Best m15/m17(x) configuration for 2,000?

Hello all!

I was going to post this in the "Which Notebook should I buy?" section as I always do, but maybe I'm wrong here, this is such a specific question on a specific manufacturer, I thought you all could help me more and I can steer away from Sager and Clevo recommendations, which are nice, don't get my wrong, but I want an Alienware.

Anyways, now that that's over with, let me give you some boring flashbacks, feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph, I've used the great community here at NBR a few times, in the past few years. I really liked the original HP dv5000t recommended to me years ago, and came back last summer looking for suggestions for a tablet. Ended up buying an iMac, then I decided, I still wanted to be portable, so I went around asking for suggestions again, and bought an aluminum Macbook. Well I just sold both of them, and I have about 2,000USD in play for a new gaming laptop, and I'm back for some suggestions.

I'll be more than happy to fill out the FAQ if you'd like but here's the general gist, I have 2,000USD to spend, but I'm flexible down the line, meaning, if you think it's more advantageous to get say 2GB of RAM, and a faster CPU and have me just buy more RAM in a month when I have the extra that is fine. However I'd like the best configuration of any of these machines available to me for my budget and games like Crysis, L4D, Fallout 3.

I really appreciate all the help!

 

M17 with:
- Crossfire HD3870s
- P8600 w/ 2.4GHZ
- 64bit Vista HP
- 2GB RAM (upgrade yourself to 4GB for $60)
- lighted keyboard
- WUXGA screen
- 320GB@7200RPM HDD

for $1999. add $60 for 4GB of RAM.

OR

m15x with:
- Nvidia 9800M-GT
- T9300 w/ 2.5GHZ
- 64bit Vista HP
- 2GB RAM (upgrade yourself to 4GB for $45)
- lighted keyboard
- WSXGA+ screen
- 320GB@7200RPM HDD

for $1824. add $45 for 4GB of RAM.

 

i second what whizzo said

 

What would the difference be between running a single 320 GB hard drive and a pair of 160s in RAID 0 in the m17? I only ask because the cost of a 160 at Newegg is almost exactly the same as the upgrade from 160 to 320 at Alienware.

 

lol the speed is the difference

 

but the chance of losing all you data is twice as high.

 

whizzo listed a couple good set-ups.

I would only add imao, that I have never heard of any design flaws in the M17.
The A.W. brand as well as the other brands that use the same chassis are just plain rock solid. It is a tried and true design which includes the newer Montevina platform with DDR3 memory and Quad core support.

My (biased) opinion is that you seriously consider the M17.

 

Yes, but how much difference is there? I am less concerned about data loss because I regularly back up to an external drive.

 

Hey guys one last question, 2.6ghz Core 2 Duo, or 2ghz Core 2 Quad?

 

2.6GHZ C2D. the Q9000 lacks the clockspeed to push non-quadcore-optimised games. get the C2D now, and upgrade to a faster quadcore in a year or so.

 

oh boy... here comes the Clevo lot

 

Looks like a "yes" to me.

 

No,it's even worse whizzo. See the sig?

Mac+Windows=PC

I also recommend going with the faster core 2 duo especially since the ATI cards seem to be CPU dependent.

 

I noticed most of you lot have changed processors down the line. Where do you go about buying high end oem mobile cpus? Newegg didn't seem to have much of a selection.

 

nobody would be that stupid

as for the CPUs, ebay is the popular choice.

 

Ebay.de.. i bought an E0 stepping (qs) qx9300 cpu for around 400$. And its damn worth it.
(Still kept the original cpu as a spare though just in case.)

 

wouldn't specifically posting in the AW subsection, as opposed to posting in the clearly marked "what notebook should i buy?" subsection, clearly show he has a proclivity for the Alienware brand?

 

As for myself, I'll NEVER go to another brands forum and suggest other options.

For me at least, IMAO, it would feel like going to someone's house and suggesting to them they have the wrong carpet.

No biggy though.

 

lol, all this fighting over me. I'm so embarrassed.

But seriously Rob41 speaks the truth, I specifically asked in the AW forum so I'd avoid Clevo/Sager/Gateway suggestions. Call me a brand, but I want an Alienware.