ClancyMan

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I got a quick question for you guys here Regarding Alienware.
Im looking Into get a custom gaming laptop, and I have a fair amount of money to spend on it. Was wondering if any of you have opinions about alienware as a company to go with?

The majority of the reviews I have read are negative so Im unsure where else to turn to. I live in canada so that cuts out many online shops I could turn to.

I was thinking about gettin there Aurora M9700 with
- AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile ML40 2.2GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache
- 1GB Dual Channel DDR SO-DIMM at 400MHz - 2 x 512MB
- 80GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
- Dual 256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS - SLI Enabled

Im also worried about the Processor, I dont have any experience with amd mobile proccesors so any help on that as well would be appreciated, But my main concern is which vendor to go with?
 

skud

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if you have the money i would certainly but that laptop, but get 2 gb of ram. alienware is top of the line, and they use the turion 64 because it is better suited for a mobile gaming solution.
 

lambofgode3x

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i tend to be somewhat of an amd fanboy, but for gaming, that is a great mobile processor. as for your ram, try to get 2 gigs. that is quickly becoming the standard (or so i keep hearing).

oh, and dell sucks. i hate dell with a passion. that company is full of dumb sh17s.
 

Eliajah74

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I own a M9700 from Alienware and love it. But if you are not in a hurry to own it, I would wait for the Core Duo lappy coming out. The M9750, almost exact same specs and better processor to boot. If you check out the review Tom's put out on the M9700, one of the complaints was the Turion's inability to keep up with the SLI. But reguardless, the M9700 is the second Alienware laptop I have owned, it still a great buy.
 

dos1986

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Clancy looked at your custom built alienware laptop on the canada website and its costing about $2,800 to do the spec you showed which is a very expensive for what your getting no 2gb of ram,no dvdrw,and no core 2 duo.

This laptop here is vastly superior and cheaper

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/nb_xpsm1710?c=ca&cs=CADHS1&l=en&s=dhs The one on the left Inspiron XPS M1710
Mobile Powerhouse Metallic Black

It comes with

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200 which kicks the the Turion ass
2gb of ram
120gb hard drive
512mb 7950GTX which is awesome and will kill the waste of money dual 7900gs
Dvdrw
Awesome Ultra sharp monitor

And all for $2,599 if I had the money I would getting this

And dont bother listening to people saying dell dont have a clue etc because no computer seller has a clue nowadays unless they sell extreme custom built computers inhouse.

Anyway if there is ever a problem with your laptop dell will come to your door and take it off your hands pronto I have bought may Dell pcs for myself and friends and I have never had a problem with them.
 

enforcerfx

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i tend to be somewhat of an amd fanboy, but for gaming, that is a great mobile processor. as for your ram, try to get 2 gigs. that is quickly becoming the standard (or so i keep hearing).

oh, and dell sucks. i hate dell with a passion. that company is full of dumb sh17s.

I concur. With Dell owning Alienware, the only major difference your getting with sales is the sense that Dell throws on their shitty software on the pre-loaded windows they include with the setup. While Alienware on the other hand have some buggy issues with that Respawn-Recovery Kit, setting all programs back to their defaults as if you got the computer brand new resulting in what I have seen is some programs do not show up that you previously had on the respawn recovery kit when you launch it the first time. It really comes down to what you plan to use the computer for, what is cheaper price wise and parts wise, and what you think is going to last you longer.

The alienware list you selected is good, probably one of their top of the line models as of now. See what dell has to offer for price difference.
 

LynkDead

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Don't forget about Falcon Northwest ;) As long as we're talking about Alienware and Voodoo, might as well throw in the other big builder (you know, the one that HASN'T been bought out by a major corporation).
 

slim142

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Don't forget about Falcon Northwest ;) As long as we're talking about Alienware and Voodoo, might as well throw in the other big builder (you know, the one that HASN'T been bought out by a major corporation).

Yeah FN is a big corporation but something I dont like is the simply case models they have :?
 

LynkDead

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Don't forget about Falcon Northwest ;) As long as we're talking about Alienware and Voodoo, might as well throw in the other big builder (you know, the one that HASN'T been bought out by a major corporation).

Yeah FN is a big corporation but something I dont like is the simply case models they have :?

Well it's all personal taste when it comes to cases really. ;)

I haven't owned a FN laptop, but I have owned a Talon (really really old) and a Mach V (like 4 years old). My experience with them was top-notch. Every person I talked to on the phone was extremely knowledgeable, and I had to RMA my floppy drive and had absolutely no issues with that process.

Though my next computer will be built by myself, if I were going to go with a pre-built again or recommend one to anyone, I would absolutely say FN wins.
 

slim142

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ShuuuuuuuuuuuuuuT so could you tell me the specs of your mach V? I would really appreciate it :)

Also, when u bought it, was it the TOP model with the TOP components?
 

sink

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My mate just go the Dell XPS M1710. It can play Medieval II 1920*1200 with no slowdown until you have 2000+ units on the field and even the its still playable. Plays Oblivion real nice to but with no AA or HDR to keep frame rates smooth. It gets very hot so you would not want to be playing with it on your lap. He was looking at the Alien ware too but the 7900GS sli does not preform as well as the 7950GTX and the Core 2 Duo T7200 kicks the crap out of the AMD Turion ML40 and its cheaper, nuff said.
 

ClancyMan

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Wow, thanks for all the info guys, really helps my decision.

The alienware is expensive so I was unsure, and I wanted it to be somewhat futureproof.

Ive never heard of falconware so Ill check them out as well. I was beggining to think I might put it off till the next round of laptop technology comes around, like dx10 cards for laptops and such.

That Dell Laptop looks promising, but Im still nervous about it being Dell.
 

LynkDead

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ShuuuuuuuuuuuuuuT so could you tell me the specs of your mach V? I would really appreciate it :)

Also, when u bought it, was it the TOP model with the TOP components?

Yea, when I bought it it was pretty much TOP of the line, sadly now it's far from that.

Cooler Master ATC-110 Extended ATX
Enermax EG465P-VE
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
AMD AthlonXP 3000+
1GB PC2700 DDR RAM, 333mhz
80GB Maxtor 7200
Audigy II

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB ( >.< )

I list the Radeon seperately and last because at the time it was literally unavailable to the public, Falcon had exclusive quantities. I paid around $500 for the card, and about $2,800 total for the whole thing.

I still remember the day I got it, plugging it in and letting it tear through some benchmarks, maxxing out the settings on every game I owned, haha.

I'm actually still amazed by how well it does, can run most games at 10x7 with 2xAA at around 30-40 FPS (decreasing with each new game, obviously). I have upgraded the storage. Bought it in March of '03. A month or two later, the 512MB Radeons came out and I cried :(

Anyways, sorry to hijack the thread, just thought I'd share my wonderful experiences with Falcon Northwest.
 

lambofgode3x

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i tend to be somewhat of an amd fanboy, but for gaming, that is a great mobile processor. as for your ram, try to get 2 gigs. that is quickly becoming the standard (or so i keep hearing).

oh, and dell sucks. i hate dell with a passion. that company is full of dumb sh17s.

I concur. With Dell owning Alienware, the only major difference your getting with sales is the sense that Dell throws on their shitty software on the pre-loaded windows they include with the setup. While Alienware on the other hand have some buggy issues with that Respawn-Recovery Kit, setting all programs back to their defaults as if you got the computer brand new resulting in what I have seen is some programs do not show up that you previously had on the respawn recovery kit when you launch it the first time. It really comes down to what you plan to use the computer for, what is cheaper price wise and parts wise, and what you think is going to last you longer.

The alienware list you selected is good, probably one of their top of the line models as of now. See what dell has to offer for price difference.

hehe...finally someone that agrees with me on something.

but no seriously, for mobile gaming, alienware, falcon, and voodoo are the way to go. also, check out Xtreme Notebooks. i hear good things about them.

for $3,114 you can get the Raptor 724Ve (Xtreme Notebooks) with
-a T7600 processor,
-2 gigs of ram,
-the GeForce Go 7950GTX,
-100GB 7200RPM Sata hard drive
-8x dvd burner
-xp pro (with vista business coupon)

and no, i dont work for them or anything.
 

celewign

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My roommate also has a new XPS M1710 or whatever the gaming laptop is. It is psycho. It freakes me out to see a laptop run games my gaming PC can't run. It is a beast.
For the anti-Dell people: Yes, Dell generally sucks. NOT WITH THE XPS LINE THOUGH. My roommate had to call them for techie support with drivers, and the XPS folks were awfully good to him. I know, because the call was speakerphoned and I was helping him fix it. They are GOOD COMPUTERS. Furthermore, I have a friend in another dorm that he hated and he would leave his computer in our room and game to the wee hours (not this semester though, he's on academic probation, lol). He had the Dell XPS deskbook thing with the 20 inch screen. That is also the coolest computer, despite the fact that it cost him three times the cost of my car.

THE XPS LINE OF DELLS ARE GOOD. DON'T RAG ON THEM. JUST BECAUSE DELL MAKES SOME REALLY SHITTY CHEAP PCS DOESN'T MEAN XPS IS BAD.



Fanboys... There is such a thing as a "Custom-built-system-DIY fanboy". Still a fanboy, still lame.
-cm
 

lambofgode3x

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i don't know if i speak for anyone else but myself here, but i hate dell for their mediocre customer support and that they employ people that are stupid as all hell. yeah, their budget pc's suck, but they are budget pc's...you cant expect them to be great. as for the xps line, yeah, they're great computers, but having experienced dell's customer support...id rather just not go with them.

and the "custom-built-system-DIY fanboy" laptops generally suck. in my research, it's hard to find parts for laptops such as decent motherboards, better displays and graphics cards. yeah, i've found mobile processors and notebook ram, but other than that, its hard to find things for laptops.
 
Not to rag on Dell, but they are extremely proprietary even with their laptops. A friend of mine bought a XPS, and the power supply wouldn't charge the battery. On power up it told him that he needed to have at least a 130 Watt power supply. Of course he had the correct supply and it was putting out the correct voltage under load, and it was the correct model number. I am an electronics engineer so I offered to have a look at it. I disassembled it and discovered that the power brick actually communicates with the laptop on power up. I could see a serial data stream on the center pin (yes it has three contacts outer tube, inner tube and a center pin) coming from the laptop, and one returning from the power supply (I used an oscilliscope). From what I could see on the scope, everything looked fine with the logic levels from both sides, but for some reason the laptop didn't like what was coming back from the power supply. Of course since it is proprietary, nothing is published about what the serial stream contains, therefore other than checking that the handshaking was occurring, I was unable to determine what was wrong. Like I said though, it put out the correct voltage level under load (laptop on). Unfortunately since it wasn't being correctly recognized by the laptop, it wouldn't run the CPU at full speed, nor would it charge the battery from it. We tried to force the CPU to run at full speed with SwitchXP (a utility for managing the power management features which aren't present in XP like they were in 2000), but it wouldn't let us change it. The only way to get it running at full speed was to run on battery, which quickly killed the battery that we couldn't charge. Of course he ordered a new power supply and everything was OK after that (we were worried that it might be the laptop itself). Anyway I have been long winded with this post to demonstrate that Dell does things there own way, as long as you are aware of it and you can live with it, then by all means buy Dell. Just something to think about when buying Dell, you just can't replace their stuff with generic (same voltage and current rating) power supplies.