So, thinking about buying an Alienware M11x. Opinions please...

[SeriousSquirrel]

Right, I've never bought/built a gaming laptop before. I'm looking for something simple to use (yeah, I'm not great with computers) that will fill out my needs. I don't plan on playing Crysis 2 anytime soon, but I'd like it to be able to:

*Play older games very smoothly, and hopefully store quite a few games. Mostly older games, maybe some emulators (only for playing games I own, of course). Several of the titles I'm thinking of are available on GoG if that helps bring to mind the type of games I mean. In particular the Ultima games, old Arcania titles, Diablo, Baldurs Gate, and a plethora of RTS games.

*Surf the information super highway

*Run Microsoft office/similar products (for school, not necessary but would be lovely)

*I'm not too invested in this one, but I'm curious as to whether it's possible to run editing software on one of these badboys.

I'm leaning towards the Alienware M11x, but I am open to the M14x as well. I'm probably gonna lean towards a large amount of memory, but apart from that I have no idea what sort of build I should get. So please give me some guidance and keep the price within about 1200 US dollars (the price of a standard 14x). Has to be Alienware, buying through a Dell account.

 

[SeriousSquirrel]

Wow, helpful lot you are. Really appreciate the help.

 

[Agayek]

From what you're describing, you most definitely do not want an alienware. You will be overpaying by quite a bit. Your best bet is probably something like this [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834214466&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-34-214-466-_-Homepage2011] or this [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834200344] should be all you need. It's pretty straight forward and will save you probably a solid $3-500.

If it absolutely must be an Alienware, the M11x is probably the one you want.

 

[lacktheknack]

Don't do it.

Take a computers recommended by Agayek. Alienware is great if you hate money and have two thousand dollars extra that you don't want.

 

[Xannieros]

A gaming discussion forum might not be the best place to ask that kind of question...

Alienware laptops are really overpriced. You're just paying for the looks. Went on newegg and found a few laptops that are $200-$400 cheaper and more powerful. I'd go with Agayeks recommendations (What I was looking at.)

I do not recommend Alienware products unless you just want to impress people.

 

[dsh]

for what it's worth, if all you want is a Dell computer that can play older games, I'd go for the Inspiron 15R ('2nd gen') off the Dell.com site. You'll get a much larger screen, a setup that's more than enough to meet your requirements, and save $400 off your price estimate of $1200.

The Inspiron's only $799 right now after $400 off at the highest default configuration. It comes with a 2nd-gen core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M GPU. For comparison, my 15" HP laptop I picked up for work has a core i3 CPU, 4GB or RAM and an AMD 6450M GPU (both less powerful than the Dell configuration) and even that can run modern games like Skyrim, Total War: Shogun 2 on low-medium settings and it even runs New Vegas at almost full settings. It obviously meets my work/editing requirements as well (Office, basic image editing, Guitar Pro). Spec-wise the Inspiron blows my laptop out of the water so it should more than fill your needs. Heck, even my old dual-core netbook with Intel 3000HD integrated graphics could handle almost anything off GOG.com; any middle-of-the-road notebook should run any of those games fine.

 

[BeerTent]

Wow, helpful lot you are. Really appreciate the help.

First of all, Laptops and Gaming. I'd pass on it. You'll enjoy the games you want, but you'll never be able to upgrade anything but HDD space and RAM. And even those two options are ungodly limited.

You want a gaming rig? I got this.
http://www.mysterybyte.com/part/16824/

Build from there and you won't regret it. Ask lots of questions from sales people you can trust too. No best-buy or future-shop clerks.

Second of all, This.

Don't do it.

Take a computers recommended by Agayek. Alienware is great if you hate money and have two thousand dollars extra that you don't want.

I don't even know what the fuck Agayek is, and I'm pretty confident it'll be cheaper and better. Alienware is a status symbol, and those cost a lot.

EDIT: Oh! Agayek! I was thinking of hardware manufacturers... Sorry little guy!

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Alienware laptops are really overpriced, and you're basically just paying for the brand name, and the LED lights. You can buy a PC with comparable specs that isn't marketed as a "gaming laptop" for quite a bit less. With the games you posted you don't even need anything top of the line. I agree with Agayek's post. Figure out what specs you want, then take a look through newegg and I guarantee you that you'll find a laptop at least $300 dollars cheaper than the alienwares you want. Contrary to popular belief you don't need a $2000 PC for gaming.

 

[omega 616]

I don't even know what the fuck Agayek is.

He is the first guy to post a response.

On topic. I am not computer savvy at all and even I know gaming laptop is a bad idea and alienware is like drugs for celebs ... you have a lot of money with no clue how to spend it? Alienware!

Go with agayek on this one!

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Wow, helpful lot you are. Really appreciate the help.

First of all, Laptops and Gaming. I'd pass on it. You'll enjoy the games you want, but you'll never be able to upgrade anything but HDD space and RAM. And even those two options are ungodly limited.

Never be able to upgrade past HDD space and Ram? What are you using, a Mac?
And yes, don't go for Alienware if you want nothing but LED lights and paying for the brand.

Anyways, my laptop I got is fantastic for gaming and pretty much everything, I got it for 1 grand, I say take a look at some Asus computers. They're a great brand for sure, and pack a lot of power for a good price. Like mine, Asus K53-SV-DH71, has 2nd-gen quad core i7, 8GB of ram after a 2GB upgrade, Nvidia Geforce 540M, 750GB harddrive, runs Skyrim on high with pretty sweet framerate, I'm happy with it :3

But it is true, for what you want, you probably don't need everything top of the line, and probably not what my laptop has, so yeah, take a look around the web ^.^

 

[Digitaldreamer7]

Alienware is Dell BTW. It's also the closest thing you'll get to the "mac experience" for PC. By that I mean getting ripped off and bent over and used with no lube.

As other people have said here, get something in the 500-700 range for what you want it for.

Also, in my experience.. a 17in laptop is NOT something you want for carry around. I love my 17in laptop... for sitting at home and using, but not for travel, school, work or any of that. I'm actually looking in to buying a 15.6 in one and retiring my 17 in one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230132

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230185

 

[Sentox6]

You should buy some Monster cables to round out your purchase.

 

[Evil Smurf]

Alienware is Dell BTW. It's also the closest thing you'll get to the "mac experience" for PC. By that I mean getting ripped off.

Haha, I have a Mac

I suggest an asus because they are built well and have good customer service

 

[Digitaldreamer7]

Alienware is Dell BTW. It's also the closest thing you'll get to the "mac experience" for PC. By that I mean getting ripped off.

Haha, I have a Mac

I suggest an asus because they are built well and have good customer service

No offense really, just hardware to dollar ratio is terrible when you consider what it actually costs you to build a mac vs a pc.

 

[Evil Smurf]

No offense really, just hardware to dollar ratio is terrible when you consider what it actually costs you to build a mac vs a pc.

None taken bro, hardware is not why I have a Mac. I am not here to start a flame war, because I am not a Mac zealot. (I hate those guys!).
On the topic though an asus is a good pick, I have heard that Dell break easy. Good luck computer shopping

 

[Danceofmasks]

If you're looking at playing older games, you're better off buying a rubbish laptop.
By that I mean a discontinued model, with a 4:3 aspect ratio screen ('cos old games for the most part don't support widescreen).

I have an 6 year old laptop that was a piece of shit back when I got it (its main purpose was and is for taking notes on while I'm on one of my other PCs), and it plays hundreds of my old games just fine.

So yeah.
Spend peanuts on a laptop and play your 4:3 games on it, and with the money you save 'cos you didn't get an alienware, build a desktop that will run anything on max settings.

 

[Jamieson 90]

Aria is a good company if you are based in the UK. Got myself a rig from them a couple of years back. The first week my DVD drive was faulty took it in and got a new one striaght away free of charge no questions asked, so yeah their customer service is pretty good.

link
http://www.aria.co.uk/

 

[tahrey]

OP - going by your desired usage, pretty much any laptop that isn't bargain basement rubbish will suit your needs these days. Heck, if all you're going to do is run things of Baldur's Gate vintage, you can have my 6-year-old HP TC4200. It'd probably just about manage that.

Modern mobile CPUs come with half decent graphics processors embedded into them, and they should work just dandy for those sort of titles.

As for video editing, there's no law that says a gaming PC will necessarily be good for that. The aforementioned laptop can do it just fine, though not particularly quickly (if I had the money for premiere, it'd probably render 720p at 1/5th of realtime speed based on my experiences with other software). However, it still gets the job done and if you set up all the effects, clip lists etc you can leave it to render overnight.

And anything I can buy these days at the same price I paid for this old thing when it was brand-new (about 1/2 to 2/3rds that of an Alienware, when the accessories and software are added on) would blow that out of the water, of course. We've had 4 turns of the Moore's Law wheel since then.

Hopefully there's a few good recommendations above (and I may come back to have a look myself in a few months when I've finally saved up a bit of cash to replace the HP, which is finally starting to bluescreen about once a week after six years of wanton abuse), but don't think that you have to spend big. Just make sure you're not buying flimsy junk. Stay away from the Celerons and Pentiums, aim for at least an i3, preferably an i5 (or the AMD equivalent - what, I don't know), with plenty of RAM (4Gb absolute minimum), 64 bit OS, good battery life, and a decent screen, keyboard and pointer (not in terms of spec, but in terms of how it looks and feels to you). Size and weight are these days better than ever so it's hard to pick up something that's heavy or bulky. That old HP? It too can do the Macbook Air envelope trick...

BTW, "Running Microsoft/office products" ... haha if that's all you want to do I've got a 233MMX Acer knocking around somewhere, with 128mb of RAM. That'll easily run XP home and a modern version of office on top. It used to seem quite demanding, back when PCs were rubbish, but these days Word and its ilk are about the most lightweight commercial software you can get. The amount of processing power and storage required for word processing and the like has remained pretty static for the last 10-15 years.