Alienware m15x--worthwhile?

[Toadsworth]

So, I have a budget of around $2500 for a laptop for college, and im really considering the alienware m15x as of right now. However i am a bit apprehensive about the purchase. i've heard great things about alienware's laptops, but i've also heard terrible things. what do you think?

[Ellipsis]

i think you should look around..

cyberpowerpc

ibuypower

digitalstorm

and a few others (although the top 2 are "cheaper")

ive heard with alienware you are paying for the name, especially now that dell owns it. i dunno though good luck

[Iliar]

Ellipsis is correct with everything I've heard about Alienware. My computers are from no big names, so I don't have any experience with the listed companies. But ever since Dell bought Alienware, the good things seemed to end.

[Deleted]

I would go for something from iBUYPOWER. However wary that you seek a gaming laptop for college = heavy = not very mobile + short battery life.

[m4xc4v413r4]

Are you looking for a gaming laptop or a laptop for college?

On the title, the alienware is good but i personally would never buy one because you pay a lot of extra money for the brand.

For a gaming laptop i would wait, there's a lot of new stuff coming on the next month and prices will drop, so you can get something you would get now, a lot cheaper, or you can get something for the same price, a lot better.

For a college laptop, well, depends on what you'll be studying there, but in most cases, one of those small laptops (eeepc and friends) is enough, maybe if you want something bigger, a mac? both the mac's and those small laptops have something that is very good in college... you can work on them for a HUGE amount of hours, on battery only.

[Deleted]

Would never go for a mac with college. Way to many compatability problems.

[m4xc4v413r4]

Would never go for a mac with college. Way to many compatability problems.

w00t? not in mine, i never had any problem with mac in college.... but i guess that totally depends on the college.

[Deleted]

w00t? not in mine, i never had any problem with mac in college.... but i guess that totally depends on the college.

College I'm in has no macs, only Windows. So you get loads of problems there

[Yoshimoto]

get a netbook for the school stuff, get a 1/2 decent laptop for the cool stuff.
Honestly alienware is never a valid option.

[Toadsworth]

I doubt i would really use the laptop in class, im more of a pen and paper person when it comes to notes and memorization, it'd be mostly for papers and research. ok, it'd be pretty fully devoted to wow. I do really like the aesthetics of the new alienware laptops though, everything seems to pale in comparison. For $2500, what can i expect from another brand, specs wise?

[m4xc4v413r4]

Do you really need a laptop or would it be cool to get a desktop?

Just asking cuz, gamewise, you could get a great desktop with $2500, you can have a good laptop with that, if you play with the costumization on something like the alienware, before you know it, you'll get over $3000 easily.

For laptops, mmh, i think the new Qosmio x500 is nice. http://laptops.toshiba.com/laptops/qosmio/X500 you have a bunch of models, going from like $1200 to $1900... you can get a SSD and a 7200 rpm HDD, it has the new nvidia 300's, an intel i7... a bunch of stuff, and i must say that usually Toshiba is topnotch in quality.

edit: oh, and with the x500, we're talking about a full HD 18.4" monitor... for that price

edit2: i tryed to configure an equivalent (to the x500) Alienware, and, well, i got over $2600 and i still had an inferior laptop, specwise

[Toadsworth]

well, desktop is out of the question, parents would like to see me with a laptop, and the grandparents are kinda supplying the funds :P
I checked out the toshiba, and it does have a really good deal on newegg, but id prefer a 15" one, im not a fan of giant notebooks.
although the i7 + 300 series video card is sexy.

[m4xc4v413r4]

I went to sleep after my last post, it was 3:30 AM here

mmh, there is no x500 15", maybe you'll be happy with an Asus G-series, i have an Asus G-series, but an old one, don't have bad things to say about it, these usually seem more robust than the toshibas, like they where made to go to war or something...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220700
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220688

These 2 are basically the same as the x500 (same i7 + 300 series video card), but in 15" version, and you lose the SSD.
Between those two versions, the only difference i spotted is that one has 4gb ddr3, and the other has 6gb dd3, one is $1300, the other $1500.... oh and Asus G-series always come with extras.... like an awesome backpack to take your computer, and a gaming mouse, don't know what mouse these new ones come with (altho by the picture, it really looks like the Razer Copperhead), and by these prices, you still have $1000 to spend on other stuff, like a pen drive, external hdd, maybe a laptop cooler so you can have that gaming machine always nice and cool all sorts of useful stuff you can use in college.

That's what i can find for 15", i also found this one with 16", USB 3.0 and ATI HD 5730, but it has a way lower resolution monitor, and some other stuff, the thing is, that GFX card is DX11, the nvidia is 10.1 i believe, and i don't really know how good both of them really are, you'll have to maybe check some benchmarks...

It also depends on what games you want to play, i'm sure both of them can run WoW on max settings, mine has a dual-core 2.0 and a ati x1700 and i play at 1440x900 (max res for mine) and the only thing i don't have max is the shadows, i still have dynamic shadows but don't have the slider as far to the right as possible.

[Weisen]

++agree with the post above. Great gaming laptops.

Alienware - No.

[Deleted]

The Asus G73 is really good, but haven't been able to find it on newegg, only dutch stores :< That's a real college lappy though. No college one imo

[m4xc4v413r4]

The Asus G73 is really good, but haven't been able to find it on newegg, only dutch stores :< That's a real college lappy though. No college one imo

It's great, the thing is, he want a 15" laptop.