Alienware laptop

[philotuut]

I was wondering what the ideas are of playing x3 rebirth on a alienware laptop?

Do you think a 16gb ram nvidea gtx..? and i7 is anougth?

Thanx in advance

[X2-Illuminatus]

1.) Apart from the facts stated in the Technology info thread, there are no known system requirements for X Rebirth. System requirments are normally released one or two months before release.

2.) I wouldn't buy a "gaming laptop" at all. It's way too expensive in comparison to a normal PC.

3.) Alienware products are generally too expensive.

4.) The Off Topic forum is the right place for general hardware discussions.

Edit: typo.

[Kor'ah]

I expect my $600 Toshiba laptop with a 8GB Ram upgrade to play X:R well enough. Depends on how well ES nails the multi-core support.

[Xenon_Slayer]

4.) The Off Topic forum is the right place for general hardware discussions.

Moved

[cj-spartacus]

My HP laptop plays X3:AP without any real issues as long as I keep the settings low. I prefer it on my home desktop but if it's unavailable then the laptop is an acceptable alternative.

AMD A4-3300M APU with Radeon HD on board graphics at 1.9 GHz

6gb ram

Not a high power machine by anyone's standards but it seems to do the trick.

[imperium3]

Put it this way, if the game can't be played with 16GB RAM and an i7, Egosoft will have done something wrong. That's a pretty damn high-end system.

...just don't go and put an Intel graphics chip on it.

[thetack]

isnt an alienware laptop just over priced dell now they are owned by them

[Samuel Creshal]

isnt an alienware laptop just over priced dell now they are owned by them

No, no, it's a lot more flashy. That alone obviously fully justifies the price.

[bluenog143]

Alienware computers are pricey the one thing that sets them apart however are their cases. That and a few lighting features (that can be changed later on the computer). Yeah they are a bit extra pricey but still those are some high specs (which is a good thing of course) so it would be worth getting.

I got an M15x and it works rather well. If you do get one (whatever model it is) and it has the band of touch-light buttons on the far right, what ever you do, don't press the one that looks like a mileage gauge (it turns on stealth mode which saves power and I think noise). I accidently pressed it and for two weeks I was wondering what I did wrong or what happened because I lagged on even games from 2003!

I wouldn't be surprised if we get higher FPS and smoother performance on X:Rebirth (even with higher graphics), simply because it will be able to use up all the extra cpu cores with the new engine (and maybe other features we don't know).

[Stars_InTheirEyes]

I don't bash Alienware - I have one myself.

Got mine from a legit reseller for a fair bit lower than what's on the website.

I do love my Aurora.

If I could, I would definitely buy a M15x or even M17x. Money permitting of course.

[silenced]

isnt an alienware laptop just over priced dell now they are owned by them

Alienware is, since it's first 'gaming' PC's and Laptops an overprized merchandise. No matter if Dell owns them now or not, didn't change a thing. Except maybe, the components became even cheaper and the price a bit higher, but these are nuances.

[haft2doit]

That should run it fine i would imagine. Take it from a guy that bought a gaming laptop once, not worth it. Go build a desktop that will be upgradable for the future. You get middle of the road performance (relatively) for a huge premium and in two years you'll be buying another.

[haft2doit]

I wouldn't be surprised if we get higher FPS and smoother performance on X:Rebirth (even with higher graphics), simply because it will be able to use up all the extra cpu cores with the new engine (and maybe other features we don't know).

I'll say! If they are really going to end up using dx9... X3 on max settings only uses 25% gpu of slied 580's, but there is still some minor stuttering due to the cpu limitation. If they aren't even going to give us dx10, dx11 tesselation or improved shaders they better deliver a smooth experience.

[JuanCudz]

The whole reason for a gaming Laptop is portability. That is why I am very happy with my M17X because I move around a lot, but can still play top of the range games. It's a bit noisy, but the take down vids make changing/cleaning the fans easy.

[silenced]

It's a bit noisy,

That's what headphones were invented for.


Do almost 30 days already count as thread-necro?

[Morkonan]

I don't think I would ever buy an Alienware laptop.

However, I do have an Alienware laptop bag! It's awesome and at around $100, I consider it a bargain. (It's also the size of an overnight bag... But, it carries everything I want it to carry.)

[Nividium]

I bought a Hewlet Packard dv6000 laptop 2 years ago with 256meg video card and 2.4 Gb CPU and 3 megs of RAM for $1,200. The hard drive died 1 week after purchase, which resulted in me shipping it 3,000 miles across country to get fixed. Then 1 yr later the DVD quit working and I haven't been arssed to ship it off to get fixed. Means I can't install and play any of my games. What a piece of shit.

[silenced]

I bought a Hewlet Packard dv6000 laptop 2 years ago with 256meg video card and 2.4 Gb CPU and 3 megs of RAM for $1,200.

2 years ago at that price? Someone robbed you. The DV6000 is from, erm, 2006?

[Nividium]

Yeah, I bought it from a large electronics/computer retail outlet here in Canada 2 years ago from a place called "Best Buy". Everything here in Canada costs way more than USA with the huge import duties, taxes and GST taxes plus the extra shipping fee to get it here to Canada etc. Even the oil/gasoline we ship to USA is cheaper for them than what we pay at the pumps. We are taxed to death here in Canada.

[froogle]

I normally lurk on these forums, but I had to wade in on this one. It always irks me a bit when I see people just throw out there the same old urban legends about PC Brands, especially Alienware (and yes, I do own one).

First up "Aren't they just expensive Dells". Nope. They are designed, engineered and created by Alienware, a company based in Miami that has Dell as a majority shareholder. Dell handle construction of the machines and support (which is a huge negative in their favor admittedly) and the acquisition of Alienware though enabled them to hit economies of scale they were unable to reach as a small boutique manufacturer. Incidentally, the original founders of the company formed OriginPC and that's a brand that fully lives up to all the myths surrounding Alienware today.

Second, Alienware notebooks are overpriced and underpowered. Not really. In fact, not at all. Sure you can build desktops cheaper than you can buy Alienware desktops, but laptops are a whole different kettle of fish, and a segment of the PC market all to themselves. Yes, when they were still a boutique outfit their laptops were ludicrously expensive (again, go look at OriginPC's prices). Today though that's absolutely not the case.

Rather than just state an (admittedly somewhat biased) opinion, it's worth looking at hard numbers. How do you calculate the "value" of a machine? It's actually pretty easy. Take the machine and all competitors . Benchmark them all with the same benchmark. Let's use Vantage here.

When you've got your benchmark scores (or looked them up in reviews online), divide the price of the machine by its benchmark. That gives you a price per point of benchmarked performance. Then you just need to weigh up the actual performance off the machine in your own mind against the actual monetary value of the machine.

AnandTech recently published a review of the Razer Blade, and compared it to other high end gaming notebooks. They included the prices and scores of some of the machines on test. http://www.anandtech.com/show/5606/razer-blade-review

Here's the 'value' using 3dMark vantage as the yard stick

Razer Blade - 38 cents per point
Asus G74SX - 14 cents per point
Alienware M18x with SLI - 12.3 cents per point
Clevo X7200 - 16 cents per point
Alienware M17x - 17 cents per point
etc etc

The highest end, and most expensive, Alienware laptop you can get (the M18x) is actually the one of the best value gaming notebooks out there. It also beat out all the others in performance numbers.

The mid range Alienware, the M17x, is actually extremely close to its considerably more expensive competitor (the Clevo) in terms of value as well.

Once you measure the value of what you're actually getting and weigh that up against the performance in game that you're seeking, Alienware are actually *not* overpriced at all. They are very well in line with the rest of the market, and in fact beat it on value in many cases and performance in most. They are also cheaper in total financial outlay. The M18x in the test cost 2800 ish. The Clevo they used they tested separately and it came in at 3700 ish. The M17x on test cost 2000, and is a notebook that can run pretty much any game out there at High or Ultra settings. The same cannot be said for the 'cheaper' machines.

Getting back to the original posters question though, yes your Alienware *should* be able to run Rebirth without issue, unless EgoSoft really screw up. Mine can run Skyrim at ultra detail in excess of 80 frames per second, and I can't imagine Rebirth puts the same strain on a machine that Skyrim does.