$3K laptop, help me choose.

[newsboy9]

I think you did right by going with Alienware. Those guys know what they're doing. I build custom machines myself so I rarely if ever recommend a mainstream brand. But if people have the money, I would say Alienware. Besides if you're working for a company whose giving you a $3K budget they almost surely have a corporate edition of office pro with plenty of licenses to go around. Just one thing, like the others mentioned, don't leave home/work without your power adapter!

[grover]

psst, I'll sell you a $1000 e-machine to you for $3000, complete with reciept, and split the difference with ya

[NewBlackDak]

LMAO!!

You couldn't pay me $3000 to USE an e-Machine!!

[Mikie]

If you look at the Area 51, Pro-Star or Sager is just the OEM for them. Before painting and all.

I have had 2 and nothing but excellent things to say. Plus the extra machine for less cost (No Purchase order) I was buying for myself. I am waiting on the one I described to drop just a little more before taking the plunge once again.

I cannot vouch for the repair work, the only problem I had was with a battery, but they responded (e-mail) within 24 hours with the correct solution.

I am suprised that no one has heard of these guys, and it is a little weird to limit choices to the big 3 or 4, (not you in particular). And I am no way saying they are not as good or better or anything, it just seems like you have the PO guys at your mercy and with no limit to weight (most weigh in at 12+lbs) check them out if not too late. DO NOT PASS UP the purchase, that is too good to be true.

[NewBlackDak]

I guess you could say I'm at the mercy of the PO. I don't have to use PO, but it makes my life ALOT easier. I'm not doubting you about their quality, but I had to make the purchase this week. A week is just not enough time to research and make an informed decision about a company you've never used(or even heard of in this case).

[sjracer]

You will be happy with the Alienware. I have one (see specs below) and I absolutely LOVE it. It is an awsome laptop. I use mine for gaming, and everything else. The only thing I didnt get in mine was a Gig of ram. I only got 512mb. Other than that, I love it. I got it back in June, and have had zero problems with it. Great little system. I would buy anotherone again in a heart beat.



SJRACER

[caseyanders]

I bought an Inspiron 8600 about two weeks ago. 1 GB DDR 333 ram, DVD+RW burner, 80 GB HD 7200 RPM, Radeon Mobility 9600 PRO, Centrino 1.5, Wide UXGA 1920 x 1200 Pixels. Sounds very interesting, and is a very fast computer, indeed. However...
First it took about 20 working days to deliver the computer, nothing compared to the J+10 advertised.
Then it was sent to a wrong address.
And finally, when I received the machine, the keyboard was badly screwed, then the fan began to make some very annoying noise, and finally a few days later the CD/DVD reader/burner stopped working. So basically this computer is nothing better than my good old reliable AMD K6-2 400 MHz. At least the latter computer works. Not the Inspiron 8600. It crashed just when I was in big need for a CD reader. Now I'm just using my old AMD, and waiting for the support to send a new drive.
Finally, if one spends so much cash on Dell's flagship, I had expected a much better support. As they told, the drive should come in about one week; still waiting. Nothing compared to the J+1 advertised on their site. I feel as if I would spare much more time and energy by just throwing away this computer in the waste basket.

My conclusion:
DO NOT BUY THE INSPIRON 8600.
You will pay a huge amount of money for an unreliable delayed computer and a failing support. Not to speak about the time and energy lost contacting the support, making the hardware tests, and writing this report. Do not trust Dell's advertisement, they seem not to take care of the customers and are using untrue advertisement.

[Martin_89]

welcome to the forum

well he settled for the alienware so were ok there, how is the laptop btw?

[wrathchild_67]

If this wasn't a work machine, I would've went for a high-end Sager. Many people have been able to overclock them as well as set RAM timings. Some people are very close to enabling PAT on some of the laptops using 800MHz fsb. A 3.4Ghz laptop with CAS2 RAM and PAT would be a beast.

[NewBlackDak]

Originally posted by Martin_89
welcome to the forum

well he settled for the alienware so were ok there, how is the laptop btw?

This thing i GREAT in all aspect except for battery life which we expected. The screen is as big as any 15" desktop LCD I've ever seen, and looks alot better. This was the first PIV I've bought in awhile, and the first nvidia card I've used since the tragedy of "MX-440 before Radeon 64MB DDR VIVO". The first thing I did was dupe what was on the drive to a DVD, repartition and install Gentoo. The impressions from that were mixed. The fan did kick up, and get a little louder than most laptops, but it didn't get hot. I had hoped it would be faster, but it isn't as fast as my desktop (1700+@2450/512MB PC-3500@233). The PIV is slower to compile, which incidentally is what I use it for the most. It's a good solid machine, and I haven't had any trouble out of it. My only suggestions. If you buy a PIV laptop get an extra battery, and a car charger!! Also get as much ram as possible.