decide between laptops

A

arcstudent

New Member
I have a choice between these two laptops, Dell XPS M1730 and the Alien ware Area-51® m17x System. my budget goes up to 4000 dollars, but preferebly i would like to spend around 3000 dollars. which of these two would you recommend that I get and with what specifications ?

I've attached a specs sheet from my college with the minimum requirements, but I would definitely like to exceed those requirements.

I'm gonna need this laptop to run programs like autocad, and to do demanding things like rendering. I would also like to play games like crysis.

tell me which one you would personally buy, and for what reason.

I appreciate any help guys.
 

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The alienware area-51 m17x is a great computer. It is top of the line. It has fixed many of the m15x's problems, including downclocking and monitor flex. I would strongly recommend the m17x, because so far all of the people I have talked to that have the m17x say it is great. The keyboard along with many places changes colors, and unlike the m1730, the keyboard can be more than one color. Also, the m17x's graphics cards are all 512mb each, unlike the dell's 256mb each. I would recommend getting the sli 8800 graphics cards, and atleast the 2.5ghz processor. It would be better and cheaper to get the standerd 1gb ram, and upgrade to this saving hundreds of dollars.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145193

edit: If you get the dual 8800's, it will strongly increase the price, but it is worth it. However, the dual 8700's will still play crisis and do things well.

edit: The alienware m17x can have a terabyte of hard drive space, and 1.5 terabytes with smartbay. That is almost 10 times what you were asked to have.

edit: What I would do if I were in your position, would be to have your main hard drive a 200gb 7200rpm hard drive, and have the secondary be a large 500gb hard drive.

The m17x is a great all around laptop, but batter life may not be over an hour or so. I think alienware will release a smart bay battery in the future, which will allow you to have dual batteries. It also has a boatload of ports, usb, hdmi ect. It also has high speed draft n wireless, the best possible wireless connectivity.
 
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@sir Travis
The alienware is very tempting, its just the price thats somewhat holding me back. I doubt I will get the 8800 graphics card, it's waay too expensive. I was suprised by the RAM, how come it is that much cheaper to buy it seperately from newegg ?
also why would u recommend that the primary hard drive be less than the external one ?

@cohen
lol, the prices of electronics where I'm from are really high compared to here, so I'm more willing to spend that much, also I want to make sure this laptop stays up to date for quite a while.
The Asus laptop looks great, too bad it's out of stock though..
 
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Why do college want you to have specs so high? My college recommend 700MHz - 256MB RAM - XP or Vista. OS X not supported.
 
Cohen, the op wanted a suggestion between two laptops, not for someone to research a completely different computer.

Arcstudent, dual 8700's will still be top of the line. That will be 1gb in graphics memory.
A lot of places like alienware and mac charge sky-high for ram, but there is no difference in the ram. And Arcstudent, the reason I recommended the primary hard drive to be smaller is because the largest 7200rpm hard drive alienware has is 200gb. It would be better to have a fast hard drive have the windows partition and the large hard drive to store data.

Arcstudent, if you have around $3500 to spend, would you want an awesome stealth like alienware computer or an asus? Asus is a good brand, but if you have that much money to spend, places like Alienware have more to offer in service and upgradibility. With the alienware, you get dual hard drives, and an option for dual batteries. The alienware also has SO many more ports for things like projectors and external monitors, which would also be good for the work enviornment.

And gareth, those are not really high specs. If you want to run avid on a laptop, you need atleast a 7200rpm hard drive, 2gb ram, and a fast dual core processor also.

edit: No, there is NO external hard drive. The m17x can have THREE hard drives, two internal, and one that can replace the optical drive or be switched. I would recommend the first internal hdd to be 200gb 7200rpm and the second hard drive to either be another 200gb 7200rpm in raid 0, or a large 500gb hard drive. Here is a picture of my smart bay.

See, you just pop the optical bay right out.
2473790597_118a753884_o.jpg


edit: My alienware m15x has a single internal hard drive, with room for a second smart bay hard drive or battery.
 
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Dual hard drives + sleek looks + more ports + dual battery/3rd hard drive + stealth mode for enhanced battery make the alienware win in my book.
 
My Toshiba has Dual Hard Drives and Dual 8600's , looks sleek, more ports? mine has a good number of ports, and an HDMI port. Not sure what it has dual battery/3rd hard drive wise, but it this laptop is full of surprises.

I also recall hearing that the Alienware laptops tend to 'creek' when opening and closing, so.



Specs of laptop are in the sig, and here are some pictures, http://www.computerforum.com/1009451-post156.html.
 
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If you have been following alienware, only the m15x have this creaking problem. And also, your toshiba has dual 8600's, so? The alienware has dual 8600/8700/8800. Say if the op wanted to go to a starbucks and play a little crysis but the plug in area was too far away. He could just pop in his second battery (Which costs around $80 if you buy it after you purchase your system), and have about 3.5 hours of battery life on stealth mode.

edit: Op, look at gamer's laptop's pics, and look at this. Which would you choose?

alienware-m17x.jpg


edit: These are the ports the m17x has. Does your toshiba?


  • 1x Auto-sensing headphone jack
  • 1x Auto-sensing microphone jack
  • 1x Auto-sensing line out
  • 1 TOSlink Optical Audio
  • 4 Hi-speed USB 2.0 ports (3x left side/1x right side)
  • Express Card Slot /54mm
  • FireWire 1394a (64-pin) port
  • FireWire 1394b (96-pin) port
  • 7-in-1 Memory Card Reader
  • Front Media Center CIR port
  • Video in: Integrated HD TV (ATSC) Tuner (Coaxial) - optional
  • Video/TV out: One HDMI 1.2 Connector
  • TV out: One S-Video out connector
Edit: I would recommend the alienware entertainment config for the m17x. Here it is

http://www.alienware.com/customize/...aspx?Syscode=PC-LT-AREA51M17X&SubCode=SKU-ENT

$3300, Dual 250gb 7200rpm hard drive for a total of 500gb's, dual 8700m gt graphics cards for 1gb graphics ram, but MAKE SURE to check the second lcd option, which will give it led's. $50 addition.
 
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Sir Travis D said:
If you have been following alienware, only the m15x have this creaking problem. And also, your toshiba has dual 8600's, so? The alienware has dual 8600/8700/8800. Say if the op wanted to go to a starbucks and play a little crysis but the plug in area was too far away. He could just pop in his second battery (Which costs around $80 if you buy it after you purchase your system), and have about 3.5 hours of battery life on stealth mode.

edit: Op, look at gamer's laptop's pics, and look at this. Which would you choose?

alienware-m17x.jpg


edit: These are the ports the m17x has. Does your toshiba?


  • 1x Auto-sensing headphone jack
  • 1x Auto-sensing microphone jack
  • 1x Auto-sensing line out
  • 1 TOSlink Optical Audio
  • 4 Hi-speed USB 2.0 ports (3x left side/1x right side)
  • Express Card Slot /54mm
  • FireWire 1394a (64-pin) port
  • FireWire 1394b (96-pin) port
  • 7-in-1 Memory Card Reader
  • Front Media Center CIR port
  • Video in: Integrated HD TV (ATSC) Tuner (Coaxial) - optional
  • Video/TV out: One HDMI 1.2 Connector
  • TV out: One S-Video out connector
Edit: I would recommend the alienware entertainment config for the m17x. Here it is

http://www.alienware.com/customize/...aspx?Syscode=PC-LT-AREA51M17X&SubCode=SKU-ENT

$3300, Dual 250gb 7200rpm hard drive for a total of 500gb's, dual 8700m gt graphics cards for 1gb graphics ram, but MAKE SURE to check the second lcd option, which will give it led's. $50 addition.
Click to expand...

WOW! TWO INCHES THICK:eek: not much for looks.
 
I was comparing my Laptop to yours, Travis.


And yes, my Toshiba has most if not all of those things you mentioned.

6 USB Ports
HD-DVD Drive, may be useless, nice to have though.
HDMI Port
4 Harmon/Kardon Speakers with Sub, quality is insane.
17'' Widescreen
 
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@Gareth
I'm an architecture major, so I'll be using a lot of intensive programs which is why the college requires high specs.
@Gamer
No offence, but the toshiba doesn't look that sleek (I currently own a toshiba myself). The alienware does look much better.
@Sir Travis
I'm confused about the hard drives, you say it has 3, 2 internal and 1 smart bay. In the customization page, theres only 1 system drive panel and 1 smart bay panel, how do I choose what drive will be fitted in the 3rd space.
The entertainment configuration looks like a good deal, I'm probably going to choose that one then...unless someone can convince me otherwise ?
 
Alienware's aren't the best laptops, so just because they're expensive doesn't mean they're the best.

Go ahead and prove that theory wrong by buying one.


I could careless about having a full fledged gaming laptop, seeing how my Desktop makes up for it.
 
no need to get touchy, an i was commenting on the looks, you have to admit, the toshiba looks kinda bland

EDIT:
you might not need a gaming laptop, but I do. I would gladly buy a desktop, but my college recommends a laptop for portabilty
 
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Ah, OK, just be open minded, don't be closed in on the most expensive laptop there is, cause all that sparkles, is not gold.
 
Ok. The alienware m17x has two internal hard drives. If you want, you can take the optical drive out and put a third in.

Click the circled button to get the config for the second hard drive.

2691183423_9126ef356e_o.jpg


If you have the entertainment config, it already is configed with dual 7200rpm 250gb hard drives which is good.
Again, MAKE SURE you check the second choice on the display, to get the lightup keyboard. If you have it, it will be similar to this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouTxuJMZl_E
 
@Gamer
if you would post me a link of a toshiba laptop you would recommend, I will gladly take a look and consider it a viable alternative.
@James
I'm having trouble finding the laptop at the Gateway website. I've noticed that the Gateway laptops aren't customizable, which I don't really like.
@Sir Travis
thanks for clearing that up for me, and if I get the alienware, I am definitely getting the illuminated keyboard
 
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