Questions! (lots of them)

First off, let me apologize if this has been asked before (I'm sure it has).

I'm thinking about getting a replacement for my current M17 laptop; it's not a bad machine, but it really is lacking in just about everything but its Crossfire ATI 3870's which still work reasonably well for me (in terms of gaming). However, the Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz CPU isn't so hot, and its lack of power is starting to catch up. I've had 3 systems in mind, and was wondering if you guys could give me an opinion on them :

custom gaming laptops - Welcome to Sager Notebooks <-- Sager NP8120

Display - 18.4" Full HD (1920 x 1080)
Video - Dual ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Graphics with 1GB GDDR5 (Crossfire)
CPU - Intel® Core™ i7-740QM Processor ( 45nm, 6MB L3 Cache, 1.73GHz)
OS - Win7 Homr Premium 64bit
Memory - 6GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
HD - 6GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (I'd most likley replace this with a SSD in the future, one the price drops a bit more)
Wireless - Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module

Unit Price: $2,119.00

Rather than listing the configs of the M15/M17x systems that you guys have probably seen a million times, I'll just let you know that I'd like to stay on the cheap side of things (close to $2k or below). The Sager, although I really like its specs, is a bit pricey for me, which segways nicely into my next question...

Has anyone had any experience with the student discount thing that AW offers? I know such a discount exists, but have no idea how I would go about actually getting it (or even the amount of money it would save). Could someone explain how this works?

Finally...Is it worth waiting until next year for the new technology to come out? Is there any news on a new AW product in the near future? (again, sorry for asking a question that has prolly been discussed Ad nauseam.

Thanks very much in advance!

 

Alienware Laptops | Dell

There's the link to Dell EPP if you're a University student. I didn't use EPP, but I've heard great things about it for sure and you can save quite a bit. That said, the M17x will still probably be a little more expensive. I'd try calling your order in and doing some haggling (mention the Sager) to see if you can get a price match on a system.

Also, on the new hardware thing, Sandy Bridge is scheduled for release Q1 '11. If I were you, I'd wait. Hope I helped!

 

why not upgrade your actual cpu and wait until sandy bridge?

you could get a x9100 for not so much on ebay

 

If you call up dell outlet you can get amazing prices on the m17x. I got my m15x from the outlet (specs in the sig) for $1,199 and with taxes and shipped it was a total of $1277 with next day in home warranty. Im not saying that its easy to get it this low, but you will get it considerable lower for the specs you're looking for. When my laptop came it said refurbished and had very very light scratch on the corner of the top casing, but i spent like 20 mins to find something, otherwise everything was in PERFECT condition.
its worth a shot isnt it?