Need help with laptop choice

Hey guys i am going back to school this spring 10 and am going to need a laptop for school. Its going to have to be high performance laptop for 3d animation, rendering, and will be used to gaming. I have been looking around at different companies alot are out due to most still use a 9700M graphics card. I have it narrowed down to two companies on is of corse Alienware, the other one is Sager. I just need you advice on which configuration to get for my new rig. Max it really want to spend is 3500 dollars. My friend will be getting my Desktop in my signature for about 800-1000 bux because he needs a new comp. Plus i don't need a laptop and a desktop.

First choice.
18.4" Full HD 1920X1080 screen

45nm Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme Processor QX9300 / 12MB L2 Cache, 2.53GHz, 1066MHz FSB

Dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 Video Memory in SLI Mode

Genuine MS Windows® VISTA BUSINESS 64-Bit Edition with Upgrade to Windows 7 Professional 64 Coupon

4GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 2 X 2GB

RAID-0 Storage ( Data Strip - Requires 2nd Hard Disk Drive )
320GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive
320GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive

2X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software

Intel Wi-Fi Link 5300AGN - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module, Internal Bluetooth V2.1 Module, and Fingerprint Reader

Price: $3,700 with Vista Business, $3,596.94 without a OS but i will put XP Pro on it. (Have now) I also get a 5-10% discount on it.

Configration Two

17" Wide Viewing Angles WUXGA LCD with Super Glossy Surface (1920 x 1200)

Intel® Core™ i7-950 Processor ( 8MB L3 Cache, 3.06GHz, 4.8GT/sec QPI )

ONE Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 Video Memory

Genuine MS Windows® VISTA BUSINESS 64-Bit Edition with Upgrade to Windows 7 Professional 64 Coupon

6GB Triple Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 3 X 2GB

RAID-0 Storage ( Data Strip - Requires 2nd Hard Disk Drive or both 2nd & 3rd Hard Disk Drives
320GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive
320GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive

2X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software

Intel Wi-Fi Link 5300AGN - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module, Internal Bluetooth V2.1 Module, and Fingerprint Reader

Price: $3064.00 before discount.With Visa without Visa $2,987.88 before discount.


Configuration Three and last

17" Wide Viewing Angles WUXGA LCD with Super Glossy Surface (1920 x 1200)

Intel® Core™ i7-975 Processor Extreme Edition ( 8MB L3 Cache, 3.33GHz, 6.4GT/sec QPI )

SINGLE Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 Video Memory

6Gb DDR3 1333 ram

Raid 0 320 7200X2

2X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software

Intel Wi-Fi Link 5300AGN - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module, Internal Bluetooth V2.1 Module, and Fingerprint Reader

$3,599 with Vista $3,472.88 without. All before discounts..


Also biggest Pro with this is NO TAX!!! yay!

Alienware is to much overpriced and have to pay for tax

 

Welcome to the NBR forums.

if you want to do CPU intensive work like media editing, rendering, modeling, etc... there is no other notebook that you should consider than the Clevo D900F (aka. Sager 9280).

I would just get the lower Core i7... its more bang for the buck and litte performance difference compared to the expensive Extreme versions.

Also the single GTX 280M in there has played everything that I have tested on it at max resolution and settings fine.

 

OH MY G it's Gophn! long time no see...

To the OP though, have you considered the Alienware M17x, my major is going to be in Virtual technology and design, and I can tell you having considered all of these options myself the M17x is the best one for a student who's into Graphic design and gaming... as well as general usage, becuase with the switchable intergrated GPU you can get 3+ hours of battery life...

Also trust me you do not want an 18.4" at college

My laptop configured as is below cost me 3,400... I am installing the CPU myself= save BIG $

 

^ I laughed ^

 

hehe well see I'm going for programming and rendering in a programming degree as well, and I pretty much ordered the middle config. I suggest not taking the blu-ray if you only want a reader, downgrade to the DVD only and use the extra cash to get Vista Ultimate. It has the least bugs out of all and you won't regret it. If you can afford as well, upgrade your hard drives to be both 500GB, as video rendering and stuff EATS HDD space. My config is on order as follows -

17" Wide Viewing Angles WUXGA LCD with Super Glossy Surface (1920 x 1200)

Intel® Core™ i7-950 Processor ( 8MB L3 Cache, 3.06GHz, 4.8GT/sec QPI )

ONE Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 Video Memory

No operating system (have a Vista ultimate disc already)

6GB Triple Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 3 X 2GB

RAID-0 Storage (Data Strip - Requires 2nd Hard Disk Drive or both 2nd & 3rd Hard Disk Drives)
500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive
500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive

8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software

Intel Wi-Fi Link 5300AGN - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module, Internal Bluetooth V2.1 Module, and Fingerprint Reader

Price: $3112.74 after discount but including shipping (international shipping)

I think this thing is going to be great, and it should last me like forever, let me know what you think as well XD

Note - I'm using this for gaming, programming/rendering and anime storage/watching.

 

Hi Stinger61768 - welcome to the forums

I asked a friend of mine about my decision to go with the 9280 vs a different model. I was mostly concerned about the CPU bottlenecking the GPU - and he replied this which I found satisfactory :

" The beauty of the 9280 and its GPU is it uses the next generation interface standard (MXM 3.0b), so all future cards will support that standard while the older MXM-II/III that has been used in notebooks for modular GPUs for the last 3-4yrs is phased out.

In addition, Clevo (Sager) is known for having the best GPU upgrade paths for their notebooks and the insane GPU cooling of the 9280 (and headroom for an even bigger heatsink if it was required), gives it great flexibility."

He also told me that "9280 ...(will) not only will have access to the upcoming 6-core i7, but also supports lower wattage Xeon i7 based CPUs and other revisions in the future.."


$3500 is quite a budget! - Whatever you decide on, you can't go wrong.

 

lol ya i know its mostly because my old desktop is finding a home at my friends house. for 1K so in reality its 2,500

Where do i get the GPUs for a notebook? From Sager?

Thanks for the help guys been so damn busy i forgot that i posted this XD

I could do that but how would i go about doing that? Get the cheapest processor and then getting a QX9300 enginering one on ebay?

ha ha if i configure it it would be around that much..

Thanks duely noted with Vista, If i get a Sager i can get it without Vista, which i probaly would just use my Windows XP Pro disk, with Alienware have to get Vista ):

What kind of discount did they give you if you don't mind me asking?

 

For you my opinion would be the D900 with the lower of the I7's

If you are doing that kinda of number crunching work the i7 is a more powerful cpu then the qx9300

I think the GPU's workload on you laptop would be secondary so i wouldnt place the important of the GPU so highly

D900 is your best bet, its smaller too which is is prob a good thing if you intend of dragging the thing around