Help with Alienware M17X - Buying a Laptop for FF14.

[KOS-MOS]

Yup, you've seen it coming right! Not another "Can I has advice with my new PC"? But I'll try to make it quick; I promise. Quick facts: I need a laptop. I travel a lot and usually work takes me to a different location each 6-10 months. So a custom PC is not an option. Also, I live in Switzerland.

My current one: Intel Core 2 Duo w/ 2.57 GHZ, 4 GB Ram & ATI HD 4650 w/ 1 GB.
Score on FF14 Bench - Low: 1124 (a shame, I know).

After researching a lot (Dell Studios 15, 16..., Sony F Series, HP Elite, Asus G71 and whatsoever) I decided to go with the one that I get the most positive feedback: Alienware M17X.

Bare with me, in French:

For your reference 1 CHF = 1 USD. (Also, you will find that this model is way more expensive in Europe).

Base Price: CHF 2'499.

Processor:

What it comes with: Processeur Intel® Core™ i5 540M (2,53 GHz, 3 Mo de mémoire cache) [Inclus dans le prix]

Upgrade 1: Intel® Core™ i7 740QM (1.73 Ghz, 6MB, 4C) [ajouter CHF 70.00]

Upgrade 2: Processeur Intel® Core™ i7 620M (2,66 GHz, 4 Mo de mémoire cache) [ajouter CHF 260.00]

What I would like to have - aka: Upgrade 3: Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 840QM (1.86 Ghz, 8MB, 4C) [ajouter CHF 770.00]


Graphic Card:

What it comes with: Single 1GB ATI® Mobility Radeon™ HD 5870 [Inclus dans le prix]

Upgrade 1: Double carte graphique ATI® RADEON™ HD 4870 de 1 Go [ajouter CHF 285.00]

What I would like to have - aka Upgrade 2: CrossFire™ Dual 1GB ATI® Mobility Radeon™ HD 5870 [ajouter CHF 500.00]


Memory:

What it comes with: 4 096 Mo (2 x 2 048) de mémoire bicanale DDR3 SDRAM à 1 333 MHz [Inclus dans le prix]

Upgrade 1: 6 144 Mo (1 x 2 048 + 1 x 4 096) de mémoire bicanale DDR3 SDRAM à 1 333 MHz [ajouter CHF 362.00]

What I would like to have - aka Upgrade 2: 8 192 Mo (2 x 4 096) de mémoire bicanale DDR3 SDRAM à 1 333 MHz [ajouter CHF 592.00]


Hard Drive

What it comes with: Disque dur Serial ATA de 500 Go (7 200 tr/min) [Inclus dans le prix]

Upgrade 1: 1.2TB (5400 RPM) Free Fall Sensor Raid 0 "Stripe" Dual HDD - (2x640GB) [ajouter CHF 250.00]

Upgrade 2: Disque SATA Solid State de 256 Go [ajouter CHF 540.00]

What I would like to have - aka Upgrade 3: 512GB Solid State Drive Raid 0 "Stripe" Dual HDD - (2x256GB) [ajouter CHF 1'170.00]

Now... My questions:

(Of course I don't have money to do ALL of these upgrades as I wish to, but I can manage to do some)

Which of the following upgrades are vital and which are just nice to have but not thaaaaaat useful?

Whats the impact of a SSD drive on gameplay? - If any at all (Yeah, I heard its faster but... Actually I have no idea, as I never seen one personally)

If you were buying this laptop for you, which upgrades would you be aiming to do first?

I wish SONY, HP and ASUS would open up their lines of products to customization here in Switzerland on their websites (like it is in the US), but they only sell laptops with fixed settings. The only one that allows some customization is DELL (thus, I choose Alienware).

Any form of tips would be appreciated (and sorry for the minor English mistakes - not a native speaker).

[sruon]

Processor: Upgrade 3

Graphic Card: Upgrade 2

Memory: What it comes with, 4 GB is more than enough and they're totally ripping you off on the upgrades :S

HDD: SSD are nice, but god... 1170 CHF lol, that's a complete waste of money in my opinion. Go with the default one.

^

What I'd get I guess, not sure how beefy those i7 actually are, might be possible you'll be hitting a CPU bottleneck rendering the SLI option somewhat unnecessary.

[Gentaro]

Fucking french language,they even rename Mb -.-

Screw the SSD,take a 5870 for now and add another at a later point? CPU wise I'd take the best you can get.