HELP! Need Advice for New Gaming Laptop

Hi! I'm new to this forum. This is my second try to get this post out! I'm a long time gamer - over 20 years now - started out with Wizardry, if any of you remember that one. My desktop crashed about a month ago and my wife and kids are tired of me trying to use their computers (which, by the way, I built for them - ungreatly little.....). Anyway, I'm anxious to get a new computer so I can get back in up and running. Decided to go with a laptop instead of a desktop so I can carry it with me when I go on long business trips. I saw the questionaire, so here goes:

1_What is your budget? $1500 to 2000 USD, but will go as high as $3500 if I buy from Dell

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? 15" - 17"

3_What screen resolution do you want? Max possible - 1900x1080

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Prefer a portable but will consider a desktop replacement since travel will only be on long business trips 7 or 8 times per year

5_How much battery life do you need? Not a major factor since I should usually have access to electricity

6_Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)? Specing this for gaming. I play lost of online games - WoW, Dawn of War, Company of Men. And want to be able to play the latest and greatest - Dragon Age, Call of Duty, StarCraft III. All at HIGH settings!

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.) Some music and video streaming; getting into simple video editing of sons football games; standard microsoft office stuff. Primary focus is gaming

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need? At least 500 GB

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them. Primarily considering http://www.dell.com/ (not sure how to make this a live link) I get a discount through my job and have a credit account with them, so can maximize my purchase and go as high as $3500 (retail price) if I but from them. Been looking at the Alienware M15x and M17x (Dell owns Alienware so I get the same deals) and the Dell XPS lines. Will consider other sites/brands

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop? 3 to 4 years


11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? Combination Bluray reader and DVD burner; will go to Bluray burner if it fits in budget

12_Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. I have been buying Dells for 20 years and really like their customizability and their service plans. Looking at Alienware because of their reputation as great gaming machines.

13_What country do you live in? USA


14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.

I hoping to get my order placed this week. Thanks for your help in advance!

Hello and welcome to the forums
AW M17x is a good choice,and since you can pay up to $3500 make sure you get the QX9300 CPU which performs very well even compared to i7's:
http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3647

AW M15x is a good choice too but for gaming M17x would be better because
2xGTX 280M perform a lot better than a single GTX 260M

or XoticPC or just get it direct from Sager Notebook.

I personally feel that systems from Sager/Clevo tend to offer better performance/dollar than Alienware.

$1700 gets you this from Sager: http://www.sagernotebook.com/produ [...] =customize

Because it has a faster GPU (GTX 280 vs GTX 260) it will perform better than the M15x which will cost you just as much.

Oh, no doubt about that. My post was more a reply to Buwish who suggested the M15x. If you don't mind spending a little more for the M17x, then it'd certainly be worth it.