I'm looking into...

[Anamodiel]

I'm looking into buying a new computer. I will be an undergraduate college student next semester at Michigan State University, which means that I need to have a laptop. However, as you all know, I game, just like the rest of you, and I want to be able to play the latest and greatest games at reasonable settings.

What would be more economical: a cheap notebook and a gaming desktop or a gaming notebook?

If I were to go with the cheap notebook/gaming desktop decision, should I buy through Dell or build my own? If I were to build my own PC, what components would you suggest?

I know that I receive a meager education discount at outlets like Dell and Apple, but do I also receive discounts at places like Newegg and Tigerdirect?

If I were to go with the gaming notebook, where should I buy it from?

My budget is probably somewhere around $2,000, but I have not yet received a confirmation from my dad on how much he's exactly giving me for a computer. I want to go into that conversation with him armed with knowledge and research so that he is more likely to want to do this.

Thank you very much for the help in this important decision.

[Adad]

MSU...boo

[NoCry]

ana; get what i got; it is amazing for games, although I bought it in the UK i know you can get it in the states from sagar. model description is: NP9262. i can play crysis, easily, with dx10 on high settings.

[NoCry]

erm that would be "sager" actually.

[Pirus]

dell xps is also a good solution so is alienware although nocry had a bad experience with their customer service.

[Lithium]

I was using a Dell XPS M1210 for everything at one time.

[Bellthazor]

We use the dell XPS 720 at work for alot of folks in the web group and application development.

[Tbone]

I use a Dell M1710 for everything. At the time I purchased it, it was about $3400, but I was able to get it off of eBay for around $2000. Alienware is too expensive. If you go the eBay route, just be very very very careful - do a lot of research on the company you are buying from. You also have to be very patient to get the deal you may want.

[Tecknik]

The Sager NP9262 that NoCry suggested is not a bad laptop at all.  And when I say not bad, I mean pretty damn fucking good.

Sager actually buys their barebones laptops from Clevo and then builds them to sell.  The Sager NP9262 is based on the Clevo D900C/D901C laptop.

Information for the D901C can be found here at Clevo's site: http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/products/prodinfo.asp?productid=19

A D900C Review can be found here: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3566

Hypersonic PC (Found here: www.hypersonic-pc.com) does the same thing Sager does.  I have a two year old Aviator model, the CX7 (Clevo M570A).  It was the top-of-the-line laptop two years ago and still kicks ass in gaming to this day.  I ran MXO at 1920x1200 (17" WUXGA+ LCD) on it and it never skipped a beat.  With Hypersonic PC, you definitely get what you pay for.  They've got three different laptop series to meet almost anyone's needs.  If they don't have something that meets your needs, find the one that does the best and the click customize.  

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot that Hypersonic PC is now owned by OCZ Technology, the company who produces a lot of high-performance PC parts.  Their site is http://www.ocztechnology.com.  I'm currently using their 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-800 Memory Kit in my desktop.

[Anamodiel]

I talked to my dad tonight, and we discussed our options.

We first ruled out the gaming laptop. Being that Michigan State is a huge campus, we figured that a heavy, bulky laptop wouldn't be the best option.

So, that brought us to the cheap laptop/gaming desktop combination. My dad told me that we're going to go with Dell because we've bought from them for the past eight years now without a single major problem from them or their computers. I'm cool with that, but it would have been fun to build my own computer.

He's letting me take $1,600 out of my college fund for the desktop computer. The cheap laptop then would be about $900 and would just be used for word processing and anything my classes required, and I would pay for half of that. Maybe a MacBook... I hear there's supposed to be a major update to them between July-September.

Thanks for the help guys! Sorry I wasn't able to take more of your opinions into consideration... haha.

[Avzeke (Khr0n1k)]

I got an Alienware Area 51 m5550 last year when i started college. It is a pretty decent computer and was actually like $100 cheaper than a equalish Dell and Alienware offers student discounts.....but of course you have already made a decison but i felt like telling my story.

[Phienyx]

I bought a Dell for my very first computer and had very little trouble out of it.  This is the computer I slowly morphed into a completely custom build.

My new computer is completely a custom build. 90% of the components I bought off of Newegg.  This would be my first suggestion: Always build custom.  Also, I would not suggest going Vista for gaming right now.  For your laptop sure, but not for gaming.....not until Microsoft gets their act together with that.  I know the lure of DX10 sounds good, but all the other hassles are not worth it.

I play Assasin's Creed on my new system with the settings all on high (DX9) and it looks beautiful.

I could pass on all the technical mumbo jumbo from a few buddies of mine who helped steer me in the right direction on my newest gaming rig, but I don't completely understand it all and I'm not sure it would help you any further.

[Anonymous]

www.newegg.com Try building one, it's cheaper and they have good prices!

[Anamodiel]

My computer decided to crap out on me, so we went and bought a Dell XPS for about 1,400, which we were planning on doing anyway. I don't know what's wrong with it, but I am totally unable to start it up. I will turn the power on, and the screen will flicker like it's getting ready to turn on, and then just leaves a blank screen. I'm going to take it in to get serviced this week/early next week so that I can recover some files that I want.

It's a pretty nice set-up, and should serve me well in gaming for the next four years.

For now, however, I am working off of my Dad's very old laptop. I can't play many games on it, so mostly it will just be used for internet and Teamspeak. Luckily for me, I start work tomorrow, so I will be able to fill a majority of the void that I would spend gaming at work. It is supposed to come in late this week or early next weekend, barring everything goes alright.

See you guys in Teamspeak! I will be making it to every meeting on the weekdays (except Friday)!

[NoCry]

my big old computer had this same problem; i too await any advice to ana on this!! tally ho.