Whitebook quality

Have been looking to get a good gaming laptop. I would like one that can play all the latest high end games (crysis, cod 4-5 ect.), and also have some future upgrading abilities as needed because I probably won't be able to purchase another laptop for a couple years if not more. I've been looking at alienware and dell but keep hearing horror stories about build quality and customer service so I'm trying to look elsewhere to see whats out there. I will be purchasing sometime at the beginning of the year, maybe FEB. or so. So what I'm asking is how the whitebook is as far as build quality, performance and customer service goes compared to the larger brands like alienware or dell.

P.S. If I did go with the whitebook I will probable purchase it from xotic pc.

 

I got mine through xotic and have been very happy with it. You can't go wrong with Xotic. Their customer service is excellent too. Anyways, what exactly do you mean by build quality? It is very sturdy and durable. The hinges for the display are very tight with no flex at all. I have been very impressed with it and would certainly recommend it to a family member or a friend.

 

Well as far as what I meant for build quality, yes the hinges is what I was mainly concerned about. There was alot of posts over at the alienware forums about hinges breaking and screen wobble and creeking. I would hate to spend 4 grand on a machine only to have a bad quality product.

Another question I have for anyone who has one on their machine is the TV Tuner. Now, I'm an OTR Truck driver and I would like more to be able to watch TV on my laptop, but does it pick up TV signals like an antenna or does it just give you the ability to hook it up to cable or satilite?

 

The TV Tuner should allow for all of the above, as long as you purchase the right tuner. And, the hinge issue was on the M17x I believe, which is also on an Arima base setup..but, it's the previous version of this chassis. So, to date, there have not been any reports of bad hinges on this rig. At least, not that I am aware of. It's very well built, and a comparison to a rock could be drawn..but I'm not going to mislead you. Any plastic is going to have a little bit of flex.

 

im also looking at getting one of these around FEB -MAR time. i havent found anywhere that does a built in TV would i be able to buy a built-in TV tuner and easily add to the OCZ when i get it?

 

I think the Alienware 15x is the Hinge-Monster.

As for the Whitebook, I got a chance to configure (Q9100, 4gb, 320gb, crossfire, XP...ended up with an extra Q9100 when order went from 4 to 3, go figure) 3 of these for a client's cyber-cafe and while it is thick (as it should be sporting crossfire/SLI), it is really put together soundly and very backward compatible with XP which was the OS he wanted. I was curious to actually see one in person and break it down while installing the components. I wasn't disappointed.

 

There is an internal slot for a half-size mini pci-e TV Tuner, with the antenna wire just sitting in there waiting for it to be added. Or, you can always get an ExpressCard TV Tuner. I had to stick my Wifi inside here, and the open PCI-e slot is right next to the wifi slot. They sit under the keyboard, towards the upper right. Only takes about 5 minutes to access.