Curse

DeathShadowX · Jul 12, 2007, 07:21 AM // 07:21

Im buying a new computers, and have pretty much decided to get within the range of $ 2000-2200 area.

I have pretty much singled my choices down to 2 models, a dell computer or a alienware.

Heres the specs for the Dell:

Intel® Core™ 2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 DIMMs
320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ dbl layer write capable
No Monitor
768MB nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
No speakers
Dell USB Enhanced Multimedia Keyboard
Dell Premium Optical USB Mouse
3.5 in Floppy Drive
56K PCI Data Fax Modem

at $2,144

or..

the alienware with...

768MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 GTX
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 6000+ Processor w/ HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology
2GB - 2 x 1024MB
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium
250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 8MB Cache
18X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Burner x2
No Monitor
No speakers
Alienware® USB Full-Size Keyboard
Alienware® Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel

at $2,134

I would like this game to play not only guildwars but last for at least 7-8 years of playing games, including games that require good equipment to play such as Neverwinter Nights 2.

So is it the alienware or the dell?

Flightmare · Jul 12, 2007, 10:45 AM // 10:45

Hard choise, you might aswell build a custom one which actually might end up being a better system for the same prize. Neither one of them got a sound card in it, and do you prefer crappy keyboards and a 3 button mouse? I don't know wether the dell got 1x 2048 or 2x 1024MB, 2x1024MB works faster and most motherboards support up to 4 memory slots so you can expand it later to 4x1024 if you want to, expanding it over won't be neccesary in the next 7 years, and 32 bit operating systems can't even support over 4GB of memory due 32 bit processing limits.

Tachyon · Jul 12, 2007, 12:24 PM // 12:24

The price you pay for those mass-produced heaps of junk is ridiculous. Ok, they may have some good components, but you could easily build a same spec machine for way less. Or, a superior machine for the same price!

mr_groovy · Jul 12, 2007, 01:22 PM // 13:22

If i had to chose, i would have taken neither ^^. For that amount of money you can spend just a tad more and get a ultimate game rig laptop. It's fast, it plays your game.. and as added bonus it's portable ^^
At the time i bought a Dell inspiron 9300 :

17"" 1920 *1200 resolution
1.86 pentium m (no dual cores yet :/)
2 gigs ram
100Gb disk
Nvidia Geforce go 6800 256 vram

It plays games well, and everywhere I need to be ^^.

Flightmare · Jul 12, 2007, 02:17 PM // 14:17

Laptops suck

DeathShadowX · Jul 12, 2007, 02:40 PM // 14:40

I dont need a laptop because i mostly play from home, so thats a bit out of the question. As for building a computer, i lack the time and resolve, and would probably manage to break the parts some how, and thus i would much rather get the computer custom built for me.

Could someone tell me which is better the dell or the alienware?

and also which processor is better ( Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6700 (4MB L2 Cache,2.66GHz,1066 FSB) OR Intel® Core™ 2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB) ?

mr_groovy · Jul 12, 2007, 03:40 PM // 15:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flightmare

Laptops suck

From under what rock did you crawl? Processor, Ram, Hard disk, Screen resolution and Video Card are all almost the same as a desktop. Why would they suck? Only if your a 1337 overclocker with a 30" screen that needs to be run in 8*aa +10 aniso then you would really need a desktop. :/

Dell owns Alienware (as in owning the company, it's a division now) so I would go with dell, cheaper and next day on site support. (Although i would construct my own pc out of components)

SigurdTheBalmung · Jul 12, 2007, 05:02 PM // 17:02

IMO build yourself a custom computer. You can probably buys the parts off of Newegg.com and get it cheaper than from Dell, even with shipping. Besides the fact that if something is wrong with your computer it is a pain in the you know what to get Dell/Alienware to replace it. Took my friend half a year to convince Alienware that his videocards were defective. After that he had to send it in twice to get repaired properly.

Just so you know the processor, OS, RAM, Harddisk, and video card of the Dell system you described on Newegg.com would only cost ~$1375. The cost cost of a motherboard for the processor is around $100 for the cheapest. The optical drives, mouse, keyboard, floppy drive, and modem all together would only be another $100 if you go OEM on everything you possibly can. A decent monitor only runs about $200 these days. All together that is only $1775, with shipping it would be around $1900 and you would have saved yourself $200. With that extra $200 you could easily upgrade to 4 gigs of RAM. That's means for the same price you could get a machine with almost the exact specs as the Dell, a monitor and twice the RAM.

And if you are wondering, I did just go on Newegg to look up prices for those estimates.

Flightmare · Jul 12, 2007, 06:24 PM // 18:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr_groovy

From under what rock did you crawl? Processor, Ram, Hard disk, Screen resolution and Video Card are all almost the same as a desktop. Why would they suck? Only if your a 1337 overclocker with a 30" screen that needs to be run in 8*aa +10 aniso then you would really need a desktop. :/

More money for the same specs, not as easy to upgrade, less airflow and most important its far less comfortable imo, oh and the sound is just terrible.

Ofcourse the upside is they're portable but you don't need that for a gaming rig.

Sorry to sound offending, but imo a laptop is a bad choise for the topicstarter.

mr_groovy · Jul 12, 2007, 07:32 PM // 19:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flightmare

More money for the same specs, not as easy to upgrade, less airflow and most important its far less comfortable imo, oh and the sound is just terrible.

Ofcourse the upside is they're portable but you don't need that for a gaming rig.

Sorry to sound offending, but imo a laptop is a bad choise for the topicstarter.

Yes maybe for the topic starter

But just to make some other things clear. Laptops can be updated as in cpu and ram (from the same generation). And about the sound. Just standard laptop == bad sound (although I have a subwoofer build in that makes it a lot better). The thing is I have an audigy 2 zs.(pcmia) I got it hooked up 5.1 analog for gaming and 24/96 5.1 dts digital for dvd's. On a yamaha 5.1 set. So my sound is very good thank you very much

lordpwn · Jul 12, 2007, 09:17 PM // 21:17

There's always the other sound-related issue with laptops.. delivering high quality visuals AND high performance involves a lot of processing power, which means lots of heat, which laptop cases are not well equipped to handle. The high-pitched loud noise made by tiny fans spinning at high speeds is pretty maddening if you're used to a nearly quiet desktop computer.

A friend of mine uses a laptop when playing Guild Wars. Despite him using a decent quality headset there's a loud whining noise over whatever he says on TeamSpeak. I can't imagine how noisy it gets in that room.

Dex · Jul 12, 2007, 11:16 PM // 23:16

I would have to agree that a laptop is not a good choice for a gamer unless portability is a requirement. They're more expensive as well as being difficult to upgrade (yes, you can upgrade the CPU and RAM, but how often to people do that these days over moving up to a new platform? Not much IMHO...far more likely to want to upgrade the video card or drives, which is difficult or impossible with a laptop). Desktops also tend to have more room and more ports for expansion. Aside from that laptop keyboards drive me nuts. By the time you add a keyboard and a mouse you've lost much of your portability. On top of that a laptop tends to be significantly slower than a desktop with the same specs due to power management functionality, MUCH slower hard drives, and scaled back mobile GPUs. Again, nothing wrong with a laptop if you need portability, but they're not a great investment if you don't.

To the OP: if you don't want to build a system (and it sounds like you don't) I would personally go with the Dell over the Alienware. The Core2 is a better CPU than the AMD X2 (although I do like AMD), and the specs on the Dell are a little better.

On your dual vs. quad core question, it's really up to you. The E6700 would run current games a tad faster due to the higher clockspeed, while the quad core is....well...quad-core. If we start seeing a lot more multi-threaded software in the future that could come in handy.

Malice Black · Jul 13, 2007, 12:14 AM // 00:14

Having owned both an XPS and Alienware before, here is a few pointers.

Alienware has better build quality, Dell has better customer support (if you get someone who speaks fluent English) and their on-site next day support is great but be warned sometimes this isn't always available.

I'd get the Dell out of the 2 choices though, as for nearly the same price the Dell has superior specs. Alienware are a bit behind the times when it comes to CPU's for some reason, maybe with Dell taking over they will sort out some of the kinks.

DeathShadowX · Jul 13, 2007, 07:37 AM // 07:37

Thanks, i guess im going with the dell, because it seems better. As for leaving out a moniter and speakers, it's not that i was careless but rather that i have a good monitor and several sets of speakers already, hence it would not be of too much use to me.

Ill be looking around till im certain.