Looking to buy this laptop. is it right for me?

Question

Intel® Core™ i7 2820QM 2.3GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz (4DIMMS)
1GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 6870M
750GB 7,200RPM HDD
17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
Wireless 802.11 g/n
Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

Those are the custom specs I chose that I can afford. I might ne able to wing a 1.5 tb hard drive. I'm majoring in games program and I know in 2 years well be running some 3d map editing software to program in.. this laptop is 3d specd wo I know ill be safe many other features are upgradeable so I'm comfterable with it doing the job more then well for the next 4 years of school.. but what's your input?

4 hours ago
- 4 days left to answer.

I'm not looking to create a gaming laptop. I have a dell studio xps that's more then well capable of doing whatever and upgrading to whatever if I fins myself needingto down the line . I'm looking to replicate that in a laptop via what I listed above. I didn't customize its graphics card as it had 2 upgrades to.further the 3d graphics. should I go for solid state hardrive and having a bigger external one at home to mount to for when I get home for more memory for big projects. portable one if I need to work on big projects outside of home? I need a laptop that I can bring with me everywhere to work on anything on the go and then bring it home and transfer it to my desktop or transfer files from my desktop to my laptop vise versa depending on what I'm doing. I don't feel this laptop will expire before school is out because there are plenty of more options then I could afford at the moment. so I feel that will only increase as time goes by because this was alienwares top laptop customize Im thinking of swaping out the 750gb HDD for a smaller SDD.

Im worried Im going to spend $2,000 on a laptop that will be just fine for what I need but then in 2 years they say "OH Sorry you cant upgrade THAT.. you need to just buy a NEW ONE AGAIN"

This is a Alienware M17x 3D one.

Advice/Input?

Answer 1

definetly get the SSD. solid state drives are going to go big in the next few years, as in, they will be much more popular. And you will use computers that have SSDs, and will get used to their speed, then you will wish your laptop had one. U can technically upgrade it later to a SSD, but u may as well get it now. They are much faster, better boot times, run quieter, and comsume less power.



The lifespan of a laptop is pretty short, as in, it will start to get slow after a couple years, and four years? well, you better take care of it. It should be fine after four years, but take some steps to preserve it, ie dont leave it plugged it, cuz that can ruin the battery, dont let it run to hot, as that causes more stress on all the parts which then eats away at the life span.



I looks like a very decent machine. also, decrapify it by taking off most of the trial crapware they put on it.





JJXN



get the SSD

Answer 2

No, this laptop will be suitable for anything for 4 years id say. Also, id get rid of the 3D graphics. It will get annoying after a while. its not worth the money. Get somewhere around a 256 GB SSD and get something like a 2TB external hard drive. That would be the best option for you.

Answer 3

The specs look okay,alienware is a good laptop, looking at the last part of your question,there is no guarantee that you can upgrade your alienware to better specs after two years ,and then again i could be wrong

Answer 4

Alienware is over priced big time.