Questions on buying Used

I was looking at buying a used Alienware for my kid. He likes to play WOW and Minecraft. In shopping for one, a seller told me I should buy a version that is from before Dell bought Alienware, but that would mean a system much older than I had originally been looking for. Is this true?
Can anyone give me any tips on what I'm looking for? My budget's really small--around $500, but it's the best I can do. Should I just not look for a used Alienware and go for some other cheaper brand, and if so, can you recommend me one?

Thanks for any responses. I'm completely lost.

 

If you can pick up an Alienware M15x for around $500 that would be brilliant. Its extremely upgradeable and can even use very powerful mobile graphics cards such as the GTX 680M and AMD 7970M.
The price will ultimately depend on the configuration but you can always buy upgrades for birthday gifts etc.

Ignore the pre-Dell advice, that would be a very old laptop indeed! Another good option would be an M11x but I'm not sure how much these go for at the moment. They are a bit limited in terms of power and can't be upgraded like an M15x.

I love my almost 4 year old M15x and its still going strong. It has better gaming performance than a brand new $1000 AW 14

 

for what is required form the laptop is not really needed. AW is overrated and over priced. yea you could get an alienware m15x for $500 but the user seemslike they dont want to mess around upgrading. but to play it from the off. whilst there is enough power to run the games. stock components are outdated now. plus if it your son suggsting alienware. then it is for bragging rights. and you can only brg abut your alienware if it is the latest model.
there are lots of nice laptops. check out asus. they have lots of good models which are more current and powerful.

 

With a $500 budget, you are going to need to upgrade something sooner than later.

@Lucy: You probably won't find a decent Alienware laptop for $500. If you do, it will have components which are 4+ years old and they'll barely handle any of today's games, even on the lowest settings. A budget for a decent Alienware PC is around $1,000.

 

Really..a m15x would barely handle WOW or Minecraft? Would have to be upgraded? Last I checked almost any middle of the road notebook can play WOW on low setting. If they can snag a m15x which would be hard, it would do just fine. Try watching for something on Ebay you might get lucky or even the market here on NBR. You might be able to wait awhile, get a little more to spend. I understand you would like something your kid would like and not be disappointed in. And there is nothing wrong with bragging rights we all do it Homes, Cars..:thumbsup:

 

I was only interested in Alienware because I knew it was a great gaming laptop and was able to find some used in my budget area. At this point, I'd take anything that gave me the most for my dollar, so any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

I never said it couldn't. I said, " barely handle any of today's games" - as in BF3, BF4, Crysis, etc. Also, we all have different opinions on what is "handled" well enough. In my opinion, 60+ FPS is handled well. Barely handled would be like 30FPS (to me). I feel that anything below 30, maybe 25 FPS is unplayable.

 

No real suggestions as for what to do for $500, but I would advise generally not to trust any seller's word since they just want to move their machine and if their machine was an AW machine pre-dell, then obviously, they will say that's the best thing for you.

That said, I've mentioned many times before that Dell has sales very often. Holidays are coming. Maybe you can get your kid to put up part of the money and work for half and you put the rest. He'll appreciate it more and won't waste it/toss it aside since he worked for it on his own. I bought the M14x in my sig for around 1k new w/ 2 year plus accidental and the M18 for 32%+ off. If you and him are willing to wait, you can find 30% off coupons practically every week on Dell outlet for things on sale as well...

Dell Outlet are refurbished machines, but still have warranty and if you have problems, you can go to Dell, not some random seller...I'd avoid buying from unknown people unless they are here and have been around.

 

Hehe, I remember playing Dragon Age Origins at 7 FPS with high settings on my Inspiron...I'd say it handled it as long as it didn't freeze for minutes at times! Reason for the upgrade <grin>.

 

Might I suggest the following:

Alienware M15x, i7 QuadCore. 2.90GHz Turbo, 6GB, 500GB, Blu-Ray 1080P Gaming | eBay

Nice tidy machine, warranty, possibly within budget if you catch it right......I'm sure your son would be made up with it. Decent graphics card which is capable of good gaming performance. Certainly worth a good look in my humble opinion. Seller mentions 'sample stock pictures' so I'd ask if the item listed is the one you would get....

There are a few M15x's on Ebay possibly within budget.....

 

I was remarking to OP's post of wanting to play WOW and Minecraft. He did not ask about playing more intense games.