Lookin' for a gaming rig!

[Luke122]

I've worked on a Dell XPS M1710, and it was a nice machine, but certainly not worth the price, and compared to the G7x series Asus, it was a MONSTER. Very thick, very heavy, and it ran really hot.

I still vote G72 or G73. Put an alienware sticker on it if he's that attached to the branding.

[diluzio91]

i vote the G73, i would still pick up the cooling matt though... those slim laptops get pretty toasty, idk if he has other peripherals already though. ( i concede my defeat, i just did a quick search)

[dr.walrus]

Put an alienware sticker on it if he's that attached to the branding.

I still sorta miss how my alienware laptop used to light up in the dark. Looked like a bit of a nutter with it on my desk at the office though!

[Zephik]

I still vote G72 or G73. Put an alienware sticker on it if he's that attached to the branding.

not so much the brand as it is the way they look. But yeah I'm going to recommend the Asus along with this Alienware.

http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/a...2/74cc7795.jpg

Is the i3 a good processor? I'm so out of the loop I don't even know a single thing about the new Core series except that i7 is quad core. (I think anyways lol)

[x88x]

Think of the i3 as more along the lines of the Celeron. I don't know what Dell is smoking, letting you configure that laptop with one. So, to answer your question.. Yes, the i3 is a fine processor...just not for what your friend wants to do. There is a very good reason why the i7-720 is a $300 upgrade on that model.

EDIT:
Here's a much better comparison to the Asus:

[Zephik]

Speaking in gaming terms, what would be the difference between the i3 and i7?

Also for both laptops, what are we talking here settings wise? Medium for most games? High?

[x88x]

To be completely honest, I don't know how well the i3 would perform gaming, and really it depends on what kind of gaming he's doing. That being said, the i3 is almost definitely going to be the bottleneck in that system, and I know on my desktop with a Q9450, it's pretty common for my CPU utilization to be in the upper 25% for all cores when I'm playing recent games. I suppose it's really none of my business what he ends up choosing, I just think if you're gonna spend that much on a laptop, you shouldn't be saddled with a budget CPU.

What is it about the Alienware design that he likes? Try showing him some pictures of the G73. Who knows, he might like it.

EDIT:
Oh, missed the settings question. For the G73, very high, for the Alienware like you configured I would say probably medium; up that to an i7-630 or i7-720, and that'll boost to high.

[dr.walrus]

Here's a much better comparison to the Asus:

Actually, I think it's these two that best represent the G73 X1 and A2

Each one a sweet thousand bucks more expensive than the Asus.

There is nothing more frustrating than people coming over and looking at your sweet, sweet glowing Alienware laptop and saying 'what's it running under the hood?' and then them MOCKING you about how crap it actually is.

[x88x]

Yeah, you make a good point. I was going off the M15x because that's the one that he configured.

[Zephik]

I don't suppose that Asus comes in a 15" version? He's now trying to stray away from having a giant lappy to lug around, which is understandable.

Maybe we can pull up a few more, albiet smaller, options?