I need a crazy good laptop for college.

[mattress]

As the title states I need a monster laptop for college. I'm majoring in Digital Media with a concentration in Interaction and Game Design. I need something that will play WoW/D3 on high/ultra settings and that will allow me to run the programs* necessary to design games and animate. My budget is $2,000 USD.

*DarkGAME Studio, FPS Creator, X-Quad Editor, Character Shop, 3ds Max and a butt load of other stuff.

[inux94]

http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-g75vwrs7...wconfigure=yes

3rd Generation Intel® Ivy Bridge Core™ i7-3720QM
IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
24GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory
750GB (w/ 8GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid

Final Price: $2132.06

[glo]

7970m beats Nvidia's mobile offerings by an absolute buttload right now. I'd shoot for something with that in it.

[DeltrusDisc]

I don't know if he needs a whopping 24GB of RAM, Inux. ;p

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

I guess if he is doing a ton of rendering then it might come in handy.

[Deleted]

Those programs are not provided on campus computers?

[chazus]

First, why do you need a laptop? That might make a huge difference.

[DeltrusDisc]

First, why do you need a laptop? That might make a huge difference.

Mobility, it is always the answer. :P

[chazus]

Mobility, it is always the answer. :P

Mobility is NOT the answer. You say it's for school, so unless you're constantly lugging your laptop around, doing digital editing stuff in random places, you're probably better off getting a nice desktop that can actually do that work, and then a slightly cheaper laptop that can play those games. Or just get a desktop, and skip the laptop aspect entirely.

I can't count the hundreds of people who took the route you're planning on and then regret it when the laptop doesnt have the capability of doing what they want later on.

[busterr18]

I recommend you the alienware m17x r4

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.3GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit edit
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (2DIMMS) edit
HARD DRIVE 750GB 7,200 RPM + 32GB mSATA Caching SSD edit
VIDEO CARD 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 7970M edit
LCD PANEL 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED

With these specifications it costs 2050$

[chazus]

Do not get alienware. Ever. Period. You will regret it.

I've been in the computer repair business for almost 15 years now, and alienware has, hands down, the highest 'buyers remorse' rating.

[pawsz]

Do not get alienware. Ever. Period. You will regret it.

I've been in the computer repair business for almost 15 years now, and alienware has, hands down, the highest 'buyers remorse' rating.

15 years ago? Did you repair one of these?

[mattress]

Those programs are not provided on campus computers?

They are, but we are required to have a laptop capable of running these programs for projects. There are only 40 computers on campus powerful enough to run them and those are used for classes. Trust me, I'd rather drop 2 grand on a desktop I can build than on a laptop.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Are they at least giving you part (if not all) of the 2000 dollars for the laptop?

[mattress]

I'll be paying for it out of my financial aid reimbursement.

[Lumberjack]

This is probably one of the top laptops that can do everything at a high level. http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G75VW-AS7.../dp/B007MW73C2

[DeltrusDisc]

This is probably one of the top laptops that can do everything at a high level. http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G75VW-AS7.../dp/B007MW73C2

Sorry but no, there's far better laptops for serious people out there, brands such as Sager come to mind, along with what inux posted.

[Lumberjack]

Yeah there are better laptops but they also go over his budget. I just built a comp on sager exactly like the one i linked and its over 2k.

[Cyanotical]

7970m beats Nvidia's mobile offerings by an absolute buttload right now. I'd shoot for something with that in it.

AMD cards have serious issues with any kind of professional modeling though, i'd stick with an nvidia

[Yohassakura]

Do not get alienware. Ever. Period. You will regret it.

I've been in the computer repair business for almost 15 years now, and alienware has, hands down, the highest 'buyers remorse' rating.

I'd have to agree with this basically about Alienware from what I've seen.

I believe that someone on the forum at somepoint even got in contact with alienware and asked them why upgrading the RAM by 2-4GB cost like $800 or something (for a desktop).

One of my mates bought an alienware and he immediately wanted to change the GPU, though the one he bought was also rubbish and wouldn't even fit in the case.
Then something else happened... No idea what he's done with the PC now :P I told him that I could make him one for approximately £500 cheaper with the same/better components but he didn't listen.

That said, I have no clue on their laptop branch but I wouldn't entirely recommend them, I'd say to get a Sager or ASUS instead.