Best Buy m17x, Is it the real deal?

Hey folks, I'm considering a laptop upgrade/replacement from a failed Asus G73JH. I'd have gone with the G74 as the price was right and Best Buy would have used it as a straight exchange, but it has the gimped 128bit bus on the Geforce 506m, rather than the stock 192bit version. The FPS could course drops accordingly.

As I have a large pile of credit at Best Buy currently, I am considering a laptop from there. The BBY website has an Alienware m17x ( link), but it seems like Best Buy always cuts some corners to lower costs on their more expensive laptops. On the G73, the reduced screensize, removed 2gb of ram, and nixed the blueray. Is the Best Buy version of the m17x gimped in some significant game killing way I am not seeing? What's missing that would make someone not buy this?

I do see the 1600x900 screen, not a killer. Bo Bluray, again, not a deal breaker.

 

My only complaint would be that it wasnt the 1920x1080 moniter, otherwise, its up to you.

Nice gpu though.

 

That's a tough call. I was in the same boat 2 months ago. I was going for the G74 but some great deals on Alienware swayed me to get the M17xR3 from Dell.

The Best Buy version is a "Failsafe" budget gamer. It has a powerful HD 6970 with the lower res 1600x900 screen, so in theory, all games should pump out 60+FPS or better, thus satisfying the customer, thus no returns back to Best Buy.

The same exact system if built on Alienware's website cost $1919 before tax, so its a good deal at Best Buy.

If you want a 1080P LCD later down the road, Ebay always has screens for about $200. As far as Blu-ray goes, I have 5 Blu-ray players in the house, and 17 movies I have not watched in months : ) so yeah not a deal breaker.

For comparison, check out the Newegg version here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834200295

Notice that the Newegg version only has a 1GB 6870, so again the Best Buy Version is a good deal.

 

I have BR on mine but will more likely use it if it was a burner. And actually thinking about switching it out with a burner.

 

The corners cut are the 1600 x 900 screen and the base CPU/GPU (nice that it's the 2GB version though), but they bump the hard drive to 750GB and memory to 8GB for the $200 increase from the base $1499 price. The warranty may not be the same, either, it could be mail-in or something other than NBD in-home service, or even through Best Buy rather than directly with AW.

Not a bad system at all, one of the tricks of budget gamers is to just get the base 1600 x 900 screens, especially if you're not going to be playing at ultra high resolutions anyway.

You could probably get a better system directly for the same money with special deals and discounts, but if the Best Buy system suits your needs and it's what you want to spend the credit on, go for it.

 

1600 x 900 is more a 14-15in machine resolution. I would try to get a better deal through Dell with a screen upgrade. No need to worry about hard drive or ram. Those are the cheapest upgrades you can do on your own.

I would avoid this deal but im big on resolution and screen space.

 

If I remember correctly bestbuy systems come with crap mail in warranty.

 

Are you military or have family in it? You can get the M17X R3 with more stuff in it for cheaper, no tax.

No military access? You can still wheel and deal directly with Dell and likely get comparable or better prices.

Or, you could buy slightly used from the marketplace on these forums.

 

I think Dell doesn't support some systems bought through retailers, but don't quote me on it.

 

If you fancy the Geek Squad, then by all means go ahead haha.