Gaming laptop purchasing help
I'm planning on getting a new gaming laptop and i have a few questions/need help with recommendations. Firstly i've been looking into alienware laptops because they seem to have the best prices for the level of performance i'm looking for ($2500 including lappy, warranty, and any protection for the laptop needed). I'm thinking along the lines of the m17 but I'm skeptical of the performance increase you get from going crossfire (since CF for desktops at least works well in some games and not at all in others) and i was thinking it would just be better to find a laptop with a 9800 gtx instead so all games will be faster than a 3870.
Next What is the performance different between the 3870 and the 8700 and their sli/cf counterparts-i've seen 3dmark06 showing ati in the lead in both categories but i know that 3dmark dosen't always show real world performance.
Now I see alot of laptop coolers out on the market and i'm wondering about whether i'd need one for a gaming laptop all the time or just when i'm gaming.
With being a klutzy college bound student i'm concerned about what kind of warranty i should look for and about the advances in laptop theft protection (ie cables or remote signaling devices). Although it's obvious to be careful with a laptop accidents happen and idk if alienware's warranty or any others manufacturers warranty covers dropage.
Ok the last of my questions-is it ok to buy an off brand battery from ebay and get reasonable battery life or should i only buy name brand batteries or ones straight form the manufacture?
Now what i'm looking for in a laptop:
2.6ghz+ dual core cpu (preferable intel due to performance gap between them and amd)
2gb+ of ram (preferably ddr2 800mhz+ or ddr3 1333mhz+)
a 9800 gtx or higher gpu (including sli/cf if most game receive that dual gpu performance increase)
raid 0 7200 rpm hard drives in a 400gb+ array
a tv tuner (integrated or discrete)
1920*1080 or higher resolution
and things that are nice to have:
hdmi out
optical or digital out
surround sound output
surround sound speakers
lighted keyboard
non-glossy screen (would that even be readable in a classroom)?
and atleast an hour and a half battery life playing videos
If you made is all the way through this extremely long post i thank and and appreciate any help you can give me!
I'm planning on getting a new gaming laptop and i have a few questions/need help with recommendations. Firstly i've been looking into alienware laptops because they seem to have the best prices for the level of performance i'm looking for ($2500 including lappy, warranty, and any protection for the laptop needed). I'm thinking along the lines of the m17 but I'm skeptical of the performance increase you get from going crossfire (since CF for desktops at least works well in some games and not at all in others) and i was thinking it would just be better to find a laptop with a 9800 gtx instead so all games will be faster than a 3870.
Next What is the performance different between the 3870 and the 8700 and their sli/cf counterparts-i've seen 3dmark06 showing ati in the lead in both categories but i know that 3dmark dosen't always show real world performance.
Now I see alot of laptop coolers out on the market and i'm wondering about whether i'd need one for a gaming laptop all the time or just when i'm gaming.
With being a klutzy college bound student i'm concerned about what kind of warranty i should look for and about the advances in laptop theft protection (ie cables or remote signaling devices). Although it's obvious to be careful with a laptop accidents happen and idk if alienware's warranty or any others manufacturers warranty covers dropage.
Ok the last of my questions-is it ok to buy an off brand battery from ebay and get reasonable battery life or should i only buy name brand batteries or ones straight form the manufacture?
Now what i'm looking for in a laptop:
2.6ghz+ dual core cpu (preferable intel due to performance gap between them and amd)
2gb+ of ram (preferably ddr2 800mhz+ or ddr3 1333mhz+)
a 9800 gtx or higher gpu (including sli/cf if most game receive that dual gpu performance increase)
raid 0 7200 rpm hard drives in a 400gb+ array
a tv tuner (integrated or discrete)
1920*1080 or higher resolution
and things that are nice to have:
hdmi out
optical or digital out
surround sound output
surround sound speakers
lighted keyboard
non-glossy screen (would that even be readable in a classroom)?
and atleast an hour and a half battery life playing videos
If you made is all the way through this extremely long post i thank and and appreciate any help you can give me!
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