College Laptop Time!

Geoff

VIP Member
I really can't see someone in need of a laptop for college, wait for ati and amd to take over the laptop market. That will, if ever, take a very long time.

You really dont need one, at least where I went. Every classroom has desktops, and most teachers don't allow you to use laptops anyways because they have computers available.
 
Hey skidude, the Alienware m15x and m17x are indeed glossy. I really like the shine on mine (m15x). Here is a pic from someone else's review

faget005zu5.jpg


That has the battery out.
 

Geoff

VIP Member
Don't leave it on your desk when you leave class though!

BTW, where are you going to college?
 

Geoff

VIP Member
Don't leave it on your desk when you leave class though!

BTW, where are you going to college?
 

skidude

Active Member
University Of Maine in Orono, 4 hour drive from my house.

It's only been a week of waiting and I'm already becoming impatient, on phase 4 of 9 :p
 

Geoff

VIP Member
University Of Maine in Orono, 4 hour drive from my house.

It's only been a week of waiting and I'm already becoming impatient, on phase 4 of 9 :p
Nice! What are you studying?

I remember back in high school when I bought my Dell online, it took like 2-3 weeks to get it and it was the longest 3 weeks of my life, haha. I remember the day when I was at school when the package was due to arrive, I couldn't concentrate at all!
 
Skidude, as most AW orders are, you will be in various phases for a LONG amount of time. Some people have been in phase 4 for weeks, on notebookreview forums, people have created a "phase 4 blues" for alienware.
 

skidude

Active Member
Nice! What are you studying?
Mechanical Engineering :D

Some people have been in phase 4 for weeks, on notebookreview forums, people have created a "phase 4 blues" for alienware.
Yeah I've noticed that, it kinda sucks, but I'm hoping that my order will go through soon enough.
 

skidude

Active Member
I've hit some problems with Alienware... it seems my chassis is on backorder and is expected to be in stock in 30 DAYS! Then it would take at least another two weeks for my computer to go through the queue and be put together.

That being said, I canceled my Alienware order this morning and I've decided on the final computer which I am 100% sure I will be receiving. I chose a Sager NP9296, and I chose it because of the sheer power I get for the money. For $100 less than the Alienware I get this:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (2.83 GHz, 12MB cache, etc... yes thats a desktop processor)
2x 8800M GTX in SLI
4GB DDR2800
2x 200GB 7200 RPM HDD's in a RAID 0
Sound Blaster X-Fi Express Card
2 year warranty w/ no dead pixel guarantee (compared to Alienware's 1 year)
Vista Ultimate 64 bit
1920x1200 glossy screen

It doesn't have the flashiness of the Alienware but hell, it's said in tons of reviews to be rock solid and cool, so I'm all for it. Just have to wait like 48 hours to get my refund from Alienware.
 

Geoff

VIP Member
I've hit some problems with Alienware... it seems my chassis is on backorder and is expected to be in stock in 30 DAYS! Then it would take at least another two weeks for my computer to go through the queue and be put together.

That being said, I canceled my Alienware order this morning and I've decided on the final computer which I am 100% sure I will be receiving. I chose a Sager NP9296, and I chose it because of the sheer power I get for the money. For $100 less than the Alienware I get this:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (2.83 GHz, 12MB cache, etc... yes thats a desktop processor)
2x 8800M GTX in SLI
4GB DDR2800
2x 200GB 7200 RPM HDD's in a RAID 0
Sound Blaster X-Fi Express Card
2 year warranty w/ no dead pixel guarantee (compared to Alienware's 1 year)
Vista Ultimate 64 bit
1920x1200 glossy screen

It doesn't have the flashiness of the Alienware but hell, it's said in tons of reviews to be rock solid and cool, so I'm all for it. Just have to wait like 48 hours to get my refund from Alienware.
Say goodbye to battery life :p
 

skidude

Active Member
Hahahaha yeah, but tbh battery life is one of the last things I'm worried about since most of the time it will be plugged into the wall. I wouldn't do much gaming when it's sitting in my lap I think.
 

Enjoihcky24/7

New Member
Good luck with that sound blaster sound card. Creative has let me down with there most recent crippled drivers for vista. Then when a programmer under the alias DanielK fixed it for them he was threatened with a lawsuit. They should have hired the guy, but no they were mad because people no longer had to go out and buy NEW cards.
 

Geoff

VIP Member
Hahahaha yeah, but tbh battery life is one of the last things I'm worried about since most of the time it will be plugged into the wall. I wouldn't do much gaming when it's sitting in my lap I think.
Oh you won't be able to game on battery for more then 15 minutes, haha. I meant in general, since even if you are just browsing the web the battery still has to power a desktop quad core and two 8800M GTX's. As long as the battery is at least an 8 cell, then it should last at least 1.5 - 2 hours.
 

skidude

Active Member
I know that, but I will be in college by the time I would receive mine, and I wouldn't be able to wait that long. I actually like the Sager better, it's already been around for a few months and all the kinks have been worked out. I started to get the feeling like I was a guinea pig customer to discover the issues with the M17x.
 

skidude

Active Member
And there were issues, like the overheating and the screen creaking and the flex in the keyboard and the awful speakers... I just really didn't feel like taking that risk anymore. If I pay nearly $5000 for a machine, I want it to work and I want it to work damn well.
 
My speakers are great. The downclocking/overheating was due to a bios problem that made the graphics card downclock too early. It was fixed with a bios update, and there is only minor keyboard flex on my m15x. It has great reviews, and it is usually a 4.5/5 due to those problems, as they have been mostly fixed. I'm sure they would either refund or fix your laptop quickly, as they have for the m15x's if there were any problems. The m17x being the flagship, will likely have much less problems due to them watching the customer's expeirences with the m15x.

Well, the sager does have some good parts, better than the m17x, but you should have atleast ordered it from sagernotebook.com, not a reseller.
 
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