New laptop time: Who likes Alienware?
 

I'm looking to get a new Win 7 laptop with a big 1080p 18.4" screen. I use it as a desktop replacement at home with an external keyboard and mouse and take it on shoots and sit it at a table or desk. Anyone have experience with Alienware or M18x model in particular?

I'd like an SSD & Blu-Ray upgrade and lots of aftermarket RAM (cheaper). I'm probably looking at about $2500 or so after all. Looks like Sager and some other manufacturers also make big screen laptops that size.

Basic specs below:
Processor Intel® Core? i7 2670QM 2.2GHz (3.1GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
Display 18.4-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 WLED
Memory2 4GB2 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
Hard Drive 500GB3 SATA hard drive (7200RPM)
Optical Drive Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Video Card 1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M
Warranty 1 Year Basic Plan
Weight 11.93 lbs

Was going to go for the m18x but the Alienware name jacks the price up too much IMO.

Happily bought a Asus g74sx with nearly the same specs for thousands cheaper.

They're nice laptops but definitely expensive compared to others with close to the same specs.

As with Apple you're paying for the name.

Why such a large screen? I prefer about 13" for my laptop, makes it easier to travel with.

If you're hauling a lot of luggage around for the shoot, a few pounds more or less for the computer won't make a difference.

I really like Alienware for top performance machines. Parts are tested and work very fine together to get maximum speed. It does come at a price of course, but I would say it's worth it if you're doing video editing or handling lots of photos, which you obviously are. If not totally necessary on the road, I would however question the blue ray upgrade. It will likely sit unused for the majority of the time and just drain the battery. So depending on where you do most of your photo shoots, indoors where you have power readily available or outdoors where the computer's own battery have to last a bit?

All in all I'd say it's a very good choice, I really like Alienware and have only good experiences from them.

Alienware is overpriced. Don't let their ads convince you those laptops are special enough to warrant the prices.

What I'm saying is, Alienware is usually for tech dummies that don't have the knowledge to know they're buying snake oil.

Overpriced. Remember: Alienware = Dell.

Alienware is GARBAGE

Used to be the best machines on the planet with world class tech support.
Sold out to Dell and became overpriced junk with zero support living off a brand name it no longer deserves.

Alienware used to be the best in the biz for a gaming system. Don't know what to tell ya now.

I have an m15x and my first one was a lemon, had tons of problems with it. 6 months later Dell finally gave me brand new one after having the MB, both fans, a GPU, and a touch pad all go bad. If i could do it all over again i wouldn't

I have an alienware "net book" pretty much a laptop without dvd rom, anyways it's the only laptop I have seen that can run the video straight outta my canon eos 7d, battery life is great, and yes I believe your paying for the name etc. but worth it. I was on a plan, and everyones laptops looked so outdated.. if nothing else the lighted keyboard makes it worth the price, people couldn't stop looking at mine....lol

it's a Dell sidebrand now. Some people like, some don't.

whatever you do...get more RAM :)

I bought a new Lenovo Thinkpad last night because of the cybermonday deal they had going. Not sure if it was a good choice but I needed another windows backup laptop. Cost me less than $1k. I think it was the T520 I picked up.

Yes it is like buying design cloth,fuck that.

buy dell

then your safe

go with sager if you want desktop replacement http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.p...elected_cat=12

I got a Toshiba Qosmio with an 18" screen, dual hard disks and intel i7 for under 2k, it's been a year and the thing is still playing the latest games without breaking a sweat.

Much better value than anything Alienware was offering at the time.

I had the 17 inch laptop right after Dell bought them. Customer support sucked ass and had to replace the vid card as well as the battery and the memory all in the first year. I have not bought one since nor will I.

they are nice, but EXTREMELY overpriced. back years ago they were fairly competitive, now since they have a name for themselves, they can rape you all sorts of sideways.

so whats your final decision?

the bag a carry it in is louis vuitton

:winkwink:

Depends on what you need your laptop for. If your a photographer who needs a powerful computer to view photos and potentially edit video on the road, of course bigger and more powerful is much better.

For me, when I travel, all I need is a web browser and an Internet connection. Email and ICQ, and some general web browsing. Of course, when I travel I like to travel light so smaller is better. I have a little Dell netbook flip trouchscreen.

http://whatisthetrend.net/wp-content...ook-hybrid.jpg

Clearly not what your looking for, but if you like to travel light and don't need much... This is perfect.

Take a look at the same specs on the Vostro 17.4 I think its about 1900$

You also pay for durability and warranty. Lots of laptops are designed to fail just as soon as they can no longer replace it for free. Big scam.