Best all-around gaming laptop for $2800+?

[Bolas]

As far as the graphics cards go: GT555m<<GTX560m<GTX570m<GTX580m<HD6990m. Also you need 8GB of ram, I see some have 4 and others have 12. The intel 510 is a great drive, you will enjoy it, but another option is the Crucial M4. If ur going to pay the money to get an I7-2720 then get the 1600mhz ram for it. The I7 2630 and below can only do 1333. The Alienware M17/18X have HDMI in, can we say XBOX360 in the car!

If ur buying a Sager/Clevo get it from XoticPC or Malibal.com they will treat you better.

Yep, the Blade has the lowest end gpu for a high end gaming machine. I'm leaning towards the m18x or the Sager 8170-S1.

I like the idea of installing a 512 GB Crucial M4 SSD for the boot drive. Something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148450

Lots of fast SSD storage for the price. $780 currently, and includes a transfer kit! Easy to upgrade the weak boot drive that comes with the system to the boot drive I actually want. I already have a 750GB HDD in my old laptop that I would move to the second drive bay in whatever I use. Sadly, I have more than 750 GB of Steam games, but I heard there's a program to let you divide steam files between different drives, so I could potentially get them all on the computer with that kind of a setup.

Also, the 1600 MHz Kingston Hyper-X RAM has been on sale lately. Sadly, the $25 rebate just ended yesterday. But it might be a bit before I buy, I'm tempted to wait for Ivy Bridge.

I don't have an X-Box. Interesting idea though. I'm happy enough using my phone to tether my laptop and surf the web or play single player Steam games (Civ V) in the car on long drives, though.

[Leeghoofd]

GT560M isn't cutting the cake with the latest games, I have a very hard time on the MSI GT780R with similar specs as the Asus (GT560m, 8gb of ram, 2630QM) when gaming at 1920 x 1080, 1366 x 768 is rock solid...

If you really want to be sure it can run the upcoming games at the native monitor res , then it will either be 580m or 6990, anything lower will struggle. Main part of a gaming laptop is the GPU... 16Gb of ram, no idea why you ever would need that, 8gb will be fine... Does the mobo chipset support 1600mhz rams ? H67 on the dekstop didn't...

But out of the above list I would buy the Sager 8170 s1 or the Alienware (with an added 4gb)... no idea why Razor even wants to promote that GPU...

[pby5cat]

Newegg has 1TB laptop drives, and most android phones and a min-HDMI out on them, you could get the cable and make ur laptop show whats on ur phones screen, watch youtube on a bigger screen.

[Bolas]

Update:

Here's what I actually bought for $2800. I forgot about taxes, bleah.

I got a refurbished Alienware m17x R3.

http://www.dell.com/us/dfh/p/alienwa...r3/pd?~ck=anav

Intel Core i7 2820QM 2.3GHz (3.4GHz turbo), 8MB cache
8GB DDR3 1333MHz
750 GB HDD
Blu-Ray player
2GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForce GTX 580m
Internal Wireless HD Transmitter
Killer Wireless-N 1103 NIC
Windows 7 Ultimate
Wireless Bluetooth
$2049

Tax on above:
$150

Wireless HD Receiver:
$100

Corsair Force GT 240GB SSD:
$460

Acronis True Image Home 2012:
$50

Total: $2809 including tax and shipping.

I decided that I wanted wireless HD to use with my big screen, so this worked out pretty good. Should be a decent setup. Arrives tomorrow!! So excited. I'll move the 750GB HDD to the 2nd drive bay and use the SSD for the boot drive.

Well, actually I'll put the Corsair in my desktop and move the old Intel X25-M G2 160GB SSD to the laptop, since my desktop supports SATA III 6GB/s and my laptop doesn't. But still, about the same effect, an SSD for the boot drive.

Not bad for $2800.

[Bolas]

For anyone curious, the recent anandtech.com reviews were the deciding factor for me on which model to get.

[pby5cat]

cangrats on the M17x, change out the ram for 1600mhz?

[zanzabar]

did u order a second drive in it, in the past the unused bays came without mounting hardware and sometimes without ports.

[Bolas]

cangrats on the M17x, change out the ram for 1600mhz?

I'm tempted to change it out for 16GB of DDR3 1600MHz... but there's really no hurry on that, and it's a second machine and my desktop is the main one, so desktop is the priority for me. Next expenditure will probably be some improved graphics cards for the desktop. My current gpu is struggling with Civ 5 diplomacy screen in 4800 x 2560 resolution, so I figure if I beef that up, that'll help.

Of course, the memory upgrade from 8GB DDR3 1333 MHz to 16GB DDR3 1600MHz is under $200... so that is pretty cheap. But also, 8GB is probably enough for what I'll do on the laptop. I'm more tempted to take the desktop from 12GB to 24GB. If I need to do some serious computing, I'll just use the desktop system. Laptop is for Blu-Rays and games and travel.

[Bolas]

did u order a second drive in it, in the past the unused bays came without mounting hardware and sometimes without ports.

I did not order a second drive in it, I didn't get to customize it at all, it was a refurbished unit, so it was configured however it was for the previous buyer.

I have 21 days to return it for a refund, so if I can't mount a second drive, I'll be forced to return it, I suppose. That'd be a bummer, but it could happen.

[Bolas]

Ok... you are not going to believe this but...

When surfing the web this morning, I came across a configuration that I liked even better on the dell outlet, so I'm returning the first one and buying a different one.

Intel Core i7 2860QM 2.5GHz (3.6GHz turbo), 8MB cache
16GB DDR3 1600MHz
320 GB HDD x2
Blu-Ray player
2GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForce GTX 580m
Internal Wireless HD Transmitter
Killer Wireless-N 1103 NIC
Windows 7 Ultimate
Wireless Bluetooth
Black color
$2079

So for $30 more, I get the faster cpu, faster memory, more memory, the color I wanted. The drives don't matter because I will be replacing them with the SSD and the 750GB HDD that I already have, so I'll sell those off to a local computer shop for some extra cash.

I placed the new order and obtained the return authorization this morning. So now I have a one week wait, but I'll be MUCH happier with the new laptop.

[mutantmagnet]

Too much money for my taste but I hope you are happy with it.

[Bolas]

Ok... you are not going to believe this but...

When surfing the web this morning, I came across a configuration that I liked even better on the dell outlet, so I'm returning the first one and buying a different one.

Intel Core i7 2860QM 2.5GHz (3.6GHz turbo), 8MB cache
16GB DDR3 1600MHz
320 GB HDD x2
Blu-Ray player
2GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForce GTX 580m
Internal Wireless HD Transmitter
Killer Wireless-N 1103 NIC
Windows 7 Ultimate
Wireless Bluetooth
Black color
$2079

So for $30 more, I get the faster cpu, faster memory, more memory, the color I wanted. The drives don't matter because I will be replacing them with the SSD and the 750GB HDD that I already have, so I'll sell those off to a local computer shop for some extra cash.

I placed the new order and obtained the return authorization this morning. So now I have a one week wait, but I'll be MUCH happier with the new laptop.

NOOOOO!!! Dell cancelled my order without my permission and with no explanation.

Oh, and they emailed me a coupon for 25% off any Alienware laptop in the Dell Outlet store. Which they also emailed to everyone else. Which means that the outlet store is completely cleaned out of laptops, so I can't reorder.

Reminds me of the movie Caddyshack, when the Judge tells Spaulding, "You'll get nothing and like it!"

[Bolas]

Of course... I've already spent $107 on the Wireless HD receiver and $460 on the Corsair Force GT 240GB SSD... but now I don't have a laptop with which to use them.

[AH64]

Why do you need 16GB?

[Bolas]

Why do you need 16GB?

I don't. 8GB would be fine. 1333MHz would be fine. But to get twice the memory for a fraction of what it would cost me to get on my own, why not? More memory at a faster speed = always better.

I'm checking to see if I can find another one to buy... guess I'm out of luck for the moment though.

[Bolas]

Jackpot!!

Found another Alienware m17x r3 to buy. And got to use the current coupon code for 25% off of any Alienware at the outlet center.

http://content.dell.com/us/en/dfh/d/...43&lid=1937257

So the outlet stuff is 2/3 of normal price, and then 1/4 off of that = get a high end laptop for half price.

With my budget of $2800, I bought:

Alienware m17x r3
Core i7 2820QM cpu
Nvidia GTX 580m gpu
16 GHz DDR3 1333 Mhz
Blu-Ray Player
Killer 1103 Wireless "N"
320 GB HDD x 2 (I'll replace these with an SSD boot drive and a 750GB data drive that I've already got)
1920 x 1080 full HD LCD 120Hz 3D (not sure if it comes with the glasses or not)
Windows 7 Home Premium
$1661.75 before tax

Alienware m11x r3
Core i7 2617m cpu
Nvidia GT540m gpu
8GB DDR3 1333 MHz
750GB HDD
Windows 7 Home Premium
$734.25 before tax

Corsair Force GT 240GB SSD
$459.99

Total of $2855. So for the same base price as one Razer Blade, I get two laptops -- one of which is more powerful, the other of which is smaller and presumably more portable.

For full disclosure, I also got:

1-year accidental damage protection for the m17x r3 for $49
Neoprene sleeve for the m11x for $23

And of course, I had to pay taxes. Free shipping though. Total of $3100.69 including taxes. And I think I'll be happier with the 3D of the m17x and the portability of the m11x than I would with just a single m18x with dual gpu's. Or with one under-powered Razer Blade. But we'll see. If not, I'll resell these two and buy an m18x next summer, once Ivy Bridge is out.

-Bolas

[Bolas]

Also, my toddler daughter will probably get to play on the m11x. And maybe the wife, too. So it's all good.

[Bolas]

Newegg dropped the price on the Corsair Force GT 240GB SSD. I phoned them and they refunded me $35, as a result.

I ended up spending that and a bit more to get the new TSA friendly Alienware Orion Backpack for the Alienware m17x. Should show up Friday.

I'm tempted to get an Alienware mouse and headset to complete the package. I wonder if they have a mini-mouse for the m11x?

[clayton]

Good choice.

[Bolas]

Good choice.

Thanks. The Dell outlet JUST emailed out new coupon codes for 25% off of Alienware laptops through 11/16.

XZ28JW$K?2W$LC

This is through the dell outlet center. Can still get some good deals.