New laptop for gaming

[ssjjfar]

I've been planning to get a new laptop for a while now, was waiting for windows 7 to come out and wait a few weeks for reviews. Anyways, was looking for a computer that could run games smoothly seeing as my current laptop which is 4+ years old, runs warcraft 3 and ffxi choppy now.

Wanted to know what I should focus on so my computer can play games smoothly, pretty much figured it would be the processor the RAM and the graphics card mainly.

Was looking at two computers online today, first one was Alienware Mx17 with:
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz (3MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
VIDEO CARD Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M, 2GB – SLI® Enabled
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
HARD DRIVE 320GB 7,200RPM w/ Free Fall Protection

I upped the Video Card from single Nvida GTX 260M to dual, took the 1333MHz 4GB ram over the 1066MHz one, and added more harddrive space. But everything else is pretty much the standard minimum that it comes with.

Other one I briefly glanced at was this one here at newegg:
Newegg.com - ASUS G Series G71Gx-X2 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo P8700(2.53GHz) 17.0" Wide UXGA 6GB Memory 640GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M - Laptops / Notebooks

Went to bestbuy and didn't see any laptops that were as good as these (for display anyways).

Games I plan to run:
Final Fantasy XI
Civilization IV
Warcraft 3 (for dota only realy)
League of Legends

Final Fantasy XIV when it comes out
Diablous 3 maybe whenever its out

Last 2 are main thing, cause other then LoL the other games are pretty old, and I'm sure even any basic new computer can run them fine. I just want something that will be able to run newer games when they come out smoothly and not needing a better computer a year or 2 from now after purchasing this one. Never really purchased a computer for gaming mainly cause I never really played many games on PC.

Basically asking if getting the Alienware one is/will be good enough for a while as it is, or if I could manage with less or require more.

Was looking for something under or around 2k.

[fishstix]

If you have the money to blow, Alienware has good quality/support but you're pretty much paying hundreds over a similarly spec'd laptop of other brands. It's questionable if you really want to go with SLI mobile cards. While it does increase performance, it also increases heat and with a laptop being so compact, there's only so much you can do to get rid of it.

What are your reasons for getting a laptop over PC, with $2k, if you -have- to have a laptop, I'd split it and get one of each for $1k.

Also for gaming laptops, people speak highly of Sager's custom gaming laptops - Welcome to Sager Notebooks

[Korietsu]

Don't buy Alienware. Their support is total shit, and their hardware is sub-par. Its like pulling teeth to get your laptop fixed, and if there's a defect, they won't ship a new one, period. After burning 2 graphics cards in 6 months because of their case design, and fan controls, I couldn't get a replacement. Also went through keyboard keys as well, and that was really disappointing.

[ssjjfar]

@fishstix
Going to check that site out now, hadn't heard about them yet and going to look through there stuff. Laptop is for portablitly reasons, so I can travel with it and use/bring it to class. I guess the desktop/laptop idea could be doable. Alienware was doing a special where if you buy a pc, can get a mini10 for 99$. Which probably would be enough for doing basic stuff in class.

@Korietsu
You and fishstix said comeplete opposite in regards to support(good vs total shit). How long ago was it btw you bought from them? Before or after the Dell purchase


And based of specs I gave from those 2 laptops, are the processors and graphics cards enough to last me a few years? Really FFXIV is only real thing I'll be worried about, since most other games I'll be playing will be old, but no minimium specs for ffxiv out yet. Will hate if when it comes out, I'm playing on a computer that can just barely run it smoothly.

[Velgadess]

Besides talking to friends, I like visiting Store Ratings and Reviews by Real People - Trusted Online Shopping for other consumers thoughts on stuff
Alienware - alienware.com - Reviews, Ratings and Prices at ResellerRatings
I personally would stay away from Alienware. Crappy support. Friend got a PC from them back in 2006. no issues ordering and recieving. A few months later, that same yr. she had to call tech support a few times for some werid errors. Alienwares fix, format and reinstall everything. >.>

3 of my friends have gone with Cyberpower PC
ever check them out?
CyberPower / cyberpowerpc.com / cyberpowersystem.com - cyberpowerinc.com - Reviews, Ratings and Prices at ResellerRatings

Good systems, only had to call support 2x. and support was good. only on hold 10 mins max before talking to someone. I will say though that their purchases have all been towers/desktops and not laptops.

[fishstix]

Well, I don't actually have any experience with Alienware, but was just going off of what some people told me so what I said probably isn't as valid. I've also heard good and bad things about cyberpower, but their site is pretty nice, desktops and laptops are really configurable.

[Ryalena]

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you are Ssjjfar. My current laptop is on it's last leg and I want to get something new once we all figure out what specs we need for FF14.

My problem is I live in Canada. Other than Alienware, I don't know of any website where I can get a custom laptop which can be shipped to Canada. Most websites will only ship to the US, Cyberpower is one of them.

Does anyone know of a reputable site which ships to Canada?

Thanks

[SubzeroDiabolos]

Does anyone know of a reputable site which ships to Canada?

Thanks

You can try this place, or even this place.

[Korietsu]

@Korietsu
You and fishstix said comeplete opposite in regards to support(good vs total shit). How long ago was it btw you bought from them? Before or after the Dell purchase

I ordered one in late 2007, going off to college. Terrible design, no chance to access the fan controls to force it to stay on a specific speed, and fans don't trigger often or early enough. They wouldn't fix their problem and told me to shove it. I sold my broken alienware for 400 bucks, and then went and bought a mac. Lost 2100 bucks on the deal.