Laptop choice help!

Solytus

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Sep 2, 2008
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Wazzup escapist, how are y'all doing?

So, I have a dilemma. I need a new laptop for college, and I'm currently stuck between two choices, either a baseline 13 inch macbook air or 15 inch macbook pro, or a high-end Alienware M14X, as both total out around $1,699. What are your thoughts, or other recommendations?

Regards,
Solytus
 

Costia

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I have a T400
didnt have any trouble with it
Gaming though is out of the question - i have an intel graphics chip
 

Avaholic03

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What are you going to use it for? Gaming? Or just typical school applications? It seems like you know how to pick out the least-return-for-your-dollar hardware. With Apple and Alienware, you pay a premium just for their name on the product. You'd be better off going with most other hardware with comparable specs, and getting it for a few hundred dollars cheaper.
 

Kabutos

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For $1,700 you could build a top end gaming PC and buy a laptop on the side.

Just sayin.
 

nunqual

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Kabutos said:
For $17,000 you could build a top end gaming PC and buy a laptop on the side.

Just sayin.
He only used 4 digits there dude.

OT: Neither, get yourself some cheap Dell laptop. If you're going to use it just for college, you're better off saving money that way.
 

Solytus

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Avaholic03 said:
What are you going to use it for? Gaming? Or just typical school applications? It seems like you know how to pick out the least-return-for-your-dollar hardware. With Apple and Alienware, you pay a premium just for their name on the product. You'd be better off going with most other hardware with comparable specs, and getting it for a few hundred dollars cheaper.
In terms of what I'm going to use it for, thats a bit flexible, as I've been a Mac guy all my life, so if I went mac, it would be limited to just school applications, but if I went PC, I would begin to venture into PC gaming.

And regarding the choice in laptop, thats largely because I've never bought a PC laptop before, so I have no real idea of what's good, I've just heard great things about the M14X.
 

ZahariasX

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I have an M14x and absolutely love it. It is in fact my college laptop as well. It runs games extremely well for a laptop. I prefer the keyboard over the chiclet keyboards and most laptops nowadays, it's really nice to type on. The battery life is fairly good as well for a performance laptop. Depending on what you're doing it'll get anywhere from 3-6 hours it seems. I haven't tried gaming from full charge to empty yet so I'm not sure how that would stack up, but it should be fairly decent. The speakers are by Klipsch and have rather good sound for a laptop. Also the 1600x900 screen upgrade is completely worth it. It's the perfect resolution for the 14" screen.
 

silversnake4133

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Well, what major are you going into? If you're more focused toward art, visuals and film, I'd go with the Mac, but if you're more focused on the "book" subjects such as the Sciences, Business, English, or Mathematics, I'd go with the PC. But I wouldn't suggest Alienware unless you want to pay for more glitz than reliability. (Alienware is a gaming PC first and a work computer second. That's why they tend to have high processing power, great graphics cards, top-notch RAM, and a decent memory.) Try something along the lines of a Toshiba or Lenovo. Or you could go for a Gateway, but those can rack up on the weight and size. PCs tend to be cheaper as well, and you can get a lot of power out of those things, but if you can financially support everything you'll need on a Mac, go with that, but only if your classes require it.

All in all though, I'd suggest you start with a PC, they're cheaper than your other choices, run quite well, have good virus security and managing your files is quite easy. Plus, if you get bored during down time, you have a TON of games to choose from off of Steam for under 20$. But yeah, start out with a durable PC since Macs can be quite fragile and they cost a ton just to fix.
 

Kabutos

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nunqual said:
He only used 4 digits there dude.
Oh my; fixed now.

Solytus said:
In terms of what I'm going to use it for, thats a bit flexible, as I've been a Mac guy all my life, so if I went mac, it would be limited to just school applications, but if I went PC, I would begin to venture into PC gaming.

And regarding the choice in laptop, thats largely because I've never bought a PC laptop before, so I have no real idea of what's good, I've just heard great things about the M14X.
If you want to get into PC gaming, laptops are really not the way to go. Building will be a lot cheaper and give you a lot more performance.
 

Norendithas

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Solytus said:
Avaholic03 said:
What are you going to use it for? Gaming? Or just typical school applications? It seems like you know how to pick out the least-return-for-your-dollar hardware. With Apple and Alienware, you pay a premium just for their name on the product. You'd be better off going with most other hardware with comparable specs, and getting it for a few hundred dollars cheaper.
In terms of what I'm going to use it for, thats a bit flexible, as I've been a Mac guy all my life, so if I went mac, it would be limited to just school applications, but if I went PC, I would begin to venture into PC gaming.

And regarding the choice in laptop, thats largely because I've never bought a PC laptop before, so I have no real idea of what's good, I've just heard great things about the M14X.
I highly suggest going with the Alienware. I don't think there's any reason I should list all the reasons why as you seem to have them covered. But in short: it's an all around great laptop. My friend has one and he uses it for everything.
 

Solytus

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Kabutos said:
nunqual said:
He only used 4 digits there dude.
Oh my; fixed now.

Solytus said:
In terms of what I'm going to use it for, thats a bit flexible, as I've been a Mac guy all my life, so if I went mac, it would be limited to just school applications, but if I went PC, I would begin to venture into PC gaming.

And regarding the choice in laptop, thats largely because I've never bought a PC laptop before, so I have no real idea of what's good, I've just heard great things about the M14X.
If you want to get into PC gaming, laptops are really not the way to go. Building will be a lot cheaper and give you a lot more performance.
Well, I'd love to build a PC on my own sometime down the line, but for college I need a laptop because I'll be taking it to/from class and to/from the campus when I go home for the holidays. :S
 

Kabutos

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Solytus said:
Well, I'd love to build a PC on my own sometime down the line, but for college I need a laptop because I'll be taking it to/from class and to/from the campus when I go home for the holidays. :S
$1,700 is a lot of money. You can build a PC and buy a laptop on the side with that kind of money.

And I'm not talking about a mid end budget build either, you can build an actual top of the line PC for around $1,200 and have $500 to buy a laptop to take to class.
 

similar.squirrel

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Do you absolutely need such a high-end laptop? I would invest in some beast of a PC and buy a decent netbook for portability instead.
 

octafish

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The MBP, durable, great screen, and most importantly awesome battery life. I myself have a desktop and a netbook for about the same price.
 

Crimson_Dragoon

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Jul 29, 2009
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Go with the Alienware. You'll be able to do far more with it (especially in gaming) than you will with the Macs.

And for those suggesting building a PC and getting a notebook, that's not necessarily the best way to go. A) It requires that he has the computer related knowledge to build a PC from scratch (and while I'm sure its extremely easy for you, its not easy for everyone else) and B) having a single computer/laptop is a lot easier and more convenient than trying to juggle two.

Yes, a custom built PC will be much better for gaming, but the Alienware laptop will do a pretty damn good job of it, too.
 

Kabutos

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Crimson_Dragoon said:
Go with the Alienware. You'll be able to do far more with it (especially in gaming) than you will with the Macs.

And for those suggesting building a PC and getting a notebook, that's not necessarily the best way to go. A) It requires that he has the computer related knowledge to build a PC from scratch (and while I'm sure its extremely easy for you, its not easy for everyone else) and B) having a single computer/laptop is a lot easier and more convenient than trying to juggle two.

Yes, a custom built PC will be much better for gaming, but the Alienware laptop will do a pretty damn good job of it, too.
Knowledge? You mean the knowledge of being able to operate a screwdriver? Or the part where plug A goes into slot A and plug B goes into slot B?

Building a PC is a lot less complicated than people say it is and there are a multitude of resources on the internet for help.

Also there are tons of ways to 'juggle' two computers; dropbox, google docs, flash drives, even emailing things to yourself.

Regardless, even if OP is adamant about buying a laptop, there are far better choices than Alienware.
 

Solytus

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Kabutos said:
Crimson_Dragoon said:
Go with the Alienware. You'll be able to do far more with it (especially in gaming) than you will with the Macs.

And for those suggesting building a PC and getting a notebook, that's not necessarily the best way to go. A) It requires that he has the computer related knowledge to build a PC from scratch (and while I'm sure its extremely easy for you, its not easy for everyone else) and B) having a single computer/laptop is a lot easier and more convenient than trying to juggle two.

Yes, a custom built PC will be much better for gaming, but the Alienware laptop will do a pretty damn good job of it, too.
Knowledge? You mean the knowledge of being able to operate a screwdriver? Or the part where plug A goes into slot A and plug B goes into slot B?

Building a PC is a lot less complicated than people say it is and there are a multitude of resources on the internet for help.

Also there are tons of ways to 'juggle' two computers; dropbox, google docs, flash drives, even emailing things to yourself.

Regardless, even if OP is adamant about buying a laptop, there are far better choices than Alienware.
What other recommendations do you have in terms of laptops? I'm open to pretty much all suggestions, I'm just rather wary of netbooks, as I might want more power than they can provide.
 

Crimson_Dragoon

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Jul 29, 2009
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Kabutos said:
Crimson_Dragoon said:
Go with the Alienware. You'll be able to do far more with it (especially in gaming) than you will with the Macs.

And for those suggesting building a PC and getting a notebook, that's not necessarily the best way to go. A) It requires that he has the computer related knowledge to build a PC from scratch (and while I'm sure its extremely easy for you, its not easy for everyone else) and B) having a single computer/laptop is a lot easier and more convenient than trying to juggle two.

Yes, a custom built PC will be much better for gaming, but the Alienware laptop will do a pretty damn good job of it, too.
Knowledge? You mean the knowledge of being able to operate a screwdriver? Or the part where plug A goes into slot A and plug B goes into slot B?

Building a PC is a lot less complicated than people say it is and there are a multitude of resources on the internet for help.

Also there are tons of ways to 'juggle' two computers; dropbox, google docs, flash drives, even emailing things to yourself.

Regardless, even if OP is adamant about buying a laptop, there are far better choices than Alienware.
Yes, knowledge. Knowledge of every single little thing you need to have to make the computer work. Of whether or not it will all work together. Of how to install it. Of how to make sure you have all the correct software and drivers. Of all the millions of little things that could be done wrong. Its not rocket science, but it is a daunting task for someone who has never done anything like it before (I don't know whether this applies to the OP or not, but it applies to plenty of people). Just because you've done it before and it was easy for you does not make it the end-all, perfect solution for everyone else. Building a computer may be the cheaper solution, but its not necessarily the best one in every case.