Request: Advice on new gaming laptop
 

For the next X number of months, I will be traveling non stop. Almost literally. But there are a lot of games I want to finish and play when they come out, so I want to get a laptop capable of handling the games coming out now-a-days.

It is for this purpose that I have been browsing for a laptop. I have no intention of trying to build one, I'd build a desktop, but laptops are entirely different beasts (or so I'm told) not to mention I'm not sure I have the time to pick out each and every component individually and insure compatibility with the amount of time I have before I go. So I chose to buy a customized Laptop from a brand name.

The best deal I could find that had the power I wanted, was at Alienware.

Here are the Specs...


[1] Aurora™ m9700

Processor: AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile ML40 2.2GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® Vista Ultimate - With Media Center Remote Control and Single NTSC TV Tuner
Chassis: 17" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD with Clearview Technology - Conspiracy Blue
Motherboard: Alienware® NVIDIA® Mobile SLi Chipset
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR SO-DIMM at 400MHz - 2 x 1024MB
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 100GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Optical Drive: 8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW w/ Nero Software
Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS - SLI Enabled
Sound Card: High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Wireless Network Card: Internal 802.11b/g WiFi Card w/ Airgo MIMO Technology
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth® Device
Primary Battery: Alienware® m9700 12-cell Lithium-Ion Smart Battery Pack

Price is $3,250. Not actually all that bad from where I'm standing. But I may be entirely off base.

From my layman's eyes, it looks quite impressive, and easily capable of fulfilling my gaming desires.

But I am left with a few questions...

1: Will this be able to run all (or at least a decent amount) of the games coming out well? (Hellgate: London and Bioshock come to mind)

2: Will this be able to run older games well? (Neverwinter Nights 2 and Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, and Half-Life 2 (and episodes) come to mind)

3: Will the be able to have codecs installed so I can watch anime? (I'm not very familiar with Windows Vista, but as I still follow some animes (all unlicensed, I know well enough not to blatantly go breaking the law) I don't want to suddenly find myself wishing I had XP simply because of codecs.)

4: Is there anything that I SHOULD upgrade to? Or a better deal (Power is much more important than price, but notice I chose the 9700 rather than the ALX or whatever it's called that costs several thousand more for what appears to be to the best of my knowledge, a bigger screen... -_-)


Thank you SO much for ANY advice at all.

-Talfrey

1: Will this be able to run all (or at least a decent amount) of the games coming out well? (Hellgate: London and Bioshock come to mind)

A: yes this should be plenty of power to run current gen games, and probably next gen games at reasonable settings too.


2: Will this be able to run older games well? (Neverwinter Nights 2 and Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, and Half-Life 2 (and episodes) come to mind)

A: yes this laptop would run it perfectly(or damn near)

3: Will the be able to have codecs installed so I can watch anime? (I'm not very familiar with Windows Vista, but as I still follow some animes (all unlicensed, I know well enough not to blatantly go breaking the law) I don't want to suddenly find myself wishing I had XP simply because of codecs.)

A: I do believe that most big name codecs are supported such as the K-Lite Codec Pack(not for sure though)


4: Is there anything that I SHOULD upgrade to? Or a better deal (Power is much more important than price, but notice I chose the 9700 rather than the ALX or whatever it's called that costs several thousand more for what appears to be to the best of my knowledge, a bigger screen... -_-)

A: I reccomend you go to ibuypower.com, they let you customize laptops and they are alot cheaper then alienware. you will get alot more bang for your buck. i urge to check it out bro you will save alot of money!

You might want to get an Intel Core 2 Duo in lieu of an AMD64.

If you have the money get a Dell M2110 and if you have even more money get a Hypersonic-PC Aviator.

Aaactually...

THIS is what I'm thinking about getting right now.

The specs are...

Nova 989W Reactor
19" WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050) Super Wide Angle Glass View LCD
DUAL NVIDIA® GeFORCE Go 7950 GTX PCI-E SLI Mode w/512MB (1024MB total)
AMD Turion™ 64 TL-60 X2 Dual Core Processor (2.0 x 2) - 35 Watts
SALE! 4096MB DDR2 667MHz Premium Micron RAM 2 DIMM
100GB SATA 150/HDD 7200 RPM
8X24X10X24 DVD/CDRW Combo Drive (8x DVDRW available)
Standard Xtreme Logo
12 Cell Smart Li-Ion Battery - Approximately 2.0 Hours of Runtime
110/220V 180W Auto Switching AC Adapter - Included
Sound Blaster Compatible 3D 8 channel Azalia Sound System (2 blt-in speakers)
Special 19" Notebook Backpack - Included
No OS Desired - CD with Drivers and Utilities Only
SALE 802.11ABG TURBO 108Mbps Mini PCI Internal LAN
Standard 12 Month Parts and Labor Mail-In Coverage
Internal Bluetooth Wireless Mini PCI
RAID 0 Enabled (Stripe Set) Dual Drives Required
Internal World Wide Digital/Analog TV Tuner W/Remote PAL & NTSC
Built-In Digital Video Camera
4 in 1 Flash Card Reader - Standard

Price is a good bit higher, but in the end much more worth it for the shear increase in... EVERYTHING really.

$3734

With the size of that thing you may as well stick a desktop PC in your footwell...

Honestly, if someone could built me a desktop that had a screen that would fold off, even if the dimensions were something large like 6 inches by 14 inches by... dur... 10? Inches. Basically a super fat notebook, even if it was heavy, if it had a battery, and I could bring it to other places easily without a bajillion peripherals, and a decent price, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. What I really want is just a portable PC! Heheh. Size and weight aren't a problem. I'm a rather large guy, a big laptop would seem small in my hands, even something obscenely fat like the one I was joking about. And as for weight? Let's just say that's not a problem.

Perhaps a Shuttle PC would be a good choice:

http://us.shuttle.com/home.aspx