[Malick]

I just now came across the "Hardware" section of this forum (man, you guys have it all!) so I thought I'd ask what you guys think of the Alienware M14x.

My current computer (a 2008 HP Pavilion 2700 artist edition)is sort of slowly falling apart now :/ so I was looking around for something really powerful for things like the some games (I'm 15 so I do a fair bit of gaming, CoD, DiRT 3, the likes), Photoshop, Sony Vegas. I pretty much dabble in everything except 3d stuff like CAD so I needed something beefy.

BUT, I like to work on the couch so a laptop is a must.

The Alienware seems to be the only thing that came up, so what do you guys think? Anyone had one? Opinions?

Any other laptops you might think would work would be much appreciated as well!

You guys are always great help with my question so let's hope you can help me out with this one

[evu]

Although you don't have many options because it's a laptop, I thought I'd point out that with Alienware, you'll end up paying a lot more for just because it's Alienware. There's probably cheaper alternatives.

Wish I could help more.
~evu.

[Renaissance-Design]

Gaming laptops will never be any good compared to a desktop. Sorry. Gaming graphics cards are necessarily limited by the size of cooler you can fit in a laptop chassis.

Take the M14x for example - graphics card manages to keep up with the screen, but that's at a price - you're getting the same size screen as an ultraportable, but it's brick-thick, loud, runs hot and the battery only lasts about an hour and a half - so as a laptop it's not particularly portable.

This post has been edited by Renaissance-Design: 28 August 2011 - 11:48 PM

[Malick]

I admit the alienware is pretty much the elitist of the laptop world, and definitely makes you pay for it. As far as portability, i do travel around quite a bit, so portability is a thing but i don't do it so often that i need something small. As for battery life, i think 90% of the time i find myself on ac power so the battery wasn't much of an issue (although i heard the life was more in the range of 3 and a half hours but i might be wrong).

And im completely with you on the desktops being a better option but i would much prefer a laptop so i can deal with their quirks

I did find some others with the same i7 processor as the M14x but they were all either too ugly, too expensive or were a toshiba with a whole load of "special features" which sounded a lot like a bunch of tools to let toshiba stalk you like the webcam monitors where you are to deliver the best viewing angle? No thanks I think I'll just move my head

[porkchops]

If you have enough money to buy an Alienware laptop you should just buy a work laptop and a gaming desktop instead.

Like Chris said, laptop graphics cards suck. You spend about 3-4 times as much on a gaming laptop as you would a desktop just because of that pesky video card. If you want to work on the couch, then get a 700-800 dollar laptop that can run your productivity stuff. Then spend the rest of the money on a great gaming rig. Best of both worlds.

[Garyw24]

We tried out an Alienware last year and were disappointed. Lots of gimmicks, but runs VERY hot, noisy, heavy, bulky, one hour battery life. When it arrived it was full of junk apps and Alienware gimmicks. There were 47 startup programs running, all kinds of stupid monitoring apps, speed apps, Alienware popup logo apps. Ours didn't last a month and we sold it. If you want to play games, get a decent desktop.

In terms of a laptop, lots of good ones, we eventually went with an MSI Intel i7. Came across it by accident in Argos and we loved the build, the design, the screen, the keyboard the features etc. We now own three and we love them.

[Malick]

Wow! From all those reviews and such I got the complete opposite impression! I guess I'll do some more looking around and see if I stumble across anything interesting. Thanks for the heads up!

[joshfolio]

Not a fan of laptops at all

no matter what laptop you get make sure you get a cooling pad

Cooling Pad

[Malick]

joshfolio, on 04 September 2011 - 02:42 PM, said:

Not a fan of laptops at all

no matter what laptop you get make sure you get a cooling pad

Cooling Pad

Already got one

[Garyw24]

The Alienware will crush your kneecaps and burn your trousers.

This might interest you, check out ALL the tests:

http://www.laptopmag...mode=benchmarks

and this one basically says bulky, heavy and noisy:, with poor display and a crap keyboard:

http://reviews.cnet....eview-50003540/

As I said the MSI GT 680 is well worth a look with some great reviews all round. The only fault I could mention is I'd like longer battery life, but with a top end laptop like this, battery life isn't going to be great. It comes highly recommended on several sites including:

http://hothardware.c...-Review/?page=7

[Malick]

Garyw24, on 05 September 2011 - 12:24 AM, said:

As I said the MSI GT 680 is well worth a look with some great reviews all round.

Wow it's actually quite pretty! That's only my first impression. I think this one needs some more investigating!
Thanks for pointing it out to me. I didn't even know there was a company called msi! +1 for the help!