New buyer choosing options now, need help

Hello all,
I am currently in the market for a laptop and have seriously considering the m17x. im using dells page to configure the lap top and have chosen the following setup.
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 2820QM 2.3GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit edit
MEMORY 6GB DDR3 at 1333MHz (2DIMMS) edit
VIDEO CARD 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 6970M
HARD DRIVE 320GB 7,200RPM HDD edit
LCD PANEL 17.3-inch WideHD+ 1600 x 900 60Hz WLED edit
WIRELESS CARD Wireless 802.11 g/n edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW) edit
SYSTEM COLOR Alienware M17x, Soft Touch Stealth Black

I will use the machine for gaming, and school work. Other than the harddrive, what suggestions do you all suggest? do my choices seem sufficent to last me for a few years? or did i go too high on some? any advice would be much appreciated .....i have very limited computer knowledge but am will to research. thanks in advance

 

I would go with the full 1080p 60hz screen, unless you're deadset on getting the max fps when gaming. Also, a blu-ray drive might be nice if you ever want to double your laptop up as a media center. The 2820qm is a bit overkill, perhaps consider 2720qm for 200 less, only loosing 2mb cache, and 100Mhz. On the ram, just go stock, and then buy some kingston hyperx 1600 ram, that will be a far better bang for the buck.

And maybe considering buying an intel 6300 wireless card from them, or aftermarket to help with wifi

 

im not interested in the blue ray player tbh. how much of a diff on price would getting the kingston ram be? i have done minor hardware swaps on my desktop but am completly new to laptops.

 

also when choosing accesories, it gives me the option of 240 Watt 3 Prong AC Adapter with 6 ft Power Cord but also says it comes with Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter.....just curious of the difference.

 

I dont know about the adapter. I just went with standard, and everybody else I believe, and no one has had issues yet. For the kingston ram, a full 16Gb would be 200+shipping/tax. Each 4gb x 2 pack is 100bucks, each 2gb x 2 pack is 90bucks I believe?

If you are worried about swaps, there are vids on here of how to do it

 

Thank you a lot for the info. Last question i have is after i recieve it, is there anything i need to do to it? i read a lot of people having issues with heat so putting thermal paste in etc? is this still an issue or do i need to mod it. and im not real familiar with over clocking etc.....is that a neccesity or can i run it stock and not have problems with high end games?

 

Get the same specs as I did (in my sig). It's the best bang for the buck setup according to what lots of ppl informed me during my shopping period.