Question regarding the purchase of a laptop for college

I'm on a budget limited to $2000 including tax, shipping, and warranty and would like to either purchase an alienware or perhaps a sager NP8662. I'm looking for the best system overall not necessarily a core i7 gaming rig but something that could play Oblivion/COD/Supreme Commander at playable fps. I'm considering all three alinware models (with student discount via either alienware or dell) equally regardless of weight with the only constraint being the need to take the thing to class. I was initially leaning most heavily towards the m15x but after consulting the forums have discovered many horror stories that make me warry of taking the plunge.

FYI in the last 4 years I've gone through 9 dell system replacements due to them failing with the m1530's being the only solid build so I am concerned with trading off warranty for more power. I also fear that college may be rough on my comp even in an alien armor case.

given all of this I humbly ask for the best all around solution to my conundrum.

 

Maybe a lower end config m17x, i dont think your listed games take alot really.
Spend the whole 2000 with discount though

 

You could also configure a nice 15" Sager within that budget that would suit your needs.

http://www.sagernotebook.com

 

while you mention the AW unit, this thread should be in the:

What Notebook Should I Buy:
What Notebook Should I Buy For School?

the mods may move it.
and you will get more information from a wider variety of people with experince in having a laptop in a college setting.

 

I apologize for my lack of forethought in the placement of thread and hopefully the mods will relocate it to the proper thread as they see fit.

 

The base M17x with a few upgrades would be under $2000, and the student discount will come close to canceling out taxes (depending on your local rate...mine is almost exactly 7%). But it will not be good if you have to carry it and books to class. I'd look at the Sager.

 

I'd also look at the Sager if you wanted more portability.

 

Yeah as everyone says, avoid the m15x and get the sager for future upgradeability and slightly better/same graphics. If it wasn't for how crappily it was built (sadly I am an owner), the integrated graphics and smart bay are perfect, but frankly I would rather have a better built laptop as the sager.

 

believe me, an m17 plus Hull's "options, futures and other derivatives" in a messenger bag could hurt your shoulder.

you should not look for a 17'' in classroom. pick a portable one, as thinkpad's x200 or something similar.

 

17 inc hlaptops are perfect for the class .... i did sell my m17 because of only 1:30 hours of battery life

 

I suppose the TC should check out some 17 and 15 inches in person to get a feel for it himself.

 

If you're carting it around to class then I would say a 15" Sager, or even check out some of the offerings from ASUS in the 15-16" rnage. The G50VT-X2 we have performs very well and you can do even better than that for $2k.

The 17" along with a power brick and your books could get cumbersome.

 

I have the M17 and it's a really nice machine. But I'm not sure if you can configure it to play those games well, depends if they're CPU dependant-upgrading the CPU may raise the cost above $2000.

You'll probably want to consider the M17x, even with the base configuration it'd blast through those games. Although on your budget, I'd add in an extra 260M for good measure.

Erm, I have to disagree with you there. I've taken my M17 to college a few days now, with school books as well, so the total was around 10kg or more possibly in the Orion messenger bag, and I was fine with it. (I'd take it almost every day but there really isn't much point)

 

15inch is a good compromise for school though I never took my m15x to any classes (its noisy and stands out alot..) however I will say this for the m15x while not built as well as other AW's or computers its still a very nice machine I get incredibly good battery life when I optimize and use my two batteries and its various power saving features (integrated graphics, etc)

the m17 btw is a hell of a bargain and is very sexy and well built if your a big guy like my brother it should be no problem carting around and is great for lan parties to.

Look into buying second hand it saves amazing amounts of cash. I just bought a nice small voodoo envy (silent, good enough for school nice and small and sexy in a more discrete way) for half its original price. Alienware's can be had cheap used to-computers depreciate massively!

 

Yes, but that means no warranty. And the warranty IS worth something.

 

What should I reply? OK, man. You are strong. with 10KG+ on the shoulder, walking around the campus is quite a burden to me...

 

I'm sorry, but What? The CPU selection is nearly identical for both machines. Either one of them in base configuration would run those games fine.

M17:
Dual Core:
Intel® Core™2 P8400 2.26GHz (3MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™2 P8600 2.4GHz (3MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™2 T9550 2.66GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9000 2.00GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™2 Extreme X9100 3.06GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Quad Core:
Intel® Core™2 T9600 2.8GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)

M17x:
Intel® Core™2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz (3MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™2 Duo P8700 2.53GHz (3MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™2 Duo T9600 2.8GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™2 Duo T9800 2.93GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Quad Core:
Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9000 2.0GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9100 2.26GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)

Identical ones are in red. I still say go with a 15" for college if you plan on lugging it around everywhere, and if you're not happy with m15x, then look at Sager's

 

I think you would have to look at the size of the person. A small person that dont work out the M17x is going to be heavy with books as well.

I think you need to look what will work best for the person. If I Look at someone that has back problems a Mini laptop will be best.

I would go for a laptop that work best in battery and power. Which show the M15X. Becuse you can use more then one battery.

If you are heathly go for a 17 inch. The M17X you can turn off gpus and the lighting and run at low power.

But really what you need to do is get a backpack add a few heavy books with 12 lb of stuff and see if it worth holding on to or look at a differnt system.

Like me 50Lb is nothing. But it saves on working out haha.