Trouble choosing the right laptop

Hey guys,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Situation, I had the m14x which i loved for portablility, I kept it in good condition i always used an external keyboard and mouse and connect an external monitor to it with the hdmi port, but after a while it became a hassle to go to work unplug it all and then come back home and plug it all again

And the cost to upgrade the RAM and HDD to SSD wouldnt have been worth it anyways i decided to buy the x51 for gaming and now thinking to buy surface pro 3 to take to work

I'm really having trouble with what to choose now seeing that the AW13 has an i7 option i really consider selling the x51 and not buying the sp3, and just buying the AW 13

When i really thing of it i dont game that hard currently i just play LoL CSGO nothing too major and having to come how and only plug in 1 cable to get desktop feel in my home would be also amazing

How i see it;

X51 + SP3;

Pros: Keep work on sp3 and gaming on x51, sp3 is really portable and becomes a tablet, if i were to play hardcore games the x51 would handle it
Cons: 1000$ more expensive if i purchase the combo over the AW13, doesnt have upgradeable to 16GB RAM ( I work alot with virtualisation )


AW13

Pros: Cheaper than buying the combo up top, upgradeable to 16GB Ram, able to swap out SSD without voiding warranty
Cons: Not as portable as SP3, graphics card wont match the x51 capability

 

The CPU in the Alienware 13 would also suck if you do a lot of virtualization. Heck, a dual core CPU sucks for almost everything except for Word, Excel and web browsing. The highest configuration options available for the 13 are too weak to be taken seriously, so I would recommend scratching that one off of your list.

Buy a used Alienware or Clevo with decent specs (yesterdays best components). It should last you for at least a few years if you're not a hardcore gamer and let someone else take the loss on the rapid value depreciation. Buying something new today is a waste of money. The only new component that offers any value is 980M and when the rest of the platform sucks having a 980M GPU isn't enough to justify compromising everything else. The sad thing is that there is almost nothing available for sale brand new that is worth owning from any brand. Almost every option that exists is a grossly overpriced pile of crap and the one or two good options left are $4,000 and up.

 

Hold on, the X51 accepts up to 16 GB of RAM (2 x 8). Not sure where you read otherwise. The same is said for the Alpha, 14, and 13. The Surface Pro doesn't, of course, but still.
As well, any upgrade/replacement to any Alienware system won't void warranty (unless you broke something or did something crazy like adding liquid cooling to the X51 for example. You can add up to 2 SSDs in an X51, 1 being an mSATA (you would have to give up internal wifi, though).
If you don't play any games that are intensive (like the ones you described), you can't go wrong with either choice. But the desktop + tablet combo you have there seems to be the better choice because of visualization and the fact that you would somewhat repeat the hassle you currently have with the m14x with the 13 + Graphics Amplifier.