New Computer? —
For months now, I've been saving up to buy a new graphics laptop, and I'm close to actually going through with it. I'd like to have some input, though, on what I should get. Here's what I'm looking at.
Battalion 101 X7200: Serious overkill! Dual hard drives, dual video cards, USB3 support. All wonderful! But twice my price, and Bill-Me-Later turned me down. Should I keep saving and wait for this? Does anybody have experience with these machines?
Alienware M17x: This is what I've had my eye on the whole time. Does anyone have experience with AlienWare? Is it just another Dell?
Qosmio X500: Easily affordable and the largest screen size at 18". I've had good luck with Toshiba, but I know some people haven't. Is Qosmio reputable? (Also, I just heard from Greg Pallast that Toshiba built one of those faulty nuclear plants in Japan.)
If anybody has any feedback, let me know!
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It used to be that Alienware was the king of mass-market ultimate gaming rigs and laptops and you basically would pay a 5-10% premium for the brand name. If there was ever a sale at Alienware, they were the ones to get, hands down. Ever since being bought out by Dell, however, they are basically a Dell in a pretty case with one or two bonus features, with the same markup.
ReplyDeleteIbuypower is a good company but because it is all custom built there is the chance for problems (my desktop was through them and I ran into that).
Not sure about Toshiba, but they are decent generic home machines at least.
I tried to compare the Alienware vs the Ibuypower and, with most of the same features (the Ibuy started out often with better stuff than the Alienware so had to upgrade), except for the processor (Alienware only has mobile processors, Ibuy has desktop), and Alienware was a better deal by about $300 for the same basic machine.
However, the second you start adding/upgrading anything on them, the price gap quickly disappears and the Alienware lacks quite a few higher-end features (but has options to make it pretty!).
So, as a bare-bones but nice new machine, Alienware, for mid-tier new rig, Ibuy. But check other sites such as Sagernotebook.com (essentialy the old Alienware without the pretty lights)and possibly even HP and try to build the same laptops and see how the prices compare.
Whew! Long response. Prolly shoulda emailed. =p
Hope I helped a bit! Not sure what exactly ya need for the Photoshop stuff or if ya gonna be gaming, so not sure exactly what level ya wanted.
-Later!
As DJ said, Alienware is basically Dell in a shinier case. iBuypower builds computers with relatively low markup that are excellent on paper, but their reputation for delivering a functional machine or supporting it afterward has been infamously terrible, though their reviews have improved significantly in the last year or so, following a change in their management. Toshiba's current customer service reputation looks a lot like iBuypower's old one, but I haven't heard anything particularly bad about the machines themselves. Basically, there's a chance you'll get a great machine, and there's also a chance you'll get a broken, inoperable machine with lousy tech support to boot.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I bought a custom machine from AVADirect, and both the computer and their customer support have been flawlessly excellent so far. I've also heard good things about HP's Envy series and Digital Storm's x15, so those may be worth a look. They're primarily gamer-focused laptops, and I don't know if you game, but as someone who routinely runs both Crysis and Photoshop, I can say the hardware demand to get either running at a reasonable speed is about the same.
Hope this was at least slightly useful!
I know this is a bit late, but I will put in my two cents also. :p
ReplyDeleteOne company I have heard lots of great things from is Falcon Northwest. Some one once told me those are the Mercedes Benz of computers, with price to match. I don't know much about there customer support but on paper those computers look NICE :D and THAT'S my two cents :)
btw just thought you would like to know that the "verification word" I got was "condoma" lol