NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX? New Laptop?

M

mkjaekmi

New Member
Hey all, I have a few questions. I'm not familiar with Laptop configurations, so if I have any mistakes, please correct me.
I'm planning to buy my own laptop for traveling/college. I'd want a good all around laptop and good graphics for gaming. I thought I had a good opportunity because I was thinking about buying a great condition alienware laptop from my friend for $800. Although he bought it for $1500 with first option choices, I was thinking about upgrading it which leads to the question, is NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX out for people to buy? or is it only an option for pre built laptops with nvidia affiliates such as dell, alienware, etc? Second, do you think $800 for a good condition alienware laptop is a good idea? I can try for $700, but i don't think he'll do it.

Nvidia geforce 8800M GTX is dedicated correct? Which means it's not combined with the mtoher board correct?

Thank you
 
An 8800m gtx would be hard to fit in the laptop if it is an old alienware. The only compatible alienware notebooks that can use the 8800 are the m15x and m17x. I would strongly recommend trying sager for a gaming notebook. A well configed alienware notebook with one 8800m gtx (m15x) would cost around $3000.

Yes, the 8800 is dedicated but will NOT fit in any notebook but the m15x and m17x. This means you could not upgrade a used area-51 m9750 or aurora m7700.
 
Thank you for the response Travis.
So theres no way of buying just the nvidia 8800m gtx?

Also, I researched a little and saw many reviews saying the m15x and m17x are not like the past alienwares, as they say there much better. Is this true? And what do you think is better, 15x or 17x?

Lastly, I'm not familiar with Mac, but are they good at all for gaming?

Thank you
 
Macs + gaming = bad compatibiliy, high price/performance ratio

About the m15x/m17x - They perform much better than past alienware's. If you have $4000 to spend on a laptop, the m17x will perform better than the m15x. I have the m15x, and it has been fine for me. If you don't have atleast $2500 to spend on the m15x, I would not recommend it. However, the m15x is one of the only, if not the only 15 inch notebook with the 8800m gtx. It also has the capability to have dual hard drives or batters if the optical drive is switched out.

The m15x did have some problems with downclocking relating to the 8800m gtx, but this was fixed with a bios update.

Edit: Don't get a used alienware, if you dont have atleast $2000-2500 alienware is NOT the way to go.
 
I'm willing to go up to $2000. Maybe $2500 max.

So you can't buy 8800m gtx alone?

Also, I do like the new m15x/17x. They look nice, and also they have that graphic card that I love. and x15m is only 15"inches, which might be better then 17x for me since I travel, and I need to bring it along with me a lot. Since m15x's (all first options) are only $1400, I'm willing to upgrade a few specs on it to reach around $2000-$2500.

Another thing I was thinking about was, what if I bought the alienware for $1400 and upgrade it by buying others seperately? I'm assuming it would be cheaper as well? Thats y I wanted to know if 8800m gtx were available. Since the upgrade on the alienware is addtional $500.

Thank you
 
Sir Travis D said:
Macs + gaming = bad compatibiliy, high price/performance ratio

About the m15x/m17x - They perform much better than past alienware's. If you have $4000 to spend on a laptop, the m17x will perform better than the m15x. I have the m15x, and it has been fine for me. If you don't have atleast $2500 to spend on the m15x, I would not recommend it. However, the m15x is one of the only, if not the only 15 inch notebook with the 8800m gtx. It also has the capability to have dual hard drives or batters if the optical drive is switched out.

The m15x did have some problems with downclocking relating to the 8800m gtx, but this was fixed with a bios update.

Edit: Don't get a used alienware, if you dont have atleast $2000-2500 alienware is NOT the way to go.
Click to expand...

MacBook Pro with bootcamp is pretty neat. A 8600M GT surfaces for me.
 
yeah kill bill it might be fine for you, but for $2500 an 8600M GT is sub-par. your really paying for the OS with that...

i mean, you have two 8800ULTRA's, you definetely know the difference between an 8800 and an 8600.
 
you might want to check out the new gateway p-173fx, comes with an 8800m gts for around 1500, i was considering it when i was buying but it was slightly out of my price range. I ended up going for a dell m1530 with the 8600gt
 
I really doubt you could buy a laptop graphics card without upgrading from the company, and it would be unlikely it would "fit" in a lower quality computer.
 
MOSTgraphics cards in laptops cannot be upgraded due to the fact that they are soldered on to the motherboard. so you have to buy a laptop that fits your needs. my laptop for instance is one of the very few that the graphics card can be taken out and a new one put in by the owner.
 
is it possible to buy an allienware 15 or 17x and upgrade it to 8800m gts later in the future?

and if anyone knows if its possible buy an 8800m alone? thank you
 
How are alienware "rebrands" of sager?
Sager is more for the budget gamer, but they both use clevo chassis...

edit: Yes, you can buy the alienware and they can upgrade the parts. It usually costs less than it would to purchase it with it too. You simply send the computer to them.
 
this is the hardest part about laptops, the only way to really get parts is to send it into the company, the only thing you can change without voiding the warrenty is the ram i think, you can change the cpu, dvd drive, and hard drive, but i believe that voids the warrenty, on most laptops though, i know some alienwares/sagers/voodoos/falcon northwests, have hotswap bays on some models that allow you to change out the drive with a different drive/hard drive
 
On my alienware laptop, I can upgrade the ram/cpu/hdd/graphics card as long as I tell alienware. Just a noob, you are correct about the swap drive, here is a picture of mine

2473790597_118a753884_o.jpg
 
thanks for all the help guys.

PS do you think the 15x is better or 17x? Some say 17 is more upgradable, yet 15 is easier to carry around and just as good?
 
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