Help with Gaming laptop choices

[zentrility]

I have been searching for a gaming laptop and I came across these choices.

http/www.bestbuy.com/site/Lenovo+-+Ideapad+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i7+Processor+/+15.6%26%2334%3B+Display+-+Dusk+Black/3600633.p?id=1218419325800&skuId=3600633

http/www.bestbuy.com/site/Alienware+-+M14X+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i5+Processor+/+14%22+Display+/+8GB+Memory+/+750GB+Hard+Drive+-+Stealth+Black/2817246.p?id=1218353393526&skuId=2817246

http/www.bestbuy.com/site/Alienware+-+M14X+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i7+Processor+/+14%22+Display+/+8GB+Memory+/+750GB+Hard+Drive+-+Stealth+Black/2817352.p?id=1218353394275&skuId=2817352

1~ CPU- Intel® 2nd Generation Core™ i7 2.2GHz (with Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz)
GPU- NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 1GB Video Memory
RAM- 8GB DDR3
OS-Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Hard Drive Type- Serial ATA (5400 rpm) and SSD (Solid State Drive) 814GB

2~ CPU- Intel® Core™ i5 2.3GHz (with Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz)
GPU- NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 3GB Video Memory
RAM- 8GB DDR3
OS- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Hard Drive Type- SATA (7200 rpm) 750GB

3~ CPU- Intel® Core™ i7 2.0GHz (with Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz)
GPU- NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 3GB Video Memory
RAM- 8GB DDR3
OS- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Hard Drive Type- SATA (7200 rpm) 750 GB

There is also this ASUS laptop that is factory refurbished for only $849.99. But the reviews don't sound great. Though some sound well.
http/www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Factory-Refurbished+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i7+Processor+/+17.3%26%2334%3B+Display+-+Black/3105157.p?id=1218378584760&skuId=3105157

If you have any other suggestions, then please post below. Please post any other laptop choices that are below $1,400 with similar specifications.
Also, Which brands do you recommend and NOT recommend for any major reasons?

 

[Pyree]

http/www.xoticpc.com/force-16f2-msi-16f2-back-order-p-3078.html

 

[zentrility]

http/www.xoticpc.com/force-16f2-msi-16f2-back-order-p-3078.html

Have you had good service from this company? Are their laptops quality built?

 

[AntiZig]

xoticpc is basically a reseller/boutique vendor. The case is MSI prebuilt, they only add the hardware to it, finishes, if you want any, test it and ship it to you. It's a decent company, we've had a number of testimonials from users on these forums that they do good business (myself included). Good thing about them is the price is good and they offer USA based tech support as opposed to india-tech you typically get from dell.

Out of the bestbuy choices you posted, Alienware laptops have the better graphics, while Lenovo has the best cpu out of the three, but overall I don't think the difference is significant.
Asus has a high end gaming laptop (G73), it has the best GPU out of all the laptops you picked out, but I don't know how much you want to trust bestbuy on buy a refurbished laptop.

Hope that helps.

 

[zentrility]

Hm... Well I looked at the laptop Pyree wrote. And I wasn't liking it too much.
I have a friend who has an Alienware laptop and he loves it. A LOT. He hasn't had any problems with his. But I keep hearing bad things about the company online. Can anyone elaborate on this?

 

[perfectblue]

Alienware is a really good quality laptop, but for that price you will get many other better spec'ed alternatives.
Asus and MSI offer dedicated gaming laptop models too. And they are slightly less costly than alienware.
Choosing between them is like choosing between Benz sports car and a mustang/C6.

As far as online resellers are concerned, you better check the forums at http/forum.notebookreview.com/. There are thousands of review for all the brands of laptops and resellers by the users.

xoticpc is a reliable company, but gentechpc is more. (because I got mine from them)

My suggestion: Asus G74 XR1 for under $1400.

 

[Aeir]

Also, consider building an 8130/8150 (I'd recommend the later and the 6990 GPU which is basically tied for fastest single mobile GPU on the market). Even the default build has a better GPU than you listed. From what I've seen, you can get a lot more in Sagers than in most other brands at the same price point, in most situations (though it's generally ill advised to buy direct from Sager: instead purchase from a reseller). Sagers also are supposed to have a cooling system that can actually cope with the high-power GPUs they contain (not an issue with the 555, I'm sure, but I've heard Alienwares throttle some NVidia GPUs ridiculously at the first sign of any heat in order to keep them cool, basically crippling performance).

Other upgrades that I'd recommend, just in general, for the 8150 (or 8130, I suppose) beyond just the graphics card are: the 95% color gamut screen's supposed to be amazing, you can upgrade the CPU up to the 2760 if you can find the room in your budget (if not, I'd recommend the $50 upgrade to the refreshed processor), getting the ram as 4 SODIMMS rather than 2 is an easy way to save $50 and only even vaguely annoying when it comes to upgrades (though for most uses, 8gb is more than enough), Thermal Compound, and the wireless card (the 6230 should be fine, but stock cards are supposed to be pretty bad).

If you do purchase through a reseller, try to talk to a sales rep about deals/discounts they can give you.

As for issues with Alienware: they're ridiculously priced, and upgrades are actually cheaper to do yourself than what Dell tries to charge for them (as an example: I remember seeing a laptop trying to charge something close to $150 for 8gb ram, when you can make that upgrade with an aftermarket product for closer to $30). I've heard good and bad things about the build quality: some people have no problems and think their laptop's quality is more than fine, others find it cheap and plastic-y, especially for the price. I've heard they have some performance issues in certain situations (see my comment in the previous paragraph). Personally, I'm not a fan of how they look, for the same reason I hate the look of Asus. And if I want pretty, multi-color backlit keyboards, I'd go with an MSI 780.

 

[Cainman]

I'd look at the Asus G series whichever screen size you prefer, and the Clevo's. If your budget is 1400 you have room to bump up to a better video card than the gt 555. Whatever you do I don't think I'd buy at Best Buy. Buy from Newegg, xoticpc, or malibal. If you do still decide to buy at best buy watch out for the best buy exclusive models like the asus g74sx-bbk sold at best buy is an exclusive with different screen resolution and a gimped video card to make it cheaper.

 

[rld082982]

I'd look at the Asus G series whichever screen size you prefer, and the Clevo's. If your budget is 1400 you have room to bump up to a better video card than the gt 555. Whatever you do I don't think I'd buy at Best Buy. Buy from Newegg, xoticpc, or malibal. If you do still decide to buy at best buy watch out for the best buy exclusive models like the asus g74sx-bbk sold at best buy is an exclusive with different screen resolution and a gimped video card to make it cheaper.

But, cainman, some of us need to resort to the laptop financing that Bestbuy offers. Newegg or any of those don't offer this

 

[AntiZig]

if you need to resort to financing I'm not sure why you're in the market for such expensive machines then...

 

[rld082982]

if you need to resort to financing I'm not sure why you're in the market for such expensive machines then...

Some of us have the money but would rather not dump over a grand all at once

 

[AntiZig]

Ok, that I can respect if you have a reason other than not having the full amount on day one. But with any type of loan you end up overpaying due to interest.

 

[rld082982]

Ok, that I can respect if you have a reason other than not having the full amount on day one. But with any type of loan you end up overpaying due to interest.

BB is interest free if paid off in full in 18 months. So I figure, why not? You just need to be sure you pay on time each month or you will then have to pay interest for the rest of the time. I plan to pay it off in 6mo, it will improve my already high credit score. Any less then 6, will have no effect on it.

 

[Cainman]

You can get a promo credit card with 0% for 12 months and buy it anywhere. If you have high credit score and plan to pay it off in 6 months that wouldn't be a problem, and it has the advantage that if you don't then it doesn't charge you interest back to the beginning. That's what I did when I was back in college. Had the money, but preferred to have the cash on hand in case of emergency. Paid it off on the last statement before I got charged interest. If you buy online that's saving you the tax and you can get a better machine.

 

[rld082982]

Good idea! I'm constantly getting promo cards in the mail with however many months @ 0%. Thanks