On the Hunt for a Laptop

Well I won't fill in the exact details, but through an odd turn of events my dad has agreed to buy me a laptop of my choice. (with some discretion). Keeping in mind that I'm 14 and not doing anything really important, what should I get? The only things I'll be doing on it is;
1. moderate gaming
2. mapping and modeling when I'm away from my PC.
3. other assorted junk like MSN, posting here, etc. etc. when I'm at my dads house

So what I need is something that can do that kind of stuff. When I'm away from my PC at my dads house, I always want to do this kind of stuff, so he's getting me a laptop. All I need is something functional. I'm leaning towards an Alienware laptop, since I've only heard good things about them and they're extremely customizable. Just for the heck of it, I configured one for fun, came out to about $3,656.00 USD. 3.8 GHz processer, 80GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, and almost everything else standard.

Sound good? Any other ones that would be better?

NOTE: I don't want a Mac. I don't have anything against them, my dad has one and it kicks ass, but I don't want one.

Is it even possible to build your own laptop? I've never heard of it, but I heard all sorts of evil things about buying Alienware--that they're over-priced.

But if your Dad is paying for it, that might not be a consideration at all.

By the way, what do you mean by "moderate gaming"? You still want to be able to run HL2 and Far Cry on it, correct?

So, if I understand correctly, you want a laptop for the express and
singular purpose of being able to do everything you do at home, but at
your dad's house?

If you're going to spend $3,656.00 USD you should buy a desktop (which
would be much much faster for that price) and just leave it at your
dad's house. Then buy some sort of cheap USB storage device to
transfer map RMF's etc, from house to house.

Seems like the best option to me.

I'm on a laptop right now, and I love videogames and mapping, but this
Inspiron 8200 from 2 years ago isn't cutting it anymore, and it's not
like I can upgrade it. I wish I had just gone for the
Desktop. It's not like I can sit outside and write papers (you
can't see the screen in the sun).

The only things I'll be doing on it is;
1. moderate gaming
2. mapping and modeling when I'm away from my PC.
3. other assorted junk like MSN, posting here, etc. etc. when I'm at my dads house

TBH no laptop is good at this, unless you spend a lot of money on one.
My suggestion 9is to stay away from Dell if you want gaming.

Just get a refurb off of eBay. You can probably pick up a PIII 800, which is more than adequate for mapping and doing low level internet gubbins for no more than $400.

I agree with not buying a laptop either, just get a cheap desktop. But if you do insist on buying one (bearing in mind battery time/"upgradability"), don't sniff at second hand. There are some real bargains floating around on eBay UK (and Australia for that matter), so no doubt Canada has some too.

I agree with Gwil, unless you're travelling or some businessman secretly then you don't really need a laptop- get a cheap desktop, and a new bike or spinkee parts to go with (e.g. awesome speakers, since these will last you years and years) with the spare cash.

although i believe they make laptops that can compete with home models, i do not believe that the price would be within dads budget.

assuming ebay is not an option, call places like dell, and gateway, they refurbish them frequently and at lower prices..

if it were me, id visit www.pricewatch.com and buy one online.

some without windows Opsys: http://www.pricewatch.com/h/mn.aspx?i=336&f=1

I have a laptop which is really useful for school which I got from
Morgan Computers. The
company buys old stock from manufacturers like Toshiba and then sells
it for a reduced price. My machine was around ?800 for a p4 2.6GHz,
GeForce 4 MX, 512mb RAM and 30gb HDD - not bad considering this was
over a year ago. As for building desktops, I'm in the UK, so I use:

www.dabs.co.uk

PlanetMicro

Novatech

Thanks for the info guys, I'll look around and decide what I want.

French Toast said:
Thanks for the info guys, I'll look around and decide what I want.

you could always contact wildcard. he's from your third world land, and seems to know a bit about PC's..

I recommend ChemBook. They are a company that makes laptops for other larger companies, but they sell thier own too. I have one and I am very satisfied with it. The only thing you gotta watch out for i that you specify the GOOD video card, otherwise HL2 and d00m 3 wont run.

Not to hijack this thread, but I didn't want to create a new one for my question about desktops.

I may or may not decide to buy a new desktop for this summer (I have
some cash saved up from work), but if I do I need some advice.

First off, I'm not comfortable building my own rig so that is out of the question.

So, originally, I was looking at a Dell XPS Gen2. Every other
week Dell runs a special where the XPS Gen2 is 30-34% off. That's
saving a lot of money, and I figured I could get a computer with 3.4
ghz, 2 gigs of ram, 256 ati X850 XT PE w/ pci express, 17 inch digital
LCD, a CD+RW/DvD combo, and a 250GB serial ata hard drive for about
2,300 USD. I thought that was a pretty good deal. But then
I wasn't sure Dell was the best place to go for a gaming / mapping rig
(and this is all I would want to do with it. I have an old laptop
which is adequate for schoolwork etc).

So I thought maybe an Alienware PC... (despite the fact that I think
they look ridiculous). A PC with the same specs is: 2,287
USD. Which is fact a little cheaper. However, I didn't
choose to buy any of the accessories, like video cooling systems,
respawn kits, acoustic dampening. And I didn't choose more memory
or a faster processor despite the fact that they offer much more than
Dell does. If I were to elect for a 3.6 ghz processor as well as
4 gigs of ram, as well as some of the things they recommend (which seem
frivilous, but yet I'm not sure I should skip them: ie. their own
network cable, video cooling system, and a reboot cd), it comes out to
be about 2,969 (after a 350$ instant rebate) which, needless to say, is
expensive.

What do you think? Should I forget Dell and Alienware completely, and just look at a different company?

Morphine: this thread.. read it.

i would never consider a dell personally.

also, go to pricewatch you cannot go wrong there.

after reading that, I'm definitely going for a CRT over an LCD.

i wouldnt go with dell either i got a dell and it sucked so i spent like ?400-500 upgrading it and it still isnt that great. you wont really need a top of the line pc to run games (mines a 1.7ghz, 640mb RAM, Geforce FX 5200 and it runs HL2, Doom 3 perfect)

this goes to addicted to morphine as well as to french toast

Addicted to Morphine said:
after reading that, I'm definitely going for a CRT over an LCD.

Thats all you got out of the entire thread? useful information i admit, but there was a lot more in there.

i do recommend 3BTech for your new PC.

they took my order, built it to my specs and tested it before shipping..

I scanned the thread as best I could, it's quite lengthy. I
assumed it was geared more towards those who wanted to build their own
rigs, so I only paid attention to the particular information about
monitors and memory.

It doesn't seem to be very hard to build your own computer from
scratch, but... I just don't want to risk making a mistake, buying
incompatible hardware, overlooking something etc. I'm looking for
something straight from a reputable vendor.

As for 3btech... I'm assuming you're referring to www.3btech.net?
How do you go about customizing a rig? Is it over the phone?

this is what i did.. i looked over 3btechs site to see what hardware they had, i made a list of the parts i wanted then i researched them as best as my limited experience would permit.

then i called them via telephone, and talked to one of their service reps. i asked/said.. "i don't particularly like the setups of most of your sales machines, can you build it, if i give you a list of the parts?" he said "sure can"

i said "will you tell me if i accidentally order parts that will not be compatible?" he said "you bet"

i said, will you test this machine to be sure its functioning at 100% before you ship it?" he said "we test all are machines whether they are bare bones or fully loaded PC's"

i said, "great, this is what i want."

we worked through the details till i ran out of money and then i asked.. "i know it has no operating system, but am i missing any hardware that you can see that would keep this machine from functioning once i put my windows version in it? " he said, "look complete to me.."

i sent him a money order, 10 days later it was on my front porch.

Laptops are good if you need to do desktop kinda stuff when your not at home. If its just mapping you do, then seriously- think about how much of a geek your being! Spending ?1000 on mapping for HL2 is quite a bit.

As many people say, buy something else. I have a laptop for doing CAD on when I'm not at my flat- though I don't have my laptop since I spilt OJ on it and the damn insurance people are mimicing snails.

If you still feel you need a laptop, then I suggest the Fujitsu Siemens lifebook range. You'll be able to get a really good model with Radeon 64mb and a TV card and all the gubbinz for around ?1000 - ?1400