M15x - buy or not to buy?

hello forum,
For a long time now I have been looking forwards to replacing my current laptop (a 2005 HP dv6000, 2GB RAM, 120GB HDD, Intel Centrino Duo processors, no GPU), especially considering that this laptop even struggles with WoW graphics settings on close-to-minimum settings, and other games that I love playing (such as Age of Empires III) are out of the question, with even the lowest graphics settings sometimes being too much for the laptop.

For a long time, I've loooved Alienware, and now I might finally be able to buy one. I am planning to buy the M15x with the following settings:
- Cosmic Black
- i7 820QM (the 920XM is simply too expensive for my budget + the 9 cell!)
- Windows 7 Home Basic
- nVidia GTX 260M
- 1920x1080 display
- 4GB memory at 1333Mhz
- 500GB HDD
- Blu-ray/DVD reader and burner
- Intel WiFi link 5300 802.11AGN half-mini card

If there are any recommendations of what to change on those specs, plz share

My second concern is one of location. I currently live out of the USA, however, I'm ordering the Alienware from the US and having it delivered to where I am by courier. However, soon I will be moving to Holland. Will I be able to get support in a European Alienware center (if there is one) or would I have to send the laptop back to the USA if it needed repairs?

Any feedback/comments would be greatly appreciated
sorry if there are any stupid remarks/statements above, this is my first time here

 

A Solid state hard drive will be awesome with the spec. Rest all is good. Don't get the ssd from dell, they provide samsung ssd's you could get something better like Intel X-25, OCZ... Everything else seems fine!!!

Did you have a look a the M17x R2. Thats a beast as well and comes with RGB LED(more colour gamut).

Not sure... But I think you can transfer the warraty from Alienware USA to European Alienware Support team. But it is better to check it with them (get them to email you to confirm this, because you get Dell reps who just tell you things... just for there sales commision)

And ya!!! GTX260m is awesome. I have mine currently O.C. to 650/1100/1625... 100% stable.... and you can get a 20-25% performance boost when gaming... (anyways u won't be needing to O.C. the GPU to play games).

Don't worry about getting the GPU hot when O.C. because M15x is cooling monster!!!! and a processing beast!!!

 

Hi,
I live in Amsterdam and here is a Dell / AW Center. So you will have no problems with Service / Support!

In my opinion you should take a better Win 7 Version. The rest is ok.

Greetings,
Sascha

 

Alright thanks so much for the info, I'll try contacting dell about the warranty transfer, and it's great to know that there's a service place in holland - thanks!

 

Hi,
the Internetsite is www.dell.nl ... if you call them, you have even the choice of speeking to English staff!

And service transfer is no problem. I am from Germany (but for my job I have to stay here for five years) ... a I moved 2008 a asked Dell and they told me that service and warrenty is worldwide! So I can promise you it will be no problem at all.

Greets,
Sascha

 

sweet, nice setup almost the same as mine. as stated above maybe go with a better windows option,, i went with win 7 ultimate 64 bit myself and it great, if later on you decide to upgrade ram or something. also an ssd would be nice, but buying a aftermarket one would be better than a dell oem model.

 

Thanks for holland link
If I get Windows 7 home premium, I should have no trouble upgrading RAM right?

 

64 bit version works with more ram

 

I'd suggest getting professional or home premium, not ultimate. As long as you have 64-bit installed, the computer can read and use more than 3.5 gigs of RAM

 

Get 6GB of RAM. It will be faster. 8GB if you can afford it.

 

No matter what I tend to Lose FPS when playing on Battery.