Picking the right gaming laptop.

Hey everyone, I'm having troubles picking the right gaming laptop,
My price range is $2000-$2500.

I have Alienware on my mind, but i've heard some bad things about their customer service..

I'm wanting it mainly for SL but I play alot of FPS like BattleField 2142.

This is the Alienware config i'm thinking about.

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Aurora™ m9700

Processor: AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile ML37 2.0GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 - Without Remote Control or TV Tuner
Chassis: 17" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD with Clearview Technology - Conspiracy Blue
Motherboard: Alienware® NVIDIA® Mobile SLi Chipset
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR SO-DIMM at 400MHz - 2 x 1024MB
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 80GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 5,400 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Optical Drive: 8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW w/ Nero Software
Video/Graphics Card: Dual 256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS - SLI Enabled
Sound Card: High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Wireless Network Card: Internal 802.11b/g WiFi Card
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth® Device
Primary Battery: Alienware® m9700 12-cell Lithium-Ion Smart Battery Pack
Warranty: 3-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $100 Value - FREE!
Free Alienware® T-Shirt: Free Alienware® T-Shirt - Black

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I was also looking at http://www.sagernotebook.com/pages/notebooks/product.cfm?ProductType=9260

But for the same price (Actually a little less) the Alienware has better specs and two 256MB NVidia GeForce Go 7900 GS.

Anything I'm missing? Any advice? Or other choices?

Thanks!

Alienware = Dell, so you'll be dealing with the level of CS Dell provides.

http://shorterlink.com/?GW622M

I'm not familiar with Alienware but that looks like a great computer for SL and the free t-shirt should cinch the deal. By the way my Dell customer service has been great. They even sent a tech to my house to replace the motherboard when it blew up and replaced my RAM in one day when it went bye bye.

How often do you plan on using SL on the laptop?

If its for long hours I strongy warn against buying a laptop.

I spent over 2k on a new ASUS and it overheated with SL and took a MAJOR beating..its no longer playable on a system such as this.

I wanted a laptop so bad but for gaming its really really best to go with a desktop. I went ahead and got a Dell XPS and it runs SL great, no problems.

So if you plan on playing SL for long periods...be prepared to have to dish out more cash when SL kills your new baby.

This is who I've been buying my laptops from for quite some time.

http://www.sagernotebook.com/pages/gaming_specials.html

The nvidia 7900 will be great, but SL does not support the dual graphics cards, I think.

I have an HP dv9000 with a 7600, and it seems to work very, very well. Laptops can be hot, so be sure to get a good cooling pad. Or, get a new, water cooled lap.

I spent about $5000 on a top end Alienware Laptop last year. It took over two months for them to build it and ship it to me. After about 3 months it started randomly blue screening so I sent it back for repair and they kept it for 6 weeks before they got it back to me, another 4 months after that the same thing happened again so once again so I sent it back to alienware for repair and this time they kept it for a full 2 months wihle they "tried" to fix it. I got it back and the same issue popped up within a week or so.

as it turns out my system was just constantly overheating and destroying itself slowy each time doing more damage than the next until it was burnt out.

I will never buy Alienware again.

On a brighter note I also have a 3 year old Compaq Presario notebook with an ancient GeForce 4 graphics card and for whatever reason it runs SL great and has yet to crash but I don't use it that often for SL. The only problem is the big burned spot on the coffee table.

I had an Alienware laptop for three years with only one issue... one that ended up being my fault for not keeping up to date on drivers and checking the website for issue fixes.
When it finally did, that was my bad as well, having never cleaned it, even though I smoked like a chimney around it, as well as owning a cat who spent more time on the keyboard than I did. Really nice cooling fans + smoke + cat hair = REALLY hot laptops = burned out parts.
The one problem I did find was getting the part that went kablooie. It is only available from one place and it doesn't service where I live.

It did run perfectly for three years, though.

Had a Sager laptop, motherboard blew in a year, previous to that had six trips back and forth across the country for various repairs. (Had to ship it at my expense back and forth from the east coast to California) After the motherboard blew they told me they couldnt get another board from china and bought out my extended warrenty. ( Guess they dont carry replacement parts???) Took the check for 2k and went shopping. Looked at alienware, researched em, tho I liked the specs, the 100 plus bad reviews from customers turned me off. Maybe after Dell takes em over this will change. Ended up spending about $2300 on a Hewlet Packard pavillion Z series. Full sized pent chip runs a bit warm, wish Id waited another month for a 256 mb Nvidia card ( now Id go with a 512) , needed a power jack replacement after a year and a half, two and a half years in had a harddrive failure. The one advantage I had in this situation was the 3yr door to door warrenty. They pick it up at your house, do the repair, and send it back with a three day turnaround window. A warrenty that actually paid for itself. Have had the unit three years now, currently (knock on wood) running fine.
Would I buy another? Hmmmm.

Get a Mac!

I just wanted to say that. I have no idea if they're any good for SL.

Those are all nice replys, the only problem is the XPS is out of my price range( I like it though).

I will be playing SL on it quiet alot. And the occasional FPS.

I already have an IMac, runs SL perfectly, I just need a laptop and the MacBook pro is overpriced for what features you don't get.

Still unsure what to get with a price range of $2000-$2500

This is what I play SL on. I runs better than it does on my desktop.

HP Pavilion dv9230us Entertainment Notebook PC

Processor
Intel Centrino Duo mobile technology featuring Intel Core 2 Duo processor T5500; 1.66GHz

Operating system
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
Memory
2048MB DDR2 SDRAM
Graphics card
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 (discrete 256MB)
Hard drive
200GB (5400RPM) Hard Drive Dual HDD - 100GB x 2(SATA) [gigabyte is defined as 1,000,000,000 bytes, accessible capacity may vary]

Primary CD/DVD drive
LightScribe Super Multi 8x DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
Display
17" WXGA+ High-Definition BrightView Widescreen Display (1440x900)

Wireless connectivity
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection

Digital media
5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards

External ports
4 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 1 Headphone out w/SPDIF Digital Audio 1 microphone-in 1 Expansion Port 3 1 IEEE 1394 Firewire (4-pin) 1 Consumer IR 1 HDMI

Communicaions
Integrated 10/100/1000GB Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 Connector); high speed 56k modem

Dimensions

15.16 x 11.65 x 1.57 in
Weight 7.8 lb

Sound
Internal Altec Lansing Speakers

HP Finish and Features
HP Imprint Finish & HP Pavilion WebCam with Integrated Microphone

i am able to run it on my old athlon 64 laptop...but what im considering down the line is:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220182

ASUS G Series G1S-A1 NoteBook
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500(2.20GHz)
15.4" Wide SXGA+
2GB DDR2 667
160GB 5400rpm
DVD Super Multi
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT

$1898 right now
...its got vista on it, which i havent tried yet, (part of my reluctance to make the change)

I have a MacBook Pro which runs SL like a champ.

I forget to mention that the cost of the HP Pavilion Notebook + the expansion base for it was about $1750. Don't remember the exact figure.

I have an mALX Alienware laptop. I love it, but it's a bit out of the price range you put down. I paid over $6000 for this laptop. One thing about the Alienware laptops is that you MUST keep them clean and use canned air to blow the vents and fans clean, as well as other regular maintainance. Remember, a gaming laptop is a high performance system and requires more maint. than a standard laptop.

all very good suggestions Thanks.

Currently i have an IMac that works well for SL.

And a gateway mx7525(<Laptop) Doesn't run SL so good.

The alienware config that i posted was about 2699 not bad, and still in my price range. That's with a 3 year warranty and tax and shipping.

And it would work very well with SL or at-least the specs would, and it would be great for any fps game.

I just want to make sure Alienware is the choice before i shell out almost 3k on it.

What are you guys opinions?

Well like I said, I went with the XPS desktop, it is in that range.

Consider getting a desktop since you say you`ll be playing SL quite a lot.

SL killed my laptop, and I will never use a laptop to play SL that heavily again.