My Future M17 Specs..

Looking for advice on the specs I've chosen for the M17 I plan to buy in the next couple months. I plan to use it as a desktop replacement for just about everything, including different games, primarily first-person shooters and strategy games. If you would suggest anything different, please let me know, but account for the price change and try to give me a second suggestion so as to maintain a similar price level.

Graphics Card:
Dual 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3870 - CrossFireX™ Enabled!

Processor:
Intel® Core™2 T9400 2.53GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)

Screen:
17-Inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD (1200p) with Clearview Technology

Keyboard:
Illuminated Keyboard with Numeric Pad

OS:
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1

Memory:
4GB« Dual Channel DDR3 SO-DIMM at 1066MHz – 2 x 2048MB

System Drive:
Single 256GB Solid State Drive

Wireless Network Card:
Internal Intel® Ultimate N 5300 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card with MIMO Technology

Warranty:
3-Year AlienCare Onsite Service and 24/7 Toll-Free Phone Support

Total Price: $3,148.00

Again, if you think I should upgrade in 1 department, give me an idea for an alternative downgrade in another to keep the price before mouse, backpack, shipping, and tax under $3,200.

Thanks.

 

do the RAM and the SSD yourself - you'll save some money, and be able to choose the brands yourself.

 

how bout the cpu???

 

Good advise whizzo,
you can get a better SSD and for less.

You might want to get the SSD later and upgrade to the X9100 or QX9300. The extreme processors help you to play at higher settings and resolutions.

Looks good, you'll enjoy it.

 

I'm not buying the laptop. I'm getting it as a present, and my grandfather wouldn't understand enough about the concept of 'doing it myself' to branch out and also buy the extra parts. Money isn't particularly an issue, I'm just being cautious as to how much I ask to spend. lol

 

Nice grandpa!

SSD's are great and help with boot up times etc. but if it's SSD or faster proc, I'd say go with the faster processor. The SSD won't really make a noticable diff while gaming.

 

Yeah, it's a graduation present. lol Class of '09!

 

Cool, congrats man.

 

dang, you're still lucky, id be lucky to get new shoes lol

 

I'd take the new shoes .

 

So there's nothing i should change in that case? How big of a difference is there between the HDD and SDD? Would 2 RPM HDDs be better than one SDD?

 

I'm not sure about the ram. 4GB of DDR3 is the base in most laptops
But for sure, do the SSD urself.

Don't do the CPU yourself, they are less expensive if you pre configure them with the laptop

 

Pffff I'd be lucky to get a check for $5 from my grand parents.

 

High speed SSDs obliterate even two 10,000rpm HDDs in RAID.

 

dude do not get AW SSD they are jmicron controllers and will stutter just get one large HD and a SSD ...... if you can convince him of coarse

 

lol nice man, you beat meh

 

lol funny think is my grandparents paid 1/4 of mine and i paid half and my mom paid 1/4

it was for Grad, easter Christmas, birthday, etc lol i didnt get any thing

my g parents are awsome ...im half spoiled.....but not ignorent

 

lol half spoiled

 

whats wrong with that ? i work midnight shifts .. and go to HS and college ... not quite spolied i pay for every thing else

 

On my Dad's side of the family I have 1 grandma(grandpa died in '05).
She isn't the type to buy her grandchildren anything. But she does give us birthday money and pays semi-generously if you help her with things around the house.

My Mom's side of the family about the same except they act totally different.
My Grandma usually doesn't say a word to any of us grand childeren b/c her 7 daughters aren't the greatest Basically she doesn't like some of here daughters and so she doesn't like any of her grand children.
Grandpa on the other hand doesn't say much. It's hard to explain what he is like, he was a marine and now he is addicted to guns...

Overall my I like my grand parent's and wouldn't want them to spend money buying me things. They have better things to spend it on, like guns, meds, and... girlscout cookies

 

If your not gonna use the second storage slot id recommend 2 x 128Gb SDD, you can get them cheaper. Check out the samsung 128Gb SSD if you get two you can set up RAID 0 which would be even faster than a single 256 Gb.

I have a 256Gb Samsung SSD which is great but only because i needed more storage space and use a 500Gb HDD 7200RPM Gforce drive. As for RAM Alienware is a complete RIPOFF! You can get it cheaper else where check out Newegg.

As for the processor Alienware again overcharge so If it was me Id get the cheapest CPU and then upgrade to the Core 2 Duo Extreme X9100, its an awesome CPU! Or if you wanna wait awhile for the prices to drop the Quad Extreme is immense!

The GPU cards are good but better ones have been anounced to be released so you could always get 1 and then go x-fire when the newer ones come out.

Blu-ray drives can be picked up from ebay for around £100.00 now. Post your specs when you finally get the machine. I'll be getting mine in a few months when widows 7 is fully released, my M9750 will do me till then.

 

Man Im gonna be paying off that m17 for yrs.....will your granparents adopt me? lol

 

my Grampa is 92 and absolutely loaded, he was an army Colonel, my grandma is dead, my others are just so normal. they are always on holiday

 

I'm glad you guys are having fun commenting on my grandparents, and mentioning your own, but I have another question. lol How much of a difference is there between 1 256GB SDD and 2 128GB SDDs? Is it noticeable? Or even practical and worth doing?

 

if you raid them ...it will be faster

 

how much faster? worth $200?

 

like my grampa in the dambusters?

 

lol i was born in '92

 

XD that's a good one +Rep

Edit: Oh, I imagine your grandpa tells you a'lot of war stories

 

all the time, he even tells me them on the phone. did you know he met Douglas Badar and Roald Dahl?

 

2 Vertex's in RAID or 2 Intel X-25M's in RAID will destroy a 256GB SSD while being a bit cheaper.

 

REALLY cheaper if you get them from newegg

 

I've heard of Roald Dahl... didn't he write charlie and the chocolate factory?

 

Absolutely go for the dual Vertex or intel SSD's. This will only increase what's already great about SSD's. With SSD's a Raid 0 setup is blazing fast as well as reliable. I'm speaking from experience, and the two SSD's will still weigh less than one old fashioned mechanical HDD.

 

thats the one!