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

[joe-h2o]

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 ^.^

Funnily enough, the current Mac lineup is at least as upgradable as the equivalent PC - the iMac, for example, uses MXM graphics cards and a socketed Core i5/i7 CPU that you can replace, along with the normal RAM/HD/Optical drive etc. Not bad for an All-in-one.

The laptops are limited in upgrade scope, however, but that's no different to most laptops unless you're talking about "luggable" desktop replacement laptops.

Going to a mobile form factor is always going to limit your upgrade choices, but the myth that a Mac is a welded shut box that is impossible to upgrade has long passed.

Whether you'd *want* to upgrade is another issue, but it's possible. The current iMac can take the new Ivy Bridge CPUs that Intel will be releasing this year since the socket and supporting architecture is the same, and you can swap out the GPU for AMD's latest version on an MXM board (assuming you're willing to pay the high price for such things compared to a standard GPU for a desktop tower). It does mean that the iMac is no longer limited due to the GPU going obsolete with no means to swap it like the old ones.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

Come over here and let me tell you a story.... Comfortable? Good.


I bought an Alienware notebook. It was a Area-51M 7700 and I fully decked it out for a whopping $3,662. It was a beast of a machine, weighed 10 pounds and its sucked the battery life (like Adam Sandler does with humor) when playing a high intensity game. Like 15 minutes, battery is gone. Within the first week it died. I spent DAYS with customer service trying to figure out what was wrong. Finally I got a hold of a tier 2 agent who told me to send it back they would diagnose it and replace any faulty parts. So they sent me a shipping label and 2 weeks later it came back perfect or so I thought.

There was 5 more replacement parts in the span of 4 months. Oh looky here I have the invoices.

SI183795
06/12/2006 $122.00

SI190398
07/17/2006 $311.58

SI192997
09/14/2006 $0.00

SI196471
10/19/2006 $215.06

SI197616
10/31/2006 $198.07


Finally they just replaced the damn thing. Since they replaced it I was able to use my $3,600 to get an a more powerful version of my notebook. Since hardware goes out of date within a month. This one lasted 2 months and then died. I called up tech support and they sent me another shipping label and once again I waited 2 weeks.

Oh look more part replacements... yes thats 7 in the matter of a year. Keep in mind I had to wait TWO WEEKS every single time. Thats two weeks without video games, internet, youtube, etc. Every... damn... time.

306603
01/15/2007 $259.00

310572
01/29/2007 $549.85

SI208403
05/01/2007 $61.10

SI210388
06/20/2007 $497.10

SI212462
07/13/2007 $311.58

SI216175
10/19/2007 $466.76

SI220057
12/28/2007 $485.09

By now I was beyond pissed. I tried to get them to replace it, they refused. So I threaten to sue via the good ol lemon law. Well this got me my own "personal" (they said it not me) tier 3 agent. I told him my situation and he said he would replace it. I told him I want a desktop instead, that I was tired of dealing with their crappy notebooks. So once again I upgraded my parts. To the extreme now since I was going desktop. I still have that desktop... that I could of built myself. Still it works very well and I haven't had a single problem.

All the faulty hardware ranged from bad RAM sticks (which would randomly put in a 1 where a 0 should of been) to forgetting to put thermal paste on the graphics card.

Don't get me wrong, playing Bioshock and Crysis on a notebook was awesome. And every geek that was near my desk (because why play Crysis at home when you can play it in class at college) drooled over it. Also since all replacement parts were FREE I got a massive upgrade.

Just some of the specs, I went from

DVD Burner,
7700 NVIDIA G71 7900 GTX WITH 256MB,
3.6ghz single core intel processor

to a

NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800GT 512MB,
Blue-ray player,
Sound Blaster X-FI,
3.0ghz duo intel processor

So yes, it was pretty sweet. But I am still deciding if it was worth all the stress.
Oh a matter of gamers pride, I have upgraded my parts since then.

Perhaps they have improved the issues with their notebooks since then. However, let me tell you Alienware could offer me the deal of a lifetime to get one of their notebooks and I would say no. I simply can not go through that ever again.

I wish you the best of luck and if you buy it and things start going wrong remember... lemon law makes magic happen.

 

[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.

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 ^.^

Bitches' gotta read the post, before you quote and pick at it~

Although, when you think of it, despite all their downsides, Lappies are a lot easier to setup at LAN parties.


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

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I concur with the rest of these guys, Alienware is paying for brand recognition. They are way overpriced, the actual laptop specs are usually middle-of-the-road for top-of-the-line prices, and they actually don't have the best record for reliability.

As well as looking at the other manufacturers mentioned if you can check out Lenovo [http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/gbweb/LenovoPortal/en_GB/special-offers.workflow:ShowPromo?LandingPage=/All/EMEA/Landing_pages/Promos/ThinkPad-Sale&ipromoID=shpa00001&cid=uk|semd|se|google|lenovoukbrand|xEABB|s&]. I have seen a few computer magazines praising them, they seem to be a really good, reliable emerging brand, but above all shop around When buying a laptop spending an extra ten minutes on the internet could save you hundreds of pounds/dollars/beads, and you could walk away with a better laptop, and more importantly, a company with better customer services.