Im Selling My Gaming PC And Getting An Alienware Laptop....

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  • INSOMANiAC 22 May 2017 21:13:38 4,732 posts
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    People may think I'm mad, I currently have a 3570k and 980ti but I'm getting rid and getting the Alienware 17 r4 with 6820hk and 1080, am I mad or just plain stupid?

    I want to be able to take the full gaming experience to my girlfriends and also be able to move the Oculus Rift to another room from time to time and take it to friends for VR shenanigans
  • Rodpad 22 May 2017 22:07:46 2,997 posts
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    You'll have instant regret once the high pitched jet engine fans kick in.
  • INSOMANiAC 22 May 2017 22:10:32 4,732 posts
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    My pc isnt exactly quiet as it is
  • nickthegun 22 May 2017 22:11:03 87,711 posts
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    INSOMANiAC wrote:
    I want to be able to take the full gaming experience to my girlfriends
    Who said romance is dead?
  • INSOMANiAC 22 May 2017 22:32:27 4,732 posts
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    @nickthegun My girlfriend
  • Deleted user 22 May 2017 22:59:29
    World of Warcraft? I thought people stopped playing that 25 years ago?
  • Technoishmatt 22 May 2017 23:04:20 5,365 posts
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    "Shenanigans"
  • Armoured_Bear 22 May 2017 23:11:53 31,233 posts
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    INSOMANiAC wrote:
    My pc isnt exactly quiet as it is
    Why not, no reason for it to be not quiet.
    I have 3570K/970 and it's quieter than any other console except the Switch.

    Don't you always make irrational buying splurges?
  • Your-Mother 22 May 2017 23:29:24 8,172 posts
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    I must say this is an absolutely fascinating thing to read about. It's like the time I changed to a different brand of cat litter.
  • jiveguy 22 May 2017 23:54:43 917 posts
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    Obligatory "Dude, you're getting a Dell!"
  • INSOMANiAC 23 May 2017 00:01:09 4,732 posts
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    Armoured_Bear wrote:
    INSOMANiAC wrote:
    My pc isnt exactly quiet as it is
    Why not, no reason for it to be not quiet.
    I have 3570K/970 and it's quieter than any other console except the Switch.

    Don't you always make irrational buying splurges?
    I've based my life around it. I am hoping someone can pull me back from the brink. The urge to splurge has got hold of me.
  • Innuendobot_5000 23 May 2017 00:22:02 238 posts
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    IT'S. NON. STOP. SPLURGING. AT. YOUR. GIRLFRIEND'S.
  • Dirtbox 23 May 2017 01:25:12 92,595 posts
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    Post deleted
  • THFourteen 23 May 2017 03:42:32 54,987 posts
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    As long as it's water cooled you'll be grand.
  • Deleted user 23 May 2017 07:28:31
    Dirtbox wrote:
    Having a brutal gaming laptop is a nice thing, aside from being unable to upgrade it in any way, or be able to fix it when it has a hardware failure. And the noise it makes is stupid. And the battery lasts maybe 45 minutes.

    You're a fucking twat though, so by all means buy the stupid thing.
    Didn't you buy one last year?
  • mrpon 23 May 2017 07:29:20 37,366 posts
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    INSOMANiAC wrote:
    My pc isnt exactly quiet as it is
    Is it keeping you awake at night?
  • rocketsndinos 23 May 2017 07:30:47 24 posts
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    You have to be true with yourself and ask/count how many times will you really move your oculus setup. As far as gaming at your GFs, speaking from experience, never a great idea mate. Think about it for a minute ya? Will it cause you to spend less time paying attention to her? If so, expect her to notice and magnify the issue 10x
  • neems 23 May 2017 10:16:20 5,635 posts
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    Make sure it'll actually run Oculus, some laptops can't irrespective of their specs (something to do with how signal pass-through is handled I believe).

    Also never buy Alienware.
  • warlockuk 23 May 2017 11:29:05 19,519 posts
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    I bought the i7 R4 6820k with 1080. The website said it'd be 5-10 days. Something like 3 and a bit weeks later it arrived.

    Ten days it lasted. Then I had to wait a month for a new board.

    Guy came out and fitted it, didn't reconnect the Tobii properly, I kept getting odd bios errors, the fans suddenly became much louder and kicked in -all- the time.

    Thing was like a brick so lap use was right out. Because of the gsync the battery life was 1-2hrs. Basically the whole experience was terrible from start to end. Eventually I sent it back and got my money back.

    Just don't bother getting Alienware. The build quality is bobbins, I don't even think they've fixed the thermal paste issue yet.
  • Rogueywon 23 May 2017 16:01:02 12,387 posts
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    Alienware were decent years ago, but you really, really don't want to touch the modern incarnation. The problem is that for any component not specifically identified in the up-front spec, they will go for the cheapest possible option. So motherboard, RAM, cooling, PSU and so on will all often be garbage-tier.

    This is particularly relevant for a laptop, where replacing an underperforming or failed component is much harder than it is with a desktop.
  • INSOMANiAC 26 May 2017 16:33:45 4,732 posts
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    Well you'll be pleased to know I changed my mind and got a desktop, I could've ripped the old one apart and built a new one but frankly I couldn't be arsed so I've swallowed the expense and gone for this https://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/system/Infinity-X77-TI

    Seems like a nice machine, just have to get myself a new monitor now as 1080p with the 1080ti seems a bit pointless. It's 120hz though so at least I'll be able to do some 120fps gaming until next months wages
  • Deleted user 26 May 2017 16:42:03
    @Rogueywon And here I was casually looking at gaming laptops today and thinking, 'hey, didn't Alienware used to be quite good...?'
  • INSOMANiAC 26 May 2017 16:48:16 4,732 posts
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    @GarlVinland I did a lot of research into various gaming laptops, and the Alienware r4 is right up there as one of the best. I was going to get one from the outlet and it was a grand less than the rrp, factory refurbished. At 2 grand with a 1080ti in its a good price and one of the best built machines out there by all accounts. You'll always have naysayers who've never actually owned one but the people that do, their only real criticism has been the temps due to shit thermal paste which has supposedly now been sorted,.and those that had the issue got a Dell engineer at their house fixing the issue so you can't really fault them on customer service.

    Edited by INSOMANiAC at 16:51:16 26-05-2017
  • Pierre2k 26 May 2017 20:20:55 1,466 posts
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    @INSOMANiAC I'm with you on this. I'm currently looking for a new gaming laptop to replace my 6 year old Asus ROG g73jh.

    Obviously you can always get unlucky but my old gaming laptop hasn't skipped a beat in all that time, has good temps and plenty of overclocking headroom on the old 1.5gb thx 460m. The battery hasn't been able to hold a charge for about 3 years but I never used it on battery anyway. What I bought it for was essentially a portable gaming machine that was more powerful than that generation of consoles (PS3/X360) as I worked away from home a lot. I've now got used to the convenience.

    Did my research and the Alienware 17r4 is meant to be very solidly built and cpu temps are meant to be vastly improved now, especially on the kaby lake models. Was also looking at the Outlet and you'd honestly struggle to build a decent desktop for all that much less.

    I'd say, if you want it, go for it.
  • INSOMANiAC 26 May 2017 21:07:40 4,732 posts
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    @Pierre2k well I have got a desktop instead but on the outlet right now they have a real top end r4 for around £2100, and I mean top end.

    Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-7820HK (Quad Core, up to 3.90 GHz, 8MB Cache, 45W)
    Windows 10 Pro (64bit)
    32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 SDRAM 2400MHz Non-ECC
    1 TB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
    1TB PCIe M.2 Class 40 Solid State Drive
    1TB PCIe Solid State Drive
    NVIDIA GTX 1080 8GB
    Software
    Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1
    LCD Cover Assembly
    Power Cord : 250V
    Thermal Heatsink [QTY : 2]
    Primary 6-cell 99W/HR Battery
    17.3 inch QHD (2560 x 1440) 120Hz TN+WVA Anti-Glare 400-nits with Tobii IR Eye-tracking
    Internal Qwerty Backlit Keyboard

    If I hadn't just ordered the desktop I'd snap that up, the ssd hardrives alone are worth a fortune
  • Deleted user 26 May 2017 21:16:03
    Gaming laptops are a complete waste of time, they're massive and bulky, have no battery life, cost a fortune and look like shit.

    Get a steam link
  • Pierre2k 26 May 2017 21:18:19 1,466 posts
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    INSOMANiAC wrote:
    @Pierre2k well I have got a desktop instead but on the outlet right now they have a real top end r4 for around £2100, and I mean top end.

    Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-7820HK (Quad Core, up to 3.90 GHz, 8MB Cache, 45W)
    Windows 10 Pro (64bit)
    32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 SDRAM 2400MHz Non-ECC
    1 TB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
    1TB PCIe M.2 Class 40 Solid State Drive
    1TB PCIe Solid State Drive
    NVIDIA GTX 1080 8GB
    Software
    Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1
    LCD Cover Assembly
    Power Cord : 250V
    Thermal Heatsink [QTY : 2]
    Primary 6-cell 99W/HR Battery
    17.3 inch QHD (2560 x 1440) 120Hz TN+WVA Anti-Glare 400-nits with Tobii IR Eye-tracking
    Internal Qwerty Backlit Keyboard

    If I hadn't just ordered the desktop I'd snap that up, the ssd hardrives alone are worth a fortune
    Yeah, I did spot that one. Couple of things to note though with the Outlet:

    1) The prices exclude VAT, so that £2100 is actually £2520.
    2) However, there is also a 15% off code at the moment, bringing the rice back down to £2142.

    Bit rich for my tastes though. They had one last night for approximately £1500. It had a 6700HQ CPU, a 512gb SSD and a 1070 rather than a 1080. Everything else, including the 1440p gsync monitor, was the same. This would have been perfect, but by the tmie I went to buy, it was gone. I keep checking in every now and again.
  • Pierre2k 26 May 2017 21:26:00 1,466 posts
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    CrispyXUKTurbo wrote:
    Gaming laptops are a complete waste of time, they're massive and bulky, have no battery life, cost a fortune and look like shit.

    Get a steam link
    Depends on your circumstances. I can understand why people think this, but there are benefits to be had and not all of them look horrendous.

    Apart from the size, I'd say the new Alienware 17r4 is pretty modest, especially if you turn off the lights. It's not a garish futuristic monster. Same applies to my fairly understated Asus G73.

    They are bulky, but still perfectly portable. Sure, I wouldn't take it to Starbucks on battery power, but I used to lug mine about when I travelled up and down the UK with work. Completed the entirety of id's Rage on the train, plugged in. Great when bored in hotel rooms away from home as well. Even had mine in Amsterdam, Qatar and Shanghai when I travelled with work.

    I don't travel with work these days, but even in the house it's a convenience. Playing games in bed every now and again, watching movies on the bigger 17" screen in bed (vs, say an iPad). I don't have a computer desk, or anywhere to put one, just now, so it's also convenient to just bring out on the dinning room table as and when I need it. Regularly also play games on the couch, with the big laptop perched on my sofa arm rest (obviously I'm playing with a gampad in these circumstances and my sofa has very wide armrests).

    Back when I bought my Asus ROG laptop, you sacrificed a lot of GPU power for the convenience of a laptop, but with the Pascal cards, the mobile versions are nigh on identical, so that's no longer a negative.

    The only downside IMO, is cost (and upgradability, but even with desktops I tended to run them into the ground then replace the whole thing). However, some of the Dell Outlet offers aren't bad cost wise either, compared with an equivalent pre-built desktop, especially when you factor in things like a monitor which I'd also need to buy.
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