New Computer...

[The Othranar]

My computer sucks. It hates all computer games with a passion. Replacement is in order! I would like buying advice. I'd like a laptop for gameplay and other random such. Power is good! Price cap is $3500!

[Metallinauts]

http://www.alienware.com/products/area- ... KU-DEFAULT

[Central Facehuggeria]

http://www.alienware.com/products/area- ... KU-DEFAULT

Hmm. I was about to make a quip about alienware PCs being horrendously overpriced, but those actually seem almost reasonable for what you get.

It's still cheaper to build your own, of course, but that $1800 for what you get is not too bad. Granted building it yourself can get you a superior system for $1200, but meh. Also: Alienware desktops are really hard to upgrade if you don't tear out all the cables. I found this out the hard way when I upgraded four months back. They tie them to the case, which is good... except when you need to rearrange things to optimize for heat flow and/or get the cord to reach a new component.

Oh, yeah. Alienware cases are rediculously heavy. On the other hand, I consider this something of a selling point, because it's less likely to be stolen.

The laptops still seem rediclously overpriced, but with a $3500 price tag, he could probably eat the cost. Still, though, gaming laptops aren't all that good. They're notorious for being heavy, running hot, and getting shitty battery life. What you gain in portability isn't really worth it, IMO, since most people don't do intensive gaming on the go.

Then again, Oranthar's in the navy, so portability might be the main thing he needs.

What I do is have a dedicated gaming desktop with stats similar to but better than those alienware PCs (though I went for a single 8800GT instead of a SLIed setup because the gain isn't worth the extra cost and extra power consumption/heat output IMO), and have a laptop for work. Indeed, I'm considering getting one of those netbook PCs because all I use the laptop for is pretty much word processing, light gaming, and interwebbing.

[The Othranar]

I'm gonna be on a ship pretty soon. Carrier to be specific. Don't know where or which one yet or how much space or time I'll have on my hands either... I'm relatively certain that it won't be much at first though. I should probably grit my teeth and live with what I've got for a little while... even if that does mean that I can't play any decent computer game at all. Maybe even save up some more money and have a self-built BEAST.

[The Othranar]

... Then again... I would very much like to start gaming again.... maybe something for some light gaming now and something larger later.

Heck, maybe the geek squad at best buy can make it work...

*decides to go make up his mind*

[Central Facehuggeria]

... Then again... I would very much like to start gaming again.... maybe something for some light gaming now and something larger later.

It depends on what you mean by 'light gaming,' but most off the shelf laptops today are good for what I'd consider light. Such laptops aren't all that expensive, and they have utility even if you have a monster desktop.

My suggestion is to get a relatively cheap laptop and then build your own monster desktop later, once you know how much space and such you've got on your carrier. I mean, it would certainly suck to spend $3500 on a laptop if you end up having plenty of space to fit a nice desktop. A thousand dollar laptop is much easier for the wallet, and it's still damn handy for general tasks.

[Kanuckistan]

Yeah, I'd say check out the situation first, both space, and time-wise.

From what I've heard from navy folk over on Spacebattles, there'll probably be consoles available anyway, if you've time to burn.

[Arizona Nova]

I'm gonna be on a ship pretty soon. Carrier to be specific.

That thing is going to be rolling around all over the place man. You're going to want something tough. I recall seeing some guy who sold specialty cases for military computers a while back, stuff that you could drop the thing off a truck and in a sand dune and it'll still keep going.

I think these are the guys. It'd probably be expensive and/or less capable for games, but at least if you get high seas you won't end up with a great-looking but busted laptop, theoretically.

[Celestial Seibutsu]

I'm gonna be on a ship pretty soon. Carrier to be specific.

That thing is going to be rolling around all over the place man. You're going to want something tough. I recall seeing some guy who sold specialty cases for military computers a while back, stuff that you could drop the thing off a truck and in a sand dune and it'll still keep going.

I think these are the guys. It'd probably be expensive and/or less capable for games, but at least if you get high seas you won't end up with a great-looking but busted laptop, theoretically.

Actually you're looking for these guys I think.

[Kanuckistan]

I imagine a carrier would be, ya know, rather stable. And that a laptop would be stowed when not in use anyway.