Solved! Is Alien-ware that good?

[Komomu]

Hey guys I know you might have saw my solved forum about the dell Vostro 3700 against the Toshiba Satellite A-500 6644 but I was looking on dell again and I found an Alienware laptop for $50 dollars more it doesn't seem like it's worth it but I was wondering if I missed a vital point about alienware laptops Here is the Dell vostro 3700


My System Details
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 32-bit, English
New 2010 Intel® CoreTM i5-430M (2.26GHz base, up to 2.53GHz, 2C/4T, 3MB/L3)
Aberdeen Silver
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHZ, 2 DIMM
320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
No Productivity Software
Trend Micro Internet Security, 30-days
Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth 2.1 Module
1 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 1 Year NBD On-Site Service
6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Service
My Services & Warranties
No Onsite System Setup
No DataSafe
Purchase is Not Intended for Resale
Also Included
Aberdeen Silver Display Back
Fingerprint Reader with DigitalPersona software
17.3 inch High Definition LED Display (1366 x 768) with Anti-Glare
8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R write capability, Roxio and Cyberlink PowerDVD™ DX 8.1
Keyboard with Gesture Touchpad
Nvidia® Geforce™ GT 330M, 1GB Graphics
Wireless Network Card 802.11 b/g/n
Integrated 2.0MP Webcam and Digital Mic with Windows Live Messenger Video Chat Software
Vostro 3700 Laptop Config 10
Aberdeen Silver Base
90 Watt AC Adapter with cord wrapping

This is $844 but I can decrease the cost by $50 dollars by dropping the RAM to 3GB

And now here is the Alienware


Software & Services
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Overclockable Intel® Core™2 Duo SU7300 1.3GHz (3MB Cache)
1 Year Basic Service Plan
No Internal WWAN Antenna Installed
2GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 800MHz
160GB SATAII 5,400RPM
Alienware M11x, Cosmic Black
Personalize
Quasar Blue
Alienhead 3D
Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed
Also Includes
1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M
11.6-inch WideHD 1366x768 (720p) WLED
Internal High-Definition Surround Sound Audio (5.1)
Alienware M11x a/b/g/n 2x2 MIMO Wireless
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Integrated 10/100 Network Interface Card
Automatic Updates: On
1.3MP Web Cam
Standard Nameplate

This costs $899

Note that they both have the same resolution even though the vostro's screen is 6" bigger and has anti-glare and the alienware has surround sound but also the hard drive on the vostro is bigger and faster but the hard drive on the alienware in SATA 2 the card on the alienware's graphics card is better and the processor is over-clockable but the vostro's processor is the core i5 which hasthe smart boost feature thing. The vostro's webcam is better and it has the finger print reader(standard). These are the main things I see different.

Please note that I live in Jamaica so please factor in the possibility of over-heating and I only need a laptop to do gaming like playing Cod4, CodMW2, BFBC2(on low of course), The Settlers 7, AOE3 etc.

Sorry for making this so long but please tell me why the alienware costs more.

These are the main things that I see differen

 

[lostandwandering]

The GT 335M is only marginally better than the GT 330M. Plus the much weaker CPU in the M11x will just about kill any performance gains the 335 had. The Alienware is more expensive because you are paying for the name, plus the fact that the M11x is the most game capable portable system available.

 

[megamanx00]

For that kind of money you're better off with this A505 Newegg has on sale right now

TOSHIBA Satellite A505-S6035 NoteBook Intel Core i7 720QM $899.99 free shipping
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114803


Of the two you presented though, the alienware has a weaker CPU and half the hard drive space. It's meant to be portable more than anything (so long as you plug it in).

 

[vipjun]

Regardless of which laptop when you play games on the battery, you will only get about 2hrs or so of battery life.

Computer specs > Brand name for performance all the time.

Comparing those two is like comparing a desktop to a large laptop.

The dell is a 17inch laptop
The Alienware is 12inches

Some of the components used in smaller laptops can cost more because they are more compact/ use different materials.
The SU even tho is slow, is an expensive chip atm because it can run at 1/3 of the energy the i5 does.

Larger laptops are able to fit larger components, better cooling, and usually offer more power to the system which is where you see most of the difference.

The 17inch definitely has a more powerful cpu recommend this if you don't need to carry it around with you all day.
The SU is more like a slower and power efficient duo core 2.

I'm not sure if you even care, but the other major difference besides cpu on between the two is

Weight
the 11inch is probably half the weight

Battery life
The SU CPU's are said to have an average 6hrs of battery life while the others have about 3hrs.

As for living in Jamaica, as long as you are in an Air conditioned room it should be fine. If not then any computer laptop or not will get very hot if you play a game over 15minutes.

 

[Guest]

i dont know about the other comp, but im on an alienware m11x right now and its pretty good. occasionally the processor is a little sluggish, but thats very rarely. the graphics are WAY better than i expected, and the screen may be smallish but i dont even notice. the keyboard is great, i like the customizable backlighting but i keep it white so it wasnt really a gam changer when deciding. the m11x can play lots of games at good framerates (hl2 plays very smoothly at pretty high settings), however i have never gotten above 34 fps playing wow. all in all its a good computor, battery life is not the best, graphics are nice, processor not the best, form factor very very small, and it has NEVER overheated.
i would suggest it, but then again ive never seen your other choice. hope this helped