me on this brand but I know very little about them. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your input.

T

Nabinger16
05-19-2009, 07:21 AM
I've never messed with one, but I've followed there website for a number of years. They seem to be a division of Dell that is focused on catering to PC gamers. They offer some cutting edge stuff compared to other manufactures.

DougBushBC
05-19-2009, 07:22 AM
For most serious gamers, "Gaming" and "Laptop" don't go well together. I would certainly consider either choosing an afordable laptop for school use and working towards a good gaming unit, OR just spending some money on a decent gaming rig. That being said I spent MANY hours in college gaming on my Powerbook Titanium and it was a great experience.

Mugen910
05-19-2009, 07:36 AM
For most serious gamers, "Gaming" and "Laptop" don't go well together. I would certainly consider either choosing an afordable laptop for school use and working towards a good gaming unit, OR just spending some money on a decent gaming rig. That being said I spent MANY hours in college gaming on my Powerbook Titanium and it was a great experience.

:tpd:

Get him a small and light laptop for college...then get to help pay for a "Gaming PC" that he can put in his room with a nice monitor.

DougBushBC
05-19-2009, 07:41 AM
As for Alienware, they make good products, but you pay for appearance. If that is an issue, go for it. They used to be one of the best Independents in the Biz, and Dell bought them a few years back and have effed them up a bit.

dunng
05-19-2009, 07:51 AM
It's just an overpriced Dell XPS now... :c

rennD
05-19-2009, 07:59 AM
Good machine, but way overpriced IMHO. I would just get him a Dell Outlet unit. http://www.dell.com/outlet

I usually uncheck the "Lease Return" and "Scratch and Dent" options.

PeteSB75
05-19-2009, 08:12 AM
It's just an overpriced Dell XPS now... :c

I don't know that I'd go that far, they actually still use higher quality parts rather than the lowest bidder crap that dell uses on their normal boxes. But for a well specced gaming rig, you will pay $3k or more from Alienware. I bought a rig from them a couple years ago and it's great. Their tech support is also better than the normal dell jobbies, separate number.

If you are looking to get a gaming laptop, you will pay $4k+ for a good build, and it is more of a portable desktop than an actual laptop - you'll be lucky to get 45mins on battery. Not worth it, IMO.

If he is really serious about a gaming rig, one of the higher end shops like Alienware or Falcon are really the only way to go, outside of building your own. I've done both and prefer avoiding the hassle of the build and the convenience of having tech support on the phone.

If you are interested in building your own, Tom's Hardware (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-2-overclock,2146.html) is a good resourse. That article is one of their recent system builder contests, which should have multiple builds at different price points.

marge796
05-19-2009, 08:13 AM
I have a friend who has one and hates it. It's been shipped back for warranty repairs twice in the 18 months he's owned it. They're flashy and weigh a ton. I think you could do better for the money.


:2


Chris.....

King James
05-19-2009, 08:15 AM
my only concern would be that if your son is going to college and will be using the laptop for school work as well, I've heard alienware laptops have horrible battery life. This may have changed with the most recent models, but if it is still the case having something that won't die during the middle of class would be better.

PeteSB75
05-19-2009, 08:16 AM
my only concern would be that if your son is going to college and will be using the laptop for school work as well, I've heard alienware laptops have horrible battery life. This may have changed with the most recent models, but if it is still the case having something that won't die during the middle of class would be better.

You will get crap battery out of any laptop specced for gaming. Video cards just pull too much power.

King James
05-19-2009, 08:39 AM
You will get crap battery out of any laptop specced for gaming. Video cards just pull too much power.

Yah, thats what I figured. Just didn't know if they made any improvements since I last looked at the specs. I switched to Apple 4 years ago and have been getting more and more out of the loop with PCs lately.

LeoM
05-19-2009, 08:51 AM
If ya want a gaming rig that "might" not break the bank, voodoo pc and widow pc both make some nice units (I say "might" as price is based on how you rig them). If you're looking for a nice gaming laptop that definately won't break the bank, MSI makes a few that are pretty nice. I've played alot of more demanding games (Crysis, CoD4, WoW, etc.) and even with my mid-level model, it's handled them nicely. I guess it all depends on how far into the extreme you want to go with "gaming".

Partagaspete
05-20-2009, 02:38 AM
Thanks for all the great input. I should have given more detail.

He is not a hardcore gamer but does like his WoW not to lag...That being said I will probably be looking for something a bit more reasonably priced.

Thanks,

T

Sawyer
05-20-2009, 05:36 AM
Thanks for all the great input. I should have given more detail.

He is not a hardcore gamer but does like his WoW not to lag...That being said I will probably be looking for something a bit more reasonably priced.

Thanks,

T
You definitely don't need an Alienware to get the most out of WoW. The requirements are actually quite low and just about any laptop with a slightly upgraded video card can handle it easily.

GhostRyder
05-20-2009, 02:15 PM
My years old Compaq handles WoW okay, back when I played for a week or two. However, I went the cheap laptop (Sam's Club display model of a Compaq Presario for $600) and a gaming rig that I put together myself. For real gaming you definitely want a desktop. The compromise between laptop benefits (size, battery life, portability, weight, etc) and gaming rig requirements (power draining, big monitor, comfortable peripherals, etc) is a fairly worthless machine. Better to have 2 machines that do different things very well then on that does both badly.

Just my:2

jkim05
05-20-2009, 02:30 PM
I've had all kinds of laptops and my current set up suits me perfectly. I got an ASUS 1000he netbook for general web surfing and carrying around and built a custom desktop to do anything rigorous. I realized that I didn't really need to carry around most of my computing power and it was cheaper and more efficient to go with two units. This way I have plenty of battery power and plenty of computing power.

PeteSB75
05-20-2009, 03:03 PM
I have two as well, an alienware desktop that rocks whatever games I throw at it, and an older dell laptop that I take with me on the train when I commute. Honestly, the only reason to get a gaming laptop is for lan parties, or if you do a lot of travelling. Basically, due to the crap battery life, it winds up being tied to the power supply regardless of where you go, but it's easier to carry around than tower, monitor, keyboard, mouse.

floydp
05-20-2009, 03:19 PM
Thanks for all the great input. I should have given more detail.

He is not a hardcore gamer but does like his WoW not to lag...That being said I will probably be looking for something a bit more reasonably priced.

Thanks,

T

Hell Tony you could go with the latest Macbook to do WOW.

BigFrank
05-20-2009, 05:13 PM
Going to agree with two of the points made. Laptops are junk for gaming. And alienware is just overpriced dell.
I know a few people that have alienware pcs and most wish they would have spent 1/2 the money and got what they really wanted. Also, their warranties are junk.

Snake Hips
05-20-2009, 06:44 PM
As others have said, Alienware makes a fine machine, but they're very overpriced for what you get. As for desktops, it's much much cheaper to build your own or have someone do it for you. That option isn't really there for laptops, but WoW will work on a basic computer just fine. My friend has the really barebones Compaq laptop and plays WoW all the time.

For college and gaming, go for a higher-end regular laptop. A good processor, lots of RAM and a good independent graphics card will give you a rig that will be up-to-date for years with good gaming compatibility as a bonus.

Partagaspete
05-21-2009, 12:40 AM
Hell Tony you could go with the latest Macbook to do WOW.

My daughter has one and loves it but my son does not want one. I hear they are good and I am personally considering one for my next laptop but right now my three year old dell is working fine. It is slowing up and lagging a bit so I need to bring it to a friend to clean it out. Thanks for the idea though I never thought to ask him.

shilala
05-21-2009, 01:45 AM
Good machine, astronomically overpriced.
A dell XPS can be had for far less, and it'll do a damn fine job with anything he throws at it.

Partagaspete
05-21-2009, 10:25 AM
Good machine, astronomically overpriced.
A dell XPS can be had for far less, and it'll do a damn fine job with anything he throws at it.

That is what we are leaning towards now. I have an Inspiron E1505 from 06 and it is still working well enough as I stated earlier but I hav eheard Dell's are not what they use to be...

That being said he will most likely end up with an XPS.

PeteSB75
05-21-2009, 11:36 AM
Going to agree with two of the points made. Laptops are junk for gaming. And alienware is just overpriced dell.
I know a few people that have alienware pcs and most wish they would have spent 1/2 the money and got what they really wanted. Also, their warranties are junk.

I have had no reason to use the warranty so far. Tech support on the other hand... Of course, I have only myself to blame, for listening when they told me to reinstall my OS to fix a display issue. Turns out the issue was that my monitor cable was bad...

BigFrank
05-21-2009, 01:47 PM
I have had no reason to use the warranty so far. Tech support on the other hand... Of course, I have only myself to blame, for listening when they told me to reinstall my OS to fix a display issue. Turns out the issue was that my monitor cable was bad...
One of the biggest issues my friends have encountered was after the warranties dropped, too much crap went wrong. Now I know this does happen from time to time, but three people with three separate pcs tells me something. Also two of them had issues with 3 months of purchasing.

PeteSB75
05-21-2009, 02:29 PM
As others have said, Alienware makes a fine machine, but they're very overpriced for what you get. As for desktops, it's much much cheaper to build your own or have someone do it for you. That option isn't really there for laptops, but WoW will work on a basic computer just fine. My friend has the really barebones Compaq laptop and plays WoW all the time.

For college and gaming, go for a higher-end regular laptop. A good processor, lots of RAM and a good independent graphics card will give you a rig that will be up-to-date for years with good gaming compatibility as a bonus.

I built the rig I used before this one. The cost savings is really only there when you can recycle parts from previous rigs. Once you are replacing everything, which generally needs to happen after 2-3 years, things start adding up. I priced out the parts to build a box similar to the one I bought from Alienware at a cost savings of less than 10% of the total price. To me, that extra couple hundred bucks is just not worth the time and aggravation of building it, troubleshooting and RMAing at least one part off every PC, then rebuilding, installing the OS, drivers, etc.

WoW just needs a pc with a video card to be playable. The lag is most often a factor of all the addons that people run with their WoW.

One of the biggest issues my friends have encountered was after the warranties dropped, too much crap went wrong. Now I know this does happen from time to time, but three people with three separate pcs tells me something. Also two of them had issues with 3 months of purchasing.

Hmm, I think I only got the 1 year on mine and it's been about 18mo since I got it. No problems with the PC itself. BTW, missing you down in the Pumping Iron thread. Not seen you there in a while.

BigFrank
05-22-2009, 10:49 AM
Hmm, I think I only got the 1 year on mine and it's been about 18mo since I got it. No problems with the PC itself. BTW, missing you down in the Pumping Iron thread. Not seen you there in a while.Been a lil busy, nothing special lolz!