Buying a laptop, I need assistance!

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Buying a laptop, I need assistance!

Post by Maraxus »

I thought this would be good a place as any to ask for expertise over purchasing a new laptop. I have done some research, not enough, but from what I have heard an seen I am pretty confident that I should get a custom Alienware notebook. I'm looking to spend a pretty penny, 2-3k on the machine and have scoured over Alienware's website.

Now I don't want to waste my money and get something I regret, although Alienware does come with a guarantee. What I am looking for:

Lots of space for digital photography, tons of footbag movies, and games. I need speed and quick wireless internet connectivity. I also want up-to-date software for movies, sound, and security but don't want to spend days finding it off the internet and having to download the shit.

Suggest away, k thx.
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Post by LinksYs »

NO CUSTOM ALEINWARE!

the thing about aleinwares are that they charge to much money. My hp is as good as an aleinware and i got it for 1,200 dollars. For that same price they well sell you a shitty alienware. I reseached a lot when i got my computer and just resecently researched with my friend who was getting a computer. we looked at a lot of stuff i'm not really sure what he spent but it wasn't good b/c he got a shitty dell. lol Don't go with an alienware if you compare prices u'll see that aleinwares are just charging to much!

http://www.alienware.com/Product_Pages/ ... aming.aspx
my computer OWNS both of those laps and i got it for again 1, two hundred sumin
Aleinware sucks everybody in b/c of the cool body it has. other than that there WAY over priced
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Post by Maraxus »

Tell me how it owns this:

Processor
Intel® Pentium® 4
Processor @ 3.4GHz

Operating System
Microsoft® Windows®
XP Home Edition

Memory
1GB DDR PC-3200

Hard Drive
60GB 7200RPM with
8MB Cache

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce™
FX Go5700

Optical Drive
4X DVD+RW Drive

I'm grateful for the advice but it doesn't help without a reference to something better and/or cheaper.
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Post by shredj »

I know a little bit about notebooks since I was in the market a few months back...Below are supposedly the best multimedia/gaming notebooks

Alienware Area 51m
Apple PowerBook G4 Series
Compaq Presario 3045us
Dell Inspiron 8600
Toshiba Satellite 5205-S503

http://www.CNET.com has all the info/reviews you could want
if it were me, willing to spend 2-3k on a gaming rig I would definitely pick up a suped up Area 51m

good luck, and let us know what you get!
Peace

edit* I was watching TechTV a while back, and they had about 5 gaming laptops put to the test and I forget which model, but the Dell XPS notebook or something like that placed highest in fps and performance
Last edited by shredj on 04 Aug 2004 12:10, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by LinksYs »

b/c my comp just does
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopp ... ponents.do
there you go matched!
and thats a shitty hp lap
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Post by Maraxus »

That link didn't work. The linked sites included a hp7000 which is the only thing that came close, it's cheaper but I don't see how it's better
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Post by jon »

http://www.powernotebooks.com

same as alienware less cost
other companies also repackage the same laptop undermany names, do some more research into it

as a laptop owner I would always recommend something small and with a long battery life then something fast
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Post by Maraxus »

You just saved me a grand jon, thanks.
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Post by Matt »

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Post by jon »

I almost got a sager before I got my dell. My experience with laptop with full pentiums in them is less then favourable. Laptops simply arnt meant to have a full cpu in them and because of this they get very very hot and have shitty battery life thus taking away the advantage of the laptop. Powernote books is a great company with I think one of the highest user satisfaction ratings on the net (http://www.resellerratings.com - i think) so u will be happy if u get a computer from them and the sagers are the same as the alien ware sagers but with out the modded case but as I said before if I had to do it all again I would get a centrino 14 " notebook. My current rig is a smart step 250 n with a 2.4 p4 and a 15" sxga+ and although the power is nice I dont play games so its wasted. I would much rather have 4 - 5 hours of battery life. If u plan to be a power user I would say go for a much cheaper and more powerful desktop. But I will also say that I dont think I will ever buy another desktop (even though I love case modding), laptops just kick so much ass esp for a computer science student like myself.
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Post by Maraxus »

I still like alienware cases but it's not worth a grand nope.
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Post by zachatree »

alien wear ur just paying for the case... dont get one, buy some spray paint !! there ya go ya got ur self a alien wear go get a sony or even a dell in my opinion is better then alien wear all computers are the same thing just different name brands an cases i dont have a labtop but what i say is the truth there all the same thing, basicly just get the best grade u can get dont let the sales men talk to you ither they are good at what they do, take a friend if u have one who is good at computers thats what i do or have a custom dont let the salesmen talk u in to buying a peace of shit, a sales man told my friend his computer was top of the line an when he got him as soon as i seen it i laghed ... it was a celaron an it sucks worse then what he had an his other comp was a compaq an was 6 years old!
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Post by FlexThis »

I recently bought a home PC, not a notebook, that champions your first example by a few notches video card and processor wise. My wife and I wanted the best for less. We had a guy build us one for around $800 and it included the alienware case, 3.8 ghz processor, dvd rw drive, a kick ass graphics card, and 80+ gigs of hard drive space.

My point is, a case is just a case, it will not improve anything other than your ability to look cool carring a cool case.

You can also buy a shitty case computer with awesome stuff inside and later buy an alienware case and swap insides. I use to think this was a pain in the ass until I watched and assisted in building my new one. The most important parts were getting the chip in place and the cooling fan secure over it, and making sure the mother board was not too tight. The rest was standard screws and plugs.

We actually pieced it together from new parts and saved 1000 easily. With the money we saved we got a super nice TV/PC flat panel Monitor, sweeeeeeeeet, I have picture in picture on my PC and even neon lights inside to enhance the case and still spent less than a fully assembled piece of crap.

I agree about not getting the faster processor for your laptop, they get extremely hot, which is why they have their own cooling fans, and they can burn your legs literally, not to mention the battery gets drained quickly.

I am not that familar with wireless web technology. I have a standard cable modem and wireless router, but the machine itself does not have a built-in wireless modem of it's own, it must rely on the wireless signal from the router which is wired to the cable modem. So hopefully someone has this technology already and can give you a heads up.
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Post by marc »

From what I know, Compaqs succcccck.
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Post by Shaun »

Yah they do, man Damon 3.8 ghz thats smoking fast. And HP is not better then Alienware by a long shot. Lynksis you need to research before you blab. I would go with one from the powernotebooks site. Alienware's are gaming specific. They may seem nice. But they are heavy 10 pounds and up. They may have heating issues so you may have to prop something underneathe them so the air can esscape. Also they have a shorter battery life, cause they run so damn fast. So if you want something that will be cheap and easy to use don't get a alienware laptop. If you were into gaming they a alienware desktop would be a great choice. But in my opinion gaming laptops arn't good, if you are into gaming just get a desktop.
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Post by jon »

maybe i didnt make it clear before and I could be wrong but when i was looking for laptops before the alienware laptops were repackaged sagers, ie they are the exact same computer spec wise and parts wise. Go to google groups and look for sager, they are also sold under other names.
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Post by Maraxus »

Hey jon, or anybody who knows about notebooks. Is the NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX Go5700 a better video card, or is the RADEON 9700 better?
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Post by shaggster »

Maraxus wrote:I still like alienware cases but it's not worth a grand nope.
dont buy a computer just for looks, i wouldnt care if i had a god damn computer that looked like a rock if it had excellent performance
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Post by Shaun »

Maraxus wrote:Hey jon, or anybody who knows about notebooks. Is the NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX Go5700 a better video card, or is the RADEON 9700 better?
9700 is definately better. ATI's video cards are way better then Nvidia's in my opinion. But my Nvidia Geforce Fx 5200 is one really good card for a cheap price.
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Post by Maraxus »

shaggster wrote:
Maraxus wrote:I still like alienware cases but it's not worth a grand nope.
dont buy a computer just for looks, i wouldnt care if i had a god damn computer that looked like a rock if it had excellent performance
what if it gets girls
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