Good Deal?!

Hi All

New to website. Found this place to be a good resource for all that is Alienware so I am posting my question here. Thanks in advance for all replies.

I saw an unopened "Alienware M17x AM17XR3-6579STB" on "Fall Clearance" for $699 USD at a local electronics store. Is this a good deal? I was looking to upgrade from an old VAIO Vista 32bit Core2 Duo T7250 @2.00GHz, 4gb RAM, 750gb Seagate Momentus XT. However I have several concerns:
1. 2nd gen i7. Should I configure one online with a 3rd gen i7? is it worth the price difference?
2. 1600x900 LCD screen. I'm coming from a 1440x900 screen. Is the 1920x1080 worth the upgrade? Can I order a replacement 1920x1080 screen and replace the stock screen?
3. Is the Radeon 6870 a good vid card? If I can upgrade to a 1920x1080 screen, will this card be able to handle this resolution? Can I upgrade this card? If so, can I upgrade to an Nvidia card or do I have to use an ATI? What is a good card to upgrade to?
4. It says it has 8gb RAM (4+4). How many slots are there? Somewhere, I saw it has 2 slots easily accessed and another 2 accessed if you remove the back. Is this true? What is the max RAM?
5. Does it have 2 HDD bays? Is it SATA 3?
6. Can I upgrade the DVD burner to a Bluray?

I have priced an R4 but it is way out of my price range. I thought if I bought this and upgraded the components, I could get close to an R4 for less $$

BTW, looking to use the laptop for gaming (Crysis2, Deadspace2, League of Legends, etc.), web surfing, video editing, watching HD movies, streaming video and music.

 

700 isn't too shabby, it's probably an M17xR3 if it's new.

1) If it's what I think it is, R3 doesn't support 3rd gen Ivy Bridge CPU's but it shouldn't be the bottleneck.
2) You could go for 1080p LCD, I think it's like 350-400, kinda pricey.
3) 6870M is a 5870M rebranded, it's a competent GPU, depends on the games you want to play. You could put up to a 7970M, not sure if a 680M will work. Kinda pricey, 6990M/6970M are good bargains, but a huge jump up.
4) It should have 4 RAM slots, up to 32 GB
5) Yes it has 2 HDD bays, both SATA 3.
6) Yes you can, $$$

 

Well worth 700$. Especially if it comes with warranty. I'd buy those all day long for that price.

 

its a good deal will say one thing with regards to question 5 you cant run 2 sata 3 ssds that will be troublesome you can only put one sata 3 ssd in the middle bay just a quick tip. but other than that "Tsunade_Hime" is spot on

 

Thanks for all the replies. Unfortunately, I had to return the unopened box and bought a portable generator in preparation for Hurricane Sandy! I figured that I can get a 3rd gen i7, 1920x1080 screen, blu ray, Win 8, and newer vid card without having to go through the hassle of upgrading each one later. BTW, is 3D worth it? That is, do the graphics come out of the screen or does it seem like u r looking out a window? Does it give u a headache after 5-10 min? Is Alienware coming out with a 17" touch screen to work with Win8 ? 3D plus touch screen would be awesome!