Alienware Laptops

[Marky]

Why hello thar...

In my quest to find the ultimate laptop as a desktop placement for myself, I have fallen upon Alienware...

My budget falls around the £1500 mark and for that I can get...

Processor: Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 720QM (1.60Ghz, 6MB L3 cache)
Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit- English
Screen: 15.6-inch Wide Full HD Display (1920x1080)
RAM: 4096MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
Hard Drive: 250GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
Graphics Card: 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX260M graphics card
Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW (DVD, CD read and write) Slot Load Drive
Battery: 6-cell 56Whr Lithium Ion battery

Total Cost: £1,432.01
Total Cost (Minus QuidCo 5% Goodness): £1360.41

This leaves me extra moola to grab a nice external hard drive to complement.

My question - or questions - are:

* Does anyone have any experience with Alienware laptops? Are they reliable?
* Can you recommend a similarly sexy laptop with similar specs for a cheaper price?
* Will the spec above suit my needs? (Needs being, I use my PC for video/music and need it to be able to play Call of Duty 4 (And its upcoming sequel), Flight Simulator X and other games of its kind)

Thanks muchly

Marky

 

[Marky]

Hard Drive space is lacking

As mentioned - I would have enough dosh for a nice spacey external hard drive I want to have an internal hard drive (or SSD) for the system files etc. and I'll use the external hard drive for all my music, videos and games etc.

From what i hear, with Alienware, all you are really paying for is normal components, in (have got to admit) a nice case. and great after sales, a friend of mine has a gaming rig through Alienware, and it looks like no other, pure eye candy, but essentially, its components are the same spec as mine (custom built with quite a few parts from OCUK actually)
Im not saying they are bad, jut that you pay the extra money for the after service and custom build quality.

EDIT - yes, COD4 will run nice, and MW2 also if im not mistaken

Thanks amigo

Anyone actually have a Alienware laptop here?

 

[Marky]

Doesn't look too bad - where can you get ASUS laptops from in the UK?

 

[Marky]

I did look but it doesn't seem Alienware do SSD's for hard drive space

I've also been looking at Kobalt Laptops... anyone had any experience with them?

 

[Marky]

I'm not in a mad rush to get the laptop - so waiting for it isn't a problem...

Also - when you get your laptop - I'd appreciate it if you took some snaps and showed us it

I also see the Kobalt computers have the option to have a SSD as primary drive which is a bonus...
I've been customising a few - it seems the G860 is nice within my budget....

i7 720QM 1.60Ghz - 2.80Ghz Processor
4GB RAM
GTX 280M
60GB OCZ SSD
8x DVD/RW (Does anyone know if this can burn Dual-Layer?)
Creative X-Treme Soundcard

£1591.65

Only thing that puts me off is that it's a 15" screen... Since it'll be a desktop replacement I'm worried that I will miss my current screen too much (I currently have a 24" 2407 monitor )

For around £200 more I could go for the 17" but I'm not sure... Hmm... Decisions Decisions

Also - Any notes on the performance on the above spec? Will it be enough for me? Also will the performance take a real dive if I was to get the 17" with similar spec?

 

[Marky]

Finally got all the paperwork earlier with an attached ETA of 11/11. If you want pics of my model when I get it let me know.
On your chosen spec it should be fine on your needs a GTX280m is a little under a desktop 9800gtx, if you game a lot stick with your 1600x900 res and you will get decent FPS.
The CPU is basically similar in performance to a QX9300, with the added bonus of being able to shut off unused cores and overclock the rest. Should play COD4 and FSX fine.

If its res you are worried about, get the 1080p screen, just be sure to have good eyes and be prepared to adjust game settings soon.

I'd really appreciate it if you would upload some pics when you get it! It would at least give me an idea of the build quality

I don't game massively anymore... However I like to return to Call of Duty and FSX every so often

 

[Marky]

Thanks for keeping us updated pal I bet you can't wait now by the way, did you pay £60 for the "No Dead Pixel" guarentee? I was wondering whether or not I would bother with it - especially since they test the laptops so extensively before sending it!

 

[Marky]

Haha nice one Look forward to seeing the pics dude
Ahh right I see... I was looking at the G860 and they have the option for like a "60-Day No Pixel Guarentee" I'd be so annoyed if I got a dead pixel on my brand new laptop However, I think I'd be more annoyed if I got one on day 61 and I brought the "No Pixel Guarentee" pack

 

[Marky]

Unfortunately I dont think I've found anyone offering a 'Smashed by Wii Remote and Casual Gamers' Warranty

Were there any particular pictures of anything about my laptop you wanted, or just some general ones so you can see if theres any obvious areas where there's been a lack of care?

Haha if only I could live without fear of chucking the remote through the TV

Hmm... yeah just general ones really... not sure if I'm willing to spend that amount on the SLI model so I'm not looking to see what it's like (Although, I'm sure after seeing the pictures, I'll probably rip out a monster loan for the beast haha ), just would be interested on the quality of the laptop I am really interested in the G860/G870 models, as it's nearer the amount I can afford/want to spend

By the way, your sig has moved into 5 lines again

 

[Marky]

That's pretty cool - it's nice that you can upgrade them further in the future...

When you get the laptop will you also give some benchmark results if you are loading any games on it

 

[Marky]

That is one sexy laptop and...

I thought you didnt want to buy one of these Marky

DAMN YOU!!

Thanks for taking the time and effort to doing the benchmarks and pictures etc. It certainly looks pretty good build quality wise!!

It's also nice to see Crysis working at 40fps in DX9 That is a very comfortable framerate - any times in the game where it just stutters at all? Or is it completely smooth?

Did you go for a creative sound card or is it just the normal internal sound card?

I currently have some Aego M speakers - and I wish to keep them and use them on the laptop, so hoping they will work nicely

Is it very loud when gaming? (By this, I mean do the fans bump up a lot and make some noise?)

What does the 2 year warrenty cover?

Thanks again Alexrose1uk Hope you're happy with the purchase

 

[Marky]

Sounds all good dude

I've started communicating with them on the actual Kobalt forums now - I didn't realise they have their offices in London! I might give them a call and ask if I can go down and take a demo of their laptops!

 

[Marky]

mate had an expensive alienware desktop rig that failed, took 6 months without a pc before it was resolved

That's awful How can they still be in business with service like that?!

 

[Marky]

That pretty much covers why I could never advise them, having heard the stories and now felt it myself. Alienware-Dell deserve to go under or be absorbed into Dell before the original good name of Alienware is destroyed further, the machines are good, but the aftercare abominable.

Do you know if the after support care is any better in the states?

 

[Marky]

Apparently it is, although from what I've heard, its still not exceptional...they have a lot more competition over there though which probably helps pull them into line (machines are quite a bit cheaper there too!)

Yeah the value for money out there is unbelievable! The price comparison to the 17" alienware laptop in the UK to the US blew my mind! How can they justify such a leap in price