need to make a quick decision between these two laptops (buying today or tomm.)

[omaryunus]

hey guys well i am looking into a new laptop well to be honest more of a desktop replacement system... I am going overseas soon and I cant take my huge desktop with me so i would rather get something that will run almost all my games (WoW, mass effect, crysis, etc...) on pretty good settings. well now that the intro is over I have a pretty decent budget its as high as 3k. (and yes i know what kinda desktop i can get for that and blah blah i dont want that i want a laptop and im asking you opinion on a laptop so if you can keep it with that that would be nice) anyways the two laptops ive fallen in love with are these:

The Gateway® P-173XL FX Edition
Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor2 T8300 (2.40GHz, 800MHz FSB, 3MB L2 cache)
Genuine Microsoft® Windows Vista® Ultimate (64-bit) SP1
4096MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2-2048MB modules)
400GB 7200rpm Serial ATA hard drive w/ Raid 0 (2-200GB hard drives)3
NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800M GTS with 512MB of GDDR3 discrete video memory
17.0" WUXGA Ultrabright TFT Active Matrix (1920 x 1200 max. resolution)
Integrated Intel® 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N Wireless Networking
Fingerprint Reader


click here for more specs (http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668093.php)

and

The Alienware Area 51 m17x (i know its an alienware but it looks cool and its got decent specs)


Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz
Dual 8700M GT
2GB 667MHz RAM
160GB 7200RPM
WideUXGA (1200p)


for more specs and stuff click here (http://www.alienware.com/products/area-51-m17x-notebook.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AREA51M17X&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT)

The price is just under 3k for this and 2k for the gateway (both without tax and shipping)

if you have any other laptops that are good desktop replacement i would love the suggestions thanks alot

[RADCOM]

The Gateway looks better value. Whats the Top of the Dell range like? I was going to say Asrock but they are in administration.

[systemviper]

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DYDWM93&s=dhs

[omaryunus]

hmm the XPS is good but they dont come with the 8700M or 8800M so i kinda moved away from that and i havent really heard much of Asrock. Gateway is great for the value but im not looking at the price tag im looking more of the build of the computer and how long it will last me and if the computer will run up to its potential.

[ToTTenTranz]

The Gateway is cheaper, has a better CPU, better graphics card (8800M is a lot more powerfull than 2*8700GT), double the RAM, more than double the hard drive... what else so you need to know, really?

[RPA]

Sager makes quality DTR's with excellent video card options. PC Torque (http://www.pctorque.com/sager-laptops.php) is one of the best builders.

[ymer]

I'd get the gateway, the Alienware is overpriced.

[omaryunus]

well for who ever would like to know i went with the alienware... as i have said im taking this laptop overseas and the warranty from alienware that comes with the laptop is better than the gateway to begin with. Everywhere i have seen that the gateway call centers suck BIG TIME... they dont know what they are doing there tech support is even worse. I went a bit over my budget to get this laptop but i know that if i have a problem i always have the tech support 24/7. the specs for laptop i got finally are:

Area-51® m17x

Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8700M GT – SLI Enabled
Display: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology – Black
System Lighting: Alienware® AlienFX® System Lighting - Red
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8300 2.4GHz (3MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 2048MB
Operating System (Office software not included): Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1
Notebook Tuners and Remotes: Internal Digital/Analog (ATSC) MiniCard TV Tuner with Express Card Media Center Remote Control
System Drive: Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 500GB (250GB x 2) 7,200RPM (8MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection
Optical Drive: 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW) w/ LightScribe Technology - View Demo
Wireless: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card
Sound Card : Internal High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
External Storage: 500GB Seagate Free Agent External Hard Drive
Mobile Bags: Alienware® Orion Messenger Bag


I thought if im gonna do it im gonna do it once and im gonna do it right. I just dont know how the build is of the 173XL... I just have heard too many bad things about gateway to justify $2000 and have no personal experience either. the alienware my cousin bought one 3 years ago and its still running and it being a division of dell and it being a high end model i know it will be better off as the higher end dells usually a whole hell of a lot longer than the budget models. well thank you for everyone for their help and I looked into Sager and they were not giving me a ship date. I needed this laptop since i am going over seas to Dubai and the laptops i saw there last time i went were uncomparable they dont even have 8700s there well yet again thanks for all the help

Edit: Sagers actually were costing me more for the same compared to alienware.

[ToTTenTranz]

You did wrong... The 8700M GTs are still based on the weaklish G84 and do not hold up to recent games.. And you'll have the same multi-gpu related problems as everyone else.

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/6701/3dmark06ox1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Not to mention the Alienware is a major pricing rip-off, compared to the gateway.



If you were going to make the decision completely by yourself, why ask in the forums?! :shrug:

[RPA]

well for who ever would like to know i went with the alienware... as i have said im taking this laptop overseas and the warranty from alienware that comes with the laptop is better than the gateway to begin with. Everywhere i have seen that the gateway call centers suck BIG TIME... they dont know what they are doing there tech support is even worse. I went a bit over my budget to get this laptop but i know that if i have a problem i always have the tech support 24/7. the specs for laptop i got finally are:

Area-51® m17x

Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8700M GT – SLI Enabled
Display: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology – Black
System Lighting: Alienware® AlienFX® System Lighting - Red
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8300 2.4GHz (3MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 2048MB
Operating System (Office software not included): Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1
Notebook Tuners and Remotes: Internal Digital/Analog (ATSC) MiniCard TV Tuner with Express Card Media Center Remote Control
System Drive: Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 500GB (250GB x 2) 7,200RPM (8MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection
Optical Drive: 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW) w/ LightScribe Technology - View Demo
Wireless: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card
Sound Card : Internal High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
External Storage: 500GB Seagate Free Agent External Hard Drive
Mobile Bags: Alienware® Orion Messenger Bag


I thought if im gonna do it im gonna do it once and im gonna do it right. I just dont know how the build is of the 173XL... I just have heard too many bad things about gateway to justify $2000 and have no personal experience either. the alienware my cousin bought one 3 years ago and its still running and it being a division of dell and it being a high end model i know it will be better off as the higher end dells usually a whole hell of a lot longer than the budget models. well thank you for everyone for their help and I looked into Sager and they were not giving me a ship date. I needed this laptop since i am going over seas to Dubai and the laptops i saw there last time i went were uncomparable they dont even have 8700s there well yet again thanks for all the help

Edit: Sagers actually were costing me more for the same compared to alienware.

Just so you know, one 8800GTX is a lot more powerful than 8700 SLI. Probably uses less power too.

[ymer]

You can still cancel the order and get the Gateway

[omaryunus]

well the point was to get a reliable system... gateway just had too much online everywhere i would go there would be something about how there 172x system had crapped out or some problem had happened and the call center and tech support is a big JOKE... value im not stupid i know value wise very good but im gonna spend this once and i spent it on the system that i thought would last longer... I asked the forum so that they could tell me about the reliability not about the best bang for my buck i know the gateway has more but personally i just did not like anything about their warranty and i am going overseas and alienware has more reliability in it then the gateway. I have tech support and they have an office in UK and many other places in europe so that shows reliability. well its what matters to me the most if i spend how ever much i spend i want to spend it once and not have to worry about if my warranty will cover something or not. so yea thats how i made my decision