Alienware- ftw or ftl?

*****UPDATE*****

I was checking out Dell laptops, and the XPS M1530 looks good for £900, as advised by Mar #Any thoughts on this one?

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Well, I think the time has finally come to replace my laptop. It's just over 2 and a half or so years old, and though it runs TF2 and most of the other games I play... it could do with a replacement. With all my video settings and resolution turned to low, a custom FPS improving script and running on DirectX 8.1, I can sustainably play on 30-35 fps. Sure, it can reach 100+, but when I'm looking at a wall; any time a battle starts, it plummets to the 30 range, not helping my (already mediocre) aim. Plus it looks butt ugly.

I would invest in a proper desktop PC, but I'm currently at uni and already a part of their gaming society. Which means more games to try out, and already the new ones I've tried are straining my system to breaking point. So it's gotta be a laptop.

After saving up for a year or so my sights have fallen upon this- an Alienware gaming laptop. It's expensive, but the money I've saved covers it. I'm going to look around before I even think about purchasing, and research the various laptops available, but this has really caught my eye- which I'm wondering is a bad thing. Is this kind of laptop really worth the money, or is it just a regular laptop with some shiney gimmicks and lights attached to it?

FTL.

nay, you are paying tons of extra cash for a 3 in. alien head on your laptop.

I will say FTL.  But that's because I'm a DIY advocate!

FTL. You'd get much better value for your money with the M1730

Or just getting a netbook and a miniature gaming desktop

reminds me, Lou: It's possible to *pretend* you have a custom PC, while just replacing specific parts of an ordered one?

alienware makes some nice stuff but look at other options. dell is my personal favorite which actually owns alienware. dell is ranked highest in customer care and satisfaction next to apple by consumer reports. most places can make the same laptop for different prices. they say the 8800M gtx is exclusive to the alienware but idk what else there may be that is similar. the 8800 M is most likely a less powerful 8800 than the normal one so a laptop with an 8600 gt may be just as graphically powerful.

also i dont see ur logic on not buying a desktop. because ur current one is not powerful enough, you need a laptop? id get a desktop anyday. desktops are more powerful for less money and can be better customized than a laptop

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I'd get a laptop if I was living in a fixed residence. I'm a university atm, and need a computer that can play games and be carried around when I need it for my course. A desktop doesn't offer me that option. Plus I need to buy a lot of seperate parts and leads for a desktop.

Thanks for the quick responses everybody- I've seen a lot of things that look very attractive to draw you into spending a huge pile of cash on them when cheaper, equally good options exist :s

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Even though you are technically customizing a build, you're not really building a computer as you're limited to the options the company gives you for the computer. When I put together my computer I was able to choose absolutely every component because I wasn't limited to a set parts list by xyz company.

A big downside to customizing through a computer manufacturer is you generally don't get to choose the exact motherboard you want in your computer. Most of the time you can choose your processor, but if it's installed on a really crummy motherboard then you'll run into problems later on if the MB doesn't have very good upgradability options such as extra SATA connections. We purchase HP desktops at work, and while they're low cost they have almost no upgradability.

ah  i see. thanks for clearing that up. you could try these:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat150700050002&type=category

or anything that is categorized as "gaming" is usually pretty powerful stuff