[Mr_WillCarroll95]

I was wondering is anyone recommends a laptop other than Alienware that is comfortable with games. I will pay anything upto £900 or so. I just want to know if Alienware's are expensive because of their performance, or because of their brand.

Thanks


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[kingkongjaffa]

you pay a premium because of the brand name.

[Arekkusu]

Build it yourself for half the price

[Mr_WillCarroll95]

I honestly don't know the first thing about building computers!


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Mr_WillCarroll95)
I was wondering is anyone recommends a laptop other than Alienware that is comfortable with games. I will pay anything upto £900 or so. I just want to know if Alienware's are expensive because of their performance, or because of their brand.

Thanks


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

http://www.novatech.co.uk/laptop/ran...tion.html?th=g

Novatech nSpire 2760 - Black Edition - 15.6" Intel i7 2760 Mobile Processor - 8GB DDR3 Memory - 500GB Hybrid SSD Hard Drive - DVD Writer - NVIDIA GT 555M Graphics

£769.99 with Windows 7

[myuranking]

Its pretty simple really. Did this back when I started High School. Its not as complex as people make it out to be. Just Google it and there are plenty of tutorials. Or use PC Specialist and businesses like that?

Besides, I thought you wanted a laptop?

[kingkongjaffa]

Generally it's a quite a bit harder to build a laptop from parts than it is to build a desktop, try looking for other Laptops that still have good gaming specifications without explicitly being labelled as a gaming laptop, the second it says gaming desktop/laptop the price will probably go up :P

[jam12]

If you're a hardcore gamer, then go for a desktop - you will save a hell of a lot of money. You will have to spend in the excess of £1200 if you want a laptop that is capable of playing the latest games at high settings. If you're an occasional gamer, then a <£900 laptop should be viable. Depending on your gaming requirements, the Samsung Series 7 Chronos (700Z) looks like a great choice.

Regarding custom built laptops, yes they are very cheap for the specs, but they cut corners elsewhere. The one mentioned above (Novatech nSpire 2760) apparently has poor build quality and a rubbish screen. If you're gonna game, you will want a quality screen to show graphics to the fullest.

EDIT: I just found this: Medion Erazer X6813. Again, reviews say the screen isn't great but build quality is actually rather good. Its also pretty bulky, but that is to be expected seeing that its a budget performance machine. The Samsung is a more all rounded package imo.

[djshine88]

In all honesty - Alienware is a gimmick. You can get a laptop much better than that.

I'm gonna be honest - if you want a gaming type computer - buy the parts and get someone to assemble it cos it's much cheaper. alternatively buy a gaming PC instead of a laptop.

Alienware - you are paying more or less for the name. and the ability to change colours lol.

[Mr_WillCarroll95]

Are gaming desktops drastically different to laptops in price? Is this purely down to the fact they're NOT portable?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[super.teve]

(Original post by Mr_WillCarroll95)
Are gaming desktops drastically different to laptops in price? Is this purely down to the fact they're NOT portable?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Yes, it would be cheaper - more powerful and you wouldn't need to worry about overheating as much.
You'd also be better placed to upgrade too - pretty much everything from the power supply to the motherboard could be replaced.

If you build your own, upgrading also becomes a lot easier - as you won't need to worry about silly propriety parts.

Desktops are easier to maintain too, the parts are cheaper to replace and like I said, upgrading isn't so much of an issue, as well as heat.

You could build a more powerful and capable desktop than you could get if you were to spend the same on a laptop, and benefit from all of the above. (Hell you could even buy a power powerful pre-built and it'd still be more powerful).

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Mr_WillCarroll95)
Are gaming desktops drastically different to laptops in price? Is this purely down to the fact they're NOT portable?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Pretty much because portability comes at the cost of less performance and more about size and efficiency.

[Intriguing Alias]

(Original post by Mr_WillCarroll95)
Are gaming desktops drastically different to laptops in price? Is this purely down to the fact they're NOT portable?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Pretty drastically spec for spec. And yeah just because they're not portable.

[kenryou]

I rather pay for MSI than Alienware as MSI has Dynaudio as its sound system. (The audio company that does the sound system of Bugatti Veyron).

But both the brands are not cheap in UK so you gonna source it from the States.

[Nick Longjohnson]

The X51 is actually worth it, since it's impossible to build something for that cost in that form factor.

Otherwise, they're junk.

[aftrglw]

I'm not an expert, but I've been casually (computer) gaming for 15-20 years (original wolfenstein, tie fighter, that kinda stuff) and I have an Alienware laptop. When I was looking at them, I didn't really find much of a difference in price. I also liked having a lot of the work done for me in terms of deciding what accessories are best for what I was looking for. I'm from the states though... they seem to be kinda stupidly expensive here.

You really only need a gaming laptop if you travel a lot. You won't really take it to class because it weighs a ton. I have one because I've been living and working overseas for years. As soon as I settle down a bit, I'm going to buy a desktop again. If you're going to uni, it's far cheaper and you'll get much better performance if you get a desktop. If you want to work at school just get a flash drive and use the comps on campus...

[Merell]

Alienware is brilliant specwise- you wont find better, they run like a dreaaaam. There is a problem with the casing however, and the hinges on alienware laptops and netbooks are rather frail and break/jam easily.
Regardless, it is EASILY the best laptop you will find- most others fall down on the RAM or the in built graphics card. Be very careful to check all the stats of anything you get- not just the ones they advertise.

[LiteCrowd]

For a LAPTOP Alienwares are actually pretty decent, if you get SLI/crossfire graphics card with an i7 then your plain sailing however for DESKTOPS its much much cheaper to build your own with better spec. But I do recommend an Alienware laptop if you can afford it.

[Intriguing Alias]

(Original post by Merell)
Alienware is brilliant specwise- you wont find better, they run like a dreaaaam. There is a problem with the casing however, and the hinges on alienware laptops and netbooks are rather frail and break/jam easily.
Regardless, it is EASILY the best laptop you will find- most others fall down on the RAM or the in built graphics card. Be very careful to check all the stats of anything you get- not just the ones they advertise.

Okay they're good spec-wise but let's not go too far - you can find better and they are certainly not easily the best laptop you'll find.

[Intriguing Alias]

(Original post by Mr_WillCarroll95)
I was wondering is anyone recommends a laptop other than Alienware that is comfortable with games. I will pay anything upto £900 or so. I just want to know if Alienware's are expensive because of their performance, or because of their brand.

Thanks


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Considering you're only spending £900, the best you can get is the non-upgraded, old M14x which is an absolute rip off. Only an i5 (all laptop i5s are dual core) and a GT555m with 4GB RAM and a non-full HD screen! Absolute rubbish frankly.

If you can avoid a laptop altogether you'd be better off. The PC I'm building has one of the best home graphics cards money can buy (GTX 670), an i5 3570k (3.4GHz quad core), 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD and 2TB HDD, as well as all the extras (motherboard, case, psu) all for about £900. Granted, this doesn't include a monitor which you'd need, but you could easily get a smaller HDD/SSD (or forgo the SSD altogether) or get a lower-end graphics card (which would still be brilliant) if need be.

If it must be a laptop; something like this for £700 : http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/S...&puid=e31ed7bc

Okay it's in Dell Outlet which means it's either a customer cancellation/return or refurbished but they come in brilliant condition, it's £200 cheaper and more powerful.