Any PC Gamers Around?

[Andrew025]

I'm well aware...
All I was saying was the one I bought was practically identical in specs and price to a comparable Sager.

I wasn't looking to get another Alienware anyway as they're all still thicker than I want.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Bowen

The cheapest sager you can get with a 980M (8GB of VDDR5) is 1.6k.....

The cheapest Alienware I found with a 980m was right around 2k. Now this model came with 32GB of RAM whereas the sager came with 16GB. And the Allienware also comes with Windows 10 whereas the Sager comes with no OS.

Alienware tends to be overpriced and much less modular than sager.

Not trying to defend Alienware but those two differences (RAM and OS) pretty much explain the difference in price.

Also, the Alienware laptops I've seen can be upgraded relatively easily. You can swap out video cards, disks, memory, and they have an option to run a desktop video card.

Admittedly, I've never torn apart an Alienware model smaller than the 17s so that may not apply to all models and I have no doubt you can buy or build a better unit, just not sure its fair to say a unit with half the memory and no OS is a better deal than one that has both but costs a little more.

[Andrew025]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Not trying to defend Alienware but those two differences (RAM and OS) pretty much explain the difference in price.

Also, the Alienware laptops I've seen can be upgraded relatively easily. You can swap out video cards, disks, memory, and they have an option to run a desktop video card.

Admittedly, I've never torn apart an Alienware model smaller than the 17s so that may not apply to all models and I have no doubt you can buy or build a better unit, just not sure its fair to say a unit with half the memory and no OS is a better deal than one that has both but costs a little more.

Unfortunately they took away the ability to swap out the video card with the recent models.
Disks and memory are still simple though.

[DAEMANO]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Not trying to defend Alienware but those two differences (RAM and OS) pretty much explain the difference in price.

Also, the Alienware laptops I've seen can be upgraded relatively easily. You can swap out video cards, disks, memory, and they have an option to run a desktop video card.

Admittedly, I've never torn apart an Alienware model smaller than the 17s so that may not apply to all models and I have no doubt you can buy or build a better unit, just not sure its fair to say a unit with half the memory and no OS is a better deal than one that has both but costs a little more.

Good point.
@Bowen Also, Dell is constantly putting Alienware PCs/Laptops on sale. The list price is rarely the same month to month so keep an eye out on deal sites like techbargains, dealnews, and slickdeals.com

[EAGLE5]

The Sagers have terrible aesthetics. At least the trackpad has real buttons. Those are pretty rare nowadays. If you want a reasonable gaming laptop, you can also wait for Dell, MSI, and other brands to have sales. Most of them look like tarted up Winbooks from 1996, though.

I'm waiting until I can get an external GPU through Thunderbolt 3. It's taking them a long time to get it done, but I figure within 12 months, we'll finally be there. Then I can get an i7 ultrabook as a gaming machine.

[Bowen]

Originally Posted by DAEMANO

Good point.
@Bowen Also, Dell is constantly putting Alienware PCs/Laptops on sale. The list price is rarely the same month to month so keep an eye out on deal sites like techbargains, dealnews, and slickdeals.com

You're not wrong there, slickdeals has constantly got some nice prices on alienware systems. However it can be challenging if you're looking for a deal on a specific model/configuration.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Andrew025]

Originally Posted by jsimon7777

I'm waiting until I can get an external GPU through Thunderbolt 3. It's taking them a long time to get it done, but I figure within 12 months, we'll finally be there. Then I can get an i7 ultrabook as a gaming machine.

Closest thing available is the Razer Stealth or the New Razer.
The external GPU Razer Core is like $500 though (which I think is ridiculous).
At least it's not proprietary like the Alienware one.

I was considering the Razer Stealth.
It ends up slightly cheaper than the New Razer if you go all in and get the Core+1070. But you lose out on gaming without taking the Core with you.

[fumanchu1]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Not trying to defend Alienware but those two differences (RAM and OS) pretty much explain the difference in price.

Also, the Alienware laptops I've seen can be upgraded relatively easily. You can swap out video cards, disks, memory, and they have an option to run a desktop video card.

Admittedly, I've never torn apart an Alienware model smaller than the 17s so that may not apply to all models and I have no doubt you can buy or build a better unit, just not sure its fair to say a unit with half the memory and no OS is a better deal than one that has both but costs a little more.

nah the sager still comes up cheaper by a few hundred bucks if you add the os and ram, and to my knowledge (from experience, although have not opened one in 2-3 years) most parts on the alienware laptops are soldered into place meaning you can't replace the parts as easily as you need to remove the solder first, voiding all warranty on the unit even if done by a professional shop(that is not alienware) that is a non issue with sager


It's just an alternative for OP, also I hate Dell and therefore alienware

[Bowen]

Originally Posted by jsimon7777

The Sagers have terrible aesthetics. At least the trackpad has real buttons. Those are pretty rare nowadays. If you want a reasonable gaming laptop, you can also wait for Dell, MSI, and other brands to have sales. Most of them look like tarted up Winbooks from 1996, though.

I'm waiting until I can get an external GPU through Thunderbolt 3. It's taking them a long time to get it done, but I figure within 12 months, we'll finally be there. Then I can get an i7 ultrabook as a gaming machine.

Maybe a few years ago, but the Sager my brother bought is hella nice looking.

Sharped edges with a nice metallic finish. The keyboards are very tactile and the overall build of the laptop is solid.

I'd understand if the body was basically plastic and cardboard, but the Sager brand is a very "reasonable" laptop company.

[fumanchu1]

Originally Posted by jsimon7777

The Sagers have terrible aesthetics. At least the trackpad has real buttons. Those are pretty rare nowadays. If you want a reasonable gaming laptop, you can also wait for Dell, MSI, and other brands to have sales. Most of them look like tarted up Winbooks from 1996, though.

I'm waiting until I can get an external GPU through Thunderbolt 3. It's taking them a long time to get it done, but I figure within 12 months, we'll finally be there. Then I can get an i7 ultrabook as a gaming machine.

sagers are clevo cases, clevo is one of 2-3 manufacturers of laptop cases, if the aesthetics are terrible on sager laptops then they are for the majority of oem laptops as most cases come from clevo


MSI or asus gaming laptop may be a good solution also anyways I'm out of the laptop market since I finished university some years ago, I was just trying to give different options to OP

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Andrew025

Unfortunately they took away the ability to swap out the video card with the recent models.
Disks and memory are still simple though.

Probably because they want to push the "Graphics Amplifier" which in the end is a better solution (at least if I was going to buy one) since desktop graphics always lead mobile.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by DAEMANO

Good point.
@Bowen Also, Dell is constantly putting Alienware PCs/Laptops on sale. The list price is rarely the same month to month so keep an eye out on deal sites like techbargains, dealnews, and slickdeals.com

True. You can never go by list at Dell. There is always a way to get it cheaper, even with Alienware stuff. I never buy from Dell without either using a code or ordering from the "outlet". You can easily get 25% or more off of list that way. My son caught a really good deal and bought an Alienware laptop from the outlet for 40% off list a year ago.

You just have to be willing to be patient and take what is available.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by fumanchu1

nah the sager still comes up cheaper by a few hundred bucks if you add the os and ram, and to my knowledge (from experience, although have not opened one in 2-3 years) most parts on the alienware laptops are soldered into place meaning you can't replace the parts as easily as you need to remove the solder first, voiding all warranty on the unit even if done by a professional shop(that is not alienware) that is a non issue with sager

I guess it depends on what you mean by all parts. Most the stuff folks would want to change (memory/disk) are easily swappable. Video used to be but apparently isn't any longer. Processor/etc is definitely more complicated but I wouldn't do that in a laptop anyway. By then I'm ready to pass it downhill and do a full upgrade.

Originally Posted by fumanchu1

It's just an alternative for OP, also I hate Dell and therefore alienware

Fair enough. I've had a love/hate relationship with Dell since it was "PC Limited" so I know what you mean. I was not a happy camper when Dell bought Alienware in 2006. They did stay relatively autonomous though in terms of design and marketing, so there is some goodness there.

In the end, for personal use, I sometimes buy, sometimes build, and sometimes buy and mod depending on price and functionality.

I don't buy gaming laptops because I don't need the mobility. IMO, the best gaming machine is a properly configured desktop. It will also be the "cheapest" in the long run since you can more easily modify/upgrade. I can usually get about 5 years out of the base unit with a midcycle video refresh before I feel I have to move on. CPU isn't nearly as important any longer than it used to be, it's all about the GPU these days. I also "manage" to get along fine with one gen back video cards. That's the sweet spot in price/performance for me.

[EAGLE5]

For the record, my GTX 460 and i3 run Fallout 4 just fine. All the detail and resolution is turned way down, but the game doesn't chug. The keyboard and mouse make the experience much better than the xbox controller.