Alienware vs Asus Gaming Laptop ?

[leoliger]

I have a predicament. I wanted to have a powerful gaming laptop for my wants of good video viewing, editing, gaming(obviously), and wanting to run powerful software, like Photoshop. Now my father went and bought a laptop for himself. Problem is he is a impulse buyer, anything that looks flashy to him he would buy and he bought, from what he has told me, seems like a M17x model for around $1200 or somewhere around there. The computer I want is around $1600 from XoticPC, an Asus G53, to have it customized the way I want. Unseen and not knowing the exact specs of the Alienware, my father knows nothing of gaming pcs and he just bought one.  He just suddenly realized that the amount of power for this laptop he will never use to its fullest extent he doesn't play games and then wants to give it to me, however I am not an Alienware fan. 
Reasons, its too flashy, heavy(being an 17"), and to me, from looking at some of the specs on Dell the basic doesn't seem up to par with me. I will post the specs of the Asus and I will post later more detailed specs of the Alienware once my father had brought it over to have me to look at it. So in time I will update this post to include the specs of the Alienware laptop. Unseen should I stick with the Alienware laptop he had bought for himself or should I tell him to return it for a lesser powerful that he would use. The Vista Compac computer he uses tends being a real pain to clean, and very slow, and he is not very tech savy.

Specs of Asus G53JW-A1: From XoticPC

Price: $1600

- 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare Type Screen
- ASUS Zero Bright Dot (ZBD) 30 Day Pixel Guarantee - (Included on ASUS Standard NON-Upgraded Displays)
- - Intel® Core™ i7-740QM, 1.73-2.93GHz, (45nm, 6MB L3 cache) - Standard
- Stock OEM Thermal Compound ( IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU Provided FREE with Processor Upgrade!)
- nVidia GeForce GTX 460M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
- No Video Adapter
- 10,240MB (10GB) DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (1x4GB 3x2GB)
- Standard Finish
- No Afterburner Light Package (Afterburner light package will add 2-5 business days to production time)
- Standard White ASUS Logo Backlight
- Standard White Backlit Keyboard
- Cobalt Blue WASD Keys
- 4X Blu-Ray Reader + 8X DVDRW/CDRW Super Multi Combo Drive
- - 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) - Default
- 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) PRE Order Special Regularly $95
- No Additional Hard Drive in ODD Bay (When adding Hard Drive, Optical Drive Is Not Included/Removed)
- No Back Up Hard Drive
- NO External USB Optical Drive
- No Back Up Software
- No Floppy Drive
- Internal 5-in-1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/ xD-P)
- Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- Built-in 802.11 Wireless B/G/N - Stock Wireless Card
- No Network Accessory
- Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- No TV Tuner
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Asus G Series Matching Backpack made by Targus
- Smart Li-ion Battery (8-Cell)
- No Car Adapter
- None Standard*
- No Dock/Hub/Adapter
- No Fingerprint Reader
- Asus G Series Gaming Mouse
- No Notebook Cooler
- No Thanks, Please do not Overclock my system
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Pre-Installed + Drivers & Utilities Disk
- Yes, please create backup recovery DVD
- No Office Software
- No Software Bundle
- 2 Year ASUS GLOBAL Warranty 24/7 Support / 1 Year North America (N.A.) Accidental Coverage (Accidental Requires Registration)
- No Xotic PC Gear

Now sight unseen, I do not know the specs of the laptop my dad bought. Until I get a hold of it and use Belarc to know more of the inside to get an idea the CPU, GPU, harddrive, and motherboard. But overall I want to know if I should just stick with the Alienware my dad bought, or have him return it and tell him to get, possibly, a lesser powerful computer he would use intensely that is better than his vista computer. I will post more detailed specs once I get a hole of the Alienware.

Alienware M17x (guessing specs from what I was told)

Price: Around $1200

- 8GBs of Ram
- 17" Screen
- Harddrive size ?
- CPU: Some sort of i7 (I'm Guessing)

[Natheria]

Well first i have to laugh at your father for being such an impulse buyer that he just up and bought an Alienware...

Next i must then laugh at thee for wanting to purchase your own gaming laptop that's even more expensive (seriously, no one really needs so called 'gaming laptops' if you really need a high end machine for serious business get a business level Thinkpad or HP and be done with it).

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of my system are you really going to need a gaming laptop? First of all, how often do you really play graphic intense games outside of your house? The one important piece of information you seem to leave out is your specific needs. You do a good job of mentioning a few programs your going to run but how often are you really out and about lugging your dead weight machine AND in need of that level of computing resources on the go? Are you really going to use it a lot for non gaming purposes or do you just want higher e-peen with people that don't know shit about computers in the first place?

My standard recommendation to you is that you just get a desktop and a lower powered laptop for $1600. If you are still really gung ho about getting a 'gaming laptop' then might i suggest looking at this site before wasting 1600 clams? http://www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-laptops-notebooks-gaming-laptops-ct-118_96_98.html (Asus makes decent high performance laptops but i highly doubt you need a G53).

To be perfectly honest you will never need 1600 dollars worth of laptop. Anything over a grand is considered ridiculously nice. Anything over 1500 (or even close to it) in my opinion is a complete waste of money. As a gamer you will never need the hyper threading that an i7 gives you over an i5 (i7 == i5 with hyper threading unlocked) and is just a marketing tool to rope people into buying something more expensive (that they will rarely use). A lot of those other bells and whistles on the Asus are not needed ether. Just by glancing at your Asus list i saw Asus G series mouse and backback...  

God Tier: (if your up to the challenge): If your dad can return the Alienware and get a full refund use that money toward building your own desktop and using the money left over to buy yourself a decent laptop on the side. You would spend equivalent money using this route as if you bought that $1600 Asus pos

High Tier: If your dad can return the Alienware and get a full refund buy a nice prebuilt desktop if you don't have a friend who can help you/you're not up to the simple challenge of building your own.

Mid Tier: if still set on getting a gaming laptop/mobile computing machine and your father can get refund, get yourself a cheaper laptop (such as one of the laptops posted in my link) in 700-900 range and feel proud you have money left over to spoil significant other/yourself on something else.

Low Tier: Just keep the Alienware. Asus makes better 'gaming laptops' and i think Alienware is shit but if you already have it why not use it? Don't go wasting your time/money running after an even more expensive money sink (because that's all 'gaming laptops' are quite frankly).

Shit Tier: Send back the Alienware and buy your overpriced Asus G53


Edit: I've also gone through your Asus list and removed the specs that are not really important (the rest ether don't tell me anything or aren't really needed (A.K.A. Rice)). I commend you for being thorough but you don't really need to give us more than what's below.

- 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare Type Screen
- - Intel® Core™ i7-740QM, 1.73-2.93GHz, (45nm, 6MB L3 cache) - Standard
- nVidia GeForce GTX 460M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
- 10,240MB (10GB) DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (1x4GB 3x2GB)
- 4X Blu-Ray Reader + 8X DVDRW/CDRW Super Multi Combo Drive
- - 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) - Default
- 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) PRE Order Special Regularly $95
- No Additional Hard Drive in ODD Bay (When adding Hard Drive, Optical Drive Is Not Included/Removed)

[Xtras]

Natheria pretty much nailed it. To re-emphasize though:

Getting a laptop with cutting edge hardware is really unnecessary. Chance of failure goes through the roof, and frankly the price to performance ratio starts to tank. You could put together an equally powerful desktop and buy a decently powered laptop for the price of that Asus. I mean, even on a 17" screen, are you going to notice the difference between high and ultra high while dodging bullets? And do you need Ultra high while you are away from your usual desk or workstation?

I'd say, return the Alienware and just buy a powerful desktop, unless it has to be mobile. In that case, just go for a decent laptop and don't worry about bleeding edge specs. Trust me, an $900 laptop can do just about everything except play games on highest settings. One thing I want to mention is that if you are buying a laptop, think of its lifespan as being about 3-4 years at best. Now obviously it will last longer if you take good care of it and it is a solid build, but in terms of buying decision I've found that rule of thumb to be good. Laptops just aren't as sturdy as Desktops.

[leoliger]

Well first i have to laugh at your father for being such an impulse buyer that he just up and bought an Alienware...

Next i must then laugh at thee for wanting to purchase your own gaming laptop (seriously, no one really needs so called 'gaming laptops' if you really need a high end machine for serious buisness get a buisness level thinkpad or HP and be done with it).

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of my system are you really going to need a gaming laptop? First of all, how often do you really play graphic intense games outside of your house? The one important piece of information you seem to leave out is your specific needs. You do a good job of mentioning a few programs your going to run but how often are you really out and about lugging your dead weight machine AND in need of that high amount of computing resources on the go? Are you really going to use it a lot for non gaming purposes or do you just want higher e-peen with people that don't know shit about computers in the first place?

I know what you mean. *sigh* He just goes off and buys stuff he really doesn't know how to use and I wanted to get this laptop because I have been moving three times in this year alone from state to state and been taking the plane back and forth 8 times. I live with roommates now and a tower desktop is out of the question  because I am moving again in the next month or so to get closer to the train station and reason I want to get this laptop because I wanted something that will have at least computing power for my intense programs like photoshop and video editing with primere haven't been doing my usual editing/gaming since I left my desktop at home and been running around for college.  No car to rely on, majority of the time. The laptop would be locked to my desk and wall not moving anywhere unless I need to.

To be perfectly honest you will never need 1600 dollars worth of laptop. Anything over a grand is considered ridiculously nice. Anything over 1500 (or even close to it) in my opinion is a complete waste of money. As a gamer you will never really need the hyperthreading that i7  Cores give you (you would be perfectly fine with an i5) and is just a marketing tool to rope people into buying something more expensive (that they will rarely use). A lot of those other bells and whistles on the Asus are not needed ether. Just by glancing at your Asus list i saw Asus G series mouse and backback...

The mouse and backpack came with the darn thing. I'm wanting to call to see if I can just let go of the backpack, the mouse I can use. There was no bubble to click "I don't want backpack or mouse". I saw this when someone was unboxing a similar model on Youtube.

Edit: I've also gone through your Asus list and removed the specs that are not really important (the rest ether don't tell me anything or aren't really needed (A.K.A. Rice)). I commend you for being thorough but you don't really need to give us more than what's below.

I was lazy for the other meaningless stuff, but opened my eyes on what I need and what I don't need.

Natheria pretty much nailed it. To re-emphasize though:

Getting a laptop with cutting edge hardware is really unnecessary. Chance of failure goes through the roof, and frankly the price to performance ratio starts to tank. You could put together an equally powerful desktop and buy a decently powered laptop for the price of that Asus. I mean, even on a 17" screen, are you going to notice the difference between high and ultra high while dodging bullets? And do you need Ultra high while you are away from your usual desk or workstation?

I'd say, return the Alienware and just buy a powerful desktop, unless it has to be mobile. In that case, just go for a decent laptop and don't worry about bleeding edge specs. Trust me, an $900 laptop can do just about everything except play games on highest settings. One thing I want to mention is that if you are buying a laptop, think of its lifespan as being about 3-4 years at best. Now obviously it will last longer if you take good care of it and it is a solid build, but in terms of buying decision I've found that rule of thumb to be good. Laptops just aren't as sturdy as Desktops.

I'm not getting a 17" laptop 15.6" or below will suffice. I understand of the lifespan of the laptop, but I have repaired/replaced laptop screens, hard drives, etc. in the past on a couple of supposedly dead laptops. As well, I just want to have the computing run smooth on the laptop.

[Xtras]

I'm not getting a 17" laptop 15.6" or below will suffice. I understand of the lifespan of the laptop, but I have repaired/replaced laptop screens, hard drives, etc. in the past on a couple of supposedly dead laptops. As well, I just want to have the computing run smooth on the laptop.

All of which will further stretch that price tag. I mean, a laptop doesn't have ventilation nearly on par with a good desktop. Lets say hypothetically that i7 in the Asus were to malfunction due to heat, which isn't terribly unlikely considering how much other stuff is packed into that 15" laptop build. Even if the fault was local and you could replace it, that processor itself costs $400 right now. Let me tell you, if your concern is computing running smooth, gaming aside, then a laptop for half that price would do it. I can't emphasize enough that whether you take that Asus or the Alienware, they only meet one of two purposes: 1. Feel good/have something to show off , or 2. Being able to max games on the go.

If you need mobility, honestly an i5 with 4 gigs ram and a mid tier GPU will meet the whole smooth computing issue, it just won't when it comes to games. Personally, I'd say that most "gaming" laptops aren't exactly mobile anyway, that Alienware especially.

[Natheria]

I guess if you have been moving around that much (and plan on continuing that trend for a while) than a higher end laptop might be a good idea to save a bit of hassle (i have had to move twice within the last few months lugging my machine around and i was fine, although they weren't out of state moves which might make it more taxing on you). I just wonder as to why you are moving around so much (You mentioned you were in college and you moved three times in the past year? Even for college that's quite a bit). You still don't need 1600 worth. When looking for a solid laptop look into ones marketed for business professionals or graphic designers. If you just look for "gaming laptop" on google your going to pay way too much for rice. I would still suggest also looking at the link in my previous post and picking one out of there in the 700-900 range. Honestly it is all you will ever need. Of course it sounds like you could just as easily take your father's laptop. I would never recommend anyone buy an Alienware but if he's already bought it... It really depends on what exactly he wants to do with it.

If you need mobility, honestly an i5 with 4 gigs ram and a mid tier GPU will meet the whole smooth computing issue, it just won't when it comes to games. Personally, I'd say that most "gaming" laptops aren't exactly mobile anyway, that Alienware especially.

qft for the bolds.

[leoliger]

I guess if you have been moving around that much (and plan on continuing that trend for a while) than a higher end laptop might be a good idea to save a bit of hassle (i have had to move twice within the last few months lugging my machine around and i was fine, although they weren't out of state moves which might make it more taxing on you). I just wonder as to why you are moving around so much (You mentioned you were in college and you moved three times in the past year? Even for college that's quite a bit). You still don't need 1600 worth. When looking for a solid laptop look into ones marketed for business professionals or graphic designers. If you just look for "gaming laptop" on google your going to pay way too much for rice. I would still suggest also looking at the link in my previous post and picking one out of there in the 700-900 range. Honestly it is all you will ever need. Of course it sounds like you could just as easily take your father's laptop. I would never recommend anyone buy an Alienware but if he's already bought it... It really depends on what exactly he wants to do with it.

If you need mobility, honestly an i5 with 4 gigs ram and a mid tier GPU will meet the whole smooth computing issue, it just won't when it comes to games. Personally, I'd say that most "gaming" laptops aren't exactly mobile anyway, that Alienware especially.

qft for the bolds.

Thanks I will consider the $700-$900 range. Some of the Asus and even a Sager look much better for the price, just that Alienware is going to haunt me. *shivers*

And about moving around a lot: Stressful aunts, fathers, and other relatives who offered to have me stay with them for the duration of my college education and finally ending up with college housing. Moving again to be nearer to more public transportation.

[zat0x91]

Gaming laptops are dumb...

Couldn't you just get a M-ATX build with a small case and a smaller monitor if you're going to be moving around a lot?

[tomoya-kun]

MSI brand gaming laptops are great, good specs for price.

[vuzedome]

MSI brand gaming laptops are great, good specs for price.

I think the price tag isn't really of concern in this situation.

[kitamesume]

Go buy this for fun imho

Oh it is possible to fit a water cooling system in your laptop, it's just that after the modification your laptop will look like a small suitcase  

This is basically what it looks like after putting in only a "fake" watercooling kit (Corsair H50):



Entire worklog: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=260157

more like you`d wanna buy two seperate rigs, a decent low power laptop so it wouldnt overheat and a decent power desktop that could do anything you throw at it except predicting futures and such.
i just dont get why they want to play on laptops, they're meant to be portable, using a monster processor and gpu on it is too taxing to keep it portable, it`ll mostly last 1-2hours on battery imho.

i quoted myself... anyway, gaming laptops are ridiculous, you wont be portable(lasts 1-2hrs when gaming on battery), you`d have overheating issues, you`d be carrying a "steal me" item with you and its more expensive than your monster gaming desktop( a 1K$ worth desktop is already a i5 2500K SNB with a HD6970 or GTX570 in it)

if you're not even planning of taking the rig outside of your house, why the heck did you consider a laptop to begin with? shabby/flashy compact purpose?

[fohfoh]

Fuck, I wanted to quote that pic. LOL.

But going by plane... They'd probably confiscate it.

[vuzedome]

Why do you guys always have to do this?
The dude wants to pick a gaming laptop so lets do this right.
Go with the Asus, if you're not fussing over the price tag, Aleinware is....... meh. 

[kitamesume]

meh.... fine... buy the asus, go bling  

actually, for a gaming laptop, an i5 is the one you should look at, even an i3 on those things should be just fine, the one that you should look at is the GPU and the screen size of the laptop, most common 15" are around 1440x900 resolution, so having a GeForce GTX 470M or Radeon HD 6770M should be enough to crank your settings to med/high.

i wish they'd make an 15'6 desktop monitor with 1920x1080 res too, that would be a neat small HD monitor =D

[Lupin]

i quoted myself... anyway, gaming laptops are ridiculous, you wont be portable(lasts 1-2hrs when gaming on battery), you`d have overheating issues, you`d be carrying a "steal me" item with you and its more expensive than your monster gaming desktop( a 1K$ worth desktop is already a i5 2500K SNB with a HD6970 or GTX570 in it)

if you're not even planning of taking the rig outside of your house, why the heck did you consider a laptop to begin with? shabby/flashy compact purpose?

These kind of comments are made by people who don't think.

Gaming laptops are desktop replacements. Powerful enough to handle heavy tasks but easy and small enough to bring and setup in a LAN party. They weren't designed to be portable. This is why battery life and heat isn't much of a concern. It's always plugged in. It's always on a desk, not on your lap frying your balls.

[kitamesume]

hence the voided meaning of "LAP"TOP, should be renamed PORTOP =D for Portable Desktop. i am thinking imho, they have netbooks for ultra portable laptops, laptops should be like "mid-range" XD.

why wont they even consider making a category for a gaming laptop while they made a category for the ultra portable laptops?

[Lupin]

why wont they even consider making a category for a gaming laptop while they made a category for the ultra portable laptops?

and a gaming laptop is what?

Before making a category you have to define it. I don't think a gaming laptop has features to make it a distinct category. High-end gaming capable laptops will fall under desktop replacements.

Ultra portables have two features that they can boast: weight and battery life

[Natheria]

Well this thread sure went south fast...

[mgz]

hence the voided meaning of "LAP"TOP, should be renamed PORTOP =D for Portable Desktop. i am thinking imho, they have netbooks for ultra portable laptops, laptops should be like "mid-range" XD.

why wont they even consider making a category for a gaming laptop while they made a category for the ultra portable laptops?

that and a gaming laptop by its nature is kinda flawed.

Seeing as everything that is put into a laptop is subpar when compared to a "gaming system" where are laptops in general have focused more on portability and length of functionality while away from a wall.

Gaming is seen as something that is in general not a on the fly thing. You typically will not go around and say hey i think im gonna play some cod real quick.

This is partly because of laptop capability and partly due to wireless internet lacking in performance and consistency to be able to conceivably do this without going to wifi hotspot. Not to mention you still look retarded to pull out your 17+ inch screen laptop, and mouse, and headphones to do this no matter where you go.
Because its not terribly functional to use the touchpad for gaming

[fohfoh]

I wouldn't spend that much on a laptop, but that's just me. Though back in the day, I was adamant and spent 1400 on a C2D rather than have to deal with a P4 laptop again.