Laptop Under $2K

P

Phimp

Gawd
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
596
A friend of mine wants a new laptop and doesn't want to spend more than $2k.
Obviously since he's spending a lot, the HD should be at least 160gb and 7.2k rpm.
Video card doesn't matter too much, just something that will be able to easily handle Vista's Aero interface without slowing things down, because he probably won't be playing any games.
He's currently taking a bunch of programming classes at college so I'm not sure what things would help out the compiling of programs and such.
2gb memory at least. (From what I've seen, the cheapest option is to buy a nice laptop with the least amount of ram then buy a 2x1gb set from NewEgg for like $80 instead of spending $250 to upgrade, but I'm not sure.)

He's a Dell fanboy and I have assured him that there are other options out there.

I showed him the Alienware laptops (despite the fact that Dell just bought out Alienware) and he's pretty much in love with the look of them and basically everything about them even though they can be a bit pricey.

So the physical appearance of the laptop needs to be pretty suweet.

As of right now, this is what he's set on...
The Alienware Area-51 m5550
+ $350 - Core 2 Duo T7400 2.16GHz
+ $50 - Vista Home Premium (if anyone complains I'll punch them in the face)
+ $150 - 160gb 7.2k rpm HD
+ $50 - DL DVD/RW Burner w/ LS
+ $70 - set of 2x1gb memory from NewEgg (link)
Total = $1670


Any suggestions or great deals that anyone is aware of right now?

Thanks!
 
Alienwares are overpriced, rebranded Clevo pieces of shit.

At least Dells are original. You can get a new Inspiron or Vostro 15" notebook with the newer Santa Rosa chipset, a faster 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo T7500 CPU with 800 MHz FSB, 2GB RAM, 160GB 7200RPM drive and the much faster, DirectX10 compatible 8600M GT video card for LESS than that Alienware. Besides looking much more professional and less "steal me", it will be a much better value and future-oriented purchase.

Some decent deals/coupons here: http://www.notebookreview.com/dellCoupon.asp

I specced out an Inspiron 1520 with those specs for $1103 with $300 off coupon from that page, and if his budget is $2000 he can go nuts with upgrades and software.
 
That 1520 deal is pretty amazing, I emailed it to him and he replied informing me had had purchased the Alienware online just 20 minutes ago.

But I think I might take advantage of the deal myself ;)

Thanks
 
Blahman said:
Alienwares are overpriced, rebranded Clevo pieces of shit.

At least Dells are original. You can get a new Inspiron or Vostro 15" notebook with the newer Santa Rosa chipset, a faster 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo T7500 CPU with 800 MHz FSB, 2GB RAM, 160GB 7200RPM drive and the much faster, DirectX10 compatible 8600M GT video card for LESS than that Alienware. Besides looking much more professional and less "steal me", it will be a much better value and future-oriented purchase.

Some decent deals/coupons here: http://www.notebookreview.com/dellCoupon.asp

I specced out an Inspiron 1520 with those specs for $1103 with $300 off coupon from that page, and if his budget is $2000 he can go nuts with upgrades and software.
Click to expand...

clevo's arent pieces of shit by ANY means. They are just rebranded as machines from places like alienware, voodooPC, falcon northwest, and a few others like sagar. A clevo notebook is of great quality and typically of the highest specs available(like mobile SLI lol). That said I would NEVER pay the premium to get it through those places but I would and am getting a clevo. For those confused or uninformed I suggest reading this. To summarize clevo good, price gouging bad.


I would ask what types of discounts your friend can get from school and from who, dell, apple, hp, ect...


Dell buys its notebooks from quanta just like HP does so I cant see how original they are but thats just me...
 
Dell engineers them, Quanta manufacters (some) of the parts, Dell assembles them. All notebooks are outsourced to Asia in some capacity.
 
Blahman said:
Dell engineers them, Quanta manufacters (some) of the parts, Dell assembles them. All notebooks are outsourced to Asia in some capacity.
Click to expand...

tru dat!

So lets not be quick to call anyone "original" especially dell :)
 
www.rjtech.com is your friend. Also, the guy that runs it is great. And for god sake, when buying/building a barebones laptop buy the extended warranty! You will not regret it in the long run.
 
silent-circuit said:
www.rjtech.com is your friend. Also, the guy that runs it is great. And for god sake, when buying/building a barebones laptop buy the extended warranty! You will not regret it in the long run.
Click to expand...

eh..on the second hand, Dell is a much better value imo. The $1300 1520 w/ 1680x1050res monitor + Core2Duo 4MB Cache, 2gb of RAM, 160gb 7200 RPM HDD + 8600GT is hard to beat. (that's with Free shipping and CA tax included)
 
{NcsO}ReichstaG said:
eh..on the second hand, Dell is a much better value imo. The $1300 1520 w/ 1680x1050res monitor + Core2Duo 4MB Cache, 2gb of RAM, 160gb 7200 RPM HDD + 8600GT is hard to beat. (that's with Free shipping and CA tax included)
Click to expand...

That 8600M GT is a horrible donkey turd of a card and I can only hope heero884 doesnt see this but oh well.

The thing about barebones and dell is that with the barebones you decide just about every piece that goes in and you can assure its quality and power. With dells they like to hide stuff and cheap out in places you dont think to look to give the illusion of a better value then you really are getting. Thats not to say that dells arent a value because they are but you DO get what you pay for.

One little tid bit dell doesnt give out so fast is that the memory on that 8600GT is DDR2 instead of DDR3 and there is a HUUUUUUGE difference. Also there are other issues with the card but I dont wanna tear it apart here, instead just trying to illustrate a point.

So to summarize dells are fine but you get what you pay for and they are not for everyone. The 8600GT is just a low performing card, if it fits the bill its awesome and I would recommend it to anyone that it suits but if you plan to play any of the current games next year with anything but the lowest of settings you want to avoid it cause it doesnt suit you.


If you do a little searching around you can get a M570RU with a C2D cpu, 2 gigs ram, 17" screen, 100GB hdd, and the very best mobile graphics card available, nvidia's 7950 GTX, for about 2k give or take. Now this isnt for everyone and might not be for you but for the price this is terrific hardware. Now I know what some are thinking, OMG but DX10!!!!, well right now you have to sacrifice a lot of performance to get dx10 in a notebook but the good news is that support for DX9 will be in all games worth playing for the next 2 years at least and you have the option to upgrade the GPU on this model so your not screwed. For a gamer you take the 7 series card now cause it just creams the 8 series notebooks offerings but if your not a gamer dont even get the notebook and shoot for the modestly performing 8 series card that your stuck with until winter.
 
Deadsexy said:
That 8600M GT is a horrible donkey turd of a card and I can only hope heero884 doesnt see this but oh well.

The thing about barebones and dell is that with the barebones you decide just about every piece that goes in and you can assure its quality and power. With dells they like to hide stuff and cheap out in places you dont think to look to give the illusion of a better value then you really are getting. Thats not to say that dells arent a value because they are but you DO get what you pay for.

One little tid bit dell doesnt give out so fast is that the memory on that 8600GT is DDR2 instead of DDR3 and there is a HUUUUUUGE difference. Also there are other issues with the card but I dont wanna tear it apart here, instead just trying to illustrate a point.

So to summarize dells are fine but you get what you pay for and they are not for everyone. The 8600GT is just a low performing card, if it fits the bill its awesome and I would recommend it to anyone that it suits but if you plan to play any of the current games next year with anything but the lowest of settings you want to avoid it cause it doesnt suit you.


If you do a little searching around you can get a M570RU with a C2D cpu, 2 gigs ram, 17" screen, 100GB hdd, and the very best mobile graphics card available, nvidia's 7950 GTX, for about 2k give or take. Now this isnt for everyone and might not be for you but for the price this is terrific hardware. Now I know what some are thinking, OMG but DX10!!!!, well right now you have to sacrifice a lot of performance to get dx10 in a notebook but the good news is that support for DX9 will be in all games worth playing for the next 2 years at least and you have the option to upgrade the GPU on this model so your not screwed. For a gamer you take the 7 series card now cause it just creams the 8 series notebooks offerings but if your not a gamer dont even get the notebook and shoot for the modestly performing 8 series card that your stuck with until winter.
Click to expand...

Yea..as long as the 8600GT can play UT2k4 (nevermind 2k7) well (and I am sure it can; I played UT2k4 on a 64MB Nvidia MX or something) and maybe a couple of RTS games at 1280x800, I will be happy. The laptop is more for work/school work/computer science and overall mobility. I have a 21" Gateway monitor so I can always hook it up to that in case I need CAD and a 7800GT desktop which has and is serving me well for my somewhat modest gaming needs.
 
So ya, the Alienware laptop had already been SHIPPED a day and a half after he ordered it and it said it may take anywhere from 5 to 20 days or some crap to ship lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top